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Elon Musk shares first look at Tesla Model 3 white seats at factory

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Elon Musk recently shared an image of Tesla’s Model 3 seats in volume, showcasing rows upon rows and floors upon floors filled with the compact electric car’s seats. Musk’s Twitter upload, which included a fun Rick & Morty reference due to the seats looking almost like an alien army, also features a rare look into the Model 3 Performance’s white seats at the factory.

Musk’s Twitter update came late Friday, as Musk prepared to spend the weekend traveling back and forth between the Fremont factory and Gigafactory 1. Musk jested on Twitter that he was playing Infinity Work, the Reality Game all weekend, before revealing that he would spend Saturday and Sunday working. Musk mentioned, however, that the recently-constructed GA4 line in the sprung structure at the Fremont factory’s grounds is doing great, but Tesla’s GA3 crew, tasked with the production of the Model 3, is “pulling off miracles against all odds.”

Particularly notable in Elon Musk’s recent Model 3 seats update is the confirmation that the company is starting to build more of the Model 3 Performance Dual Motor. Earlier this month, Musk posted an image of the first Model 3 Performance rolling off the company’s new assembly line. Considering that there are several rows of white seats featured in Musk’s recent tweet, it appears that the production of the top-tier variant of the compact electric car is ongoing. White seats, after all, are exclusive to the Model 3 Performance, at least for now.

The Model 3’s white seats have been a point of interest for many Tesla owners, considering that the option has proved popular for both the Model S and Model X, thanks to their clean, unique look, as well as their surprising capability to resist stains. In announcements earlier this year, however, Musk noted that white seats for the Model 3 would likely begin production in July, together with the start of the Performance and Dual Motor AWD’s production. Tesla appears to have hit two birds with one stone with GA4, however, as the company was able to start manufacturing both the Model 3 Performance and the white seats option ahead of their expected rollout date.

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Apart from rows of Model 3 seats, Elon Musk also shared an image of the Fremont factory’s paint room for the compact electric car. With his trademark humor, Musk jested that the room looks very “sus” (short for suspicious) considering its red splattered windows. Musk also shared a brief video clip of the Model 3’s assembly line, featuring what the CEO called “vicious torque” from the machines building the compact electric cars.

Tesla manufactures its seats at a facility on 901 Page Ave., roughly three miles away from the Fremont factory at 45500 Fremont Blvd. During the company’s Q4 2017 earnings call last February, Musk mentioned that Tesla is looking to incorporate technology from The Boring Company to transport seats between Page Ave. and the main factory. During the earnings call, CTO JB Straubel noted that while Tesla is developing high-density and high-velocity lines for both factories, limitations emerge when it comes to transporting the seats from one facility to another. To solve this, Musk noted that Tesla is looking to build a tunnel that connects the two factories, which would allow the company to transport seats to Fremont without relying on conventional methods.

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Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Tesla Roadster livestream: everything Tesla has revealed before Thursday night

Tesla will stream the Roadster event Thursday at 7:55 p.m. Central. Here is what’s known.

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Concept rendering of a Tesla Roadster with SpaceX Package via Grok

Tesla will stream its next generation Roadster event live this Thursday, October 15, at 7:55 p.m. Central, according to a post from the official Tesla account shared late Monday. Texas is on daylight time, and outlets have read the post as local Central time, which puts the Tesla Roadster livestream at 8:55 p.m. Eastern and 5:55 p.m. Pacific. The stream is expected on Tesla’s X account, where the announcement went up.

This is the second date for the event. Tesla posted a “Go for launch” image on September 12 that set the unveil for October 1, and invitations sent to reservation holders placed it in Waco, Texas, at 8:30 p.m. Eastern, for guests 21 and older with tickets that could not be transferred. Until this week, Tesla had not said the event would be broadcast at all.

On September 28, Tesla moved the event to October 15, citing severe weather and the fact that the demo can only be held outdoors. Elon Musk then said the cause was high winds, a comment that pushed speculation that the car will leave the ground on stage.

The event will be held in Waco, which sits close to SpaceX’s McGregor rocket test site, where the FAA closed airspace up to 10,000 feet from September 18 through October 2 for the original date. Another restriction covering Wednesday, October 14, has been reported near the site, which could mean a rehearsal, though that is unconfirmed.

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What Tesla will actually show comes from speculative reports that the vehicle will be unmanned, and spectators will be kept several hundred yards back for safety. A SpaceX package is reportedly code named A71, and linked to what Musk has hinted at in the past – thrusters that could bring 0 to 60 mph down to about one second, compared with the 1.9 seconds quoted for the base car in 2017. Tesla also closed its Semi event with a Roadster teaser suggesting a design that looks different from the original prototype, and has said the event will include pricing, specifications, and production targets.

The 2017 figures remain the only official ones: 620 miles of range, a top speed above 250 mph, and prices of $200,000 for the base car and $250,000 for the Founders Series. Tesla reopened reservations last month with a $5,000 card payment followed by a $45,000 wire within ten days, and the deposit is refundable. Production is expected at Giga Texas in 2027 or 2028.

