Elon Musk: Tesla is increasing EV production based on anticipated demand for self-driving
Elon Musk announced that he is pushing Tesla to increase its electric vehicle production due to what he anticipates will soon be increased demand for autonomous driving.
Tesla’s production plans have undergone significant changes over the last five years.
The automaker started the decade growing at a roughly 50% annual rate and aimed to produce 20 million cars annually by 2030.
Now, Tesla has a production capacity of less than 3 million vehicles, and it is using roughly only 60% of this capacity due to low demand.
This situation has led Tesla to reconsider its plans for new factories, including its previously announced gigafactory in Mexico.
Today, Tesla released its Q3 financial results, and CEO Elon Musk took the opportunity to announce that the automaker will now increase production:
I feel confident in expanding Tesla’s production. So that is our intent, to expand as quickly as we can our future production. I was reticent to do that until we had clarity on achieving unsupervised full self-driving, but at this point, I feel like we’ve got clarity and it makes sense to expand production as fast as we reasonably can.
The CEO stated that he is “100% confident” that Tesla will solve unsupervised self-driving – a claim he has made every year for the last six years.
Musk said that once people can text inside their cars, demand won’t be an issue:
Here’s the killer app: really, what it comes down to is, “Can you text while you’re in the car?” And if you tell someone, “Yes, the car is now so good you can be on your phone and text the entire time while you’re in the car,” anyone who can buy the car will buy the car. End of story.
He added that the most significant increase in production will come from Cybercab, which he expects will enter production in Q2 2026.
The vehicle lacks a steering wheel and pedals. Therefore, if Tesla doesn’t solve unsupervised self-driving by then, it will be useless.
The CEO reiterated that he expects Tesla to remove the safety monitor from its Robotaxi in Austin, Texas, by the end of the year and release unsupervised FSD in consumer vehicles on the same timeline.
Electrek’s Take
Increasing production based on presumed demand coming from a feature, unsupervised self-driving, that isn’t finished, and that you have been consistently wrong in predicting.
What could possibly go wrong?
Elon always says that “people don’t understand how impactful self-driving will be.” I think they do. He is confusing people not believing his self-driving timelines with people not believing in self-driving.
If Tesla does deliver unsupervised self-driving in HW4 vehicles, I do believe that it will result in a significant increase in demand.
However, I don’t think Tesla is as close as Elon is leading shareholders to believe.
Tesla may or may not remove the safety drivers from its Robotaxis in Austin, but that’s a geo-fenced areas with a bunch of limitations.
Turning on unsupervised self-driving in consumer vehicles and Tesla taking responsibility for the system is an entirely different thing, and the automaker is not ready for it.
But there’s some good that could come out of this. If Tesla increases Model 3 and Model Y production in anticipation of full self-driving, it could result in lower prices.
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First Solar just cut the ribbon on a huge new factory in Iberia Parish, Louisiana, and it dwarfs the New Orleans Superdome. The company’s $1.1 billion, fully vertically integrated facility spans 2.4 million square feet, or about 11 times the size of the stadium’s main arena.
The factory began production quietly in July, a few months ahead of schedule, and employs more than 700 people. First Solar expects that number to hit 826 by the end of the year. Once it’s fully online, the site will add 3.5 GW of annual manufacturing capacity. That brings the company’s total US footprint to 14 GW in 2026 and 17.7 GW in 2027, when its newly announced South Carolina plant is anticipated to come online.
The Louisiana plant produces First Solar’s Series 7 modules using US-made materials — glass from Illinois and Ohio, and steel from Mississippi, which is fabricated into backrails in Louisiana.
The new factory leans heavily on AI, from computer vision that spots defects on the line to deep learning tools that help technicians make real‑time adjustments.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry says the investment is already a win for the region, bringing in “hundreds of good-paying jobs and new opportunities for Louisiana workers and businesses.” A new economic impact analysis from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette projects that the factory will boost Iberia Parish’s GDP by 4.4% in its first full year at capacity. The average manufacturing compensation package comes in at around $90,000, more than triple the parish’s per capita income.
First Solar CEO Mark Widmar framed the new facility as a major step for US clean energy manufacturing: “By competitively producing energy technology in America with American materials, while creating American jobs, we’re demonstrating that US reindustrialization isn’t just a thesis, it’s an operating reality.”
This site joins what’s already the largest solar manufacturing and R&D footprint in the Western Hemisphere: three factories in Ohio, one in Alabama, and R&D centers in Ohio and California. Just last week, First Solar announced a new production line in Gaffney, South Carolina, to onshore more Series 6 module work. By the end of 2026, the company expects to directly employ more than 5,500 people across the US.
Read more: First Solar pours $330M into a new South Carolina solar factory
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No, it’s not the new Bolt. GM’s design team previewed a new high-riding “sporty Chevrolet EV” that should be brought to life.
Is Chevy launching a new sporty EV?
This is the all-electric vehicle Chevy should sell in the US. General Motors’ design team released a series of sketches previewing a sporty new Chevy EV.
Although it kinda looks like the new 2027 Chevy Bolt EV as a higher-sitting compact crossover SUV, the design offers a fresh take on what it should have looked like.
The new Bolt is essentially a modernized version of the outgoing EUV model with a similar compact crossover silhouette. Nissan adopted a similar style with the new 2026 LEAF as buyers continue shifting from smaller sedans and hatchbacks to crossovers and SUVs.
Will we see the sporty Chevy EV in real life? It’s not likely. For one, the “exploration sketch” is by GM China Advanced designer Charles Huang.
GM Design posted the sketches on its global social media page, but the caption read “Sporty Chevrolet EV for the China Market.”
It’s too bad. The Bolt could use a sporty sibling like an SS variant. Chevy introduced the Blazer EV SS (check out our review) for the 2026 model year, its fastest “SS” model yet. Packing up to 615 horsepower and 650 lb-ft of torque, the Chevy Blazer SS can race from 0 to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds when using Wide Open Watts (WOW) mode.
Will the Bolt be next? I wouldn’t get my hopes up. And if GM does bring the sporty Chevy EV to life, it will likely only be sold in China. Like all the fun cars these days.
What do you think of the design? Would you buy one of these in the US? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
While deliveries of the 2027 Bolt are set to begin in early 2026, Chevy is offering some sweet deals on its current EV lineup, including up to $4,000 off in Customer Cash and 0% APR financing for 60 months.
Ready to test drive one? You can use our links below to find Chevy Equinox, Blazer, and Silverado EVs at a dealership near you.
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Environment
Podcast: Electricity is the base currency, Tesla Robotaxi crashes, new Porsche Cayenne EV, and more
In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss electricity becoming the base currency, Tesla Robotaxi crashes, the new Porsche Cayenne EV, and more.
The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:
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Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET:
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