Connect with us
tesla tilburg tesla tilburg

News

Tesla could build another Gigafactory in the UK: report

Tesla factory in Tilburg, Netherlands. (Credit: Tesla)

Published

on

Tesla may have a new Gigafactory coming to the United Kingdom, according to recent reports.

The UK Government is reportedly looking for a four-million square foot site to accommodate a new production facility for the electric car maker. The Department for International Trade (DIT) is heading the search for a plot of land that is large enough for a Tesla plant that will house a Research and Development facility, along with a production plant.

A DIT spokesperson told Property Week, “The government is working with industry to help make the UK the location of choice to develop world-class electric vehicle technologies. DIT is working closely with partners to scope out sites for new investment into electric vehicle research, development, and manufacturing across the UK.”

Tesla is currently in the process of constructing its factory in Brandenburg, Germany, which will be known as Gigafactory Berlin. This facility’s location was formally announced in November when CEO Elon Musk revealed that Germany had been chosen to house the company’s next production plant. Giga Berlin is expected to begin producing vehicles in July 2021 and will employ 12,000 people.

However, several areas were in the running to receive the rights for Tesla’s next factory. The United Kingdom was one of them.

Unfortunately for the UK, Brexit was undoubtedly a hurdle that Tesla would have to jump through. Musk told Auto Express that the sovereign country’s plan to exit the European Union “made it too risky to put a Gigafactory in the UK.”

Advertisement
-

Property Week indicated that one business park that is attempting to attract Tesla for a new production facility is located in Somerset, a county in South West England. The site is 650-acres. This amount of land is significantly larger than Tesla’s Fremont facility, which sits on 370 acres, and Giga Shanghai, which occupies 214 acres. However, it is slightly smaller than the 740-acre site of Tesla’s Giga Berlin facility.

The UK seems to be recognizing that Tesla’s proven success could be beneficial to its economy. After Tesla and Toyota were both recognized by GlobalData as the two OEMs to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic without much damage, the UK could be preparing to make an offer that the electric automaker can’t refuse.

GlobalData’s “Thematic Research: Automotive Sector Scorecard (2020)” found that Tesla and Toyota would emerge the strongest out of 32 different OEMs, indicating that the electric carmaker would be beneficial to the UK’s automotive manufacturing sector, Automotive Management Online reported.

H/T David Rand

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

Advertisement
Comments

News

Tesla surges Robotaxi fleet ahead of Cybercab launch event

Tesla’s unsupervised robotaxi fleet quietly grew sevenfold in three weeks just before Cybercab Day arrives.

Published

on

By

Tesla’s unsupervised Robotaxi fleet has grown far faster than the public numbers suggested, and the timing lines up with the company’s biggest autonomy showcase yet. According to data compiled by the crowdsourced Robotaxi Tracker, Tesla now has nearly 200 vehicles operating without a safety monitor across Austin, Dallas and Houston, yielding a roughly 7X increase in about three weeks.

The jump lands four days before this week’s Tesla Cybercab launch event in Austin, where the company plans to show off its purpose-built, two-seat robotaxi with no steering wheel or pedals in a live commercial setting for the first time. Stick with us on X and Facebook for live reporting from the event.

The strategic logic is straightforward. Tesla has spent the past year scaling Robotaxi in small, deliberate steps, first widening geofences, then extending operating hours, then quietly growing fleet size, usually with little advance notice. Ashok Elluswamy told investors on the Q2 earnings call that the program had logged more than 380,000 unsupervised miles with zero notable incidents, a safety record the company has leaned on to justify moving slowly. Critics have used the flip side of that caution, a fleet that appeared stuck around two dozen vehicles for months, as evidence that Tesla’s driverless ambitions were outrunning its actual deployment.

A fleet quietly scaling to nearly 200 vehicles right before Cybercab Day undercuts that argument without Tesla having to say anything about it directly. It also sets up the event to do double duty. Rather than simply introducing new hardware, Tesla can point to an operating base of unsupervised Model Ys already running at meaningful scale, then argue the Cybercab, which uses the same underlying Full Self-Driving stack according to earlier coverage of the fleet’s software upgrades, is a natural next steps. Tesla has separately been registering the two-seat Cybercabs with Texas regulators this week, with the count climbing from seven to 45 in a matter of days.

The two ramps, one in software-driven Model Y deployment and one in physical Cybercab registrations, are happening in parallel rather than in sequence. That suggests Tesla wants Thursday’s event to land as proof that the robotaxi business is already running at scale, not just a reveal of a new vehicle shape. Whether the unsupervised numbers hold up once Cybercabs start mixing into the same fleet is the detail worth watching once the event wraps.

Continue Reading

Cybertruck

Tesla Cybertruck windshield protection just got cheaper

Published

on

Credit: Tesla

Tesla is lowering the monthly price of its Cybertruck Windshield Protection Plan from $35 to $25. The new rate will apply to the first payment on or after October 1, 2026. Tesla has told subscribers that all other benefits stay the same.

