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Consumer Reports Calls Tesla Smart Summon “A Science Experiment”

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Published on October 12th, 2019 |

by Steve Hanley

Consumer Reports Calls Tesla Smart Summon “A Science Experiment”

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October 12th, 2019 by Steve Hanley

It is fair to say the rollout of Tesla’s Smart Summon feature has not been an unqualified success. Reports have filtered in over the days since the feature was installed via an over the air update of Teslas lurching through parking lots like zombies, getting lost, and struggling to achieve their mission, which is to unpark themselves and drive slowly to wherever the smartphone is that controls them. A few fender benders have been reported as well, but without any clear evidence they were caused by Smart Summon.

Smart Summon is supposed to be a step forward on the road to fully self-driving cars, but if that is so, it seems to some onlookers there is still a long way to go. As the Chinese proverb suggests, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step.”

Consumer Reports, which always seems to have a love/hate affair with Tesla automobiles, has tested Smart Summon at its facility in Connecticut. It’s fair to say the new technology was weighed in the balance and found wanting.

Jake Fisher, CR’s senior director of auto testing, says consumers are not getting technology that has been fully tested and ready to meet their expectations. He suggests Tesla owners are little more than unpaid beta testers who are volunteering to help Tesla fine tune the Smart Summon technology — even though they are paying $6,000 up front for the autonomous Full Self Driving package. (Not many Tesla owners with Full Self Driving are complaining, while thousands or tens of thousands seem to be thrilled about the opportunity.)

“What consumers are really getting is the chance to participate in a kind of science experiment,” Fisher says. “This is a work in progress.” Ouch!

Consumer Reports says it attempted to contact Tesla several times but never got a response from the company.

“CR’s experience with the system shows that Smart Summon can exit a parking space, turn and start moving toward the vehicle owner, and negotiate around stationary objects. It also can detect and stop for pedestrians and slow down if it senses cross traffic.

“But we found that the system works only intermittently, depending on the car’s reading of the surroundings. The system is designed to work only in private parking lots, but sometimes it seemed confused about where it was. In one case, the system worked in one section of a private lot, but in another part of the lot it mistakenly detected that it was on a public road and shut itself down. At various times, our Model 3 would suddenly stop for no obvious reason.

“When it did work, the Model 3 appeared to move cautiously, which could be a positive from a safety perspective. But it also meant the vehicle took a long time to reach its driver. The Model 3 also didn’t always stay on its side of the lane in the parking lots.”

The vehicles sometimes drove in the middle of two traffic lanes or wandered left and right like a drunk or distracted driver. One car drove the wrong way in a one-way traffic lane, requiring the tester to run to the car and move it manually so traffic could begin flowing again.

“Under the right circumstances, our Model 3, with Smart Summon activated, would slowly and successfully make its way to the person summoning it with a smartphone — and in those cases, the car was indeed controlling itself, steering, braking, and making decisions about its route. But the person operating the app still has the responsibility to monitor the car and keep it out of trouble,” says Consumer Reports.

The system requires the operator to continuously hold down a button on the smartphone, a fail-safe procedure recommended by CR. If the button is released, the car will bring itself to a full stop to await further instructions.

Tesla Warnings Are Confusing
The testing service says Tesla’s warnings about using the feature in a controlled setting are confusing. The company says to use Smart Summon only in “private” parking lots, but many consumers consider shopping centers parking lots to be public areas, which raises the question of where exactly it can be used.

“Tesla once again is promising ‘full self-driving’ but delivering far less, and now we’re seeing collisions,” says Ethan Douglas, a senior policy analyst at Consumer Reports in Washington, D.C. “Tesla should stop beta testing its cars on the general public by pushing out experimental features before they’re ready.”

NHTSA told Consumer Reports in a comment that it is aware of the safety concerns related to Smart Summon. It says it has ongoing contact with the company and will continue to gather information. Consumers are encouraged to report any concerns to NHTSA online.

Beta Testing
CleanTechnica is often accused of being a Tesla fanboy site. It is true that we publish a lot of stories about Tesla, most of them favorable. But Tesla has a habit of putting new software in the hands of customers and gathering feedback from their experiences to improve it. That process began when the company began installing the “Hardware 1” self-driving suite of sensors 3 years ago, or even earlier when Autopilot came out 5 years ago.

It continued before the Model 3 was released to the general public when the company delivered early production cars to employees with the understanding that they would uncover any defects and report them when they came to work the next day. What better way to address customer complaints than at the factory where the cars were built?

The argument is that the early release testers are volunteers. The flaw in that argument is that the cars involved in the beta testing are driving on public streets (or parking lots) in the presence of other drivers who are not volunteers and who have no idea beta testing is taking place around them.

It’s like taking a group photograph with the consent of the person in the middle without getting consent from the others. It raises a number of privacy and legal issues that Tesla seems (to some of us) to ignore, claiming its interest in providing cutting-edge technology supersedes such mundane concerns. Regulators may not see things quite the same way.

About the Author

Steve Hanley Steve writes about the interface between technology and sustainability from his home in Rhode Island and anywhere else the Singularity may lead him. His motto is, “Life is not measured by how many breaths we take but by the number of moments that take our breath away!” You can follow him on Google + and on Twitter.

