Over the weekend, Elon Musk commented on a post about electric buses in Norway – and confirmed that Tesla doesn’t intend to build electric buses.
Let’s examine the context of the comment and then see what we know about Tesla’s future plans.
Norwegian Electric Buses
Norway launched a set of electric buses last year, which struggled to perform their routes in the cold winters. As many know, EVs tend to lose range at colder temperatures as some energy is used to keep the battery warm. Some of this energy use can be offset by preconditioning the battery and the cabin and using bigger batteries in colder regions.
These Norwegian buses, the Urbino series built by Solaris, have batteries that are too small to operate on the routes planned by Norway’s transport services in the winter. Heating the massive cabins takes too much energy, which isn’t too big of a surprise.
What’s most interesting is that these Solaris buses are heated with a heat pump—which is still hyper-efficient. Sadly, the battery is just too small, and Norway’s transport services didn’t account for the loss in efficiency in the winter months. Depending on ambient temperatures and the exact route, that could be anywhere from a 5% to a 30% reduction in range.
Instead, Norway intends to install mini diesel generators to power the cabin heating – thereby making these buses into hybrids rather than pure EVs. This is an interesting move – especially as Norway is a leader in the EV transition, with a 92% pure EV market share for new vehicles.
Tesla and Electric Buses
Elon’s confirmation that EV buses aren’t needed comes on the heels of some other super-important statements. He confirms that Teslas – in particular – can handle operating well even above the Arctic Circle. This is especially true after the Cybertruck Arctic Expedition where two Cybertrucks traveled all the way to the Arctic Ocean.
What’s key here is that Elon is implying that when Tesla rolls out Unsupervised FSD, there won’t be a need for buses. Instead, people needing a transportation option in urban areas can look forward to using a Robotaxi to get around in warmth. He has previously mentioned that we can expect the price of a Robotaxi fare to rival the cost of a bus ticket.
While traditional taxis are less efficient pound-for-pound in transporting people and reducing traffic, Robotaxis on the other hand have the option to reduce traffic by intelligently speaking to the fleet, analyzing traffic patterns, and autonomously adjusting their routes to best fit the destination.
Tesla also didn’t have anything nearly bus-shaped in their investor decks, so this seems to be in-line with their long-term goals. We can likely expect a commercial van though, so there’s plenty to look forward to.
All in all, Tesla won’t need an EV bus – instead, they’ll just produce a few more Robotaxis to make sure one is available to pick up passengers. Speaking of Robotaxi – the event is coming up very soon! We just saw a camouflaged prototype, and sign-ups for the Robotaxi Event draw just ended.
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Tesla has issued a strong denial in response to a Wall Street Journal report (Paywall) which claimed that Tesla’s Board of Directors had initiated a search for a new CEO.
In a statement posted directly on Tesla’s X account, Board Chair Robyn Denholm denied the report unequivocally. As per the statement, Tesla’s board did not reach out to recruiting firms in search of a new CEO.
Earlier today, there was a media report erroneously claiming that the Tesla Board had contacted recruitment firms to initiate a CEO search at the company.
This is absolutely false (and this was communicated to the media before the report was published).
The statement reaffirmed the board’s position on Tesla’s current leadership and that the board is highly confident in Elon’s ability to continue executing Tesla’s plans and future growth.
This confidence behind Elon follows his recent statements made during the Q1 2025 Earnings Call that he would be stepping back from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the coming days and significantly reducing time spent there. Instead, he would be returning to focus on Tesla’s operations and the upcoming deployment of Robotaxi.
Shortly after the denial was posted, Elon Musk also commented on the report, specifically tagging the Wall Street Journal and criticizing their handling of the report.
It is an EXTREMELY BAD BREACH OF ETHICS that the @WSJ would publish a DELIBERATELY FALSE ARTICLE and fail to include an unequivocal denial beforehand by the Tesla board of directors! https://t.co/9xdypLGg3c
We’re glad to see Tesla and Elon set the matter straight, but there could have been a better way to spread this message and maybe even prevent the report from WSJ from going out.
We recently published an opinion piece on why Tesla needs its PR team back, and this specific incident is a good example. Relying solely on platforms like X for critical corporate communications - and in this case, late at night (1 AM EST), with limited reach outside the existing follower base seems like an ineffective way of communicating important company information.
We’d love to see Tesla really put some thought into managing its image, as it seems that several recent reports from major financial news organizations have apparently been wrong.
Either way, the board’s stance is clear - there is no active search underway, and Elon has the full backing and support of the board to lead Tesla toward the future.
Tesla’s Megapack is rapidly becoming a key component in energy storage and grid modernization efforts worldwide. Though often associated with powering AI infrastructure or industrial operations, Megapack’s true strength lies in its ability to stabilize electrical grids during blackouts and brownouts.
In a recent behind-the-scenes reveal, Tesla showcased the impressive scale of Megapack production at its Mega Lathrop facility, along with real-world examples of how these systems are already transforming energy resilience across the globe.
Mega-Scale Megapack
Tesla is operating the largest utility-scale battery manufacturing facility in North America at Mega Lathrop, which has the capacity to produce 10,000 Megapacks annually. Thanks to a highly automated assembly process that uses over 30 welding robots to assemble the core Megapack structure. This is the largest manufacturing fixture Tesla uses— likely to only be matched by future developments at Mega Shanghai.
Tesla uses a highly automated powder coating process, utilizing over 90 robotic paint atomizers to apply more than 140 pounds of powder coat to each Megapack. This process delivers Tesla’s signature white reflective finish, engineered for long-term durability and corrosion resistance that lasts up to 20 years, even in harsh coastal or high-heat environments.
All of Megapack’s power electronics are designed and built in-house. Each Megapack uses 24 battery modules, electrical busing, and thermal management systems to ensure grid reliability and help to maximize energy density. The architecture pairs each inverter with a battery module to maximize energy availability and overall uptime. Plus, before each Megapack ships its way across the world, Tesla performs rigorous on-site quality control to ensure that the installation process is as seamless as possible.
Watch Tesla’s video of the manufacturing process below:
Megapack’s Real-World Impact: Hawaii
The core purpose of Megapack is to make power grids more stable and resilient while also reducing reliance on dirty peak power plants like coal. They achieve this by balancing energy supply and demand in real-time, smoothing out fluctuations from variable renewable sources like solar and wind, which helps to prevent grid shortages.
Hawaii actually provides the most real and down-to-earth example of Megapack’s impact. In mid-2024, the Kapolei Energy Storage facility in Hawaii came online. Hawaii utilized 258 Megapacks with a combined capacity of 565 MWh, successfully replacing the state’s last coal-fired power plant. This single facility can power approximately 20% of Oahu’s peak electricity needs by itself for approximately 4 hours.
The project is more than just removing coal plants, though. It serves as an example of Megapack’s grid integration and grid forming technology. The Kapolei Energy Storage facility can manage grid fluctuations caused by weather changes impacting renewable energy, improving stability and preventing blackouts. Thanks to their rapid inverter response times of under a millisecond, Megapacks participate in complex grid balancing activities, including fast frequency and voltage support, which helps to maintain grid balance throughout the day. Beyond that, Kapolei also allows Hawaii to black-start the grid in case of a major power outage that takes out a large section of the grid.
This functionality would be especially useful in Spain, where black-starting the grid took over eight hours recently and is still disrupting the day-to-day life of people there.
You can check out Megapack’s real-world impact in this video from Tesla below:
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