Tesla-nyheder (Youtube og websites)

Recently, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on Twitter that he is donating $100M for innovating the best carbon capture technology. At the time, it was just an announcement, now further details have surfaced including how to apply and, if you’re good, win the prize. Above: Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk (Source: XPRIZE) It turns out that the Musk Foundation has selected XPRIZE to manage this process. XPRIZE will open registrations for this competition starting on Earth Day (April 22, 2021) and the competition will run continuously for four years to find the best carbon capture solution. Currently, XPRIZE is only taking the email addresses of interested persons or companies on the organization’s website which will keep you updated with the latest and, in turn, notify you as soon as the application date arrives. The XPRIZE web page explains Elon Musk’s $100M donation details and a number of key points which can serve to help a team (or individual) ultimately win the prize. Above: Elon Musk has put forth the largest incentive prize in human history to combat climate change via carbon removal solutions (YouTube: XPRIZE)  First, to win the competition, teams must demonstrate a rigorous, validated scale model of their carbon removal solution, and further must demonstrate to a team of judges the ability of their solution to economically scale to gigaton levels. In essence, the objective of this XPRIZE is to inspire and help scale efficient solutions to collectively achieve a 10 gigaton per year carbon removal target by 2050 in order to help fight climate change and restore the Earth’s carbon balance. According to XPRIZE, teams can submit entries across natural, engineer, and hybrid solutions. Judges in the competition will evaluate the teams based upon four basic criteria: A working carbon removal prototype that can be rigorously validated and capable of removing at least 1 ton per day. The team’s ability to demonstrate to the judges that their solution can economically scale to the gigaton level. The main metric for this competition is fully considered cost per ton, inclusive of whatever considerations are necessary for environmental benefit, permanence, any value-added products; and… The final criteria is the length of time that the removed carbon is locked up for. A minimum goal of 100 years is desired. In response to Elon Musk’s commitment, Anousheh Ansari, CEO of XPRIZE says, “It’s not too late to use human creativity, innovation, and competition to rewrite our history and create a better future for all of us on this planet we call home.” If you’d like to sign up, visit: XPRIZE.org/prizes/elonmusk — good luck! === Written by: Iqtidar Ali. An earlier version of this article was originally published on Tesla Oracle. 

This orange-wrapped Tesla Model Y is one that you can’t ignore. Naveen Sharma (@djnaveensharma) is a wedding DJ from Michigan and owner of this stunning orange Model Y. When he posted a photo in a Tesla Model Y Facebook group, it quickly caught the attention (and plenty of commentary) from onlookers. Above: Orange-wrapped Tesla Model Y (Source: DJ Naveen Sharma; all photos posted with express written permission of the owner) So I decided to ask Naveen for some more photos (and details) and he was courteous enough to provide the goods. It turns out that before the vinyl wrap, this Tesla was actually a pearl white Model Y as evidenced below. Above: Tesla Model Y in pearl white multi-coat color before getting wrapped in orange (Source: DJ Naveen Sharma) That said, after getting a new custom orange wrap from Michigan-based Superior Dent Repair & Detailing, this beauty transformed into some Tesla “eye candy” that quickly captured the attention of so many Facebook fans and admirers. If you’re curious, the orange color seen on this Tesla Model Y is called “Urban Orange Gloss” and the hex code is HX20495B. Above: Color card for the Tesla Model Y – Urban Orange Gloss / HX20495B (Source: Naveen Sharma) It took approximately $2,400 and one week to get the Model Y wrapped in this glossy orange color and a ceramic coating installed over it for some extra protection. Rumors have surged that Tesla may begin a vinyl wrap service for its customers in China and roll out the service to other markets. If this happens, this particular look could become quite popular — you never know. Photo Gallery Above: Photos of the orange-wrapped Tesla Model Y electric SUV (Source: DJ Naveen Sharma). Tap / Click the image to open high-res version in new tab. === Written by: Iqtidar Ali. An earlier version of this article was originally published on Tesla Oracle.

A growing number of states have adopted California-style clean car standards, which impose strict regulations on tailpipe emissions, and require automakers to sell a certain number of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) in the state. Above: California-style clean car standards are coming to Virginia (Flickr: Joe Wolf) Minnesota, New Mexico and Nevada are in the process of implementing “clean car” programs, and now Virginia is poised to join them. The state’s Senate has passed a bill, HB 1965, creating low-emission vehicle (LEV) and zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) programs. Governor Ralph Northam is expected to sign the bill into law. Once he does, Virginia will join 12 other states and Washington DC in adopting LEV and ZEV rules. “We applaud Virginia for joining the other states that have adopted the full Advanced Clean Car Program,” said Plug In America Executive Director Joel Levin. “The zero-emission vehicle component of the program will give Virginians access to more electric vehicle models and increase the number of clean vehicles on the roads.” Above: Virginians in support of an EV future (YouTube: Generation180) “With this vital act, Virginia joins a growing list of states who are making climate action and public health a priority,” said Simon Horowitz of Environment America. “The Biden administration is now also considering strengthening the federal clean car standards, which would set stronger regulations for tailpipe pollution. However, this doesn’t mean states should hit the brakes on their own clean car rules. We need a multi-faceted approach on all levels of government.” “Last year, Virginia became the seventh state to commit to 100-percent clean energy with the passage of the Virginia Clean Economy Act. The Virginia General Assembly is now doubling down on this achievement,” said Elly Boehmer, Director of Environment Virginia. “Virginia is now just the fifth state in the nation to establish Low Emission Vehicle and Zero Emission Vehicle mandates as well as codifying a commitment to 100 percent clean energy.” === This article originally appeared in Charged. Author: Charles Morris. Sources: Environment America, Plug In America

By most accounts, Tesla’s Supercharger network is the gold standard for highway fast charging. Non-Tesla charging providers may resent being stuck in second (or third, or fourth) place, but they’re probably more concerned about missing out on a substantial number of customers, considering that Tesla owners currently make up the majority of EV drivers.   Above: Model 3 charging at EVgo fast charger equipped with integrated Tesla connector (Source: EVgo) If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, says EVgo, one of the country’s largest public fast charging networks. In December 2019,  in collaboration with Tesla, EVgo began installing the automaker’s proprietary connector at its DC fast charging stations around the country (Tesla drivers can use CHAdeMO or CCS plugs, but they need a bulky and pricey adapter, and a CCS adapter only recently became available in the US). Now EVgo is expanding its offering for Tesla drivers, upgrading hundreds of its stations with integrated Tesla connectors. EVgo has claimed bragging rights as the only EV charging platform that supports all three US fast charging standards without the need of a separate adaptor (and that’s powered by 100% renewable electricity to boot). Above: Tesla owner demonstrates how to charge with EVgo (YouTube: EVgo) EVgo plans to deploy more than 400 integrated Tesla connectors at existing stations, and an additional 200 at new stations planned for 2021 in such cities as San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Denver, Dallas, Austin, Washington DC, Salt Lake City and Miami. EVgo says its integrated Tesla connectors are capable of providing 100 miles of charge in 30 minutes. Above: Tesla Model X gets a fast charge at EVgo (Source: EVgo) “EV drivers seek efficiency and convenience in how they charge their vehicles, including the ability to shop while they charge,” said Cathy Zoi, CEO of EVgo. “Today’s exciting announcement will make it even easier for Tesla drivers to top up while they grocery shop and run other errands, while driving greater utilization across our growing charging network.” === This article originally appeared in Charged. Author: Charles Morris. Source: EVgo

Here’s another way in which Tesla is different from other automakers: it regularly reduces the prices of its vehicles. Some interpreted the company’s recent decision to drop the prices of the base Model 3 and Y as a warning sign of flagging demand. That doesn’t seem likely, considering that it was only the entry-level models that got a price cut—Tesla kept the prices of the mid-level trims the same, and actually increased the prices of the top-level trims.   Above: An artists’s design rendering of a future, lower-priced Tesla hatchback EV (Source: Budget Direct Car Insurance) After the latest round of adjustments, the cheapest Tesla you can buy is a Standard Range Plus Model 3, for $36,990. That’s significantly lower than the average price for a new car in the US. Auto prices have soared over the last few months, and according to auto industry authority Edmunds (via USA Today), the average price of a new vehicle was $40,573 as of December 2020—an all-time record. For lower-income buyers however, the news that they can buy an EV for less than the average new-car price is small consolation—37 big ones is far more than many working folks can afford, and Tesla’s dream of bringing EVs to the masses remains a dream. However, Tesla appears to have a cheaper vehicle in the pipeline. At the 2020 Battery Day, Elon Musk teased “a $25,000 car that will be basically on par [with], maybe slightly better than, a comparable gasoline car,” to be available in about three years. Above: A recent interview with Tesla’s China President; Press the “cc” button on bottom right for English subtitles (YouTube: T-Study) In a recent interview, Tesla China President Tom Zhu said that Tesla’s entry-level compact car will be designed at the Tesla R&D center that’s currently under construction in Shanghai. The new $25,000 EV will be built in China and, while it will primarily be aimed at the small-car-friendly Chinese market, it will also be sold globally. Tesla’s compact EV is expected to be a hatchback, and to share the same platform as Model 3. === Written by: Charles Morris; Source: T-Study via CarBuzz

Spy shots of Tesla Semi Truck prototypes have started popping up all over the country. The Tesla Semis spied in different states seem to be the same truck, but looking closely, we can spot a few differences. So what’s different? And how do these differ from earlier prototypes? Above: Silver Tesla Semi Truck prototype at the 2018 TSLA shareholder meeting (Source: S.P. Walker / Twitter via X Auto. Posted with express permission) First, Tesla has made a few slight changes to the exterior of the class-8 electric hauler that suggest the automaker is performing further R&D. By testing these trucks on public roads, Tesla has been gathering real-world data for a few years now. I decided to compare a few of the recently spied Tesla Semis from behind — where they have different electrical boxes installed in back. This, potentially, indicates that Tesla is also experimenting with variable electrical and battery management systems. Above: Diagram: Latest changes that Tesla has made to the Tesla Semi Truck’s exterior. (Sourced: Illustrated by Iqtidar Ali / image by Cory Draper (full video below). Click/Tap to open  in new tab) A look at the side profile of the new Tesla Semi Truck prototype seen via the video of the Trucker/YouTuber Cory Draper reveals a few things. Above: A sneak peek at the new, evolving design of the Tesla Semi Truck (YouTube: Cory Draper) Tesla has made several small and big changes to the side profile that I’ve tried to illustrate in this diagram (see above). The changes I highlighted in this prototype can be compared to the official photo of the Tesla Semi shown in the file photo. Exterior Design Updates Following is a list of five modifications I noticed with the exterior design update of the latest Tesla Semi prototypes: Roof cab length is reduced by about 50% (visual estimate), this area previously expanded to the entire cabin’s length as seen in the official photo (above). Roof cab height is also reduced significantly, but Tesla has been varying it (likely during testing) from the start. This is probably done to obtain an optimum point between utility and aerodynamic drag reduction. Window expansion / Sleeper cabin: The most significant change I encountered in this prototype is the expansion of the ‘window’. Now it expands to around 70% of the rear cabin (area behind driver’s compartment). I think this could showcase a transition converting the area to a sleeper cabin as Tesla has previously hinted was in the works. In one of my 2018 articles on the Tesla Semi spotting, I speculated this area would converted and this space would be used as a sleeper cabin. A black box above the second cabin (sleeper) can be seen in the side profile photo above. This space was previously hollow. Truckers need a sleeper and Tesla is surely going to give them one. The rearmost panel has also extruded out a little and the curve on the bottom has been shortened to adjust for the modified side profile. Electrical System Variations The following photos of the rear area of the Tesla Semi Truck show two variations of an electrical systems box. In one prototype, the box looks like a rectangular chest placed in the middle. The other prototype’s electrical system casing is more rectangular and smaller in size, it’s also placed on the left side rather than the middle. To better convey the differences, I have named these electrical junction box variations, Design Type 1 and 2. This used to be a deep hollow space in prototypes seen before this one (photo below), now they have utilized the space more efficiently. Above: Tesla Semi Electrical System Box. Design Type 1. (Source: Image: Cory Draper / YouTube. Click / Tap image to open high-res version in new tab) Above: Tesla Semi Electrical System Box. Design Type 2. (Source: Image: Cory Draper / YouTube. Click / Tap image to open high-res version in new tab) Above: Space behind the cabin of an early Tesla Semi prototype. (Youtube: Sean Mitchell, full video and article here) And that’s not all. Further differences can also be spotted via a recent Instagram post (as reported in Electrek) — check out the intriguing video and photos demonstrating even more design experimentation below. View this post on Instagram A post shared by SacTesla (@sactesla) Instagram: sactesla via Electrek So when will we stop seeing these prototypes and finally see the official production version of the Tesla Semi? In a company email last year, Elon Musk told Tesla employees that it’s time to bring the electric Semi to volume production but the timeline appears to have been pushed to later this year. Fast forward to the recent Q4 2020 Tesla Earnings Call, and Musk claimed that the Tesla Semi Truck would require at least five times more batteries than a car. And, according to Teslarati, in a recent podcast with Joe Rogan, Musk confirmed that the Semi would be equipped with a whopping 500 kWh battery pack. That’s a lot of batteries compared to Tesla’s sedans and SUVs produced thus far. Regardless, more and more companies are pre-ordering the electric hauler. Tesla just received its biggest Tesla Semi Truck order towards the end of last year. Interest appears to be growing rapidly for the Tesla Semi, but battery supply will need to ramp quickly to meet this demand.  === Written by: Iqtidar Ali. An earlier version of this article was originally published on Tesla Oracle.

