Tesla

[Dionysus]

Chinese EV competitors are coming along but buyers still prefer Tesla. China should be a huge market for Tesla, especially with the Model Y going into production there.

Why Elon Musk has little to fear from China’s growing list of Tesla rivals

Analysts say the market is yet to see a real Chinese-made electric car model that can stem the early dominance Tesla, whose Model 3 outsells its nearest competitor by three to one.

“Competition is getting heated, but Tesla enjoys an overwhelming advantage,” said Chen Jinzhu, chief executive of Shanghai Mingliang Auto Service, which sells car insurance and deals in second-hand vehicles. “The grim reality is that Chinese drivers would choose Tesla now as the cars are priced attractively.”

Speaking of China, they have installed the Model Y stamping machine in the Shanghai factory that will take the rear underbody production from seventy parts to one. This will reduce capex on assembly robotics and also lower production time. The “Gigapress” is the world’s largest aluminum die-casting machine.

 

[Sangre Naranjada]

Speaking of China, they have installed the Model Y stamping machine in the Shanghai factory that will take the rear underbody production from seventy parts to one. This will reduce capex on assembly robotics and also lower production time. The “Gigapress” is the world’s largest aluminum die-casting machine.

So if you have a little rear-end fender bender, you have to replace one massively expensive module rather than some less expensive sub-components.

 

[nashhorn]

Ha, bring back the bondo repair.

 

[Joe Fan]

Tesla reports fifth-straight quarterly profit on record revenue

https://nypost.com/2020/10/21/tesla-reports-fifth-straight-quarterly-profit-on-record-revenue/

 

[Run Pincher]

Tesla is also one of the companies exploiting child labor in Africa. I wonder what Gavin Newsome thinks about this:

Mean and Unclean: Electric Cars Powered by Child Labor in Africa

 

[nashhorn]

Oh crap, another stock I’ll have to drop.

 

[WillUSAF]

Oh crap, another stock I’ll have to drop.

I'm keeping mine

 

[Dionysus]

Tesla reports fifth-straight quarterly profit on record revenue

https://nypost.com/2020/10/21/tesla-reports-fifth-straight-quarterly-profit-on-record-revenue/

Given Q3’s impressive performance, they are on track to hit the 500,000 vehicle production goal for 2020. If they fall short I don’t think it will be by much. The Berlin and Austin Gigafactory construction is coming along quickly so 2021 production should be ~750k, maybe better. Shanghai is currently shipping some vehicles to EU until Berlin ramps production next year.

A limited release of the FSD software (Full Self Driving) was rolled out this week to a small number of owners for testing. It’s not perfect but this latest rewrite of the system is a major step forward.

 

[Dionysus]

Like every other automaker, GM knows where the industry is going.

Cars are becoming computers on wheels.

“As we evolve and grow our software expertise and services, it’s important that we continue to recruit and add diverse talent,” GM President Mark Reuss said in a release. “This will clearly show that we’re committed to further developing the software we need to lead in EVs, enhance the customer experience and become a software expertise-driven workforce.”

 

[Horn6721]

Tesla Crash Rains Flaming Batteries into Nearby Homes (breitbart.com)
The Tesla was badly damaged after hitting a power pole, shearing it off at the base, as well as knocking over two trees and a telephone junction box. Police added that hundreds of small flaming batteries that power the Tesla were spread all across the area due to the crash.

Batteries entered two different homes in the area by breaking through windows with one landing on a person’s lap and another landing on a bed setting fire to it. A tire that flew from the vehicle also struck a second-story siding of a nearby apartment complex, the force ruptured the water pipes within the wall which destroyed a bathroom and flooded the downstairs portion of the building.


The Tesla has hundreds of batteries?? Are they all AAA?

 

[Dionysus]

The Tesla has hundreds of batteries?? Are they all AAA?

Current batteries (the 2170 model) are not much bigger than that. I think there are about 4,000 of them in Model 3 and Model Y vehicles, bound up in a pack under the car.

In September Tesla announced their new longer-range battery tech, the 4680 model. These are larger so there will be around 960 of them to fill the same space. New manufacturing with the 4680s will make the battery pack part of the vehicle structure, much more rigid than the 2170 packs, and with about 16% improved range.

 

[Horn6721]

thanks
I had no idea there were so many batteries

 

[Dionysus]

GM offering Cadillac dealers $500K to get out. As GM ramps up efforts to convert Cadillac to an all-electric brand by 2030, it is offering dealers who don’t want to invest the $200K-$300K for new charging equipment and other technology to unplug.

Automakers who don’t bring a competitive EV to market over the next decade are in big trouble.

Article is here but you need a login to view it:

EV-wary dealers offered upward of $500,000 to drop Cadillac

 

[Dionysus]

GM CEO Mary Barra: “We are transitioning to an all-electric portfolio.”

Good move. It won’t be easy.

 

[Joe Fan]

Elon gonna move to Texas

 

[Dionysus]

Elon gonna move to Texas

It makes sense for several reasons.

Gigafactory Austin
SpaceX Boca Chica site
Boring Co. has an office here

In July, Governor Abbott told CNBC's Squawk Box that Musk had told him he got his driver's license in Texas and is a “bona fide Texan now.” Perhaps the plans for the move were already discussed then.

