ELON CHRON: The Daily Chronicle of Elon Musk's Companies

4th - 5th of August, 2025

"We are about halfway through our supernovas..." - Elon Musk (@elonmusk)

*** ATTN: If any of you are in, around, and nowhere near Houston... there will be a Light Show on August 9th at 7:30 p.m. CT. at 4899 Highway 6, Building E, Missouri City, 77459. Anyone can join. Check out the Tesla Club of Greater Houston on Facebook for more info HERE. ***

■ TESLA TSLA 4.03%↑ ($308.72, -0.17%):

- Tesla announced an interim award of 96 million restricted shares to Elon. This addresses his lack of meaningful compensation for the past 8 years. The 2018 CEO Performance Award, supported by shareholders in 2018 and 2024, remains in legal limbo after invalidation by the Delaware court. As most of you know, Elon achieved all milestones, increasing Tesla's market capitalization by $735 billion. The board views this as honoring the original deal amid ongoing litigation.

The award requires a two-year vesting period with Elon in a senior role. Shares cost $23.34 each. A five-year holding period applies, except for taxes or purchase costs. It forfeits if the 2018 award is reinstated. This aims to retain Elon amid Tesla's shift to AI and robotics. It counters competition for talent and Elon's other ventures. A long-term strategy will go to shareholder vote on November 6th.

- Michelle Hale, Tesla's Sr Community Engagement Program Manager at Giga Nevada, and Team participated in a volunteer event at the Food Bank of Northern Nevada (FBNN). The FBNN serves over 130,000 individuals across 90,000-square-mile region in Northern Nevada, addressing food insecurity in numerous communities. Through their volunteering, the Tesla team directly helped the FBNN’s ability to sort and distribute food more efficiently, ensuring faster delivery to families in need via mobile pantries and school meal programs. The team’s involvement strengthened community ties, raised awareness about hunger issues and inspired others to contribute to the fight against food insecurity in the region.

- Vinicius Morandini, Technical Support Technician at the Schuler Group, had the opportunity to participate in the inspection of the slides for the line of presses to be installed in the new Giga Nevada Semi Factory.

- Supercharger Voting has started again. Login and find your favorite locations and vote. Per Tesla's Global Supercharger Director, Max de Zegher (@MdeZegher), "We’re now generating over 1k voting options globally, using direct customer input. Every region has multiple & more granular options. Go vote, so we know the next highest priority locations to build."

If you have extra Tesla Supercharger votes left, please use them for Port Arthur, TX, and Galveston, TX! Those are my main two votes. If you have certain locations you want me to vote for, let me know. Vote HERE!

- Tesla expanded the Robotaxi geofence in Austin. They have grown the drivable area over four times its original size within six weeks.

- SETI Park (@seti_park) found a newly approved Tesla patent' US 11,769,205 B2', for what we all assume is for the Roadster. It incorporates a fan and skirt system that basically creates max grip at low speeds and adjustments for uneven terrain at higher speeds. This is similar to the banned 1978 Brabham BT46B "Fan Car" that generated downforce via a fan to increase grip and speed. It was outlawed in Formula 1 for its unfair advantage. This eliminates the need of traditional spoilers as well.

- Last Wednesday, Arevon Energy opened the $300 million Peregrine Energy Storage Project in Barrio Logan, a 200-MW/400-MWh Megapack facility. It is capable of powering 200,000 homes for two hours daily. Located on Main Street, it stores solar energy for nighttime grid use with 24/7 monitoring and fire department collaboration to address any safety concerns. Arevon is also building a 300-MW/1,200-MWh Nighthawk project in Poway, set for completion by January 2026.

- Today, Tesla participated alongside SEC members Atmos Renewables and Nomad Energy in the Sod Turn Ceremony for the Merredin Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), a 100 MW / 400 MWh facility utilizing Tesla's Megapack 2XLs. It is strategically located approximately 230 km east of Perth. This is a AUD 145 million project.

- Tesla secured a $2.7 billion Megapack order from Georgia Power, featuring 3,022 MW of battery energy storage across 10 facilities. Deployment is expected between 2028-2030 pending Georgia PSC approval. The order includes 4-hour duration Megapacks to enhance grid reliability, addressing rising energy demands, particularly from data centers. H/T Sawyer Merritt. Here are the locations:

• Bowen Phases 1 & 2 (Bartow County): 500 MW BESS located at Plant Bowen.

• Hammond Phase 2 (Floyd County): 192.5 MW BESS. Phase 2 is an expansion of the 57.5 MW Hammond Phase 1 BESS currently under construction.

