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Tesla Model Y reveal event expected on March 14, 2019, says Elon Musk

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In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Elon Musk dropped the Tesla Model Y unveiling date. While responding to his followers on Twitter, Musk stated that the upcoming all-electric crossover SUV would be unveiled on March 14, 2019.

Update: The article has been updated to reflect Elon Muk’s latest announcement that Tesla’s Model Y unveiling event will take place on March 14.

The Model Y release date came as a response to an inquiry from Tesla enthusiast and YouTube host Ben Sullins. When asked by the Teslanomics host about the crossover SUV’s unveiling, Musk responded with an oddly specific date.

Musk eventually admitted that he just “made (the date) up” because the “Ides of March” sounded good. He did, however, follow up with a tweet stating that March 15 should be considered “real,” considering that Tesla could unveil the Model Y anytime from late 2018 to mid-2019.

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Based on Musk’s tweets, it appears like Tesla would unveil the Model Y just when the company is starting production of the $35,000 standard range Model 3. Tesla recently opened orders for the dual-motor AWD and Performance versions of the compact electric car, and with it came some changes into the tentative delivery dates for the Model 3.

As could be seen in Tesla’s order page for the Model 3’s different versions, the waiting time for the long-range RWD configuration is now down to just 4-6 months. The waiting time for the $35,000 standard range variant has gone down to 6-12 months as well. Considering recent signs that Tesla is steadily improving the production rate of the Model 3, such as its registration of 7,000 new VINs, there is a good chance that the company can start production of the standard range Model 3 by the end of this year.

Overall, if Tesla unveils the Model Y on March 15, or late 2018 for that matter, it would mean that Tesla would be preparing another production ramp for a new vehicle just as it is thoroughly refining the manufacturing of the Model 3. While this means that Tesla would likely see no rest in between the Model 3 and the Model Y, such a release cycle is classic Elon Musk.

Tesla has been dropping hints about the Model Y for a while now. Just recently, a teaser for the vehicle appears to have been dropped in Tesla’s quarterly hands-on video. The car was also discussed during Tesla’s Q1 2018 earnings call, when Musk stated that an announcement about the Model Y factory would be released sometime later this year. Musk also revealed that Tesla’s upcoming China Gigafactory would be able to support vehicle production.

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The Model Y is expected to be based on the Model 3 platform. According to Elon Musk, the Model Y would require only 100 meters of wiring — a 95% reduction over the Model 3’s 1,500 meters — thanks to Tesla’s flex circuit technology. Musk also noted that Tesla expects the Model Y to be even more popular than the Model 3, with demand for the all-electric crossover SUV going as high as 1 million per year.

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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SpaceX just launched its secret Starfall saucer again

SpaceX launched its Starfall capsule again on Bandwagon-5, this time listed openly beside rideshare customers.

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An artist’s illustration of a SpaceX Starfall capsule reentering Earth’s atmosphere. (Image: SpaceX)
An artist’s illustration of a SpaceX Starfall capsule reentering Earth’s atmosphere. (Image: SpaceX)

SpaceX launched its Starfall reentry capsule for the second time on Tuesday morning, flying it as the payload of the Bandwagon-5 rideshare mission. Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida at 7:04 a.m. ET with 32 payloads, and the first stage booster, on its 19th flight, landed on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas about nine minutes later.

Starfall was scheduled to separate last, 2 hours and 48 minutes after liftoff. The final customer satellite on SpaceX’s mission timeline comes off the upper stage about an hour and nine minutes in, which left a long gap before the capsule was due to be released alone. SpaceX later posted that the payload deployment sequence is complete. At liftoff, the company said Starfall “enables affordable, routine access to a microgravity environment, providing unique opportunities for on-orbit manufacturing, scientific research, and testing.”

As Teslarati reported before the first Starfall flight, SpaceX made no public announcement about the vehicle then, and nearly everything known came from FAA and FCC filings. This time Starfall is an item name on the official mission page, listed beside paying rideshare customers. SpaceX has still not said what, if anything, is aboard this Starfall, Spaceflight Now noted.

