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One major benefit of owning a Tesla is the ability to avoid garage lockouts with the use of HomeLink. Whether used as a backup to your garage door code, or as your primary way of parking in the garage, HomeLink is an important feature for Tesla owners, and it makes it easy to get into the house when you need to. Above: (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX). Conveniently, you can also use HomeLink to someone else into the garage when you aren’t home, making it versatile for friends and loved ones, deliveries and more. Read this week’s Tesla Pro Tip from Erwin Meyer at EVSpeedy.com below to learn how to use HomeLink, whether for yourself or someone else. Tesla Garage HomeLink Tip If you have a Tesla, Garage, and Homelink, this tip might save you from getting locked out of your house. If your front door has a code to be unlocked and it is accidentally locked or jammed, you can open and click on the Tesla App > Controls > Homelink. This way your garage door will open, and you’ll be able to enter your home from the garage’s side. You can also let a neighbor or delivery guy put packages in your garage when you’re not at home so that they’re not left on your doorstep. === You can find this and even more Tesla Pro Tips at EVSpeedy.com.

The main barrier to widespread EV adoption, from a car buyer’s standpoint, is a very simple one: they cost more to buy than legacy vehicles. On a total cost of ownership basis, owning an EV is actually cheaper than owning a gas-burner, as numerous studies have demonstrated (Would you believe it can be cheaper to own a Tesla Model 3 than a Toyota Camry?), but many buyers don’t look beyond the price on the sticker at the dealership, and purchase prices for EVs still tend to be substantially higher than those of “comparable” fossil rides. However, as Christopher Mims writes in a recent Wall Street Journal article, the gap is narrowing. Above: A Tesla Model 3 (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX). Due to a variety of factors, the costs of producing EVs could drop drastically over the next few years, and given the competitive nature of the auto industry, automakers are likely to pass on much of the savings to buyers by lowering prices. The main reason for the steadily shrinking cost of an EV can be found in its batteries. The battery pack is the single most expensive component in an EV, and this is the reason they’ve always cost more than legacy vehicles. But battery costs have been on a steady downward trajectory ever since the advent of modern EVs, thanks to improvements in the technology, along with economies of scale resulting from higher production volumes. “Battery costs are the biggest contributor to the overall change in the cost of EVs, and their premium compared to [internal combustion engine] vehicles,” Paul Augustine, Director of Sustainability at Lyft, told the WSJ. “We’ve seen that cost drop 90% from 2010 to 2020.” This trend went into reverse in 2022, as the aftermath of the COVID pandemic caused raw-material prices to soar. According to BloombergNEF, the price of an EV battery pack rose 6.9% compared to 2021— the first increase since Bloomberg began following the market in 2010. Some feared that the party was over, and that battery prices would level off or even continue to increase. This didn’t happen, for several reasons. First, the Invisible Hand of the free market went to work, and higher prices gave producers an incentive to ramp up production. Second, automakers began using different battery chemistries that don’t require as much of the most expensive raw materials. To date, most EVs have used batteries based on chemistries that use nickel and cobalt, which are not only expensive, but also come from regions with poor environmental and human-rights records. However, for some time, Chinese automakers have been using a different battery chemistry—lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP), which uses no nickel or cobalt. Tesla began offering LFP-based battery packs in 2021, and now VW, Ford and other automakers are expanding their use of LFP chemistries. Ryan Castilloux, Managing Director at Adamas Intelligence, told the WSJ that iron-based batteries now account for almost a third of all EV batteries produced worldwide, and he expects that share to grow. Nickel-based chemistries, which offer better energy density, will continue to be preferred for some vehicle segments, but LFP, which is cheaper and more durable, is likely to become the technology of choice for lower-priced mass-market EVs. Batteries aren’t the only components that are expected to see price drops. Every day brings news of breakthroughs having to do with motors, inverters, electronics, and even such mundane parts as brakes and tires—and increasing range and lowering costs are top priorities. Technological advances will deliver cost savings, but economies of scale will play an even more important role—and the scale of everything to do with EVs is expected to blast off over the next few years. Automakers and battery producers have massive investment in EV production lines, battery plants and new sources of raw materials in the pipeline—consulting firm AlixPartners told the WSJ that automakers will invest a collective half a trillion dollars in EV development and production through 2026. All of the above should be enough to deliver substantial price reductions for EVs over the next few years. And there’s much more going on. The revamped tax credits included in the Inflation Reduction Act will deliver substantial savings to some EV buyers, but there’s a much less well-known section of the IRA that could have many times the impact of the tax credits. Section 45X authorizes 10 years’ worth of funding for battery production credits that could reimburse a manufacturer for a big chunk of the cost of building a battery. One EV battery production expert told Car and Driver that Section 45X could cut one-third to one-half off the total cost of a US-made battery pack. And here’s the kicker: Because the subsidy is based on a fixed dollar amount, if the actual cost of producing a battery pack continues to drop, the cost to the manufacturer after the subsidy could theoretically fall to zero. Of course, there are a lot of unknowns when dealing with a new technology, so prices can’t be predicted with any precision. It does seem certain, however, that EVs will continue to get cheaper, and as the WSJ’s Christopher Mims puts it, car buyers could soon be in a very strange position: If they insist on sticking with last-generation technology, they’ll have to pay a premium. === Source: Wall Street Journal

The opening up of Tesla’s Supercharger network is a positive step forward for the whole industry, but there are going to be challenges to be worked out. EV boosters and influencers have been converging on the half-dozen or so “open” stations in the state of New York to test out the system and share some of the good and bad points. Above: Tesla charging port at a Supercharger (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX). In a recent video, Marques Brownlee walks us through the process of charging a non-Tesla at a Supercharger. He’s the first one to arrive at the station, and things start off smoothly—he chooses a charging stall using the Tesla app, a nifty little adapter called the Magic Dock is automatically unlocked, and he plugs in and happily begins charging. Above: Charging a non-Tesla at a Supercharger (Video: Auto Focus / YouTube). Once an assortment of non-Tesla EVs show up, however, things get weird. Supercharger sites were designed for Teslas, which all have their charging ports in the aft port corner. Other EVs have charging ports all over the place—some on the left, some on the right, some on the front grill, some a few feet back on the forward quarter panel. Fellow EV advocate Tom Moloughney shows up in a Ford F-150 Lightning, and getting the plug to click in requires stretching it to its limit. Other EVs can’t get the cable to reach unless they park across more than one space—I for one don’t want to see how that works out at a crowded Supercharger site at rush hour. In the weeks to come, we’ll surely see an avalanche of stories about cord length troubles. The obvious solution—making the cables longer—is already in the works, but this may be a bit more complex than it sounds, thanks to the Superchargers’ stylish design. Tesla has had some months of experience doing this in Europe, so hopefully an elegant solution will be found before too many road rage incidents erupt. Some commenters have pointed out another potential issue— Tesla’s requirement that drivers use its branded app is a brilliant marketing opportunity, but it could run afoul of state and federal regulations that mandate open access. A controversial California rule appears to require that new public EV chargers provide credit card readers (which Superchargers don’t have), and specifically prohibits providers from requiring “a subscription or membership.” (See also CARB’s EVSE Standards Regulation.) Teslarati reports that Tesla currently offers a $12.99-per-month Supercharging membership that offers a discount on charging sessions—around 25% off the normal cost. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law mandates a number of consumer-protection standards for federally-funded EV chargers. One of these is that drivers must not be required to use multiple apps and accounts to charge—a single method of identification must work across all chargers. One of Tesla’s reasons for opening up the Superchargers was surely to make future installations eligible for federal funding, so it will eventually have to figure out a way to comply with the letter of these and other state and local regulations. === This article originally appeared in Charged. Author: Charles Morris. Sources: Electrek, Teslarati

Tesla officially moved its corporate headquarters from California to Texas in 2021, but in recent weeks, the automaker has debuted another new headquarters in the West Coast state. Not far from the company’s Fremont, California Gigafactory, the automaker now has a new space for its engineering operations, aptly located in Silicon Valley near a number of other tech companies. Above: A Tesla Model Y (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX). Now, Tesla’s engineering headquarters is officially located in Palo Alto, California, as announced by the company and Governor Gavin Newson at an opening event in recent weeks, and as detailed in reports from Reuters and USA Today. The office space is located in a former Hewlett-Packard building, and CEO Elon Musk says the opening of the engineering headquarters in the space is “poetic.” “We’re excited to announce that Tesla’s global engineering headquarters will be right here, at the former headquarters of Hewlett Packard,” Musk said. “This is a poetic transition from the company that founded Silicon Valley to Tesla.” The news came at an opening event at the Palo Alto location, during which Musk and Newsom were both present. Tesla’s Austin, Texas location will remain the company’s main headquarters, but now he says the Palo Alto site will be “effectively a headquarters of Tesla.” Musk also said that Tesla would be “kind of a dual-headquartered company,” with engineering operations taking place in Palo Alto, while most of the automaker’s car manufacturing and corporate happenings would report to its Austin, Texas headquarters. “It’s going to be epic,” Musk said. “We’re going to build the future here.” It’s not entirely clear what Tesla will specifically focus on in Palo Alto, though Musk previously said the company would build the upcoming Optimus robot at the location, and it only stands to reason that its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving beta programs will be hosted at the site. In general, AI operations can be expected to fall under the company’s engineering program. California also remains a host to many rivaling autonomous driving companies, including the General Motors-owned Cruise (San Francisco) and Google parent Alphabet’s Waymo (Mountain View). Additionally, Apple is testing autonomous driving and the tech giant is headquartered in Cupertino. In January, Tesla said its total California operations had increased to about 47,000 employees in the state. The company’s history in California is vast, and its Fremont factory was the first at-volume plant for the company’s cars. Additionally, the site still ships automobiles around the world today, and Musk says the state will remain a key region of growth for Tesla in the years to come. “Although we are obviously expanding in many parts of the world, we’ve continued to expand in California the entire time,” Musk said. “Every year, we’ve grown our headcount in California significantly and we expect that to continue in the future.” === Source: Reuters / USA Today

Tesla’s recent Investor Day event brought with it a few announcements, including the automaker’s plans to construct a new Gigafactory in Mexico. The plant comes as a part of Tesla’s hopes to increase its production numbers even more than it has in the last few years — and ultimately to reduce its manufacturing costs in the coming decade. Above: A Tesla Model X (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX). At the event, CEO Elon Musk told shareholders that Tesla expects to cut manufacturing costs in half, partially through an updated set of manufacturing processes, and through its next-generation vehicle platform planned for production at Giga Mexico (via Automotive News). In the next decade, Tesla hopes to reach an annual production capacity of 20 million units, far higher than the 1.3 million sold in 2022. That scale of production is expected to help Tesla unlock vehicles with sub-$30,000 sticker prices, comparable to a traditional gas car such as the Toyota Corolla. Additionally, this is thought to help increase mainstream electric vehicle adoption, as more and more consumers are able to afford the updated pricing models. “The desire for people to own a Tesla is extremely high,” Musk said at Investor Day. “The limiting factor is their ability to pay for a Tesla.” Many have referred to the concept of an affordable Tesla as the “Model 2,” and analysts expect it to cost between $25,000 and $30,000. Analysts with investment firm Bernstein have pointed to the competition Tesla is already facing and aren’t fully convinced the automaker will reach its targets on upcoming sales goals. “Tesla is unlikely to ramp up new models fast enough to meet volume expectations of 2.4 million in 2024, especially since the next-gen platform appears to still be in the design phase,” Bernstein wrote. “Moreover, we believe that price cuts underscore the highly competitive nature of the auto market, where sustained high margins and high volume is unprecedented.” The plan to shift toward becoming a higher-volume auto manufacturer was discussed by several Tesla executives at Investor Day. In addition, one of Musk’s past “Master Plans” for the automaker detailed the company’s long-term strategy of selling one vehicle, then using the profits to create a more affordable car, then doing the same with the profits from that vehicle to make an even more affordable car, and so on and so forth. Higher volumes of auto production mean lower manufacturing costs, as pointed out by, Lars Moravy, Tesla’s vice president of vehicle engineering. During the event, Moravy emphasized how crucial manufacturing and a new-generation EV platform would be to the company’s ability to deliver on long-term production targets. “If we are going to scale the way we want to do, we have to rethink manufacturing again,” Moravy said. “As part of the master plan, we have to make a step change in cost.” === Source: Automotive News

