Tesla starts offering early Cybertruck delivery for long-term TSLA shareholders
Tesla has put up a webpage allowing TSLA shareholders to register for early Cybertruck delivery, as long as they fit certain criteria. It could give us a hint as to how Cybertruck deliveries are going.
Tesla first started delivering Cybertrucks in November of last year, more than three months ago today. First deliveries were of the limited-edition “Foundation series”, which costs a $20k premium for what seems to be some slight trim differences and the privilege of having early delivery. So far, virtually all confirmed Cybertruck orders have been of the Foundation Series (and most in CA and TX), according to the order tracking list on Cybertruck Owner’s Club.
But now Tesla is adding another method for Cybertruck reservation holders to jump in front of the line – or perhaps an incentive to enhance the seeming exclusivity of the model.
Tesla’s website now has a page where shareholders can register for early delivery, as long as they meet these eligibility requirements:
- The Cybertruck reservation must be in the participant’s name and have been made prior to March 1st, 2024
- The participant has not yet taken delivery of a Cybertruck
- Each participant must provide brokerage statements showing that you owned TSLA shares on Feb. 28, 2021 and owned at least 500 TSLA shares on Feb. 29, 2024
- The brokerage statements for Feb. 29, 2024 must show that you owned at least 50% of the TSLA shares that you owned on Feb. 28, 2021
- Brokerage statements proving shareholdings must clearly show first/last name, statement date, and Tesla shares. All other information may be redacted.
These steps must be taken by Friday, March 22, 2024 11:59 PM CT CDT in order to hop the line, and can only be done once per customer and only in the US or Canada (where it’s coming soon).
As a result, even if a shareholder reserved a Cybertruck after initial deliveries began, they could still hop to the front of the Cybertruck line as long as they’ve held a significant amount of shares for some time.
This isn’t the first time Tesla has given special treatment to shareholders, specifically on something Cybertruck-related. A month before the Cybertruck delivery event, Tesla offered TSLA shareholders entries into a lottery for tickets to attend the event.
The company also recently offered accelerated delivery with referral credits, also for Foundation Series trucks, with a referral reward that sold out within hours.
If you fit the criteria and want to register for early delivery, head over to Tesla’s registration page here.
Electrek’s Take
Could this move also give us a sense of how Cybertruck deliveries are going?
Originally it was rumored that the Foundation Series would encompass only the first 1,000 vehicles. Later, rumors said that this number expanded to 20-25k. The company has not confirmed how many Foundation Series Cybertrucks will be made (which…would certainly be relevant information for collectors to know before spending a $20k premium).
Tesla has claimed that it currently has annual production capacity to produce 125,000 Cybertrucks per year – a number that wasn’t all that believable from the get-go. So, a quarter of a year into production, this would mean that Tesla should have been able to make 30,000+ Cybertrucks by now.
But if the company is just starting to offer early delivery to shareholders, either this means they’re going to produce tens of thousands of Foundation Series trucks, or they’re nowhere near 125,000 production capacity. We’re going to guess it’s the latter.
This move could also signal that the take-rate for Foundation Series invites has been disappointing. Customers may be waiting so they can avoid the $20k premium (they did reserve a $40k truck, after all, so $120k could certainly inspire sticker shock), or may be waiting until early production snags get ironed out. Even reports of a Cybertruck selling for $244k might not entice would-be flippers, given that Tesla has threatened and then followed through on punishing early owners who resell their trucks for profit.
Regardless, we might have expected Foundation Series to be done delivering by now, given that the truck has been out for months already, and given that these invites just went out today which means there are at least several more weeks of Foundation Series deliveries left to go (current order confirmations seem to be getting a March-May delivery timeline).
This is simultaneously a quicker and slower pace than previous Tesla rollouts. For the Model 3, Tesla’s first deliveries started in July of 2017, but those cars only went out to employees and the first big wave of deliveries to the general public only started in late December (that’s when we got ours).
Meanwhile, for the Tesla Semi, those seem to have seen effectively no deliveries since the first trucks were released in December 2022. We still haven’t seen any reports of Semis owned by anyone other than Pepsi or Frito-Lay, though Tesla said in October that about 70 trucks have been built – about double the amount we know are owned by PepsiCo.
But with Cybertruck, members of the general public did start receiving trucks within weeks of the delivery event – which is quicker than both of the above. Though months later, it seems like the delivery numbers may still be coming in a trickle, rather than a flood.
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![India's Waaree to double its solar module output at its Texas factory [update]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/04/Waaree-Energies-Texas.jpg?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
India’s Waaree Energies doubled Texas production in April to counter US solar tariffs – now it’s investing hundreds of millions more.
