Another busy year is coming to an end, closing yet another chapter in Tesla’s journey to advance sustainability. As we prepare for what’s expected to be an eventful 2024, it’s also worth looking back on Tesla’s year in 2023 to highlight some of the company’s many major developments.
Some of Tesla’s important accomplishments in 2023 included the launch of the highly anticipated Cybertruck and the redesigned Model 3 “Highland,” as well as the widespread adoption of the automaker’s charging hardware across the North American auto industry.
Other important developments not highlighted in the list below included Tesla’s industry-rocking price cuts early in the year, and the company’s increasing production of giant Megapack batteries.
The year was a little quiet in Solar and Powerwall deployment and Semi production, though what Tesla lacked in these areas, the company arguably made up for with several other crucial developments.
Below you can see a list of some of Tesla’s most notable stories in 2023.
Tesla announced Gigafactory Mexico
At its Investor Day event earlier this year, Tesla officially announced plans to build a new Gigafactory in Mexico to help build its next-generation EV platform. Set to be constructed in the state of Nuevo León, Tesla recently gained federal land use permits, allowing it to begin construction on the site.
Tesla detailed its Master Plan part three
In April, Tesla shared its Master Plan part three, detailing the company’s proposal for a path to reaching a sustainable global energy economy. The plan followed the Tesla Master Plan parts one and two, which were shared by the company in 2006 and 2016, respectively.
Ford adopted North American Charging Standard (NACS), others followed
In a Spaces call on X in May, Ford CEO Jim Farley spoke with Elon Musk and officially announced the legacy automaker’s plans to adopt Tesla’s charging hardware, dubbed the North American Charging Standard (NACS). The news meant that Ford EVs would someday gain access to the Supercharger network, marking the first step in Tesla’s plans to open the charging network to all EVs.
Since then, every startup and major automaker has followed suit, with the exception of Chrysler-Dodge parent company, Stellantis.
Tesla began producing Dojo supercomputer
Tesla began production of the Dojo supercomputer in July, after the project was originally unveiled during AI day in 2021. The supercomputing cluster is expected to be able to process large streams of data to perform advanced AI and machine learning computations, and it’s projected to become one of the top supercomputers worldwide in the coming months, offering applications from the Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta and beyond.
Elon Musk live streamed FSD beta v12, later rolling early versions out to employees
Speaking of the FSD beta, Musk in August shared a live stream of the then-upcoming FSD version 12, which the CEO has touted as an important key to unlocking full autonomous driving. More recently, Musk confirmed that the FSD beta v12 was starting to roll out to employees, and it has been confirmed to be hitting over 15,000 employee-owned vehicles ahead of a wider release to the public.
Tesla’s FSD beta program also reached 500 million cumulative miles driven in October, representing a massive amount of real-time data for the automaker’s AI to learn from.
Tesla launched the redesigned Model 3 “Highland”
After several months of speculation that Tesla would be releasing a redesigned version of its popular Model 3 sedan, the automaker held a premiere event in Norway in late August, officially launching the refreshed “Highland” design. Initial customer deliveries of the redesigned Model 3 have since been rolling out across much of Europe, Asia, and other markets like Australia and New Zealand.
While the Model 3 Highland isn’t yet available in North American markets, it’s widely expected to be launched in early 2024.
Continued developments to Tesla’s Optimus program
While there weren’t any breakout news stories or an official release for Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot, the company did highlight its continued developments for the product. Tesla has been ramping up hiring for the Optimus team, featuring videos showing off how the robot can now sort objects autonomously, perform yoga poses, dance and more.
More recently, Musk predicted that Optimus will be able to thread a needle in just a year, and manufacturing expert Sandy Munro says he expects that the humanoid robot will begin being used in Tesla’s factories as soon as 2024.
Tesla launched BP Supercharger partnership
In the first deal of its kind, Tesla sold $100 million worth of Supercharging equipment to BP (formerly British Petroleum) in October, paving the way for future commercial deals that could result in a major revenue stream in the future — especially as Tesla’s NACS takes shape as the charging standard in the next few years.
Tesla launched Cybertruck with delivery event
Last but certainly not least, Tesla held the Cybertruck delivery event late last month, after initially unveiling the vehicle over four years ago in November 2019. Initial deliveries of Tesla’s “Foundation Series” launch edition Cybertrucks have been going out to employees throughout this month, and many reservation holders have been invited to place their own orders for the vehicle.
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What are your thoughts? Did I miss anything important that Tesla did in 2023? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send your tips to us at tips@teslarati.com.
Elon Musk flew under the radar with his recent purchase of a $1 billion energy company, according to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) documents.
Transaction number 202612350 listed Tesla and SpaceX frontman Elon Musk as the acquiring party and CF APR Super Holdings LLC as the seller, with New APR Energy, LLC as the acquired entity. The deal, which closed without public announcement, came to light on May 14.
BREAKING: Elon Musk acquires Jacksonville power company APR Energy in a deal valued at more than $1,000,000,000.00.
— Polymarket Money (@PolymarketMoney) July 15, 2026
Analysts inferred the deal’s scale from minority stakeholder disclosures, including one report of a 5 percent interest sold for approximately $50.4 million. Fortress Investment Group had purchased APR’s assets in late 2024, rebranded the operation as New APR Energy, and subsequently transferred ownership to Musk.
APR Energy specializes in rapidly deployable power infrastructure. The company maintains one of the world’s largest fleets of mobile gas and diesel turbines, with more than 1.1 gigawatts of generation capacity. Its modular units, which are often trailer-mounted, enable turnkey installations ranging from 20 MW to over 500 MW.
