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Captain Sully Tweet Presents Opportunity For Tesla

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Published on July 27th, 2019 |

by Jennifer Sensiba

Captain Sully Tweet Presents Opportunity For Tesla

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July 27th, 2019 by Jennifer Sensiba

Screenshot of Sully’s Tesla tweet

Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger III, commonly known as “Captain Sully,” famous for safely landing a crippled airliner in the Hudson River, recently tweeted about Tesla’s Autopilot. While this looks bad, it does present a good opportunity for Tesla — if Tesla responds intelligently.

“Tesla announced the launch of so-called ‘full self-driving’ features that are largely unregulated as soon as this year,” Sullenberger wrote in his tweet. “This should concern everyone who will share the same streets as a driver or pedestrian.”

At first glance, this definitely looks bad for Tesla. It questions the whole concept of FSD and implies that it’s unsafe, or could be unsafe. And it does it in two sentences.

I want to briefly cover why Sullenberger’s tweet matters for Tesla’s image and explore a way that Tesla could turn this into an opportunity to not only look good to the public, but make real improvements to safety.

Why Sullenberg’s Tweet Matters
“Captain Sully” is a household name. People know who he is. People trust him. The public at large thinks what he has to say about safety matters, and, most importantly, they’re right!

Safely landing the Flight 1549 was just the icing on the cake of an extremely successful career. It should be noted that Captain Sullenberger wasn’t just any pilot who happened to get lucky and land the plane in the Hudson. After years of success as a decorated USAF pilot, he spent 30 years as a commercial pilot. During all of this, he became a well-known instructor and expert in the aviation safety community. He was involved in numerous accident investigations, served on advisory boards and committees, co-authored papers with NASA scientists, and did many other things to push the state of the art forward in air transportation safety.

Regarding Flight 1549, Sullenberger said, “One way of looking at this might be that for 42 years, I’ve been making small, regular deposits in this bank of experience, education and training. And on January 15, the balance was sufficient so that I could make a very large withdrawal.” While he admits to being terrified by the experience of landing that plane, and suffering emotionally afterward like any human being would after such an experience, listening to the radio traffic of that day shows just how right he was about the importance of education and training. He remained calm as long as he needed to and took care of business.

Where the rest of us would be screaming, praying, or otherwise losing our damned minds, Sullenberger was calmly saying things like, “we can’t do it” and “we’re gonna be in the Hudson” in the same way one of us would tell our spouse, “Honey, I’ll be home in 5 minutes.”

Just to drive this home a little further — when they made a movie about Flight 1549, Sullenberger was portrayed by Tom Hanks. In a 2013 poll, Reader’s Digest found Hanks to be the most trusted person in America. When Hollywood is looking for somebody to play the good guy, especially when the movie is based on a true story, they go for Tom Hanks. He’s even going to portray Mr. Rogers from “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” in an upcoming film.

You know if they make a movie about you and Tom Hanks plays you, you’ve arrived at public trust level 99. Sullenberger is just that trusted. What he says matters to people, as it should.

How Tesla Can Turn This Into An Opportunity
The next time Elon Musk (or e^eyepie, Elon Tusk, or whatever he’s jokingly calling himself today) gets on Twitter, he needs to invite Captain Sully to come visit Tesla.

Actually, it needs to be more than just a visit. They need to pay for his consulting services today and worry about the price later.

Sullenberger is a safety expert, especially when it comes to transportation. Hiring him to step in as a consultant won’t be cheap, and it will be even less easy. He’s not the kind of person who would take the money and put his stamp of approval on something without demanding it actually be safe. He’s probably going to demand that other experts take a look. Most importantly, that’s a good thing. Having somebody take a hard look at Autopilot, demand positive changes, and make the product safer is a win for Tesla, a win for the public, and a win for the future of humanity.

If Tesla can get the “Captain Sully Stamp of Approval,” whatever that looks like, it would be a big win not just for the company’s image, but for the safety of the product itself.

Elon, if you’re reading this, you know what to do.

About the Author

Jennifer Sensiba Jennifer Sensiba is a long time efficient vehicle enthusiast, writer, and photographer. She grew up around a transmission shop, and has been experimenting with vehicle efficiency since she was 16 and drove a Pontiac Fiero. She likes to explore the Southwest US with her partner, kids, and animals.