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Smooth

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Published on October 11th, 2019 |

by Zachary Shahan

Smooth

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October 11th, 2019 by Zachary Shahan

Since I got the Tesla Model 3 a month and a half ago, I’ve been trying to figure out a one- or two-sentence summary of the car. It’s been tough. I’m plagued by a few issues. For one, I’m used to communicating with people who know a ton about Tesla (you), whereas people in the “real world” are often not such people. It’s hard to know where to start. Secondly, I had a Model S for a while and I think my brain tries too hard to come up with something new and different for the Model 3 since it’s a different car. I think my typical response about how I liked the Model S was, “It’s awesome!” This second matter actually just came to mind as I started writing this, so maybe that will remove the mental block and I’ll start responding in that way again for the Model 3. It is hard to find a better word than “awesome” to describe the car.

A third issue is that I often just want to say it’s the best car you can imagine, the best car ever. However, “best” is not really a descriptor, it’s a ranking. Additionally, it’s a little ridiculous to make that claim and then not explain why it’s the best, but to explain why it’s the best would entail covering a bunch of different topics. Generally speaking, in these situations, I don’t think the other person really wants to hear a long monologue about a product they know nothing about. Being a totally crazed fanboy talking a million miles an hour is not a good look.

So, with “it’s the best,” I either make a wild claim that is so exuberant that it probably makes people nervous, or I start rambling and ranting for 5 minutes in a way that turns off the listener even more. Not the best options.

Internally, one way I’ve thought about the car is that it’s the most complete car out there. It just feels right because it’s so complete, is put together so thoughtfully and perfectly, is such an overall good package. That said, “complete” is another vague, useless term for someone who doesn’t really know from personal experience what I’m talking about. Yes, I think other Model 3 owners know what I’m trying to say when I say it’s the “most complete car” out there. Strangers on the street? Not so much.

Somehow, in recent days, one word finally popped into my head for how to describe the car — smooth. It drives so extremely smoothly. The user interface on the touchscreen is so brilliantly smooth. Autopilot is now a smoother driver than me. The exterior and interior design of the car is the definition of smooth. The car is a beautiful wonder. The app: smooth. The navigation: smooth. The air conditioning vents: smooth. It’s all smooth. The whole car is smooth.

That said, I’m sure some of you have already thought of this — if someone asks me how I like the car and I say, “Great! It’s so smooth,” they’re going to look at me like I’m a crazy person and probably walk swiftly in the opposite direction. Again, it’s a nice word for describing the car to people who have it or know it well, but it’s a horrid explanation for someone with little to no experience with a Tesla.

My conclusion is two-fold. First, I think it’d be appropriate to say, “It’s awesome! It’s so smooth, such a complete car — like nothing else out there.” Afterward, I can then ask them, “What do you care most about? What’s important for you in a car?” Depending on what they say, it’s very easily to highlight the car’s many benefits. You can talk about its record safety score, its wicked acceleration, its traction control and superb handling, its unmatched infotainment, its home charging and Supercharging capabilities, or other goodies. Inviting the listener to set the frame for the discussion is a good way to make sure your answer interests them, and you know the Model 3 is going to soundly defeat anything else in its price class.

Perhaps awesome is going to be the best way to talk about the car to a newbie asking me about it. However, for talking to myself in my head (it happens), the words that really capture the car best are now smooth and complete. These words represent the car in a useful way. They communicate the car and “life with the car” better than all of the other efforts to put the Model 3 into simple descriptive words.

Have another descriptor you love? Want to chime in about this whole smooth thing. We’ll see what happens as more features roll out.

If you’d like to buy a Tesla Model 3 and want 1,000 miles of free Supercharging, feel free to use my referral code: https://ts.la/zachary63404 — or use someone else’s if you have a friend or family member with a Tesla. I won’t cry.

About the Author

Zachary Shahan Zach is tryin' to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director and chief editor. He's also the CEO of Important Media. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao.

Zach has long-term investments in Tesla [TSLA] — after years of covering solar and EVs, he simply has a lot of faith in this company and feels like it is a good cleantech company to invest in. But he offers no investment advice and does not recommend investing in Tesla or any other company.

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Tesla Gigafactory China: Mud, “Basically An Open Field,” Not Gonna Happen — Skeptical Claims Revisited

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Published on October 3rd, 2019 |

by Zachary Shahan

Tesla Gigafactory China: Mud, “Basically An Open Field,” Not Gonna Happen — Skeptical Claims Revisited

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October 3rd, 2019 by Zachary Shahan

We reported yesterday that Tesla was ending Model 3 Standard Range shipments from the US to China because it was starting to produce the base Model 3 trim in its new (and still under construction) Shanghai gigafactory, “Gigafactory 3.” It may surprise even Tesla optimists that the company was able to go from no construction at all to Model 3 production in such a rapid time, but it surely surprises Tesla skeptics the most. In fact, in light of the milestone, I thought I’d remind people of a handful of claims about Gigafactory 3 from just earlier in the year, a couple of quarters ago. Most of these were published within one month of Elon Musk joining a little ceremony for the Gigafactory 3 groundbreaking on January 7th, but note that skepticism about the factory has been common throughout the year.

