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Tesla may be about to lose a key group of investors that have stuck with the struggling stock

Elon Musk, co-founder and chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., speaks during an unveiling event for the Tesla Model Y crossover electric vehicle in Hawthorne, California, U.S., on Friday, March 15, 2019.Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesTesla's recent move to raise cash may quiet down its skeptics. Yet Elon Musk has given them new ammo as he shifts his focus to autonomous vehicles — which pushes out the automaker's path to profitability even further.
Musk last week tapped Wall Street to raise $2.7 billion in stock and bond offerings, which sparked a relief rally in its stock that had been struggling amid disappointing production and the company's legal woes.
But on an investor call hosted by the deal's underwriters, Musk changed his tune, talking up Tesla's self-driving strategy right off the bat, confidently saying autonomous driving will transform Tesla into a company with a $500 billion market cap.
VIDEO2:5002:50Trading Nation: Tesla picks up speedTrading Nation “Case for a trillion-dollar market cap used to center around high-volume, high-profit auto sales … now it's all in on autonomy,” Barclays autos analyst Brian Johnson said in a note Tuesday. “Tesla [is] apparently pivoting from auto profits to autonomy profits.”
The pivot to autonomy now means growth investors will have to wait around even longer for any payoff, Johnson notes. The so-called rational bulls, typically large institutional investors with a growth mandate, believed that “Tesla will be a multi-product automaker in the next five to seven years with its light vehicle lineup,” Johnson said.
Now that's changed.
Shares of Tesla surged more than 4% the day the company announced its the stock and bond offering, and they jumped another 4% a day later when Tesla decided to upsize the deal to $2.7 billion from $2.3 billion as the offering eased the concerns about the company's liquidity and financing. Tesla's stock is still down more than 24% this year.
Musk first touted the idea of robotaxis on the company's investor day on April 22, saying Tesla would be able to offer robotaxis next year and it will be making cars with no steering wheels or pedals in two years.
Barclays rates Tesla at underweight and has a 12-month price target of $192, which would represent a 25% loss based on Monday's close of $255.
“We believe the appeal of Tesla shares to growth investors may fade,” Johnson said. “Some of the rational bulls may need to reassess the idea that Tesla will become a profitable auto market.”
— With reporting by Michael Bloom
WATCH: David Einhorn calls out Tesla Founder Elon Musk
VIDEO1:2501:25Hedge fund manager David Einhorn calls out Tesla's Musk at Sohn conferenceThe Bottom Line

VW’s new electric car passes 10,000 orders in just 24 hours

Juergen Stackmann, member of the Board of Management, Volkswagen Passenger and Cars brand presents the pre-order scheme of the Volkswagen ID 3 electric car during a press conference in Berlin on May 8, 2019.ODD ANDERSEN | AFP | Getty ImagesVolkswagen has claimed that pre-orders for its ID.3 electric hatchback surpassed 10,000 cars in just 24 hours.
The auto giant revealed Wednesday that the entry-level car will cost less than 30,000 euros ($33,600), with deliveries in Europe slated for the middle of 2020.
VW's Golf-sized ID.3 will officially launch this September at the Frankfurt Motor Show. The car is named ID.3 because Volkswagen views the model as the third major evolution in the firm's history, after the Golf and Beetle.
The German automaker started to accept pre-orders for the ID.3 Wednesday, asking for a deposit of 1,000 euros.
VIDEO3:0403:04VW launches electric dune buggy concept at Geneva Motor ShowSquawk Box EuropeCustomers who pre-book can officially order their cars after the Frankfurt show. Orders become binding in April 2020, with those who change their mind able to get a full refund until then.
Volkswagen sales boss Jürgen Stackmann said on Twitter Thursday that more than 10,000 registrations were received throughout Europe within 24 hours of the launch.
That number falls well short of the launch of the Tesla Model 3 in April 2016. According to the company's chief executive Elon Musk, in just two days the Model 3 generated 276,000 pre-orders secured by deposits of $1000.
On Wednesday, VW's Stackmann told reporters that the electric car will allow for more internal space than a traditional internal combustion engine (ICE).
“From the outside, the ID.3 will be as large as a Golf. In the interior, it will be as spacious as a medium-sized car.”
VW plans to sell three versions of the ID.3 (45kWh, 58kWh, 77kWh) with varying ranges (200 miles, 261 miles and 342 miles).
The German firm said a full warranty on the ID.3's battery will cover eight years, just under 100,000 miles or the normal depreciation of the battery to 70% of its original maximum capacity.
WATCH: Concerns about EV infrastructure 'overplayed'
VIDEO2:3702:37Analyst: Concerns about EV infrastructure are 'overplayed'Squawk Box Asia

Tesla faces twin assault as Mercedes, VW start taking orders for first long-range EVs

Elon MuskMike Blake | ReutersIt's been a tough month for Tesla, and the challenges the Silicon Valley electric-car maker faces will only accelerate now that two major European automakers are launching sales of their first entries into the long-range EV market.
Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz began taking orders Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, for new battery-electric vehicles, with the two companies each planning to follow up with a wave of additional entries over the next few years. Whether they will prove to be “Tesla killers,” as some observers have dubbed them, is far from certain but the two German manufacturers are each investing billions of euros in their electrification programs.
VIDEO1:3501:35Tesla has new competitor from AudiThe Bottom Line “With the Mercedes-Benz EQC, we are entering a new era of mobility,” said Britta Seeger, member of the board of management of Daimler responsible for Mercedes-Benz cars sales. “It is part of the growing family of all-electric vehicles at Mercedes-Benz and combines brand-defining features such as quality, safety and comfort.”
But one of the keys to success Seeger added, is likely to be longer “range absolutely suitable for everyday use.”
The Mercedes Benz EQC.Adam Jeffery | CNBCThe first wave of electric vehicles, such as the Nissan Leaf and Ford Focus Electric, could deliver only around 100 miles per charge. Tesla proved an immediate breakout with its Model S sedan yielding more than double that – and its latest version of that sedan is EPA-rated at 370 miles between charges.
The compact Mercedes EQC, essentially an electrified version of its GLC crossover, will get around 270 miles in European trim and even more in the version slated for the U.S. market.
Volkswagen's first long-range entry, the ID.3, lifts a page from Tesla's playbook by offering customers three different battery pack options. The smallest, at 45 kilowatt-hours, is expected to manage around 200 miles, based on European testing, with optional 58 and 77 kWh battery packs rated at around 260 and 340 miles, respectively.
The new VW hatchback hasn't even had its official world premiere — expected to take place at the Frankfurt Motor Show next autumn — and it will be about a year before the first customers can take delivery. But the automaker on Thursday opened up a special website for advance orders. Pricing for the ID.3, which initially will target the European market, will start at 30,000 euros ($34,000). Customers in Europe preordered 10,000 ID.3s in the first 24 hours on the market there, overwhelming the company's website and leading to long wait times online, VW said.
A Volkswagen ID 3 electric car is seen in a glass cage during a press conference in Berlin on May 8, 2019.ODD ANDERSEN | AFP | Getty ImagesThe crossover, which will anchor a new sub-brand dubbed Volkswagen ID, will be just the first in a broad array of about 50 long-range electric vehicles the Wolfsburg, Germany-based carmaker plans to bring to the market by mid-decade through its various brands. It has already launched sales of the new Audi e-tron crossover and is preparing to deliver the first Porsche Taycan battery sports cars.
For the U.S., VW will begin its electrified assault next year with a production version of the ID Crozz concept. In January, during a visit to the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Volkswagen Chief Executive Officer Herbert Diess said his company will spend $800 million to expand its factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to handle that crossover and another all-electric model, a move that also will create about 1,000 new jobs.
“The supertanker is picking up speed,” Volkswagen executives said during a March presentation in Frankfurt. “We are aligning Volkswagen with e-mobility like no other company in our industry.”
Adam Jeffery | CNBCAdam Jeffery | CNBCVolkswagen's diesel emissions scandal has already cost it around $30 billion and seen a number of executives jailed or indicted, including former CEO Martin Winterkorn. The company's shifting its focus from the “oil-burners” that long dominated its lineup to focus on electrification.
It has announced plans to spend 9 billion euros, about $10 billion at current exchange rates, on battery cars by 2023. And during his Frankfurt speech, Diess upped his estimate of VW's global EV salesprojections from 15 million vehicles to 22 million over the next decade.
These numbers dwarf those of Daimler, but the parent of the Mercedes-Benz and Smart brands is making a similarly aggressive push relative to its size.
“We are going to launch 10 pure battery-electric vehicles until the end of 2022, and we are covering the whole portfolio — from Smart [cars] to big SUVs and big sedans,” board member Wilko Stark announced during a news conference at the Paris Motor Show in September.
The Mercedes Benz EQC.Adam Jeffery | CNBCThe new Mercedes EQC will go on sale in Europe first and then follow with an American market launch sometime next year, officials said during last month's New York International Auto Show. The event saw the debut of the EQC Edition 1886, a special launch version referencing the year when the founders of what is now Daimler patented the world's first vehicle to use an internal combustion engine.
The EQC Edition 1886 is promised to deliver 292 miles per charge and, with an output of 402 horsepower and 564 pound-feet of torque, it will launch from 0 to 60 in less than five seconds. Those numbers suggest it will pose a direct challenge to both Tesla's older Model X and upcoming Model Y.
While Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen are just putting their battery-car programs into motion, BMW is preparing its own ramp-up. It currently offers an all-electric city car, the i3, through a special sub-brand, though that model doesn't match the range of what can be thought of as second-generation BEVs.
A new BMW i3 electric car is seen on the assembly line at the BMW factory in Leipzig, Germany.Getty ImagesFuture long-range products will more directly target Tesla, as well as Mercedes and VW. The Bavarian automaker recently confirmed plans to migrate to new vehicle platforms that will allow it to offer all-electric versions of virtually every model in its lineup.
Jaguar Land Rover was actually the first European automaker to enter the long-range space, its Jaguar I-Pace last month being named World Car of the Year by an international panel of motoring journalists.
But the wave of new products will soon turn into a tsunami. According to InsideEVs, a website devoted to electrification, 14 new battery cars will land in the U.S. market in 2020, with even more coming to Europe and China — the latter market encouraging the buildup with tough new energy vehicle regulations enacted in late 2017.
Ian Callum and the Jaguar I-Pace accept the award for the 2019 World Car Award at the New York Auto Show in New York on April 17th, 2019.Adam Jeffery | CNBCThe big question is whether consumers will accept the new offerings. A study released by AAA on Thursday found that only about 16% of U.S. motorists surveyed are definitely considering battery power for their next vehicle.
Last year, all forms of battery-based vehicles, including conventional hybrids, plug-ins and battery-electric vehicles, accounted for barely 5% of the American market. But BEV sales, in particular, roughly doubled.
That said, virtually all the growth could be accounted for by Tesla's new Model 3 sedan. Demand for competing long-range offerings like the Chevrolet Bolt EV and Jaguar I-Pace did grow, but at a much slower pace.
Manufacturers such as Mercedes and Volkswagen will have to hope more buyers start to plug in. The good news for them is that AAA found 40 million U.S. motorists would at least consider a BEV in the future, with millennials particularly open. And the long-standing axiom in the auto industry is that the more product available, the bigger the appeal.
Paul Eisenstein is a freelancer for CNBC. His travel and lodging to the New York auto show was paid for by an automaker.

Uber prices IPO at $45 per share, toward the low end of range

VIDEO3:3403:34Needs to be path to profitability to go publicPower LunchUber priced its IPO at $45 per share Thursday, toward the low end of its stated range.
At the IPO price of $45 per share, the company will be valued on a non-diluted basis at about $75.46 billion, which will put the stock's market cap right around the size of Caterpillar's and make it one of the most valuable companies ever to go public. On a fully diluted basis, Uber has an implied market valuation of $82.4 billion.
Early reports suggested Uber was seeking a valuation of up to $120 billion. Its expected rangewas between$44 and $50 per share, according to a filing last month.
The company is offering 180 million shares of common stock, which means it could raise around $8.1 billion on Friday, with an option for underwriters to buy an additional 27 million shares.
A ride-hailing pioneer and Silicon Valley darling, Uber made on-demand transportation a new norm throughout the world, while accumulating massive losses and controversy along the way.
In 2018, Uber's revenue reached $11.3 billion for the year, up 43% from 2017, while reporting adjusted losses of $1.8 billion, an improvement over losses of $2.6 billion in 2017, according to its IPO filing. The company has never turned a profit.
To cover these losses and fund its rapid expansion, the company raised more than $24 billion from a wide range of investors since its founding a decade ago, according to Crunchbase. Investors have included traditional VC firms like Benchmark, and companies with interests in transportation like Alphabet and Toyota. Its biggest shareholder is Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank, which invested more than $8 billion through its Vision Fund and owns 16.3% of the company pre-IPO.
“Uber is a great reminder to venture capitalists that the biggest opportunities lie in our most common needs as humans,” said Shawn Carolan, an early Uber investor and partner at Menlo Ventures. “When a start-up presents, look beyond the current product, which often feels trivial, to the underlying need being served. An on-demand black car service was easy to dismiss, but nearly everyone needs transportation.”
At Uber, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi replaced co-founder Travis Kalanick in 2017 after myriad missteps for the company. Kalanick's ouster was preceded by revelations about unchecked sexism within Uber's ranks, and a high-stakes lawsuit over trade secrets from Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving car business.
While Khosrowshahi is working to restore Uber's reputation, the company faced driver strikes in major cities this week leading up to the IPO.
Personal mobility remains Uber's core business. Its ride-hailing services reach into 63 countries and more than 700 cities. But its ambitions and revenue streams have diversified into bike and scooter rentals, food delivery and freight. Uber is also developing air taxis and driverless car technology, among other things.
Uber is engaged in an intense pricing battle with its chief competitor in the U.S., Lyft, as the companies try to attract and retain riders with low fares, while paying drivers just enough to keep them on the platform. Lyft went public in late March. Its stock has fallen more than 25% since its IPO.
The companyplans to list on Friday with the ticker UBER.
CNBC's Leslie Picker contributed to this article.
Clarification: Uber priced its IPO at $45 per share on Thursday, toward the low end of its stated range. The relation of the price to the stated range was unclear in an earlier version of this article.

