Tesla – Page 2391 – I wish I had more to offer

Tesla will find Germany is ‘better environment’ for making cars than California, says VW CEO

Tesla is building its first full-scale factory in Europe, and it has chosen Germany for the project. Some have raised questions about how Tesla will be able to navigate the European red tapes for such a major project, but VW’s CEO says that it should be a better “environment” for making cars than California. Last… Continue reading Tesla will find Germany is ‘better environment’ for making cars than California, says VW CEO

Watch Tesla retrofit Model X with new Full Self-Driving Computer

Tesla has slowly started its massive retrofit program to install its new Full Self-Driving (FSD) Computer in older vehicles, and an owner made a video about the process. Earlier this year, Tesla launched its Full Self-Driving computer, claiming that it is “objectively the best chip in the world.” They claimed a factor of 21 improvements in… Continue reading Watch Tesla retrofit Model X with new Full Self-Driving Computer

Tesla Pickup Truck Reveal: Cybertruck Specs & Performance Expectations

Will it tow as much as Elon Musk promised? We are drawing near to the Tesla pickup truck reveal. We are almost sure it will be called Cybertruck, considering the logo that was trademarked and the fact that its letters compose a stylized pickup truck. With such hype around it, we have to ask: Will… Continue reading Tesla Pickup Truck Reveal: Cybertruck Specs & Performance Expectations

Tesla Gigafactory 4, Tesla’s Growth Cost, & A German Forest

Invest
Electric Cars
Electric Car Benefits
Electric Car Sales
Solar Energy Rocks
RSS
Advertise
Privacy Policy

Buildings

Published on November 18th, 2019 |

by Tim Dixon

Tesla Gigafactory 4, Tesla’s Growth Cost, & A German Forest

Twitter
LinkedIn
Facebook

November 18th, 2019 by Tim Dixon

Tesla recently unveiled that the location of its 4th Gigafactory will be near Berlin, in Brandenburg in the Grünheide municipality next to the GVZ Berlin-Ost Freienbrink industrial park, and that it will require the removal of part of a forest.

Tesla Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai, China. Photo courtesy Tesla.

While Germany and land use are both outside of my writing purview (which is Chinese electric vehicle news), it ignited an old interest.

The removal of a forest and replacing it with industrial/service/housing/energy has been a quintessential environmental issue for a long time, and I foresee that this event will trigger contentious debate and will be used by Tesla detractors in the environmental and investment community, but I think we need to deal with this issue.

I myself experienced the very negative local blowback towards the expansion of a wind farm on the moorland near my hometown and how media can manipulate narratives.

Yet I also see this as a possible opportunity for Tesla to double down on its environmental protection and mission.

To start off, Tesla’s Fremont factory was purchased second hand (very sustainable). Since then, Tesla has had to build its own factories, and these factories have always been “outwardly” not very innovative when it comes to sustainable design.

Tesla Fremont factory. Photo by Kyle Field, CleanTechnica.

Secondly, forests are not made equal. Cutting down a young forest compared to an old growth or tropical forest has different environmental impact.

So, thinking about this and the writing of Lloyd Alter at Treehugger, I thought I’d offer a solution and the reason I think it won’t happen.

Solution
I think the solution to the environmental impact is two fold:

Firstly, the design and manufacturing of the factory should account for the “upfront carbon cost,” material choice, and energy use.

Secondly, Tesla should pay for the creation of protected areas of “high ecological significance” and/or afforestation efforts in key areas.

The embodied carbon or “upfront carbon cost” should be part of the design process and efforts should be made to reduce its upfront and long-term carbon cost. This could be done by looking at the materials, design, and placement of the factory, including whether or not other unused facilities are available. Material choice could be interesting, as Tesla could build using more modern wood construction methods like Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT). Imagine if Tesla Gigafactory 4 was a massive wooden, renewable energy–powered, electric vehicle and energy storage factory. Germany being the birthplace of the Passive house (Passivhaus) offers up the opportunity for Tesla to find and modify the best practices of building design to create a more sustainable factory.

Environmentally sensitive areas on land and at sea are in danger of destruction/collapse, and Tesla could create a fund to actively protect and grow protected areas — money to protect the Amazon, marine ecosystems, and reforestation efforts around the world. A upfront donation and/or ongoing revenue share could provide protection of the most valuable ecological assets of earth.

My reasoning why this won’t happen
When I worked at the European HQ of Tesla, we had a large all-hands-on-deck meeting. A new executive was making a speech about joining Tesla. In this speech, he reiterated a point I have heard many times about Tesla, that it’s a startup. Compared to established car manufacturers, we were tiny. We had to be lean and fast moving for a car company, and the future depended on us creating meaningful change. Tesla is still a startup in spirit, even if no longer in scale.