In a January 7th article titled “Elon Musk Sees a Future in China for Tesla, and It’s Muddy,” the Bloomberg writer doesn’t say the plan is impossible or unrealistic, but he comes close, while writing about Elon Musk in an unflattering fashion throughout the article. If, at the end of the article, you got the impression that one should be skeptical of Tesla’s Gigafactory 3 plans and the future of Tesla, you would digested exactly the narrative he was pushing.

On January 14th, Forbes published an article titled “Not So Fast: Can Elon Musk Really Open Tesla’s China Gigafactory This Year?” The article, exuding an air of authoritative skepticism, started off like this: “Elon Musk rarely shies away from setting bold targets for Tesla, despite a mixed record for achieving them when promised. So it was in character when he announced the electric-car company’s first Chinese Gigafactory could be operational in about 11 months.

“‘We’re looking forward to hopefully having some initial production of the Model 3 towards the end of this year and achieving volume production next year,’ Musk said at the Shanghai groundbreaking January 7.

“He may be disappointed.

“There’s no precedent for building a large, modern auto-assembly plant and starting its production in under a year, manufacturing experts say. In fact, even Tesla’s official goal of ramping up to 3,000 Model 3 electric sedans per week at some point in 2020 won’t be easy.

“‘Unless he’s mastered some approach that I’m not aware of to do everything in a more effective and efficient way, that lead time to build is going to be really challenging,’ said Laurie Harbour, CEO of manufacturing consultant Harbour Results Inc. in Southfield, Michigan. ‘It definitely seems completely optimistic.'”

Optimistic? Or realistic?

After claiming that Tesla was not known for meetings its production goals (note that Tesla is on track to nail Elon Musk’s 2014 forecast for 2020 production and delivery goals), Business Insider writer and frequent Tesla critic Linette Lopez expressed great skepticism about Elon Musk’s plan to have Tesla producing the Model 3 at its Shanghai gigafactory by the end of 2019. “So far, the China plant is, um, basically an open field with some digging going on,” she said. “It’s harder and harder to believe that there will be Model 3s coming out of the Tesla China gigafactory by the end of the year.”

A February 8th article on GuruFocus by the president of Almington Capital — Merchant Bankers, short Tesla [TSLA] at the time, was titled “Tesla’s Shanghai Plans Don’t Add Up.” The article contained paragraphs like these: “Tesla has been talking about China for a number of years, but not much material came of all that talk. Then, in October, the company announced it had leased a plot of land in Shanghai’s Lingang area. The swampy land had found little interest among potential domestic anchor developers, which goes some way to explaining the slightly below-market $140 million price Tesla agreed to pay. …

“When Musk broke ground at Gigafactory 3, the plot was still nothing but a field with a temporary wall erected around it (and a worryingly muddy field at that). Tesla had claimed to be ramping up construction efforts even before the official groundbreaking, but there was little sign of construction activity, despite the convenient presence of heavy construction machinery at the event.

“Since then, updates have been somewhat scant. Some intrepid observers, however, have provided independent status reports via aerial drones. The most recent video footage of the site was recorded and released on Feb. 5. It shows little in the way of progress. There appears to be some poured concrete, yet there is virtually no visible work activity or sign of life around the place. That is certainly inconsistent with Tesla’s own extremely aggressive timetable.”

To be fair, there’s still mud on the site. But I think you get the point.

Is Elon Musk a magic maker? Or are people just too skeptical? Or have they simply been pushing an agenda, for one biased reason or another, that we can now see was completely disconnected from Tesla’s future in the physical world?

If you’d like to buy a Tesla — whether you believe it exists or is simply elaborate vaporware — and also get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging, feel free to use my referral code: https://ts.la/zachary63404.

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China Tesla Demand Is Spiking

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Published on October 3rd, 2019 |

by Guest Contributor

China Tesla Demand Is Spiking

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October 3rd, 2019 by Guest Contributor

Originally posted on X Auto and EVANNEX.
By Iqtidar Ali

Tesla Model 3 and Model X demand are skyrocketing in China, especially since the Chinese government gave a 10% car purchase tax exemption to Tesla last month — a sign of aggressive electric vehicle policy implementation by China.

A large number of Tesla Model 3, Model S, and Model X vehicles outside the Beijing Department of Motor Vehicles (Source: Jay In Shanghai)

There are several reports coming out of Beijing and Shanghai about massive amounts of deliveries happening via Chinese Tesla stores. As evidenced in the featured image above, Teslas have flooded Beijing’s Department of Motor Vehicles in order to obtain license plates. In addition, below is a short video from outside the Beijing DMV that shows a long line of Model 3s at the facility.

Meanwhile, Chao Zhou is consistently updating the Tesla community about Gigafactory 3 developments by reporting directly from the ground. Chao recently visited the Tesla Shanghai Jinqiao Store and the number of Model 3 sales he saw at the location was nothing short of astonishing.

According to Chao’s meeting with Tesla staff at the Jinqiao Store, a surge in Model 3 orders occurred post-tax exemption. Crunching the numbers, the Jinqiao Tesla Store alone is expected to accumulate 3,000 orders by the end of this month.

It’s quite conceivable that Tesla China will deliver these cars by the end of October, which should bolster Tesla’s Q4 delivery report.

In addition, large numbers of Model X vehicles also await delivery — proof of the popularity of Tesla’s SUV in China. It turns out even Elon Musk used a Model X convoy on his Shanghai visit recently.

