ELON CHRON: The Daily Chronicle of Elon Musk's Companies
Added 2025-07-11 21:47:10 +0000 UTC
11th of July, 2025
"The vibe in the xAI office is 🤌..." - Elon Musk (@elonmusk)
■ TESLA TSLA 1.68%↑ ($313.51, +1.17%):
- On the 15th of July, the first India showroom will open at Unit G 1B, 2 North Avenue, Maker Maxity, Bandra Kurla Complex, in Mumbai. The showroom is expected to have the Tesla Experience Center known in many Asian Tesla Stores. Visitors can explore the vehicles, charging infrastructure, and other Tesla tech. An exclusive launch event will be held from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Pics by Ankit Jxa (@kingofknowwhere).
- Here is the official X account for Tesla India (@Tesla_India).
- For those who do not know, this really is the expanded area for Robotaxi in Austin... lol. Coolest part, other than being a literal meme, a long strip of I-35 is a part of it. Hopefully, we will start seeing some Hwy miles logged.
- Tesla has applied to operate Robotaxi in Phoenix, Arizona. They applied for both with and without human safety drivers. A decision on the application is expected by late July.
- The Dubai Showroom looking nice and ready for Tesla's Electric Summer campaign. Pics by Tesla's Khaled Alhamwi and Kenzi Tantawi. Per Khaled, "We’re kicking off the Electric Summer Weekend with refreshing vibes, relaxing energy, and of course Tesla test drives. Whether you’re curious about EVs or already dreaming of your next Tesla, come experience the demos of our cars, the chill summer-themed setup, and a taste of what owning a Tesla truly feels like."
- Speaking of Dubai, Tesla announced the Model 3 is now available in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, & Israel.
- The first batch of V4 Superchargers in China were just unveiled in Hongshoufang, Shanghai.
- According to Tesla Territory Manager Ian Lim, Tesla has also started upgrading all the Superchargers in Singapore to V4. This site is in Katong V Shopping Mall.
- Today, Alpay Can, EMEA Sales Advisor at Tesla, helped host a global team of managers at the Ferko Line store in Istanbul, Türkiye, after a successful quarter. He shared on-site field operations and discussed common goals for the next quarter, noting high motivation and clear objectives.
- In Canada the Model Y Long Range AWD is now $64,990, down from $84,990. The Diamond Black color is also available at $2,000. This leads to the question, will the Model Y now be imported from Giga Berlin?
- Thanks to MarcoRP (@MarcoRPi1) we know PepsiCo has submitted plans for an 18 station Megacharger at their manufacturing facility on Nevada Blvd in Charlotte, North Carolina.
- Drive Tesla Canada (@DriveTeslaca) has reported that Canada’s investigation into Tesla’s $43 million iZEV rebate claims concluded all claims were valid with no fraud. This overturns earlier suspicions from the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association, which had urged the investigation, following the iZEV program’s $5,000 per vehicle rebate pause in January 2025.
- The Diamond Black color is also now available in Australia and New Zealand for Model Ys and Model 3 Rear-Wheel Drives.
FLYOVERS (flight links in sources section):
Giga Texas: Joe Tegtmeyer (@JoeTegtmeyer), 10th of July, '25.
■ SPACEX:
- A Starship header tank inside the Starfactory. This is a smaller cryogenic fuel tank located within the main tank. The unique design reduces/prevents sloshing, balances the weight of Ship, and supplies propellant for precise landing maneuvers, aka bellyflops. Awesome pic taken last night by Carlos (@cnunezimages).
- The Axiom 4 (Ax-4) crew, consisting of Commander Peggy Whitson, Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla, and Mission Specialists Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski and Tibor Kapu, are set to undock from the International Space Station’s Harmony module at 7:05 a.m. ET on Monday, the 14th of July, aboard SpaceX Dragon Grace. NASA will provide live coverage starting at 4:30 a.m. for hatch closure. The crew completed microgravity research, including 3D-printing organoids, testing radiation protection fabrics, and studying fluid behavior for semiconductor manufacturing, contributing to over 60 studies from 31 countries. Pics by Astronaut Jonny Kim (@JonnyKimUSA) are of the Ax-4 Crew sharing a meal with new friends aboard the ISS.