While sustainable factory design and development is key to our future industrial development, I don’t think it will be seen as a key part of Tesla Gigafactory 4’s design process since Tesla will still see it as something the company can’t risk — it’s outside the company’s core mission and too untested.

Tesla is a leader in electric vehicle production and the energy transition, but this means it has to invest its capital in ways it sees as the best for achieving its long-term goals. It is working at a rapid pace to help create a sustainable society, and has to survive against powerful entrenched industries which would prefer to not change. So, I hope Tesla looks at Gigafactory 4 design and construction as somewhere it could innovate, and I hope the company is talking to top experts about this. Nonetheless, I cannot fault the company if it focuses on getting the Tesla Gigafactory 4 built in a less risky and mature way.

But a wood car factory is still a cool-sounding idea.

For updates, follow me on Twitter or add me on LinkedIn.

Sources: WELT, Treehugger, Treehugger, Inhabitat
Follow CleanTechnica on Google News.
It will make you happy & help you live in peace for the rest of your life.

About the Author

Tim Dixon When not researching the Chinese electric car market, I am teaching in China. My interest in sustainable development started in University and it led me to work with Tesla Europe in the Supercharger team. I'm interested in science fiction, D&D, and travel. You can follow me on Twitter @TimDixon3.

Advertise with CleanTechnica to get your company in front of millions of monthly readers.

Four must-haves for the Tesla ‘Cybertruck’ all-electric pickup truck

Tesla is set to unveil its pickup this week and it needs to be widely different from its current lineup. The current line of Tesla vehicles share a lot of parts, and, logically, the Tesla pickup will do the same. However, a truck has different demands than a passenger car or sport utility vehicle. It… Continue reading Four must-haves for the Tesla ‘Cybertruck’ all-electric pickup truck

Tesla, Streetscooter, BMW: For which car brands the most electric premiums are paid

Dusseldorf The federal government wants to promote the purchase of electrical and semi-electric vehicles. That’s why in July 2016 she decided to pay out additional state bonus for cars with battery, fuel cell and plug-in hybrids – also called environmental bonus. For purely battery electric vehicles, this bonus amounted to 4,000 euros, half of which… Continue reading Tesla, Streetscooter, BMW: For which car brands the most electric premiums are paid

Tesla is expanding its ‘world largest battery’ project by 50%

Tesla’s battery project in Australia with Neoen became “the world’s largest battery” when it was completed two years ago. Now it has been so successful that they are expanding it by 50%. The 100MW/129MWh Tesla Powerpack project in South Australia provides the same grid services as peaker plants, but cheaper, quicker, and with zero-emissions, through its… Continue reading Tesla is expanding its ‘world largest battery’ project by 50%

More Glimpses Of Tesla Model Y Near Tesla Fremont Factory

Invest
Electric Cars
Electric Car Benefits
Electric Car Sales
Solar Energy Rocks
RSS
Advertise
Privacy Policy

Cars

Published on November 18th, 2019 |

by Cynthia Shahan

More Glimpses Of Tesla Model Y Near Tesla Fremont Factory

Twitter
LinkedIn
Facebook

November 18th, 2019 by Cynthia Shahan

The Tesla Fremont factory is priming the nearby roads for another highly sought-after Tesla vehicle, the coming Model Y. Word is that the Tesla Fremont factory is busy putting together an assembly line for the Model Y. It has also been testing them on streets in the surrounding area — and sometimes further away.

Development isn’t just taking place at Tesla’s global HQ, though. We now know that the Model Y will also be produced in Germany, near Berlin.

Tesla, around the world, is prepping for the release of what is widely expected to become the Silicon Valley automaker’s most popular model.

It’s hard to believe the Tesla Model S only arrived on the scene in 2012. Since that time, we’ve seen Tesla’s Model S P100D take the Ludicrous Crown for performance, consistently darting to the finish line like a rocket and leaving the best ICE cars in the dust, and their drivers in awe. It seems like ages ago that Tesla lovers enjoyed those first spy shots of the Model 3, and Model X. They win their own share of races, or can simply move smoothly with the moonlight while you gaze through the Model 3’s glass roof and the X’s supersplendulous windshield.

Enjoying the glass roof inside the Model 3. Image thanks to the Fosse family, CleanTechnica.

