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Tesla Investor Day: Five things we’d love to hear (but probably won’t)

Image Credit: Tesla Inc.

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Tesla Investor Day is set to kick off later today, and there will surely be plenty of massive developments that CEO Elon Musk and other executives could give us details on. However, there are still some things that Tesla fans and investors would love to know about, but we might not get the opportunity, at least not yet.

Here are five things we’d love to hear about at Tesla Investor Day, but probably won’t:

1. New Paint Colors

It’s already been rumored that the Midnight Cherry Red and Quicksilver paint schemes will make an appearance at Gigafactory Texas for Investor Day. These colors are exclusive to the Giga Berlin operation, and there has not been too much of an update in terms of paint colors in the North American market for years.

Although Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen hinted toward new paint colors for the U.S. earlier this year on the Ride the Lightning podcast, there are a few bottlenecks keeping Tesla from actually doing so. First off, Tesla’s Fremont Factory would have to have its paint facility updated. While the company has taken steps to do this in the past, it was more for ventilation and fire protection than improvements that would improve quality and make way for new colors.

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tesla quicksilver

Credit: Photo Credit: @thirionremi / Twitter

Fremont still builds all four Tesla models, while Gigafactory Texas only builds Model Y units. With Tesla’s order log getting longer and longer every day, the company simply cannot afford to shut down Fremont to update the paint shop, but there could be other options in the future that allow the company to do so. Tesla is expanding Fremont and could build an entirely new paint shop, updating the old one upon completion.

2. Tesla’s Strategy for non-Tesla Superchargers

This one is probably the most reasonable to expect details on, but even still, it seems like what Tesla will talk about today will be geared toward more macro topics.

tesla magic dock

Credit: Branden Flasch | Twitter / Tesla

Tesla hasn’t formally released a specific plan for which Superchargers it will open to all EVs. While it did release a detailed video on how other EV brands can utilize the open Superchargers equipped with the “Magic Dock” last night, it has not detailed how it will determine which chargers it will choose to be open to all brands.

There must be a method to the madness, and owners will likely want to know which chargers are going to be geared toward being open to other EV brands.

3. Plans for Tesla after Elon Musk

Tesla wouldn’t be what it is today without Elon Musk, but unfortunately, nothing lasts forever.

There will be a day when Musk will ultimately step away from his responsibilities as Tesla CEO, and it will be understandable. It’s been a long and stressful tenure as CEO that many of us could never even dream of handling. One day, Musk will need to step aside, and even though it might not be all that soon, it would still be nice to know who could potentially take the reigns.

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Whoever takes over the position will have a massive set of shoes to fill, but it won’t be impossible, just an extreme challenge. Musk will likely handpick his replacement, as he is likely the only person who could determine who is fit to run Tesla’s day-to-day operations.

4. Any sort of plan for Tesla’s Public Relations

While notable Tesla bull and recent Board of Directors hopeful Ross Gerber has always talked about Tesla’s need for a PR Department. Tesla abolished the use of one several years ago, which has made it difficult for the company to fend off negativity from media outlets when drastic and challenging stories about the company are published. Elon Musk has usually taken it upon himself to publicly announce what stories are real and which are false, but even still, a dedicated PR department might not be a bad idea to discuss today.

Tesla has utilized a series of posts on its company blog to respond to some negative reports. Most recently, the company responded to allegations that it fired numerous employees who were attempting to unionize at Gigafactory New York in Buffalo.

A PR Department would undoubtedly be a great way for Tesla to deal with negativity in the media, giving journalists and writers people to reach out to directly for anything they might need. Granted, media members still reach out to the company but are met with no response most of the time.

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5. Improvements to Tesla Service

Service is still arguably Tesla’s biggest weakness. When I wrote a story about a Model S Plaid owner who had their vehicle totaled by a Service Center employee, people reached out with horror stories regarding issues with getting their vehicles fixed.

The stories still continue to come in, not as regularly, but likely because there has not been a story on it, and people don’t know where to reach out.

tesla service

Credit: Tesla

Service and Showroom locations grew 19 percent in 2022 compared to 2021, while the Tesla Mobile Service fleet expanded by 24 percent in the same time frame. Unfortunately, there are still many people who complain about the shortcomings of service. Tesla has tried to push a more efficient service strategy using an “F1” method, but with that, they phased out Uber Credits and Loaners in some circumstances.

If anything, this is Tesla’s biggest weakness, and if the company can fix it, it could likely be monumental.