Guest Contributor: Zachary Shahan / CleanTechnica  At the first ever TeslaCon Florida conference toward the end of 2022, automotive engineering superstar Sandy Munro was one of the featured speakers (ahem, I was another one). Initially, I wasn’t sure what to expect from his presentation, but when I saw that it was primarily going to be a Q&A, I knew it was going to be juicy. So, I pulled out my phone and moved up to the front in order to hopefully grab a few great soundbites. It ended up that Sandy delivered a ton of soundbites. Below is a roundup of some of the top ones I pulled out of the Q&A. (Also, before I roll into these, note that we will be interviewing Sandy Munro soon for our CleanTech Talk podcast series.)  Above: A Tesla Model 3 (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX). 1. Tesla is “engineering at the speed of thought.” Tesla’s pace of innovation in product develop as well as manufacturing evolution is unmatched, Munro indicates. Talking about the mind-bogglingly fast innovation, he said, “I equate Tesla to basically engineering at the speed of thought. They move faster — 10, 20, 100 times faster — than any company I’ve ever seen. We can’t believe how many changes they made in two years on the Model Y.” This has long been one of the key Tesla strengths Elon Musk has highlight. In fact, it was a few years ago that he responded to a CleanTechnica article on Twitter saying that it was all about pace of innovation. He also reiterated this a few times to me in direct messages in various ways.  Pace of innovation is all that matters in the long run — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 26, 2020 2. Will anything stop Tesla from getting to a $24,000 car? “No.” Nick Howe, President of Florida Tesla Enthusiasts and lead organizer of TeslaCon Florida (which, we should note, EVANNEX was a major sponsor of), mentioned some comments from a recent Tesla shareholder conference call in which Elon Musk indicated Tesla was working on a platform that was approximately half the cost of the Model 3 platform. He deduced this would mean a cost of about $24,000. He then asked Sandy whether anything would stop Tesla from achieving this target. Sandy’s response was a concise, firm, and quick “No.” After pausing for dramatic effect and quite a bit of laughter, he elaborated a little bit by discussing Tesla’s approach (including some exclusive tidbits) to molds, casting (gigacasting), and other manufacturing processes. 3. Tesla Cybertruck “will kick the daylights out of a market we don’t even have right now.” Sandy Munro loves the Ford F-150 Lightning. He had a number of positive things to say about Ford during the Q&A, including how well he thinks the Lightning will do in the conventional pickup truck market. That also led him to the Cybertruck, which he doesn’t see as fitting in, exactly, to the pickup truck market. Rather, he thinks it will create a whole market segment of its own!“To me, that truck will kick the daylights out of a market we don’t even have right now. And that’s a fact. It’s got its own unique market, and any car that can come out and have its own unique market will basically dominate it forever — unless they do something stupid. I think Tesla is going to make a ****load of money on the Cybertruck.” 4. Trying to sell automakers on casting for 15 years before Tesla came along. Clearly frustrated at the lack of innovation, courageousness, and engineering efficiency from legacy automakers, Munro talked about his long love of casting and how long it took for an automaker to join this lovefest. He said he heard every excuse in the book for why automakers couldn’t do hardcore casting and the lonely cast frame sitting on his office floor.“15 years and nobody picked up on it, and then Tesla, I criticized them — I said, ‘you’ve got 120 parts, it should be one’ — and the next thing you know, they made the change. How they do things and how everyone else does them — there’s no comparison.” 5. Sandy aims to get on the board of Chrysler and help save it. Asked about which automakers he thinks are doing things right (besides Tesla) and will survive, Sandy explained that he saw automakers shrinking as they struggle to evolve in the transition. It’s a tough challenge for them, having to scale down ICE development and sales while scaling up EV development and sales. “I think there will be survivors. I think it’ll be a whole lot smaller,” he noted. But the most interesting part of this conversation — for me, at least — was his dream of investing enough money into Chrysler to get on its board (once Stellantis is forced to spin it out). Speaking about various legacy automakers: “And they’re going to have to divest a whole lot, in a hurry. I don’t know what those characters are gonna do, but they’re in deep trouble. You saw what happened with Fiat — they’ve fallen off the table; nobody wants them. [Sandy’s referencing my presentation here, which referenced this auto industry sales report.] Stellantis — the new company, which is Fiat and PSA — I believe that they’re gonna need money. They need money, they’re gonna have to sell something off. Something they’re probably going to sell off is Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep. And when they sell that off, I’ll buy stock. I’ll buy enough stock that I will have a word, I will have a word on their board or something. I’d like to see Chrysler survive, and they’ll never survive under Stellantis, never.” Chrysler Chairman of the Board Sandy Munro — how does that sound? 6. Chinese EVs are coming. Sandy included a lot of praise for Chinese electric vehicle producers (and the Vietnamese automaker VinFast) in his Q&A. When prompted, he said: “So I can tell you right now because I worked on a lot of the cars that are going to be coming in from China. These are not poor quality cars. I have one of the cars — we have at the office — a Chinese vehicle. It’s not one of the ones that I worked on, but I worked with BYD, I worked with Beijing Automotive EV Group, the NIO, the Geely cars — I mean, I would do workshops that had 500 people in a tiered audience learning how to use our techniques, and we only worked on electric vehicles. These guys have had a lot longer to work on electric vehicles than the guys here in North America or Europe.” He expects a big long wave of high-quality Chinese electric vehicle imports, and production of these electric cars stateside as well. 7. Only 100% electric now, and won’t work with Big Auto giants if he doesn’t believe in them. Sandy noted that he decided to completely ditch any work with internal combustion engines and Munro & Associates only works on 100% battery-electric vehicles now. He referenced global heating and climate crisis as reasons for this, but  also think he just finds EVs more fun now. He added that he wouldn’t work with automakers, even giant ones, if he didn’t believe in their approach to EVs. He even mentioned turning down a $1 million partnership or project from one of the world’s largest automakers. Furthermore, he noted that he had modified his 50% BEV market share forecast. Instead of predicting we’d reach that in 2030, he’s now predicting we’ll achieve it in 2028. === Guest Contributor: Zachary Shahan / CleanTechnica; Look out for the CleanTechnica CleanTech Talk podcast discussion between Zachary Shahan and Sandy Munro! And check out the full Sandy Munro playlist on CleanTechnica.TV for more.

Tesla owners with dogs may already know that they can’t use Dog Mode when their vehicles are under 20 percent charge levels. However, another tip from EVSpeedy.com lets drivers activate Dog Mode when their cars are below 20 percent charged, with one simple trick that will still let you walk away and do what you need to do while keeping your pup comfortable. Above: A dog in the backseat of a Tesla (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX). Dog Mode lets users keep their A/C on when walking away from the car, so dogs can safely stay in the vehicle, even when it’s hot outside. The mode also displays a message to passersby to let them know the A/C is on. While EVSpeedy’s tip for this week points out how users can work around their low-charged vehicles to activate Dog Mode, you may also have to write this message yourself when using the workaround. Read this week’s Tesla Pro Tip from EVSpeedy.com below to learn how to use Dog Mode, even when your vehicle is under 20 percent charged. Dog Mode Workaround This is a workaround for Dog Mode not working with the state of charge under 20 percent. You can put the car in neutral in your safety menu and manually apply the parking brake. This will allow Dog Mode to activate, even if the state of charge is below 20 percent, ensuring that your pet remains comfortable and safe while you are away. Then you can go and do the things you need to do. Just remember to manually lock the car because it will not automatically do so. If you also want to let passersby know that your Dog is safe and in Dog Mode, you can do so by opening the drawing app and writing the message there. === You can find this and even more Tesla Pro Tips at EVSpeedy.com.

Elon Musk has become well-known for his leadership at Tesla, SpaceX and his other business ventures, but how he’s managed to make his car company profitable in such a short span of time is particularly impressive. With legacy automaker histories spanning over a century, Musk’s focus on logistics at Tesla has given the company a wave of advantages, and he recently pointed to this detail during a Q&A. Above: A Tesla from outside the driver’s window (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX). During the Q&A session at the end of Tesla’s Investor Day, Musk pointed to logistics as an important factor in the company’s development of its next-generation platform, as can be seen in this video of the segment from CNET. Just as Tesla went through with the debut of its Model SX and Model 3Y platforms, the company will need to face off against logistical issues to bring a more affordable vehicle to market. “Battles are won with tactics. Wars are won with logistics,” Musk said at during the Q&A. “The logistics challenges here are enormous.” Tesla is no stranger to what Musk has previously referred to as “logistics hell,” with the development of the Model 3 falling short of production targets due to several comingling issues. Musk previously said logistical issues with Model 3 pre-production caused tons of stress and pain from about mid-2017 to mid-2019.  Above: Elon Musk Answers All Your Questions at Investor Day 2023 (Video: CNET on YouTube). Upcoming challenges for the company’s next-generation platform are not unlike past troubles with production, as Musk points out. Stabilizing logistical details, especially with regard to the still-growing industry of battery cell production, will be key to delivering on an affordable, mass-market vehicle in the coming years, according to Musk. “The rate of progress is the rate at which we are able to scale 10,000 logistics problems,” Musk added. “Most significant of those is the cell production. We actually deliberately try to overdo cell production or cell supply to have that exceed what is needed in vehicles, because if it goes below what is needed for vehicles, the factories stall.” To be sure, organizing a wide web of component and mineral suppliers, having them manufacture the necessary parts, then planning timelines and delivery of parts, and then using these parts to produce cars at volume are no easy logistical problems to solve. Tesla’s past experience may make it more financially viable for the company though, even as many startup electric vehicle manufacturers struggle to stay afloat amidst billions in losses. === Source: YouTube (via CNET)

