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Tesla partners with grocery chain on Midwest Supercharger expansion

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Supercharger locations in the Midwestern United States are about to increase, thanks to a partnership between Tesla and the Hy-Vee grocery store chain. “The time it takes for an average shopper to get through a grocery store to get groceries is about the same time it takes to get a full charge on a decent fast charger like this,” said John Brehm, Hy-Vee director of site planning on November 15 who on hand for the introduction of three Superchargers at the West Lakes Hy-Vee in West Des Moines. “So it’s a marriage made in heaven.”

The partnership will add critically needed Supercharger locations along the heavily traveled Interstate 80 transportation corridor. Since July, eight Tesla supercharger stations have been installed at Hy-Vee stores in Coralville, West Lakes, and Davenport as well as in Peru, Illinois and Oakdale, Minnesota. Work on Superchargers at the Hy-Vee store in Lincoln, Nebraska will begin next year. Six more Midwestern installations at Hy-Vee stores are under discussion.

“[A Supercharger] is robust enough and powerful enough that people can confidently and conveniently travel hundreds and thousands of miles without any sort of compromise in terms of staying overnight or staying over the course of several hours,” said Will Nicholas, Tesla communications manager. He adds that the communities chosen are the perfect locations for new Supercharger locations. “We’re happy to be working with Hy-Vee to kind of connect the Midwest, from Chicago to Denver,” he said according to The Gazette.

Tesla has partnered with several other chains and  businesses in the U.S. to make its Superchargers more accessible to the public. Ruby Tuesday restaurant chain is adding Superchargers at many of its locations, beginning with its restaurant in Miner, Missouri. The chargers there are an important link in the Supercharger network for people driving between St. Louis and Nashville.

In the mid-Atlantic area of the country, Tesla is in talks with Sheetz, a chain of several hundred gas stations, about adding Supercharger equipment at many of its stores. Merchants recognize that Tesla has rapidly created a highly desirable brand. In short, Tesla drivers are good for business.

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The federal government estimates that U.S. drivers will consume 20% less gasoline than today by 2035 as the proportion of electric cars on the road increases. John Eichberger, executive director of the Fuels Institute, founded by the National Association of Convenience Stores, says, “Those kiosks that just sell gallons and smokes are going to have to change. They’re going to lose gallons. Plain and simple, no way around it.”

Gas stations of the future will be completely different from the fast paced “get ’em in, get ’em out” stores of today, Eichenberger believes. They will be more like restaurants or highway rest stops than convenience stores.

Tesla works hard at positioning its Supercharger stations in places where drivers have access to food and rest rooms. It is also sensitive to providing clean, well-lit locations where people traveling alone will feel safe, even at night. Touring by Tesla is more like the European “slow food” experience than the fast paced gas-n-go experience most drivers of conventional cars put up with.

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Tesla shares rare peek at Semi factory’s interior

The new video of the Tesla Semi factory was posted by the official Tesla account on X.

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Credit: @HinrichsZane/X

Tesla has shared a rare peek inside the factory of the Tesla Semi, which is expected to start production next year. Based on the video, it appears that work in the facility’s interior is ongoing, just as hinted at by drone flyers of the site. 

Tesla Semi factory

The new video of the Tesla Semi factory, which is located close to Giga Nevada, was posted by the official Tesla account on X. While the video was short at less than 30 seconds long, it did show several parts of the factory’s interior, from its gigantic machines to its expansive space. The company also showed some initial production units of the Semi operating around the site.

Elon Musk shared a quick update on the Tesla Semi’s production at the 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting. While addressing the company’s shareholders, Musk confirmed that production of the Semi is on track for 2026.

“Starting next year, we (will) manufacture the Tesla Semi. So this, we already have a lot of prototype Tesla Semis in operation. PepsiCo and other companies have been using the Tesla Semi for quite some time. But we will start volume production at our Northern Nevada factory in 2026,” Musk said.

Tesla Semi redesign

Apart from Elon Musk’s confirmation that the Semi will indeed enter production next year, Tesla also showed an image of the Class 8 all-electric truck’s overall look. Based on a slide that was shown during Musk’s presentation, it appears that the Semi has undergone a pretty major redesign. The redesigned Semi features updated design cues that align with the company’s current lineup.