Tesla is different from other automakers in many ways. One unique, and welcome, feature: it regularly reduces the prices of its vehicles. Another different thing about Tesla is that, because of the upstart automaker’s prominence, every little thing it does is immediately studied, analyzed and pontificated upon by hordes of online pundits. Above: Tesla Model Y (Source: EVANNEX; Photo by Casey Murphy) Tesla recently adjusted its pricing structure, paring the prices of the lowest-priced Model 3 and Y by $1,000 and $2,000, respectively. The cheapest Tesla is now a Standard Range Plus Model 3, which starts at $36,990, a bit lower than the average price for a new car in the US ($40,573 as of December 2020, according to Edmunds). In the traditional auto industry, price cuts are considered bad news—a warning sign of flagging demand for a particular model or make. The chattering classes seized on the price reductions as an omen of impending doom, and TSLA stock took a tumble. Just a couple of days later, Tesla caused confusion by removing the lowest-price Model Y from its online offerings entirely. Is the company dropping the most affordable Model Y? Is this just a temporary move? Can’t Tesla make up its mind? The muddled messages caused TSLA to really plummet this time, dropping to levels last seen a couple of months ago. So, is this it? Is the EV revolution all over? Will the evil short sellers soon be bathing in champagne, and proudly donning their little pink short shorts, as Elon Musk drowns his sorrows in Teslaquila? It doesn’t seem likely, for a couple of reasons. First, what just happened was hardly a fire sale. As it stands now (Tesla may make more changes next week, who knows?) it was only the entry-level Model 3 that got a price cut—Tesla kept the prices of its mid-level trims the same, and actually increased the prices of the top-level trims. Assuming that the price changes reflect the demand situation (and no one outside the company can say for sure whether this is the case), the meaning of this round of repricing would seem to be that buyers prefer the company’s higher-priced variants. Considering that higher-priced products tend to carry higher profit margins, this would seem to be good news, not bad. It’s also worth keeping in mind that we’ve seen this show before. Tesla is constantly rejiggering its lineup, adding new variants, dropping others, inventing new names for them, and lowering prices for entry-level models while increasing the prices of options (the full self-driving package now costs an additional 10 grand!). Inevitably, some buyers end up on the losing end of the constant changes, and that’s unfortunate, but it doesn’t seem like a real reason not to buy a Tesla. As I’ve written in this space before, it would be nice if car pricing were simpler, but if anything, Tesla’s pricing is more transparent than that of legacy brands. Finally, as regular readers of this column know very well, Tesla’s mission is not the same as that of other automakers. The old guys (and one gal) are selling in a mature market, and they’re out for one thing: profit. Young Tesla is a disruptor—it isn’t out to steal a piece of the oldsters’ business, but to eliminate their business altogether. Every EV sold brings the end of the Oil Age, and the fulfillment of Tesla’s quest, closer. Seen in that light, forgoing a thousand bucks worth of profit on each base Model 3 sold may be an acceptable trade-off for selling more of them. === Written by: Charles Morris

When Elon Musk meets up with Sandy Munro, a highly technical discussion about manufacturing innovations is guaranteed to keep engineers on the edge of their seats. A chat with bad-boy podcaster Joe Rogan, however, will appeal to quite a different audience. Elon isn’t just an expert on the first principles of physics and the fine points of battery chemistry—he’s also a keen student of science fiction, comedy and campy pop culture. Above: Elon Musk having some fun during his latest interview on the Joe Rogan podcast (Source: PowerfulJRE) Elon’s most recent appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast was his third. The Iron Man didn’t light up any blunts this time (he didn’t really inhale the last time either, but we’re pretty sure Joe did). However, the two class clowns found plenty of fun topics to talk about. Benzinga summarized some of the humorous highlights. Above: Rogan and Musk talk SpaceX (Source: PowerfulJRE) Musk is famous for incorporating tropes from his favorite movies and books into his companies’ products, but until now we thought this was limited to names (Insane and Ludicrous Modes, as well as the new Plaid Model S, were all named for concepts in the movie Spaceballs). However, Elon revealed to Joe that an important physical feature of the spaceship that will someday take colonists to Mars was inspired by Sacha Baron Cohen’s film “The Dictator.” In Cohen’s comedy hit, a capricious Middle East dictator had a missile engineer executed because he didn’t make a nuclear warhead pointy enough. Musk told Rogan that he had insisted that the SpaceX design team make the Starship as pointy as possible. “You literally told them to make the Starship more pointy because of the movie ‘The Dictator’?” asked Rogan. “Everyone thought it would be funny if they made the rocket more pointy, so we did,” answered Musk. Musk also had some more serious, and insightful, comments about humanity’s future as a space-faring race. Above: Musk tells the tale of how Starship got ‘pointy’ (Source: PowerfulJRE) The upcoming reboot of the Roadster may have a number of fun features, including a SpaceX package that will include “~10 small rocket thrusters arranged seamlessly around car.” These rocket engines, which will actually operate on compressed air, could improve acceleration and cornering, and maybe even allow the vehicle to fly for short distances, as Elon has teased. He told Rogan that the rocket-equipped Roadster might be able to hover six feet or so above the ground, as the flying cars seen in The Jetsons and other highly prophetic productions do. The only challenge is figuring out how to do it “without, you know, killing people.” Whether Hover Mode becomes a reality or not, it would be fun to have the rocket thrusters hidden behind the license plate. “I’m confident we could do a thruster where the license plate flips down, James Bond-style, and there would be a rocket thruster behind it, and that gives you three tons of thrust,” Musk told Rogan. We know that Musk is concerned about the Zombie Apocalypse (as are all prudent people). Elon recently took Tesla fan Jay Leno for a drive in a prototype Cybertruck, and Jay asked why it was so important for the windows to be bulletproof. “When the apocalypse comes, you’ll be glad it’s bulletproof,” Musk told Leno. “We want to be the leader in apocalypse technology.” Apparently, the apocalypse (with or without zombies) still figures in Tesla’s plans. Musk told Rogan that an electric van with a solar panel on the roof is in the pipeline, and that a major motivation for this is how handy such a self-charging vehicle will be in the post-apocalypse world. “I think that would be great,” said Elon. “Like a van that even if the apocalypse happens, you can still drive it around.” Above: Musk opens up about the events that unfolded at the Cybertruck launch party (Source: PowerfulJRE) Speaking of Cybertruck, Musk provided some more details of the embarrassing (but headline-generating) event at the 2019 Cybertruck reveal, when Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen smashed the “bulletproof” Cybertruck window with a metal ball. Apparently, it was like one of those times when people start getting into the consumables before the party starts. Prior to the event, Musk says, “at least a dozen people” threw steel balls at the window, and some smashed it with sledgehammers, and that might just be why it proved less resilient than anticipated when the cameras were rolling. “If you keep on throwing steel balls, eventually it is going to break,” Musk said. Musk is a first-principles thinker, and he understands that just because a material can resist a single impact or load doesn’t mean that it will hold up under repeated impacts (a lesson that the credulous backers of “solar freakin’ roadways” learned to their cost). Of course, like any super-entrepreneur, Musk and his team learn from their mistakes. He assured us that the glass product used in the actual Cybertruck will be “more robust.” ===  Written by: Charles Morris; Source: Joe Rogan Experience via Benzinga

Tesla has always been in the crosshairs of short sellers on Wall Street. Traditional financial media outlets, for years, preyed on Elon Musk for any misstep. Things have changed though. Tesla is now part of the S&P 500. And Wall Street insiders who once derided Musk and Tesla now appear to be out-of-step with today’s market dynamics. Above: Artist’s take on Tesla CEO Elon Musk (Flickr: danor shtruzman) “Welcome to the outsiders’ market. Now, it’s outsiders—entrepreneurs like Elon Musk… who are firing up thousands, perhaps millions, of traders and investors. They have blown away the old myth that Wall Street is the exclusive keeper of the keys to wealth, which it will share only with those who are willing to pay a fee,” writes Jason Zweig in the Wall Street Journal.  Elon Musk, along with others like Mark Cuban and Chamath Palihapitiya, have a real-time ability to move markets. Zweig says these “new messiahs of momentum, with their charisma and huge followings, can unite the buying power of scattered investors better than anyone who came before them.” Are there recent examples of this? Well, let’s take a look back at the chronology of the much-publicized GameStop episode as a prime example. At 10:32am EST on January 26th, Palihapitiya tweeted that he’d bought call options on GameStop, adding: “Let’s gooooooo!!!!!!!!” By the end of the next minute, GameStop’s price jumped nearly 10% as trading volume quadrupled.  Later, at 4:08pm EST the same day, Musk tweeted, “Gamestonk!!” More than a quarter-million shares traded immediately and, in 10 minutes, GameStop had shot up 31%. Of course the GameStop story goes much, much deeper than these two simple tweets. However, that shouldn’t shortchange their surprising impact. Another example? “If your timing was right, you might have made a lot of money over the past few weeks by following Mr. Musk into bitcoin [and] Mr. Cuban into dogecoin,” according to WSJ’s Zweig. On February 3rd, Cuban tweeted, “If I had to choose between buying a lottery ticket and #Dogecoin…I would buy #Dogecoin.” Over the next 12 hours, the digital currency, often mentioned in Musk’s twitter feed as well, shot up roughly 50%. On the one hand, it’s hard to argue that fast money traders aren’t at least a little inspired by big names like Musk, Palihapitiya, and Cuban. On the other hand, that shouldn’t deflect from deliberate, deeper analysis courtesy of today’s more thoughtful retail investors. Wall Street, after all, is changing. “The internet has democratized information,” Palihapitiya told the WSJ. “So the edge has shifted to analysis. Everyone has access to the same information, financial disclosures and general data.” “The stagnation of traditional wages has shifted people’s resourcefulness to the equity markets,” says Palihapitiya. Those who can use technology “to process this information faster or differently,” he said, now have “the new edge.” Cuban seems to agree, adding, ““Why can’t that knowledge come from the wisdom of the crowd?” On a prior Tesla earnings call, Elon Musk echoed this same sentiment. He said, “I do think that a lot of the retail investors actually have deeper and more accurate insights than many of the big institutional investors and certainly they have better insights than many of the analysts.” “It seems like if people really looked at some of the smart retail investor analysts, what some of those smaller retail investors predicted about the future of Tesla, you’d probably get the highest accuracy and remarkable insight from some of those predictions,” Musk said. === Source: Wall Street Journal

