What happened Shares of Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) are on a tear Monday, rising 8.5% in late morning trading as of 11:55 a.m. EDT. But if you ask me, the reason these shares are rocking dates back to last week -- or at least the weekend just past. Or perhaps I should say reasons. Image source: Getty Images. So what There are actually two catalysts that are driving Tesla forward today. First, on Friday, Elon Musk teased investors with a cryptic Tweet promising that "many exciting things will be unveiled" at the company's upcoming Battery Day presentation, slated to take place on September 22. Many exciting things will be unveiled on Battery Day 9/22 ⚡️ — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1304445872885780480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); No one's 100% sure just what Musk was referring to there, but hypotheses range from big reveals on changes to car production in Berlin to a new "nanowire technology" that Tesla has invented for building batteries with 50% higher energy density than is currently possible. Now what Granted, Musk's Battery Day tweet came out Friday, and the stock didn't move much in response to it -- rising less than 1% in Friday trading. But over the weekend, there was more news to intrigue Tesla investors, as well as investors in electric cars, generally. On Saturday, OilPrice.com reported on the contents of a new report out of mining research and consultancy firm Wood Mackenzie. In said report, the consultant discussed the world's need for 800,000 new tons of lithium production by 2025 -- and also explained why all this new lithium will be needed. Woods' analysis of current trends in global warming and electric vehicle production "brings electric vehicle (EV) uptake forward by ten years and sees EVs make up around 40% of passenger car sales by 2030." "This considerably accelerates the demand for batteries and the raw materials that go into them," observes the analyst. It also suggests that Tesla's sales over the next five years could be a whole lot stronger than investors had been anticipating. Is this reason enough for a stock rally at Tesla? Investors seem to think so today. 10 stocks we like better than TeslaWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Tesla wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of August 1, 2020 Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source