Tesla, SpaceX, & The Boring Company Are in Texas & It's Possible Elon Musk Could Move There Too

 

[Dionysus]

VW's Alexander Hitzinger says complexity of new cars will drive consolidation

[Summary of the article if you don’t want to read it: traditional auto OEM’s are screwed if they think they can just consolidate and throw money at the transition to electrification.]

The auto industry faces a new wave of consolidation as cars become electric, connected and add highly automated driving functions, Alexander Hitzinger, head of Volkswagen's Project Artemis said on Wednesday.

“There will be consolidation. Not everybody will be able to afford these complex platforms. We will see emerging a smaller number of very large players who will drive this transformation,” Hitzinger told the FT's Future of the Car summit.

The need to connect autonomous driving sensors to electric motors, batteries and high-definition maps is forcing carmakers to design vehicle underpinnings and car software operating systems in-house, rather than stitching together legacy code and systems provided by myriad suppliers.

Project Artemis is VW's attempt to do just that.

“Cars are so complex that the traditional concept where you outsource to tier one manufacturers does not work any more,” Hitzinger explained in a webcast.

The investment sums and the complexity of the technology favours larger players since falling sales, caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, is making it harder for smaller companies to stem the investments needed to develop cutting edge cars, he said.

 

[mb227]

It makes sense for several reasons.

Gigafactory Austin
SpaceX Boca Chica site
Boring Co. has an office here

In July, Governor Abbott told CNBC's Squawk Box that Musk had told him he got his driver's license in Texas and is a “bona fide Texan now.” Perhaps the plans for the move were already discussed then.

Tesla, SpaceX, & The Boring Company Are in Texas & It's Possible Elon Musk Could Move There Too

Can confirm the TxDL...Brownsville address.

Address appears to be a throwdown though given the proximity to Boca Chica and the SpaceX property combined with the house resembling one that was described in the recent documentary about the South Texas program...

 

[Dionysus]

Musk says he has relocated to Texas

Elon Musk has moved to Texas to focus on two big priorities for his companies: SpaceX’s new Starship spacecraft and Tesla Inc.’s new Gigafactory, currently under construction in Austin, the CEO for both companies said Tuesday.

“I have moved to Texas,” Musk said, speaking in a live interview with The Wall Street Journal.

Musk, 49, has lived in the Los Angeles area, where SpaceX is headquartered, for two decades. Tesla is headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., and its main factory is across San Francisco Bay in Fremont, Calif.
Tesla is expanding its global operations with a new factory in Shanghai that opened last year and another being built in Berlin. Musk, who has always been highly-mobile, often travels between his company’s facilities on his private Gulfstream jet.

"It wasn't necessarily a great use of my time here (in California)".

Texas might potentially offer some tax reprieve for the world's second richest man. It does not collect personal income tax while California has some of the highest state tax rates in the U.S.

On Tesla's move to raise $5 billion in capital, Musk said: "We thought we can retire a lot of the debt and increase the security of the company ... have more of a war chest."

 

[Sangre Naranjada]

I wonder if Elon needs a manservant?

 

[Joe Fan]

 

[huisache]

Another million Californians move to the Austin area. How exciting!!

I am ok with all the Mexicans but we need walls on our western, northern and eastern borders

 

[mb227]

Another million Californians move to the Austin area. How exciting!!

I am ok with all the Mexicans but we need walls on our western, northern and eastern borders

1) his TxDL puts him in the Valley. Image of the house suggests it likely was bought to tunnel to the SpaceX complex...

2) They won't have a million moving

 

[Dionysus]

1) his TxDL puts him in the Valley. Image of the house suggests it likely was bought to tunnel to the SpaceX complex...

Near the Boca Chica launch site I guess?

 

[mb227]

So near that he would basically just have to hop a fence to be in the tracking station...

Put it this way...if you saw the documentary about Boca Chica and SpaceX, you saw the house that is associated with the address in TxDPS records.

That being said...I don't really believe that he is living at the house associated with the address on the license, but there IS an address very close to Boca Chica Dr. that will be on any speeding ticket he receives...

 

[Dionysus]

if you saw the documentary about Boca Chica and SpaceX

I need to see this.

 

[mb227]

I need to see this.

I believe it was on Vice. One of the better programs they did, even if it was a little dry at times. Basically outlines how the retirees in Boca Chica have been screwed over by SpaceX coming into the area...but there was one or two that also talk about their homes being bought by SpaceX employees or for use by employees. Musk is never named as a purchaser, but the home that shows on maps.google is clearly shown in the video...

 

[SabreHorn]

retirees in Boca Chica

Serious question - is this some kind of joke? Have any of these people been to Boca Chica? Yes. it's across the ship channel from SPI, but it's also about four evolution cycles.

 

[mb227]

Serious question - is this some kind of joke? Have any of these people been to Boca Chica? Yes. it's across the ship channel from SPI, but it's also about four evolution cycles.

The production seemed to suggest these were mostly the beach-comber types that never had much money BUT the house was paid for and they had minimal expense. They also seemed to be the holdouts that didn't lose the house by eminent domain but also didn't want to up and move in their 60's and 70's knowing that costs would be higher elsewhere...

 

[SabreHorn]

I never realized there were any permanent residences down there. It was just the beach the "poor people" went to.