Tesla Activates Rational Development

Image credit: Tesla

Welcome to Jowua's weekly roundup of Tesla news. Last week, the company received a development boost in China, strengthened the development of the Supercharger network and 4680 battery programs, and continued the development of FSD technology with a new release.

Construction of Megafactory in China approved

The construction of Tesla's Megapack factory in Shanghai has been officially approved by local authorities. Construction of the Megafactory is expected to begin in May, with production expected to begin by the first quarter of 2025. According to a related document, the project is located in Nanhui City, Pudong New District, near Tesla Giga Shanghai, covering an area of 204,359.92 square meters. After completion of construction, the facility will produce Megapacks both for the local market and for export.

Tesla rebuilds Supercharger team

The Supercharger team's departure has been hotly debated news in recent weeks. However, it appears that Tesla is simply undergoing a major reorganization to achieve improvements. Elon Musk announced that the company, as before, intends to spend more than $500 million on the Supercharger network this year. In addition, the previously fired executive, Max De Zegher, Director – Charging, North America, has been reinstated in his position. Tesla has also started a new community on X where it will receive feedback and recommendations from its customers to improve its charging network.

4680 battery program

Tesla is also reorganizing the 4680 battery program. The company has reportedly appointed Bonne Eggleston as its new chief executive. The new manager is faced with the task of significantly reducing production costs. The goal is for 4680 batteries to be cheaper than those offered by Panasonic and LG Energy Solution by the end of the year.

The development of FSD gains momentum

FSD continues to develop faster and faster towards fully autonomous driving. Elon Musk announced that version 12.4 will be released for internal use this coming weekend. He said that a limited external beta will be released next week. In the new version, "roughly 5X to 10X improvement in miles per intervention is expected" compared to v12.3.

Musk also said that v12.5 should be released at the end of June. It will significantly improve miles per intervention and have one stack. This means that there will no longer be an implicit stack on highways. One interesting note is that Cybertruck will receive v12.5, which will be the first time that the technology is activated in the electric pickup truck.