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Tesla bears ponder China dam collapse to ‘take out’ Giga Shanghai — but there’s a catch

Tesla Gigafactory Shanghai Phase 2A factory shell. (Credit: Yang Hui/The Global Times)

Published

6 years ago

on

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) may be carrying a lot of momentum this week as it heads towards what could very well be its most important second quarter earnings report to date, but the company still attracts a notable number of passionate critics. Among these critics is the TSLAQ group, which includes short sellers who are looking to make a profit if TSLA stock were to dive. TSLAQ has had its own fair share of interesting wishes for Tesla, its customers, and its facilities, but a recent post about Giga Shanghai may have just taken the cake. 

China is currently experiencing one of its worst flood seasons, and the Three Gorges Dam, located in Central China’s Hubei Province and one of the world’s largest hydropower projects, is feeling the pressure. According to a report from The Global Times, the facility has been handling the worst of the ongoing floods so far. However, the dam is not completely out of danger yet. David Shankman, a geographer with the University of Alabama who studies Chinese floods, noted in a statement to Reuters that the facility may not be able to fully handle this year’s record floodwaters. 

(Credit: @cppinvest)

Under such a situation, Tesla bear Peter DeCaprio, a partner at Boston, MA based Flow Point Partners, LLC, decided to air his thoughts on the matter. The critic suggested that if the dam were to collapse, it could “take out” Gigafactory Shanghai. This scenario would be a catastrophe for Tesla if it were to happen, of course, especially considering that the China based plant is currently ramping its production of the Model 3 sedan. 

Unfortunately for the TSLAQ member, a scenario where the Three Gorges Dam would adversely affect Tesla’s electric vehicle plant is unlikely to happen. This is because the river that the dam is handling exits a delta north of Shanghai, and Tesla’s Gigafactory happens to be south of the city. That’s a long way away from the river itself — about 1,000 km in fact. Callous wishes to people who would be affected by such a catastrophe aside, it appears that the Tesla bear was a bit off on his geography. 

Tesla bears have been behind some interesting suggestions about how to deal with the electric car maker’s facilities in the past. During the Black Lives Matter protests back in May, for example, TSLAQ members suggested that Tesla Superchargers should be trashed since they were just “parking spaces for rich people.” The tweet may just be an ill mannered joke, of course, but it does not negate the fact that such suggestion may end up being harmful if someone were to take them seriously. 

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And some do take these suggestions seriously. Back in April 2019, TSLAQ members were deliberating about how someone could deliberately crash a Model 3 that was then testing the electric car maker’s FSD suite for its demo on Autonomy Day. Sure enough, a Tesla bear who had a history of photographing Tesla’s Fremont Factory took it upon himself to disrupt Tesla’s FSD tests. At one point, the Tesla staff in the Model 3 test car felt so threatened by the TSLAQ member’s driving maneuvers that the incident ended up being reported to the police. 

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Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Lucid denies rumors of bankruptcy after over 40% stock drop

Published

5 hours ago

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July 14, 2026

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Credit: Lucid

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:

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.

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Tesla owner attempts resale of Model S Signature Edition for over $260k

Published

9 hours ago

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July 14, 2026

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Credit: Tesla

A Tesla owner who purchased a Model S Signature Edition, one of the final 250 units of the all-electric flagship vehicle that the company discontinued earlier this year, is attempting to sell the car despite a no-resale clause that prohibits reselling for the first year.

The car is being sold by J&S Autohaus in Ewing, New Jersey, and is priced at $260,490, well above the $159,420 that Tesla sold it for earlier this year.

To those who do not know, the Model S Signature was a highly exclusive, limited-run farewell variant of the Model S Plaid that was produced this year to mark the end of production of both the Model S and Model X, Tesla’s two flagship vehicles.

Limited to just 250 units with invite-only sales, it serves as a collector’s item celebrating the legacy of the Model S, which helped pioneer Tesla’s electric vehicle success since its 2012 launch.

