News
Tesla supplier Talon Metals to explore 400,000 acres of Upper Peninsula for nickel
Tesla supplier and key partner, Talon Metals, announced that it has acquired the rights to explore around 400,000 acres of Upper Peninsula land for nickel deposits. The newly acquired land is near Lake Superior and along the southern edge of Channing, MI.
The land is near the only nickel mine in the U.S., Eagle Mine, which is owned by Lundin Mining Corp. and is planning to close down in 2026. Talon Metals plans to explore the area including Eagle’s tailings facility
Rio Tinto previously explored the area but Talon believes its technology strategies and modeling will help it find new deposits.
Brian Goldner, Talon’s Chief Exploration and Operations Officer told Detroit News that he thinks the region of northern Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and southern Ontario could have high-grade nickel deposits due to its “mid-continent rift geology” that was formed 1.1 billion years ago.
The importance of sourcing EV Minerals in America
Todd Malan, Talon’s Chief External Affairs Officer and Head of Climate Strategy emphasized the need to source materials to advance the energy transition. He told Detroit News, “Doing it in America with working people participating ensures that we do it at a high standard.”
I reached out to Todd who expanded on his comment. He told me that the company’s expansion is aligned with Senator Manchin’s challenge to the industry to “be aggressive.”
“We can do this. We have good geology in the US and FTA allies like Canada and Australia. We have new resources from governments in the US, Australia, and Canada that are aimed at helping mining and processing ramp up.”
“Some of the leading automakers are taking a true partnership approach to the supply chain and signing offtake agreements, helping suppliers access new government funding or potentially even investing in new innovative companies.”
“Everyone working together can meet Manchin’s content requirements. We need to do this to save the planet, address dependency for battery minerals on potentially hostile countries, and create more good jobs in the US.”
Talon Metals CEO’s statement
Henri van Rooyen, CEO of Talon Metals, also emphasized that the acquisition of the land is a response to Senator Manchin’s challenge. In an emailed press release he said,
“Talon’s acquisition of the Michigan Nickel Properties is directly responsive to Senator Manchin and other national leaders on both sides of the aisle to take urgent action to establish a battery mineral supply chain from mine to battery within the United States.”
“Talon will bring its proven approach to exploration and use cutting-edge technology to explore for new high-grade nickel, iron and copper deposits in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, currently the only region in the United States that produces nickel.”
“The USA currently has only two known high-grade nickel deposits: Talon’s Tamarack Nickel Project in Minnesota and the Eagle Nickel Mine in Michigan. These two exceptional deposits of high-grade nickel are definitive proof of the nickel potential in the Lake Superior region; notwithstanding this, the amount of modern exploration of this nickel-bearing region is minuscule in comparison to other nickel districts around the world.”
“Talon’s experienced team of ‘nickel hunters’ has the benefit of technologies only dreamed of prior to 2020: new technologies mean faster data collection, processing, interpretation, and drilling, culminating in the ability to generate and test a much larger number of high-priority targets simultaneously.”
“Not only is Talon taking an innovative approach to discovery of high-grade battery nickel and battery-grade iron deposits in the USA for various battery chemistries (including NMC, NCA, and LFP batteries), but Talon is also taking an industry-leading approach to protecting the environment, partnering with unions and building broad-based community support where we operate,”
Disclaimer: Johnna is long Tesla.
I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or see a typo, you can email me at johnna@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @JohnnaCrider1
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