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JB Straubel wasn’t just Tesla’s CTO — he invented the carmaker’s core technologies

JB Straubel, Tesla Motors chief technical officer.Getty ImagesWhen Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on Wednesday that technology chief JB Straubel is leaving, any close follower of the electric carmaker knew it represented more than the departure of a typical CTO.
In the first decade of Tesla's existence, Straubel, who's among the group of co-founders, invented or co-created many of the company's signature technologies. His name is on a majority of patents that Tesla filed, especially relating to electric vehicle batteries — safety, architecture, monitoring and power management.
“JB is absolutely brilliant,” said Gene Berdichevsky, employee No. 7 at Tesla, in an email. “When I started, we did some of the technical development in his garage! I think there would be no Tesla as it is today without JB.”
Straubel, who's now 43, lobbied early on for Tesla to pursue a supercharger strategy, instead of going down the road of battery-swapping. Today, that network of charging stations, available for Tesla drivers only, is a boon for the company because it can offer greater service to customers, while drivers of most other electric cars are relegated tocompete for time at generic chargers.
Musk delivered the news of Straubel's exit this week while issuing some disappointing financial results to Wall Street. It was tough timing for a company that's struggling to find a profitable model for building and selling cars as it'sinvesting in self-driving technology. Tesla recorded a quarterly loss of $408 million, and its automotive margins eroded as customers showed a clear preference for the lower-priced Model 3 sedans.
Drew Baglino, who Straubel recruited to Tesla in 2006 and was most recently vice president of technology, is now stepping into the role of CTO. The Straubel announcement coupled with the weaker-than-expected results pushed the stock down 14% on Thursday, marking the steepest drop of the year.
A Tesla spokesperson didn't respond to a request for comment.
Jeffrey Straubel, chief technical officer and co-founder of Tesla Motors Inc., center, speaks as billionaire Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Motors Inc., left, and Yoshihiko Yamada, consultant at Panasonic Corp., look on during a press event at Tesla's new Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada, U.S., on Tuesday, July 26, 2016.Troy Harvey | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesMusk and Straubel met in 2003, when Straubel intended to pitch him on the idea of building an electric airplane. But their shared passion for electric vehicles led Musk to introduce Straubel to Tesla's founders, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. Musk backed Tesla and joined the board in 2004, a month after Straubel joined, and became CEO in 2008.
In discussing Straubel on the earnings call, Musk said, “if we hadn't had lunch in 2003, Tesla wouldn't exist basically.”
Even before his Tesla days, Straubel was working on electric cars. Berdichevsky, who is now CEO of Sila Nanotechnologies, said he knew Straubel back when he was converting a classic Porsche into an electric vehicle. He also built and raced solar cars on a team at Stanford.
He “was always a true missionary and visionary for EVs well before the world truly cared,” Berdichevsky said.
More recent Tesla employees describe Straubel as well-respected and a gentler voice in the room next to the bombastic and outspoken Musk. He's an engineer at heart, a licensed pilot and father who wears khakis most of the time. His obsession was always to reduce costs per kilowatt hour — to make energy-dense vehicle batteries at a lower cost.
Straubel's focus at Tesla was on building technology, teams and partnerships, and he was more than willing to cede the limelight to Musk, one reason the two got along so well, former employees said.
He split his time between Tesla's car assembly plant and offices in California and the Gigafactory, which he helped plan and build in Sparks, Nevada. He practically lived in trailers amid the rocks, dirt and construction materials until the massive battery plant was up and running in 2016, according to people familiar with the matter.
At Straubel's urging, Tesla built charging capabilities into the Model S, before the Supercharger network was developed. He also led propulsion and software teams through the development of the Model S and Model X.
He also led the development of stationary energy products even before Tesla acquired SolarCity. Today, Tesla's Powerwall and Powerpack function as home batteries and utility-scale battery installations that make it possible to store and use solar and wind power.
Tesla cars at charging stations in Beijing, China.Meghan Reeder | CNBCOutside of Tesla, Straubel has a stealthy recycling start-up called Redwood Materials, which registered last year to do business in the state of Nevada.
“I can't wait to see what JB does next,” Berdichevsky said. “There are still so many adjacent problems to solve in energy and I'm sure that's what he's thinking about.”
In terms of his successor as CTO, Berdichevsky said, “if there's anybody from the early days who can step into the big shoes JB leaves behind, and carry on the technical vision, it's Drew.”
Gene Munster, a longtime Tesla bull, said the company is well-prepared to deal with Straubel's departure:
“The bad news is that JB Straubel was foundational to the company, and is leaving,” Munster said in an interview. “The good news is there's now a framework in place for other people to step in. He did the heavy lifting of getting them to where they are, and now it's done. They are in a position to capitalize on an undeniable truth around the growth of electrification and autonomy.”
WATCH: Tesla's 2nd quarter a disaster
VIDEO5:0005:00Tesla 2nd quarter 'a disaster,' Model 3 a 'lousy' car: HoffmanClosing Bell
Follow @CNBCtech on Twitter for the latest tech industry news.