China’s 10% tax exemption drops the purchase price of the Tesla’s electric cars by up to 99,000 yuan ($13,960), according to Reuters. Needless to say, this big discount is attracting a lot of attention from Chinese auto buyers searching for a reliable, premium electric car.

The Tesla China website states that the maximum tax break obtainable on a Model 3 is ¥52,000 ($7,345). This tax break can be realized on Model 3’s highest priced variant. For more details, Tesla’s website has a tax incentive info page covering the policy details of every Chinese region.

And it’s not just new Teslas in high demand. According to Quartz, “Nobody wants a used electric vehicle in China, unless it’s a Tesla.” It’s reported that, “A Tesla’s residual value—basically the future value of a car after a certain amount of use—at one year is more than 70% of its original price, far higher than the value of any Chinese EV model at the same mark.”

Tesla’s traction in China (YouTube: CNA)

Meanwhile, Tesla’s Gigafactory 3 buildout remains in “ludicrous” mode. The company’s Model 3 assembly lines are already in place and other parts of the huge complex are nearing completion.

According to Reuters, “Tesla Inc’s China factory aims to start production this month.” Furthermore, CleanTechnica reports, “Tesla will cut off orders of the Model 3 Standard Range after October 13th in anticipation of the start of production at Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai, China.”

To that end, in the coming months, Tesla China customers will be able to get their Model 3s delivered far quicker (in larger quantities) from Shanghai’s Gigafactory 3.

Featured image via Tesla

About the Author

Guest Contributor is many, many people. We publish a number of guest posts from experts in a large variety of fields. This is our contributor account for those special people. 😀

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I Invest In Tesla Because I Believe In Elon Musk

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Published on October 5th, 2019 |

by Johnna Crider

I Invest In Tesla Because I Believe In Elon Musk

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October 5th, 2019 by Johnna Crider

Image: screenshot of Tesla stock summary from Google.com

I invest in Tesla because I believe in Elon Musk, and what he and Tesla are doing for our world. There’s more, though. I am writing this because I want to address something I’ve seen in my Twitter feed all too often.

First of all, I am not a stockbroker and am I not giving stock buying advice. I’m just sharing my story, what I’ve seen and how and why I am investing. I am a small shareholder of Tesla, meaning that I don’t own that many shares. However, I have become friends through Twitter with people who own much more stock in Tesla.

The waves that Tesla is making will eventually become tsunamis of change. This change is what people are afraid of. This is why, in my opinion, the stock is moving as if caught in the winds of a hurricane.

Tesla is a volatile stock. When a company is out there making really big waves, those waves have to go somewhere. Sometimes they splash back onto the source making those waves. In this case, Tesla is making waves in the market by affecting major industries — oil, autos, and energy. This means that the stock will be like that of riding the Blue Hawk at Six Flags. It’s going to be intense, and watching the price movements on a day-to-day basis could be insanely stressful for those who have invested everything they have into Tesla, or at least a lot of money.

A year ago, I’d just barely begun to learn about the stock end of Tesla. I didn’t know about the symbols, didn’t really understand what shorting a stock meant, and, honestly, I thought Elon was just being weird when he talked about burning shorts. Why burn shorts? Just donate them to a shelter or thrift store. That was what was going through my head.

As a student of life, as my mentor always said we all are, we are always on a learning path. A master or teacher of a topic is just someone who is a bit further ahead of you on whatever path of knowledge you are own. In this case, who actually knows where Tesla and TSLA are headed?

Last year, I went through a dramatic life change that took me by surprise, leaving me adrift and emotionally devastated. When Elon took the time to be kind to me — a stranger who he didn’t have to do that for — it just fueled my belief in him. From my own perspective, Elon Musk isn’t just a role model who is trying to make a difference, he is someone who is making a difference despite those gigantic waves coming back on to him. My thought was, how can I, someone who just started a minimum wage job, help someone like Elon Musk?

That’s when I discovered investing. I started with apps like Stockpile, but the fees were too much. So I saved up the money and used the Robinhood app to make my first purchase of Tesla in November of last year. It was a late birthday present to myself, but also my way of giving back to not just Elon Musk, but to a community of supporters who love Tesla, SpaceX, and Elon Musk. This is a community that offered me friendship and knowledge, and kept me grounded. By purchasing the stock, to me, I am taking part in helping Tesla reach its goals of advancing us to a sustainable future. I did it because I wanted to support something larger than myself.

Investing Isn’t For Everyone, And Here’s Why
What I want to address is the panic over the stock price’s movements. If you are worried that you are going to lose money, then straight up, you should not invest. In fact, if you don’t have a steady income and are struggling to meet your basic needs, you should not invest. If you want to do something to make a difference, you should build yourself up first. Society has taught some of us to put ourselves last, whether it’s taking care of loved ones or working nonstop because your job needs you when in actuality you are replaceable and they will replace you after you’ve worked yourself to death.

To build yourself up, you need to find something you love doing and make money doing it. I do with jewelry. My jewelry sales revenue is what I used to invest in Tesla. I make sure I have enough to buy more wire, gems and minerals, findings, and whatever else I need first. Then I divide what’s left into two parts. One part is a gift to myself — because I believe in rewarding myself for my own hard work. The other part is for buying Tesla stock.

If you are in a situation where you are barely making ends meet, you need to build yourself up. How can we take care of others before we take care of ourselves?