Ever since Tesla’s founding, pundits (and not only pundits, but some of the company’s founders) have assumed that, once the legacy automakers got serious about selling EVs, they would bury (or acquire) the California upstart. “Thanks for showing us the way, Elon, we’ll take it from here.”   Above: Tesla fleet is being joined by EVs from upstart and traditional automakers (Source: EVANNEX; Photo by Casey Murphy) I witnessed a comical manifestation of this in 2018 when I attended a press event for the launch of the Audi e-tron. I had breakfast with a group of Audi dealers, and one of them mused about how interesting it would be to see Tesla fade away and fold over the next couple of years, now that the big boys had gotten into the game. I had to restrain myself from laughing aloud at the time, and now…I’ll just say that that’s not the way things worked out. As I and other EVangelists have written so many times, the reason this Goliath-beats-David story isn’t going to come true has little to do with ability, and everything to do with motivation. The e-tron is a fine car, and so are the Porsche Taycan and Mustang Mach-E that I recently tested—but these companies are committed to a slow and orderly transition that allows them to preserve their ICE assets, and Tesla is committed to making every car on the planet electric, even if most of them aren’t Teslas. Recently, a more modern version of the Tesla-fades-away scenario has been making the rounds. The premise: okay, we know that legacy Big Auto will never beat Tesla, but nimble startups such as Rivian and Lucid just might. Zac Cataldo, the producer of the Now You Know podcast, is extremely knowledgeable about trends in the EV industry. In a recent chat, we talked about the Myth of the Tesla Killers. “We’ve known for years that that’s just not true,” Zac told me. “Those companies [Big Auto] are not innovative, so they’re not able to actually make a car that’s anything more than a compliance car. The only real competitors are going to come from outside. They’re going to come from companies—perhaps Lucid, or perhaps Rivian—that are looking at the problem from a different angle.” Above: Former Tesla exec, Peter Rawlinson, discusses his role as Lucid’s CEO and the company’s latest SPAC deal (YouTube: Yahoo Finance) Zac is excited about the upcoming Rivian R1T—he has one on order—but it sounds like he’s even more excited about Tesla’s Cybertruck. As Zac points out, it’s going to be fascinating to follow the new wave of EV startups over the next couple of years, because they will be the first viable competition that Tesla has faced. Like Tesla, these companies are dedicated to building EVs, and they don’t have legacy product lines or stranded assets to defend. However, some in the media have gone a bridge farther, predicting that the rise of Rivian and Lucid is a threat to Tesla. As I write this, TSLA stock has had a rough week, dropping in value by double digits, and some pundits are pontificating that the reason is Rivian’s announcement that it will go public later this year. Will some buyers who were looking at a Tesla opt for a Rivian (or a Lucid, an Aptera or an Xpeng) instead? Probably. Does that mean that the advent of these new automakers is a threat to Tesla’s sales? Just the opposite—it’s a huge opportunity. Every time another automaker announces a new model, or increased investment in its EV program, Elon Musk tweets out his congratulations, and this is not out of bravado. It’s because, as he has said several times, Tesla’s true competition is not other EVs—it’s the millions of gas-powered cars that are still rolling off the lines. The idea that more entrants to the EV segment will dilute Tesla’s sales is based on the false idea that there are two separate markets, one for EVs and one for gas-burners. In other words (as legacy automakers have often implied in their marketing materials), there’s a certain demographic that buys EVs, and nobody outside this group of kale-munchers ever will. This is nonsense. Simply put, as EVs get better, and as more people become aware of EVs, more people will buy EVs. Their buddies will check out their cool new rides, and a virtuous circle will start spinning up its magic. A few years from now, owning a gas car will be like owning a horse, as Elon Musk recently quipped. In the meantime, every compelling new EV that comes on the market will expand the pool of EV-buyers, and some of them will choose Teslas. Source: Tesla: How Elon Musk and Company Made Electric Cars Cool, and Remade the Automotive and Energy Industries, by Charles Morris To illustrate what I’m talking about, allow me to tell a little story from my personal experience. In 2014, I wrote a book about Tesla, and self-published it as an e-book (and revised and updated it in 2020). For a surprising length of time, mine was the only book about Tesla on the market. I scored a steady stream of sales, although my numbers would have been considered a rounding error by any major publisher. In 2015, a well-known author named Ashlee Vance released an excellent biography of Elon Musk. To compare his book to mine would be like comparing a Model S Plaid to an EV1. His was a slick hardback book that was reviewed in outlets like the New York Times, and sold at airport bookstores all over the country. Uh-oh! The big kids are here! Bad news for little self-published Charles Morris, right? Wrong. Shortly after his book came out, my sales took off like a rocket, and for about three months, I enjoyed the highest sales I’ve ever had. He probably sold (and continues to sell) more books in an hour than I do in a year, but his entry into the market didn’t hurt my sales—it vastly increased them. Many readers bought both books. Now obviously, this little parable isn’t directly comparable to the EV market—few buyers are going to like their EV so much that they buy a second one (some just might), and unlike your favorite EV journalist, Tesla can’t really be considered an underdog at this juncture. But the point is that, in a market that’s just beginning to develop, the entry of more competitors doesn’t slice up a finite pie into smaller pieces—it makes the pie bigger. The e-mobility pie is still tiny. In the US, EVs currently represent less than 2% of total auto sales, and even in Europe and China, they still account for a fraction of the market. Considering everything that’s going on—rapidly improving technology, falling prices, tightening regulation—it’s all but certain that the pie is going to expand rapidly over the next decade, and there’s plenty of opportunity for Tesla, for startup automakers and for legacy brands that can be fast followers. The only ones who’ll end up with no pie on their plates will be those who refused to come to the kitchen when the dinner bell was rung. === Written by: Charles Morris

China has rolled out the proverbial red carpet for Tesla. Last February, every automaker was forced to shut down operations to stop the spread of the coronavirus, but Chinese authorities went to great lengths to help Tesla get back into production mode quickly. The government provided transportation and plenty of masks for Tesla’s employees, and expedited the process of getting the company’s facilities cleaned up and ready to reopen. As Toyota, Volkswagen and other foreign carmakers struggled to restart their lines, Shanghai Gigafactory was already back to making cars, and by March the production rate was up to 3,000 a week, higher than before the shutdown.  Above: A Tesla driving in Shanghai (Twitter: Tesla Greater China) As a recent Bloomberg article reports, Tesla’s fast track out of lockdown is typical of the relationship the company has enjoyed with the Chinese state since it first announced plans to build a local plant in 2018. “Again and again, [Tesla] has extracted perks other international companies have struggled to obtain, including tax breaks, cheap loans, permission to wholly own its domestic operations, and assistance constructing a vast facility at astonishing speed,” writes Matthew Campbell and co-authors. In return, Tesla has contributed much to the Chinese auto sector—it patronizes local suppliers and helps local employees to learn valuable new skills. The EV trend-setter’s presence has also forced local automakers to raise their electric games. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship—Tesla gets access to the world’s largest auto market, and China gets access to the world’s most innovative automaker. Tesla got off to a slow start in China. At the beginning of 2014, Tesla had 5,000 preorders, but by the end of the year, the company had shipped some 4,700 cars to China, but sold only 2,500. Cultural differences, problems with customer support and a lack of charging infrastructure all contributed to the lackluster performance. By the end of 2015, sales were still disappointing—3,700 for the year—but the future was looking brighter. Tesla was installing Superchargers faster than anywhere else in the world (in December 2019, Tesla reported that it had 300 Superchargers in China), and Chinese consumers were starting to realize the advantages of buying a Tesla. Another boost to Tesla’s China business was the arrival of Model X. The Chinese love SUVs as much as Americans do, and it’s no coincidence that Tesla sales started spiking when Model X arrived in the country in June 2016. However, as long as the cars sold in China were built in the US, Tesla was at a competitive disadvantage. Importing cars from California added a layer of expenses, and hefty tariffs and taxes on foreign-made goods added another. Furthermore, government EV incentives were designed to support state companies, and generally didn’t apply to imported vehicles. Domestic EV-makers such as BYD and BAIC Group benefited from purchase subsidies, and were able to undercut Tesla on price. In 2017, after Chinese tech giant Tencent bought a 5% stake in Tesla, the California carmaker began crafting a far more comprehensive China strategy. Establishing local production became the top priority, and executives started looking around for potential factory sites. Shanghai, a major tech center and traditionally China’s most globally-oriented city, was the obvious choice. Tesla insisted on having 100% control of its local operations—an almost unprecedented concession in a country that had always required foreign car companies to establish 50/50 joint ventures with Chinese firms. As Bloomberg reports, the negotiations were long and hard, but in April 2018, China’s National Development and Reform Commission announced that the 50% foreign ownership cap would be lifted for EV manufacturers. Three months later, Tesla finalized an agreement with the Shanghai government to build its Gigafactory, and started building at breakneck speed. Elon Musk celebrated Tesla’s new, cozy relationship with the Chinese regime on a trip to Beijing, where he met with top government officials and was treated like a rock star by the local media. At the time, economic tensions between the US and China were high, and many hoped that Elon’s trip would herald a thaw in trade relations. “We hope your company can become an in-depth participant of China’s opening and a promoter of the stability of China-US relations,” Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told Musk. In fact, Musk made such a positive impression that he was offered permanent residency. “I love China and want to come here more often,” said Musk. “If you do, we can issue you a Chinese green card,” the Premier replied. Above: Understanding the genesis of Tesla’s success in China (YouTube: Bloomberg Markets and Finance) We don’t know if Musk has taken Li up on his offer of residency, but following their meeting, the word came down that Tesla’s Gigafactory was to be put on the fast track. State-backed banks provided construction financing on attractive terms, and the Shanghai government expedited the permitting process. Water and electricity were hooked up at record speed. Tesla was the beneficiary of tax breaks, purchase subsidies and access to plenty of financing. As the Shanghai Gigafactory took shape, “Tesla’s local operation was beginning to look like a domestic entity,” as Bloomberg’s Campbell writes. Tom Zhu, a Chinese-born executive, was made VP of Greater China, which became an independent division reporting directly to the US headquarters. The Shanghai Gigafactory began production 2019, less than a year after groundbreaking. The rest, as they say, is history. Tesla has been cranking out ever-increasing volumes of Model 3 and, since January, Model Y, at Gigafactory 4, and the facility has become ground zero for Tesla’s most cutting-edge manufacturing innovations. According to Tesla’s recent earnings report, China now delivers about a fifth of the company’s revenue. China is also benefitting in a huge way from the relationship. It’s no secret that the country hopes to parlay the transition to EVs into a long-coveted seat at the top table of the global auto industry. What better way to achieve this than to embrace the trend-setter of that transition? As Bloomberg puts it, the government’s aim is “to upgrade the capabilities of the Chinese electric car industry by forcing Tesla’s competitors and suppliers to improve their game.” Contemporary Amperex Technology, a Chinese battery giant that provides cells for some of Tesla’s Shanghai-built EVs, is just one of the suppliers that has seen its business, and share price, explode since Tesla came to town. “Tesla’s presence is meant to help develop the entire supply chain,” Scott Kennedy, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, told Bloomberg, and cited the precedent of the smartphone industry. Most of Apple’s iPhones are assembled in China, supporting an ecosystem of domestic suppliers, and the American tech giant pulls plenty of profit from the Chinese market—but so do competitors such as Huawei, Oppo and Vivo. Some wonder how long the cozy relationship between a nominally communist government and the world’s most successful capitalist will last. US-China tensions were inflamed under former President Trump, but they may not improve much under the new administration. By all accounts, President Joe Biden and legislators from both parties take a dim view of China’s protectionism, intellectual-property theft and human rights abuses. Managing the relationship with China will surely be one of President Biden’s toughest foreign-policy challenges. Hopefully relations between the two superpowers will improve, but if they don’t, could Tesla get caught in the middle? Several Chinese companies, notably Huawei, have faced restrictions in the US (and in Europe) due to cybersecurity concerns. Cars are rapidly becoming platforms for advanced sensors and artificial intelligence, and Tesla is at the forefront of this trend. Will US authorities someday decide that technology transfers to China represent a national security threat? Or, as Chinese automakers carve out an ever-larger slice of the EV market, will the government there decide that it has gotten what it wanted from Tesla, and turn salty? Obviously, proponents of e-mobility (and of friendly relations among fellow humans) hope that neither of these scenarios comes to pass. However, as Musk and his team know as well as anyone, great things can’t be accomplished without risk. “Elon’s played the game very well,” Bill Russo, the CEO of Shanghai-based consultant Automobility Ltd, told Bloomberg. “But Tesla got this because it was in China’s interest for Tesla to have it.” === Written by: Charles Morris; Source: Bloomberg

