Investor's Corner
Tesla explores safer battery production with novel DCM recovery system patent
In what appears to be yet another step towards its goal of operating the safest car factory in the industry, Tesla has been granted a patent that could pave the way for a safer process in battery production. Published today, the electric car maker’s recent patent describes a system to treat and recycle Dichloromethane (DCM), which is among the materials used in the production of electric car batteries.
DCM is utilized in a variety of industrial processes, particularly in chemical plastic welding, wherein softened plastic pieces or surfaces are welded together. The material is also used to soften plastic sheets for stretching or shaping, and as a solvent to remove unwanted compounds. In Tesla’s case, DCM is among the materials used in the forming of a separator base film for an electric car’s battery system. While DCM is invaluable in manufacturing, though, the material carries some health risks.
Dichloromethane is the least toxic among the simple chlorohydrocarbons, but its high volatility makes it an inhalation hazard nonetheless. Prolonged skin contact with DCM could also result in the material dissolving some of the skin’s fatty tissues, causing irritation or chemical burns. With these risks in mind, the manufacturing industry employs ways to recover DCM. Tesla notes that current systems for DCM treatment and recovery are capital intensive, particularly since the process involves expensive components such as activated carbon beds, condensers, steam boilers and distribution systems, density separation vessels, and waste water treatment systems.
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- Tesla’s DCM treatment system. [Credit: US Patent Office]
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- A flow chart illustrating operation of an exhaust treatment system for treating a waste exhaust stream containing dichlorom ethane. [Credit: US Patent Office]
Tesla’s diagrams outlining its Dichloromethane recovery system. [Credit: US Patent Office]
Tesla describes conventional DCM treatment systems as follows:
“The DCM itself may then be removed through a heating and/or evaporation process with the exhaust collected. This exhaust containing DCM is then combined with the exhaust from other tools and systems used in the manufacturing process. The combined exhaust may then be fed to a recovery plant to recover DCM. In the recovery plant, the waste exhaust stream is typically treated with activated carbon. This scrubbing process requires high capital expenditure (many expensive components), high operating cost (extensive steam and cooling water consumption which accounts for >20% of total process cost), large footprint requirements, and large amounts of waste water that need to be processed. In order to address these cost and environmental-remediation issues, an improved process for the removal of DCM from exhaust streams is needed.”
Tesla’s take on DCM treatment and recovery utilizes a wet scrubber and a density separator vessel as key components of the system. The wet scrubber in Tesla’s patent has a scrubbing chamber, where water is utilized to scrub the waste exhaust stream containing the DCM. Tesla notes that the wet scrubber could adopt a variety of designs to remove DCM from the waste exhaust stream, including a venturi scrubber design, a condensation scrubber design, an impingement-plate scrubber design, or a packed bed tower design, among others.
Tesla’s use of a density separator vessel is described in the following section from the patent.
“The density separator vessel has an inlet to receive the liquid water and DCM mixture, an outlet to expel DCM, and an outlet to expel waste water. The DCM may be routed back to the industrial process for reuse and/or collected for later use. The waste water may be routed back to the wet scrubber, as shown along (the) waste water return loop. Waste water may also or alternately be routed to waste water treatment system for processing for subsequent treatment by (the) waste water treatment system.
“Typically, a large portion of the waste water is returned to the wet scrubber via (the) waste water return loop and a small portion of the waste water is treated by the waste water treatment system. Even though the waste water may contain small amounts of DCM, the waste water will still retain its ability to scrub the exhaust containing DCM. An advantage of the wet scrubber over the activated carbon beds is that all or most of the water used by the wet scrubber is the waste water from the density separator vessel, resulting in substantial savings of water and energy, and resultantly, substantial cost savings.”
Tesla states that compared to more traditional exhaust treatment systems, the DCM treatment and recovery model outlined in its patent effectively eliminates the use of steam and cooling, while also reducing the amount of throughput needed by a waste water system. With these efficiencies in mind, Tesla notes that it could reduce capital expenditures and operating costs “for the same amount of DCM processed processing.” The increased simplicity of the system and reduced airflow rates are expected to help the company get more savings in both capital expenditures and operating costs as well.
