Connect with us

News

Tesla’s largest V3 Supercharger facility is coming to Santa Monica

Credit: 3lectric/Instagram

Published

on

Tesla is planning to launch the world’s largest V3 Supercharging station in Santa Monica, California. Documents from Santa Monica’s Planning Commission reveal a 62 stall Supercharging station, comprised completely of Tesla’s super-fast V3 chargers and an owner lounge, is planned for the area of 1401 and 1421-1425 Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. The Planning Commission will vote on Wednesday, March 3rd.

Currently a series of abandoned and empty parking lots in the midst of several gas-powered car lots, the two empty plots of land could soon become one of Tesla’s largest Supercharging stations in the world. According to the City of Santa Monica Planning Commission, Tesla has applied for the approval of a Conditional Use Permit, which the City Commission will vote to approve the construction and subsequent operation of a 62 stall “recharging facility with solar canopies, restrooms, and support equipment split between two project sites.”

It will be the largest V3 Supercharging station in the world, but it will not have as many stalls as the 72 stall Shanghai Supercharging station in China. However, these Superchargers are only V2, meaning peak rates of 150 kW trail the possible 250 kW rates that could be available to owners in Santa Monica. The largest current V3 Supercharging station in the world is located in Firebaugh, California, and offers 56 stalls, all V3.

1401 Santa Monica Boulevard

The lot located at 1401 Santa Monica Boulevard will contain the bulk of the Supercharger stalls: 36 of them to be exact. Powered by several Tesla solar panel canopies, four rows of Supercharger stalls will be available on this lot. With a majority of the spaces being a standard 9-foot width, some are as wide as 12 feet, which could hint toward the introduction of more Cybertruck-focused parking spaces as new Supercharging lots are built.

The plans for the 36 Stall Supercharger lot at 1401 Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles. (Santa Monica Planning Commission)

According to documents, this lot will be powered by a Tesla Megapack with a power rating of 1264.5 kW and an energy rating of 2,529 kWh. Along with the 36 V3 Superchargers, a bathroom facility will be located in this lot, giving owners an indoor lavatory

1421-1425 Santa Monica Boulevard

The second lot, located to the right of 1401 Santa Monica Boulevard, will house 26 additional V3 Superchargers, according to another document. Several of the spaces in this lot are also various widths, making way for the possibility of Cybertruck-specific parking spaces as Tesla continues to expand its Supercharger fleet.

Advertisement
-->

According to the City of Santa Monica’s March 3rd Meeting Agenda, the possible Supercharger facility’s vote is one of two issues that will be discussed. The other is concerning an unrelated matter. However, the meeting will be available to watch in a live stream located here, tomorrow at 5:30 PM PST.

A summary of the project is available below.

Tesla V3 Superchargers at 1401 and 1421-1425 Santa Monica Blvd. by Joey Klender on Scribd

H/t: @DriveTeslaCa

Advertisement
-->

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

Advertisement
Comments

News

Tesla is coming to Estonia and Latvia in latest European expansion: report

Tesla seems to be accelerating its regional expansion following its recent launch in Lithuania.

Published

on

Credit: Grok Imagine

Recent reports have indicated that Tesla has taken a step toward entering the Baltic states by registering new subsidiaries in Latvia and Estonia.

Filings suggest that Tesla is accelerating its regional expansion following its recent launch in Lithuania, with service centers likely coming before full sales operations.

Official entities in Latvia and Estonia

Tesla has established two new legal entities, Tesla Latvia SIA and Tesla Estonia OÜ, both owned by Tesla International B.V., as noted in an EV Wire report. Corporate records show the Estonian entity was formed on December 16, 2025, while the Latvian subsidiary was registered earlier, on November 7.

Both entities list senior Tesla executives on their boards, including regional and finance leadership responsible for new market expansion across Europe. Importantly, the entities are registered under “repair and maintenance of motor vehicles,” rather than strictly vehicle sales. This suggests that Tesla service centers will likely be launched in both countries.

The move mirrors Tesla’s recent Baltic rollout strategy. When Tesla entered Lithuania, it first established a local entity, followed by a pop-up store within weeks and a permanent service center a few months later. It would then not be surprising if Tesla follows a similar strategy in Estonia and Latvia, and service and retail operations arrive in the first half of 2026.

Advertisement
-->

Tesla’s European push

Tesla saw a drop in sales in Europe in 2025, though the company is currently attempting to push more sales in the region by introducing its most affordable vehicles yet, the Model 3 Standard and the Model Y Standard. Both vehicles effectively lower the price of entry into the Tesla ecosystem, which may make them attractive to consumers.