For most folks, 2020 won’t go down in history as a very good year, but for the auto industry, it was a turning point. Global sales of plug-in vehicles reached 3.24 million (as reported by EV-Volumes), compared to 2.26 million in 2019. That’s an upsurge of about 43%, which is all the more remarkable considering that overall global light vehicle sales fell by 14%. Above: The transition to electric vehicles is starting to happen all over the globe (Source: EVANNEX; Photo by Casey Murphy) The center of the action was Europe, which surpassed China as the motor of EV growth for the first time since 2015. Plug-in sales in Europe (EU countries plus the UK, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland) increased by 137% compared to 2019, while the overall vehicle market was down by 20%. Plug-in vehicles’ share of the overall auto market increased from 3.3% in 2019 to 10.2% in 2020. The EU’s new, more stringent emissions requirement appeared to be the main driver of the boom, but incentive increases in several countries and a wave of new models also contributed to the voltage surge. Above: A look back at late 2019 comments from non-Tesla auto executives reveals a desire for more charging and government incentives (YouTube: Bloomberg) Most of the action was in the second half of the year, and the sales frenzy reached fever pitch in December—EV capital Norway set a new record for the month, when 87% of new cars sold were plug-ins, and 66% pure EVs. In China, sales of “new energy vehicles” (NEVs) recovered from a dismal first half to post a 12% gain for the year. The market share of NEVs showed a modest increase from 5.1% in 2019 to 5.5% in 2020. The US continues to lag behind—plug-in sales increased by a paltry 4%, a figure that looks pretty good relative to the overall auto market’s loss of 15%. Tesla consolidated its domination of the US market—the California carmaker accounted for 79% of all pure EV sales. The inauguration of a new, more EV-friendly administration, combined with the impending launch of several electric pickups, seem bound to deliver a bigger sales surge in 2021. Smaller auto markets were mixed. Plug-in sales actually fell in Japan (-28%) and Canada (-7%), but soared in South Korea (+55%) and Taiwan (+308%). === This article originally appeared in Charged. Author: Charles Morris. Source: EV-Volumes

Charging an electric vehicle during a road trip offers a myriad of different possibilities. But sometimes a simple solution is best. Tesla, in turn, has created their own proprietary charging network.  And, according to a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, “Tesla’s charging stations [have] left other manufacturers in the dust.” Above: Tesla charging at a Supercharger (Flickr: Jakob Harter) “Despite investments that add up to many billions of dollars, none of the major incumbent automakers seems to pose much of a threat to market leader Tesla,” writes Hemant Bhargava, Jonas Boehm, and Geoffrey G. Parker in HBR.  Why? According to the authors, “The reason why consumers still choose Teslas over products like Audi’s eTron or attractive EVs from GM’s Buick, Cadillac, GMC, and Chevy brands is perhaps surprisingly simple. They can drive their Teslas for long distances in full confidence that they will find convenient locations at which to recharge their vehicle. While the incumbent automakers are still focused narrowly on perfecting their electric cars, Tesla has been thinking about the entire vehicle system, with the aim of solving consumers’ core driving needs.” In contrast, looking at the options for legacy automakers, “the network of available [non-Tesla] charging stations is highly fractured across ownership and technology. The next largest network, compared to Tesla, is only 10% as large. Unless you buy a Tesla, you have few options for reliable route planning, guaranteed access, and rapid public charging.” The solution? “[Legacy] automakers would be well advised to take a leaf out of Tesla’s playbook and focus on the network,” notes HBR. Above: A look at the Tesla Supercharger network (YouTube: Tesla) “Firms that dream of being the next Tesla should carefully examine why they are so far behind. It’s not for lack of knowledge about how to build cars; many of the incumbent firms have been doing that for over a hundred years. Instead, they should focus on the critical infrastructure, in this case the charging networks, that have made customers willing to take a chance on a newcomer,” reports HBR. In another analysis from Forbes, Brookes Crothers acknowledges some significant traction from VW’s efforts with Electrify America and GM’s alliance with EVgo, “albeit still far behind Tesla in total numbers,” he says. “Tesla is still the gold standard for charging infrastructure and it shows no signs of slowing down.” Crothers reminds us of Sun Microsystems’ slogan in the 80s which was, “the network is the computer.” Fast forward to the present and consider a slightly different spin on that slogan — an EV is only as good as its charging network. There’s more research supporting these findings too. The University of California (Davis) and Dartmouth College came to a similar conclusion in a joint study which touted Tesla’s Supercharger network as the dominant “platform” play in the auto world — but it’s certainly not Tesla’s only advantage.  === Source: Harvard Business Review; Forbes, UC Davis

In the race to catch Tesla, some have underestimated the Silicon Valley automaker. William Boston reports in the Wall Street Journal, “For years, industry leaders and analysts pointed to the German [automakers] as evidence that, once unleashed, the old guard’s raw financial power paired with decades of engineering excellence would make short work of Elon Musk’s scrappy startup.”  Above: A look at the Tesla Model 3 (Source: EVANNEX; Photo by Casey Murphy) “What they didn’t consider: Electric vehicles are more about software than hardware. And producing exquisitely engineered gas-powered cars doesn’t translate into coding savvy,” according to WSJ. Ever since Tesla launched its first car in 2008 “there was this feeling that the really serious players are going to come,” said Peter Rawlinson, CEO of electric car startup Lucid Technologies and the former chief engineer of Tesla’s Model S. Now, he says, “the Germans have finally come, and they’re not as good as Tesla.” “With the shift to electric, computing has become the heart of the vehicle, with a central processor managing the battery, running the electric motors, brakes, lights and other critical systems as well as additional features such as entertainment or heating in the seats. Just like a gas-powered car should be serviced regularly, a modern electric vehicle may receive software updates to improve safety and performance, offer new in-car services, or unlock sources of revenue for the manufacturer,” according to WSJ. “In order to be successful in this new world and secure the prosperity of many people…VW must completely change,” Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess wrote in a recent LinkedIn post. In turn, “When Mr. Diess, then head of the VW brand, launched his first EV effort five years ago, he asked Fredmund Malik, an Austrian economist, to hold a ‘syntegration workshop’ for senior brand executives. The goal, Prof. Malik said, was to persuade managers lulled into complacency by their company’s high profitability that Tesla represented an existential threat.” Above: How Tesla has gained a distinct edge in the auto industry with its focus on software (Youtube: MITSloan) “Prof. Malik said Mr. Diess posed a simple question for the group: What do we have to do to catch up with Tesla by 2024? The CEO opened the gathering with a blistering critique of VW’s progress. He showed a slide comparing the ID.3 to the Tesla Model 3, pointing out that while VW’s car excelled in old-world features such as spaciousness and design, Tesla beat VW hands down on such metrics as battery range and advanced computing,” reports Boston. “Over the past 20 years the auto industry became more integrators than developers,” says Alexander Hitzinger, a Porsche and Apple veteran. “Software is written by suppliers. This was good for a while because it drives down costs but you lose control. That’s what the auto industry has to reverse now, bring in deep technical knowledge. That’s the hard part.”  “The key here is taking this distributed system in the car, dozens if not hundreds of applications, and centralizing everything,” says Danny Shapiro, senior director of automotive at Nvidia Corp., the graphics chip maker that has become a player in self-driving car technology. “This is very complex, especially with a car where the safety level is critical. You can’t just flip a switch and be a software company.” According to Dirk Hilgenberg, a BMW executive and IT specialist, “The biggest challenge… isn’t the technology, it is the mind-set of the people—their reluctance to embrace radical change until circumstances force them to.”  === Source: Wall Street Journal