To The Naysayers & Worriers, I Say This
Image: screenshot from Robinhood app

I’ve often seen messages from TSLA short sellers saying, “Thank you for your money,” or other tweets that jeer at me for investing in Tesla. I have a lesson for you. Money comes and goes. Sales come and go. I used to get so sad when I would miss a discount on beads at some of my vendors. Then, over time, I realized that they always have these sales. It’s the same thing with the stock. The price falls and rises so much that, really, it’s not a loss to me.

Money is like energy. Energy changes shape and form. In fact, money to many equals security. If I have all of my needs met, then am I really losing anything by investing extra into something I believe in? No. I’m not. I remember one time I lost $20. I was devastated that day. Then a week later I found $100 on the ground. The lesson: money comes and goes constantly.

For those who think the stock has nothing to do with actually helping Tesla, I think you’re wrong. True, I am still learning, but the continuous fluctuation of the stock keeps Tesla in the news — and for a company that doesn’t buy advertising, this is a good thing. The constant negative headlines attacking Tesla create more opportunities for owners and shareholders to start conversations that will lead to the truth. I invest in Tesla because I believe in Elon Musk and the Tesla mission.

About the Author

Johnna Crider Johnna Crider is a Baton Rouge artist, gem and mineral collector, and Tesla shareholder who believes in Elon Musk and Tesla. Elon Musk advised her in 2018 to “Believe in Good.”

Tesla is one of many good things to believe in. You can find Johnna on Twitter

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Tesla Model Y Transformer, Easter Eggs, & Halloween Magic

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Published on October 9th, 2019 |

by Johnna Crider

Tesla Model Y Transformer, Easter Eggs, & Halloween Magic

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October 9th, 2019 by Johnna Crider

It’s October, which means that for most people that fall is in full swing. Leaves crunch underfoot as the scents of apples, cinnamon, and nutmeg mingle to warm our senses as the temperatures dip. I did say for most people. Those of us in the South are still experiencing higher than average temperatures, so we can only sip our pumpkin spice lattes and apple ciders wrapped up in thick blankets if we have the air conditioner on full blast.

October also means a really fun holiday where all the monsters come out and dazzle in their cute, creepy, sexy, scary, and hilarious glory. Monsters aren’t the only ones coming out, though — so are superheroes such as the Tesla Model Y Transformer. Simon Mahan’s son, Jonah, is ready for the North Texas Tesla Owner’s Frunk or Treat event (and the potential zombie apocalypse), and Jonah isn’t the only one.

As you can see, Halloween also isn’t just for humans and pets. Many Tesla owners are taking part in the fun tradition and are dressing up their Teslas. We already know what Jennifer Street is dressing her Model 3 as: Toothless from Dreamworks’ How To Train Your Dragon — and she even got a shoutout from Dreamworks on her Model 3’s costume!

Jennifer is also creating a lot of cute Halloween Tesla-inspired artwork that makes you want to gorge yourself on candy corn while drinking hot apple cider.

Jennifer is also taking part in the North Texas Tesla Owners’ Halloween Frunk or Treat event, and she’s not the only Tesla owner doing this. Although her Toothless Tesla has come along beautifully and isn’t quite finished, below is a quick photo of her progress. It should be finished by October 24th — just in time for Halloween.

The North Texas Tesla Owners group shared a couple of other fun Tesla costumes with me to share on CleanTechnica:

Spooky Summon
Many Tesla owners are also getting creative with Smart Summon as a Halloween prank, which CleanTechnica is officially coining Spooky Summon. I’m not sure what is creepier, seeing a Tesla with no driver or one with a skeleton driving.

Also, as Eli Burton from My Tesla Adventure discovered, Tesla has created a Halloween Easter egg and it had him just a bit confused. To activate this Easter egg, change your Tesla’s name to Patsy. A creepy ghostlike foot drops onto the screen and does what feet don’t normally do — it farts. Eli thought it could be an Addams Family reference, but I was also a bit baffled. I even did a Google search and probably confused’s Google’s AI, which was all too happy to give me links to farting foot porn.

A quick view of Eli’s YouTube comments reveals the answer — It’s not really a Halloween Easter egg, but a Monty Python Easter egg. Craig Hamnett explained, “Google ‘Monty Python Patsy’ — he’s a dumb character in the series. The foot is the ‘Foot of Cupid’ and is seen in the opening credits of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Eric Idle was extremely involved with Monty Python and owns a Tesla.”

I’ve never seen Monty Python (please don’t scold me, y’all!), and it’s definitely on my to-do list, but I am more inclined toward Criminal Minds and CSI and that type of things. There’s just something about a good “whodunnit” that makes one feel thrills and excitement, especially as the good ultimately wins against the darkness of mankind.

About the Author

Johnna Crider Johnna Crider is a Baton Rouge artist, gem and mineral collector, and Tesla shareholder who believes in Elon Musk and Tesla. Elon Musk advised her in 2018 to “Believe in Good.”