• McIntosh (Effingham County): 250 MW BESS located at Plant McIntosh.

• South Hall (Hall County): 250 MW BESS.

• Thomson (McDuffie County): 500 MW BESS.

• Wadley (Jefferson County): 260 MW BESS paired with solar under contract with the company.

• Wansley (Heard County): 500 MW BESS located at Plant Wansley.

• Yates (Coweta County): 570 MW total for two BESS located at Plant Yates.

• Laurens County: 200 MW of solar with a 200 MW BESS.

• Mitchell (Dougherty County): 150 MW of solar with a 150 MW BESS near the site of former coal-fired Plant Mitchell.

- New video posted by Yurika, affiliate of Energy Queensland, showing the construction of the 324 Megapack site by the Stanwell Corporation near Rockhampton in Queensland, Australia.

- For the first half of 2025 in Europe, The Model Y was the No.1 selling EV at 69,766. The Model 3 took the No.3 spot. H/T Esther Rebers (@EstherRebers).

- For July, Tesla South Korea sold 7,357 vehicles. The Model Y was the No.1 selling imported vehicles for the third month, and the Model 3 was No.2.

- Per Andre Thierig (, Plant Manager and Senior Director of Manufacturing at Giga Berlin, "Last Friday marked a pretty special date in my time at Tesla! My 5th Teslaversary! Working with the best team allowed me to celebrate great success, go through hardest times, but first and foremost gave me the opportunity to create a place to work that truly is one of a kind! Pretty excited about what is coming in the next 5 years! The future will be great!"

- Pepsi Co is not playing around. MarcoRP (@MarcoRPi1) has found that they are going to build another 8 stall Megacharger site, but this one will be at their Frito Lay warehouse in Rosenberg, Texas. Of note, this one will have 960kW of Solar!

- India's first Supercharger is live! It is located down the street from the new Mumbai Showroom at One BKC (Bandra Kurla Complex). It has 4 V4 Supercharger stalls and 4 Destination chargers.

FLYOVERS (flight links in sources section):

• Giga Texas: Joe Tegtmeyer (@JoeTegtmeyer), 4th of August, '25. New Production Schedule for Model Ys begin (M-T 06:00 thru 18:00, which is 1 1/2 hours more per work day)! Lots of production equipment deliveries, huge robot lifted into the new 3rd floor mezzanine on W side of main factory.

■ SPACEX:

- Early Monday morning, launch 99 of Falcon 9 Starlink 10-30 took place from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. This was the 21st flight for first stage booster B1080. It previously launched Ax-2, Euclid, Ax-3, CRS-30, SES ASTRA 1P, NG-21, and 14 Starlink missions. The booster landed on drone ship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean. 28 Starlinks were deployed.

- Early Saturday morning, Crew-11 successfully docked with the ISS, just under 15 hours after launching from Kennedy Space Center. Crew Dragon Endeavour autonomously connected to the Harmony module’s space-facing port, carrying NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov. After docking, the crew conducted leak checks and pressurization, then opened the hatch to join the Expedition 73 crew for a six- to eight-month science mission.

- Tomorrow, Crew-10 will board the Dragon Endeavour and depart the ISS at 1:00 p.m. ET. The crew is expected to splash down off the coast of California approximately 6.5 hours later, around 5:30 p.m. PT. Today they said their farewell remarks and held the ISS Change of Command.

- Lot's going on at Starbase. Following the static fire test of Starship 37, the ship was detached from the Orbital Launch Mount (OLM) and returned to Mega Bay 2. The retrofitted transport stand used during the test was also removed and sent to the production facility.

Last night, rumors surfaced about potential issues with Ship 37 stemming from the test. Shortly afterward, the retrofitted transport stand was spotted returning to the OLM. And, at least one Raptor Vacuum engine swap was observed in Mega Bay 2. If these reports are accurate—and they appear to be—a follow-up static fire test will likely be required. As a result, the launch date for Flight 10 is expected to be delayed by approximately one week.

Today the SpaceX lifted the retro-stand back on to the OLM. And the Booster Transport Stand was spotted moving into Mega Bay 1... What?

- At the McGregor test facility, NSF spotted a new Raptor VAC with the serial number R2.580. This is now the highest raptor serial.

- The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has posted a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that assess SpaceX’s proposed Starship-Super Heavy operations at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A). SpaceX plans up to 44 annual launches and landings, including recoverable Super Heavy boosters and Starship vehicles at LC-39A or on droneships, with expendable landings in the Atlantic, Pacific, or Indian Oceans. The proposal includes all the new infrastructure; tower, natural gas liquefaction system, and stormwater/deluge ponds, etc. Of note, they plan to use at least 12 Megapacks to support 24 MW/48 MW hours of power generation.