Sandy Munro has become an expert on the technical details of Teslas—the innovative components that most of us will never see, but that make these trend-setting EVs such delightful and disruptive vehicles. He’s also become an unlikely internet star, thanks to his insightful comments and his folksy, engaging speaking style. To be in the room when Sandy sits down for a talk with Elon Musk is an EV geek’s dream.   Above: Elon Musk and Sandy Munro talk Tesla (Source: Munro Live) In this new video on the Munro Live channel, the two automotive superstars do not disappoint—they cover a wide range of topics, with detailed discussions of some of Tesla’s upcoming game-changing technologies, including megacastings, structural battery packs and much more. Above: Sandy Munro sits down for a one-on-one exclusive interview with Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk (YouTube: Munro Live) Elon generated a tsunami of headlines (and a brief plunge in the TSLA stock price) with a comment from early in this interview—Sandy asked him why his Tesla had several quality-control issues, while other specimens he had seen were flawless. Elon’s answer was something that every tech customer knows, but that no ordinary CEO would ever admit: when a product first comes out, it’s going to have problems, so savvy consumers wait until production is ramped up before buying. “My friends ask me, ‘When should I buy a Tesla?’ and I say, either buy it right at the beginning, or when the production reaches a steady state, but during that production ramp, it’s super-hard to be in vertical climb mode and get everything right on the little details…so if you really want things to be dialed…very early cars or once production has leveled off—that’s when it’s going to be best.” Technically-minded Car Guys may not think about seats much, but for some car buyers the comfort of the seats is very important indeed. Tesla is believed to be just about the only carmaker that makes its own seats. Sandy, a gentleman of a certain age, noted how much more comfortable Tesla’s seats are than those in his Jeep. Elon explained that this is the result of “a long journey and a lot of effort”—early Model S seats were so uncomfortable that he dubbed them “stone toadstools,” but thanks to Tesla’s hands-on attention, they developed into what Sandy calls the best seats on the planet. This is illustrative of a larger issue—things like seats, that people actually touch, are critical, and they should be made in-house, says Sandy. Sandy talked about his recent ride-along with John Stringer, head of Tesla Owners Silicon Valley, to check out the new FSD package, and his praise was effusive in the extreme. “This will save more lives than seat belts and airbags,” said he. “Absolutely stunning.” Above: John Stringer takes Sandy Munro for a ride in his Tesla in order to experience the new FSD package (YouTube: Tesla Owners Silicon Valley) Another fascinating topic: Tesla’s new megacastings, which many are calling a major breakthrough in automotive manufacturing. Musk tells us that replacing the rear underbody assembly on Model Y with a single casting allowed Tesla to eliminate 300 robots and reduce the required body shop space by 30 percent. When the front casting is implemented, it’s expected to save another 300 robots and another 30 percent of the space in the body shop. In his talk with Sandy, Elon draws a parallel between the convoluted corporate structure of legacy car companies and the complex hodgepodge of parts found in their vehicles. “Organizational structure errors manifest themselves in the product,” he quips. Different types of metals and alloys have to be joined in different ways, so a complex assembly ends up with a variety of fastening technologies: rivets, spot-welds, adhesive resin, and loads of sealant to fill the gaps between pieces. The end result is what Elon has called a “Frankenstein monster” in the body shop. Single-piece casting eliminates most of this complexity. Eventually, the underbody of a Tesla vehicle will consist of just three major components. “There’ll be a rear casting, a front casting, and then the center will be a structural [battery] pack,” Musk tells Sandy. These innovations will be introduced in the Berlin and Texas factories, where they can be incorporated into the design of the new production lines, rather than shutting down the existing Model 3/Y production lines (and Tesla’s cash flow along with it) to retool. The structural battery pack will allow the cells to do double duty as both energy storage and structural components. “The cells today in every car are carried like a sack of potatoes,” says Elon. “They actually have negative structural value,” because they have to be isolated from vibration and shock loads. “By bonding the cells in there, the bonding foam serves as both an adhesive and a fire retardant.” Above: A look at Tesla’s new structural battery pack (Source: Tesla) The honeycomb structure will also add a lot of stiffness. “The torsional rigidity will be much better.” Elon and Sandy get into some highly technical discussions about the various materials used in cars, their coefficients of temperature expansion, etc. If you’re of an engineering bent, I highly recommend watching this video all the way through. Those who are more interested in the business aspects will find some choice comments about MBAs and short sellers near the end of the interview. ===  This article originally appeared in Charged. Author: Charles Morris. Source: Munro Live

This Valentine’s Day brings back an amusing Tesla story from a Model S owner in the UK. It turns out that he decided to transform his electric car into the ultimate lovemobile. How? He created a custom “My Valentine” license plate, included 100 giant Ecuadorian red roses and a bottle of Cristal champagne, and had it all delivered to his sweetheart by an invisible chauffeur — a “summoned” Tesla. Above: Now that’s a Valentine’s gift (Source: Arena Flowers – Flowers HQ) Oh — and there’s a plot twist too. Without providing any further spoiler alerts, be sure to check out the commercial below. Although this ad was filmed a ways back, I spoke with the owner of Arena Flowers, Will Wynne (it’s his Tesla), and he mentioned that he’s since upgraded his Model S. He also told me this Valentine’s Day commercial turned out to be a huge hit too for his company. Check it out… Above: This unusual Valentine’s Day commercial prominently features Tesla (Source: Arena Flowers – Flowers HQ) So forget those fly-by-night flower shops… if you’re in the UK you should definitely order from the Arena Flowers folks for all your holidays this year. Will (and his family) were once profiled on the Tesla blog where Will recalled, “Within a year, we’d bought three Model S. Firstly, my mother, Jackie, took receipt of her birthday present from my father, Richard, a Model S 85. Six months later, I collected my Model S.” Above: Arena Flowers is a family business in the UK where everyone owns a Tesla (Image: Tesla) Will explained his love for Tesla is all about “guilt free enjoyment — this is key. I used to have a very fast sports car and every time I put my foot down, I could feel the money flowing out of my wallet. It’s truly special to know you’re having the smoothest and fastest drive of your life but yet it’s costing you either very little (home charging) or nothing (Supercharging) AND you’re not harming the environment either.” In any event, happy Valentine’s Day to the crew over at Arena Flowers and to all loving Tesla owners (and fans) out there. 

Professor Jeff Dahn is a celebrity in the battery field, and with good reason—he has co-authored over 730 papers and holds some 73 patents. Since 2016, Professor Dahn and his research group at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia have had an exclusive research partnership with Tesla.  Above: Jeff Dahn in the driver’s seat of a Tesla (Source: Dalhousie University) Now Professor Dahn has announced plans to step down from his leadership role at Tesla’s Advanced Battery Research group, and to become Chief Scientific Advisor at Novonix Battery Technology Solutions, a company that was spun out of Dahn’s research group in 2013 by Dr. Chris Burns (now Chief Executive of Novonix). Professor Dahn and his research team will continue to work alongside Tesla. “We are extremely excited to have Professor Dahn join the Novonix team and become involved in our initiatives to develop and supply world-leading materials to the lithium-ion battery sector,” said Dr. Burns. “I am personally pleased to have the opportunity to work together with Professor Dahn again as his insights, industry contacts and experience will be a huge asset for our business.” Novonix recently filed patent applications for dry particle microgranulation (DPMG) technology, which is expected to lower the cost and increase the efficiency of manufacturing of anode and cathode materials. Novonix is scaling development of this material at a pilot cathode processing facility. In addition to its Canadian operations, Novonix operates the PUREgraphite anode material plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which is ramping up capacity to 2,000 tons/year of synthetic graphite. Above: Jeff Dahn talks about the new chairs at his Advanced Battery Research group which works with Tesla (YouTube: Office of Research Studies) Dalhousie University has extended its contract with Tesla for the Advanced Battery Research group to 2026 and announced two new chairs. Dr. Chongyin Yang is an energy conversion and storage specialist formerly of the University of Maryland. His research group will focus on developing materials for Li-ion batteries, including sustainable electrode materials that contain no transition metals. Dr. Michael Metzger, a graduate of the Technical University of Munich, developed methods to study the lifetime and aging of lithium-ion batteries in collaboration with BASF and BMW, and also worked as a research engineer for Tier 1 supplier Robert Bosch. Dr. Metzger’s research group will focus on developing novel methods to study the performance and lifetime of lithium-ion batteries, lithium metal batteries and desalination batteries, with the goal of developing new electrode materials and electrolytes. Professor Dahn, who will be working closely with Yang and Metzger, called the two “outstanding scientists and charismatic leaders, who bring new ideas, new methods, and new expertise as well as a full commitment to electric transportation and renewable energy to the partnership.” “Our goal is to continue to help Tesla develop better advanced batteries for its products,” said Professor Dahn. ===  This article originally appeared in Charged. Author: Charles Morris. Sources: Novonix, Electrek

Tesla’s level of accomplishment in a short time is remarkable—the company has only existed for 17 years, and yet it’s become the most valuable automaker in the world. However, another thing that seems remarkable is that, after 17 years of discussing and analyzing everything the company does in minute detail, so many people, including extremely well-informed individuals in the automotive and tech fields, still can’t grasp the reasons for that success. Above: Charging at a Tesla Supercharger (Source: EVANNEX; Photo by Casey Murphy) Is it the world-record 0-60 time? The A-list celebrities who drive Teslas to all the most exclusive Hollywood and Silicon Valley parties? Is it the over-the-air updates? Autopilot, Dog Mode, or Fart Mode? All of these things are contributing factors—the company has an unbeatable bundle of selling points to trot out. David Havasi, one of the pioneers of Tesla’s sales operations, explained to me that his sales strategy relied on what he called the superlative approach. “You find out what the person values, then you show them how the Tesla meets that value proposition in a way that no [other] product could ever meet it. They value efficiency? This thing’s double the efficiency of the Toyota Prius. They value performance? It’s the quickest production vehicle ever made. They value safety? Lowest probability of occupant injury ever. Storage? Almost double the storage of other cars in its class. On and on and on.” Selling against Tesla would be a tough hill to climb (few salespeople for other EV brands even try, but that’s a subject for another article). However, no single one of these superlatives can explain the California carmaker’s success. Many in the media cite the Supercharger network as Tesla’s secret sauce. It’s true that the Supercharger network was a critical deal-closer in the early days, when range anxiety raged, and that it continues to be a substantial competitive advantage for Tesla. But the idea that other automakers haven’t been selling EVs because they didn’t build Superchargers, or that they could duplicate Tesla’s success by rolling out their own fast charging networks, is nonsense. A recent study by management professors at the University of California, Davis, and Dartmouth College advances this infrastructure-determinist school of thought. “Electric vehicles cannot succeed without developing a nationwide network of fast-charging networks in parallel with the cars,” write the authors of The Business of Electric Vehicles: A Platform Perspective. “Current EV business models are doomed unless manufacturers that have bet their futures on them, like General Motors and VW, invest in or coordinate on a robust supercharger network.” Leaving aside the overstatement that GM and VW have “bet their futures” on EVs (“hedged their bets” would be more accurate), the implication that legacy automakers need only add high-speed charging to the mix to catch up to Tesla is a dubious one. There’s no question that Big Auto needs to invest more in charging infrastructure, but that’s only part of the picture. Above: Professor Hemant Bhargava discusses his research (YouTube: UC Davis Graduate School of Business) As Professor Hemant Bhargava and his co-authors correctly point out, about 90% of the EVs sold in the US to date have been Teslas. But the main reason the legacy brands haven’t sold many of their EVs is that they haven’t marketed them. As we’ve explained in this space many times, the capability is there, but the motivation is lacking. I’ve driven most of the EVs available on the US market, and almost every one of them has been a fine automobile. However, none has been supported by anything like the kind of marketing resources that the makers devote to their gas-guzzling, money-spinning trucks and SUVs. Even now, the most charged of the legacy brands are basically planning for a slow and gradual transition to EVs. Despite what you may read in the mainstream media, GM has not announced that it’s going to go fully electric by 2035—it said it “aspires” to convert its light-duty vehicles—not trucks, mind you—to electric drive by then. The UC Davis/Dartmouth researchers are right on the money about one thing. “Tesla has played the platform game. Other automakers are still playing a product game,” said Professor Bhargava. He compares EVs to other platform-based products such as smartphones, which depend on an ecosystem of other products and services, including mobile data networks and third-party apps. Tesla has taken a platform, or “full-stack” approach from the beginning, and the Supercharging network is a part of that, but there’s much more to this strategy. OTA updates, Autopilot, stationary battery storage, solar panels, direct-to-consumer vehicle sales and service, vertical integration—all of these things combine to deliver an overall customer experience, and any automaker that aspires to offer something like what Tesla is offering is going to have to do a lot more than just invest in some fast charging stations (although that would be a good first step). If you’re looking for one all-encompassing reason that explains Tesla’s domination, you’d do better to look at the company’s basic identity. Tesla sells only electric vehicles, and its mission is to get everyone to drive electric, even people who don’t buy Teslas. They don’t have any legacy products to nurse, or stranded assets in ICE technology to try to rescue. The old-line automakers can put a fast charger on every corner, but until they put their EVs at the center of their marketing efforts, and commit to retiring their dinosaur-burners a little earlier than 15 years from now, they’ll continue to be also-rans in the e-mobility race. === Written by: Charles Morris

