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Elon Musk pledges to improve Tesla’s service location coverage within 3-6 months

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7 years ago

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In a recent announcement on Twitter, Elon Musk pledged to “fix” the existing gaps in the coverage of Tesla’s service locations. According to the CEO, Tesla would aim to expand the reach of its service centers to areas beyond big North American cities within the next 3-6 months. Musk also issued the same pledge to all countries that Tesla will be operating in by the end of next year.

Musk’s announcement on Twitter comes at a time when Tesla seems to be at the brink of reaching even more impressive milestones in vehicle delivery and production. In 2019, for one, Tesla aims to produce 10,000 Model 3 per week, resulting in a yearly output of more than 500,000 vehicles. Such a fleet requires a strong network of service centers in all areas where Teslas are being sold.

Tesla’s service centers are admittedly one of the company’s biggest points of improvement. Over the years, Tesla’s vehicles have developed the notorious reputation for being incredibly difficult to repair. Anecdotes from Tesla owners from the initial days of the Model S alone indicate that getting vehicles serviced, particularly for repairs, could become a taxing experience, partly due to the lack of spare parts and the number of certified body shops that can actually service the electric cars.

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Elon Musk has since pledged to address this issue. In the 2018 Annual Shareholder Meeting, Musk discussed the expansion of Tesla Service Centers and authorized body shops. Addressing the company’s shareholders, Musk noted that year-over-year, Tesla expects to see a doubling of service center capacity for Tesla.

“We’re rapidly expanding service centers. Year over year, probably see a doubling of service center capacity for Tesla. We’re making major progress on the body-shop front. This is quite a big deal. We’re creating Tesla body shop repair locations. We should have by the end of the month in at least the Top 10 metro areas in the US being able to be serviced by a Tesla body shop. This will be a dramatic improvement in the cost and time of body repair,” Musk said.

Musk also teased the idea of launching in-house body repair shops to address damages from minor accidents quickly. Tesla launched the first set of in-house repair shops earlier this year, and so far, they seem to be working well. A Model 3 that got damaged from an accident at a parking lot, for one, was fully restored by an in-house body shop in just 25 hours.

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That said, Tesla’s service network still has a long way to go, particularly in foreign regions. Last July, reports emerged that Tesla owners from Norway are getting aggravated by the company’s slow service. Responding to the reports on Twitter, Elon Musk admitted that “Norwegians are right to be upset with Tesla” considering that the electric car maker is having trouble expanding its service facilities in the region. 

As the impending global rollout of the Model 3 approaches, Tesla seems to be preparing itself for a massive influx of vehicles abroad. In Tilburg, Netherlands, for example, the company recently acquired an expansive facility located close to its assembly plant and delivery center. The facility, which spans 387,500 square feet (36,000 square meters), is speculated to serve as a hub where parts for vehicles are stored and distributed to surrounding regions. Considering that a shortage of parts is among the problems that plague owners, the Tilburg hub would likely play a vital role in ensuring that Tesla’s service networks are fully equipped and ready to address owner’s concerns in a timely manner.

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Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Tesla takes first step in sunsetting Model S and X with drastic move

Tesla won’t be taking custom orders of the Model S or Model X in Europe any longer.

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15 minutes ago

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July 30, 2025

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Credit: @supergeek18 | X

Tesla has seemingly taken the first step in sunsetting two of its older vehicles, the Model S and Model X, by ending international orders.

The flagship sedan and SUV from Tesla are the two oldest cars in the company’s lineup. They account for a very small portion of overall sales, and several years ago, CEO Elon Musk admitted that Tesla only continues to build and sell them due to “sentimental reasons.”

Earlier this year, there were calls for Tesla to end the production of the two cars, but Lars Moravy said that the Model S and Model X were due to get some love later in 2025. That happened, but the changes were extremely minor.

Tesla launches new Model S and Model X, and the changes are slim

Some took this as an indication that Tesla has kind of moved on from the Model S and Model X. A handful of people seemed to think Tesla would overhaul the vehicles substantially, but the changes were extremely minor and included only a few real adjustments.

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In Europe, customers are unable to even put a new order in on a Model S or Model X.

We noticed earlier today that Tesla pressing the ‘Order’ button on either of the flagship vehicles takes you to local inventory, and not the Design Studio where you’d configure your custom build:

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Tesla simply does not make enough Model S or Model X units to justify the expensive logistics process of shipping custom orders overseas. It almost seems as if they’re that they will essentially build a bunch of random configurations, send them overseas every few months, and let them sell before replenishing inventory.

Inversely, it could also mean Tesla is truly gearing up to sunset the vehicle altogether. It seems unlikely that the company will fade them out altogether in the next couple of years, but it could absolutely think about ending international orders because volume is so low.

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Energy

Tesla inks multi-billion-dollar deal with LG Energy Solution to avoid tariff pressure

Tesla has reportedly secured a sizable partnership with LGES for LFP cells, and there’s an extra positive out of it.

Published

6 hours ago

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July 30, 2025

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has reportedly inked a multi-billion-dollar deal with LG Energy Solution in an effort to avoid tariff pressure and domesticate more of its supply chain.

Reuters is reporting that Tesla and LGES, a South Korean battery supplier of the automaker, signed a $4.3 billion deal for energy storage system batteries. The cells are going to be manufactured by LGES at its U.S. factory located in Michigan, the report indicates. The batteries will be the lithium iron phosphate, or LFP, chemistry.

Tesla delivers 384,000 vehicles in Q2 2025, deploys 9.6 GWh in energy storage

It is a move Tesla is making to avoid buying cells and parts from overseas as the Trump White House continues to use tariffs to prioritize domestic manufacturing.

LGES announced earlier today that it had signed a $4.3 billion contract to supply LFP cells over three years to a company, but it did not identify the customer, nor did the company state whether the batteries would be used in automotive or energy storage applications.

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The deal is advantageous for both companies. Tesla is going to alleviate its reliance on battery cells that are built out of the country, so it’s going to be able to take some financial pressure off itself.

For LGES, the company has reported that it has experienced slowed demand for its cells in terms of automotive applications. It planned to offset this demand lag with more projects involving the cells in energy storage projects. This has been helped by the need for these systems at data centers used for AI.

During the Q1 Earnings Call, Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja confirmed that the company’s energy division had been impacted by the need to source cells from China-based suppliers. He went on to say that the company would work on “securing additional supply chain from non-China-based suppliers.”

It seems as if Tesla has managed to secure some of this needed domestic supply chain.

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Lifestyle

Tesla brings perhaps the coolest interior feature to cars in latest update

Tesla adds on to the “fun” aspect of its vehicles.

Published

7 hours ago

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July 30, 2025

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has brought perhaps the coolest interior feature to its cars in a new update that is rolling out to vehicles now.

The feature will require a newer vehicle that has interior ambient lighting, which is present on the new Model S, Model X, Model 3 “Highland,” and Model Y “Juniper.” The Cybertruck also has ambient lighting strips throughout.

Tesla Model Y’s ambient lighting design changes revealed in leaked video

With the Version 2025.26+ Software Update, Tesla is rolling out a new “Sync Accent Lights w/ Music” feature, which is available on the Tesla Toybox:

To enable the feature, you’ll access the Toybox, choose “Light Sync,” and then choose “Sync Accent Lights w/ Music.”

Although it does not improve the performance of the vehicle, it is yet another example of Tesla making one of the coolest cars out there. This is truly a cool add-on that can be used to impress your friends and family.

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