Now the hot new Tesla everyone wants to see a bit more of is the Model Y (and the Cybertruck). For those who can’t get enough of the spy shots, here’s a 5 second video with a great view:

Iqtidar Ali points out that this Model Y Performance is sporting the “wind turbine” rim design, one of the three original wheel design patents registered for the Model 3. He notes that the wheels were originally seen on the Model 3 on the night it was unveiled — March 31, 2016. Now they reappear after a long absence. Perhaps Tesla will offer them on the Model Y.

Wind turbine wheel on a red Tesla Model 3 prototype at the car’s unveiling. Photo by Tesla.

Tesla Brings “S3XY” To Life With Model Y Launch
Tesla Model Y Will Be World’s Safest Crossover & Quickest Affordable Crossover Or SUV
Tesla Model Y, Amazingly, Beats The Lamborghini Urus (Which Costs Over 3 Times As Much!)
Why Tesla Model Y 3rd Row Is Key To It Becoming The Best Selling Vehicle In The World
Tesla Model Y Prototype Spotted On Road Near Tesla HQ (Videos)
Tesla Model Y & Model 3 Visual Comparison — Side by Side, Morphing, More
All-Season Tires For The Tesla Model 3 To Keep Things Simple — And Hopefully Safer & Cheaper In The Long Run
The Tesla Model 3 Is Tons Of Fun In The Snow … With The Right Tires

Follow CleanTechnica on Google News.
It will make you happy & help you live in peace for the rest of your life.

About the Author

Cynthia Shahan Cynthia Shahan started writing by doing research as a social cultural and sometimes medical anthropology thinker. She studied and practiced both Waldorf education, and Montessori education. Eventually becoming an organic farmer, licensed AP, and mother of four unconditionally loving spirits, teachers, and environmentally conscious beings born with spiritual insights and ethics beyond this world. (She was able to advance more in this way led by her children.)

Advertise with CleanTechnica to get your company in front of millions of monthly readers.

Reviving The “Tesla Deathwatch” — With A Totally Different Spin

Invest
Electric Cars
Electric Car Benefits
Electric Car Sales
Solar Energy Rocks
RSS
Advertise
Privacy Policy

Clean Transport

Published on November 18th, 2019 |

by Frugal Moogal

Reviving The “Tesla Deathwatch” — With A Totally Different Spin

Twitter
LinkedIn
Facebook

November 18th, 2019 by Frugal Moogal

After the recent unveiling of the Ford Mustang Mach-E, I feel like it’s time to revive the Tesla Deathwatch.

No, not the Tesla Deathwatch that you may have read about on this site before, where certain websites made daily updates gleefully predicting that Tesla would soon run out of money and be forced to shutter operations (more than a decade ago).

Instead, as I mentioned in my previous article, the Mustang Mach-E may end up being a Ford killer. Simply put, Ford is carrying around $100 billion in debt. If the transition to electric mobility happens too quickly, Ford could be left with a ton of debt and factories full of internal combustion technology that end up being stranded assets. If this happens, then the attempt to transition from internal combustion technology to electric propulsion may end up leading to Ford’s demise.

Anyway, in this new sporadic series, I’m going to take a look at legacy automakers to see the risks that this transition has to them and how they are coping with it. I will also try to estimate the risk that Tesla has created through its disruption.

And that’s the thing — when new technology comes along, often the most vulnerable are those companies that dominated the previous technology, as they are too invested in that technology to make a sudden change. A sudden change renders a significant portion of their business obsolete immediately, while the new technology has no guarantee of profits.

There are lots of recent examples of this that I could use to highlight the change. It was anticipated that at any time Sears could destroy Amazon, but it’s pretty clear who is winning that battle. Blockbuster Video dominated the home movie industry, and then Netflix came along. Atari dominated the video game industry, so it stopped innovating and let Nintendo — who had even asked them to release the NES in the United States under the Atari brand — to take over.

Instead, I’m going to take a quick look at a company that I think is perhaps the best parallel to what is happening with automobiles right now, Kodak.

The Kodak Story
The Kodak story is an absolutely fascinating one, and I strongly suggest if this interests you at all taking some time to really research it, but here’s the basic overview:

In 1975, a Kodak engineer by the name of Steve Sasson invented the first digital camera. He was told not to tell anyone about it, with a former Kodak vice president directly admitting that they could not sell it because they feared the effect it would have on the film market, which was Kodak’s main source of revenue.

And film sales were great, peaking in 2001 as consumers had started to purchase digital cameras. Kodak faced a problem — the manufacturing process for its film, which was truly extremely complex to make, had nothing in common with making semiconductors to make great digital cameras. Add to that the fact that companies could buy the components to make a digital camera from various providers and create their own cameras quickly, without being encumbered with significant debt and assets from businesses that were suddenly losing market share.

