Investor's Corner
Tesla’s Supercharger Network recognized by Morgan Stanley as ‘competitive moat’
Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) Supercharger Network is not only a means for electric car owners to charge their vehicles in a quick and convenient manner; the system also provides the company with a “competitive moat” against rivals in the auto industry. This was a point highlighted by Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas in a note to investors on Tuesday.
In his note, Jonas stated that Morgan Stanley’s estimates indicate that Tesla’s Supercharger Network accounts for about 30%-40% of the United States’ charging outlets listed by the US Department of Energy. Despite already being a dominant force in electric car charging infrastructure, Tesla is not stopping its Supercharger expansion. By the end of 2018, for example, Tesla had almost 13,000 Superchargers stations and more than 21,000 Destination Chargers worldwide.
Jonas also notes that the Supercharger Network would be a key player in improving Tesla’s customer experience, as well as the company’s upcoming growth. The Morgan Stanley analyst further estimates that Tesla’s Superchargers will more than double by 2030.
“Part of the strategic attraction to Tesla is its physical infrastructure footprint, which we believe, over time, can improve the customer experience, reduce friction points, and support the fleet management of many millions of Tesla vehicles on the road and in both captive and 3rd party commercial fleets. Morgan Stanley estimates Tesla will expand the supercharger network to 15,000 stations “by 2030 to support a Tesla on-the-road fleet size approaching 13 million units,” Jonas wrote.
That said, the analyst notes that the growth of Tesla’s electric car business has started outpacing the expansion of the Supercharger Network. With the Model 3 ramp, Tesla’s number of vehicles on the road increased by 83% year-over-year. Meanwhile, the Supercharger Network only grew by 40% YoY. Jonas also warns that the growth of Tesla’s fleet has overtaken the expansion of the company’s physical stores and service locations, which could raise investor concerns about potential strains in the company’s operations.
“While Tesla has made efforts to address issues with service quality (such as increasing its Mobile Service fleet to 411 vehicles), the customer service experience appears to have significant room to improve,” Jonas wrote.
While Tesla’s Superchargers are undeniably an edge for the electric car maker in the EV industry, Elon Musk has been adamant that the charging network is not a walled garden for the company’s vehicles. In Tesla’s now-infamous Q1 2018 earnings call, Elon Musk noted that the company would be “happy to support other automakers and let them use our Supercharger stations” provided that other carmakers “share the costs proportionate to their vehicle usage.” This point was echoed by Tesla Head of Global Charging Infrastructure Drew Bennett before the company started rolling out its CCS Superchargers for the Model 3 in Europe.
“We’re definitely open to talking to other car manufacturers who want to have access to the network,” Bennett said.
So far, Tesla has not revealed any deals with other carmakers with regards to Supercharger access. That said, electric car startup Bollinger Motors has asked Elon Musk on Twitter if its upcoming vehicles — the rugged B1 Sports Utility Truck and the B2 pickup — could have Supercharger access once they are released. In a statement to Teslarati, Robert Bollinger, CEO of the EV startup, noted that he has not heard back from Tesla since his Twitter inquiry.
Tesla’s investors appear to have received Morgan Stanley’s recent note positively. As of writing, Tesla stock is trading +.81% at $315.36 per share.
Disclosure: I have no ownership in shares of TSLA and have no plans to initiate any positions within 72 hours.
Elon Musk
SpaceX Starship Flight 13 aborted at Zero and Musk just told us what broke
Four Raptor engines failed to ignite at T-zero, forcing SpaceX to scrub Starship Flight 13 Thursday.
SpaceX scrubbed the Starship Flight 13 launch attempt Thursday evening at the last possible moment, after four of the Super Heavy booster’s 33 Raptor 3 engines failed to ignite during the startup sequence. The 90-minute window had opened at 6:45 p.m. EDT from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, and the countdown had proceeded without issue all day, with more than 11.5 million pounds of liquid methane and liquid oxygen being fully loaded into the rocket before the automated abort triggered. SpaceX’s launch directors posted on X, “Standing down from today’s flight test attempt,” and shut down the livestream shortly after.
Musk confirmed the root cause within hours. “Some of the engines didn’t start, triggering an automatic launch abort,” he wrote on X. “To be confident of a good flight, 2 Raptors will be removed and replaced. Most probable launch timing is early next week.” SpaceX engineers began draining propellant tanks immediately and Booster 20 was rolled back to its hangar for inspection.