Are Tesla’s factories mission-critical to success? Yes. Factories are as much a tangible Tesla product as the cars that we drive or Powerwalls we use. As Elon Musk says, “the machine that builds the machine” serves an important role in Tesla’s future.  Above: Tesla is building all over the globe to meet demand for its growing fleet of all-electric cars (Flickr: DennisM2) Without the rapid construction of Tesla’s factories, the company wouldn’t be able to accelerate electrification of modern transport. That said, confusion regarding Tesla’s factories is commonplace. After all, it hasn’t even been ten years since the release of the Model S. Since then, Tesla has expanded at an absolutely ‘ludicrous’ speed around the globe. So let’s try to clear things up regarding Tesla’s current (and future) factories cropping up all over the place. Fremont Factory Tesla’s humble beginnings at the Fremont factory serves as a poetic metaphor for the “changing of the throne” in today’s automotive world. What was once a factory used by industry goliaths, GM and Toyota, is now (gasp!) the birthplace of the electric forerunner. The Tesla factory in Fremont, California used to be called New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI) which was a joint-venture between GM and Toyota. The plant produced various Toyota and GM cars and would hit a peak production rate of just over 428,000 cars. The joint venture would come to a close in 2009 due to the global recession and the factory would close down in March 2010. Above: Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California (Source: Tesla) Only a few months later, Tesla and Toyota announced a partnership that would include Tesla’s help with the Toyota RAV4 EV which would use a Tesla powertrain. Part of the deal also involved the purchase of the old NUMMI factory. Tesla would officially open up the factory in October 2010 and have their first Model S be delivered at a special event taking place at the Fremont Factory in June of 2012. Initially, the production lines were isolated in a small portion of the available space — they were only making 20,000 Model S in a factory that used to crank out over 400,000 cars. Over time, Tesla incrementally expanded the company’s production lines all while providing the factory a much-needed facelift. The company’s forecast for the Fremont factory included a production rate of over half a million cars — eclipsing the previous limit that the NUMMI factory was capable of outputting. Not bad for a once-discarded factory from the 60s. Giga Nevada The original Tesla Gigafactory, now referred to as Giga Nevada, is a primary home for Tesla’s batteries. After Tesla took possession of the Fremont Factory and started producing cars, they set their sights on establishing a stable supply of batteries for their new cars and Powerwall / Powerpack stationary storage solutions.  Above: Tesla’s first-ever Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada (Source: Tesla) Similar to the Fremont factory, the first Tesla Gigafactory was born out of a partnership with a Japanese company. This time it would be Panasonic who would help Tesla with battery production. Construction of the factory started in late 2014. It’s still growing too. It has about 1.9 million sq. ft. of space — the factory is only about 30% complete with plenty of room for expansion.  Giga Buffalo Gigafactory 2 is probably the most unique. Construction of the factory would begin in September 2014 and would be up-and-running in August 2017. The factory was being built by SolarCity which would actually become a subsidiary of Tesla in 2016 — giving Tesla control of the solar factory. Just as with Gigafactory 1, product development in Gigafactory 2 was originally being implemented with Panasonic.  Above: Tesla’s Superchargers and solar products are produced in Buffalo (Source: Tesla) Tesla’s factory in Buffalo serves as a non-automotive play. Being the factory that produces Tesla’s solar products, it could serve a more critical role in the near future. On top of solar roof and solar panels, the factory is also responsible for producing Superchargers — a key part of Tesla’s success gaining worldwide EV adoption.  Giga Shanghai Giga Shanghai is Tesla’s all-important factory in China. In late 2018, Tesla purchased land in Shanghai, China which would become the home of Tesla Gigafactory 3 and would produce both the Model 3 and future Model Y. The factory was especially remarkable due to the speed at which it was built. With construction set to begin at the very end of 2018, the first Model 3 was off the production line in December 2019 — less than a year later.  Above: Tesla’s Gigafactory in Shanghai, China (Source: Tesla) Over time, reliance on parts from the US dropped and Made-in-China (MIC) Model 3s allowed Tesla to lower the vehicle price further in China. The Model 3 portion of the factory was finished in 2020. In 2021, the Model Y portion of the factory became operational and started delivering MIC Model Ys.  Along with the Shanghai factory, Tesla also announced that they would open a Chinese design studio that would design a new compact model to be sold internationally. Many have speculated that this vehicle will be Tesla’s $25,000 passenger car — details are scarce but clues are beginning to surface. Giga Berlin With North America and Asia covered, it was time for Tesla to turn its attention to Europe. A quick side note: Tesla was already operating a smaller European factory (for final assembly) in the Netherlands located in Tilburg. In any event, with Gigafactory 3 announced and Tesla looking to rapidly expand, discussion and rumors of a European Gigafactory heated up in mid-2018. Over the years, from 2015 to its official announcement in 2019, over ten European countries were actively courting Tesla.  Above: A concept rendering of Tesla’s Gigafactory in Germany that should start Model Y production mid-year (Source: Tesla) In the end, Germany was announced as the location in late 2019. The proposed location would be just 20 miles away from Berlin and would produce both the Model Y and Model 3 at a production rate of 500,000 cars a year. The construction of Tesla’s Germany factory started in early 2020 and is expected to begin operations in the summer of 2021. Gigafactory 4 has plans to produce the Model Y before it produces the Model 3. Additionally, the Model Y produced in Europe should be considerably different from the one that is made in Fremont and Shanghai. During Tesla’s Battery Day, the company showed off its plans for a new 4680 battery cell as well as a structural battery pack. In addition to those (future) advancements, the European Model Y will also be the first to use Tesla’s front and rear single casting pieces, significantly reducing the parts in the car. Giga Berlin will also use Tesla’s “most advanced” paint shop. Giga Austin In late 2019, Tesla revealed the iconic Cybertruck to the world. Two days after the reveal, Musk tweeted that there were 200,000 pre-orders and fan estimates have put today’s reservation number at over 700,000 pre-orders. A pre-order only requires $100 refundable deposit, so not all those reservations will convert to sales, but once again Tesla has a big backlog of vehicles to get through. Above: A look at Tesla’s rapid progress on the ground in Austin (YouTube: Jeff Roberts) Tesla decided to choose another factory location in North America once again — this time closer to the East Coast so that it could have a more central location compared to Tesla Fremont. Giga Austin began construction in July 2020 and will be the home of Cybertruck production. As with Giga Shanghai and Giga Berlin, expect a production capacity of 500,000 cars a year with room to expand. Giga India Okay, this one isn’t confirmed (yet). For a long time, rumors (and Elon’s tweets) have been circulating about Tesla’s eventual arrival in India. However, the company has delayed plans to enter the emerging market. In late 2020, Musk replied to a tweet asking about Tesla’s Indian entry to which the CEO replied “next year for sure.” That said, it seems that the tweet was legit this time. In early 2021 we received word that Tesla had incorporated an Indian subsidiary that looks to set up various facilities, including a possible factory. Given India’s bursting population, it could represent an important future market for Tesla and has a good chance to be the location for a new Gigafactory. In any event, Tesla factories now reside all across the globe with many more that could be announced soon. === An earlier version of this article appeared on EVBite. EVBite is an electric vehicle specific news site dedicated to keeping consumers up-to-date on any developments in the ever-expanding EV landscape.

Tesla owners clubs are valuable resources, helping current owners get the most out of their vehicles, and bringing new buyers into the electric fold. The largest Tesla owners club in North America is Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley, which has over 2,000 members, and 64,000 Twitter followers.  Above: John Stringer (left) getting ready to drive electric (Photo courtesy of John Stringer)  At the moment, most of the club’s activities are virtual—they include happy hours, meet-ups with luminaries of the Tesla world, and destination drives to scenic locales. The club also organizes events for Earth Day, National Drive Electric Week, and at car shows, where Tesla owners show off their vehicles and spread the word about driving electric. It’s not just an enthusiast group, but also an activist group, dedicated to advancing the cause of vehicle electrification and clean energy. “To help the transition to sustainable energy, that’s our goal,” club founder John Stringer told me during a recent chat. “We are a non-profit, and we’re stepping into the next phase of standing this club up. Our club is here to enable the Tesla community to grow, and to get to know other people.” John Stringer is also one of the beta testers for Tesla’s Full Self Driving (FSD) package, so he’s privy to a lot of inside information about one of the most highly-anticipated products in the automotive world. The beta-testing program is naturally pretty hush-hush, but John was able to tell me a number of interesting things without revealing any classified info. Tesla’s vehicles have gradually evolved more and more self-driving features. Elon Musk outlined a plan to produce an autonomous car in September 2013, just about a year after Model S first hit the streets. Tesla introduced the hardware that enables Autopilot in late 2014, as part of the D package, and began offering Autopilot as an option in October 2014. Since then, the company has introduced a raft of new features, including Traffic Aware Cruise Control, Highway Autosteer and Parallel Autopark, via over-the-air software updates. The latest iteration of Tesla’s autonomy package is the recently-released FSD version 8.1. Since the beginning, Tesla has maintained an army of customer beta testers, who continually generate data on how the various Autopilot features work. It uses this information to refine features and devise new ones. As with any corporate beta-testing program, the inner workings are top secret. However, some participants in FSD Beta, a category of Tesla’s Early Access program, are allowed to release selected videos demonstrating the latest FSD features. “The Early Access program was kind of like Fight Club,” says Stringer. “If you were part of it, you can’t talk about it. FSD Beta was the first time that you could be a part of Early Access and talk about it. There is a very select group of people who can share versus the people who actually have access.” Elon Musk revealed on Tesla’s recent earnings call that there are some 1,000 testers in the program—more than most people imagined—but only a fraction of these are authorized to discuss their experiences and to share videos. The hardware that enables Tesla’s autonomy features has gone through three major iterations. Tesla’s Hardware 3 package, which came out in April of 2019, is required for FSD, while the previous Hardware 2 package allows more limited autonomy features. Models S and X, even the oldest ones, can now be upgraded to Hardware 2 at a price of around $1,500 (although certain features, such as Sentry Mode, can’t be enabled on older vehicles that lack cameras). Owners of vehicles that came with the Hardware 2 package can upgrade to Hardware 3. As the media never tires of reminding us, the road to full autonomy has been a long one, and predicted dates have been pushed back again and again (not only by Tesla, but by just about everyone who ever made a prediction). I asked John why autonomy is taking so much longer than expected. He believes the main reason is simply that it turned out to be more complex than anyone realized in the early days. Above: A look at the mission behind Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley (YouTube: Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley) “All 8 cameras on my Model X are identifying what things are in real time, like curbs, medians, stoplights, other cars, pedestrians,” says John. “What’s the pedestrian going to do? Four or five years ago, Elon may not have [realized] that he needed Hardware 3 to get there, but ultimately, I think it’s just [that] the reality of bringing this to market was more complicated than originally expected.” This of course applies to everyone in the industry, not just Tesla. “Look at Waymo—they’re only [operating] in Mountain View and now, Arizona. We have beta testers in Michigan, Ohio, Florida, I think even New York. And that’s what’s so cool about Tesla compared to all the competition—it’s not geospecific, it can go anywhere in the US.” Full self-driving may not be arriving as quickly as many drivers (and investors) would like, but by all accounts, Tesla is making steady progress. John got FSD version 8.1 in October, and since then, there have been 11 updates. “It’s only gotten better, and it can pretty much do a little bit of everything. There are more and more rides I’ve taken without any disengagements, and I post a lot of these videos on my YouTube channel. I did a mountainous drive the other day, and FSD can handle situations where it’s a one-lane road, and a car’s coming. It’ll figure out what to do—it’ll pull over to the side to let them go around, or it’ll go around. Pedestrians and bikers, it tries to figure out what they’re going to do, and it plays very cautious. Like if I see you at a stop sign, and you come to the very tip of the curb, it will probably assume you want to walk, and it will give you the right of way.” “We had an instance where one of our buddies actually jumped in front of the car, and it stopped. It can do roundabouts. It can pretty much do everything in a suburban area. It can handle everything I need it to do. All the errands I do, I typically never have any problems.” It sounds like John is saying it’s getting very, very close. “Yeah! I would say so. But the one thing is, as Elon said, FSD has to be 10 times better than a human driver, and the one thing that could delay it is the edge case of that one percent. If there’s, let’s say, 500,000 FSD owners in the US, and you release it to them, that one percent could make a difference.” How perfect does it have to be before it’s ready for release? “Tesla’s going to make their own decision, and thankfully, I’m not the one that decides. What I do know is the way that they’re rolling it out, it won’t matter what area you’re in. One limitation: it’s not great in really bad visibility situations like crazy snowstorms, or horrible rain. When Tesla does release FSD, they need to be very specific on what it is, and what it’s not.” Could the system itself decide when it’s not safe to use, for example, deactivating FSD in the case of extreme weather conditions? “I think so, yeah.” The auto industry appears to be moving to a model akin to that which characterizes smartphones and other tech products—a product isn’t just a piece of hardware, but rather a hardware/software stack, and the companies providing the software components (or both hardware and software, like Apple) are having most of the fun (and profit). I asked John if he thinks that’s the way the industry is headed. “This is why I hope you own TSLA stock,” he replied. “The most exciting thing about what Tesla’s doing is the software, and that is why they are now worth more than Facebook. It’s because they are selling transportation as a service, they are selling software. So, yes, without a shadow of a doubt, that is the future, and companies that continue not to do that will die. It’s clear.” “Some automakers are still saying you have to come in to the dealership to do a software update. Things like that are so backwards. If you think of any hardware business, the margins are horrible. Software is where you make all the money, and that’s the model that Tesla is in. Some of the software you can get today: FSD; acceleration boosts; premium connectivity (for $10 a month). More software upgrades are the future. Imagine the Tesla App Store. Let’s say you want to put an app out for Tesla, and you charge everyone $2. Tesla’s getting a percentage of that. And this is why Tesla is worth more than all the other car companies combined. Tesla is the Apple of the car industry, but the difference is, this product is even more disruptive than the iPhone was.” “There’s no company that’s doing that today, other than Tesla. I met [auto manufacturing expert] Sandy Munro on Monday, and he told me two things that are going to kill the old auto companies: MBAs and lawyers. That’s what these other companies are stuck on—they’re not taking risks, because the MBAs and lawyers are telling them no, don’t do that. But if you’re not…for example it’s crazy that Tesla released a software update so you can summon the car from the parking lot to the front of a store. If they went about that by going to the regulators to get it approved, we probably wouldn’t have it today. They just released it. But if you’re Ford, you’re probably going to go through all those things.” Once Tesla does deem FSD ready for a widespread rollout, John thinks that self-driving robotaxis will follow within a year or two, perhaps with human monitors riding along at first for added safety. However, even with his intimate knowledge of the FSD program, he won’t hazard a guess as to when the system will be ready for prime time, much less how long it will take for self-driving cars to replace human drivers altogether. When that day comes, there’s no question that it will transform our society, and John sees a lot of positive changes in store. “More lives saved, better for the environment, less people on the road commuting, so less traffic congestion.” One thing about autonomy that many don’t consider: it reduces the stress of driving. John commutes about 70 miles per day. “Now, using Navigate on Autopilot, 95% of my commute is taken care of by the computer. I’m less stressed when I get home, I have more attention to my kids because of it, the monotony of the stop-and-go is completely gone. Two hours [of driving] a day is now actually somewhat enjoyable. That’s kind of life-changing.” === Written by: Charles Morris

