News
Tesla battery supplier for China starts mass production of Model 3 batteries: sources
Industry sources have suggested that LG Chem, a company reportedly tapped by Tesla as one of its battery suppliers for its Shanghai-based factory, has begun the mass production of 2170 cells for the Model 3 in its Nanjing factory.
According to South Korean tech publication THEELEC, LG Chem is producing NCM 811 battery cells for the electric car maker, which features a nickel proportion of 80% or more. Prior to its reported contract with Tesla, LG Chem has used its NCM 811 cells for electric buses. The Model 3 will then be the first sedan that will use these specific, LG-made cells.
The industry sources claimed that LG Chem was able to convince Tesla to opt for its NCM 811 batteries under the premise that the cells will likely maximize the range of the Model 3. This is key to Tesla’s Model 3 production activities in Gigafactory 3, as the site is intended to produce only the affordable versions of the electric sedan. If Tesla can reassure China’s EV market that its Made-in-China Model 3 has industry-leading range, the vehicle will likely receive a good amount of demand from the country’s mainstream car-buying public.
With Tesla as a customer for its Nanjing based plant, LG Chem has reportedly begun preparing its facilities to meet the electric car maker’s demand. LG Chem’s Nanjing plant is already operating at high levels, and earlier this year, the South Korean conglomerate announced that it will be investing 1.2 trillion won ($1 billion) to expand the facility’s production capabilities even more. But this is not all, as more expansion is expected as per Tesla’s request.
Interestingly, the industry sources quoted by the South Korean tech publication mentioned that LG Chem is also looking to mass-produce NCMA batteries for electric vehicles starting in 2022. These upcoming cells will reportedly feature an even higher nickel content.
Reports of LG Chem’s partnership with Tesla initially emerged last August when Bloomberg revealed that the battery maker and the electric car company were in discussions for a potential working partnership. Provided that the recent reports from South Korea are accurate, the two companies’ collaboration appears to have been secured, and both companies appear to be working together to start Model 3 production in the Gigafactory 3 site.
LG Chem’s Nanjing battery plant is strategically located. The facility is situated about 200 miles west of Shanghai, which would make transporting the cells to the Gigafactory 3 complex at the Lingang Industrial Zone a rather simple task. For one, the distance between the two China-based facilities is far shorter than the distance between Tesla’s Gigafactory 1 in Nevada, which produces 2170 cells for the Model 3, and the company’s Fremont factory, which assembles the vehicle.
Reports from China have suggested that Tesla’s Gigafactory 3 will not be exclusively supplied by LG Chem. Apart from the South Korean battery maker, Tesla is reportedly tapping into the services of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd (CATL) for a potential supply deal. So far, neither Tesla nor CATL have confirmed that a battery partnership has been established for Gigafactory 3’s operations.
Elon Musk
Tesla owners surpass 8 billion miles driven on FSD Supervised
Tesla shared the milestone as adoption of the system accelerates across several markets.
Tesla owners have now driven more than 8 billion miles using Full Self-Driving Supervised, as per a new update from the electric vehicle maker’s official X account.
Tesla shared the milestone as adoption of the system accelerates across several markets.
“Tesla owners have now driven >8 billion miles on FSD Supervised,” the company wrote in its post on X. Tesla also included a graphic showing FSD Supervised’s miles driven before a collision, which far exceeds that of the United States average.
The growth curve of FSD Supervised’s cumulative miles over the past five years has been notable. As noted in data shared by Tesla watcher Sawyer Merritt, annual FSD (Supervised) miles have increased from roughly 6 million in 2021 to 80 million in 2022, 670 million in 2023, 2.25 billion in 2024, and 4.25 billion in 2025. In just the first 50 days of 2026, Tesla owners logged another 1 billion miles.
At the current pace, the fleet is trending towards hitting about 10 billion FSD Supervised miles this year. The increase has been driven by Tesla’s growing vehicle fleet, periodic free trials, and expanding Robotaxi operations, among others.
Tesla also recently updated the safety data for FSD Supervised on its website, covering North America across all road types over the latest 12-month period.
As per Tesla’s figures, vehicles operating with FSD Supervised engaged recorded one major collision every 5,300,676 miles. In comparison, Teslas driven manually with Active Safety systems recorded one major collision every 2,175,763 miles, while Teslas driven manually without Active Safety recorded one major collision every 855,132 miles. The U.S. average during the same period was one major collision every 660,164 miles.