Miami’s EV Garage is South Florida’s first independent electric vehicle service center, offering two locations and a lot of know-how on the new technology. We recently spoke with EV Garage Tech Lead Jose Roura about the new territory of servicing and modifying Teslas and other EVs, along with a handful of other topics. Above: EV Garage Miami (Note: EVANNEX is using the photo above with express permission from EV Garage Miami). Roura has been working with EVs for over a decade, with past experience at Tesla and with BMW’s hybrid and all-electric offerings. While EV Garage Miami is somewhat of a new venture, Roura says the independent EV shop is already gaining traction for filling an important void in the auto community. You can read our full interview with EV Garage Miami Tech Lead Jose Roura below. EVANNEX: Can you tell me about how EV Garage Miami started? Jose: We did a market study of the sales of vehicles and the growing trend that was going on. I mean, I was working for Tesla so I kind of knew the amount of vehicles that were being sold every single day, compared to other manufacturers, at least here in the U.S. And it’s evident that they just made a trend that there’s no going back from. So yeah, it started with two investors that had this vision and they brought me along, and from there on, I started bringing people from different areas — some from Tesla, some from independent shops — that have helped build this into what it’s coming to be. EVANNEX: Would you say most of the people that you work with have some kind of auto background then? Jose: Yes, most of them. Everybody that’s here has experience with vehicles or has had the drive to know more or learn. We’re pushing towards giving training and showing people who want to get into this, also serving as a small school, if you want to put it that way. So we’re heading in that direction as well. EVANNEX: So you said before that you were working at Tesla — how did you personally get into servicing EVs? Jose: I started in 2008 with BMW. You know, luxury company, performance vehicles, racing applications, and people love customizing their BMWs. They also have their own clubs and fans for their vehicles, but ever since I started with them, I kept growing within the company as a technician, and I was one of the first to go into training in getting involved in their hybrid and electric vehicle program. Many people didn’t want to be involved in it. It was new, it was different and people didn’t want to — they were happiest where they were. But I was always intrigued by it, and as I got involved with it, I saw the amount of research and development that these companies were putting towards this. So I saw the potential in this. Also, the competition behind it, because it was so new. This came with a bunch of curves, like parts availability, and the same engineers who were designing the vehicles had very little information to go off of. So with all this, one thing led to another, and I was one of the few in South Florida from all the dealers that were working on the i8s, the i3s from BMW, which were the electrics and the hybrids. Then everything just moved forward and Tesla came along. I was about to start with Tesla in 2014, if I’m not mistaken, here in Florida. ‘14 or ‘15. And I was afraid because this was when Tesla was in danger. I mean you can even find that online. I regret it now that I didn’t take the jump [Laughs]. So I stayed with BMW for a couple more years, and then finally jumped ship in 2020 right around the pandemic. I worked with Tesla up until now. Yeah, Tesla was different. Very steep, fast learning curve and it’s extremely fast-paced, Tesla is. It’s crazy. And I understand how they’ve become what they’ve become really, in as little as 10 years, after the Model S in 2012. I mean, I know they had the Roadster from before, but their main flagship car was the Model S, and after that, it’s been nonstop. EVANNEX: What are some of the most common services you see Tesla owners coming into EV Garage for? Jose: The most common that everybody’s familiar with is tires. Tesla drivers love their tires like we love our ice cream. Yeah, they love tires. There are alignments that we do frequently on vehicles, there are some aftermarket suspension components that we install to help with the alignment that helps a lot with tires, so they last a little bit longer. I mean, actually twice the length. But yeah, people come in to customize their vehicles all the time: spoilers, side skirts, tinting windows. We’re in South Florida so this is very common, to tint your windows — it helps with the heat and the sun. Charge port doors. So many people just are not familiar with using charge port doors, or it’s open while charging and somebody walks by it and they just rip the door apart. So yeah, it’s very common to the charge port doors. Wipers and cabin filters. Again, with the sun and the rain out here once the rainy season starts, we do wipers all the time. The suspension components get really worn out because of the performance of the vehicles and the amount of power. It puts a lot of strain on the suspension components and also potholes, and the weight of the vehicle. So we do a lot of suspension components — front and upper control arms they start squeaking, lower control arms start cracking and coming apart. And then you have your regular fender bender problems, we do them all the time. Front bumper harness repairs or rear bumper harness repairs because you got rear-ended. Or your parking sensors. Those are the most common things we see here. Other than that, it’s just regular surprise things that we are not used to seeing. EVANNEX: What are some things you think potential Tesla buyers should know before purchasing? Jose: The one main thing for people who are fully considering purchasing a vehicle, so they’ve already done the research, now they’re actually considering it, is range anxiety. Some people are adamant and are like ‘No, I’ll never own an EV vehicle’ — until you get into one. But yeah, the main topic that I usually hear people talk about is the range anxiety. The range anxiety is real. I for a while used to be one [of those people that struggled with it.] But it’s really easy to overcome. Like after a couple of weeks of using your vehicle, you learn. It’s like a gas, you just learn how much it’s gonna give you and if you’re gonna run empty. People are just afraid that when you go empty it’s gonna take forever to charge. Instead of, if you go empty your gas tank, somebody can come over for $5 worth of fuel at a gas station in a couple of minutes. That is true, but in reality, there are many ways of avoiding this happening. And once you get into these vehicles — not just Tesla, many of the electric vehicles — they have mapped out charging stations in your area, you have a charge, and you’re gonna get somewhere. It’s something you learn extremely quick, and it’s not something that’s going to be a steep learning curve or that’s gonna be a problem. Not at all. It’s easier than getting a new phone. Like you know when you get a new phone and you’re like ‘Now I gotta pass all my contacts and hear how this works.’ No, it’s easier than that, and it goes super quick. And once you start seeing the benefits of it, with home charging — so basically, you’re refueling at home, you don’t stop at a gas station — it’s something you actually take out of your to-do list, it’s one less thing. You take it home, you plug it in, and you’re done. The next day you have a full tank and you don’t gotta fill it up again for four days, depending on your driving habits. So yeah, that’s one of the things. The other one I hear a lot is the Full Self-Driving and the Autopilot. You know, this is all over the news and people are talking about it. So yeah, the FSD, which is Full Self-Driving, is still in development. Once it’s out and fully functional, it’ll be a game changer. But it’s still working its kinks out, because of the innumerable variables out there, between people crossing the street and variables in the road. I mean, anything really can interfere with the system, and it’s still learning. But once it’s out, it’s gonna be awesome. The other one, which is the Enhanced Autopilot, is a great system. It works on the highways and also changes lanes for you. I mean, it’s still a computer. That’s what I like telling people: it’s still a computer, and it can only react as fast as it can. It will never have, at least for now, the reflex or the capabilities a human mind has. It can’t really make an assessment of what’s going on on the highway next to you with a car driving unsafe, and you knowing to keep your distance from that car. The computer doesn’t have that logic yet. So once you learn all this, it’s a really good system, and you just gotta keep your eye on it. But other than that, it’s a great system and it keeps working. Whoever has it and has been using it, they know the capabilities of it, and it’s just gonna keep evolving and getting better and better. I mean, I like to tell people everything I can think of before purchasing these vehicles, so it doesn’t come as a surprise. The regen, [or regenerative braking,] it might be unusual at first when you let go of the gas pedal and the car kind of brakes by itself. But once you get used to it, which just takes maybe two or three drives, there’s no going back. You get used to it. Once you learn the distance to let go of the gas pedal and everything else, it’s actually a really cool feature on the electric vehicles. And it’s not just Tesla. All the electric vehicles use the same system for regen and they all react the same way. Maybe some harsher than others, but yeah, they are there for a reason and the way it works because of the motor. So once you get used to it, and you get used to the power, the response, and the technology and these vehicles, it’s hard to turn back. It’s hard to get into another vehicle which you had. You thought you had a great performance vehicle, and now you’re getting into this? Oof, it changes everything. I can’t even begin to describe until you get into one. EVANNEX: Yeah, I’ve definitely heard that from a handful of people. Once you get past that initial learning stage, it just kind of becomes this cutting edge piece of tech. Jose: Correct. EVANNEX: I think that’s super interesting. Moving on, what do you think makes the Tesla community different from other automotive communities? Jose: I’ve known personally and been part of BMW fans. As I mentioned, I was at BMW for many years. And they’re pretty hardcore. They love their racing. They love their vintage vehicles. They love their history. And they’re always reminiscing on the oldies, ‘Oh no, this vehicle was the best one,’ or ‘this one in the 80s was the best one.’ Tesla is new, Tesla is fresh, and Tesla came to make a stand. Many of the Tesla owners are fans but in a different way. They’re very supportive of the brand. It’s not just fans like, blindly following something just because ‘my dad had it’ or whatever. No, no, they understand that this vehicle is still a work in progress, but it’s with a company that’s perfected manufacturing, such as Volkswagen or Toyota, in a span of eight years. [Volkswagen and Toyota] have been around for a hundred years, give or take. And they have seen the impact they’ve done in the world, and they want to take part of it. People want to take part of what they’re doing. It’s not just ‘Oh yeah, I have a Tesla, let’s go to a meetup.’ No, they follow them from right on their phone, what the company is doing. I mean, many of these other fans, for many other companies, I would say 80 percent of them, don’t know what’s going on with the manufacturer behind closed doors. With Tesla, everybody’s aware of what’s going on, even though it’s all over the news, everything that you can see. But people know Tesla is out to make a difference. And they want to be a part of it. Then, like I said, they get involved with the company and all that entails. Most people know the vision, like they actually say, ‘Yeah, they exist to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport, sustainable energy,’ which Tesla is not only doing it with their cars, they’re doing it with the solar panels, the charging network, and so on and so forth. They keep innovating on so many things, not just the cars. I mean, the people are very aware of what they’re purchasing and what they’re getting themselves into, in a way that they’re not just doing it for they’re doing it not just for themselves to get into a luxury vehicle, or cutting edge technology, like you mentioned. No, they know they’re getting into something that’s going to change the world, which it is already, at least on the transportation side. EVANNEX: Definitely. The Tesla community just keeps growing. Jose: Correct. And with the Tesla community comes the customization of vehicles. To be honest, they’re super plain outside. There’s not many lines, there’s not many trims that make this car more aggressive than the other. No, you have a Model Y Performance and a basic Model Y, the difference is the wheels — from the outside. If you know more, you can see the brakes are different, and so on and so forth. But there’s nothing really too distinct from one to the other, other than the little badge in the back. So people have gone above and beyond, and companies such as EVANNEX and many other companies, and they’ve made so many products to customize your vehicle your own way. And there’s so many variables that every time there’s a Tesla meet, you see so many different things people do to their vehicles. It’s amazing. It’s amazing what can be done to these cars, just on the cosmetic side, that’s without talking performance. I mean, the suspension, upgrading brakes. I mean, this community is pretty involved in what Teslas are, and can be. EVANNEX: Are there any questions you think I missed that I should ask? I mean, regarding EVANNEX, Tesla or EV garage, we’re a new company, we started to basically open our doors in October for Tesla customers, give or take. September or October. It hasn’t been long. We’ve been pretty busy, and we feel the need for this when seeing how much every customer is in need of help. They rely only on Tesla, this is in South Florida, to service their vehicles, to fix their vehicles. They’ve come to us as a last resort, because they’re like, ‘I don’t know what else to do. There’s no appointments for two months,’ or ‘they told us we need a brand new battery and it ended up being something else.’ Which they want to figure it out over there, but they didn’t take the car in to diagnose it and give you a final verdict of what’s going on with your vehicle.  They just give you a quick assessment remotely, and then after that it will take further investigation to make sure it is what you need. But yeah, we’ve been a lifeline for a lot of people. And yeah, the market is growing, but we also suffer the consequences of going into a new market, meaning there’s some parts that are not available yet or you gotta wait a long time for some parts, which becomes a hassle. The only good thing about that is they gotta wait for it here or from the dealer anyway, so it wouldn’t make a difference from a service center or with us. But we do see the constraints in that. We do see the fact that since it’s a growing brand, there’s nothing aftermarket parts still available. Like, you can’t find, well now you can, but you couldn’t find an aftermarket headlight, for example. So you will have to get a used one, something from eBay, or straight from the dealer. Taillights? Yes. There’s several companies that have the taillights. Bumpers now, they have aftermarket bumpers. So yeah, the industry keeps growing and moving towards providing all these parts, but there are very specialized parts still that you can’t find. The charge port door, for example that I talked about. You have to get it from Tesla, because nobody has it. A charge port — you gotta get it from Tesla. But there’s ways around it, there’s always something we can find from a charge port door we’ve done before, maybe a motor went bad. We take it apart, and then another one comes in with a broken door. So we can use the other door that had the motor bad, we swap the motors to work with the other and voila: we have a good, working charge port door. You know what I mean? So those are the kinds of things we’ve been working with. And, and yeah, it’s taught us a lot on how you evolve with this. === You can check out EV Garage Miami for all your Tesla and EV servicing and customization needs at their website or you can follow them (and learn more) on social media: Facebook / Instagram / LinkedIn / YouTube.

Guest Contributor: Zachary Shahan / CleanTechnica Just 5–10 years ago, I’d say 90% of EV enthusiasts were underestimating how much electric vehicle share of the overall auto market would grow in Europe and China. (The US is currently … quite far behind. But EV market share is growing here, too.) If you haven’t been obsessively following CleanTechnica’s monthly EV sales reports for several European countries, Europe as a whole, and China, below is a bit of a roundup for 2022. For each of these summaries, I’ll highlight plugin vehicle (EV) market share, full electric (BEV) market share, the top 3 BEV models, and the top automakers in terms of BEV unit sales. This story will wrap up with a look at global EV sales in 2022. Above: A parking lot with Teslas and other EVs (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX).Well, we have to start with Norway. Leading the world, 88% of new vehicle sales were plugin vehicles in 2022, with BEVs alone getting more than 79%. The top 3 BEV models in the country were the Tesla Model Y, Volkswagen ID.4, and Škoda Enyaq. The top brands were Tesla (15%), Volkswagen (12%), and BMW (9%). Above: Norway Monthly Powertrain Market Share (Note: EVANNEX is using these images with express permission from CleanTechnica). The Netherlands scored a 51% plugin vehicle market share, achieving the big milestone of more new vehicles having plugs that not having them, while BEV share was a strong 44%. The top selling BEV models in the Netherlands were the Škoda Enyaq, the Tesla Model Y, and the Peugeot e-208. (Two of the same models are in the top 3 in the Netherlands and Norway.) As far as leading automakers go, Kia was #1 (9% market share), Volkswagen was second (8.5%), and Peugeot was third (8%) in BEV sales. Above: Top-selling EVs in the Netherlands (Note: EVANNEX is using these images with express permission from CleanTechnica). Neighboring Sweden may feel like a laggard compared to the EV superstar that is Norway, but it is still one of the best EV markets in the world. In 2022, 56% of new vehicle sales had a plug (a bit of a higher percentage than the Netherlands), with BEVs having 33% of the market to itself (well below the Netherlands). The top models were the Volkswagen ID.4, Volvo XC40 Recharge, and Tesla Model Y (just 9 units ahead of the Kia Niro EV). The top 3 brands for BEV sales were Volkswagen (13%), Volvo (12%), and Kia (11%). Above: Sweden Monthly Powertrain Market Share (Note: EVANNEX is using these images with express permission from CleanTechnica). The UK is far behind those two Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands, but it’s a much larger auto market and is doing very well these days. In 2022, 23% of new vehicles had a plug, and 17% were full electrics. The top selling BEVs were the Tesla Model Y, Tesla Model 3, and Kia e-Niro. The top 3 brands for BEV sales were Tesla (21%), BMW (8%), and Volkswagen (7.5%). Note that the UK is the 2nd largest auto market in Europe and the 6th largest in world. Above: UK Monthly Powertrain Market Share (Note: EVANNEX is using these images with express permission from CleanTechnica). Getting to the largest auto market in Europe (and 5th largest in the world), Germany, 31% of new vehicle sales were plugin vehicles while 18% were straight BEV. The top selling full electrics were the Tesla Model Y, Tesla Model 3, and Fiat 500e. (No traditional German brands!) The top brands for BEV sales were Tesla (15%), Volkswagen (13%), and Hyundai (7%). If you’re keeping score at home, that’s brand wins for Tesla in the two largest auto markets in Europe. Above: Top-selling EV models in Germany (Note: EVANNEX is using these images with express permission from CleanTechnica). France is lagging a bit behind its neighbors, but it’s still seeing solid BEV growth. Plugin vehicles had 21.5% auto market share and BEVs had 13% on their own. The top selling BEVs were the Peugeot e-208, Dacia Spring EV, and Tesla Model 3. The top brands were Renault (18%), Tesla (15%), and Peugeot (12%). Above: Top-selling EV models in France (Note: EVANNEX is using these images with express permission from CleanTechnica). Jumping over to China, this is the big dog. China alone accounts for more than half of the world’s electric vehicle sales. In 2022, a whopping 30% of new cars sold in the country had a plug, and 22% were full battery electrics. The top full-electric models were the Wuling HongGuang Mini EV, Tesla Model Y, and BYD Dolphin. As far as the top brands in terms of plugin vehicle sales (CleanTechnica will report the full BEV split soon), BYD took home the gold (31%), SGMW the silver (8%), and Tesla the bronze (7%). Above: Top-selling EV models in China (Note: EVANNEX is using these images with express permission from CleanTechnica). Swinging back to Europe, the EV market for the continent as a whole is about ⅔ the size of China’s EV market. It may not be ginormous, but it’s big. Almost reaching China’s level, 23% of new vehicle sales were plugin vehicle sales, and 14% were full electrics. Above: Top-selling EV models across Europe (Note: EVANNEX is using these images with express permission from CleanTechnica). How about pulling all these numbers together and looking at the global story? Let’s do it. World EV sales reached record heights, of course. In 2022, 14% of new vehicles were plugin vehicles and 10% were full electrics, hitting what many consider to be the big tipping point of new technology adoption. The Tesla Model Y was the top selling EV model by a wide margin. The BYD Song was just barely second if you add its BEV and PHEV units together, and the Tesla Model 3 was right behind it. If you don’t count the Song’s PHEV sales, the Model 3 grabbed silver and the Wuling HongGuang Mini EV bronze. Looking at automotive groups or alliances, Tesla was #1 in BEV sales — by a wide margin — and BYD was #2 — by a solid margin as well. In 3rd was SAIC. Volkswagen Group was the first traditional Western auto company in the ranking. Above: Top-selling EV brands worldwide (Note: EVANNEX is using these images with express permission from CleanTechnica). === Guest Contributor: Zachary Shahan / CleanTechnica

The Biden administration’s “Inflation Reduction Act” includes a grab bag of measures intended to promote e-mobility and renewable energy. The one that’s gotten the most media coverage is the revamped system of tax credits for EV purchases—and naturally so, because that’s the measure that most drivers can see benefitting them directly. Above: Tesla vehicles parked at a service center (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX). However, as John Voelcker writes in Car and Driver, there’s another provision that could end up having a much greater impact on EV prices (and it’s the price premium over ICE vehicles that is currently the main obstacle to EV adoption). Buried in the alphabet soup of the IRA is Section 45X, which authorizes 10 years’ worth of funding for production credits for manufacturing batteries (as well as certain renewable energy products). These credits are generous enough to reimburse a manufacturer for a big chunk of the cost of building a battery. Of course, there’s a catch—to reap the full credit, companies have to build their batteries here in the Good Old USA (or possibly in Canada). According to an EV battery production expert who spoke to Car and Driver, Section 45X could cut one-third to one-half off the total cost of any EV battery with both cells and pack built in the US. As Voelcker puts it, the new law “has the potential to make EV batteries built in the US so cheap that large swathes of Western cell and battery manufacturing will rush to locate in North America.” The subsidy covers $35 per kilowatt-hour for battery cell production, plus $10 for battery pack production. At today’s prices, that amounts to over a third of the cost of producing a pack. And here’s the kicker: battery costs are expected to continue their downward trajectory (after a temporary rise due to COVID-induced supply chain problems). Because the subsidy is based on a fixed dollar amount, the net cost of producing a battery pack should drop every year—conceivably even to zero by the time the gravy train runs out in ten years. That sounds like an offer an automaker can’t refuse. C&D’s battery expert believes that all automakers assembling vehicles in the US will end up building their own battery factories stateside (if they don’t, their competitors will), either on their own or through joint ventures with battery-makers. How much cash are we talking about? When the bill was being debated last summer, the Congressional Budget Office projected that the tax credits would amount to some $30.6 billion over 10 years (this includes the credits for solar and wind energy products). There’s already a massive pipeline of new battery plants planned for the US, and if automakers rush to the trough as the pundits predict, the true figure could be much higher—Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (via Axios) estimates the eventual total at $136 billion. The media may have largely missed this story, but automakers haven’t. Tesla expects to earn up to $1 billion in battery tax credits this year. Ford expects to rake in over $7 billion from 2023 to 2026, and CEO Jim Farley recently predicted a “large step-up in annual credits” starting in 2027. GM CFO Paul Jacobson told reporters that his company hopes to grab around $300 million this year, and that the credits will eventually be worth $3,500 to $5,500 per vehicle. Of course, as Mr. Voelcker notes, there are caveats. The rules are still being finalized, and many details aren’t yet clear. We don’t know whether existing cell plants will qualify, and we can’t predict how automakers will apply the savings. As auto industry execs love to remind us, the margins on EV models (except those built by a certain company called Tesla) are vanishingly thin, and automakers might like to pad them out, rather than passing on the savings to consumers. On the other hand, the car biz is highly competitive. We’ve recently seen signs of a modest price war breaking out. A few years from now, once the new battery plants start coming on line (and assuming that anti-EV pols in Washington don’t find a way to sabotage the IRA), automakers will have the opportunity to make their EVs much, much cheaper. === This article originally appeared in Charged. Author: Charles Morris. Sources: Car and Driver, Axios

The Tesla vs. BYD debate has been hotly discussed on Wall Street in the past several months, especially watching the two compete in the world’s largest auto market. While the Chinese market remains an important one for Tesla bulls, some bears are betting on BYD as the future leader of the country’s auto sector. Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX. Berkshire Hathaway chairman Charlie Munger says that Tesla is far behind BYD in the Chinese auto market, as stated during a virtual meeting in recent weeks that was covered by CNBC. Munger considered the answer easy when he was asked whether he preferred BYD or Tesla as an investment. “I have never helped do anything at Berkshire [Hathaway] that was as good as BYD and I only did it once,” Munger said on a meeting call in recent weeks. “Tesla last year reduced its prices in China twice. BYD increased its prices. We are direct competitors. BYD is so much ahead of Tesla in China … it’s almost ridiculous,” Munger later added. Even Tesla CEO Elon Musk has pointed to how important the Chinese auto market is, recently airing some respect for the country’s automakers. “We have a lot of respect for the car companies in China,” Musk said on January 25. “They are the most competitive in the world.” To be sure, BYD is backed by Berkshire Hathaway, and many Tesla bulls argue that the U.S. automaker’s operating margins and global reach may make it the leader in the long run, as is discussed in this Wall Street Journal video detailing the differences between the two automakers. Video: Wall Street Journal / YouTube. While Tesla’s cars largely still represent luxury vehicles in China, BYD’s brand offers a range of affordable gas and electric options. Still, it doesn’t quite have the luster as a brand that Tesla has, being that the U.S. EV brand is considered on the cutting edge of cars from a consumer standpoint. Additionally, BYD’s initial electric cars look quite similar to Tesla’s vehicles, with many comparisons being made between the Seal Sedan and Model 3, from aesthetics to specs. Tesla still sells fewer vehicles each quarter than BYD, but its profit margins significantly outpace those of BYD. At its current rate of expansion, the U.S. automaker is aiming to continue expansion beyond its U.S., China and Germany factories — with recent reports pointing to the automaker’s coming plant in Mexico. As of yet, BYD has been slow to expand and no specific date has been set for the company’s entry into the U.S. market. It’s tough to say with any certainty where the auto market will go, but Munger backing BYD over Tesla shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise — and it should at least be taken with a grain of salt. === Sources: CNBC / Wall Street Journal on YouTube

The concept of vehicles being intelligent devices is relatively new, and it has largely come as a result of Tesla’s contributions to the auto industry. As the industry shifts toward Tesla’s example of electric vehicles that can be updated with a simple software update, one expert notes how far supply chains for these intelligent electric vehicles have come in their short history. Above: A Tesla Model 3 (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX). In a recent article for Forbes, CEO of the intelligent robotics company PerceptIn Dr. Shaoshan Liu wrote about how the model for IEV supply chains has evolved over the past decade. The article comes as the latest in a series by Dr. Liu, discussing what IEVs are, how they can be monetized and what types exist. Dr. Liu broadly describes IEVs as car platforms with added smart capabilities compared to the traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle. These capabilities can include many concepts introduced by Tesla, including a centralized electrical/electronic architecture (E/E architecture), an easily updatable platform, an emphasis on vehicle data and enough computing power to enable semi-automated driving. “In the early days of the industry, IEV original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) had to do almost everything in-house,” writes Dr. Liu. “When Tesla started its IEV business, it had to invest billions of dollars into battery systems, E/E architectures, autonomous driving capabilities and intelligent cockpits.” In a December piece for Forbes, Dr. Liu pointed out Tesla’s early reliance on external supply chains, before shifting toward R&D on intelligence in its vehicles, especially its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving beta technologies. Dr. Liu expects that the company will shift again toward a focus on its multi-device ecosystem in the future, as its computing platforms become more standard. Crucially, Tesla’s move to own its whole supply chain has opened up opportunities for other OEMs to follow suit, with one example including BYD’s recent investments into Indonesia for essential EV minerals. Instead of relying on third-party computing system manufacturing, Tesla also developed its own proprietary computing system. Just five years ago, a year after the Model 3 had been unveiled, Dr. Liu says that it cost over a billion dollars in the U.S. to develop a new IEV. Following Tesla’s efforts, the supply chain has grown significantly and now offers more efficient and cost-effective options for developing an IEV. Dr. Liu estimates the current cost of developing an IEV to be as low as $200 million. “We are still at the dawn of the IEV era,” Dr. Liu adds. “Particularly, the evolution of the IEV supply chain enables IEV newcomers to develop their products cost- and time-efficiently. This is still a golden era for IEV startups as long as these startups define their products clearly and spend their financial resources effectively.” === Sources: Forbes / Forbes

Tesla’s Investor Day event brought with it a new Master Plan from CEO Elon Musk, detailing the company’s strategic focus going forward. While many hoped to see the automaker unveil a more-affordable electric vehicle, the plan focused on something that most EV enthusiasts can still get behind — a mass shift away from fossil fuels. Above: Tesla vehicles parked in front of a service center (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX). Musk and Tesla focused on climate change and a global shift toward renewable energy during the recent Investor Day event, unveiling the third Master Plan to surround decarbonizing the global electrical grid, as detailed in a recent report from NPR. Musk argues that the world can and will make a rapid transition to renewables, offering a more optimistic tone than some researchers, analysts and organizations. “Today is not just for investors of Tesla, but anyone who is an investor in Earth,” Musk said. “Earth can and will move to sustainable energy, and it will do so in your lifetime.” To achieve the switch away from fossil fuels, Musk pointed to technologies such as EVs, massive batteries like Tesla’s Megapack systems for storing solar energy, industrial heat pumps, hydrogen and more. Additionally, Musk said that the company estimates a global switch to renewable energy would cost around $10 trillion, which the automaker estimates is lower than what the world would spend on fossil fuels in the next several years. The big-picture discussion detailed the decarbonization of shipping, air travel, electrical grids and more, in addition to Tesla’s plans for a new assembly process. The process, Musk says, could cut production costs by as much as 50 percent, while eliminating the need for rare earth elements in upcoming vehicles. To be sure, more than just Tesla will likely be needed to combat climate change, but Tesla seems well-poised to continue making an impact on the industries it has already disrupted. Between its EVs, charging infrastructure and proprietary Powerwall home-charging equipment, the automaker has remained popular amongst buyers and could incentivize continued brand loyalty. Recent analyses from S&P Global Mobility also show that Tesla drivers tend to remain loyal to the brand when purchasing new vehicles, suggesting that the automaker is in a good position to woo consumers. This detail is crucial, given that the automaker’s Master Plan places so much emphasis on EV adoption. “Tesla had a very, very strong year,” said Vince Palomarez of S&P Global Mobility. “They have produced a product that is attractive to a consumer … They lowered their price. They’re also getting access to the tax credit again.” As Tesla’s ecosystem develops, Palomarez expects that consumers could be as loyal to the brand as some are to Apple’s products, with customers needing to get each piece of equipment that the company offers. “If you have an iPhone and you have an iPad and you have a MacBook, you know, you’re going to get the Apple Watch …. the infrastructure is built there,” Palomarez added. === Source: NPR

Although Tesla’s vehicles offer quite a bit of trunk (and frunk) space, there are often times when users need to cart items too large to shut the trunk door. This week’s Tesla pro tip from EVSpeedy.com can help users make their vehicles think that the trunk is closed, even if they need to keep it open while driving for some reason or another. Above: (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX). No matter why you need to keep the trunk open while driving, this simple trick can help you drive without closing the trunk fully — and without the short period of persistent beeping alerting you to the trunk’s status. Even though you can still use a Tesla’s rear-view cameras while driving with the trunk open, you can easily skip the car’s short “panic” phase by following the instructions below. How to Trick Your Trunk To Think It’s Closed If you’re transporting something large and unable to close the trunk you can use a bungee rope to tie a knot and push the cord through the latch of the trunk. This way the car will think that it’s closing and lock in place around the bungee cord. Then you can just hook it onto the connector on the bottom part of the trunk. When you arrive at your destination you can just click on “Open Trunk” it will release your bungee cord and you can unload. === You can find this and even more Tesla Pro Tips at EVSpeedy.com.

After several years of hibernation, the DOE’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program (ATVM), which finances innovation in the EV space, is ramping up its activities. Its latest flagship project is a $2-billion loan to Redwood Materials, the battery recycling firm headed by Tesla alum JB Straubel. Redwood will draw upon this financing in tranches to support the phased construction and expansion of its new battery materials campus. Above: A Tesla Model 3 (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX). As Redwood explains, the two most essential components in a battery are the anode and cathode. The cathode contains lithium, nickel and cobalt, and the anode contains copper and graphite. These components, which account for nearly 80% of the materials cost of a lithium-ion battery, are currently manufactured entirely overseas, predominantly in Asia. Redwood is committed to manufacturing anode and cathode components in the US, and producing them from an increasing amount of recycled content. In January, the company began producing anode copper foil at its Northern Nevada facility. Phase One of copper foil production is now complete, and Redwood expects to begin cathode qualification later this year. Panasonic will be the first of several partners to source Redwood’s copper foil, which it will use for cell production at Tesla’s Nevada Gigafactory. Panasonic will also use Redwood’s cathode material for battery cell production at its new Kansas plant, which is expected to come online in 2025. Redwood will use the DOE’s 2 big ones to accelerate the construction and expansion of its battery materials campus, where the company aims to produce 100 GWh per year of ultra-thin battery-grade copper foil and cathode active materials from both new and recycled feedstocks—enough battery materials to produce more than a million EVs per year from US-made components.  “We have been working closely with the Loan Programs Office for more than a year, and have undergone an extensive diligence process that thoroughly reviewed our technology, our ability to repay the loan, product demand, and dozens of other factors to get to this stage,” says Redwood. “Our project allows battery and automotive manufacturers to meet the new stringent critical mineral and battery component requirements [of] the Inflation Reduction Act. These policies support the localization of the battery supply chain—Redwood’s core mission—and our operations ensure that the American battery industry has the necessary materials needed to successfully transition the US to a clean energy and clean transportation future.” === This article originally appeared in Charged. Author: Charles Morris. Source: Redwood Materials

What’s it like to own a Tesla? I spoke with Jerry Jean-Pierre, a multi-sport athlete turned entrepreneur who loves his Tesla Model 3. But he also has a few critiques of the popular electric car as well. Above: Jerry Jean-Pierre charging his Tesla Model 3 (Image: EVANNEX).  According to Jean-Pierre, “Having my Tesla has been really enjoyable. Every time I’m at a stop light, I love pushing the pedal down and leaving other cars in the dust.” The raw power of a Tesla was an immediate draw to him.  That said, when Jean-Pierre talks with friends and family about Tesla, it quickly becomes obvious that owning an EV is brand-new territory for most. “Ever since I’ve been able to drive, my car was fueled by gas. But not anymore,” he laughs. So what are Jean-Pierre’s top 5 pros and cons of Tesla ownership? He outlines them below. Top 5 Pros Saying goodbye to gas prices – One of the best things about driving a Tesla is saving money on gas. A long-range Tesla Model 3 will cost about $9 to fully charge here in Florida. A similarly-priced Mercedes, with a (nearly) equivalent range will set you back $51 at the gas pump. Less maintenance – Another advantage of driving a Tesla is that an electric vehicles don’t require the typical oil changes, fuel filters, or spark plug replacements that come with a gas-powered car. With fewer moving parts, peace of mind is quickly achieved while owning such a reliable vehicle. Self-driving technology – The self-driving option is a great enhancement to the driver experience. Also, the technology in the car is always updating. “It’s like a driving computer,” say Jean-Pierre. Keep the planet healthy – Having an electric car with no tailpipe emissions keeps the air cleaner. “It reduces my carbon footprint. So why not own an EV,” explains Jean-Pierre. Potential tax credits – “I enjoy the tax credits offered when buying a Tesla or other electric vehicle today,” he notes. And Jean-Pierre should know. A quick glance at his LINKEDIN and it’s clear he’s helped more than a few Fortune 100 companies as a tax consultant. Top 5 Cons Steep price – “The initial investment for a Tesla can be steep,” he notes. Prices for a base model start at about $40,000 and go up to well over $120,000. Charging can take time – A full charge can take 30-60 minutes at a Tesla Supercharger compared to about 5 minutes for a gas-powered vehicle. Technology has made charging faster but it’s still a longer wait. Some EVs have short ranges – About a decade ago, early Teslas (and most earlier EVs) had less than 200 miles of range. However, more recently, most Tesla vehicles have ranges that are well over 200 miles and (often) over 300 miles. Charging stations aren’t available everywhere – New charging stations are popping up every week. However, there are fewer charging stations than gas stations. “Planning is essential, especially for a long trip,” explains Jean-Pierre. Aesthetics of your vehicle will look similar to many – Teslas are becoming more commonplace ton today’s roads. When purchasing a Tesla, you get a standard option of only about four colors along with a handful of possible upgrades. Jean-Pierre notes, “That’s why I’m excited about companies like Evannex. They supply so many great upgrade options to make your vehicle unique for you.” All in all, according to Jean-Pierre, the advantages of owning a Tesla are far greater than the disadvantages. Jean-Pierre is such a believer, he even offers up his Tesla on Turo. He says, “I always recommend driving a Tesla to those who may be on the fence about it. Once you feel the lightning-fast acceleration, you’ll be instantly hooked.”

Over the years, Elon Musk has emphasized that Tesla’s greatest advantage would come from fast-paced innovation in manufacturing. This proved, once again, to be a major theme during the much-anticipated Tesla Investor Day event in Austin, Texas yesterday.   Photo: EVANNEX According to the Financial Times, “Tesla executives said a wide range of efficiency and cost improvements has put the company on track to launch a far cheaper electric vehicle.” This lower-priced vehicle would be manufactured using Tesla’s “next-generation platform” and it would include some significant advances. A look at the stark differences between Tesla’s current manufacturing approach for vehicle assembly versus the company’s new “Unboxed Process” for next-generation vehicles was captured (via a fascinating animated comparison showcased by Tesla) courtesy of @strawberrywell via Twitter.  Versus the new process they say they’re working on for next-gen vehicles. pic.twitter.com/UP6bMTG8JU — Mitchell (@strawberrywell) March 1, 2023 In an effort to improve manufacturing prowess, Tom Zhu, head of Tesla’s China operations said the company follows a process at each of its factories to “question, delete, simplify, accelerate, [and] automate” at every opportunity. In essence, Tesla examines each step in its manufacturing process and cuts out anything non-essential prior to working out how to speed up the process and automate it. Looking to the future, Elon Musk noted that “affordability” was the biggest barrier to Tesla reaching a far bigger market. Before Tesla’s recent price cuts for its electric vehicles, he said, “we weren’t sure about what the price elasticity of demand was for Tesla… [but] we found that even small changes in price have a big impact on demand — very big.”  For instance, after Tesla’s recent price cuts in China, Zhu confirmed Musk’s point noting, “we generated huge demand, more than we can produce really.”  So how quickly can Tesla begin work on its lower-priced next-generation vehicle? Lars Moravy, head of Tesla’s vehicle engineering said, “We’re going to move that quickly over the next couple of years.” He added that the new, “large-volume” vehicle would be produced at a number of the company’s plants including the new facility in Mexico that Tesla just confirmed earlier this week. === Source: Financial Times; @strawberrywell via Twitter

Tesla’s cars are just as much pieces of technology as they are vehicles, and the automaker’s ecosystem has begun to help consumers see the value of data in modern mobility. Recently, EVANNEX got the chance to speak with Andy Chatham, founder of the open-source connected car app DIMO, about what role data can play in the modern automotive landscape.  Above: Tesla Model Y (Photo: EVANNEX) During the interview, Andy showed us around the DIMO app and talked about what benefits it offers to Tesla drivers and other car owners. We also talked about the state of autonomous driving, used cars and vehicle customization, among other subjects. You can see our full interview with Andy below. EVANNEX: Describe for our readers what DIMO is exactly, and what it does. Andy: We’re building what we think is the best connected vehicle app. It’s probably not the best for everything today, especially if your users are Tesla owners — they’re using a great connected vehicle app already, but most people who have cars are not. The other thing about these connected vehicle apps is they don’t work across cars. So we built a platform that’s behind this that allows you to onboard any car, [using] a hardware device. Above: Installing a DIMO device (Video: DIMO / YouTube). Your customers, Tesla owners, are typically just logging into their Tesla account to start pulling data from the car. The way we think about it is we’re building a home on the internet for every car, so there’s apps and services you can plug in and use with your car. You can also customize it and make it look however you want. We’re adding the ability to upload photos of your vehicle, and then we’re starting to create very a data-driven relationship with the end user, and our goal is to allow them to save money over time. You can get insurance through DIMO; we have financing products that are live today that you can use to re-finance your loan if you want; there are battery health score maintenance services; you can buy tires through DIMO partners; and it’s all very data-driven. So instead of having to like go to an insurance company, you can go into DIMO and like type in your VIN number, and all of that is passed to them. It’s a much more seamless type of interaction that people are used to with digital services. The lifecycle for a user at DIMO is you connect your car, we start building a digital twin of that car, and we actually pull a lot of data about from the existing marketplace about the VIN number, and we allow users to take ownership of that data. And then the whole business side of it and the developer platform that we’re kind of like re-launching in the next quarter is built on top of that. So there’s all different ways that can be expressed, but that’s kinda the high-level pitch for it. This is the app here, and it gives you a garage with all your different vehicles in it. You get an evaluation of your car, which users really like, especially when things are kind of in flux in the used car market and prices are kind of all over the place. We have the ability to pull in instant offers as well for the vehicle, so some of these cars you’ll actually get like a real offer to buy the vehicle from the different used car marketplaces out there. So this one gets CarMax and Carvana. This is something that we’ve launched in the last couple of months, and there’s going to be a bunch of other apps and services on top of it. Because this is a gas car, it also has a lead-acid battery so we can monitor that with our hardware device. And there’s a digital glovebox for the vehicle as well that’s going to be much more incorporated into the apps and services on top of DIMO eventually, so you’ll be able to get data back from your insurance company like, ‘here’s your registration card; here’s your policy details,’ and all of that can be organized inside of your DIMO app. EVANNEX: That’s super interesting. With Tesla, data and cars going hand-in-hand is such a new thing for a lot of people I think. So yeah, I find your product really fascinating. Andy: Thank you. And we’re going to be making it a lot better. We have a lot of stuff that I’m pretty excited about sharing with people that we can’t quite share yet. But one thing for EVANNEX and the partnership we would have with them is that we’re going to have more ways for people to spend money in the app. Today we sell a hardware device, but it’s not very obvious when you’re in our app here. Certainly because we have a lot of data about the cars themselves, and the owners have the ability to like transact on the platform, we want to be showing them accessories that they can buy for the car, and all that stuff. EVANNEX: What do you see as some of the applications for autonomous driving or Full Self-Driving? Andy: So I came from the mobility space broadly, but the last four years I was working specifically with companies in the autonomous vehicle world. My last job, I was running a fleet of about 400 employees that were working on the Waymo project. So I saw like very cutting-edge autonomous vehicle technology and how it was improving over time. The company I worked for was called TransDev and they’re a big mobility systems operator. I was able to work with five or six companies from 2017-2020, and saw the first attempt at really like solving that problem fall short in a lot of ways. Waymo is still scaling a commercial service and trying to figure out the economics of autonomous driving. But one of the bets we have with DIMO and something we think is gonna be true into the future is that it’s really not going to scale until there’s more infrastructure to support like regular operations of autonomous vehicles, and it’s a big “chicken and egg” problem. Because you can’t build a massive amount of infrastructure before you have the cars that can use it. Waymo’s approach, and to a certain extent Tesla as well — although I’d argue that they’ve built quite a bit more infrastructure than anybody else because of the Supercharging network — you’re going to have to break these trips into chunks that you can do fully autonomously. But the beginning and end of the trip will be very very hard to automate at the long tail, and I think that that’s basically been proven out. So there’s a vision of the future where large chunks of highway driving can be fully automated, and that’s not too far away. In fact, I think if there was a clearer regulatory framework for how to support something like that, and a company like Tesla was willing to take some minimal amount of risk on it, then that could be true for say, like L.A. to San Francisco — about 90 percent of that trip could be 100 percent automated, and far safer than human driving today. Tesla has Superchargers at all the on-ramps and off-ramps, so if you’re in a car and it’s driving itself, and you say ‘Pull me over and just pull into like Supercharger slot 24.’ That will be pretty possible, and already is possible today. Our CTO and I kind of go back and forth on this a lot, because he also worked in the AV space. He built dispatch systems for Argo AI and Ford’s connected vehicle product. We both connected actually initially on the feeling that trying to scale a robotaxi service without infrastructure to support it is kind of a dead-end, and it’s not going to work. [Laughs] That’s not going to stop people from spending billions of dollars trying to do it, but… Connected cars getting smarter and better driving for certain chunks of the trip — and actually, initially Yev and I messed around with the idea of starting an automated parking company, kind of like Tesla did with smart summon. That type of autonomy is very achievable, it just requires infrastructure, and coordination with entities that are sort of like at the edge of the network. So yeah, we have a lot of thoughts on it, and one of the ways we think about it at DIMO is we’re helping users collect and save their own data, and that really is only to the benefit of the end user. It’s very important for you to [be able to] do that. I saw a lot of situations in my previous job where the data from a connected car was immensely important because of an incident that happened on the road. Tesla owners are certainly aware of that because they’re using a product that’s marketed as being a self-driving product. So people have thought about the liability and the implications of it. And one vision for the product that we have is basically that it’s kind of like a black box on the airplane. Boeing doesn’t build the black box and they can’t change what goes into it, but they built the plane, you know? We’ve talked with a guy who builds a version of a DIMO device that’s like a hardware device you can plug into your Tesla and it pulls a lot more data. We thought about offering it, and I think eventually we might, but that allows you to get like really low-level data from the car, including all of the inputs and outputs to the self-driving system. So yeah, we’re certainly interested in figuring out how to provide more transparency into the nature of self-driving systems, and it’s not a problem that we’re addressing directly today, but I’ll say that we’re very aware of it. EVANNEX: That kind of speaks to this idea of DIMO being open-source and decentralized — I don’t know if you’d specifically use that term. But can you tell me a little bit about why you think it’s important for this platform to be open-source and have an emphasis on the consumer and their own data? Andy: I would describe DIMO as being a progressively decentralizing thing. It’s certainly a lot more decentralized than any other connected vehicle platform today because all of them are very very centralized. Only recently did it become possible to build something like this, like there just wasn’t the tooling to be able to create it. If we wanted to turn DIMO on in Australia, somebody with a Tesla would be able to connect within five minutes. A lot of stuff needs to exist in order to enable that, and much of it was built in the last five years or so. We borrow a lot from the crypto Web3 world. We use some of the technologies where we think that they provide benefits to users as far as openness and transparency, and interoperability is a really big one for us. None of that stuff existed even just three years ago, really as far as like tooling to make it work for a consumer product. We think that there’s a lot of benefits to building something like DIMO in a very open and decentralized way, because a lot of the like value and intelligence exists at the edge of the network, not within some centralized company, if that makes sense. We have to support every country and every car. So sort of inherently, if you want to connect every car to the internet you have to have a pretty decentralized system because a lot of the data about those cars is stored in different places. EVANNEX: I do think it’s very interesting how new a lot of these ideas are, and even ways of thinking about a car as a smart device. Andy: Honestly, our approach and our take on that is that we don’t think that consumers should be told how connected their car is. Some people want a really connected, tricked-out Tesla-mobile, like probably most of your readers. But some people don’t, and we need to be able to support those people and offer them some level of service for what we’re building. EVANNEX: It kind of seems to put the control back in the consumer’s hands, theoretically. Andy: Yeah. If they’re going to spend $50,000 for a car, they should be able to say how it connects to the internet, is our approach, and what happens to the data from it. [Laughs] And I think that OEMs kind of know that too. One thing I will say about Tesla is that they have a very open like, not open API, they don’t support it publicly, but there are lot of third-party apps for Tesla. We had a very easy time integrating with their system, so that Tesla owners could opt-in to collecting their own data and saving their own copies. EVANNEX: Any questions you think I missed or any specific things you want to talk about that you think are important or relevant to Tesla drivers? Andy: We definitely want to hear from people about what they like about their connected vehicle experiences. A lot of Tesla drivers use other third-party apps and just generally, I think they represent the most cutting-edge demographic in the car world by a long shot, as far as technology is concerned. But one of the areas in which I think the rest of the car world is actually ahead of Tesla is in customizing the vehicles and putting your own personality [into them.] That’s something that was kind of exciting to us about EVANNEX and how they’re kind of bringing their own spin to the Tesla modding world. That’s kind of the coolest thing for me is about the partnership that we can have and what that will look like. I really want to make the like car configurator so you can see in your car all of the accessories and other things you can add to it. [Laughs] We’re a pretty open bunch so you can put the Discord link in the post, and we have a pretty active Tesla channel in there. === You can follow and interact with DIMO on Twitter here, Discord here, or you can get started by downloading the app here.