The FAA’s environmental assessment from May describes a disk about 10.2 feet wide and 2.5 feet tall that weighs roughly 4,600 pounds and can bring 2,200 pounds of payload back to Earth.

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Interestingly, the same rocket also carries a competitor’s hardware. Varda Space Industries launched its W-Series 7 capsule on Bandwagon-5, a spacecraft about three times smaller than Starfall that will test whether microgravity can improve the solubility of a cancer drug called Protac. It is Varda’s ninth reentry capsule, and W-8 and W-9 launched earlier this month on Transporter-18. SpaceX has been Varda’s launch provider since the company’s first Falcon 9 rideshare contract in 2021.

SpaceX has not published where or how this Starfall will come down. The preview we ran in June described a recovery from the Pacific Ocean, and the company has not said whether this flight follows the same plan. The launch also arrives hours before SpaceX posts its third quarter results after the market closes, a report we previewed earlier this week.

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The Boring Company’s latest Tesla tunnel truck mod “fits like a glove”

The Boring Company has modified a Tesla powered tunnel truck to carry freight containers underground.

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The Boring Company has found a second job for the Tesla hardware it already runs underground. In a post on X, Elon Musk’s tunneling company showed its latest Prufrock Liner Truck modified to carry a standard 20 foot shipping container. “Using TBC tunnels to transport freight,” the company wrote. “The latest Prufrock Liner Truck (using Tesla Model 3 batteries and drive units) has been modified to carry a standard 20′ shipping container. Fits like a glove!”

The photo shows a red container sitting on a long, low white chassis parked outside, with drive hardware visible at one end. The Boring Company did not say where or when freight hauling would start, which customers it has in mind, or how many trucks it is converting.

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Until now, the liner trucks have hauled concrete. Teslarati reported in August on Liner Truck 3, which uses Model 3 battery packs and drive units to move more than 22,000 pounds of precast tunnel segments to the boring machine. It has 28 miles of range, tops out at 12 mph, and is piloted remotely from the company’s operations center in Texas. The freight version appears to be the same platform with a different bed, and The Boring Company has not said whether it will also be remotely piloted.

Freight has been on the company’s menu for years. When TBC updated its product lineup in 2021, its freight tunnel was described as sized to fit a standard shipping container, “barely.” The company later used the idea at Tesla’s own factory, where Prufrock 3 dug a tunnel to Giga Texas that now moves finished Cybertrucks away from the production line.

The Boring Company closed a $3 billion Series D in September at a $23 billion valuation, and Teslarati has covered how that money is tied to a UAE tunneling push and a faster Nashville build. In Nashville, Prufrock MB1 and MB2 are mining at the same time, and a third machine is expected to launch in late October. Each machine needs a steady supply of liner trucks, so any design that works for segments and containers alike gives the company more use out of the same Tesla parts.

The Vegas Loop remains the only Boring Company system open to the public, and it moves passengers in Tesla vehicles. A freight service would be a separate product, and the post gave no indication that one is close to launch. For now, it is a truck, a container and a short caption saying they fit together.

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Elon Musk will give ‘every kid in America’ a SpaceX share in 2027

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Credit: Grok Imagine

Elon Musk said he is planning to give “every one of his SpaceX shares to every kid in America” in 2027, stating that “this will be the first of many.”

SpaceX went public earlier this year, and its stock price has been relatively stable since leveling off shortly after its IPO. Based on its current price, it’s a gift of just over $10 billion to children across the United States.

It appears to be closely related to President Donald Trump’s bank accounts for children, which were set up earlier this year as Trump Accounts.

Just hours earlier, Anthropic had announced the establishment of its Anthropic Public Benefit Fund, “a new wholly-owned entity dedicated entirely to public benefit.” Musk responded by stating he recommended “giving the shares directly to the public,” and that he would be doing it that way.

Just a little bit later, Musk said children across the U.S. would be getting a share from him:

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There are roughly 70 million children, meaning someone under the age of 18, in the United States, according to the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. Musk’s ownership of SpaceX stock shows he has around 849 million Class A shares of SpaceX stock, according to filings with the SEC.

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