- Despite objections from SpaceX, AST SpaceMobile secured FCC approval to launch its 13,000 lbs prototype satellite, FM1, for testing phone connectivity from space. Per SpaceX "The inconsistencies, discrepancies and inadequacies of AST’s orbital debris showings suggest its system will not promote sustainable operations in low-Earth orbit as the Commission’s rules intend."
Starbase City Commission Meeting:
Wednesday, 16th of July, at 7:00 p.m. CT, at 39046 LBJ Blvd, Unit 02, Brownsville, TX 78521.
Countdown to 180 (84 - Falcon 9, 0 - Falcon Heavy, and 3 - Starship):
Launch 88! July, Sunday, 13th, of July at 12:31 a.m. ET, Falcon 9 Dror-1 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 SpaceX's "Commercial GTO 1" mission to launch Dror-1, a geostationary communication satellite built by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). Dror-1 features locally developed Israeli technologies, including an advanced digital communication payload and “smartphone in space” capabilities for enhanced communication agility throughout its operational life.
Launch 89! Sunday, 13th of July, at 7:27 p.m. PT, Falcon 9 Starlink 15-2 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 Atlantic Ocean.
Launch 90! July, Wednesday, 16th of July, at 2:05 a.m. ET, Falcon 9 Project Kuiper #1 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 first of a three launches contracted for Amazon's Kuiper low Earth orbit satellite internet constellation.
Launch 91! Wednesday, 16th of July, at 7:08 p.m. PT, Falcon 9 Starlink 17-3 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 Atlantic Ocean.
Launch 92! Sunday, 20th of July, at 7:09 p.m. PT, Falcon 9 Starlink 17-2 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 Atlantic Ocean.
Launch 93! July, Thursday, 31st of July, at 12:09 p.m. ET, NASA SpaceX Falcon 9 Crew-11 will launch from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. This will be Crew Dragon Endeavour's 6th flight. Booster B1094 will return to site and land at Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) located at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
■ THE BORING COMPANY:
- Current map of the Vegas LOOP.
- According to the Orlando Business Journal, Universal Studios Orlando may be exploring a partnership with The Boring Company. They are looking to build underground tunnels connecting their north campus (Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure, CityWalk) and south campus (Epic Universe, Universal Helios Grand Hotel) along International Drive. Just like the Vegas Loop, they would use Teslas. This has not been confirmed by Universal Studios or TBC.
■ NEURALINK:
- Rock, Paper, Scissors with his little girl. Per Neuralink, “School's out for summer! Here's daddy-daughter time with one of our participants.”
- A post by Neuralink's 7th recipient, Jake Schneider (@PairedWith_P7), "I feel like an actual human being again. When you suddenly can no longer type, move a mouse, or even hold a phone—you feel so dehumanized, and realize all the things you took for granted are now gone. Neuralink gives me ability back and there’s no better feeling than that."
■ STARLINK:
- Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) was with Texas Governor Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) as the surveyed the damage from the floods last weekend. Gov. Abbott said the following about Starlink, "Starlink has proved to be very effective in a lot of places. And what we'll do when we have the session is look at all the different options. And again, it may be one or it could be several different options that we take. I think one thing we can all agree upon is that we need to include the capability of communicating in areas that are potential disaster areas."
- A Reddit u/Rockin_Robby in northwest Ontario reported seeing "Rogers Satellite" with "RAT: LTE" on their phone, suggesting Rogers' Starlink Direct-to-Cell service may be active. Robby was not able to connect, but that is probably due to not being part the plan, which no one would be right now, or the service is incompatible with his device. Rogers plans to launch the service in late 2025.
■ X:
- With Linda Yaccarino's (@lindayaX) exit as X's CEO, it appears X is shifting its focus from advertising reliance to a revenue model centered on xAI and Grok via subscriptions and commercial applications. Some are saying potential X CEO successors may include Linda's leadership team members John Nitti (@JohnNittiX), global head of revenue operations and ad innovation; Angela Zepeda (@AngelaZepedaX), global head of marketing; or Monique Pintarelli (@MoniquePintX), head of Americas.
- X's Director and Head of International Content Tim O'Mahony (@timomahony), represented X at the Global Game Summit yesterday at Prudential Center. Tim focused on X's role in real-time sports engagement with its 436 million daily active users. Per Tim, "X is the world's most powerful cultural signal, and sports dominates the conversation—capturing imaginations and passionate engagement all over the world. We're proud to the ultimate stadium for fandom, creating local experiences with broadcasters, publishers, and athletes..." Pics by X's Bobby Trono (@bobbytrono).
-In India, X has reduced subscription fees.
Premium+: $34.98 (₹3,000), down from $59.46 (₹5,100).
Premium Monthly: $5.48 (₹470), down from $10.50 (₹900).
Basic Monthly: $1.98 (₹170), down from $2.84 (₹243.75).
- Today, French prosecutors launched a criminal investigation into X for alleged "bias in France's democratic debate," following accusations of data tampering and fraud. The probe is conducted by the French gendarmerie, and will focus on organized tampering with automated data processing systems and fraudulent data extraction. They said the investigation was prompted by Grok's reference to "MechaHitler" and Jewish control of Hollywood. French MPs Thierry Sother and Pierre Jouvet have involve Arcom, France’s digital content regulator.
■ xAI:
- “Grok to understand” by Dogan Ural (@doganuraldesign).
- Per Elon, "Some more cool Grok features coming out this weekend." Keep an eye out!
- According to the Financial Times, xAI is in early talks to raise funds at a $170 to $200 billion valuation with Saudi Arabia’s PIF (Public Investment Fund). PIF is expected to play a major role and fundraising could start next month.
- Grok Android has surpassed 50M downloads.
- xAI's Attila Blenessy (@ablenessy) stated in recent Android release they updated their Intercom sdk that caused some support capabilities to fail and crash. He has reached out to Intercom with the details and a fix is under review by Google Play.
- Elon says a native Grok PC App is about two months out.
- Imarena .ai (@lmarena_ai) announced Grok 4 is now on LMArena, where it will compete against over 3.5 million user votes based on real-time, crowd-sourced AI evaluation. In other words, we will see how it performs with real-world scenarios compared to hard benchmarks.
- Per xAI's Al Mc D (@almc_d), "Grok4 was trained and is hosted on the largest SuperCompute system and network ever, built by the best Network and Infrastructure teams on the planet."
■ DOGE:
Estimated Savings: $190 Billion
Amount Saved Per Taxpayer: $1,180.12
- Today, DOGE announced the National Weather Service has upgraded 44 more sites to wireless, cutting ~$160k/month in copper contract costs. ~300 sites remain. A video showed the transmission from Mt. Cheaha, Alabama.
■ ELON NEWS: N/A...
■ WAYS TO SUPPORT:
If you enjoy the ELON CHRON, please support by subscribing for only $4/month. That's less than .18¢/update! When you subscribe you also become instantly eligible for the random subscriber giveaway.
For July, I am giving away Tesla's official Year of the Snake Backpack ($50)! Like always, one random subscriber's name will be drawn at the end of the month. Subscribe here!
Check out the new STARSHIP TO MARS T-Shirt in the serobinsonjr.shop
REFERRALS:
Tesla: 3 free months of FSD or $400 Off Solar Panel Installation.
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!
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.
Have a great weekend!
■ SOURCES:
FLYOVERS:
Giga Texas: Joe Tegtmeyer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RARXg5dh7s
Tesla:
SpaceX:
The Boring Company:
Starlink:
X:
xAI:
Elon News:
