

News
Tesla is showing that rapid supply chain sustainability improvements are feasible: study
Tesla has made significant strides in improving its supply chain sustainability and human rights practices, as per a new study by environmental group Lead the Charge. This was highlighted by the fact that the electric vehicle giant jumped from ninth to third place in the group’s annual Auto Supply Chain Leaderboard and Report.
Lead the Charge’s Auto Supply Chain Leaderboard and Report analyzes publicly available data from 18 of the industry’s leading automotive manufacturers. The study also provides rankings of automakers’ efforts to eliminate emissions, environmental harms, and human rights violations from their supply chains. In a press release, Lead the Charge noted that its study comes at a crucial time as industry experts are calling for automakers to foster a cleaner supply chain.
Tesla is among the automakers that stood out in Lead the Charge’s study. As per the environmental group, Tesla achieved the largest score increase among its peers in the study, with the company jumping from ninth to third place. Tesla was also the only company to make improvements across all eight of the study’s indicator categories.
As per Lead the Charge’s 2024 Auto Supply Chain Leaderboard:
“Tesla was the big improver of the year. The EV manufacturer increased its Leaderboard performance by 21 percentage points, moving Tesla’s ranking from ninth last year into the top three this year. Tesla’s improvements demonstrate what other automakers can achieve with more dedicated effort. Tesla improved across all eight subsections of the Leaderboard — the only automaker to do so — with changes most noticeable in the fossil-free and environmentally sustainable supply chains section (up 20 percentage points and boosted a further 20% due to Tesla’s positive climate lobbying record).

“A significant factor in this was Tesla going from the minority of automakers not disclosing its scope 3 supply chain emissions at all last year to becoming the only company to disclose disaggregated supply chain emissions by steel, aluminum and battery production this year. The company also made important improvements within the responsible transition mineral sourcing subsection (up 29 percentage points).
“In addition, Tesla has a revised requirement on Indigenous Peoples’ right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) in its responsible sourcing policy, and now discloses specific, albeit insufficient, information on the risks to Indigenous Peoples’ rights that it has identified through its broader human rights due diligence assessment of human rights risks in its supply chain.”
Lead the Charge’s 2024 Auto Supply Chain Leaderboard and Report can be viewed below.
2024LTC Report V11 by Simon Alvarez on Scribd
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Cybertruck
Tesla clears the air on Cybertruck ‘deactivation’ video that is obviously fake
Tesla has cleared the air on the viral video, stating it is fake.

Tesla has cleared the air regarding a video that has been circulating, where the owner claims his Cybertruck was “deactivated” by the company while he was driving.
The video was shared on X and showed a driver pulled over on the side of the road, claiming his Cybertruck had been deactivated by Tesla in the middle of traffic. It is very obviously fake to those who know the company, but these kinds of things have a tendency to pick up steam.
This video is going viral of a Cybertruck “de-activated” in the middle of the road. What’s wild is a lot of people are believing it. People’s hate for Tesla and Elon Musk seems to shadow their critical thinking skills.
It’s likely a YouTube video or something just playing on… pic.twitter.com/HJr00Umjbu
— Jeremy Judkins (@jeremyjudkins_) August 11, 2025
The video shows a screen that says:
“Tesla Cybertruck De-Activated. Critical Issue Detected | Contact Customer Service, Comply with Cease & Desist to Re-Activate. Update Failed, Return to Dealer.”
The same person who posted the video also shared an image of what appears to be a Cease and Desist letter from Tesla, but it is also likely fake:
He also claims Tesla sent him a cease and desist letter because he made a song titled Cybertruck or something like that.
That’s why the error message in the video mentions a cease and desist. 🤣 pic.twitter.com/1zdtGApEfj
— Jeremy Judkins (@jeremyjudkins_) August 11, 2025
The company finally responded to the video on Monday afternoon, stating that the video is, in fact, fake, reiterating that it will not disable vehicles remotely for any reason.
This is fake – that’s not our screen.
Tesla does NOT disable vehicles remotely. https://t.co/QFOLG74AJI
— Tesla (@Tesla) August 11, 2025
It is a shame that these types of things happen, especially as people are prone to believe anything they see on the internet. As there is so much misinformation circulating surrounding Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk, it is no surprise that someone would leverage the situation for their own benefit.
If that Cease and Desist letter is not real, perhaps the next one might be. These types of things can truly cause damage to a company’s reputation, and someone getting an idea that Tesla would remotely deactivate a car could prevent them from buying one.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk is stepping up for Tesla Service in a big way
Elon Musk has stepped up to resolve a handful of customer issues regarding vehicle service.