Ford CEO reassures investors of EV plans as it pours money into electric F-150, Mustang-inspired car

An electrical charging port sits on the bodywork of a Kuga Vignale hybrid automobile displayed during a Ford Motor Co. launch event in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on Tuesday, April 2, 2019.Jasper Juinen | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesWith the automaker's first long-range electric vehicle set to be unveiled later this year, Ford officials said Thursday they're on the right path as they “reconceptualize” the company's vehicle lineup as well as its future.
Ford is in the midst of one of the most dramatic transformations the company has faced since founder Henry Ford threw the switch to start the auto industry's first assembly line rolling more than 100 years ago. The automaker is largely abandoning passenger cars in favor of SUVs and crossover vehicles, pursuing the development of self-driving vehicles and exploring the transition from a classic automaker into a provider of mobility services.
The automaker laid out plans last year to spend $11 billion on the technology by 2022 — up from its original target of $4.5 billion by 2020 — to develop 40 new all-electric and hybrid models. The company has already announced two EVs it plans to introduce next year: a fully-electric F-150 pickup and a “Mustang-inspired” electric crossover vehicle.
VIDEO1:2901:29Ford is investing $500 million in electric truck maker RivianThe Bottom Line “When there's new technologies, it takes a while, and there's a tipping point,” CEO Jim Hackett told investors during the automaker's annual shareholder meeting Thursday. “When it happens, you want to be there.”
Investors need some reassurance. While the company's shares are up by more than 33% so far this year, they're still down by almost 8% over the last 12 months. Sales of its first-generation EVs, like the Ford Focus Electric, have been modest at best. Hackett assured investors that more buyers will plug in. Company data shows one in five younger buyers would consider buying an electric vehicle at some point.
That's not far out of line with a study released by AAA on Thursday that found that 16% of American motorists it surveyed are giving serious consideration to an electric car for their next vehicle. The AAA report also said 40 million Americans would consider a battery-electric vehicle, or BEV — especially as prices drop, range improves and it becomes easier and quicker to recharge batteries.
Ford is clearly not alone.
Two of Europe's most powerful automakers, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler AG, launched sales of their first battery-electric vehicles this week. VW said it took about 10,000 advance orders for the new ID.3 crossover during the first day, even though the vehicle won't actually reach showrooms until next year. VW AG CEO Herbert Diess last year said his company is committing about $10 billion through 2023 to electrification. He also upped the number of battery-electric vehicles VW expects to sell by 2029 from 15 million to 22 million.
Japan-based Toyota plans to bring more than 10 EVs to market in the next six years, aiming to sell about 5.5 million battery-electric vehicles by 2030. The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance – which launched the world's first BEV, the Nissan Leaf, in 2010, is making a similar push.
Ford was an early proponent of electrification, rushing to market with a mix of conventional hybrids, plug-in hybrids and first-generation battery-electric vehicles, like the Focus Electric. But a variety of factors, including limited range and high sticker prices, limited demand. The automaker briefly hesitated before stepping up its efforts. But since Hackett replaced former CEO Mark Fields in a boardroom coup two years ago this month, he has ordered major new commitments to Ford's electrification, autonomous driving and mobility services efforts — including a “Mustang-inspired” crossover vehicle that's generated all sorts of buzz.
VIDEO3:3103:31Here's why Ford is the only auto stock Cramer endorsesMad Money with Jim CramerThe scant details and cult-following of the Ford's iconic muscle car has helped fuel speculation of what the electric version will look like. “Spy photographers” stake out the routes and locations where Ford is known to test its products, hoping to catch a glimpse of even a heavily camouflaged version of the vehicle.
“There's a lot of intrigue around this product,” said Hackett, adding that, “we're going to be telling our community more about it, but it is going to be a great story about Ford.”
Hackett shed little new light on the car Thursday.
“What we've done is reconceptualized [vehicle design] with all of the extra space that you actually retrieve using battery-electrics into a very, very unique vehicle that takes advantage of some inspiration from our Mustang brand,” Hackett said.
Whether Ford's bet on electrification will pay off is far from certain, as its earlier sales serve to remind observers. Nonetheless, there is a growing belief among those in and around the auto industry that battery power is the way of the future.
Ford plans to bring out a mix of hybrids, plug-ins and BEVs, betting that the unique characteristics of each will resonate with different groups of consumers.
In the Snowbelt, for example, where there are fewer public chargers and cold weather reduces range, analysts like IHS Markit and the Boston Consulting Group see stronger demand for the plug-ins that can switch to gas power when their batteries are depleted.
Rivian EV SUV.Adam Jeffery | CNBCMany experts believe that BEVs will be the long-term solution, a strategy underpinning new competitors like Tesla and suburban Detroit-based Rivian. EV ownership is expected to spike by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency, with an expected 125 million Americans owning an all-electric vehicle by that year.
Rivian revealed a pair of all-electric models, the R1T pickup and R1S sport-utility vehicle, at the Los Angeles International Auto Show last November and hopes to launch production within the next year. Rivian has raised more than $1.2 billion in capital recently, first lining up $700 million from a consortium led by Amazon. Ford kicked in the other $500 million. Rivian agreed to a new battery-powered electric vehicle for Ford as part of the deal.
The tie-up with Rivian will help Ford produce at least one, and likely several, new BEVs, according to industry analysts. But it won't slow the battery-car development program Ford already had underway for vehicles like the all-electric SUV that has gone by the codename “Mach One.”
If handled properly, experts contend, electric vehicles offer a number of advantages, including reduced – albeit displaced – emissions, lower energy costs, reduced vehicle noise and even more roomy interiors. That's because there's no engine under the hood anymore, Ford and most other manufacturers migrating to a skateboard-like platform where batteries and motors are mounted under the load floor.