May 15, 2025: Waaree Solar Americas, a wholly owned subsidiary of Waaree Energies, has announced that it will invest an additional $200 million in battery energy storage. This raises Waaree’s total US solar and storage investment to $1.2 billion.
This expansion is expected to create 300 to 500 jobs over the next few years, adding to the 1,500 jobs it already announced.
Dr. Amit Paithankar, whole-time director and CEO of Waaree Energies, said that “our decision to invest was primarily driven by the significant market potential in the energy sector.”
Despite tariff headwinds, Waaree is doubling down on its US expansion, drawn by the country’s massive energy demand and the surge in AI and data center development, both of which require steady, large-scale power. The company points out that solar is the “cheapest source of power and the fastest to commission,” making it a smart choice for scaling quickly.
April 16, 2025: It’s adding another 1.6 gigawatts (GW) of solar module manufacturing capacity at its Brookshire factory, bringing the site’s total to 3.2 GW. The company didn’t indicate a timescale for when the capacity increase would be complete. The move is part of its strategy to reinforce its “larger strategy of de-risking its global footprint.”
The company first announced it would open the Texas factory in December 2023, its first footprint in the US. Its original plan was to have an initial capacity to manufacture 3 GW of solar modules annually by the end of 2024.
Waaree plans to invest up to $1 billion to scale its annual solar panel production to 5 GW in Texas by 2027, which would make it one of the largest solar panel factories in the US.
Previous to manufacturing in Texas, the Mumbai-headquartered company, which is India’s largest solar module manufacturer, already supplied Indian-made solar panels to the US. But the US’s new reciprocal tariff on solar modules imported from India is 26%, adding to the existing 14.5% Section 201 tariff, bringing the total to around 40%.
“At a time when the world is redefining the rules of global trade, we’re not waiting for the dust to settle – we’re building through it. … The strength of our US order book is a testament to the trust we’ve built, and this expansion is a signal – we’re here, we’re growing, and we’re deeply invested in powering America’s energy future,” said Dr. Amit Paithankar, whole-time director and CEO of Waaree Energies.
Read more: Texas just shot its wind + solar boom in the foot on purpose
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BYD is about to launch another low-cost electric car, but this one’s a little different. It’s BYD’s first kei car. You know, those tiny vehicles that dominate Japan’s city streets? BYD’s mini EV was just spotted out in public, giving us our first real look at the upcoming kei car.
BYD’s first mini EV was spotted in public
Last week, rumors surfaced that BYD was developing its first kei car, which would compete with top-selling models from Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi, and other Japanese brands.
Kei cars, or “K-Car,” as they are sometimes called, are a class of ultra-compact vehicles that cannot be longer than 3.4 meters (134″). To put that into perspective, BYD’s smallest EV currently, the Seagull (called the Dolphin Mini overseas), is 3,780 mm (148.8″) long.
The mini vehicles are ideal in Japan because they are so small, making it easy to get around tight city streets. They are also more affordable and efficient than larger vehicles.
BYD’s mini EV was spotted for the first time during a road test this week by IT Home (via CarNewsChina), revealing a familiar look. You can see it has that boxy, compact look of a typical kei car with sliding side doors.
According to reports, BYD is developing a new platform for the model. It will reportedly include a 20 kWh battery, good for 180 km (112 miles) WLTC range. By using its in-house Blade LFP batteries, BYD is expected to have a cost advantage.
BYD’s upcoming mini EV is expected to start at around 2.5 million yen, or about $18,000. That’s about the same as the Nissan Sakura (2.59 million yen), Japan’s best-selling EV last year.
Last year, around 1.55 million kei cars were sold in Japan, accounting for roughly 40% of new vehicle sales. Honda’s N-Box was the top-selling kei car (EV or gas) for the third straight year.
As Nikkei reported, some are already calling BYD’s electric kei car “a huge threat.” A Suzuki dealer said, “Young people do not have a negative view of BYD. It would be a huge threat if the company launches cheap models in Japan.”
BYD already sells several electric cars in Japan, including the Atto 3 SUV, Dolphin, and Seal. Last month, the company launched the new Sealion 7 midsize electric SUV, starting at 4.95 million yen ($34,500).
Source: Sina, CarNewsChina
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TORONTO — Canada has quietly become a global leader in digital assets.
Canada was among the first countries to enact rules for crypto, starting with anti-money laundering guidelines in 2014. The country has repeatedly evolved its regulatory guidance in recent years, while U.S. lawmakers remain stuck in gridlock — even with a pro-crypto White House and a Republican-controlled Congress.
That regulatory clarity has made Toronto a launchpad for blockchain growth, and Wall Street is taking notice.