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

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Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Tesla gets a massive order for the Semi: 370 units and $100M

WattEV, a leading provider of electric freight operations and charging infrastructure in the United States, has announced one of the largest deployments of electric Class 8 trucks in California history: an order for 370 Tesla Semi vehicles.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla just got a massive order for the Semi, and it is its largest by a long shot.

WattEV, a leading provider of electric freight operations and charging infrastructure in the United States, has announced one of the largest deployments of electric Class 8 trucks in California history: an order for 370 Tesla Semis.

Valued at approximately $100 million, this marks the state’s biggest single electric truck order to date and signals accelerating momentum for zero-emission long-haul freight.

Credit: Tesla

Deliveries are set to begin with the first 50 Tesla Semis in 2026, with the full fleet operational by the end of 2027. More than 300 of these trucks will support a joint program with the Port of Oakland, helping electrify drayage and regional freight routes. The initiative aligns with California’s ambitious goals to transition to carbon-neutral freight operations.

Salim Youssefzadeh, CEO of WattEV, said at the annual ACT Expo industry event that the Semi was the easiest choice:

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“We selected the Tesla Semi based on cost, performance, and availability after issuing a public request for proposals…With the Tesla Semi now entering mass production and drawing strong reviews from fleet operators nationwide, WattEV’s vertically integrated model – combining vehicle deployment, megawatt-class charging infrastructure, and full-service leasing – offers a turn-key path for carriers without any capital risk.”

Critical to the rollout are new Megawatt Charging System (MCS) hubs in Oakland, Fresno, Stockton, and Sacramento. These stations will deliver up to 300 miles of range in roughly 30 minutes—comparable to a traditional diesel fill-up. The Oakland depot, where WattEV recently broke ground, will serve as a cornerstone for northern and central California corridors, connecting ports to inland hubs and beyond.

This deployment builds on WattEV’s existing experience. The company has already logged millions of electric miles in Southern California, including early Tesla Semi deployments at the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. By combining high-efficiency electric trucks with strategically placed fast-charging depots, WattEV aims to prove that battery-electric long-haul trucking can match—or exceed—diesel economics while slashing emissions.

The order arrives as Tesla ramps up Semi production at its Nevada factory, targeting higher volumes in 2026. Fleet operators nationwide have praised the Semi’s real-world performance, including strong torque, low operating costs, and advanced safety features. For California, the project supports air quality improvements around ports and highways while demonstrating scalable infrastructure for heavy-duty electrification.

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Industry observers see this as a pivotal step toward broader adoption. With diesel trucks facing rising fuel and regulatory costs, turnkey electric solutions like WattEV’s could accelerate the shift. As the first 50 Semis hit the road in 2026, they will not only move freight but also help build the charging network that paves the way for even larger fleets.

This landmark order underscores Tesla’s growing footprint in commercial trucking and California’s leadership in sustainable transportation. For WattEV and its partners, it’s more than a vehicle purchase—it’s the foundation of a zero-emission freight network connecting Northern and Central California.

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Tesla begins factoring international designs in Full Self-Driving visualization

Tesla has begun incorporating region-specific vehicle designs into its Full Self-Driving (FSD) visualization system, marking a quiet but meaningful step toward global readiness. In software update 2026.14, released as part of the Spring Update, European Tesla owners are now seeing flat-fronted, cab-over European-style semi-trucks rendered accurately on their center displays.

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@norbertcala on X via Not a Tesla App

Tesla has begun factoring international designs into its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) visualizations, marking a tremendous step in how the company plans to roll out its driver assistance tech in areas outside North America.

Tesla has begun incorporating region-specific vehicle designs into its Full Self-Driving (FSD) visualization system, marking a quiet but meaningful step toward global readiness. In software update 2026.14, released as part of the Spring Update, European Tesla owners are now seeing flat-fronted, cab-over European-style semi-trucks rendered accurately on their center displays.

The change, first spotted by Not a Tesla App, adds a second 3D model alongside the traditional North American long-nose semi-trucks that have been standard until now. Vehicles can detect and display both styles depending on what’s in front of them, and the feature requires no FSD subscription—every Tesla owner in Europe sees it immediately.

The European semi-truck visualization was actually added to the vehicle software back in October alongside roughly fifteen new visual assets.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving gets first-ever European approval

Tesla held it in reserve, activating it only once fleet data confirmed the AI could recognize these trucks with high confidence. This mirrors recent rollouts for horses and golf carts, where Tesla similarly waited for reliable detection before enabling the graphics. The result is a more realistic on-screen representation tailored to local roads, where cab-over designs dominate heavy transport.

