ELON CHRON: Your 24hr Musk Companies Update
18th of April, 2025
"We must pass The Great Filter..." - Elon Musk (@elonmusk)
** HIT THAT REPOST BUTTON AND SPREAD THE NEWS! **
■ TESLA TSLA 0.00%↑ ($241.38, -0.070%):
- Big update from AL Set (@AlSet51241438) yesterday on the progress of the Tesla Diner. Both movie screens are active. The audio sound system around the facility was running. Diner interior materials are on site (booth seats). And the adjacent Cyber-Canopy Supercharger lot is nearing completion. Getting close!
- PepsiCo/Frito-Lay is installing 8 Megachargers at their Bakersfield facility. In a permit, filed on the 16th of April, it shows a $300,000 investment at their Hageman Rd site. This located five miles from Tesla’s planned 88-stall charging complex on Kelton Way. H/T MarcoRP (@MarcoRPi1).
- According to Nikkei, Tesla Japan sales increased by 56% in Q1. This is a record high and a testament to how Japanese automakers have lagged behind in EVs and domestic options. Pic of the Tesla Center Hoshigaoka by Miyata (@tesla_shonan).
- Per Tesla AI's Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy), "It’s been my secret ambition to make Tesla FSD so good, that it works as well as a local driver even in India. Which will then prove unequivocally that we have achieved AGI."
- Aryan Puri, Senior Project Manager at Tesla, visited the Shanghai Megafactory and said the following. "First time in China — and what a ride! Had the chance to host Akaysha Energy at the brand new Tesla Megafactory in Shanghai. The scale, the tech, the pace — it’s wild. Over 90% of the production line is automated, and watching it all in action was seriously impressive. Massive thanks to the Megafactory Shanghai team for the warm welcome and deep dive into how it all comes together. The Great Wall of Megapack; leading the energy transition one pack at a time."
- The Centennial Flats Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) project with Copia Power recently set the record for the most Tesla Megapacks installed in a single day. Located in the heart of the Arizona desert, Centennial Flats is a 500-megawatt AC (MWac)/675 MWdc solar facility coupled with 1,068 megawatt hours (MWh) of BESS capacity. It has 318 Megapacks set over 20 days, with 37 installed in just 8.5 hours in the rain.
- The Northland Power Oneida team welcomed President and CEO, Christine Healy for a tour of their 250 MW/1,000 MWh battery energy storage project in Ontario, Canada. This site has 278 Megapacks and is in the final stages of commissioning. "With our eyes set on the finish line, and strong partners Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation, Aecon Group, NRStor, and the Mississaugas of the Credit Business Corporation, we’re nearing commercial operations on Canada’s first energy storage facility. Once operational, Oneida will deliver critical stability and capacity to Ontario’s energy grid, strengthening the province’s already diversified energy mix and supporting ongoing efforts towards decarbonization."
- Per Ignacio Mata, Country Service Manager at Tesla Spain, "Our mobile service technicians go to some spectacular places daily on their way to our clients. One cannot help but think of the urgency of our mission, "to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy". Fantastic work is being done by our mobile service technicians in Catalonia, Roc del Rumbau, La Seu d'Urgell, and Caldas de Malavella."
FLYOVERS (flight links in sources section):
Giga Texas: Joe Tegtmeyer (@JoeTegtmeyer), 18th of April, '25. RWD Cybertrucks spotted and the Cortex Support Centre has gone vertical! Subscribe to Joe!
■ SPACEX:
- Trent Schaelling, President at Southern Structural, posted these pics of his crew's completed 4 CIP manhole tops for their SpaceX project. "These monsters have an unbelievable amount of steel and up to 4 truck loads of concrete with the pier/beams for the piling. All of the manhole lids were cast in with formwork to accommodate the change in opening size while maintaining the rebar cage around it. Although these will be buried and never seen, it’s awesome to be able to be a small part of the space race and the growing market that it is!" This road leads to Hangar X and Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A). Maybe SpaceX is widening the road for easier transport of Falcon 9 and Starship.
- Along with the road expansion, here are the latest images of the Giga Bay's groundwork on Robert's Road at Kennedy Space Center. NASA Spaceflight (@NASASpaceflight) took to the air this week and got some great shots where we see pier drilling taking place. This building will 58.4 million cubic feet in size! Flyover link in the sources section.
- Flame bucket is now installed in the flame trench at Pad B, Starbase! Pic by RGV Aerial Photography (@RGVaerialphotos). Subscribe to RGV and support their work!