Vacuum-maker Dyson releases patents for new electric vehicle line set to debut in 2021

James DysonLarry Busacca | WireImage | Getty ImagesDyson, a British manufacturer best known for vacuums, fans, air purifiers and hand dryers, could add electric vehicles to its product portfolio, the company confirmed this week, releasing images of new patents it has received.
“We've been researching motors, batteries, aerodynamics, vision systems and robotics for 22 years. Now the time is right to bring all our knowledge and experience together into one big project – an electric car,” founder and CEO Sir James Dyson said in a statement on the company's website.
The UK firm has been dropping hints of its interest in electric vehicles since mid-decade, last November revealing plans to set up an assembly line in Singapore, with Dyson indicating the project will cost around $2.7 billion to bring to market.
The patent images, among other things, show what looks like a three-row crossover-utility vehicle that follows the latest industry approach to electric vehicle design, with its battery pack and motors mounted below the floorboards. But while the patents “provide a glimpse” of what the company is working on, the Dyson founder wrote that they “don't reveal what our vehicle will really look like or give any specifics around what it will do.”
Launched in 1991, Dyson Ltd. today offers a broad array of products, mostly consumer household goods like the vacuums and fans that are widely advertised. But Dyson has done little to hide his interest in getting into the auto industry.
In 2015, he underscored his commitment with the purchase of Michigan-based Sakti3, a start-up that was developing a new type of battery known as solid state. Proponents contend the technology could offer significant advantages over the more familiar lithium-ion technology in widespread use today by boosting range and reducing charge times, particular pluses for electric vehicles, but also useful for the cordless appliances Dyson has been shifting towards.
Questions about the vehicle program cropped up last year when Dyson wrote off £46 million, or about $60 million, of its £58 million investment in the University of Michigan spin-off due to problems with the technology. But it subsequently announced new details that made it clear the automotive venture was moving forward. That included word that it would build an assembly plant in Singapore, which the company now says will be complete next year.
“Singapore has a comparatively high cost base, but also great technology expertise and focus,” CEO Jim Rowan told employees in a letter last November. “It is therefore the right place to make high quality technology loaded machines, and the right place to make our electric vehicle.”
The founder's latest e-mail revealed that the project is centered at the old RAF base at Hullavington Airport, 2.5 hours west of London and employees about 500 workers, though with testing set to accelerate next month, that job count is expected to grow.
“Our bespoke automotive development site at Hullavington, UK is a £200m investment in the Dyson electric car. It's 517 acres house restored hangars, with some of the most advanced Research, Design and Development (RDD) labs in the world,” the company says on its website.
Dyson said the patent filings reveal an “androgynous vehicle,” rather than a specific product under development. But he did offer a few hints at what is coming.
“Signiﬁcantly, many of our competitors base their electric vehicles on existing formats and adapt them for electric propulsion systems,” Dyson wrote in an email to employees. “Such an approach is cost eﬀective, however, it tends to miss opportunities for mass-reduction and aerodynamic improvements which would improve the energy eﬃciency of the vehicle. Another approach has been to focus on smaller vehicles, as this generally keeps the mass of the vehicle low which can extend driving range. However, the size and ride comfort of such vehicles tends to limit their attractiveness and utility.”
Referencing the patent renderings, Dyson did note that the basic shape, a bit lower than today's typical SUV and CUV, would reduce aerodynamic drag while “the long wheel base could be employed, increasing the driving range and enabling a larger cabin capacity.”
Based on comments James Dyson has made over the last year and reports in various news outlets, the expectation is that three vehicles are in various stages of development, company officials indicating production should launch by 2021. They have offered no details on pricing nor where they plan to launch the product line, though Dyson is expected to set up its own dealer network.
The outspoken company founder has, meanwhile, taken a publicly proactive position in support of a proposal now being studied by Britain's government that would eliminate the sale of all new gas and diesel vehicles. The original concept set a target date of 2040 but British regulators have begun considering the option of pushing that up to 2035. Dyson, for his part, would like the ban to go into effect in 2030.
Similar measures are under study in a number of countries, including China, India, Germany and France. In Norway, where electric vehicles currently account for more than half of the new car market, a ban has already been approved.
Such a move would improve the odds that start-ups like Dyson could carve out a market niche, though traditional automakers like Daimler AG, General Motors and Volkswagen, are intent on reclaiming market dominance. That said, the arrival of upstart Tesla has shown the potential for new entrants, of which plenty more are looking to launch, such as Rivian and Faraday Future. There is also Apple, the technology giant working on its own vehicle program, though it has sent a number of conflicting signals about what it is developing in recent years.

