

News
Tesla is building a team to explore new materials like the Cybertruck’s steel exoskeleton
Tesla is planning to build a new team that will help explore the use of new materials that can be used in the company’s products, according to one of the automaker’s lead engineers. One great example of this is the Tesla Cybertruck that will utilize a stainless steel alloy for its exoskeleton.
Tesla has long worked to experiment with new materials for its vehicles, refining the processes it uses to create highly effective and safe cars for consumers to drive. The biggest and most obvious example of this was with the Tesla Cybertruck. When Tesla unveiled the all-electric pickup in November 2019, the company revealed that the exoskeleton of the vehicle would be made of an extremely strong and robust stainless steel alloy. The same goes for SpaceX’s Starship. Tesla CEO Elon Musk told Teslarati in mid-2020 that it would be utilizing “rapidly changing alloy constituents & forming methods, so traditional names like 304L will become more of an approximation.” He confirmed that the materials used with the Cybertruck wouldn’t remain stagnant either, and when stronger materials or forming methods were found, Tesla would use them.
Now, Tesla is committing an entire team of engineers to the development of new, stronger materials, according to David Nelson, who said he is moving to a new role on the Materials Engineering team at Tesla.
Nelson said via his LinkedIn:
“I have moved on from leading the design of motors and gearboxes to a new role on the Materials Engineering team at Tesla. The idea is to accelerate the adoption of new materials and processes – helping to bridge the gap between materials science and part design. This is a new team that I get to build from scratch! It’s a chance to do advanced development with world-class materials scientists and product design teams. If you are a broadly-talented design engineer please take a look at this job posting and apply.”
Tesla Cybertruck pays visit to Gigafactory Texas with Elon Musk behind the wheel
Electrek originally found the posting.
As Nelson mentioned, the team is brand new, and Tesla recently erected the team to expand its efforts to discover new materials. In fact, the company recently added a new job to its Careers page that applies to the positions Nelson mentioned. The company writes:
“The purpose of the Materials Applications Team is to accelerate the adoption of new materials and processes at Tesla. Our goal is to work on problems that make step changes in the optimal design space. As a Design Engineer on the team, you will bridge the gap between materials science and part design. That can mean many different things depending on the material or process. On any given day you might design prototype tooling to make trial parts, work with vendors to perfect a process, perform large design space studies to see how a new material impacts mass and cost, or work in the lab to characterize a part or system.”
Tesla’s focus on experimenting with new materials has taken a new bit of momentum with the new team and job posting. It will be interesting to see how this affects the development of the Cybertruck because the production of the pickup is expected to begin later this year.
Investor's Corner
Tesla gets another new price target as recent events ‘remove large overhang’
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) got another new price target this week after one firm said that recent events “have removed a large overhang on the stock.”

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) got another new price target this week after one firm said that recent events “have removed a large overhang on the stock.”
This year, Tesla has had an up-and-down performance on Wall Street, but gains over the past month have overshadowed much of the skepticism and pressure on the stock.
However, over the past 30 days, a lot of good things have happened: Tesla has shown it has a lot of demand for its vehicles, which will likely translate to good delivery figures, it figured out a compensation plan for CEO Elon Musk, and the company’s clear focus on Robotaxi and Optimus puts it in a good position for the future as the focus comes off of quarterly deliveries.
Tesla board reveals reasoning for CEO Elon Musk’s new $1 trillion pay package
Deutsche Bank recognized these potential catalysts and wrote in a note to investors:
“Ahead of 3Q25 deliveries next week, we raise our near-term estimates given stronger volume in the quarter, but keep our full-year and 2026 outlook mostly unchanged. We think Elon Musk’s clear focus on Tesla’s most important efforts (Robotaxi and Optimus) and the recent compensation package have removed a large overhang on the stock going forward, will allow Tesla to benefit from being a leader in embodied AI.”
These points specifically pushed Deutsche Bank’s reasoning for pushing its price target to $435 from $345.
In terms of quarterly deliveries, the firm expects Tesla to report 461,500 for the quarter. “We expect +20% growth in China and N. America, with some decline in Europe as competition and branding continue to weigh in on demand,” Deutsche Bank said.
Wall Street firm makes shock move for Tesla Q3 delivery prediction
Overall, IR-compiled consensus estimates put deliveries at 443,100:
$TSLA IR-compiled 3Q consensus deliveries for next week is 443.1K -4.3% YoY and +15.4% QoQ. Our 3Q estimate remains 470K so we are still looking for a material beat when TSLA reports 3Q deliveries and production on 10/2. The FY’2025 consensus is 1,603.2K so -10.4% YoY. pic.twitter.com/yuFh9Igvb9
— Gary Black (@garyblack00) September 26, 2025
Tesla received other price target boosts this week, including one from Wedbush’s Dan Ives, who bumped his outlook on the stock from $500 to a Street-high $600.
News
Elon Musk gives update on Tesla Optimus progress
Tesla is “working hard” to get Optimus production scaled, Elon Musk said.