More than a way to optimize its operations, Tesla’s recent patent is also a notable way for the company to keep its battery production lines safer for its employees. Such a system would definitely be invaluable for the company, particularly as Tesla is now preparing the Model 3 for a global rollout. With the Model 3 ramp ever-expanding, and with high-volume vehicles like the Model Y and possibly the Tesla pickup truck in the pipeline, optimizations such as a better DCM treatment and recovery system are all but necessary.
Tesla’s recently published patent on its DCM treatment system could be accessed here.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) showrooms have been picked clean ahead of the end of the third quarter of the year, as demand looks to be strong and delivery estimates for new vehicles are pushed into late 2026 and early 2027.
Tesla appears to have sold out of many of its Model 3 and Model Y trim levels in the United States, as only the Model Y RWD and Model Y All-Wheel-Drive are available for delivery before the end of the year.
Additionally, many showrooms are either completely empty or void of all but just one demo unit within the buildings themselves in an effort to bolster what could be one of Tesla’s best quarters in vehicle deliveries in recent memory.
I’m at Tesla right now and when I walked into their showroom I was shocked to see it basically empty.
I asked one of the people working there where all of the cars are “Gone – it’s the end of the quarter and we’ve sold out of everything… including the display vehicles”So… pic.twitter.com/rN7s3gE6sJ
— Devin Olsen (@DevinOlsenn) September 25, 2026
All the cars are gone from Tesla Century City!
All they have is Model Y L, a self-driving video playing on the background. I guess the best product is no product. Either that or they just sold the showroom cars. pic.twitter.com/mzCjWaXwww
— Whole Mars Catalog (@wholemars) September 26, 2026
Show room is empty. I asked and they have sold the demo cars too. Delivery numbers better be outstanding! pic.twitter.com/jq5N28Q6tZ
— Electric Brawl (@3lectricBrawl) September 22, 2026
Additionally, when I spoke to the guys at Tesla Mechanicsburg two weeks ago, when I returned the Model Y L, their third hauler of the week had just arrived, and every vehicle on it, along with every vehicle in their delivery lot, was accounted for and had a name attached to it for delivery.
Talking to the guys at the Mechanicsburg showroom on Friday, they couldn’t believe they had ANOTHER hauler coming in of cars for delivery—and each was accounted for
No car just sitting in inventory. They’re expecting a BIG quarter, and this is more than just the Y L https://t.co/ce801GkKVv
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 21, 2026
Tesla saw a 25 percent increase in deliveries in Q2 compared to the same quarter the year before. The vast majority of the 480,126 units it delivered, 467,762 vehicles to be exact, were the Model 3 and Model Y.
In Q3 2025, Tesla delivered 497,099 vehicles, once again a figure that was dominated by the company’s two mass-market vehicles. Analysts have unusually wide predictions for this quarter, likely because so many firms missed the Q2 delivery figure by such a substantial margin; Wall Street predicted 408,000 cars, while Tesla delivered 480,000.
Goldman Sachs has Tesla slotted for 435,000 deliveries in Q3, while JPMorgan said it anticipates 482,000. The median guess is about 449,000 deliveries for Q3.
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Elon Musk
SpaceX turned a heralding moment for Starship into its greatest
Starship reached orbit despite losing an engine, deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites on Flight 14.
SpaceX’s Starship reached orbit for the first time on Monday, and for a few nail-biting minutes it looked like it wouldn’t. During ascent on Flight 14, one of Ship 41’s six Raptor engines shut down early, and SpaceX’s livestream host Dan Huot told viewers the team had decided not to commit to orbit. Minutes later, after what Huot described as a lot of conversation in the control room, the final poll came back in favor, and a roughly 19 second burn of a single Raptor pushed the ship into orbit about 170 miles up.
The reversal matters because SpaceX had written the exit ramp into the mission plan. The company said it would only fire the orbital insertion burn if flight controllers confirmed enough backup hardware remained for the deorbit burn, a condition Teslarati laid out ahead of the flight. Losing an engine was exactly the scenario that rule was built for.
