News
Tesla’s ‘Roadrunner’ facility gets a neighbor working on tech beyond the million-mile battery
As the wait for Tesla’s Battery Day continues, more and more speculations are abounding about what the electric car maker might reveal during the highly-anticipated event. Elon Musk has stated that Battery Day’s announcements will be mind-blowing, and based on apparent clues recently observed by the Tesla community, it appears that the CEO may be right on the money.
Recent reports have indicated that Amprius, a battery company currently working on silicon nanowire tech, recently relocated its headquarters to a site that’s just a few hundred feet away from Tesla’s Roadrunner battery facility in Kato Road, Fremont. Considering the firm’s focus, its new headquarters’ rather convenient location, and Elon Musk’s previous references to the use of silicon in batteries, there seems to be a fair chance that Amprius’ move to Fremont may be more than a coincidence.
Amprius notes that it is working on creating silicon nanowires for battery anodes that dramatically improve battery weight and density. The company’s website notes that silicon generally has about 10x the capacity of graphite (carbon), but it has a big drawback in the way that it swells when it’s charged, causing the silicon to fracture. To address this, Amprius utilizes silicon nanowires, which keeps the silicon from fracturing and breaking apart even when it swells.
As noted by EV enthusiast and YouTube host Driving Delta, Elon Musk himself appears to be teasing the use of advanced silicon tech on Twitter last month. In one of his posts, Musk shared some lyrics of the song “Lithium” by Nirvana, whose refrain includes sections that state “I’m not gonna crack.” Granted, Musk may simply be trolling the Tesla community with his posts, but it should be noted that he also talked about the increasing use of silicon anodes five years ago.
“We’re shifting the cell chemistry for the upgrade battery pack to partially use silicon in the anode. This is just a sort of baby step in the direction of using silicon in the anode. We’re still primarily using synthetic graphite, but over time, we’ll be using increasing amounts of silicon in the anode,” Musk noted during a 2015 conference call.
As noted by Amprius’ on its website, the use of 100% silicon paves the way for batteries with the highest energy density, perhaps even at the 500 Wh/kg level. That’s enough to start exploring electric VTOL projects, a topic that Elon Musk has admitted is something that truly interests him. That being said, Professor in Energy Materials and Technologies Ying Shirley Meng, who has made significant contributions to Maxwell Technologies’ battery tech herself, believes that challenges still remain in the use of silicon nanowires.
“We should pay attention to the cost per kg. Even (if) those nanowires work (which I doubt), to produce consistent quality in metric ton scale at 10$ per kg it will be sci-fi for now,” she noted.
Elon Musk, for his part, recently stated that the technology that could allow 400 Wh/kg with a high life cycle and volume production is not too far away. Musk gave a rough timeframe for the technology, stating that such milestones could be achieved in about three to four years.
Tesla’s Battery Day event is expected to introduce the company’s next-generation lithium-ion cells, though speculations suggest that these batteries — which are expected to last a million miles — are based largely on Maxwell Technologies’ dry electrode tech. Maxwell itself has previously noted that it could offer batteries with 300 Wh/kg while stating that it had also identified a path to 500 Wh/kg. With this in mind, it appears that Tesla may already be setting the stage for cells that will likely go even beyond the million-mile battery.
Granted, Amprius’ move to Fremont may be unconnected to Tesla. That being said, the two companies’ goals to align with each other, and Elon Musk’s own references to the use of silicon suggests that Tesla will likely get a lot of value from Amprius’ tech. If speculations prove true, the path to batteries that go even further than the million-mile mark may be feasible in the near future. Such innovations are key to Tesla’s goal of accelerating the transition to sustainable energy, after all.
Watch these recent takes on the Amprius rumors in the videos below.
Cybertruck
Tesla drops latest hint that new Cybertruck trim is selling like hotcakes
According to Tesla’s Online Design Studio, the new All-Wheel-Drive Cybertruck will now be delivered in April 2027. Earlier orders are still slated for early this Summer, but orders from here on forward are now officially pushed into next year:
Tesla’s new Cybertruck offering has had its delivery date pushed back once again. This is now the second time, and deliveries for the newest orders are now pushed well into 2027.
According to Tesla’s Online Design Studio, the new All-Wheel-Drive Cybertruck will now be delivered in April 2027. Earlier orders are still slated for early this Summer, but orders from here on forward are now officially pushed into next year:
🚨 Tesla has updated the $59,990 Cybertruck Dual Motor AWD’s estimated delivery date to April 2027.
First deliveries are still slated for June, but if you order it now, you’ll be waiting over a year.
Demand appears to be off the charts for the new Cybertruck and consumers are… pic.twitter.com/raDCCeC0zP
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) February 26, 2026
Just three days ago, the initial delivery date of June 2026 was pushed back to early Fall, and now, that date has officially moved to April 2027.
