SpaceX Starlink Keeps Ukrainian Government in Communication
March 18, 2022
As Russian forces invaded, hackers disrupted satellite Internet communication in Ukraine. Four days later, Starlink dishes arrived, putting the Ukrainian government back in communication. Starlink is SpaceX’s megaconstellation of nearly…
SpaceX Expands Ownership of the Satellite Space Through a New Acquisition
August 12, 2021
The latest space race news comes from SpaceX, which is acquiring Swarm Technologies. Unlike Amazon’s recent hire of internet experts to assist in its satellite-focused Project Kuiper, SpaceX’s acquisition is unrelated to the global…
Alongside the Space Race Competition Among Brain Implant Companies is Taking Off
August 5, 2021
At the end of July 2021, Elon Musk’s brain-machine interface (BMI) company, Neuralink, raised $205 million from investors including Google Ventures and OpenAI, bringing total investment into the company to $363 million. These funds are…
Tesla sells Ultracapacitor Technology to former Maxwell Executives- Why?
July 29, 2021
Late July 2021, Tesla announced that it was selling Maxwell Technologies’ ultracapacitor business to UCAP Power, an ultracapacitor company started by former Maxwell executives. Tesla originally bought Maxwell Technologies back in 2019 with…
Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk’s Space Race Goes Beyond Rocket Launches
July 22, 2021
Space travel may be at the forefront of the public’s mind, but the space race extends much further, with satellite constellations becoming a competitive area as companies compete to control broadband and cellular satellite access. While…
As Lithium Mining Gets Expensive, EV Companies Innovate Around It
July 15, 2021
As more companies, such as Ford and General Motors, announce plans to increase electric vehicle manufacturing, the lithium supply becomes a rising concern. Lithium is a crucial component of lithium-ion batteries which currently power…
Neuralink’s Advantage over New Competitor: Intellectual Property Ownership
July 8, 2021
Since 2016, Musk’s Brain-Machine Interface (BMI) company Neuralink has been working on brain implants to help people with paralysis and eventually give people the ability to communicate more easily. Recently, the company has made…
Tesla’s Solar Business Looks Forward to its Day in the Sun
July 1, 2021
As governments urge the widespread adoption of electric vehicles and other car manufacturing giants unveil their own electric cars, it is easy to forget that Tesla is more than just a car company. Rather, Elon Musk’s vision for the company…
Tesla Is Relying On Lidar – Sort Of
June 10, 2021
In 2019, Elon Musk called LIDAR, a laser-powered sensing technology for autonomous vehicles, “a fool’s errand” and went on to say that the technology was “doomed.” Two years later, a Tesla Model Y with a rooftop rack of LIDAR sensors was…
Is a Semiconductor Acquisition likely for Tesla?
June 3, 2021
Tesla has a long history of acquisitions- spending $2.8 billion on eight different companies over the past five years. Most of the acquired companies had technology related to manufacturing vehicles (Riviera Tool, Perbix) or developing…
Where Are SpaceX’s Patents? Its Trade Secrets Strategy Is Fraught With Peril
May 27, 2021
While the SpaceX homepage bombards visitors with flight tests, rocket launches, and returning astronaut crews, SpaceX’s patent assets don’t reflect these spacecraft advancements. Instead, its patents and applications all concern…
Battery Cells – The New Frontier for Electric Vehicles
May 27, 2021
In September 2020, Elon Musk presented a host of technological innovations at Tesla’s Battery Day. Perhaps one of the most promising announcements was about the tabless battery cell, which Tesla filed a patent application for in November…
Tesla Vehicles Valet For You
April 16, 2020
Tesla vehicles are going to be able to drop you off and park themselves later this year, according to a new comment from Tesla CEO Elon Musk. While Tesla automobiles currently have a summons feature, owners have said that the…
Tesla Installs Giant 18 kW Solar Roof
April 2, 2020
Tesla has installed an 18 kW residential solar roof, which is huge (average is about 6.2kW). Maybe as importantly, it was done in Florida, which means Tesla was able to make it hurricane-proof. This solution is going to find a lot of…
SolarCity is under wraps for winter
December 19, 2019
Tesla has been preparing to temporarily halt some aspects of R&D in their renewable energy subsidiary, SolarCity, by putting tarps over the panels of their test homes in Fremont, California. The newest version of the company's roof…
Tesla and CATL reach prelim battery agreement
November 6, 2019
Securing enough domestic batteries is crucial to Musk's efforts to expand in China, the world's biggest car market. To that end, Tesla Inc. has reached a preliminary agreement to start using CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd.)…
Walmart sues Tesla, alleging “negligence” after solar panels went up in flames
August 22, 2019
Walmart sued Tesla for "gross negligence" on Tuesday, claiming that the electric car company's energy division installed solar panels that went up in flames on its store rooftops. The fires caused millions of dollars in damage, the lawsuit…
Tesla Model Y uses less wiring than ever
July 26, 2019
Tesla continues to change the game of the automobile industry. Tesla noticed that as cars became more complicated, so did the wiring architecture. Wiring harnesses continued to be added as more communication and signals were being…
Tesla reveals how it will use the camera inside Model 3
July 26, 2019
Tesla, Inc. has revealed how it plans to use the cabin-facing camera within the Model 3. The car has been in production since 2017, and every Model 3 has been equipped with this standard camera located in the rearview mirror. The car…
Tesla Portfolio Overview
July 26, 2019
Tags and their Meaning: Body - relating to the different parts integrated within the body of a vehicle Electronics - relating to the electronics utilized within the vehicle Powertrain - relating to the main structure that…
Tesla speeds up parts production; hits production goal
July 1, 2019
Tesla unexpectedly topped its sales for the 2nd quarter of 2019, with 95,200 models sold. This is a marked increase from lower sales in Q1 - just 63,000. After an underwhelming production rate in 2017 and 2018, this jump came as a…