Tesla reports third quarter earnings on October 21, six days after the stream, so whatever price or timeline appears Thursday night will land just ahead of that call.

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SpaceX just combined Grok, Cursor, and X into one mega plan

SpaceXSI merges Grok, Cursor, and X Premium into one plan, raising questions for Tesla owners.

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SpaceX Super Intelligence has rolled out The X Subscription, a single plan that combines Grok, Grok Bot, Cursor, and X Premium.

There are five levels, including a free plan that includes daily Grok access and a starter allowance for Cursor’s coding agents. Plus is $8 per month, Premium is $30, Super is $100, and Ultra is $200. Usage scales as you move up, with Premium offering four times the Plus allowance, Super 15 times, and Ultra 50 times. Annual billing brings the prices down a bit further, with Premium at $300 per year.

The $30 Premium tier is where SpaceXSI says it packs the benefits of SuperGrok, Cursor Pro, and X Premium+, which previously added up to $90 per month. Grok Bot, the agent that handles tasks like ordering food or managing a calendar, is included from Premium upward but not on Plus. Paid plans share one weekly usage pool across Grok and Cursor, and each plan includes at least twice the coding usage of the comparable Cursor plan. Third party models in Cursor remain available on Premium and above, but they are billed separately at API list prices.

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That last detail matters because of what has happened around Cursor this year. SpaceX exercised its option to buy the company for $60 billion in June, and the deal closed in August. Weeks later, OpenAI said it will cut Cursor’s access to its models on November 12. Bundling Cursor with Grok usage gives SpaceXSI a reason to steer developers toward its own models.

Tesla integrates Grok Bot into its vehicles for the ultimate personal assistant

For Tesla owners, the connection is Grok Bot. Tesla brought it into its vehicles last month, and at that point access inside the car was limited to SuperGrok Heavy subscribers. Grok Bot is now enabled across every Cybercab and the rest of the Model Y Robotaxi fleet. Neither SpaceXSI nor Tesla has said how the new plans change inside the car access for owners, or whether a $30 Premium subscription now covers Grok Bot in a personal Tesla. That is the question owners will want answered first.

The company is also changing its name along the way. The rollout follows the rebrand Musk announced on October 4, when he said SpaceXAI would become SpaceXSI, and the plan page now carries that branding.

The X Subscription is available to new customers starting now, and SpaceXSI says it will reach everyone globally over the next few days. Existing SuperGrok, Cursor, and X Premium subscribers do not have to switch. The option to move will appear gradually in billing settings, with a prorated refund for the unused time on the old plan. Switching is permanent once the accounts are unified, and old plans are closed to new sign ups.

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Taiwan power firm bets big on Tesla Megapacks as AI data center thirst grows

Taiwan’s Apollo Power orders 260 Tesla Megapacks, betting AI data centers will need more electricity.

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Concept render of Tesla Megapack farm supporting an AI Data Center in Taiwan
Concept render of Tesla Megapack farm supporting an AI Data Center in Taiwan

A Taiwanese power company has ordered 260 Tesla Megapack 2XL units, roughly 1GWh of storage, betting that electricity rather than chips will decide how fast AI data centers come online. Apollo Power signed the contract with Tesla’s Taiwan energy arm on October 8, according to the company’s filing with the Taiwan stock exchange.

The filing says the units are meant for behind the meter storage and resilient grid projects, with delivery in batches from the end of 2027 and sites operating in 2028. Apollo and Tesla did not disclose a price, citing a confidentiality agreement. Apollo plans to pay for the equipment through a cash capital increase and bank financing, and it noted the purchase is not revenue and does not mean it holds firm orders from its partners.

Biggo reported that only about 33 units are under signed customer contracts, with roughly 150 more in negotiation. The same report put total project investment near NT$130 billion, but that figure includes installation work, with the equipment itself making up about 40 to 50 percent. In other words, a large share of this order is Apollo reserving supply ahead of demand. Apollo’s chairman told local media global large storage supply is tight, which is why the company locked in the units early, according to Yahoo Taiwan Finance.

Tesla Taiwan partners with Costco to sell vehicles

Apollo also launched an AI data center and grid resilience alliance with Phison, Gigabyte and Shihlin Electric. The pitch rests on a pilot at Phison’s Zhunan plant, where Apollo and Tesla Energy Taiwan installed grid forming Megapack 2XLs in June. Tesla Energy Taiwan general manager Sun Hsiao-Han said the project went from demo to 1GWh in four months, and that Tesla Energy has deployed more than 50GWh worldwide.

Taiwan’s cabinet has approved amendments that would require large energy users to install their own generation and storage, which gives enterprise storage a regulatory tailwind.

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The deal fits a pattern Teslarati has tracked. Tesla’s Megablock targets 1GWh commissioned in 20 business days, a pitch aimed squarely at fast moving data center builds. Megapacks already back xAI’s Colossus in Memphis and a 400MW AI campus in Brazil. Sun Media adds that Megapack 2XL was named among the first products in Nvidia’s DSX Ready qualification for battery storage in AI factories.

Deliveries are more than a year away, so the real test is how much of that 260 unit order turns into signed customer contracts.

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