Electric vehicles remain a key component of ongoing efforts to reduce emissions around the world as political powers grapple with climate change. In recent weeks, Europe has followed in the footsteps of U.S. states California and New York in banning the sale of cars with internal combustion engines, as the latest in efforts to accelerate the electrification of the auto industry.  Above: A Tesla Model Y (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX). Europe’s Parliament passed a law banning the sale of new fossil fuel-powered vehicles by 2035, according to a report from Reuters. The ruling requires all automakers from 2035 and on to reduce emissions by 100 percent on transportation by 2035 in European Union countries, effectively ruling out gas vehicles from consumer options. Additionally, the ruling includes a milestone of reaching a 55-percent drop in emissions by 2030 from levels in 2021, expanding upon a previous target of 37.5 percent. In addition to light-duty cars, the rule includes vans, which must meet a goal of a 50-percent emissions reduction by 2030, along with the full 2035 reduction of 100 percent. While the plan isn’t yet finalized or fully approved, it’s expected to gain final approval in March and has already been ok’d by automakers in meetings last October, according to the report. Parliament’s lead rule negotiator Jan Huitema suggested that consumers still need more EV options for mainstream adoption to occur, especially those that are affordable enough for consumers. “The operating costs of an electric vehicle are already lower than the operating costs of a vehicle with an internal combustion engine,” Huitema said. Some EU countries expressed concerns about the legislation as early as it was proposed last July. The current iteration of the deal includes some flexibility surrounding these concerns, especially including small automakers that produce under 10,000 vehicles per year which can negotiate more attainable targets until 2036. The news comes amidst increasing competition from domestic and Chinese automakers in Europe, especially as the bloc of countries looks to cut out all emissions in a little over a decade. Volkswagen plans to produce only EVs in Europe by 2033, according to a statement from CEO Thomas Schaefer last year. It also comes as Tesla has reached multiple milestones as a dominant force in Europe’s emerging EV sector, with the Model Y landing the best-selling car spot on the continent for the last two months. Additionally, Tesla’s sales in Germany, a key market in Europe, jumped by over 900 percent year over year in January. === Source: Reuters

In California, where low- and zero-emission vehicle adoption rates are high relative to most of the U.S., citizens may already be feeling the health benefits of cleaner air. One of the first studies suggesting that ZEVs are associated with real-world drops in respiratory issues and pollution has just surfaced, and it seems to offer an important confirmation of what many have already predicted.   Above: A Tesla Model S (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX). A new study published by the Keck School of Medicine at USC suggests that the increased prevalence of electric vehicles in California is already driving “observed health and air quality co-benefits,” especially in vehicles with high EV density (via electrek). The new study looked at real-world data on pollution, electric vehicle density, emergency room visits from 2013-2019, and it controlled against general air quality improvements during the study’s period. What it found was that, perhaps unsurprisingly, clean air vehicles such as hybrids and ZEVs made air cleaner and resulted in fewer respiratory problems, and benefits were observed to be increased in areas with higher densities of EVs. Technically speaking, for every 20 ZEVs added to a community per 1,000 people, the study showed a 3.2-percent decrease in asthma-related emergency visit rates, as well as a marginal decrease in NO2 levels. Across state zip codes, ZEVs averaged increases from 1.4 to 14.6 units per 1,000 people during the years studied, showing overall adoption to have increased substantially. “The impacts of climate change on health can be challenging to talk about because they can feel very scary,” said Sandrah Eckel, PhD, senior author of the study and an associate professor of population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine. “We’re excited about shifting the conversation towards climate change mitigation and adaptation, and these results suggest that transitioning to ZEVs is a key piece of that.” The study also found EV adoption most prevalent in low-resource zip codes, and the team points out that these health benefits and reductions in pollution may apply most in wealthy communities. The study notes that this gap, dubbed “the adoption gap” by the research team, threatens the equitable distribution of benefits to underserved communities. Coupled with a history of past research showing pollution and respiratory problems to be worse in lower-income neighborhoods, the study points out that lower-income communities stand to benefit even more from EV adoption than the general population. Still, as ZEVs continue to evolve into, hopefully, more and more affordable products, the study seems optimistic in corroborating expectations that cleaner air will likely continue to result in fewer respiratory problems on a community level. “When we think about the actions related to climate change, often it’s on a global level,” said Erika Garcia, PhD, MPH, the study’s lead author and assistant professor of population and public health sciences at USC’s Keck School of Medicine. “But the idea that changes being made at the local level can improve the health of your own community could be a powerful message to the public and to policy makers.” “Should continuing research support our findings, we want to make sure that those communities that are overburdened with the traffic-related air pollution are truly benefiting from this climate mitigation effort,” Garcia added. === Sources: ScienceDirect / University of Southern California / electrek; Note: You can read the full press release on the study from USC’s Keck School of Medicine here.

In recent months, Tesla’s stock has seen new upticks from a tough 2022. As shareholders pick up significantly more of Tesla’s shares, the company currently has more support from Wall Street analysts than ever with a similar uptick in “Buy” ratings. Above: A Tesla logo (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX). Tesla has had more “Buy” calls on Wall Street in recent weeks than ever, according to data from FactSet in a recent piece from Barron’s. Barclays analyst Dan Levy became Tesla’s 31st Buy on Wall Street, after the firm recently launched its investments in the automotive sector. Levy and Barclays launched its automotive investments with Rivian and Tesla, noting the latter automaker’s strong financials and dominant position as the emerging EV sector’s market share leader. “While Rivian faces a number of challenges in ramping capacity/achieving greater production efficiency and ultimately reaching positive margins and cash flow, we nevertheless believe [it] s positioned to take solid share in the inflecting North American EV market,” Levy said. On reasons for avoiding other auto stocks such as GM and Ford, Levy pointed to “recessionary pressures” in the memo. As for overall support for Tesla’s stock on Wall Street, the 31 Buys also represents a record for the automaker. Levy was with investment firm Credit Suisse up until last year, though the firm doesn’t cover Tesla stock at the moment. Tesla’s plans to begin delivering the Cybertruck in 2023 also have to do with the stocks status on Wall Street right now, according to Barron’s. The publication notes results from a recent survey by Truist analyst William Stein that suggests consumers are appealed by the Cybertruck’s unique, angular design. “Ever since Tesla first showed the Cybertruck in 2019, its unusual angular design stirred controversy,” Stein wrote in a memo on Wednesday. “Implicit interest in the Cybertruck appears much stronger than the bearish view,” he added. Stein also said that many Tesla shareholders he spoke to expect the Cybertruck to be a dud, though the electric pickup’s controversial nature may not necessarily be a deterrent in the long run. Still, Stein points out that around 6 percent of pickup truck buyers are thinking about going electric, with around 3 percent of the respondents specifically naming the Cybertruck out of a total of 504 survey respondents. Currently, Stein has a Buy on Tesla with a $245 price target. With roughly 66 percent of Wall Street analysts calling Tesla shares a buy right now, the company has gained support levels similar to 2012, when it was a much smaller company and held 67 percent Buys. Right now, Tesla shareholders can look forward to the automaker’s upcoming Investor Day, the long-awaited release of the Cybertruck and plans for the Highland Model 3, among other developments still. === Source: Barron’s

These days, the greatest barrier to EV adoption is not range or charging infrastructure—it’s the steep price premium relative to legacy gas vehicles—and for the past couple of years, prices have been moving in the wrong direction, thanks to supply-chain constraints and general post-COVID inflation.   Above: A Tesla Model 3 and a Nissan Leaf (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX). When Tesla recently announced price cuts of up to 20 percent, the boo-birds crowed about softening demand, but we saw it as welcome news—and after taking a couple of weeks to digest the news, the stock market seems to agree. Ford responded to Tesla’s moves with price reductions for the Mustang Mach-E. The entry-level Select RWD Standard Range now starts at $45,995, down $900 from the former MSRP, and the top-trim GT with extended range now goes for $63,995, a $5,900 reduction from the previous sticker. The optional Extended Range Battery now sells for $7,000, a $1,600 reduction. Ford indicated that it’s getting its supply-chain SNAFUs sorted out, and plans to increase EV production: “With its new EV supply chain coming online, Ford is significantly increasing production of the Mustang Mach-E this year to help reduce customer wait times and to take advantage of streamlined costs to reduce prices across the board.” The Mach-E was the third-best-selling EV in the US in 2022—Ford delivered just short of 40,000 units. The company says production capacity is about 80,000 units a year, and it aims to increase that to 130,000 units. The F-150 Lightning and E-Transit are also slated for production increases—Ford says it has “secured the batteries and raw material to scale production of all [EV] models in 2023.” “We are not going to cede ground to anyone,” said Marin Gjaja, Chief Customer Officer, Ford Mach-E. “We are producing more EVs to reduce customer wait times [currently up to 150 days], offering competitive pricing and working to create an ownership experience that is second to none.” Ford says it will do the right thing for recent buyers who missed out on the price cut: “Existing Mustang Mach-E customers awaiting delivery of their vehicle will automatically receive the adjusted price.” Customers who took delivery after January 1, 2023 will receive “a private offer” from Ford. Gjaja confirmed that Ford’s new prices are a response to Tesla’s round of cuts, and to the price caps included in the new EV tax credit rules. “Obviously, our competitors are also adjusting their prices,” he said. “We’re having to respond.” It’s not all beer and skittles at Ford these days. On a recent call with investors, CEO Jim Farley candidly described some of the missteps Ford made as it brought the Mach-E and F-150 Lightning into production. Then, the company was forced to temporarily suspend production of the Lightning due to a battery problem. === This article originally appeared in Charged. Author: Charles Morris. Sources: Ford, Electrek, Business Insider    

