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Tesla Model 3 will dominate Germany’s e-car market in 2019, says industry expert
With the major challenges in the production of the Model 3 behind the company, Tesla is poised to start delivering the electric sedan to other countries. Among these is Germany, which is expected to begin receiving deliveries of the Model 3 this coming February. These first deliveries, according to a German automotive industry expert, would likely usher in what could very well be the year of Tesla, where the California-based carmaker end up dominating Germany’s e-car market.
In a recent analysis, auto veteran and founder of Germany’s Center of Automotive Research (CAR) at the University of Duisburg-Essen Ferdinand Dudenhöffer stated that 2019 would likely see a massive influx of electric vehicle registrations in the country. Dudenhöffer notes that a large part of these registrations will be due to the arrival of the Model 3, which he expects would help Tesla sell up to 20,000 electric vehicles per year in Germany.
“If it works with the production and an early sales start of Model 3 in Germany, for Tesla altogether up to 20,000 sales in this country in 2019 are possible,” the industry expert wrote in his study.
If Tesla does end up selling as many vehicles as Dudenhöffer expects in 2019, the electric car maker will become Germany’s most successful EV brand. While other EVs and electrified vehicles are available in the market, after all, no other car comes close to the estimated sales numbers of the Model 3. From January to October this year, for example, Dudenhöffer notes that Smart sold 7,030, Volkswagen sold 6,420, and Renault and BMW sold 5,150 green vehicles each. Tesla, which so far only sells the Model S sedan and the Model X SUV in Germany, sold 1,678 cars in the same period.
Dudenhöffer notes that the Model 3’s arrival in Germany will likely get a boost from upcoming, EV-friendly government regulations as well. Currently, employees who use their company cars privately are taxed 1% of the vehicle’s value. Starting January 1, 2019, company cars that are electric will receive half the tax. According to German publication Wirtschaftswoche, electric car drivers can save as much as 200 euros with the upcoming system in place.
The Tesla Model 3 has become a force to be reckoned with in the American auto market. As the electric car maker hits its stride in the production of the Model 3, Tesla has begun an initiative to bring the vehicle abroad. Over the past months, Tesla has brought the Model 3 to several countries in Europe, as well as key markets in Asia such as China and Japan. With each stop in its worldwide tour, the Model 3 was received with much interest.
Local media reports from Europe indicate that Tesla is planning on shipping 3,000 Model 3 per week to the region starting February 2019. Belgian news agency Focus-WTV has noted that the vehicles would be arriving every week in the port of Zeebrugge, located on the coast of Belgium. The vehicles will reportedly be shipped through the services of transportation firm International Car Operators (ICO), which utilizes rapid RoRo (roll-on, roll-off) ships that are capable of loading and unloading cargo quickly.
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A video reportedly featuring what could very well be one of the first large shipments of Model 3 sedans to Europe was shared by WTV to Teslarati. The clip, which was taken earlier this month and which features rows of covered electric sedans in ICO’s Zeebrugge site, could be viewed below.
Tesla has revealed plans through permit submissions for a massive Robotaxi charging hub in Austin, Texas.
Tesla plans to build the Supercharger hub in multiple phases, with the second phase potentially introducing wireless induction charging, something the company has been developing for the Robotaxi fleet.
Initially, 48 Tesla Robotaxi-geared Superchargers will be built on a lot just across from the St. Elmo, Texas, Service Center. There are about 80 additional spots that will not be impacted by phase 1 of the construction process.
Filings show that the second phase of the project will turn those 80 additional spots into wireless charging for Robotaxi, but it might be an error. The Key Notes state that item 3 is listed as “V4 Charging Cabinet to Support 80 Wireless Chargers in Phase 2. However, the drawings point to V3 Cabinets that are already tied to Superchargers:
There are roughly 128 total spots in the lot, but it is unclear if they will all be used for charging based on what appears to be some sort of typo in the blueprint.
A new Robotaxi fleet charging hub is coming soon to Austin, Texas!!
Permits have been filed for the installation of 48 (V3) stalls in a vehicle storage lot across the road from Tesla’s St Elmo service center. pic.twitter.com/xwRgSWDqht
— MarcoRP (@MarcoRPi1) August 18, 2026
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This is among the first Robotaxi charging hubs Tesla has started to develop, as it currently has four others planned throughout various areas: one in Phoenix, one in San Antonio, another in Irving, which will serve the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and another in Las Vegas.
These projects are necessary as Tesla expands its Robotaxi program. Now that preparations have started for the public launch of Cybercab, Robotaxi will likely be expanding aggressively, especially over the next two to three years.
Last night, The Information reported that Tesla was planning to launch Cybercab as soon as the end of August. Hours later, Tesla then announced it was launching a competition for fans to potentially ride in Cybercab during its first public rides.
Tesla’s plan to expand its charging infrastructure in the regions where Robotaxi will initially operate is great preparation for the expanding service. There is still a lot to do, including launching the Cybercab on time.