Robinhood‘s recent acquisition of Canadian crypto firm WonderFi, owner of Bitbuy and Coinsquare, plugs it into Canada’s established user base.
“Canada is a very attractive market for us,” said Johann Kerbrat, Robinhood’s crypto chief. “It’s projected to be more than 30 million users using crypto here in Canada, with revenue projections of about $900 million in 2025.”
The company’s decision to spend just under $180 million to buy WonderFi, which has one of the longest-standing crypto licenses in the country, is a direct bet on that growth.
Galaxy Digital, the digital asset investing giant founded by Mike Novogratz, is headquartered in New York but listed in Canada because it couldn’t go public in the United States. After being among the first to launch spot bitcoin ETFs in the U.S., Galaxy will finally debut on the Nasdaq on Friday.
DeFi Technologies, a Canadian player focused on being the Strategy of Solana, is also planning a U.S. listing.
“A lot of companies have started on the Toronto Stock Exchange and are trying to uplist into the Nasdaq,” said Ondo Finance CEO Nathan Allman. “I think we’re going to see more of that.”
At Consensus 2025 in Toronto, one of the world’s largest crypto conferences, JPMorgan, Ondo, and Chainlink announced a $100 billion bet on blockchain with a new platform to tokenize real-world assets.
The two firms say the new offering allows treasuries to be tokenized and settled using blockchain, combining JPMorgan’s Kinexys Digital Payments network with Ondo’s blockchain infrastructure.
“It’s really the first time that there’s been this interoperability between a bank’s permissioned blockchain environment and a public blockchain,” Allman said.
Crypto dealmaking has shown signs of life in recent months, as the United States has shifted its regulatory approach under President Donald Trump.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Federal Reserve have eased restrictions on banks handling crypto, rolling back prior guidance that required pre-approval for digital asset activities.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has also taken a significant step by rescinding its restrictive accounting bulletin, which had forced companies holding crypto assets for clients to record them as liabilities. The new approach aligns crypto custody with traditional financial instruments.
At the same time, the SEC has launched a new Crypto Task Force, inviting public input on how to better regulate digital assets.
“They want large enterprises like Citi to have a seat at the table,” said Ryan Rugg, global head of digital assets for Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions division. “They’re asking for our opinion, where I think in the past, it was not quite the case.”
The booking of Eric Trump, the president’s son and a leader of the newly-formed American Bitcoin, as a headline speaker, highlighted the growing presence of the U.S. in the crypto arena. The firm made waves when it launched in March, and already intends to go public through a merger with Gryphon Digital Mining.
“It’s important to remember: Most countries are totally neutral on blockchain,” said Dan Morehead, CEO of Pantera Capital. “The U.S. had a fairly antagonistic stance on blockchain which made it difficult for companies to get bank accounts, made it difficult for companies to go public.”
He said he believes many companies that would have gone public a few years ago will hit U.S. markets in the next six months.
“There’s obviously tremendous appetite in the public markets,” he said.
Israel-based crypto and stock trading platform eToro went public on Wednesday after pricing above its expected range. Shares soared nearly 29% on its first trading day.
The advancements in the U.S. aren’t without setbacks. A first-of-its-kind stablecoin regulation bill failed to advance in the Senate after Democratic lawmakers raised concerns about national security, while others expressed concerns about the president’s ties to crypto.
Still, the payment giants are charging ahead.
Mastercard announced Thursday that it’s partnering with Moonpay to let customers use debit cards to transact using their stablecoin balances.
PayPal announced Wednesday that it’s partnering with artificial intelligence platform Perplexity to enable chat-powered shopping. PayPal’s senior vice president of blockchain, crypto, and digital currencies told CNBC at Consensus 2025 that he sees a future where customers could transact in AI chats with their PayPal stablecoins or other crypto holdings.
“We are trying to make sure that PayPal and Venmo are the gateway product to get more people into crypto,” said Jose Fernandez da Ponte, PayPal’s senior vice president of blockchain, crypto, and digital currencies. “A lot of people get into crypto through us, and that leads us to continue to add tokens.”
While PayPal leans on accessibility and payments, Robinhood is doubling down on tokenization and staking to capture both retail and institutional users.
“This debate here in the U.S. is really important — it shows that we want to embrace the technology instead of just regulating it and turning it off like it was before,” Kerbrat said, describing his appearance at an SEC roundtable under new chair Paul Atkins.
The company sees blockchain technology as a way to transform everything from stocks to private equity markets and real estate into digital tokens that can be traded instantly.
“We think at Robinhood that it is actually the future, and we can bring a lot more traditional assets on-chain using tokenization,” Kerbrat added.
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