Shares of Mercedes-maker Daimler fall as rumors fly of a Chinese stake build-up

An employee at a Mercedes-Benz car dealership.Dmitry Rogulin | TASS | Getty ImagesShares of Daimler dipped Monday following a report that a Chinese partner firm is building a stake in the German automaker.
Reuters reported Friday, citing three sources familiar with the matter, that China's Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. (BAIC) has been buying up shares in the Mercedes-Benz carmaker on the open market, with a view to consolidating a stake of around 4% to 5%. CNBC couldn't independently verify the report.
Shares of Daimler are up 20% so far in 2019, but retreated around 3% Monday amid a wider sell-off for European benchmarks.
One source, cited by Reuters, suggested that the buying this year had been underpinned by BAIC's ambition and that Monday's selling may denote that the buyer is nearly finished acquiring stock.
Building a 5% stake in Daimler at its current stock value would cost a buyer around $3.4 billion.
BAIC builds Mercedes cars in China through their joint venture, Beijing Benz Automotive. Daimler has reportedly been looking to secure a controlling interest in the alliance.
Li Shufu, the chairman of rival Chinese carmaker Zhejiang Geely, is Daimler's biggest individual stakeholder, holding nearly a 10% slice of the German firm.
After being contacted by CNBC, Daimler said it had no comment to make.

VW’s $2 billion penalty for diesel scam, Electrify America, builds electric chargers across US

Source: Electrify America
Electrify America charging station

Almost a year to the day after opening its first charging station, Electrify America says it is rolling out the country's fastest-growing network of fast chargers.

Funded by $2 billion from Volkswagen's 2016 diesel emissions settlement, it has a goal of building hundreds of stations and putting nearly 2,000 chargers in place by the end of this year.

Many of those will let battery-electric vehicle, or BEV, owners charge up nearly as quickly as they could fill a gas tank. Charging speed — along with the lack of a national network of charging stations — has been cited as a key obstacle to the widespread public adoption of electric cars.

“Longer range and faster charging times are critical to the widespread adoption of electric vehicles,” said Brendan Jones, the chief operating officer at Electrify America, during a conversation at the company's headquarters in Reston, Virginia. It's the equivalent of the classic chicken-and-egg problem.

EVs go mainstream

Extended-range vehicles, offering anywhere from 200 to nearly 400 miles per charge, are starting to roll out in large numbers from mainstream brands such as Daimler, Ford, General Motors and Volkswagen, as well as start-ups such as Tesla and Rivian.