It bundles top-tier performance with bespoke cosmetic and luxury upgrades, plus Tesla’s Luxe Package. Here’s what the Model S Signature has over the typical Model S Plaid:

  • Exclusive Exterior – Unique Garnet Red Paint, matching door handles, gold Tesla “T” badges upfront, gold Plaid and Signature badging at the rear.
  • Premium Interior – White Alcantara upholstery with gold piping/accents, gold Plaid seat badges, Signature-marked door sills, individually numbered dashboard plaque, gold puddle lights, special interior lighting sequence, and a custom Signature key fob.
  • Performance Upgrades – Carbon-ceramic brakes with gold calipers
  • Bundled Luxe Package – Full Self-Driving (Supervised), four years of Premium Connectivity, free lifetime Supercharging
  • Performance Metrics – ~1,020 horsepower, sub-2-second 0-60 MPH, ~390-mile range

Tesla quickly introduced a No Resale Agreement for the Signature Editions of the Model S and Model X, which would penalize the seller for “the amount of $50,000 or the value received as consideration for the sale or transfer, whichever is greater.”

The company continues:

“If you sell or otherwise transfer the ownership of your Model S or Model X, the remainder of the Recommended Maintenance, Wheel and Tire Protection Plan, and Windshield Protection Plan will transfer automatically to the buyer. The Full Self-Driving (Supervised), Free Supercharging and Premium Connectivity will not transfer with the vehicle and will terminate once the ownership of the Model S or Model X is transferred.”

Tesla will likely come after the seller, especially as it has been about two months since Tesla launched deliveries.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.3.5 Early Impressions: new features and early performance

Published

12 hours ago

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July 14, 2026

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Credit: TESLARATI

Tesla rolled out Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.3.5 yesterday, and about fifty miles of driving on the new version has given me enough time to highlight what seems to be strong about the release and what is not.

Additionally, Tesla has added a few new features with this specific update, which we’ll highlight as well.

Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.3.5 Performance

The new update is business as usual. Things seem to be running completely normal and necessary, but there are a few things that we’ve seemed to pick up on based on our own experience with v14.3.5, as well as what other users are seeing.

Initially, it seems to be more aware of its surroundings, making moves that are incredibly courteous to other drives and operating just a tad more reserved than what the suite might have done previously.

We had two instances where it showed this, the first being FSD needing to pass a Flagger Force vehicle that was placing down signage for the day. Their work truck was right at the front corner of a right-hand turn; typically where most cars travel when they take that turn.

FSD v14.3.5 recognized this, slowed down, and took the turn wide with no issues:

Additionally, v14.3.5 backed up for a semi truck that was making a wide turn onto a road my car was on. This is not new, but it seemed to be backing up for courtesy; it didn’t seem completely necessary, but it might have put some peace of mind in the truck driver’s head:

X user Mike P, also a Pennsylvania native like myself, shared three clips of his Tesla running v14.3.5 performing similar maneuvers. He said:

“FSD turns right into a small alley that only fits one car at a time, sees oncoming car, reverses out of alley to make space, realizes oncoming car is actually parking, re-enters alley.”
Check it out here:

It seems like Speed Profiles are still in need of some tweaking; I am adjusting what Speed Profile I’m in frequently, constantly changing it to get it to travel at the correct speed. This was an issue for me on v14.3.4. It seems like they’re just a little inconsistent.

Terrible Parking

Parking attempts on v14.3.5 were not good. There are quite a few people who have said this:

David Moss, the Tesla owner who has taken multiple coast-to-coast drives without any interventions, also has had some issues with parking early on with v14.3.5:

New Features

Tesla has added the ability to open Camera Preview at any time. Previously, it was only available in Park. Here’s what that feature looks like in action:

Check back later this week for a longer review of what we’ve noticed on Full Self-Driving v14.3.5.

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