APR provides full engineering, procurement, construction, operation, and maintenance services for behind-the-meter power plants, serving everything from data centers, utilities, and industrial clients.
The firm has expanded aggressively to meet surging demand, recently adding turbines and deploying over 100 MW for a major AI hyperscaler. Its solutions bridge critical gaps where grid interconnections face delays of two to five years, according to Yahoo.
The acquisition means something more for Musk. As he continues to expand projects in artificial intelligence, especially xAI, his AI venture, there is a greater need to supply energy-intensive supercomputing clusters, including the Colossus project, with what they need: reliable and high-capacity power.
Ownership of APR provides immediate access to flexible generation assets that can be deployed adjacent to data centers, reducing dependence on a strained infrastructure. It also complements Tesla’s energy storage business, so Musk will be able to pull from his own entities to address the rapid scaling demands of AI training and compute.
Tesla had a petition protesting a recall to fix a potential issue with 2017-2023 Model Y and Model 3 vehicles’ headlights was denied, as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) disagreed with the company’s opinion of things.
The recall covers approximately 19,917 Model Y and Model 3 vehicles built from 2017 to 2023. Tesla initially submitted a noncompliance report for the headlights on these vehicles on March 15, 2024. Tesla then petitioned for an exemption from the fix, which violated FMVSS No. 108 (40 CFR 571.108), arguing that the “noncompliance is inconsequential as it relates to motor vehicle safety.
🚨 Tesla was denied a petition by the NHTSA to avoid a recall of 19,900 2017-2023 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles.
The NHTSA found that the vehicles’ headlights may exceed maximum lighting levels. Tesla argued it was inconsequential and did not require a recall. pic.twitter.com/m8Jmm1teLL
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 16, 2026
The NHTSA disagreed, stating that Tesla’s conclusion that the headlights do not increase any risk was not an opinion it shared. The agency said it disagreed with Tesla’s assumption that glare is not increased to surrounding traffic. This issue could be highlighted even more in certain weather conditions.
Tesla will be required to remedy the issue, the NHTSA ruled:
“In consideration of the foregoing, NHTSA has decided that Tesla has not met its burden of persuasion that the subject FMVSS No. 108 noncompliance is inconsequential to motor vehicle safety. Accordingly, Tesla’s petition is hereby denied, and Tesla is consequently obligated to provide notification of and free remedy for that noncompliance under 49 U.S.C. 30118 and 30120.”
The issue here appears to be the angle of the headlights and the brightness they emit during operation. The NHTSA report states that:
“Tesla’s headlamp supplier, Marelli Automotive Lighting, tested 25 right-hand and 25 left-hand lamps, and for this sample, found the maximum photometric intensity measured in the 10°U to 90°U and 90°L to 90°R zone was between 136.2 cd and 230.1 cd for the right-hand lamps and between 117.5 cd and 160.3 cd for the left-hand lamps. According to Tesla, these tests revealed that the photometric intensity of the right-hand and left-hand headlamp lower beam on the subject vehicles may measure as much as 230.1 cd in the 10°U to 90°U and 90°L to 90°R zone, exceeding the maximum photometric intensity by 105.1 cd. Additionally, Tesla states that a left-hand lamp tested by a Transport Canada recognized laboratory measured a maximum of 171.27 cd in the 10°U to 90°U and 90°L to 90°R zone. Despite these measurements exceeding the allowed photometric maximum of 125 cd, Tesla believes that the subject noncompliance is inconsequential to motor vehicle safety.”
Tesla also argued at some points that the headlights had not been deemed responsible for any complaints, accidents, or injuries related to the noncompliance.
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NTSB findings on fatal Tesla crash tell a very different story
The NTSB confirmed the driver, not Tesla’s FSD, caused the fatal Texas house crash.
The National Transportation Safety Board released preliminary findings Wednesday confirming that a Tesla driver, not the vehicle’s software, caused a fatal crash in Katy, Texas in June. The driver, 44-year-old Michael Butler, had engaged Full Self-Driving Supervised mode on Rose Hollow Lane, a residential street with a 30 mph speed limit, before manually overriding the system by pressing the accelerator pedal all the way to 100%. Data recovered from the 2025 Tesla Model 3 showed the vehicle was traveling over 70 miles per hour when it struck a home and killed 76-year-old Martha Avila, who was inside. Weather was clear, the road was dry, and it was daylight.
Texas man charged in fatal Tesla crash where he blamed Autopilot
Butler told authorities he had passed out at the wheel. But security camera footage obtained by the NTSB told a different story, and showed the car accelerating through an intersection before leaving the road entirely. Police also found that Butler’s phone had Google searches including the terms “Tesla FSD not aggressive enough 2026” and “Tesla FSD too timid,” raising serious questions about how he was using the system before the crash. Butler has since been charged with manslaughter. The victim’s family has filed a lawsuit against both Butler and Tesla, alleging negligence.
The NTSB findings aligned directly with what Tesla VP of AI Software Ashok Elluswamy had already stated publicly on X in the weeks after the crash, writing that “the driver manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100%.” The data confirmed his account.
Yup. In this case, the driver manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100% of the accel pedal in this residential area. They reached a speed of 73 mph during the crash, and had the accelerator pressed even after the crash.
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) June 22, 2026
Elon Musk secretly acquires $1B energy company to power the AI future
Tesla has to fix a big problem with its old headlights, NHTSA says