The timing adds a layer of significance that did not exist during any of the previous 12 Starship flights. This is the first time SpaceX has attempted to launch Starship since the company made its stock market debut in June, listing under ticker SPCX at $135 per share. Public investors are now watching every Starship outcome in real time, and a last-second abort carries more visibility than it would have six months ago.
Flight 13 was designed to be one of the most consequential tests in the program’s history. It was set to carry 20 Starlink V3 satellites, the first operational payload Starship has ever attempted to deploy. Six of those satellites carried external cameras to photograph Starship’s heat shield from the outside during flight, which would act as a self-inspection approach SpaceX has never attempted before. The mission also needed to complete a Raptor engine relight in space, a step SpaceX skipped on Flight 12 in May after losing an engine during ascent. That Flight 12 booster also flipped 90 degrees off course during its boostback burn when five engines failed to reignite.
SpaceX has not announced an official next launch date. Musk’s “early next week” window points to July 21 or 22 at the earliest, pending the engine swap and a return to the pad.
Lucid CEO Silvio Napoli responded to rumors of an imminent bankruptcy that was reportedly being mulled after a report stated the automaker was working with the firm AlixPartners to iron out its next steps.
The company felt a massive loss on Wall Street yesterday, as the report essentially pushed the stock down as much as 55 percent on Tuesday.
The report, published initially by Eletric-Vehicles.com, claimed Lucid was essentially in dire straits and was told by AlixPartners, a commonly used restructuring advisor, to either take shares private or file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Lucid’s head of Communications, Nick Twork, immediately challenged the report and stated the company “has sufficient liquidity to carry its operations well into next year.”
Now, the company’s CEO is chiming in as well, stating that the report is “so far from the facts that they require a direct response.”
Napoli said:
“Lucid is not considering bankruptcy or a transaction to take the company private. Those reports are false. The Board did not explore either scenario. Period.
As disclosed in our most recent quarterly filing, Lucid has sufficient liquidity to fund its operations well into next year.
We work with outside advisors to improve operational performance and execution. They are not advising Lucid on a take-private transaction or bankruptcy, and any suggestion that they have recommended either course of action to management or the Board is false.
My priority is clear: turn this company around. That is where the leadership team and I are focused.
I look forward to providing a full update during our quarterly earnings call on August 4th.”
🚨 Lucid CEO Silvio Napoli calls rumors of financial issues “so far from the facts that they require a direct response.”
Read his full remarks here: https://t.co/t3Pg1NHvzy pic.twitter.com/LvHUPhO4Qf
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 15, 2026
It seems pretty clear that Lucid is confident things will be okay, and, to be honest, they should not have much to worry about, especially considering the company has been backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) for years. It has solid financial backing, and its sales, while weak, are pretty much right on par with a company of this age.
Lucid also sent a Cease & Desist letter to the publication for their report.
Lucid shares have rebounded nicely and are up nearly 21 percent at the time of publication. As soon as the company dispelled the rumors of bankruptcy yesterday, the stock began to climb back toward more reasonable levels.
Electric vehicle maker Lucid Group has denied rumors of an imminent bankruptcy after a report from this morning sent the stock on a dramatic drop on Wall Street, seeing losses of more than 40 percent during trading hours.
Lucid’s Director of Communications, Nick Twork, responded to the report from Eletric-Vehicles.com, which stated the company’s restructuring advisor, AlixPartners, was asked to review two decisions: taking Lucid shares private or filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The report also claims AlixPartners told the Lucid board to “concentrate on Gravity production while improving its quality, and to temporarily hold back the Lucid Air, the sedan that has defined the company since its launch.”
Twork said:
$LCID The rumors are completely false. The company has sufficient liquidity to carry its operations well into next year, as recently published in its last quarterly filings, and it has not formed any special Board committee to explore the scenarios reported today. Our focus is…
— Nick Twork (@ntwork) July 14, 2026
Shares rebounded after the response to the report, halving its losses as the trading day neared 3 p.m. Eastern.
Lucid has struggled to get its sales off the ground and into more respectable numbers, but the company is in its early years, when things are hard to begin with. It is also backed by several notable investors, including the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has nearly limitless money and likely would not ditch an investment of this size so soon.
Lucid shares were down just 14 percent at the time of publication, a far cry from the 55 percent its losses topped out at during the day.
Tesla enters two new markets on two different continents in one week
SpaceX announces new Starship 13 test flight target date