As usual, Tesla’s latest earnings report was loaded with good news: the company reported its sixth straight quarter, and first full year, of profitability; it increased sales ($31.5 billion in 2020, compared to $24.6 billion in 2019); it shored up its cash position ($19.4 billion as of year-end, compared to $6.3 billion at the end of 2019); and it announced plausible plans for future steady increases in production (an estimated 50% annual increase).  Above: The Tesla Semi could soon be joining the Tesla fleet (Source: Tesla) As usual, Wall Street punished TSLA stock the next day, due to the fact that announced earnings of $0.80 per share were actually a “miss,” falling short of the figure expected by analysts—and probably also due to the fact that net income would have been negative if not for sales of regulatory credits ($401 million) to legacy automakers, a revenue source that isn’t expected to continue for much longer. (TSLA shares plunged again a couple of days later, perhaps in response to doubts about the new “koala” steering wheel), then soared again. Also as usual, Elon Musk’s conference call following the earnings report contained some interesting news items for those inclined to look beyond the headlines. Tesla’s stock-market valuation, which long ago floated free of the company’s share of the global auto market, remains a puzzle to old-school market observers. On the earnings call, the Wag of Wall Street helpfully spelled out something that’s been discussed at length in the EV press: TSLA’s future prospects aren’t tied to how many cars the company sells, but rather to the transformative potential of the cars’ self-driving capabilities. The world’s richest videogamer explained that once Tesla’s vehicles evolve into self-driving robotaxis, their level of usage will soar—from 12 hours per week to 60 hours per week in Musk’s example. This isn’t going to be a free amenity for owners—Tesla plans to take a piece of the action, generating ongoing revenue on each car after the sale. As a few brilliant visionaries have noted, this transportation-as-a-service model promises to be far more lucrative than the traditional hardware-sales model of the auto industry. Above: Brooks Weisblat of Dragtimes, Eli Burton, Kristen Netten (K10), and Anuarbek Imanbaev discuss Tesla’s 4Q earnings (YouTube: Tesla Geeks Show) Musk announced that Tesla’s Full Self Driving package will soon be available on a subscription basis, and predicted that even a mere doubling of usage could justify a trillion-dollar valuation for the company. “If you made $50 billion worth of cars, it would be like having $50 billion of incremental profit, basically because it’s just software,” said the Disruptor of Detroit. Of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard about this, and savvy stock-market seers suspect that such a software-subscription scenario is already baked into TSLA’s lofty stock price. It’s anybody’s guess how long it will be before you see a robotaxi on the road. The Full Self Driving package isn’t ready for prime time yet, but little beta birdies have been tweeting that it’s getting very, very close. Another tasty tidbit—Tesla’s biggest constraint on production at the moment appears to be the supply of batteries. Asked if Tesla had plans for an electric van—a promising niche for electrification—Musk said, “I think Tesla is definitely going to make an electric van at some point, so the thing to bear in mind is that there is fundamentally a constraint on battery cell output. If one is not involved in manufacturing, it’s really hard to appreciate just how hard this scale of production is. It’s the hardest thing in the world. Prototypes are easy. Scaling production is very hard.” Musk said the Tesla Semi program was also being held hostage to battery cell supply. “We could easily go into production with the Semi, but we would not have enough cells. We would have to supply cells ourselves for Semi when we are producing the 4680 in volume. But for example, Semi would use typically five times the number of cells that a car would use, but it would not sell for five times what a car would sell for. So, it would not make sense for us to do the Semi right now, but it will absolutely make sense for us to do it as soon as we can address the cell production constraint.” Tesla still plans to begin deliveries of the Tesla Semi this year, but probably at low volume, using 4680 battery cells made at the pilot cell plant in Fremont. The company says it’s on target to produce 10 GWh worth of cells at Fremont this year, and to add 100 GWh of production capacity at the new Berlin and Texas Gigafactories by the end of 2022. === This article originally appeared in Charged. Author: Charles Morris. Sources: Electrek, CNBC; Video: Tesla Geeks Show

Those of us who have little interest in video games may be tempted to dismiss the recent GameStop-gate saga (feel free to suggest a cuter name if you have one) as yet another bit of digital pop-culture flotsam floating by on the clickstream. However, the sequence of events, which had nothing to do with video games, is interesting (and concerning) on at least three levels. Above: The ‘Stonks’ meme floating around social media (YouTube: Grandayy) Stonk-market shenanigans On the surface, the sequence of events was simply another example of irrational stock-market behavior. GameStop, like Blockbuster before it, is a brick-and-mortar retailer selling a digital product, and thus its future seems bleak. Its stock price was in the cellar, and it had attracted large numbers of short sellers—investors who placed bets that the stock price would drop further. Members of a Reddit group called wallstreetbets started talking the stock up, and a wave of buying drove the price up from under $20 per share to around $470 in less than three weeks. This triggered what is called a short squeeze, forcing the short sellers to cover their bets and costing them billions of bucks. The prevailing (oversimplified) narrative is that a loose group of amateur traders, whom Wall Street insiders tend to refer to as “the dumb money,” took on the Masters of the Universe and won. Nobody has much sympathy for short sellers and their ilk—except for financial market regulators, who are already working on new rules to prevent any such rob-from-the-rich scenario from happening again—so the incident was widely seen as a heart-warming David vs Goliath story. However, as New York Times columnist Paul Krugman points out, things may not be quite that simple. In Wall Street parlance, what happened was a form of market manipulation known as a pump-and-dump operation. The novel thing about it was that the sharpie insiders, usually suspected as the perpetrators of such schemes, were the victims (known as bag holders) this time. Or were they? There’s evidence that many of the wallstreetbets posts that pumped GameStop (and several other heavily-shorted stocks) were generated by bots, not human beings, so the occurrence may not have been entirely a grass-roots movement. An analysis by JP Morgan suggested that institutional investors were behind much of the stock’s riveting rise. Above: A look at a GameStop retail store (Wikipedia: Mike Mozart) Furthermore, while many of the merry men and women of Reddit surely made killings, others lost shirts. We’ve already heard from some who either got into the game too late, or failed to dump once the pump was over and the stock price began its inevitable crash. “When the dust settles we’ll probably find out that small investors as a group lost money in the trading frenzy, while Wall Street gained,” wrote Krugman. He called the tale “a nasty story with no obvious good guys,” and lamented “the continuing gullibility these events exposed.” Despite naïve predictions that the incident will usher in some sort of a new, fairer era in the financial markets, The Little Guy’s victory over The Man, if that’s what it was, is likely to be a fleeting and symbolic one. “What just happened was not a populist uprising,” writes Krugman. “Our economy has left many families behind, but what working Americans need is an end to wage stagnation, not the opportunity to gamble on stocks.” A second helping of revenge Another aspect of the event that’s highly interesting to followers of Elon Musk and Tesla: as the GameStop flames began to grow, Musk poured rocket fuel on them by tweeting the single word “Gamestonk!!” to his 45 million Twitter followers. As CleanTechnica noted, “It’s no small irony that these small investors taking on the big and powerful are being cheered on by the richest man in the world.” Elon’s pleasure in the proceedings probably had little to do with his love of video games, and everything to do with his contempt for short sellers. Some argue that short selling, which has been a legal and accepted part of the financial markets for decades, serves a constructive purpose by providing an incentive for investors to investigate companies and root out financial foolery and other dirty little secrets (historical examples of this include Enron and, more recently, Nikola). However, it also creates an incentive to spread falsehoods in order to drive down a company’s share price. As regular readers of this column know, Tesla was on the receiving end of a tremendous amount of this manufactured FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) around 2018, as Model 3 was going through Production Hell. Anonymous writers were posting articles on so-called news sites—often several in one day—predicting Tesla’s imminent demise, and hedge fund analysts were appearing on CNBC and other financial media, making all kinds of wild allegations of malfeasance and mismanagement.  u can’t sell houses u don’t ownu can’t sell cars u don’t ownbut u *can* sell stock u don’t own!?this is bs – shorting is a scamlegal only for vestigial reasons — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 28, 2021 Twitter: Elon Musk Elon Musk has waged a long war with the short sellers, and his disdain for them is deeply personal—at times he has gotten emotional about their relentless persecution, and at others he has ridiculed them, and profited from their misfortunes by selling flame-throwers and short shorts. The shorts have proven to be extremely tenacious—even now that Tesla has joined the S&P 500, and Musk has become the world’s richest person, there are still millions of dollars riding on the company’s failure. In some cases, they are extremely nutty—at one point, the community of Tesla-haters seemed to be evolving into a sort of cult, and the crusade even threatened to spill over into real-world violence. Despite pockets of resistance, the war is over, and Musk and Tesla have been avenged sevenfold. By some estimates, the foolhardy financiers who bet against Tesla lost a collective total of around $38 billion. However, as Minda Zetlin writes in a recent post on Inc.com, “Musk’s tweets during the GameStop craze make it clear that he’s not done hating short sellers.” As aficionados of The Godfather know, revenge is a dish that tastes best when cold. However, there may be more to Elon’s Gamestonking gambit than just a desire for a second helping of antipasti. It turns out that one of the companies that was betting against GameStop had earlier been one of the thorns in Tesla’s corporate side. According to CleanTechnica, Melvin Capital, which was “one of the biggest cheerleaders for Tesla’s demise,” was losing an estimated billion dollars for every $7 increase in GameStop stock during the feeding frenzy. Who’s in charge around here? The Gamestonk parable has highlighted an ongoing shift in human society that goes far beyond the financial markets. The rise of the hyperconnected society has caused many of our venerable institutions to erode. Authority figures, gatekeepers, grown-ups—whatever you want to call them—are losing their control not only to shadowy power brokers such as billionaires and monopolistic corporations, but also to more populist players such as “influencers,” loosely-organized online communities and in some cases, what can only be called mobs. Above: Chamath Palihapitiya, CEO of Social Capital, gives his point of view on the Gamestop saga (YouTube: CNBC Television) Some of these characters (car dealers, old white male politicians) inspire little public sympathy as their grips on power slip away. Others (newspapers, universities, scientists) certainly seem like institutions we need to keep, and it’s not hard to see the baleful effects of their withering away. Where do investment banks, hedge funds and market regulatory agencies fit into this panoply of heroes and villains? Elon Musk has been called a real-life super-hero, but to some (for example, in the oil and auto industries) he may seem more like a super-villain. The best description for him may be a term coined by Thomas Friedman: a “super-empowered individual.” Those who breathlessly gasp that Mr. Musk can spur 45 million people to do his bidding with a single-word tweet are vastly overstating the case. However, there’s no question that he and other masters of social media wield an unprecedented amount of power, and a new kind of power—decentralized, unpredictable and unaccountable. Is that a good thing? I still believe, despite the irresponsibility of some of his tweets, that Musk is motivated mainly by altruistic aims—to accelerate the world’s transition to clean energy and mankind’s exploration of space. However, there are other super-empowered individuals that are plainly motivated by profit, personal power and other even more sinister impulses. In the financial markets, industry, the media and many other fields, people are asking, Who’s in control? Increasingly, the answer is, Nobody. === Sources: Inc., CleanTechnica, New York Times

