With the announcement of Apple’s focus on AI in iOS 18 at WWDC Monday, there has been a flurry of interesting news items.
From Elon Musk mentioning that Apple devices may be banned at his companies due to the integration of AI, to Apple allowing developers to add functions to the Control Center, and Musk confirming once again that Tesla has no intentions to produce a phone, it was a busy day.
Control Center
Also at WWDC, Apple showed off an updated Control Center – the swipe-down control menu on iOS. As of iOS 18, third-party developers will now be able to create buttons to add to Control Center.
This is a pretty neat feature and could make it even easier to manage your Tesla from Apple devices. You could soon be able to control the climate or begin charging your Tesla without even opening the app.
You can already do some of these things using Siri Shortcuts, but this could be the granular integration needed to control specific items with even more detail, rather than just simple routines.
Tesla typically launches new features on its iOS app first, and Android devices a few days or weeks later. An excellent example of this is Ultra Wideband support, which came to Apple devices first.
Banning Apple Devices
At WWDC, Apple showed off new AI integration in its OS, which allows users to leverage OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Elon Musk mentioned that this is a massive security concern on a post on X, and he said he may ban the presence of Apple’s devices at his companies.
Tesla App Lead Alex Guichet asked on X if this was any different than Gemini integration on Android – which Google has already announced and begun to roll out to customers in select markets. If you’re in Canada or the United States, you can replace your current Google Assistant with Gemini, which provides a similar level of system integration to Apple.
Since Musk’s initial reaction to Apple’s integration of AI and partnership with OpenAI, Musk’s concerns appear to have eased. Numerous users clarified that Apple is building its own AI, and Apple will not hand over information to OpenAI unless users explicitly confirm they want to do so.
Musk Denies Tesla Phone
Elon Musk has confirmed that even with his potential ban on Apple devices, he is not interested in building a Tesla phone. A Tesla phone has previously been mentioned, and Elon Musk had previously shown interest in the idea, but has also shot it down numerous times over the years.
With this final confirmation, it’s pretty clear that we won’t be expecting a Tesla phone anytime in the future. SpaceX has been working on integrating Starlink cell-to-satellite messaging, calling, and data to existing phones, so we could see further integration in a different way one day.
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In just 8 months, Tesla has gone from breaking ground to delivering electrons at its most ambitious Supercharger project to date, just in time to be ready for the busy Fourth of July holiday weekend. Project Oasis, the world’s largest Supercharger site, is now partially open to customers for its first phase in Lost Hills, California.
What makes this remarkable is the speed of execution. In just eight months, Tesla has constructed a site that will eventually feature 168 stalls (84 stalls are now open), supported by 11 MW of solar power and 10 Megapacks of battery storage. That construction speed is pretty impressive, but what is even more impressive is how this new station operates and what it means for future Supercharging infrastructure.
Self-Sufficient Energy Oasis
Not a Tesla App
The first 84 stalls at Lost Hills are now open, and according to the Tesla Charging team, they are currently powered solely by the sun and operate off-grid.
This makes it more than just a new Supercharger site. It serves as a proof of concept for a new type of Supercharger. Unlike nearly every other charging site in the world, which draws power from local utilities, this station generates its own clean electricity from its massive solar array and stores it in its array of on-site Megapacks.
Self-sufficient charging stations are something completely different than what we see today. They are highly resilient since they’re not reliant on the grid. That means that even if there is a local power outage, brownout, or blackout, one can always come to Lost Hills to Supercharge.
If you’ve got a Cybertruck, you could take advantage of the Cybertruck’s Powershare feature and charge up at Lost Hills to help keep your home powered during a blackout, utilizing the Cybertruck as a portable battery charger. Now that’s true independence and self-reliance.
The Future of Charging
Solar-powered Superchargers help avoid massive new loads on already stressed electrical grids, especially during peak afternoon and evening hours, when demand is the highest.
This is Tesla’s vision for the future of charging: a clean, fully closed-loop ecosystem that sustains itself. The sun’s energy is captured, stored, and delivered directly to vehicles on site at any time of day without relying on the electrical grid or fossil fuels.
Largest Supercharger in the World
This opening of 84 stalls is just the first phase of the project. Tesla says that the remaining stalls, as well as a new on-site lounge, are coming later this year. Once complete, the 168-stall site will be the largest Supercharger site in the world.
While the speed of building such a massive project in just eight months is a testament to Tesla’s execution, the true innovation is actually that self-sustainability. Let’s hope we see even more large, self-sufficient Supercharger sites across the world in the near future.
Elon Musk is once again seeking to expand Tesla’s vertical integration in the energy sector, this time focusing squarely on solar power. Following discussions on X that highlighted the massive gap in solar deployments between the US and China, Elon is now discussing the need for a Tesla Solar Gigafactory in the United States.
This potential move is driven by a specific catalyst: the exponential growth of AI is creating an insatiable demand for electricity. For Tesla and xAI, two of Elon’s companies betting their future on AI, building the power generation required is a strategic necessity.
A new factory wouldn’t just be about making panels; it would be about manufacturing the final missing piece in Tesla’s vertically integrated energy ecosystem.
Maybe there should be a solar Gigafactory in America
The context for this renewed focus is pretty stark. In May, China reportedly added a staggering 93 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacity. In contrast, the United States installed approximately 14 GW over the entire first quarter, roughly 20 times less than China.
The primary driver of this demand is the revolution in AI. Training ever-larger and smarter AI models involves operating vast data centers, which consume staggering amounts of power. Google, Amazon, and Microsoft have turned to small-scale nuclear reactors, with Microsoft petitioning to reopen the infamous Three Mile Island for its AI operations.
For Elon’s companies, whose future products like FSD, Optimus, and Grok are built on a foundation of real-world AI, securing a massive and sustainable energy supply isn’t a side quest. It is part of the main mission, especially in conjunction with grid-scale storage, such as Megapacks and Powerwalls. You can’t power a world of autonomous robots without a world of abundant, clean energy.
The Tesla Ecosystem
A US solar gigafactory would be the final, logical step in completing Tesla’s energy hardware ecosystem. While Tesla already manufactures some solar panels and the Tesla solar roof, the scale is too minuscule to matter.
By mass-producing its own panels, while also increasing Solar Roof production, Tesla would become a true one-stop shop for all things green energy. This would allow the company to supply its own large-scale projects, like the massive solar array for Project Oasis - the world’s largest Supercharger site.
It would also enable more complete residential packages, like the Giga-Small Haus concept home, combining Tesla-made panels and roofs with a Powerwall 3. This level of vertical integration would give Tesla complete control over the technology, cost, and supply of every major component in its energy ecosystem, from generation to storage to mobility.
Building a new Solar Gigafactory is about much more than just simply producing solar panels. It’s a requirement to power Tesla’s future products and make solar panels accessible to everyone.
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