Countdown to 180 (43 - Falcon 9, 0 - Falcon Heavy, and 2 - Starship):
Launch 46! Saturday, 19th of April, 3:41 a.m. PT, Falcon 9 NROL-145 will launch from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. The booster will land on drone ship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific Ocean. This is a batch of Starshield satellites for a reconnaissance satellite constellation built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman for the National Reconnaissance Office to provide imaging and other reconnaissance capabilities.
Launch 47! Monday, 21st of April, at 4:15 a.m. ET, Falcon 9 Dragon CRS-2 SpX-32 will launch from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The booster will return to site and land at Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This will be the 32nd commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station. The flight will be conducted under the second Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA.
Launch 48! Monday, 21st of April, at 8:48 p.m. ET, Falcon 9 Bandwagon 3 will launch from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The booster will return to site and land at Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This is the third dedicated rideshare flight to a mid-inclination orbit with dozens of small microsatellites and nanosatellites for commercial and government customers.
Launch 49! Thursday, 24th of April, at 9:32 p.m. ET, Falcon 9 Starlink 6-74 will launch from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The booster will land on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
Launch 50! Friday, 25th of April, at 2:40 p.m. PT, Falcon 9 Starlink 11-9 will launch from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. The booster will land on drone ship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific Ocean.
■ THE BORING COMPANY:
- Per Dexter Manahan, Concierge at the Hilton & Conrad at Resorts World Las Vegas, "The Vegas Loop at Resorts World Las Vegas is truly a revolutionary experience! From the moment I stepped into the sleek Tesla, I was impressed by the convenience, comfort, and futuristic vibe of this underground transportation system. In just minutes, I was effortlessly transported between Resorts World and the Las Vegas Convention Center — no traffic, no hassle, and definitely no stress."
■ NEURALINK:
- NP1 Noland Arbaugh (@ModdedQuad) is speaking at the University of Arizona this evening at approximately 6:30 PM in the Physics–Atmospheric Science Building. Go check it out if you are in the area.
■ STARLINK:
- KDDI affiliate au held a drone show celebrating the launch of their Starlink Direct-to-Cell program. It too place for several nights in the Tokyo Zojoji area, the Aichi Drone Park Nagoya area, and in Kanazawa at the Kanazawa Station. au launched Direct-to-Cell on the 10th of April. au's population coverage is more than 99.9%, its area coverage rate is approximately 60% due to Japan's unique topography. au Starlink Direct covers all of Japan bringing connectivity to the remaining 40%.
- SpaceX has signed a $541,000, 15-month, contract with the Australian Department of Defence provide Starlink and equipment for the Royal Australian Air Force’s KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport aircraft. The deal aims to enhance connectivity for the seven KC-30A aircraft, based at RAAF Base Amberley and operated by No. 33 Squadron. These vehicles support air-to-air refueling and strategic airlift missions.
■ X:
- We finally got a X Merch Drop Date! Monday, the 21st of April.
- X's Suhem Parack (@suhemparack) gave us a preview of the new X API v2 analytics endpoint for enterprise developers using Replit.
- X Chat will support more Advanced Group chats and Vanishing Mode.
■ xAI:
- Grok 3 Mini achieved an Artificial Analysis Intelligence score of around 70, outperforming models like DeepSeek V3, Gemini 2.5 Flash, LLaMA 4.0, and GPT-4.1 in reasoning tasks, while costing $0.30 per million tokens—5x cheaper than competitors priced at $1.50 or more. Grok 3 is highlighted as a non-reasoning model excelling in enterprise tasks like law, finance, and healthcare, leveraging extensive pretraining knowledge.
■ DOGE:
Estimated Savings: $155 Billion
Amount Saved Per Taxpayer: $962.73
■ ELON NEWS:
- Per Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (@narendramodi), "Spoke to Elon Musk and talked about various issues, including the topics we covered during our meeting in Washington DC earlier this year. We discussed the immense potential for collaboration in the areas of technology and innovation. India remains committed to advancing our partnerships with the US in these domains."
- Per Giorgia, "Happy to see my friend Elon back in Washington."
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REFERRALS:
Tesla: 3 free months of FSD or $400 Off Solar Panel Installation. ts.la/stephen746292
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Robinhood: Free stock. https://join.robinhood.com/stepher-fcc938
It's the weekend! Get out of the house and take a road trip. If you don't own a Tesla, schedule a Demo Drive with your local showroom.
Have a great Easter weekend! 🐇 🥚 ✝️
■ SOURCES:
FLYOVERS:
Giga Texas: Joe Tegtmeyer
Kennedy Space Center: NSF
Starlink:
Elon News: