Welcome back to The Station, your center hub for all past, present, and future ways of getting people and packages from Point A to Point B.
Rebecca Bellan here, and yes, I’m still guiding the ship.
The biggest news this week was Elon Musk’s trip to China, which could help strengthen Tesla’s ties with the world’s largest car market. It’s Elon Musk’s first trip to China since the COVID-19 pandemic, and his commitment to the country isn’t surprising given how much China’s sales of cars help the automaker’s sales around the world. In the first quarter, more than half of Tesla’s exports were to China.
Even though Twitter isn’t allowed in China, Elon Musk has still made himself something of a hero there, Rita says. The CEO has over 2 million followers on Weibo, where Elon Musk talks about how much he likes China, why he doesn’t like cutting off supply lines, and how he wants to grow his business in China.
“The Chinese space program is far more advanced than most people realize,” Elon Musk wrote on Weibo.
His ability to talk nicely has won him the nickname “Iron Man.”
The pieces of Elon Musk’s trip to China are still falling into place, and we’ll keep you updated, but here’s what we know so far. Elon Musk started his trip by having dinner with Zeng Yuqun, the chairman of CATL, one of the biggest companies that makes batteries. There have been talks lately about CATL and Tesla teaming up to make cheaper batteries in the U.S., but nothing is set in stone yet.
Elon Musk also went to the Shanghai Gigafactory, where he met the people who work on Tesla’s famous Model 3 and Model Y.
We’re keeping our eyes open for more news about what Elon Musk is doing in China. And with that, let’s move on to the rest!