Tesla is one of many good things to believe in. You can find Johnna on Twitter

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Tesla Vehicle Efficiency Leads Industry Thanks To Tesla Vehicle Design Culture

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Published on October 5th, 2019 |

by Guest Contributor

Tesla Vehicle Efficiency Leads Industry Thanks To Tesla Vehicle Design Culture

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October 5th, 2019 by Guest Contributor

Originally posted on EVANNEX.
By Charles Morris

More range! More range! That’s the mantra that has replaced the “More power!” of the internal combustion engine (ICE) era. How much range is enough? All we know at this point is that car buyers want more. Tesla, always attuned to consumer desires, upped the stakes once again in April, increasing the range of Model S to what Road & Track colorfully calls “a bladder-busting 370 miles.” The interesting thing is that the company achieved this 35-mile increase without increasing the size of the battery.

Tesla’s Model S charging at a GreenWay charging station in Wroclaw, Poland. Photo by Zach Shahan | CleanTechnica | Tesla Shuttle

As Tesla explains, its engineers were able to boost range by making incremental improvements to several parts of the powertrain: “All Model S and X vehicles now benefit from Tesla’s latest generation of drive unit technology, which combines an optimized permanent magnet synchronous reluctance motor, silicon carbide power electronics, and improved lubrication, cooling, bearings, and gear designs to achieve greater than 93% efficiency. Pairing a permanent magnet motor in the front with an induction motor in the rear enables unparalleled range and performance at all times. The net effect is a more than 10% improvement in range, with efficiency improvements in both directions as energy flows out of the battery during acceleration and back into the battery through regenerative braking.”

More range is bound to make the appeal of Tesla’s world-leading electric vehicles even greater. However, the real story here is not about range, but efficiency. At the moment, EV designers are focused on maximizing range, but if at some point the market decides that there’s such a thing as “enough range,” designers could leverage greater efficiency in the powertrain to make battery packs smaller, giving their vehicles more space, better performance, and/or lower prices. Efficiency also offers a direct benefit for consumers — it translates into lower electric bills.

Tesla Model X Powerwall in a garage, via Tesla.

Tesla’s EVs are some of the most efficient on the market — to give one example, the Model S Performance full-size sedan is substantially more efficient than the tiny smart EQ fortwo. When it comes to the vaunted “Tesla killers” — Audi’s e-tron and Jaguar’s I-PACE — the larger Tesla Model X simply blows them away on efficiency. As Road & Track explained in a recent article, Model X is so much more efficient that it offers 91 more miles of range than the Audi and 121 more than the Jag, even though the Tesla’s battery pack is only slightly larger.

As R&T sees it, the reason the legacy automakers’ latest and greatest EVs can’t match Tesla’s aging models comes down to inefficiency, not only in their powertrains, but in their corporate cultures. Tesla’s culture is one of continuous improvement — in the eight years that Model S has been on the market, its efficiency has increased by 25 percent, from 89 MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent) to 111 MPGe. Tesla has improved the vehicle’s motors, air suspension, tires, and even its wheel bearings.

Tesla Model S Supercharging, by Zach Shahan | CleanTechnica.

Another policy prized at Tesla is open communication between departments, in contrast to the “silos” that so many employees of traditional corporations complain of. As R&T explains, Tesla’s newer wheel bearings are more expensive than the old ones, but they may have added as much as 15 miles of range at far less cost than adding battery capacity. The newer Teslas also use Brembo monobloc brake calipers. “Because they can be made to retract the pads from the spinning rotors faster and more reliably than sliding calipers, monoblocs reduce friction — enough to provide up to 20 miles of increased range,” writes Road & Track’s Jason Cammisa. “The additional stopping power, credibility, and better pedal feel are just added bonuses.” Are the Brembos expensive? Very — but on a per-mile-of-range basis, they’re still cheaper than batteries, and Tesla figured that out because the brake team communicates with the battery engineers, and they cooperate to continuously improve the company’s vehicles.

Related: Our Interview With Tesla President Jerome Guillen, Part Deux

Featured image: Tesla Model 3 deliveries in Tampa, Florida. Photo by Zach Shahan | CleanTechnica.

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Guest Contributor is many, many people. We publish a number of guest posts from experts in a large variety of fields. This is our contributor account for those special people. 😀

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Tesla Model 3 Sales = 2× Ford Mustang Sales or BMW 3 Series Sales (USA)

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Published on October 6th, 2019 |

by Zachary Shahan

Tesla Model 3 Sales = 2× Ford Mustang Sales or BMW 3 Series Sales (USA)

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October 6th, 2019 by Zachary Shahan

Those of us very tied into Tesla news sometimes forget that 9 out of 10 people on the street know close to nothing about Tesla. Additionally, if anything comes to mind when they are asked about Tesla, it is probably misleading FUD that originated from a Tesla smear campaign. On the other hand, practically everyone in the US knows the marketed image of the Ford Mustang and BMW 3 Series. The Mustang is America’s most iconic “muscle car,” a relatively fast and sporty car with “cool dude” or “cool chick” written all over it. The BMW 3 Series is a sporty premium-class sedan from the German engineering geniuses over at BMW that professionals love to love. Both the Mustang and the 3 Series are widely regarded as highly successful vehicles.

Yes, many Tesla fans might find this comparison with the Mustang and 3 Series boring. The Tesla Model 3, an American car, is now so popular that it’s the top selling automobile in the Netherlands and Norway — the top selling automobile, not just the top selling electric automobile or top selling car. It’s so popular here in the United States that we’re often pitting it against best sellers like the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. Many, many Tesla owners actually expect the Model 3 to pass up those cars in time and become the top selling car in the country. However, I dare you to go survey people at Target and ask them which has more monthly sales, the Tesla Model 3 or the Ford Mustang (or Tesla Model 3 or BMW 3 Series). I think you can guess what the result would be. (Note: I am now inspired to go test my hypothesis out!)