Starbase City Commission Meeting:

• Regular Meeting: 20th of August, at 7:00 p.m. CT. Located at 39046 LBJ Blvd, Unit 2, Brownsville, TX 78521

Countdown to 180 (96 - Falcon 9, 0 - Falcon Heavy, and 3 - Starship):

• Launch 100! Thursday, 7th of August, at 10:01 a.m. ET, Falcon 9 Project Kuiper KF-02 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. This is the second of three SpaceX launches for Amazon's Kuiper low Earth orbit satellite internet constellation. 24 satellites will be on board.

• Launch 101! Saturday, 9th of August, at 7:05 p.m. PT, Falcon 9 Starlink 17-4 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.

• Launch 102! Sunday, 10th of August, at 8:16 a.m. ET, Falcon 9 Starlink 10-20 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 103! Wednesday, 13th of August, at 8:41 a.m. ET, Falcon 9 Starlink 10-11 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 104! Wednesday, 13th of August, at 8:44 a.m. PT, Falcon 9 Starlink 17-5 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.

• Launch ??! Flight 10 NET August.

■ THE BORING COMPANY:

- We have a new Vegas LOOP update from Michel (@Mic_VegasSphere). He visited the former Gordon Biersch brewery site near the Sphere on Paradise. Per Michel, "Wow! Work has started here! Equipment and tunnel sections have arrived. I don’t see any digging yet but it’s the first time I’ve seen any activity here. I recognize some tunneling items I’ve seen at past digs. I believe this building will end up the home office of Boring in Las Vegas. Dig baby dig!"

According to TomNTex (@TomNTex1) Permit BD25-20839 is still not approved for this site as they are waiting on corrections to plans from TBC. But I agree with Michel in that they are most likely staging the materials and equipment to begin as soon as the permit is approved. That is usually how TBC operates, and frankly all of Elon's companies work.

Also of note, Michel stated it appeared all the digging equipment at the Virgin site is gone. "They might be finished with laying the wall." Michel said he will go check it out as soon as he can. Awesome work Michel! And if you guys are not following, you should.

- On his approach to Las Vegas, AvPac Insurance (@AirBroker) was able to grab this shot of the TBC lot across from Virgin on Paradise.

■ NEURALINK:

- John from Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) sat down with Rob Greiner (@greiner_ro52817), Neuralink's Patient No.6, for a candid conversation about his journey, from injury to implant, and how BCI tech is transforming his life.

- Neuralink patient No.7 Jake Schneider (@PairedWith_P7) broke the record for cursor control with 10.08 bits per second (BPS).

- Shortly after, Patient No.8, Nick Wray (@Telepath_8) posted showing he hit 10.39 BPS!

■ STARLINK:

- Starlink is now active in Somalia.

- Yesterday, SpaceX updated its website's support page to introduce the Starlink Community initiative, a program designed to make internet access more affordable in underserved rural areas (though the page has since been removed). The initiative allowed up to 10 subscribers to share a single satellite dish, lowering the monthly cost to around $20 per person compared to the standard $120. The program was uncovered by Jianping Pan, a computer science professor at the University of Victoria in Canada. A Starlink Community page remains active HERE.

- During the Devil Avalanche Brigade training exercise, Army officer and M.S. candidate Alvin S. Cade, Jr., led Ghost Company's retransmission network platoon (RETRANS), in deploying Starshield. He enabled uninterrupted connectivity for over 150 users across the Brigade despite heat indexes exceeding 115°F and thunderstorms. RETRANS teams fortified the Brigade’s command and control infrastructure, demonstrating resilience and proving Signal’s critical role in the fight. "I’m walking away from this validation period with a deeper understanding of how to employ my Company of lethal Signaleers in support of decisive operations... Always hard to kill."

■ X:

- Today at the W Osaka hotel in Osaka, Japan, X Japan's Shoko Kataoka (@shokokataoka) introduced the X Gaming Showcase to the Japanese marketplace. She gave a presentation designed to serve gaming fans and advertisers globally. It featured a collaboration with musician and Vocaloid producer Tatsuya Kitano.

- X ran a 48hr 30% off deal for annual Premium and Premium+ subscriptions. Premium was $4.90/mo., down from $7 and Premium+ was $23.04/mo., down from $32.92.