Elon Musk is stepping up to help customers in a big way, especially when they are having issues with Tesla’s Service.
Perhaps one of the biggest advantages Tesla owners have is access to Musk through X, his social media platform. Over the years, we’ve seen Tesla add features, refine its cars’ performance, and more, all through asking Musk directly through a post.
Now, Musk is stepping up in another way by resolving a few Service complaints that customers had.
The first occurred last week when a recall on a Tesla battery was not honored by Service. The company sought $30,000 for a replacement and labor, which was not right. Musk responded that he would personally investigate the matter. The vehicle was fixed at no cost as it was a recall, and was ready for pickup the next day.
A Tesla story in four parts. 👏
Pretty nuts that the user in that second post is the CEO of a trillion-dollar company. pic.twitter.com/5VhXLka5s8
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 8, 2025
It also revealed a new strategy Tesla is using to combat service communication issues:
Tesla creates clever solution to simplify and improve its Service
The next occurred with a Cybertruck owner who was in Japan. Their car was parked at an airport in the U.S. and had lost a vast majority of its state of charge, leaving them just fifty miles of range at the time.
Musk reached out to the owner and said Service will take care of the car and will investigate the cause of the battery drain:
This is strange. Tesla service will take care of your car and we will find out why this happened and fix it.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 8, 2025
There are not too many companies out there where the CEO will get involved with individual issues like these. It’s pretty exclusive to Tesla, as Musk has commonly stepped up to resolve complaints with vehicles or to confront features that some owners might find useful.
Service has been a weak point of the company for some time, but it has worked to refine and resolve customer complaints by building more Service Centers across the world that can handle these issues.
Elon Musk
Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirms Robotaxi is opening to the public: here’s when
Anyone will be able to request a Tesla Robotaxi in September, Elon Musk said this morning.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that the company’s Robotaxi platform is opening to the public, and he even gave a timeline for when anyone will be able to access one for a ride.
Tesla’s Robotaxi platform launched to a small group on June 22 in Austin, Texas. The company has continued to expand the number of riders and its geofence over the past month and a half.
Additionally, it launched rides in the Bay Area of California, but it differs slightly, as the Texas Robotaxi platform does not utilize a Safety Monitor in the driver’s seat. In California, the monitor sits in the driver’s seat.
As the geofence, service areas, and testing populations expand, Tesla fans are awaiting their elusive emails that enable their ability to use the Robotaxi platform. It now seems that the email will come soon, as Musk said Tesla will open up public access to Robotaxi next month:
It will be open access next month
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 11, 2025
Tesla has been prioritizing safety over anything else with the launch of the Robotaxi platform, which is why it has been slow to push invitations to new riders. It is confident in the abilities of the platform and its Full Self-Driving suite, which has been proven with data.
However, even a single accident could set Tesla back years in terms of its development of self-driving cars. It is not a risk it is willing to take.
Musk said during the recent Q2 Earnings Call:
“We need to make sure it works when the vehicles are fully under our control. It’s kind of one step at a time here. We don’t want to jump the gun. As I said, we’re being paranoid about safety. But I guess next year is I’d say confidently next year. I’m not sure when next year, but confidently next year, people would be able to add or subtract their car to the Tesla, Inc. fleet.”
As the platform will expand in Austin and the Bay Area for anyone, Tesla still continues to reiterate that Robotaxi will be available for everyone sometime next year, as Musk said in the quote above.
Things will continue to improve over time, and Tesla will likely expand its geofence in both regions in the coming weeks. It has already done that in Austin twice, with about a doubling in size occurring both times.
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