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Tesla got its largest order for the all-electric Class 8 Semi yet, a 500-unit order from Einride AB, a Swedish trucking company.
Einride made the announcement this morning following its second-quarter earnings call. The company said it plans to use 500 Tesla Semi units on its fleet intelligence platform, called Saga AI. The deployments will serve large companies like Amazon and will extend Einride’s electric freight network across logistics routes in California, New Jersey, Texas, Illinois, and Georgia.
🚨 Tesla has received a MASSIVE order from Swedish freight company Einride AB, which placed an order for 500 Tesla Semi trucks
Tesla’s biggest order for the Semi yet! pic.twitter.com/PrtLp5yzvh
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 18, 2026
The deployment is being carried out in several phases over the next two years as Tesla ramps production of the Semi at its dedicated production facility in Sparks, Nevada. Einride will receive its first Semi units in September.
Saga AI
Saga AI is Einride’s dedicated fleet intelligence platform. It enables scaled adoption of electric trucks for freight use and allows shippers to integrate electric capacity without the operational burden or capital risks of managing a fleet. This helps integrate cost-efficient logistics and makes budgeting and forecasting much more accurate.
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Tesla Semi’s Adoption
The Tesla Semi is now gathering large-scale clients past those who have helped the company operate a Pilot Program to gain initial information and feedback from real-world drivers.
Perhaps the biggest and most notable is that of Frito-Lay and PepsiCo., who have worked with Tesla for the past several years to dial in the finer details of the truck, including its efficiency and operation-related components.
Tesla Semi gets strange-but-understandable comparison from Jay Leno
There has been tremendous progress in that time, and it even catalyzed Tesla to make some design changes, which were unveiled earlier this year.
But Einride CEO Roozbeh Charli says his company’s partnership with Tesla will continue to push those things forward:
“This deployment is yet another proof point that we can execute at the scale our customers demand. Working closely with Tesla to bring next-generation Semis into active operations quickly and at scale is a testament to the strength of that partnership, and how quickly this technology is maturing from promise to daily operations.”
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Additionally, Dan Priestley, the Director of the Semi Program at Tesla, said the partnership is ideal due to Einride’s focus on sustainable transport:
“Einride is at the forefront of sustainable freight, and we are thrilled to deepen our relationship with them through this order of 500 Semis. EV heavy trucks provide lower costs per mile from fuel savings, reduced maintenance, and better uptime over diesel trucks. These savings increase further through operational efficiency when deploying EV trucks at scale, and we are excited that Einride recognizes this and look forward to supporting their deployments.”
Elon Musk
India tells Elon Musk’s X to “Follow the Law” in latest censorship update
Elon Musk says X now exposes government censorship, but India’s secrecy laws complicate that promise.
Elon Musk’s promise to make government censorship requests on X “clearly visible” is running into a wall in India, where the law forbids the very disclosure Musk is promising.
On August 15, Musk responded to an update from X’s open-source algorithm team by writing “Any censorship required by governments is now clearly visible.” The claim referred to a change X pushed two days earlier to its public xai-org/x-algorithm repository, which now includes a controversial filter written directly into the code. The filter suppresses posts from 665 accounts flagged by Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court from appearing in the For You feed of any viewer located in Brazil, unless the viewer already follows the account. The election tied to the filter is scheduled for October 4.
India’s government wasn’t as impressed, and responded on Monday that “X will have to follow the law of the land,” in response to Musk’s transparency push covered by the Times of India. The problem is structural rather than political. India issues content blocking orders under Section 69A of its IT Act, and Rule 16 of the accompanying 2009 Blocking Rules requires those orders to stay confidential. Publishing an India equivalent of the Brazil filter, naming specific accounts and citing specific government orders, would itself violate Indian law. Government use of Section 69A has grown from roughly 6,000 orders a year between 2018 and 2023 to about 24,300 in 2025, according to a Tech Times report.
The contrast puts Musk’s transparency pledge in an odd spot. It works largely as advertised in Brazil, where electoral law requires disclosure and X can point to specific account IDs and a specific court order in public code. It cannot work the same way in India, where the law requires the opposite. X users in India will keep seeing content disappear from search and their feeds without any public accounting of why, even as X tells the rest of the world that its censorship compliance is now inspectable.
This isn’t the first time X’s fights with a national government have shaped how the platform operates. Brazil’s Supreme Court ordered X to suspend the accounts of sitting lawmakers and journalists in 2024, a standoff that cost X its Brazilian revenue for months and froze Starlink’s local accounts before the investigation into Musk and X was closed in March with no evidence of wrongdoing found. X also sued California over a state law requiring moderation disclosures, arguing the mandate itself violated the First Amendment.
Whether India’s government pursues anything beyond a public statement remains to be seen. For now, the mismatch between what X can legally publish and what different governments legally allow it to publish is the real story behind Musk’s seven word claim.
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Tesla reveals plans for Robotaxi charging hub in Austin
Tesla Semi gets its largest order yet