Most of the world’s legacy automakers are slowly but surely raising their electrification games, and that’s good news for all concerned—car buyers need more choices, and the industry needs healthy competition. However, they still have a lot to learn, and some painful choices to make, if they hope to catch up to the industry’s trend-setter. Above: A Tesla service center (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX). As EV sales volumes have increased, Tesla’s EV market share has—perhaps inevitably—shrunk from absolutely dominant to merely commanding, and many a pundit is predicting that this is the beginning of the end for the brash upstart. Such fears (or hopes) are overblown. Tesla has a few aces up its sleeve, and one of these is a much-misunderstood accounting concept called the gross margin. Gross margin is defined as the difference between the sale price of a product and the cost to produce that product. It’s the amount a company earns on each unit that it sells. Many of those who pontificate about Tesla’s prospects might be surprised to learn that the young company has by far the highest margins in the auto industry—and has for some years. Back in the days when Tesla dwelt in the Valley of Death, it was common for naysayers to write that the company “lost money on every car it sold.” This was false. Yes, the company as a whole was losing money, but that was because it was investing huge sums in building factories and developing new models. Tesla did, and does, earn a healthy margin on every car it delivered. As other, better-informed pundits pointed out, the company could have become profitable years before it actually did by abandoning its grand expansion plans and focusing on delivering Model S in moderate volumes. As explained in a recent Reuters article, and illustrated in an infographic from Visual Capitalist, Tesla earns more money for every vehicle it sells than any of its global rivals. A lot more. Reuters calculates that Big T earns an average of $9,574 per vehicle sold, compared to $2,150 for second-place GM, and $1,550 for plug-in powerhouse BYD. This isn’t just a nice thing to brag about—like a material advantage in a game of chess, it’s a resource that the company can choose to deploy in different ways to defend its position and/or to attack its opponents. A couple of recent stories provide examples. When Tesla recently announced substantial price cuts, many observers naively saw this sign of flagging demand as the beginning of the end. Other pundits (and the stock market) saw it as the normal working of the Invisible Hand of supply and demand, and a shot across the bows of Tesla’s rivals. Within days, Ford was forced to respond with price cuts on its own EVs, and other shoes may yet drop. And here’s the rub: Tesla still has plenty of room to make further price cuts—its rivals don’t. (According to Reuters, Ford already goes $762 into the red every time it sells a car.) By most accounts, the main reason for Tesla’s superior margins is lower production costs. EVs are simpler machines than ICE vehicles, and inherently cost less to build, and Tesla is constantly finding ways to refine its manufacturing processes—for example, using giant castings to replace complicated assemblies of smaller parts. As Reuters notes, using production-cost advantages to fund price cuts has a long history in the auto industry. Toyota successfully weaponized its superior margins in the 1980s and 1990s. Meanwhile, Chinese automakers have started selling their EVs in Europe, and domestic brands fear, with good reason, that they may steal a large part of the market for lower-priced cars, which European EV-makers have largely ignored. Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares is just one of several industry execs sounding the alarm, and implying that governments need to ladle out more subsidies to help automakers meet the threat. But there’s a pretty good argument to be made that Tesla is a more immediate challenge to European automakers. For a month or two in 2022, Model Y was the best-selling car (yes, of any kind) in Europe, and that was before the recent round of price cuts. If demand should drop, Tesla could dip into its magnificent margin to drop prices further. Volkswagen (for example) has much less leeway, with its margin of $973. And the Chinese? According to Reuters, Xpeng and NIO are bleeding cash—their margins are each five figures into the red. (It’s true that China is still facing crippling supply chain issues, and furthermore, all these figures are for global sales, so they don’t take regional differences into account.) As the legacy automakers produce more EVs, they’ll improve their EV-building chops and increase their margins. (Unfortunately, they’ll also be cutting costs via layoffs over the next few years.) Tesla’s advantage may not last. On the other hand, it may—for over a decade, we’ve been told that the dinosaurs would soon get their act together and stomp on the pesky little mammal running between their legs. === Source: Reuters; Infographic: Visual Capitalist

The Tesla community has grown immensely in the past decade, but some key voices in the community have been around nearly since the beginning. One such person is Tesla YouTube channel host Kim Java, with whom EVANNEX recently spoke on the phone about her thoughts on how the auto industry has changed, what people can expect when buying their first electric vehicle, and the intersection of tech people and environmentalists in the Tesla community. Above: A Tesla Model Y at a Supercharger (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX). Kim tells us that the Tesla Model X has been her family’s main vehicle, but that they also have a Model 3. While her husband typically drives the Model 3, Kim drives the Model X around with the kids, and she’s spent the past several years covering her experiences with the EV. You can read Kim Java’s full interview with EVANNEX below. EVANNEX: How did you get your start covering Teslas? Kim: It was a complete accident. We were one of the first to order the Model X, and they had a ‘Meet Model X Day,’ and we recorded it to share with some of our family that lives on the West Coast. We put it on YouTube to share it, and people just started asking us questions about the Model X. When we actually received our vehicle, we just tried to make some videos to answer peoples’ questions, and the next thing we knew we had a channel. It was like, we didn’t even realize there were so many other people interested at the time. EVANNEX: Any potential future updates you hope to see from Tesla? Kim: I would like the screen in the back to have Bluetooth capability for the kids in the Model S and the Model X — that’s a huge one that I’m hoping to see. There are a couple of different things I want to see with that rear screen. You know, I love having it, but it’s kind of frustrating that if the kids are watching it, I can’t have anything, like music, going for me in the front. So that becomes an issue, but I do like having it. It’s nice for road trips. I also want to add something about Full Self-Driving. Obviously, there’s still lots of room for improvement with FSD. I think FSD is a great enhancement of the driver experience, and I’ve seen a lot of improvements overall, contrary to the FUD some saw during the Super Bowl’s anti-FSD ads. What bothers me the most is the way Tesla handles FSD transferability. I do believe it should be transferable if you upgrade your vehicle, and not something you should have to buy again each time. We have it on our Model 3, but don’t have it on our new refreshed Model X. We had it on our last two Model X’s and chose not to rebuy it again a third time. Would have been nice if one of our previous purchases was transferable. Personally, I just don’t think that is right. It also seems strange to me that it is transferable when you sell your car privately, but wiped when you trade in. Tesla can’t have it both ways. EVANNEX: I know you’ve covered this in some of your videos before, but what are some things you think potential Tesla buyers should know that often get overlooked? Kim: So we did make a video actually kind of all about a couple of little things. I forget the title of it, but it was just like some hidden expenses about the vehicles being heavy, going through tires, and things like that that I think a lot of people don’t necessarily realize. But there are also still a lot of misconceptions out there about driving electric, that ‘they’re going to have more problems,’ where we’ve been driving one now for like seven or eight years — Tesla specifically but we’ve been driving EVs for almost 10 years — and the maintenance issues are so few and far between. It’s been very smooth, and I think a lot of people still think, you know, ‘you have to take them in for oil changes,’ all those types of things. And they don’t realize how smooth it is in terms of ownership. I do have that video that goes over a couple of the hidden expenses that we discovered in ownership, but really, in the long run, it is so much cheaper to own an EV if you’re looking at just your monthly expenses. EVANNEX: I think it’s true that a lot of people don’t really realize those things until they get into their own EV. Yes. And I think in our bubble of people that have been driving them for a while, we kind of forget that to the average person, this is still pretty new for them. That’s one of the things that I try to focus on in my channel; people that are new to EVs. What are some of the things they think and what are some of the questions they’re going to have? I try to make it so that everybody can understand it and not just tailor it to the EV enthusiasts that already kind of know everything. EVANNEX: Any specific highlights or favorite Tesla stories you’ve covered in the past? Kim: When I went to the Cybertruck event, that was such a cool experience getting to go inside the Cybertruck. And being one of the first to do that is definitely a highlight, and something that I’ll never forget. Above: We Rode Inside The Tesla CyberTruck! (Video: Kim Java / YouTube) EVANNEX: Are you guys signed up for a reservation for the Cybertruck, or do you have any plans to get one? We are. We did, but I go back and forth on if I am going to keep the reservation. I want it, but then it’s also like practicality. Do we need it? Where are we going to put this, you know? We only have a two-car garage. Is it really feasible to keep collecting Teslas just because I want them? Is that smart? Obviously, I can make videos with it, but at the same time, I can find other people that have it to make videos with it, so we kind of waver back and forth on if we’re going to keep it or not. I think if I do keep it I’m gonna have to start a little rental car company with my fleet of vehicles here just to make it worth my while or something. [Laughs] EVANNEX: What makes the Tesla community unique compared to other automotive communities? Kim: Tesla is really the one main vehicle community that I’ve ever been a part of. I know that Jeep has a huge following, and my husband was a huge Jeep person before we became Tesla people. But I think a big part of the community is just this whole Master Plan and wanting to make the world a better place — that aspect of it. I think it’s really like Elon. If Tesla didn’t have Elon it probably would not be the same, because we’re all inspired in a certain way. So it’s not really just about the vehicle. It’s transitioning off of oil; it’s changing this whole industry. And also, I think a lot of people like to root for the underdog. It’s not anymore, but you know, that was the case when Tesla first started, so we’re just wanting to sort of give it to the man. So I think that really is a big part of it. Plus you get a lot of tech people. When you look at regular cars, they were not tech vehicles before Tesla. So all of a sudden, now there are all these people on YouTube that were like tech reviewers that have switched over to covering Tesla. So you get this crowd of people that thinks differently. And they’re following it for different reasons. So you have the people that are in it for the sustainability, and you have people that love tech and are all about what is the best tech out there. So you get an interesting mixture of people together. I also think it’s become a very big thing where once people do get into Tesla, they become die-hard loyalists to the brand. Then they can’t drive anything else. EVANNEX: Are there any specific questions you think I missed that I should ask, or any other things you want to mention? Kim: You had talked about different YouTubers that people should follow, and I kind of wanted to talk a little bit about how with Tesla it’s become this whole YouTube crowd of people covering the vehicle, which I hadn’t really seen. Obviously, YouTube’s changed a lot over the last like 10 years. But when I first started making videos, the only people I knew that were making videos about Tesla were Björn Nyland and I think Cayman Auto actually did a couple of videos with Tesla. But that was it. There was not the social media like it is now, and I think it’s really interesting to see how over the last eight years really, [it has grown so much]. Now, there are so many people in this space covering Tesla and EVs, all over YouTube and TikTok, and there are a lot of people now covering [Tesla]. It’s just really interesting because you get these different perspectives about it. Some people are just covering just news, some people are doing mods, some people are showing the road trips, and you get a little bit of everything. In terms of the community, there are so many different options now to get information. And then obviously with you guys and different blogs and podcasts, it’s just really interesting to see how people develop a passion for the company and EVs in general, and they want to share that. EVANNEX: Yeah, it is pretty crazy how much this whole community blew up online when the first Tesla Roadster was only produced 15 years ago. Kim: It’s really crazy. And I remember those first couple of videos that I made that were like, not even really videos. One of my most popular videos on YouTube is like me talking about our Model X key fob. But I didn’t realize I had like a full YouTube channel and we had recorded like five videos in the same day and I wore the same shirt, and I didn’t think of YouTube even like a business back then. It’s just this silly little video answering questions about a key fob that became our most popular video. Now if I made that video, no one would have watched it because there would have been a hundred other videos. But at the time, it was so popular because there was nothing out there about this type of stuff. The whole industry has changed so much, and it’s kind of cool to see. I think it encourages people to make better content. You know, like you guys too — you’re like ‘let’s have this blog and talk about the news, but then let’s do these influencer spotlights.’ It’s just really interesting to see how everything’s evolved over the past few years === You can find Kim Java’s YouTube channel here, and you can get exclusive content by supporting her work on Patreon for as low as $1 per month. Above: 5 Hidden EV Expenses No One Will Tell You About (Video: Kim Java / YouTube). Updated: 2/20/23 with added notes from Kim on Tesla’s Full Self-Driving.