The plan covers unlimited repairs for chips and minor cracks on the front windshield. It also includes one full replacement every 12 months at no extra charge. Additional replacements in the same year carry a $100 deductible. Service is performed with Tesla glass and camera calibration, which matters because Autopilot and Full Self-Driving rely on those lenses behind the windshield.

There is no long-term contract. Coverage applies only to the front glass and does not include collision, vandalism, or weather damage.

Advertisement
-

The Cybertruck’s large, complex windshield has been more expensive to replace than glass on Tesla’s cars, which is why the pickup started at a higher subscription price. The $10 monthly cut reduces the annual cost from $420 to $300. Tesla has not publicly explained the change. The timing coincides with a year of claims data after the plan was extended to the Cybertruck.

Tesla sells several related protection products as monthly subscriptions through the Tesla app. The Windshield Protection Plan is also offered on other models. Model 3 and Model Y currently cost $16 a month. Those passenger-car rates are unchanged in the latest Cybertruck notice.

The Wheel and Tire Protection Plan covers road-hazard damage such as potholes, nails, and debris. Repairs are unlimited. Each wheel or tire replacement appointment has a $25 deductible. Pricing varies by model and whether the vehicle is a Performance version. Tesla is raising some of those rates on the same October 1 date.

Reported examples include Model 3 Performance moving from $16 to $24 and Model Y Performance from $20 to $24. Cybertruck wheel-and-tire coverage has been listed at $20 a month for the standard configuration.

A separate Luxe Package bundles four years of windshield coverage, wheel-and-tire coverage, and recommended maintenance on certain new Model S, Model X, and Cyberbeast orders, although the Model S and X are now defunct.

Tesla also offers an Extended Service Agreement after the basic vehicle warranty ends. That product covers many Tesla-manufactured parts rather than glass or tires. Together, the plans give owners a menu of targeted, cancel-anytime coverage instead of relying only on auto insurance.

Advertisement
-
Continue Reading

News

Tesla Cybercab fleet grows in Austin ahead of launch event

Published

on

Credit: Teslarati

UPDATE: The number has now been updated to 45 units, up from 7!

Tesla is bolstering its Cybercab fleet with the State of Texas’s regulatory bodies ahead of the planned launch of the all-electric ride-hailing vehicle this Thursday.

Seven purpose-built Tesla Cybercabs have been added to Texas’s official automated vehicle registry, appearing in the Texas Motor Carrier Credentialing System (TxMCCS) public lookup just three days before Tesla’s invite-only Cybercab launch event in Austin on September 3.

Advertisement
-

The records, visible through TxDMV’s Motor Carrier and Automated Motor Vehicle Operator Lookup, list seven 2026 Tesla Cybercabs under Tesla Robotaxi, LLC. Their VINs begin with the 5YJA prefix, distinct from the 7SAYG Model Y robotaxis that already dominate Tesla’s Texas fleet.

Community trackers that scrape the same public database recorded the new entries on August 31, bringing Tesla’s authorized Texas robotaxi total to 276 vehicles: 269 Model Ys and the seven Cybercabs:

Texas Senate Bill 2807, which took effect in late May 2026, created a self-certification framework for commercial Level 4 operations. Operators file through TxMCCS, attest to SAE Level 4 capability, maintain insurance, and keep an active vehicle list.

Advertisement
-

Tesla completed that process months earlier for its existing Model Y Robotaxi service, which has carried paying passengers in Austin, Dallas, Houston and other markets. Adding the Cybercabs to the same authorization means the new two-seat, steering-wheel-free vehicles are now legally recognized for commercial use on Texas roads.

The timing is deliberate as Tesla scheduled the September 3 event at its Austin campus after sending invitations to selected Robotaxi riders and other guests. The company has described the evening as a chance to “experience the future of full autonomy” and plans to livestream it.

Production Cybercabs, which lack pedals and a steering wheel, have been rolling off the Giga Texas line for months; some earlier examples still carried temporary driver controls for data collection. Registering a small fleet of the finished design immediately before the public event signals that Tesla intends to move the purpose-built vehicle from factory and test tracks into the same Robotaxi app already used by Model Y passengers.

The seven units remain a tiny fraction of Tesla’s overall Texas authorization and far smaller than competing fleets. Registration does not automatically equal unsupervised public rides; it is the legal prerequisite.

Still, the sudden appearance of Cybercab VINs in the state’s lookup system, after a year of Model Y-only listings, is the clearest official confirmation yet that Tesla’s dedicated robotaxi hardware is entering the regulatory pipeline at the same moment the company is preparing to show it to invited guests and a global livestream audience.

Whether those seven vehicles appear at the September 3 event or begin carrying passengers shortly afterward, their presence in TxMCCS marks a concrete regulatory step that has been anticipated since the Cybercab concept was first revealed.

Advertisement
-
Continue Reading