News
Tesla owners give back to local communities for the Holidays
Tesla owners all across the nation found ways to help their local communities this holiday season. The holidays are tough on families in need, and the kindness of caring strangers often helps make the season a bit brighter and merry for those families who are struggling.
In New York, the Tesla Owners Club of New York State held its third annual toy drive outside of Gigafactory New York. The Police Athletic League of Buffalo, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization providing the youth with various programs, participated.
#Buffalopal youth were thrilled to be the guests of the Tesla Owners club New York State 3rd annual toy drive outside #GigaNY
Thank you to @TOCNYS members for spreading joy this holiday season to our Youth! #supportyouth #teslacares #manythanks #seasonofgiving pic.twitter.com/OrvSszcAFm— PoliceAthleticLeague (@PalBuffalo) December 11, 2022
John P. Weiksnar John Weiksnar said it was a success and credited the Tesla staff and the nonprofit for coordinating. In November, the New York Tesla Club also collected 255 pounds of nonperishable food and hygiene items for FeedMore WNY, which was once two separate nonprofits that merged into one. Initially, it was Meals on Wheels for Western New York and the Food Bank of Western New York.
@elonmusk Our third annual #TOCNYS toy drive outside #GigaNY on 12/10/2022 was a total success! Many thanks to Tesla staff & @PalBuffalo for coordinating, and to @TOCNYS members for morphing frunks full of toys into instant smiles. . . . pic.twitter.com/LrJxjKe56n
— John P. Weiksnar (@jpw1116) December 11, 2022
On the other side of the country, The Tesla Owners Club of San Joaquin Valley held a toy drive for Toys For Tots at Kettleman City, California.
Our 3rd #teslatoydrive with @ToysForTots_USA is coming up Dec 3rd at Kettleman, I sincerely hope you can make it. #Tesla $TSLA pic.twitter.com/QZucVTAawf
— TOC San Joaquin Valley (@SjvTesla) November 27, 2022
The Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley Club held its holiday toy drive and block party at Palo Alto Firestation #2. This was their second annual holiday drive in partnership with the Palo Alto Fire and Police Departments, which closed off the street for the event.
.@PaloAltoPolice @PaloAltoFire holiday toy drive is happening. @elonmusk @tesla pic.twitter.com/Rlc5UEde4U
— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) December 17, 2022
The Tesla Owners Club of East Bay Fremont held a toy drive that benefited Toys for Tots. The club had its own version of Santa Mode with cargo vans filled with donations to the charity. In a statement to Teslarati, the Tesla Owners Club of East Bay Fremont said:
“Seeing the consistency in which the Tesla community comes together every year to give back to those in need, is inspiring. Saving the planet and making life on it better can be one and the same.”
As the Holiday 🎄🎅🏼 season commences, on behalf of our @Tesla club, from Fremont to the 🌍: Happy Holidays. This was our own version of Santa Mode. Cargo Vans full of gifts! Santa photos for all! So proud to do our part in spreading cheer 🎁 in partnership with @ToysForTots_USA pic.twitter.com/GOclFP0FL8
— Tesla East Bay Fremont (@TeslaOwnersEBay) December 23, 2022
In Ohio, the Tesla Owners Club of Columbus raised funds to support Nationwide Children’s Hospital, which has helped some of its club members and the community. Club member Doug Sherwood shared his story.
“Eight years ago, my son was born six and a half weeks early. He was born at four pounds and six ounces. Children’s Hospital took care of him–24/7 care–and helped us feel comfortable holding him and caring for him.”
Our club is raising funds to support @nationwidekids – they've personally helped some of our members' families, and support many more in our community.
Please consider donating to support our toy drive this year – all proceeds go directly to Nationwide Children's hospital! pic.twitter.com/bY2nsqAOmn— Tesla Owners Columbus, OH (@TeslaOwnersCbus) December 2, 2022
Disclosure: Johnna is a $TSLA shareholder and believes in Tesla’s mission.
Your feedback is welcome. If you have any comments or concerns or see a typo, you can email me at johnna@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter at @JohnnaCrider1.
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Elon Musk
Elon Musk weather update tips Tesla Roadster speculation into Plaid Mode
Tesla CEO Elon Musk certainly tipped off some details of the Tesla Roadster event with a broadening of information regarding the company’s decision to delay the unveiling for two weeks.
For years, people have speculated about what the Roadster will be capable of. While there have been plenty of things said about what it *could* do, we have not seen or been told by Tesla what it will actually be capable of.
However, over the past few days, Tesla’s weather updates have truly pushed the speculation into Plaid Mode, basically all but confirming the car will have some sort of aerial capability — whether that would be hovering or fully flying remains to be seen — but it definitely seems that it will be able to leave the ground intentionally.
“Because this event can only be held outdoors…”
Tesla posted on Monday that it would delay the Roadster event until October 15, and it indicated that it had to do this because the event “can only be held outdoors.”
With the potential SpaceX collaboration to develop cold-gas thrusters that will help the vehicle go airborne, doing this indoors is probably not a safe, or even plausible, possibility.
Roadster event update
We’ve been tracking the weather closely with local meteorologists, but given the severe conditions predicted & because this event can only be held outdoors, we’ve made the difficult decision to reschedule.
New date is October 15. Additional details to…
— Tesla (@Tesla) September 28, 2026
FAA Airspace Restriction
The FAA gave Tesla a Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) for 10,000 feet above ground level, much higher than the typical 2,000-foot restrictions that are usually placed at SpaceX’s McGregor, Texas site.