During the measured period, Tesla reported 830 total major collisions with FSD (Supervised) engaged, compared to 16,131 collisions for Teslas driven manually with Active Safety and 250 collisions for Teslas driven manually without Active Safety. Total miles logged exceeded 4.39 billion miles for FSD (Supervised) during the same timeframe.
Elon Musk
The Boring Company’s Music City Loop gains unanimous approval
After eight months of negotiations, MNAA board members voted unanimously on Feb. 18 to move forward with the project.
The Metro Nashville Airport Authority (MNAA) has approved a 40-year agreement with Elon Musk’s The Boring Company to build the Music City Loop, a tunnel system linking Nashville International Airport to downtown.
After eight months of negotiations, MNAA board members voted unanimously on Feb. 18 to move forward with the project. Under the terms, The Boring Company will pay the airport authority an annual $300,000 licensing fee for the use of roughly 933,000 square feet of airport property, with a 3% annual increase.
Over 40 years, that totals to approximately $34 million, with two optional five-year extensions that could extend the term to 50 years, as per a report from The Tennesean.
The Boring Company celebrated the Music City Loop’s approval in a post on its official X account. “The Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority has unanimously (7-0) approved a Music City Loop connection/station. Thanks so much to @Fly_Nashville for the great partnership,” the tunneling startup wrote in its post.
Once operational, the Music City Loop is expected to generate a $5 fee per airport pickup and drop-off, similar to rideshare charges. Airport officials estimate more than $300 million in operational revenue over the agreement’s duration, though this projection is deemed conservative.
“This is a significant benefit to the airport authority because we’re receiving a new way for our passengers to arrive downtown at zero capital investment from us. We don’t have to fund the operations and maintenance of that. TBC, The Boring Co., will do that for us,” MNAA President and CEO Doug Kreulen said.
The project has drawn both backing and criticism. Business leaders cited economic benefits and improved mobility between downtown and the airport. “Hospitality isn’t just an amenity. It’s an economic engine,” Strategic Hospitality’s Max Goldberg said.
Opponents, including state lawmakers, raised questions about environmental impacts, worker safety, and long-term risks. Sen. Heidi Campbell said, “Safety depends on rules applied evenly without exception… You’re not just evaluating a tunnel. You’re evaluating a risk, structural risk, legal risk, reputational risk and financial risk.”
Elon Musk
Tesla announces crazy new Full Self-Driving milestone
The number of miles traveled has contextual significance for two reasons: one being the milestone itself, and another being Tesla’s continuing progress toward 10 billion miles of training data to achieve what CEO Elon Musk says will be the threshold needed to achieve unsupervised self-driving.
Tesla has announced a crazy new Full Self-Driving milestone, as it has officially confirmed drivers have surpassed over 8 billion miles traveled using the Full Self-Driving (Supervised) suite for semi-autonomous travel.
The FSD (Supervised) suite is one of the most robust on the market, and is among the safest from a data perspective available to the public.
On Wednesday, Tesla confirmed in a post on X that it has officially surpassed the 8 billion-mile mark, just a few months after reaching 7 billion cumulative miles, which was announced on December 27, 2025.
Tesla owners have now driven >8 billion miles on FSD Supervisedhttps://t.co/0d66ihRQTa pic.twitter.com/TXz9DqOQ8q
— Tesla (@Tesla) February 18, 2026
The number of miles traveled has contextual significance for two reasons: one being the milestone itself, and another being Tesla’s continuing progress toward 10 billion miles of training data to achieve what CEO Elon Musk says will be the threshold needed to achieve unsupervised self-driving.
The milestone itself is significant, especially considering Tesla has continued to gain valuable data from every mile traveled. However, the pace at which it is gathering these miles is getting faster.
Secondly, in January, Musk said the company would need “roughly 10 billion miles of training data” to achieve safe and unsupervised self-driving. “Reality has a super long tail of complexity,” Musk said.
Training data primarily means the fleet’s accumulated real-world miles that Tesla uses to train and improve its end-to-end AI models. This data captures the “long tail” — extremely rare, complex, or unpredictable situations that simulations alone cannot fully replicate at scale.
This is not the same as the total miles driven on Full Self-Driving, which is the 8 billion miles milestone that is being celebrated here.
The FSD-supervised miles contribute heavily to the training data, but the 10 billion figure is an estimate of the cumulative real-world exposure needed overall to push the system to human-level reliability.
Tesla owners surpass 8 billion miles driven on FSD Supervised
The Boring Company’s Music City Loop gains unanimous approval