Before I get into the numbers, though, it’s important to note that there are no official figures out there for US Tesla sales. Tesla reports quarterly sales and does not break them out by country or region. Eventually, we get registration data from Europe, China (educated estimates at least), and Canada and can then make a more solid estimate of US sales for the quarter, as well as monthly sales estimates. However, it’s a bit early for all of that since we don’t have September numbers from most countries yet. Even our data-loving friend and contributor Jose Pontes of EV Volumes didn’t want to venture out too far on a limb and provide an early estimate that he might have to walk back. That said, looking at previous months’ data, September figures from the Netherlands and Norway, and deeper historical data, I feel comfortable estimating Model 3 sales between 40,000 and 50,000 in the US in the third quarter. For this report, I’ve settled on 43,000.

With 9 months of Tesla US sales data collected and estimated, I thought it was a good time to revisit Model 3 vs. Mustang and Model 3 vs. 3 Series sales comparisons. As the title indicates, the Model 3 wins, but have a look:.

Note that the last chart above is interactive. You can click between Tesla Model 3 and Ford Mustang 2019 sales.

Note that the last chart above is interactive. You can click between Tesla Model 3 and BMW 3 Series 2019 sales.

As you can see in the charts, the Model 3 seems to have found its way to twice as many homes as either the Mustang or 3 Series in the first 3 quarters of the year. Even if my Model 3 estimate for Q3 is several thousand units off, the result is basically the same. The Model 3 has either seen twice as many sales, a bit more than twice as many sales, or a bit less than twice as many sales as the iconic Ford Mustang and BMW 3 Series.

Perhaps the most important question is: Why are people still buying new Mustangs and 3 Series? Honestly, why would you spend more money to get less? Why would you buy an inferior product in practically every regard that is similarly priced “at the register” but costs much more to operate and maintain? (Note that the Mustang base price is considerably lower than the Model 3 base price, but its operational costs as well as something that could very easily make it more expensive or even much more expensive than the Model 3.)

You know the answer: inertia and lack of awareness. If people are just in the habit of buying Mustangs and 3 Series, they may not give much thought to other options when it’s time for a new ride. If they’re buying one of these cars for the first time, they probably dreamt about it for years or decades beforehand, and had the inertia of that desire plaguing their mind. Furthermore, if they have no idea a Model 3 exists, have no idea it can cost less than $40,000 (or less than $70,000 for that matter), have no idea that it has huge driving quality and acceleration benefits, have no idea that it has the best NHTSA safety score in history, have no idea that you can watch Netflix, Hulu and YouTube in the car, don’t know anything about Autopilot, heard that Teslas catch fire and the company is on the verge of collapsing, or have simply never ridden in or driven a Tesla, they may just think the 3 Series or Mustang is a better vehicle.

No matter the cause of 100,000+ US sales of the Mustang + 3 Series, the news of the day is that the Model 3 now solidly outsells both of those models, and each car that gets into the hands of a new owner can reach many more mass-market consumers and show them why the Model 3 is such a compelling product even at $40,000+.

If you’d like to buy a Tesla — not a Mustang or 3 Series — and get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging in the process, feel free to use my referral code: https://ts.la/zachary63404. Or not.

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Tesla Model 3 = 6th Best Selling Car In USA In 3rd Quarter*

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Published on October 6th, 2019 |

by Zachary Shahan

Tesla Model 3 = 6th Best Selling Car In USA In 3rd Quarter*

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October 6th, 2019 by Zachary Shahan

The Tesla Model 3’s #6 position in 3rd quarter US car sales* seems both shockingly high and surprisingly low at the same time. No, this is not a trick — I’m serious.

On the surface, I consider the Model 3’s US sales shockingly high because the car has by far the highest base price of any car in the top 10. The Honda Civic’s base price is $21,650, the Toyota Camry’s base price is $24,295, the Toyota Corolla’s base price is $19,600, the Honda Accord’s base price is $23,870, the Nissan Altima’s base price is $24,100, and the Tesla Model 3’s base price (online) is $38,990. The smallest separation in price there is more than $15,000, and the Model 3 clearly sits in a very different class that’s out of the financial reach of many households.

On the other hand, as I’ve pointed out extensively, in many circumstances the Model 3’s total cost of ownership over just 5 years could be close to or even lower than the Camry’s, Accord’s, etc. What do you get for that similar 5 year cost of ownership? A tremendously better car. The Model 3 has better safety scores (the best in history), has much better tech (infotainment and semi-autonomous driving tech are far ahead of any competitors’ tech, let alone that of these mainstream models), offers a much better driving experience, is much quicker, is cleaner, and genuinely looks like a higher class car (yes, I think that’s an objective judgement). In that light, it’s surprising the Model 3 isn’t yet the top selling car in the country. However, the vast majority of the public doesn’t know about the Model 3, its benefits, or how competitive it can be on a total cost of ownership basis.

With those initial thoughts out of the way, let’s jump to the numbers.