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Immediately noticeable from the Semi’s updated design is its front end, which now feature headlights that resemble the style of the Cybertruck, Cybercab, and the new Model Y. Several other changes appear designed to improve aerodynamics, with Tesla now stating that the Semi has an efficiency of 1.7 kWh per mile. Side cameras, likely for FSD, are also quite prominent on the redesigned Semi.

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Tesla says texting and driving capability is coming ‘in a month or two’

“In the next month or two, we’re going to look at the safety statistics, but we’re going to allow you to text and drive, essentially.”

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that within the next month or two, the company will be able to open the ability for people to text and drive because its Full Self-Driving suite will be robust enough to allow drivers to take their attention away from the road.

In its current state, Tesla Full Self-Driving is a supervised driver assistance suite that requires the vehicle operator to maintain control of the vehicle and pay attention to the road surroundings.

However, the company has been aiming to release a fully autonomous version of the Full Self-Driving suite for years, teasing its future potential and aiming to release a Level 5 suite as soon as possible.

CEO Elon Musk believes the company is on the cusp of something drastic, according to what he said at yesterday’s Annual Shareholder Meeting.

One thing Musk hinted at was that the company should be able to allow those sitting in the driver’s seat of their cars to text and drive “in the next month or two,” as long as the statistics look good.

He said:

“In the next month or two, we’re going to look at the safety statistics, but we’re going to allow you to text and drive, essentially.”

The company recently transitioned to its v14 Full Self-Driving suite, which is its most robust to date, and recently expanded to Cybertruck, completing its rollout across the vehicle lineup.

Currently, Tesla is running v14.1.5, and when major improvements are made, that second number will increase, meaning v14.2 will be the next substantial improvement.

Musk said that v14.3 will be when you can “pretty much fall asleep and wake up at your destination.”

We’ve heard a considerable amount of similar statements in the past, and Tesla owners have been conditioned to take some of these timeframes with autonomous driving with a grain of salt.

However, with the upgrades in FSD over the past few months, especially with the rollout of Robotaxi in Austin, which does not utilize anyone in the driver’s seat for local roads, it does not seem as if autonomy is that far off for Tesla.

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Tesla Semi undergoes major redesign as dedicated factory preps for deliveries

The Semi has been one of the most anticipated products in the Tesla lineup due to the disruption it could cause in the trucking industry.

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Tesla put its all-electric Semi truck through quite a major redesign as its dedicated factory for the vehicle is preparing for initial deliveries to the public starting next year.

The Semi has been one of the most anticipated products in the Tesla lineup due to the disruption it could cause in the trucking industry.

It has already been in numerous pilot programs for some pretty large companies over the past couple of years, PepsiCo. being one of them, and it is moving toward first deliveries to other companies sometime in 2026.

Yesterday at the 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting, Tesla unveiled its new Semi design, which underwent a pretty significant facelift to match the aesthetic and vibe of the other vehicles in the company’s lineup.

Additionally, Tesla announced some other improvements, including changes to efficiency, and some other changes that we did not get details on yet.

The first change was to the design of the Semi, as Tesla adopted its blade-like light bar for the Class 8 truck, similar to the one that is used on the new Model Y and the Cybertruck:

There also appear to be a handful of design changes that help with aerodynamics, as its efficiency has increased to 1.7 kWh per mile.

Tesla also said it has an increased payload capability, which will help companies to haul more goods per trip.

All of these changes come as the company’s Semi Factory, which is located on the same property as its Gigafactory in Reno, Nevada, is just finishing up. In late October, it was shown that the Semi facility is nearly complete, based on recent drone imagery from factory observer HinrichsZane on X:

Tesla Semi factory looks nearly complete

The factory will be capable of producing about 50,000 Tesla Semi units annually when it is completely ramped. The company has major plans to help get the Semi in more fleets across the United States.

Other entities are also working to develop a charging corridor for electric Class 8 trucks. The State of California was awarded $102 million to develop a charging corridor that spans from Washington to Southern California.

Another corridor is being developed that spans from Southern California to Texas, and 49 applicants won $636 million from the Department of Transportation for it.

Tesla requested funding for it, but was denied.

The Semi has been a staple in several companies’ fleets over the past few years, most notably that of Frito-Lay and PepsiCo., who have reported positive experiences thus far.

Musk said last year that the Semi had “ridiculous demand.”

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