Setting up a nationwide infrastructure is the next big challenge, according to many analysts. An August study by McKinsey & Co. projected it will cost as much as $50 billion to ensure public charging stations are as easily accessible as gas stations in three key markets — the U.S., Europe and China. The U.S. alone is expected to require an investment of as much as $11 billion, McKinsey estimated.

Several key players have entered the field and are starting to ramp up efforts to fill the broad gaps that exist across the country. These include Tesla, which has already put into operation 1,441 Supercharger stations across North America, the vast majority of them along U.S. roadways. Those facilities are only available to Tesla owners, but companies such as EVgo and ChargePoint are targeting the rest of the market. So is Electrify America.

Emissions settlement

Electrify America must spend that $2 billion by the end of 2026. The company, based in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., was created as part of Volkswagen's diesel emissions settlement with U.S. and California regulators.

The company is spending that money on a mix of consumer education and infrastructure, the latter drawing the vast majority of the funding. Though Electrify America is housed in the same faceless office complex as Volkswagen's U.S. headquarters, the settlement calls for it to operate as an independent entity. That was underscored by a network television ad the organization ran last year that featured a number of different electric vehicles, including those from Nissan, BMW and General Motors, but none from VW.

Electrify America's charging stations are being outfitted to allow any plug-based vehicle to connect, though Tesla owners will need an optional, proprietary adapter.

The first of its charging stations opened for business about a year ago. Since then, more than 160 have come online, with dozens more in various stages of completion. Each station features an average of four to five chargers, with a maximum of 10 at what are expected to become high-volume locations.

Building out

The goal is to have about 2,800 Level 2 and more than 2,000 Level 3 chargers in operation around the U.S. by the end of this year, said Electrify America CEO Giovanni Palazzo. To put that into perspective, the U.S. Department of Energy said a total of 54,638 public Level 2 and 3 chargers were in operation across the country at the end of 2018.

Electrify America's initial focus is on regions with high levels of EV ownership such as California and parts of the East Coast, he said. But it eventually plans to have charging stations that are no more than 70 miles apart along all major roadways in most states. Urban areas where EV ownership is expected to peak will have more of them.

The Level 2 systems, much like those that electric-car owners can install at home or find at many shopping centers and offices, provide 240-volt current at a rate that normally requires anywhere from four to 10 hours for a long-range vehicle to fully recharge. In many instances, Electrify America is targeting locations where owners who live in multifamily dwellings may not have on-site access to a charger.

The real transformation, industry observers believe, is the emergence of a Level 3 network. Around mid-decade, only a handful were open to the public in the entire country, but they are believed to now number in the 100s of stations and expanding rapidly, according to Palazzo and other experts.

Level 3

The first of these punched out 50 kilowatts of direct current, something that allowed for much more rapid charging — a Chevrolet Bolt EV, for example, can replenish about 80% of its charge in an hour or so.

Moving forward, Electrify America's new Level 3 systems will almost all provide a minimum of 150 kilowatts at 400 volts and many will push even further, taking that up to 250 kW and 800 volts. That's far more than most of the current crop of electric cars can handle. The new Porsche Taycan will be the first to be able to make full use of the technology, which can add about 20 miles of range per minute.

Source: Porsche
2019 Porsche Taycan

“That will let it recharge in about 10 minutes,” said Jones, “about the same amount of time as it takes to fill up a gas tank.”

To make things easier and speed up the charging process, Electrify America this week is rolling out a new smartphone app that can be used to locate its charging stations and see how long it will take for someone already hooked up to finish charging.

At the company's technical center, a short drive from its Reston headquarters, chief engineer Seth Cutler demonstrated to reporters last week what he hopes will further improve the customer experience and shave another minute or two off the charging process.

Tricky pricing

Normally, a user has to plug their vehicle in and go through a set-up process similar to paying for a tank of gas. But this time, as Cutler plugs a car into a charger prototype, everything is handled automatically. New software allows the charger to query the vehicle's on-board controller to find out how much power it can handle and how to bill it.

Pricing is still a bit of a challenge for EV owners. At home, based on typical U.S. energy rates of around 11 cents a kW, a vehicle like the Chevy Bolt, with a 65 kilowatt-hour pack, will cost less than $10 to “fill up.” And many owners are eligible for time-of-day rates that drop substantially when charging overnight.

That's why industry data show that about 80% of EV owners currently charge either at home or at an office during the day, noted Electrify America's Jones.