Tesla Roadster event requires restricted airspace, and the FAA obliges
Some have said that this massive increase is due to Tesla’s need to restrict unauthorized drone use for spying on the event.
Elon Admits High Winds
“Due to high winds, the new Roadster demo is postponed by 2 weeks,” Musk said in a post on X yesterday.
Due to high winds, the new Roadster demo is postponed by 2 weeks https://t.co/dV3ojDh1iT
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 30, 2026
A reply reading, “What’s strong wind got to do with a car demo with four grounded wheels?” was directly below Musk’s post, satirically and sarcastically probing for more details.
All signs are pointing toward an aerial demonstration for the Roadster.
News
Tesla snags $30B in fresh credit lines for expanding its biggest projects
Tesla has secured $30 billion in fresh credit lines from Citibank and Wells Fargo in an effort to scale its biggest current projects.
Tesla agreed to a $20 billion three-year delayed-draw term loan facility from Citibank, it announced on Tuesday. Additionally, it signed a five-year, $8 billion revolving credit facility and a $2 billion, 364-day term credit facility with Wells Fargo.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), that it “may draw” from the $20 billion delayed-draw term “from time to time” and “no more than ten times during the 18 months following the closing date.” This loan matures on September 29, 2029.
The five-year revolving facility from Wells Fargo will also be accessed by Tesla “from time to time,” and will become due and payable on September 29, 2031. Tesla can request two separate one-year extensions.
On the $2 billion, 364-day revolving loan, it becomes due and payable on September 28, 2027. Tesla can also increase its additional commitments to an additional $4 billion across the Revolving Facilities. This would increase the total facilities to $14 billion. Tesla said it does not plan to utilize any of these loans in 2026.
Tesla plans to utilize the money to help prop up its ambitions to scale its biggest products, each of which is either in early launch phases or still in development. Of course, we’re talking about Cybercab and Semi, which have launched, and Optimus, which is still under heavy development and working toward initial release.
All three Tesla products have one thing in common: they’ve all required Tesla to build new manufacturing lines for them.
For the Semi, Tesla built a brand new factory in Sparks, Nevada, adjacent to the Tesla Gigafactory. For Optimus, Tesla sunset Model S and X production at the Fremont Factory, which brought an end to the two flagship models, thus creating manufacturing space for the humanoid robot. Finally, Cybercab is being built at Gigafactory Texas and officially entered production earlier this year.
The cash will help Tesla bolster its finances for the continuing development of these products. Tesla said that it forecasts its CapEx to be over $25 billion, up from just over $8.5 billion last year. These loans surely help with that spending.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk and Trump are closer than ever, and Tesla could be the big winner
Elon Musk sat beside Trump as AI leaders signed a voluntary White House safety accord.
Elon Musk had the seat right next to President Donald Trump on Tuesday as the White House hosted the leaders of America’s biggest artificial intelligence companies for a lunch that ended with a voluntary industry accord on AI safety.
A seating chart Trump posted on Truth Social placed Musk at the president’s left in the East Room, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on his right, according to an Associated Press reporter. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI President Greg Brockman, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos also attended, along with Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson.
🚨 Elon Musk is currently speaking to the media alongside President Trump after a meeting with AI Leaders in Washington today
Trump says AI is now being called “Super Intelligence” or SI pic.twitter.com/woJJqUVP9B
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 29, 2026
After the lunch, Trump told reporters outside the West Wing that the executives had signed “The White House Accord on Superintelligence: A Joint Commitment on Frontier SI Responsibilities.” Johnson described it as a voluntary statement of principles built on “robust internal controls and layers of internal and external review,” while Zuckerberg said company boards would independently review reports from outside auditors. Trump called the document “morally binding,” said he would name a new AI czar within days, and signed an executive order formally renaming artificial intelligence “super intelligence,” CNBC reported.
Musk was not in the room for Tesla alone. Since SpaceX absorbed xAI, he runs the company behind Grok and one of the largest AI training operations anywhere. On September 25, he said another 220,000 Nvidia GB300 chips would come online at Colossus 2 within a week, with more expected in November and December.
“I think it is worth highlighting the positive benefits of A.I. … S.I., pardon me.”
“Thank you.”@elonmusk catches his own slip after calling the technology “A.I.” while speaking alongside President Trump and other tech leaders, quickly correcting himself to “super… pic.twitter.com/fH7CFileNb
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 29, 2026
SpaceX confirms third massive compute deal at Colossus data center
Musk also used the trip to restate his energy ambitions. “SpaceX is aiming together with Tesla to do 200 gigawatts of solar production per year,” he said at an event in Washington. It is the same combined target he laid out that feeds directly into Terafab, the Tesla and SpaceX chip venture that will need enormous amounts of power.
The showing between Musk and Trump has come a long way, since the two had the very public split in mid 2025 after Musk opposed the “Big Beautiful Bill” and left DOGE. They reconciled at Charlie Kirk’s memorial that September, and Trump later called their relationship “good”. Since then, Musk has joined Trump’s China delegation in May and attended last week’s White House state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping.
For Tesla, that access to government official could pay dividends. As Teslarati noted in January, federal autonomy rules, NHTSA oversight and a single national standard for driverless vehicles all run through an administration Musk can more easily reach directly as Tesla works to scale Robotaxi and Cybercab beyond Texas.