Tesla is also hard at work in its efforts to get FSD approved for the region. In the fourth quarter of 2025, Tesla rolled out an FSD ride-along program in several European countries, allowing consumers to experience the capabilities of FSD firsthand. In early December, reports emerged indicating that the FSD ride-along program would be extended in several European territories until the end of March 2026. 

Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Elon Musk’s X will start using a Tesla-like software update strategy

The initiative seems designed to accelerate updates to the social media platform, while maintaining maximum transparency.

Published

on

Ministério Das Comunicações, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Elon Musk’s social media platform X will adopt a Tesla-esque approach to software updates for its algorithm.

The initiative seems designed to accelerate updates to the social media platform, while maintaining maximum transparency.

X’s updates to its updates

As per Musk in a post on X, the social media company will be making a new algorithm to determine what organic and advertising posts are recommended to users. These updates would then be repeated every four weeks. 

“We will make the new 𝕏 algorithm, including all code used to determine what organic and advertising posts are recommended to users, open source in 7 days. This will be repeated every 4 weeks, with comprehensive developer notes, to help you understand what changed,” Musk wrote in his post.

The initiative somewhat mirrors Tesla’s over-the-air update model, where vehicle software is regularly refined and pushed to users with detailed release notes. This should allow users to better understand the details of X’s every update and foster a healthy feedback loop for the social media platform.

Advertisement
-->

xAI and X

X, formerly Twitter, has been acquired by Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI last year. Since then, xAI has seen a rapid rise in valuation. Following the company’s the company’s upsized $20 billion Series E funding round, estimates now suggest that xAI is worth tens about $230 to $235 billion. That’s several times larger than Tesla when Elon Musk received his controversial 2018 CEO Performance Award. 

As per xAI, the Series E funding round attracted a diverse group of investors, including Valor Equity Partners, Stepstone Group, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Qatar Investment Authority, MGX, and Baron Capital Group, among others. Strategic partners NVIDIA and Cisco Investments also continued support for building the world’s largest GPU clusters.

Continue Reading

News

Tesla FSD Supervised wins MotorTrend’s Best Driver Assistance Award

The decision marks a notable reversal for the publication from prior years, with judges citing major real-world improvements that pushed Tesla’s latest FSD software ahead of every competing ADAS system.

Published

on

Credit: Grok Imagine

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system has been named the best driver-assistance technology on the market, earning top honors at the 2026 MotorTrend Best Tech Awards

The decision marks a notable reversal for the publication from prior years, with judges citing major real-world improvements that pushed Tesla’s latest FSD software ahead of every competing ADAS system. And it wasn’t even close. 

MotorTrend reverses course

MotorTrend awarded Tesla FSD (Supervised) its 2026 Best Tech Driver Assistance title after extensive testing of the latest v14 software. The publication acknowledged that it had previously criticized earlier versions of FSD for erratic behavior and near-miss incidents, ultimately favoring rivals such as GM’s Super Cruise in earlier evaluations.

According to MotorTrend, the newest iteration of FSD resolved many of those shortcomings. Testers said v14 showed far smoother behavior in complex urban scenarios, including unprotected left turns, traffic circles, emergency vehicles, and dense city streets. While the system still requires constant driver supervision, judges concluded that no other advanced driver-assistance system currently matches its breadth of capability.

Unlike rival systems that rely on combinations of cameras, radar, lidar, and mapped highways, Tesla’s FSD operates using a camera-only approach and is capable of driving on city streets, rural roads, and freeways. MotorTrend stated that pure utility, the ability to handle nearly all road types, ultimately separated FSD from competitors like Ford BlueCruise, GM Super Cruise, and BMW’s Highway Assistant.

Advertisement
-->

High cost and high capability

MotorTrend also addressed FSD’s pricing, which remains significantly higher than rival systems. Tesla currently charges $8,000 for a one-time purchase or $99 per month for a subscription, compared with far lower upfront and subscription costs from other automakers. The publication noted that the premium is justified given FSD’s unmatched scope and continuous software evolution.

Safety remained a central focus of the evaluation. While testers reported collision-free operation over thousands of miles, they noted ongoing concerns around FSD’s configurable driving modes, including options that allow aggressive driving and speeds beyond posted limits. MotorTrend emphasized that, like all Level 2 systems, FSD still depends on a fully attentive human driver at all times.

Despite those caveats, the publication concluded that Tesla’s rapid software progress fundamentally reshaped the competitive landscape. For drivers seeking the most capable hands-on driver-assistance system available today, MotorTrend concluded Tesla FSD (Supervised) now stands alone at the top.

Continue Reading