The fact that Tesla has had to push back deliveries once again proves one of two things: either Tesla has slow production plans for the new Cybertruck trim, or demand is off the charts.
Judging by how Tesla is already planning to raise the price based on demand in just a few days, it seems like the company knows it is giving a tremendous deal on this spec of Cybertruck, and units are moving quickly.
That points more toward demand and not necessarily to slower production plans, but it is not confirmed.
Tesla Cybertruck’s newest trim will undergo massive change in ten days, Musk says
Tesla is set to hike the price on March 1, so tomorrow will be the final day to grab the new Cybertruck trim for just $59,990.
It features:
- Dual Motor AWD w/ est. 325 mi of range
- Powered tonneau cover
- Bed outlets (2x 120V + 1x 240V) & Powershare capability
- Coil springs w/ adaptive damping
- Heated first-row seats w/ textile material that is easy to clean
- Steer-by-wire & Four Wheel Steering
- 6’ x 4’ composite bed
- Towing capacity of up to 7,500 lbs
- Powered frunk
Interestingly, the price offering is fairly close to what Tesla unveiled back in late 2019.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk outlines plan for first Starship tower catch attempt
Musk confirmed that Starship V3 Ship 1 (SN1) is headed for ground tests and expressed strong confidence in the updated vehicle design.
Elon Musk has clarified when SpaceX will first attempt to catch Starship’s upper stage with its launch tower. The CEO’s update provides the clearest teaser yet for the spacecraft’s recovery roadmap.
Musk shared the details in recent posts on X. In his initial post, Musk confirmed that Starship V3 Ship 1 (SN1) is headed for ground tests and expressed strong confidence in the updated vehicle design.
“Starship V3 SN1 headed for ground tests. I am highly confident that the V3 design will achieve full reusability,” Musk wrote.
In a follow-up post, Musk addressed when SpaceX would attempt to catch the upper stage using the launch tower’s robotic arms.
“Should note that SpaceX will only try to catch the ship with the tower after two perfect soft landings in the ocean. The risk of the ship breaking up over land needs to be very low,” Musk clarified.
His remarks suggest that SpaceX is deliberately reducing risk before attempting a tower catch of Starship’s upper stage. Such a milestone would mark a major step towards the full reuse of the Starship system.
SpaceX is currently targeting the first Starship V3 flight of 2026 this coming March. The spacecraft’s V3 iteration is widely viewed as a key milestone in SpaceX’s long-term strategy to make Starship fully reusable.
Starship V3 features a number of key upgrades over its previous iterations. The vehicle is equipped with SpaceX’s Raptor V3 engines, which are designed to deliver significantly higher thrust than earlier versions while reducing cost and weight.
The V3 design is also expected to be optimized for manufacturability, a critical step if SpaceX intends to scale the spacecraft’s production toward frequent launches for Starlink, lunar missions, and eventually Mars.
News
Tesla FSD (Supervised) could be approved in the Netherlands next month: Musk
Musk shared the update during a recent interview at Giga Berlin.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk shared that Full Self-Driving (FSD) could receive regulatory approval in the Netherlands as soon as March 20, potentially marking a major step forward for Tesla’s advanced driver-assistance rollout in Europe.
Musk shared the update during a recent interview at Giga Berlin, noting that the date was provided by local authorities.
“Tesla has the most advanced real-world AI, and hopefully, it will be approved soon in Europe. We’re told by the authorities that March 20th, it’ll be approved in the Netherlands,’ what I was told,” Musk stated.
“Hopefully, that date remains the same. But I think people in Europe are going to be pretty blown away by how good the Tesla car AI is in being able to drive.”
Tesla’s FSD system relies on vision-based neural networks trained on real-world driving data, allowing vehicles to navigate using cameras and AI rather than traditional sensor-heavy solutions.
The performance of FSD Supervised has so far been impressive. As per Tesla’s safety report, Full Self-Driving Supervised has already traveled 8.3 billion miles. So far, vehicles operating with FSD Supervised engaged recorded one major collision every 5,300,676 miles.
In comparison, Teslas driven manually with Active Safety systems recorded one major collision every 2,175,763 miles, while Teslas driven manually without Active Safety recorded one major collision every 855,132 miles. The U.S. average during the same period was one major collision every 660,164 miles.
If approval is granted on March 20, the Netherlands could become the first European market to greenlight Tesla’s latest supervised FSD (Supervised) software under updated regulatory frameworks. Tesla has been working to secure expanded FSD access across Europe, where regulatory standards differ significantly from those in the United States. Approval in the Netherlands would likely serve as a foundation for broader EU adoption, though additional country-level clearances may still be required.
Tesla drops latest hint that new Cybertruck trim is selling like hotcakes
Elon Musk outlines plan for first Starship tower catch attempt