Pressing forward fits Elon Musk’s history. Falcon 1 failed three straight times before its fourth launch reached orbit in 2008, with SpaceX nearly out of money, and Starship was developed by flying prototypes until they broke. What changed this year SpaceX going public, and with $SPCX sliding below its IPO price in July when Flight 13 slipped, the short interest climbed significantly, as Teslarati reported at the time. A Starship potentially lost today with revenue generating next-gen Starlink satellites aboard would have landed directly on shareholders.
Splashdown confirmed. Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on the first orbital flight of Starship! pic.twitter.com/urjmiwnvNl
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 28, 2026
That pressure showed up after orbit. SpaceX cut a flight planned to last nearly 10 hours to about three, moving splashdown from west of Chile to the North Pacific near Hawaii. SpaceX gave no reason, though Musk said this month the company was being extremely cautious about debris risk. The single Raptor for deorbit worked, and Ship 41 completed its flip and landing burn before breaking apart in the water, an outcome SpaceX expected. Musk has structured SpaceX’s governance to shield long term bets from market pressure.
The payload is the bigger business story. Musk posted that all 26 Starlink V3 satellites deployed and are “operating nominally.” Each V3 is rated for about 1 Tbps of downlink and 160 Gbps of uplink, so this single launch adds roughly 26 Tbps, about 10 times what a Falcon 9 load of V2 Mini satellites adds. The V3 is too large for Falcon 9, making Starship the only vehicle that can build out the planned 100,000 satellite constellation, at up to 60 per flight once it reaches routine service. Unlike the 20 V3 units on Flight 13, which reentered on a suborbital path, these will raise their orbits and could begin serving customers within weeks and bring in hundreds of millions of additional dollars in projected Starlink revenue.
SpaceX has already begun winding down Falcon 9 Starlink launches from Florida in favor of Starship. Reported targets put Flight 15 as early as October 19, leaving about three weeks to diagnose Monday’s engine shutdown before the next orbital attempt.
Starship’s 14th flight is set to launch on Monday, Sept 28. The 75-minute launch window opens at 7:15 a.m. CT. Live coverage of the mission starts ~35 minutes before launch → https://t.co/uQKQvgaTmJ
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 27, 2026
Elon Musk
SpaceX just got the green light Starship has waited years for
The FAA has cleared Starship Flight 14, setting up SpaceX’s first orbital attempt on Monday.
SpaceX has cleared the last regulatory hurdle standing between Starship and its first trip to orbit. The Federal Aviation Administration issued the launch license for Starship Flight 14 late Saturday, keeping the mission on track for liftoff Monday, September 28, from Pad 2 at Starbase, Texas.
The 75 minute launch window opens at 7:15 a.m. Central, and Boca Chica Beach closures are also scheduled for September 29 and 30 as backup dates. This will be Starship’s first revenue generating mission.
The license was the missing piece after SpaceX completed a full wet dress rehearsal with Booster 21 and Ship 41 on September 24. At the time, the company said the flight remained on track pending regulatory approval. Because Flight 14 flies an orbital profile, the FAA had to sign off on a modified license that met its safety, payload and financial responsibility requirements.
Observers combing through the new FAA paperwork also noticed that lightning no longer appears among Starship’s listed launch hazards. If that holds, it matters more for where Starship is headed than for Monday’s attempt. Florida and Louisiana, home to LC-39A and the planned Starbase Louisiana site, see some of the most frequent lightning in the United States.
SpaceX tells the FCC that Starship Flight 14 is going to orbit
Flight 14 is the mission SpaceX has been building toward for months. Ship 41 will carry 26 Starlink V3 satellites, the first operational V3 units to be deployed, and attempt roughly six orbits at about 275 kilometers over a flight lasting just under 10 hours. SpaceX says the ship will only perform its orbital insertion burn after flight controllers confirm enough hardware redundancy remains for the deorbit burn at the end of the mission. Ship 41 is targeting a splashdown in the Pacific west of Chile, while Super Heavy will return to the Gulf of Mexico.
The date carries some symbolism as well. A Monday launch would come 10 years and one day after Elon Musk first presented the Interplanetary Transport System, the design that became Starship, at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico.
SpaceX has not announced what comes next, but air traffic planning slides reported this week, list Flight 15 no earlier than October 19 and a first Starship launch from LC-39A in Florida no earlier than October 30. Both dates depend on how Monday goes.
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