News
Elon Musk finally names Tesla’s main rival—and it’s way bigger than the auto industry
It’s easy to fall into the Tesla vs. legacy auto narrative. Since the days of the original Roadster, it appeared that Tesla was this company that was determined to make a change by forcing the automotive industry to go electric. But while this was true to a point, Tesla’s battle is much bigger than that. Elon Musk confirmed as much on Twitter recently.
Tesla did force the automotive industry to go electric. Its Model S did prove that EVs can be just as good or even better than combustion-powered cars. Its Model 3 did show that good EVs have a legitimate market among mainstream car buyers. However, Tesla has always maintained that its EVs — while they are the company’s most popular products — are only part of its ecosystem.
In a recent tweet, Musk noted that when Tesla’s market cap exceeds that of Saudi Aramco, then that is the time when people can see that the future would be good for the planet. “When Tesla’s market cap, making sustainable energy products, exceeds that of Aramco, producing fossil fuels, you know the future will be good for Earth,” Musk wrote on Twitter.
So that’s Tesla’s rival. It’s not Volkswagen, the legacy automaker that Elon Musk states is the most serious one in the EV transition, nor is it GM and Ford, both of which are looking to release numerous EVs over the coming years. It’s not even Rivian or Lucid, two upstart EV makers whose stellar first vehicles are standing on the shoulders of giants like the Model S.
No, Tesla’s main rival is one of the world’s largest gas companies by market cap. Saudi Aramco has a market cap of $2.431 trillion as of May 2022. Tesla, despite being far larger than any automaker on Earth by market cap, was at $786.98 billion. Tesla had reached a market cap of over $1 trillion before, but in the grand scheme of things, the gap between Saudi Aramco and Tesla is still extremely vast.
Fortunately, Tesla has plans to significantly increase its reach in the coming years, not only in the automotive sector but in areas like artificial intelligence as well. Products like the Tesla Bot, as well as an ecosystem of home products like a smart HVAC system, have the potential to make Tesla into a household name like Apple. If Tesla can foster an ecosystem of renewable solutions, then it would truly become the antithesis of companies like Aramco — and it could be the perfect company to beat them too.
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Investor's Corner
Tesla receives major institutional boost with Nomura’s rising stake
The move makes Tesla Nomura’s 10th-largest holding at about 1% of its entire portfolio.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) has gained fresh institutional support, with Nomura Asset Management expanding its position in the automaker.
Nomura boosted its Tesla holdings by 4.2%, adding 47,674 shares and bringing its total position to more than 1.17 million shares valued at roughly $373.6 million. The move makes Tesla Nomura’s 10th-largest holding at about 1% of its entire portfolio.
Institutional investors and TSLA
Nomura’s filing was released alongside several other fund updates. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings by 11.8%, as noted in a MarketBeat report, and Revolve Wealth Partners lifted its TSLA position by 21.2%. Bison Wealth increased its Tesla stake by 52.2%, AMG National Trust Bank increased its position in shares of Tesla by 11.8%, and FAS Wealth Partners increased its TSLA holdings by 22.1%. About 66% of all outstanding Tesla shares are now owned by institutional investors.
The buying comes shortly after Tesla reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, posting $0.50 per share compared with the $0.48 consensus. Revenue reached $28.10 billion, topping Wall Street’s $24.98 billion estimate. Despite the earnings beat, Tesla continues to trade at a steep premium relative to peers, with a market cap hovering around $1.34 trillion and a price-to-earnings ratio near 270.
Recent insider sales
Some Tesla insiders have sold stock as of late. CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares in early September for just over $918,000, reducing his personal stake by about 21%. Director James R. Murdoch executed a far larger sale, offloading 120,000 shares for roughly $42 million and trimming his holdings by nearly 15%. Over the past three months, Tesla insiders have collectively sold 202,606 shares valued at approximately $75.6 million, as per SEC disclosures.
Tesla is currently entering its next phase of growth, and if it is successful, it could very well become the world’s most valuable company as a result. The company has several high-profile projects expected to be rolled out in the coming years, including Optimus, the humanoid robot, and the Cybercab, an autonomous two-seater with the potential to change the face of roads across the globe.
@teslarati Tesla Full Self-Driving yields for pedestrians while human drivers do not…the future is here! #tesla #teslafsd #fullselfdriving ♬ 2 Little 2 Late – Levi & Mario
News
Tesla rolls out fresh Supercharger pricing strategy to more locations
Live Pricing aimed to resolve some of the shortcomings of the off-peak and on-peak system, aiming to keep prices low and base them on current utilization instead of a set time when prices change.