But the forecast is that more and more buyers won't have ready access to those Level 2 systems, while others will tap out their batteries while traveling longer distances, requiring them to plug into a commercially operated charging station.

Pricing can vary from company to company and even from one state to another. Charging companies typically offer discounted subscription services, but they also penalize nonsubscribers with “hook-up” fees of as much as $5.

More than gas

More often than not, motorists are billed on a per-minute basis, and that can add up if a vehicle is slow to charge, as I found out plugging in a Hyundai Kona EV to an EVgo charger in Ferndale, Michigan, earlier this year. After about 50 minutes, the battery crossover had gained only 80 extra miles of range on the 50 kW Level 3 system. The bill? Around $16, or 20 cents a mile. At the time, Michigan gas cost around $2.30 a gallon. A gasoline-fueled Kona, with mileage of 23 city and 28 highway, would have averaged less than 10 cents a mile.

While faster Level 3 chargers operated by Electrify America and other companies levy a higher fee when pumping out more current, the premium is modest, so it still works out to a lower final price. And that's before factoring in the convenience of not having to wait around for an hour or so.

Electrify America is now dropping its prices by 20%, which should make running an electric car while having to use public charging stations more cost-competitive with a gasoline vehicle, said Jones.

Yet another step some charging companies are taking will let their systems talk to one another and, in the process, accept competitors' subscribers without charging exorbitant hook-up fees.

Such steps will be critical to gaining acceptance for battery-electric vehicles, said Palazzo and Pasquale Romano, the CEO of ChargePoint.

In the red

Elon Musk is wrong on robotaxi timing, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi says

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi: I disagree on Musk's robo-taxi timing expectations
1 Hour Ago | 01:09

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told CNBC he agrees with Tesla CEO Elon Musk that the future of mobility is electric, but he disagrees with Musk that truly autonomous “robotaxis” will next year.

In an interview that aired on Uber's IPO day on Friday, “Squawk Box” co-host Andrew Ross Sorkin asked him what the future of mobility looks like.

“First of all, it's got to be electric,” the CEO said. “We think that's a no-brainer. It's good for the environment. It's where the world is going. And we're playing our part, for example, in London to move it electric.” He added that Uber, of course, thinks the future of mobility also has to be “shared.”

The ride-hailing giant will make its debut on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, pricing its IPO on Thursday night at $45 per share.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently told investors he is ready to take Tesla into a new, driverless era. The company should have a million vehicles capable of functioning as driverless robotaxis on the road by the end of 2020, he said. He also told investors that self-driving technology and services will help his electric car company grow to a $500 billion market cap.

When the Uber CEO first heard Musk's predictions about this, Khosrowshahi said, “I thought: If he can do it, more power to him. Our approach is a more conservative approach as far as sensor technology and mapping technology. The software's going to get there. So I don't think that his vision is by any means wrong. I just think we disagree on timing.”

Spencer Platt | Getty Images
The inside of a Tesla vehicle is viewed as it sits parked in a Tesla showroom and service center in Red Hook, Brooklyn on July 5, 2016.

Musk has also promised investors and fans that Tesla's self-driving cars will be able to work 100 hours a week, generating tens of thousands of dollars in income for their owners. He has also said that Tesla should be able to win regulators over to approve Tesla robotaxis for commercial use in the near future, at least in some locales.

Tesla and Uber have seen their semi-autonomous vehicles involved in fatal crashes in recent years.

Khosrowshahi struck a more sober tone about a driverless future.

“I think it will be quite a few years beyond,” he said.

While media coverage and industry conversations have focused on the dramatic notion that robots will steal jobs from people, the Uber CEO said he believes automation will always work better to augment humans' work. The better things are robots and humans together. Hybrid is always better, and hybrid states can continue for a much longer period than you think.”

In addition to its sizable ride-hailing business, Uber offers bike and scooter rentals, food delivery and operates a freight marketplace that links senders to shippers. Uber is developing self-driving vehicle technology through its Advanced Technologies Group.

Post-IPO Uber has a market capitalization over $80 billion. Tesla's market cap currently stands around $43 billion.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi: We want long-term investors
2 Hours Ago | 02:46

As Uber goes public, profitability will be the next challenge

Uber is hitting the public markets on Friday and it's valuation could top $90 billion. The world's biggest ride-hailing business is debuting six weeks after smaller rival Lyft.
But Uber is far from making money. It reported an operating loss of $3 billion in 2018 after losing more than $4 billion the previous year. Still, not all investors are scared away from Uber's red ink. Some analysts predict it will eventually turn a profit.
Watch the video to learn how Uber spends money and what it will take for the business to become profitable.