It’s the biggest Sunday of the year for the NFL. Two football teams are definitely at odds with one another today. However, it turns out the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers have one thing in common — their players love Tesla. Whether it’s the torque or the tech, it’s quickly become the go-to car for the best in the NFL. Source: EVANNEX When Tom Brady arrived last year in Tampa, he was spotted in a Tesla. Meanwhile, last year, players from the Kansas City Chiefs expressed their love of Tesla too on CNBC. Jody Fortson, a wide receiver for the Chiefs, owns a Tesla and says, “It’s like an airplane on wheels. When I’m on the highway, I feels like it’s taking off … It’s fast … like 0 to 60 miles per hour in literally two seconds.” “I know a lot of guys on the team have a Tesla,” said Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker. “The technology they have in there is pretty amazing,” he added. And the Chiefs backup quarterback, Chad Henne, owns a Tesla Model X and says he loves how user friendly it is. Last year, Bloomberg writer Tom Randall actually posted the CNBC clip on Twitter and remarked, “Tesla has achieved Super Bowl marketing nirvana: players from both teams [are] talking up their cars with no one getting paid to do it.” He’s right — while legacy automakers spend billions on advertising, Tesla spends no money on traditional advertising. And this isn’t the first time CNBC found NFL players that love Tesla. A few years ago, Brett Celek from the Philadelphia Eagles sat down with Jim Cramer and expressed his affinity for Tesla saying, “I love it, I love Elon… I like the Model 3 they came out with [but] personally I want to get their pickup truck… they’re a great company.”  Denver Broncos’ wide receiver Jordan Norwood, pre-retirement, once called his Tesla “out of this world” in an interview. Other NFL players who’ve shown love for Tesla include BeastMode (aka Marshawn Lynch from the Seattle Seahwks), New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, and Green Bay Packers line backer Clay Matthews. And the NFL isn’t the only sports league with pro athletes who have a thing for Tesla. In the NBA, Tesla owners have included two-time MVP Steve Nash, All-Star Blake Griffin, Utah Jazz shooting guard Gordan Daniel Hayward, LaMarcus Aldridge of the Portland Trail Blazers, and superstar Steph Curry. And it’s not just football and basketball stars either, BMX legend Mat Hoffman and skateboarding icon Tony Hawk drive a Tesla too. 

Over-the-air (OTA) software updates are fast-becoming an important part of the car ownership experience. For years, Tesla has been implementing OTA software updates ranging from small bug fixes to bigger improvements enhancing vehicle performance and range. Can the Mustang Mach-E replicate Tesla’s approach? Above: Ford pits the Mustang Mach-E against Tesla (Source: Ford / Tesla) Clearly, no other automaker has used OTA software updates to the extent that Tesla has — but soon we’ll see this much-appreciated feature emerge from other automakers. One real-world example is the all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E which has OTA software updates definitively planned during the automaker’s upcoming rollout. To that end, the Mach-E has (indeed) finally been released, albeit in a rather small quantities at this stage. Ford’s entry into the electric car market should demonstrate (or disprove) how a Detroit automaker can tangle with Tesla. Sure, Ford has remained a behemoth in the auto world for over a century now, but they now need to compete with Tesla on their own turf.  The current shift in the automotive space is far bigger than replacing an internal combustion engine and gasoline with an electric motor and battery pack. We’re seeing massive changes in how we buy cars, where we “refuel” them, and a higher premium placed on the tech and software offered in today’s new cars. Of course, there’s a growing need to demonstrate a user-friendly UI and a better software experience. This will impact car buying decisions in the years to come as screens move to dominate the dashboards of the future. Tesla has set the standard for vehicle software at this point. The Silicon Valley automaker is continually providing new software updates that fix not only bugs, but adds nifty new features. You might not think that playing video games, watching Netflix, and singing karaoke inside your car is essential but it certainly gives Tesla some personality. Above: A look back at some of the unusual goodies delivered in a typical Tesla software update (YouTube: Tesla) Tesla’s OTA software updates have also resulted in tangible increases to the overall performance of its cars. One prime example was pushed out to owners of the Performance Model S which allowed the car to lower itself via its suspension and assume a “cheetah” stance. The lower stance plus increased power allowed the Tesla to shave off 0.1 seconds from its 0-60 time. In addition, Tesla has released OTA software updates, multiple times, that have improved the range of their cars. Regardless of how you feel about snazzy entertainment features delivered via Tesla’s software updates, it’s hard to argue against performance and range improvements. I say all of this is to hammer home the point that OTA software updates will be a very important tool for automakers in the future. They shouldn’t only be used for bug fixes. Every time there’s a software update, it’s like Christmas morning for a Tesla owner. As such, it builds continued brand loyalty. Furthermore, it acts as free advertising — spreading some novelty (and news) throughout Tesla’s community of passionate owners. Meanwhile, no other automaker has (yet) used OTA software updates like Tesla has — but the new Mustang Mach-E might try its hand at providing more interesting updates than what you might expect from Detroit. Ford CEO Jim Farley answered my question regarding Ford’s strategy with OTAs via Twitter, showing support for something more substantial than just bug fixes. Yes and Yes. First one coming soon. — Jim Farley (@jimfarley98) January 24, 2021 Twitter: EVBite What exactly Ford might deem to be “new features” remains to be seen but it is reassuring to know that the Detroit automaker is looking to better utilize the software experience in the Mach-E. After all, this electric Mustang SUV represents Ford’s next wave of automobiles — and it all starts with the company’s mission-critical, all-new electric car. Props to the pony for galloping into the future. === An earlier version of this article appeared on EVBite. EVBite is an electric vehicle specific news site dedicated to keeping consumers up-to-date on any developments in the ever-expanding EV landscape.

Tesla’s first vehicle, the Roadster, was produced from 2008 to 2011. The company sold around 2,500 of them, at prices ranging from $109,000 to $170,000. The revolutionary Roadster was intended from the beginning as a sort of transitional vehicle, so it’s no surprise that once Model S, a more practical model with much wider appeal, starting grabbing the headlines, interest in the Roadster waned. After production ended, resale values gradually slumped. According to Phoenix-based Gruber Motors, as of last fall, you could buy a used Roadster for around $40,000. Above: The Tesla Roadster at Gruber Motors (Source: Gruber Motors) Gruber calls itself “the first commercial independent Tesla service organization providing engineering and aftermarket support.” The company services all Tesla models, and after years of repairing and upgrading Roadsters, the Gruber team probably know as much about these vehicles as anyone outside of Tesla itself. Gruber’s YouTube channel offers a wealth of information on Tesla servicing, aftermarket improvements and one-of-a-kind custom Tesla vehicles. Above: A look at Gruber Motors (YouTube: Gruber Motors) Lately the Gruber team has observed an upward trend in the prices of used Roadsters, as the historic vehicle is becoming a collector’s item. Over the last few months, a couple have sold at auction for $120,000, and a Signature model (one of the first hundred cars made, which were sold to an elite group of celebrities and influencers that Tesla dubbed the Signature One Hundred Club) recently went for $182,000. Gruber offers “Roadster matchmaking services,” helping sellers and buyers to connect free of charge, and some highly collectible vehicles pass through the company’s database. It recently listed what is probably the highest-priced Roadster yet to go on sale. This unique Roadster was the very last one to roll off the US assembly line (VIN 1459), and it was personally signed by Elon Musk. The owner sent it to Gruber to resolve a battery pack issue, and the company also performed a Power Electronics Module rebuild and upgrade, replacing all wear components in the drivetrain assembly. Above: The last production Roadster made before the production line shut down, Elon Musk commemorated the occasion with a sharpie (Source: Gruber Motors) Once Gruber had this historic vehicle on the lift, “we realized of the 100+ Roadsters we have serviced, this is the absolute cleanest one we have ever seen, inside, outside, and in all the normally hidden areas like the battery cavity.  The car has never seen rain, is stored in a temperature-controlled environment, and as a result, looks exactly like the day it came off the assembly line.” The pristine condition of this 10-year-old car (which has a mere 2,800 miles on the odometer) is amazing. Typical trouble spots such as the wheel wells, mud flaps and front and rear underbody clips, which typically show scratches and road grime, are like new. Once the photos of this cherry got around, the owner started getting offers, and decided to put it up for sale. It can be yours for a mere $1.5 million. === Written by: Charles Morris; Source: Gruber Motors