Elon Musk says Tesla is working hard to scale what will end up being its biggest product in his eyes: Optimus.
Tesla Optimus is the company’s humanoid robot project, which was first announced several years ago but has gained more relevance and become a larger focus over the past year.
Tesla truly had its big breakout with Optimus last year at its “We, Robot” event in October, where it was used to serve drinks, provide entertainment, and mingle with attendees.
However, it has been a challenge for Tesla to truly scale Optimus and, although it has huge plans for production numbers, certain parts of the project have proven to be more difficult than others.
One of the most notable things is that of its hands, as Tesla wants them to be nimble enough to thread a needle.
This has proven to be very difficult.
Scaling production and refining manufacturing are also likely challenges. Musk says Tesla is “working hard on scaling Optimus,” something that is a crucial issue to solve as the project is a major contributor to the company’s future.
Musk said:
🚨 Tesla has big plans for Optimus production
It has plans for an annual production run-rate of 1 million by 2030
Earlier this year, the plan was to build 5,000 in 2025
Elon Musk has said Optimus should make up roughly 80% of Tesla’s value https://t.co/nAMKGq4yGz pic.twitter.com/NIGUKH248i
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 27, 2025
Musk has made some pretty tremendous predictions for Optimus and how important it could be to Tesla in the future.
Earlier this month, he said Optimus will make up about 80 percent of the company’s value in the future. In January, he also noted during Tesla’s Q4 2024 Earnings Call that Optimus would be “overwhelmingly the value of the company.”
Elon Musk details Tesla’s road to selling Optimus and Robotaxi affordably
He has not only talked about Optimus’s importance in terms of money and revenue. He also said it would be “the biggest product of all-time by far,” because of its ability to revolutionize human life. He said it would be like “having your own personal C-3PO and R2-D2.”
Aspect
|
Musk’s Estimation
|
Date/Context
|
Implication for Tesla
|
---|---|---|---|
Valuation Share
|
~80% of total company value
|
Sep 2025 X post; Jan 2025 earnings
|
Shifts focus from EVs to robotics as primary growth engine
|
Overall Valuation
|
Up to $25 trillion (Optimus-driven)
|
Mid-2024 interview
|
~34x current cap; exceeds U.S. GDP equivalent in profits
|
Market Size
|
>10 billion units globally
|
Aug 2024 interview
|
Universal adoption for labor/personal use
|
Product Ranking
|
Biggest product ever; > FSD value
|
Mar 2025 statement; Apr 2022
|
Transforms Tesla into AI/robotics leader
|
Unit Price
|
~$20,000 (high-volume target)
|
Nov 2024 X post
|
Enables affordability for billions of users
|
Elon Musk
Tesla pleads with Trump White House not to bail on crucial climate standards
It suggested that abandoning the standards “would give a pass to engine and vehicle manufacturers for all measurement, control, and reporting of GHG emissions for any highway engine and vehicle.”

Tesla pleaded with the Trump White House not to bail on crucial climate standards that would help keep vehicle emissions in check, warning of human dangers related to greenhouse gases.
Tesla wrote that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recent proposal to roll back standards for tailpipe emissions would be a major setback in the fight to limit damage to the climate.
It suggested that abandoning the standards “would give a pass to engine and vehicle manufacturers for all measurement, control, and reporting of GHG emissions for any highway engine and vehicle,” Reuters said in its report.
Trump has been a critic of environmental standards, and earlier this week, during a speech with the U.N., said that climate change was “the greatest con-job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion.”
NOW – Trump: “Climate change— it’s the greatest con-job ever perpetrated on the world.” pic.twitter.com/BZp9jX0d9w
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) September 23, 2025
Tesla’s tone on the potential rollback of climate standards was countered by that of General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen, and “nearly all other major automakers,” who requested the EPA delay the emissions goals.
Tesla stands to gain a lot from the emissions push. Other automakers simply cannot compete with Tesla’s tech, charging infrastructure, or self-driving program, and they have a significant advantage as they started developing EV tech more than a decade ago.
Legacy automakers, on the other hand, have continued to develop EVs, but have not managed to manufacture anything of extreme interest to most car buyers.
Individually, they have not dented Tesla’s market share in the U.S., but collectively, because of more offerings and improvements to their lineups, they have managed to take some of Tesla’s sales away.
It’s taken all of them to truly compete with Tesla in the big picture. However, the other companies still need to rely on combustion engine vehicles, at least in the short term, to generate revenue.
Since these companies are not meeting emissions targets, they are required to pay Tesla for compliance credits, which the company generated $2.8 billion in revenue from last year.
Tesla said in its letter that the EPA’s consideration of rolling back standards is destructive to the innovation of the automotive industry:
“[It] undermines the stability of this program, diminishes the value of performance-based incentives that electric vehicle manufacturers accrue under the standards, and creates an uneven playing field – reducing the inducement for investment in vehicle innovation.”
With President Trump’s skepticism on the issue of vehicle emissions, things don’t look like they will go in Tesla’s favor with this particular request.
-
Elon Musk3 days ago
Tesla FSD V14 set for early wide release next week: Elon Musk
-
News2 days ago
Tesla has a new first with its Supercharger network
-
News3 days ago
Tesla job postings seem to show next surprise market entry
-
News6 days ago
Tesla makes a big change to reflect new IRS EV tax credit rules
-
Elon Musk2 days ago
Elon Musk’s xAI wins federal AI contract as Grok undercuts ChatGPT
-
News2 days ago
China releases draft on door handle design following Tesla scrutiny
-
Investor's Corner1 day ago
Tesla gets new Street-high price target with high hopes for autonomy domination
-
News1 day ago
Tesla Model Y makes dramatic comeback in Sweden with 492% rise in registrations