And market share dropped quickly. The market peak of 2001 was followed by a few years of the market slowly contracting, following by that trend gaining speed like a snowball rolling downhill. By 2010, worldwide demand for photographic film had fallen to less than 10% of what it was in 2001. In 2012, Kodak filed for bankruptcy.

Perhaps even more interesting, even before the market peaked, Kodak realized that it would need to start selling digital cameras. In 1999, Kodak held a 27% market share on digital cameras. As a matter of fact, my first digital camera was a Kodak camera.

The problem was Kodak wasn’t making money on those cameras. Indeed, this incredible article from Reuters, written shortly before Kodak’s bankruptcy, noted that in 2001 Kodak was losing $60 for every digital camera it sold. It didn’t matter that Kodak was actually doing pretty well in digital camera market share — capturing over 20% of it in 2005. The combination of stranded assets in its core business and losing money to maintain market share was unsustainable.

Kodak emerged from bankruptcy in 2013, but is a shell of what it used to be. In Q1 2001, Kodak reported revenues of $2.975 billion and net earnings of $150 million. In Q1 2019, Kodak reported revenues of $291 million and losses of $16 million.

The Kodak Lesson
It’s difficult to turn a profit when your core, established business is in free fall and the only way for you to gain market share in the future of your market is to lose money on every sale you make. After the peak of film sales in 2001, and a few years of relatively small declines, the market for film nosedived at 20 to 30 percent per year.

Kodak was still making money on its film divisions when it went out of business — it is just that the business had shrunk to a point nearly unimaginable a few years before. In reading through Kodak’s annual reports, I found that Kodak made a profit of $1.43 billion on revenue of $10.231 billion for film production in 2000. By 2011, the company made a profit of only $34 million on revenue of $1.547 billion. I feel it’s also worth noting that Kodak lost $349 million on its digital camera division that year.

There are two lessons here that are important. The first is that markets for well established goods can collapse at nearly unimaginable rates as new technology disrupts the old. In 2000, absolutely no one expected that physical film sales would topple as fast at they did. In 10 years, Kodak lost 85% of its sales to the disruptive change that digital cameras brought about.

The second thing is that as markets shrink with well-established groups, so do the profits. In 2000, Kodak earned nearly a 14% profit on it film sales. By 2011, the company was earning 2%.

To me, the lesson is clear — technology transitions happen much faster than people and companies usually expect, and once they catch on, the companies leading the prior iteration of the industry are the first to go out of business.

Tesla is the force that has created incredible disruption within the auto industry. Whether you are a fan or a short seller, Tesla has proven that electric cars can be safer, easier to maintain, cheaper to operate, better for the environment, and more fun to drive than their internal combustion counterparts. They can also use established technology for connectivity to improve the car through time.

I’m not using this article today to look at any particular automaker, but I think the parallels with some are extremely strong. We’re entering a new era, and it’s just as likely that the next generation of automakers will be dominated by newcomers like Tesla, Rivian, and BYD as it is to be generated by the prior generation’s top manufacturers. In fact, if history is any indicator, it’s much more likely that the next generation will not be dominated by the prior generation’s manufacturers at all.

After all, Ford, GM, and Chrysler didn’t start by manufacturing horse buggies.
Follow CleanTechnica on Google News.
It will make you happy & help you live in peace for the rest of your life.

About the Author

Frugal Moogal A businessman first, the Frugal Moogal looks at EVs from the perspective of a business. Having worked in multiple industries and in roles that managed significant money, he believes that the way to convince people that the EV revolution is here is by looking at the vehicles like a business would.

Advertise with CleanTechnica to get your company in front of millions of monthly readers.

Ford to introduce all-electric Mustang Mach-E to Chinese market in 2021

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) — A senior manager of Ford Motor has disclosed that the company's all-new, all-electric SUV, donning the iconic pony badge and named Mustang Mach-E, would be introduced to the Chinese market in 2021.
The plan was revealed by Darren Palmer, Ford's global director for battery electric vehicles, in a document released to Xinhua after the company's first all-electric SUV was unveiled Sunday night at Jet Center in Los Angeles, a hall neighboring Tesla's factory.
Mustang Mach-E is the first vehicle based on the company's new EV architecture as part of an 11.5-billion-U.S. dollar plan to develop 40 new all-electric and hybrid models by 2022.
It also marks the first time that the name of Mustang, famous for its original model which has remained in uninterrupted production since its debut in 1964, is being used on a new electric vehicle.
As of August 2018, over 10 million Mustangs, an icon of American pop culture, had been produced in the ..