The significance of this update extends far beyond a simple graphics tweak, which is really what people need to be paying attention to. These small, incremental steps forward continue to show Tesla’s intent for global expansion.

For the first time, Tesla is explicitly factoring international vehicle designs into its visualization engine, signaling a deliberate push to make FSD feel native in international markets.

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In Europe, where cab-over semis are commonplace, seeing an accurate rendering builds immediate driver trust—the critical bridge between the car’s AI perception and the human behind the wheel. Accurate visualizations reinforce that the system truly understands its surroundings, reducing range anxiety and skepticism that have slowed autonomous adoption abroad.

Regulators in the EU have repeatedly emphasized human-AI transparency; by customizing visuals to match local reality, Tesla strengthens its case for broader FSD approvals and smoother regulatory reviews.

This move also highlights Tesla’s data-driven engineering philosophy. Rather than rushing generic models worldwide, the company is leveraging its global fleet to learn regional nuances before flipping the switch.

It accelerates FSD’s international expansion while improving safety—misidentified vehicles could erode confidence or, in edge cases, affect decision-making. For a company aiming to deploy robotaxis and unsupervised FSD globally, tailoring visualizations to European, Asian, or other markets is no longer optional; it’s foundational.

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Early European owners report the change feels more intuitive, making the car’s “mind” easier to read in daily traffic.

As Tesla continues enabling the remaining visual assets added last year, the pattern is clear: localization is now baked into the FSD roadmap. What began as a small graphics update in Europe could soon appear in other regions, turning the visualization display into a truly worldwide language of autonomy.

With this step, Tesla isn’t just showing trucks differently—it’s proving it’s serious about making FSD work everywhere, one culturally accurate pixel at a time.

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Tesla adds new in-app feature to solve the used EV market’s biggest headache

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Teslas Supercharging
Credit: Tesla

Tesla has quietly rolled out one of its most practical software updates yet — and it could add real dollars to every used Model 3, Y, S, and X on the road.

Starting with the latest Tesla app version, owners now receive an official “Certification of Repaired HV Battery” whenever Tesla performs a major high-voltage battery repair or full replacement. The digital certificate appears directly in the vehicle’s Service History tab inside the Tesla app.

It’s permanent, verifiable, and downloadable as a PDF, so sellers can hand it over to buyers in seconds.

For years, the used EV market has suffered from one glaring problem: nobody could prove what happened to the battery.

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Service invoices often vanish when a car changes hands. Third-party battery-health scans are expensive and inconsistent. Buyers, staring at a car with 80,000 miles and an 8-year warranty ticking down, would negotiate hard — or walk away entirely — because the battery is the single most expensive part of any Tesla.

That uncertainty routinely shaved thousands off resale values and slowed the entire secondhand market.

Now Tesla has eliminated the guesswork. The new certificate, which was spotted by Tesla App Updates, logs exactly what work was done, when, and by whom. It lives inside the car’s digital profile forever, exactly where any future owner will look. No more digging through old emails or hoping the previous owner kept paperwork.

The outlet describes why the update is so important:

  • Official Digital Certificates: The string “Certification of Repaired HV Battery” confirms that if your vehicle undergoes a major battery repair or replacement, Tesla will now issue an official, verifiable digital certificate documenting the work.
  • Service History Integration: Strings such as viewRepairedBatteryCert and repairedBatteryCertId indicate that this document won’t be lost in an old email thread. It will be permanently anchored to your vehicle’s profile inside the app’s Service History tab.
  • Easy Exporting: The service_history_repaired_battery_cert_download_fail error state indicates you will be able to download this certificate directly to your phone as a file (likely a PDF) to share with others.

Sellers who have already replaced packs under warranty are especially excited; they can now prove the vehicle received a fresh Tesla battery without any gray-area questions.

The timing couldn’t be better. As more Teslas roll off 8-year/100,000- or 120,000-mile battery warranties, the used market is exploding. Lenders, insurers, and even auction houses have quietly asked for better battery documentation for years. Tesla’s certificate hands it to them on a silver platter.

For current owners, the feature adds peace of mind and protects long-term value. For buyers, it removes the single biggest risk in any used EV purchase. And for Tesla itself, it quietly strengthens the entire ownership ecosystem — making vehicles more liquid, more desirable, and more valuable over time.

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In an industry obsessed with range numbers and 0-60 times, Tesla just proved that sometimes the biggest innovation is a simple line in the Service History tab. One small certificate, one giant step for used-EV confidence.

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