As you can see, my estimate for Tesla Model 3 sales* put it confidently in the 6th position, 8,000 units below the #5 Nissan Altima and more than 30,000 units behind the #4 Honda Accord (about 10,000 units per month lower). It was just 2,500 units above the #7 Hyundai Elantra in the 3rd quarter.

For the full first 9 months of the year, the Model 3 drops to #9. In the 1st quarter of the year, Tesla shipped most of the cars it produced overseas and was suffering from a US sales wave that saw a peak in deliveries at the end of 2018 followed by a crash in the beginning of 2019. Finishing in 9th place in the first three quarters results in the same narrative, though. The result seems both shockingly high and surprisingly low at the same time.

*Tesla reports quarterly sales and does not break them out by country or region. Eventually, we get registration data from Europe, China (educated estimates at least), and Canada and can then make a more solid estimate of US sales for the quarter, as well as monthly sales estimates. However, it’s a bit early for all of that since we don’t have September numbers from most countries yet. Even our data-loving friend and contributor Jose Pontes of EV Volumes didn’t want to venture out too far on a limb and provide an early estimate that he might have to walk back. That said, looking at previous months’ data, September figures from the Netherlands and Norway, and deeper historical data, I feel comfortable estimating Model 3 sales between 40,000 and 50,000 in the US in the third quarter. For this report, I’ve settled on 43,000.

If you’d like to buy a Tesla Model 3 instead of a Camry, Accord, Civic, or Corolla, and you’d also like to get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging in the process, feel free to use my referral code: https://ts.la/zachary63404.

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Tesla Reached 7,000 Cars Per Week In 3rd Quarter & Nobody Noticed

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Published on October 8th, 2019 |

by Maarten Vinkhuyzen

Tesla Reached 7,000 Cars Per Week In 3rd Quarter & Nobody Noticed

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October 8th, 2019 by Maarten Vinkhuyzen

From the start of Tesla Model 3 production until about a year ago, the most important, nearly daily, Tesla news was about the weekly production numbers. We visited the Bloomberg tracker regularly to stay abreast of the news, and the FUD. And then Tesla started producing over 4,000 vehicles per week regularly and the interest disappeared. Tesla finished the marathon many doubted it could endure for more than a mile, two at the most.

Those were fun times. Tesla reaching 100, 200, 500, and even 1,000/week was an exciting progression of events. Elon Musk teased production numbers on Twitter that were one-time events and some claimed that they could “never” be sustained at a steady production level. The monthly sales number guesstimates on InsideEVs and Tesla’s quarterly delivery disclosures were preceded and followed by heated speculation.

As a somewhat more detailed reminder of what happened, Tesla designed a futuristic 5,000 unit/week production line, only to discover that humans were greatly undervalued and that line had to be redesigned while slowly ramping the production numbers. There was the plan to build a second 5,000 unit/week line when more vehicles were needed.

However, when redesigning the line, optimizing and tuning all the steps, Tesla realized that it would be less costly to enhance the line to higher throughput numbers than to build a second line. To be precise, upgrading to 7,000 units/week would be possible with small enhancements and a little capex. Upgrading to 10,000 units/week would require serious investments. The 7,000 unit/week option was really a no-brainer. The 10,000 unit/week option was a possibility that probably never reached the status of plan, let alone stimulating any actual planning.

When building Gigafactory 3 (GF3) in Shanghai became reality, all talks of 10,000 units/week in Fremont were forgotten (except by some foolhardy trolls).

In those days, Musk and some other figures with a grasp of production tried to explain what 41.6 cars/hour or 1,000 cars/day or 7,000 cars/week represents. Many did simple arrhythmic and proclaimed production of 360,000 or even 365,000 per year.

While 24 x 41.67 indeed equals 1,000, there is never a day when there is no slowing down or stopping of the line. To get to 1,000 cars/day, you have to get to a steady 47/hour. There are always bathroom, coffee, breakage, accident, repair, and other interruptions. For the same reason, you need 1,100 to 1,150 cars/day to reach a 7,000 cars/week. Or, at least, something like that. Jerome Guillen, Tesla’s president of automotive, knows the exact number.

That coveted 7,000 cars/week will not result in 91,000 vehicles/quarter. That is 80,000 at the most. A rule of thumb of 11½ weeks per quarter is often used in planning.

In a production environment, there are always production disturbances, accidents, needed repairs, maintenance, upgrades, alterations, etc., besides the holidays and other valid reasons to close the factory for a day or so longer.

Such issues happened a lot in the disastrous first quarter of this year. They happened at a normal rate in the third quarter, and they will happen in each quarter in the future.

But with a total of 79,837 Tesla Model 3 vehicles produced in the last quarter, we now know that the steady 7,000 unit/week total for a whole quarter has been reached. The most remarkable thing about this achievement is that it was not noted by all those people who were so focused on this number a year ago. It was a non-event, as it should be with a normal carmaker.

About the Author

Maarten Vinkhuyzen Grumpy old man. The best thing I did with my life was raising two kids. Only finished primary education, but when you don’t go to school, you have lots of time to read. I switched from accounting to software development and ended my career as system integrator and architect. My 2007 boss got two electric Lotus Elise cars to show policymakers the future direction of energy and transportation. And I have been looking to replace my diesel cars with electric vehicles ever since.

And putting my money where my mouth is, I have bought Tesla shares. Intend to keep them until I can trade them for a Tesla car.

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