Tesla has rolled out a fresh Supercharger pricing strategy to more locations, as it confirmed it has added 550 additional sites in the United States to its “Live Pricing” strategy.
Live Pricing for Superchargers launched back in May, and was the company’s latest strategy to keep charging your EV cheap, affordable, and easy to understand.
Tesla has adjusted its pricing strategy at Superchargers several times over the past few years, with the most notable being the 2020 introduction of off-peak and on-peak Supercharging rates.
Live Pricing aimed to resolve some of the shortcomings of the off-peak and on-peak system, aiming to keep prices low and base them on current utilization instead of a set time when prices change.
Tesla explained the program when it launched:
“We are piloting on-peak and off-peak pricing based on live Supercharger utilization rather than estimations. The average price remains unchanged, but this live feedback loop improves accuracy. This corrects off-peak pricing during times of congestion, or on-peak pricing when Superchargers are plentiful. You’ll always see the price before your session begins, and prices do not change mid-session. A small-scale pilot is launching at 10 sites and will expand based on feedback and success.”
The initial rollout only included Superchargers in California, but it was not all of them, only a handful instead. Tesla was attempting to launch it in a very controlled manner by using a Pilot Program that would iron out all the early bugs and potential issues it might run into.
However, the company expanded the program by launching it at an additional 550 sites in California, New Jersey, New York, Florida, and Illinois:
Live pricing expanded to an additional 550 sites in California, New Jersey, New York, Florida and Illinois.
Currently the average price remains the same, peak prices are unchanged and will be paid by fewer sessions.
We’ll keep iterating on getting it right, based on impact and…
— Tesla Charging (@TeslaCharging) November 14, 2025
The price you pay is locked in when you plug in, so if the Supercharger station you are charging at becomes more crowded and the program bumps up the rates because of high utilization rates, you will still receive the cheaper price that was enabled when you arrived.
@teslarati With a pedestrian in the crosswalk, Tesla Full Self-Driving shows off its courtesy. Human drivers? Not so much. #tesla #teslafsd #fullselfdriving ♬ AMERICAN HEART – Maxwell Luke
News
Tesla Robotaxi was just spotted in a new state for the first time
The company is still attempting to expand and has explicitly stated that it plans to offer rides in Nevada, Arizona, and Florida in the near future. However, a pair of Robotaxi mules, fitted with LiDAR equipment for ground truth validation, was spotted in a new region for the first time.
Tesla Robotaxi mules were spotted in a new state for the first time as the company plans to expand the ride-sharing service to new areas of the United States in the coming months.
Tesla is offering Robotaxi rides in Austin already, where nobody is present in the driver’s seat except for on freeway routes. In California, Tesla refers to its platform as a ride-hailing suite, and a “Safety Monitor” is present in the driver’s seat at all times, but the vehicle operates on Full Self-Driving.
The company is still attempting to expand and has explicitly stated that it plans to offer rides in Nevada, Arizona, and Florida in the near future. However, a pair of Robotaxi mules, fitted with LiDAR equipment for ground truth validation, was spotted in a new region for the first time.
Over the weekend, Tesla Robotaxi mules were spotted in Enola, Pennsylvania, just about ten minutes from downtown Harrisburg:
🚨 Enola is about 10 minutes from Harrisburg, the State Capitol
Interesting tidbit of information as Tesla is testing Robotaxi close to PA’s legislators https://t.co/5rDlcYrV8w
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 17, 2025
Enola is situated to the northwest of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s State Capitol. Interestingly, you’d expect Tesla to be testing these types of vehicles in other, more populated areas; Philadelphia is about two hours East, and Pittsburgh is about three hours west. State College is about an hour North of Enola.
Looking at the location of where the vehicles were spotted tells an interesting story, as Enola, located right outside of the State Capitol, could be a move to nudge legislators to consider looking at some of the laws that deal with driverless and autonomous vehicle operation.
Pennsylvania’s Act 130 of 2022 and subsequent guidelines permit the testing of driverless vehicles in the Commonwealth, but PennDOT requires a permit from Tesla or any other company that wants to operate a ride-hailing service in PA.
It’s also important to note that the cars could have simply been stopping through, as they were spotted at a Supercharger location along Interstate 81, which spans from Tennessee to New York.
It is not to say the vehicles are testing along the entire route, but likely a segment of it. The fact that they were spotted in Pennsylvania does bode well for Tesla’s expansion efforts moving forward.
@teslarati Tesla Full Self-Driving yields for pedestrians while human drivers do not…the future is here! #tesla #teslafsd #fullselfdriving ♬ 2 Little 2 Late – Levi & Mario
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