- XBusiness will host an AMA tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. CT on the future of advertising with Grok on X. Elon, Roman Grachev (@roman_grachev1), and X engineers. will be there and it will be moderated by X’s Monique Pintarel (@MoniquePintarel).

- An eMarketer study from June has ranked X 4th in daily video time spent by US adults at 33 minutes, surpassing Facebook (31 minutes) and Reddit (32 minutes), but still behind YouTube (53 minutes) and TikTok (48 minutes). This is a large jump and reflects X's "video-first" pivot.

- "The Sacramento job..." by Andrew Musk (@AndrewMusk). Read the book.

■ xAI:

- Grok Android is now the platforms top rated AI app with +1 million reviews and a 4.8 star rating. xAI might want to make this platform a priority. H/T X Freeze (@amXFreeze).

- Per Elon, "Grok Imagine usage is growing like wildfire. 14 million images generated yesterday, now over 20 million today!"

- Grok Imagine is now available for Premium subscribers on all platforms. Be aware that the platforms all vary in what the can currently do. As always, iOS has every feature xAI has created. Android, at this point, is just an upgraded image generator. No animation and no way to upload an image.

- The Grok Companions have new X handles and are officially affiliated with xAI:

• Ani: @a (dream-like companion)

• Valentine: @v (mysterious friend)

• Rudi: @Rudi (kid-friendly storyteller)

• Bad Rudi: @BadRudi (not so kid-friendly)

- Per Elon, "Many strong Meta engineers have and are joining xAI and without the need for insane initial comp (still great, but not unsustainably high). Also, xAI has vastly more market cap growth potential than Meta. And we are hyper merit-based: do something great and your comp can shift substantially higher."

■ DOGE:

Estimated Savings: $199 Billion

Amount Saved Per Taxpayer: $1,236.02

- This past Friday, DOGE announced that in the past 5 days, agencies have terminated 122 contracts with a ceiling value of $1.4 billion and savings of $388 million. This included:

• $1.17M NSF consulting contract for “merit review experience study”.

• $523k DoE facilities services contract for “energy efficiency and renewable energy business admin support services”.

■ ELON NEWS:

-- Today, the Trump administration will officially terminate the "What did you get done this week" program created by Elon. It made federal employees submit weekly summaries of their five key workplace accomplishments. The Office of Personnel Management issued a memo rescinding the guidance that required employees to participate in the initiative today. Wonder why Donald does not want to hold federal employees accountable anymore?

■ WAYS TO SUPPORT:

Thanks for reading, everyone!

For August, I am giving away Optimus, the Tesla Bot Action Figure ($45), to one of you guys.

If you are looking for some cool Musk Company Merch, you can also support ELON CHRON by checking out the new shop. Made some new Boring Company hats and shirts. Let me know what you think. serobinsonjr.shop

REFERRALS:

• Tesla: 3 free months of FSD or $400 Off Solar Panel Installation. ts.la/stephen746292

• Starlink: Free Month for either Residential or Roam service! https://www.starlink.com/residential?referral=RC-3527509-65487-76

• T-Mobile (Starlink Direct-to-Cell): $50 credit 45 days after you activate. Direct-to-Cell has dropped from $20 to $10 per month! https://share.t-mobile.com/stephenr-3419

• SOFI (ARK Venture Fund): $25 worth of stock. SOFI is the only outlet the public can invest in Cathie Wood's ARK Venture Fund ($ARKVX). This ARK fund includes SpaceX, xAI, Tesla, X, and a ton of other major AI, Tech, and Bio companies. Of note, investing in the fund requires an initial $500. https://www.sofi.com/invite/invest?gcp=ecf25d1c-7bc9-4ee0-a407-a51849297288&isAliasGcp=false

• Robinhood: Get a Free stock. https://join.robinhood.com/stepher-fcc938

Have a great day!

■ SOURCES:

FLYOVERS:

• Giga Texas: Joe Tegtmeyer

Tesla:

• https://psc.ga.gov/search/facts-document/?documentId=223492

SpaceX:

• Crew-11 Mission | Docking

• NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 Farewell and International Space Station Change of Command

• https://www.faa.gov/space/stakeholder_engagement/spacex_starship_ksc/SpaceX-SSH-at-LC-39A-Draft-EIS_Executive-Summary.pdf

Starlink:

• https://www.pcmag.com/news/spacex-tips-starlink-community-for-cheaper-shared-satellite-internet-access

Elon News:

• Elon Quote: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1951698606366617657

• https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/trump-administration-formally-axe-elon-musks-five-things-email-2025-08-05/