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Tesla Supercharger rival IONITY network opens its first 10 charging stations
As the auto industry starts embracing electric cars, and as companies like Tesla continue to prove that EVs are a viable alternative to fossil fuel-powered transportation, some of the car industry’s most notable players are starting to lay the foundations for an electrified fleet. One of these initiatives is the IONITY network, an ultra-fast charging system designed to be a competitor to Tesla’s ever-growing Supercharger network.
IONITY is the product of a collaboration among the Volkswagen Group, BMW Group, Daimler AG, and Ford Motor Company. The system is designed to support charging rates of up to 350 kW, making it superior to Tesla’s Superchargers, which top at ~120 kW in their current iteration. For now, though, only the Porsche Taycan, which is expected be released sometime next year, is designed to support the IONITY network’s 350 kW output.
IONITY plans to open 400 ultra-fast charger stations across Europe’s most traveled highways by 2020. Just recently, the first 10 of these IONITY chargers have been opened, and another 16 are being built. IONITY has reportedly revealed that electric car owners would be charged per session, not for how much power they consume while charging as well.
The spread of IONITY’s ultra-fast chargers comes as Porsche prepares to build its own network of dedicated charging solutions for the Taycan and its upcoming electric cars like the Mission E Cross Turismo. Earlier this month, Porsche took the wraps off its Electric Pit Stop charging system concept, which utilizes a clever system involving FlexBoxes to create a clean, seamless charging solution for electric car owners.
Porsche notes that the FlexBoxes are weatherproof, modular, and are outfitted with all the necessary components of a charging rack. The German automaker even outlined its ChargeBox concept, which is equipped with a battery pack. Such a system would cater to electric car owners who reside in areas without medium-voltage grid connections.
The development of the IONITY network and Porsche’s Electric Pit Stops comes at a time when Tesla is also developing its Supercharger V3. In an update last May, Elon Musk noted that Tesla’s next-generation Superchargers would be unveiled soon. The exact specs of these chargers have not been revealed by the company yet, though some details about the upcoming system were discussed during Tesla’s Q1 2018 earnings call.
One thing that was mentioned by CEO Elon Musk and CTO JB Straubel, though, is that Tesla’s Supercharger V3 will not be a 350 kW charger. Musk explained that 350 kW does not really make a lot of practical sense, as it could compromise the electric cars’ batteries. Thus, Musk noted that Supercharger V3 would likely have an output of around 200-250 kW.
“We’re definitely going to be improving our Supercharger’s technology. The thing about a 350 kW charger is that it doesn’t actually make a ton of sense, unless you got a monster battery pack or have like a crazy high C rating. We think 350 kW for a single car; you’re gonna frag the battery pack if you do that. You cannot charge a high-energy battery pack at that rate, unless it’s a very high kW battery pack. So, (for us), something along the couple of hundred, 200-250 kW, maybe,” he said.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2026 on Wednesday afternoon. Here’s what the company reported compared to what Wall Street analysts expected.
The earnings results come after Tesla reported a massive beat on vehicle deliveries for the second quarter, delivering 489,126 vehicles and building 451,758 cars during the three-month span.
This was a major shock for those on Wall Street as they anticipated somewhere around 400,000 deliveries for the quarter, and showed Tesla still has plenty of demand for its vehicles around the world and in the U.S. despite losing the $7,500 EV Tax Credit last year.
Tesla Q2 2026 Earnings Results
- Non-GAAP EPS – $0.33 reported vs. $0.53 expected
- Revenues – $28.236 billion reported vs. $26.4 billion expected
- Free Cash Flow- -$1.092B
- Profit -$ 4.751B
Tesla (beat/missed) analyst expectations, so the market response to the company’s quarter is what we will look for next.
Tesla shares closed today down just over 1 percent, trading at $374.01.
In the past, it has been anyone’s guess with what Tesla shares will do after they report earnings. Strong quarters have resulted in sharp drops, while lackluster quarters have seen the stock shoot up considerably.
Tesla will hold its Q2 2026 Earnings Call in about 90 minutes at 5:30 p.m. on the East Coast. Remarks will be made by CEO Elon Musk and other executives, who will shed some light on the investor questions that we covered earlier this week.
You can stream it below. Additionally, we will be doing our Live Blog on X and Facebook.
Q2 2026 Earnings Call https://t.co/zZS6ii2TWK
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
Tesla is about to make parking in busy parking lots at businesses and other points of interest less stressful than ever by allowing drivers more control over where they park and how, CEO Elon Musk confirmed on X.
Tesla has been working to improve the parking performance of vehicles utilizing the Full Self-Driving suite, but now it is looking to add more customization, allowing drivers to choose the specific space they park in, but also potentially the orientation the car pulls into the spot:
It’s coming soon
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 21, 2026
Musk has reiterated on X twice over the past several weeks that Tesla is working to make things with the FSD suite based more on the driver’s specific preferences and behaviors that were seen in past drives.
Essentially, it sounds like if you tend to park away from a business to avoid other vehicles, Tesla FSD will soon recognize that preference of yours and start parking further away as well. Additionally, the prospect of assigned parking spaces has been something many owners have voiced concerns about.
Living in a community with assigned parking spaces makes using FSD incredibly difficult as it will rarely park in the correct spot when there are so many to choose from. This is also pertinent in work settings where there are sometimes assigned parking spaces.
The updates to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite in terms of listening to driver preferences with parking are also extending to routing. Tesla announced yesterday that with the release of its 2026 Summer Update, it was adding Automatic Navigation and Preferred Routes:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla has always maintained the idea that any human input is bad input, and that, ideally, Tesla Full Self-Driving will always make the right decision. Of course, this is all in theory, but the issue is that so many of Tesla’s interventions have come because it does something that is not necessarily wrong, but perhaps not what the driver would prefer.
Taking these preferences into account will help Tesla alleviate some of the potentially unnecessary interventions that drivers perform.
Tesla is starting to prepare for the launch of the Optimus robot in its smartphone app, new coding strings show. Elon Musk has referred to Optimus as what will be the greatest-selling product of any kind of all time, and now, Tesla is getting ready for its launch.
Tesla’s smartphone app had several first-time mentions of the Optimus program, according to Tesla App Updates, who intially reported on the appearance. Here’s what they found:
A Dedicated “Robot” Phone Key Authentication
Tesla is working on a Bluetooth Low Energy, or BLE, authentication that is specifically for robots. This does not only apply to Optimus, though, as Robotaxi, which is Tesla’s autonomous ride-hailing platform, might also identify vehicles within the fleet as robots as well.
Tesla shows rapid teardown of Model S and X lines, paving the way for Optimus at Fremont
Essentially, pairing your phone as a key to anything Tesla identifies as a robot to a “whitelist” of authorized devices. Optimus, Robotaxi, or other products that fall into this category will only respond if the device trying to communicate with it is authorized.
This is a great security feature that will eliminate at least face-value and low-level threats.
Home Data Collection and System Alerts
This appears to be somewhat of a neural network for Optimus within your house. There will be a dedicated screen that asks for consent to collect both video and spatial data while Optimus performs in-home tasks. Everything from vacuuming, washing dishes, dusting, and other activities will be tracked.
There will also be a comprehensive alert system that will track everything from low battery to mechanical issues.
Other Changes
Most of the changes tracked in this particular app update are related to Tesla’s 2026 Summer Update, and include things such as image assets for new features, a preview of the new custom wraps feature, and other unique features.
You can check out our coverage on what is included with the 2026 Summer Update here:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla is about to make parking in busy lots less stressful than ever