Tesla Gigafactory 1 Production Increase Translates To 81% More Powerwall Deployments

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Published on July 26th, 2019 |

by Kyle Field

Tesla Gigafactory 1 Production Increase Translates To 81% More Powerwall Deployments

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July 26th, 2019 by Kyle Field

Image courtesy Tesla

Tesla’s energy business (Tesla Energy) often ends up playing second fiddle to the admittedly more exciting automotive business, but that doesn’t mean it’s not growing. In Q2, Tesla increased deployments of its 13.5 kWh Powerwall 81%, according to the Q2 2019 investor letter, to a record 415MWh.

Tesla said in the letter that the sharp increase in Powerwall deployments means they have now been installed at more than 50,000 sites around the world. A Tesla spokesperson confirmed that Powerpack installations also increased in Q2 in parallel to the increase in Powerwall deployments.

The update is some of the first tangible evidence we have that the company is getting better at balancing battery cell production at its Sparks, Nevada Gigafactory 1 with downstream demand in both its automotive and energy businesses. The automotive side of the business continues to grow like gangbusters, nearly doubling the existing deployed fleet every year, and now Tesla Energy is getting in on a bigger piece of the Gigafactory 1 pie.

It is this exponential growth that makes the cell production and downstream demand such a challenge. The company has increased its battery cell production capacity at Gigafactory 1 to around 28 gigawatt-hours, according to CEO Elon Musk on the Q2 2019 earnings call. That figure has the factory bumping up against its original target production capacity of 35GWh a year. (The target has risen much higher since then.)

Tesla Grohmann Automation equipment. Image courtesy Tesla

GF1 production expansion came not only from Panasonic’s side of the business in cell production, but also at the module level, where a new module line designed by Tesla Grohmann Automation “enabled a step change in energy storage production.”

The solar side of Tesla’s Energy business continues to dwindle, with solar retrofit deployments of traditional solar panel systems declining to 29MW in Q2. Tesla made some headway in streamlining the sales process for its energy products in parallel to automotive sales, but the company has yet to deliver on the promise of scaled production and adoption of solar.

The Solar Roof is perhaps the ultimate golden egg for Tesla. Some of us believe (and some don’t) that the Lego-esque snap-together roof replacement that just happens to generate solar energy is the future of rooftops everywhere. Deployments of the Solar Roof are growing, according to reports from numerous Tesla employees, but we have yet to see concrete financials from the company in support of this progress. Also, there is no apparent solution underway for dropping sales of rooftop solar panel systems. Presumably, Tesla needs to find more ways to capitalize on the synergies between its automotive business and its solar power system business.

Do you have any other thoughts on the Tesla Energy portions of this technology company out of Silicon Valley?

If you’re in the market for a Tesla, feel free to use my Tesla Referral code for your purchase: http://ts.la/kyle623 . Doing so gives the buyer (that would be you) and me 1,000 miles of free Supercharging credit and allows us to cover Tesla even better in the future.

About the Author

Kyle Field I'm a tech geek passionately in search of actionable ways to reduce the negative impact my life has on the planet, save money and reduce stress. Live intentionally, make conscious decisions, love more, act responsibly, play. The more you know, the less you need. TSLA investor.

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Friday Morning Auto News, Jul 26, 2019

No-deal Brexit threatens UK car production, industry warns PM Johnson – Reuters: A no-deal Brexit is an existential threat to the British car industry and would risk output, a British car industry body warned new Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday.
After Nissan, a profit plunge at Renault too – Reuters: French automaker Renault cuts revenue goal after a weaker first half, a day after alliance partner Nissan announced big job cuts and earnings woes. Francis …
SpaceX successfully flies Mars prototype rocket for the first time – CNBC: SpaceX took a noticeable step forward in its development of a massive, next-generation means of space transportation.
Real-world benefits of car safety technology – Reuters: .comAutomakers are accelerating the rollout of technology designed to avoid crashes and improve road safety. Here’s a look at selected crash avoidance features, …
Renault CEO Bollore on Nissan Alliance, Collapsed Fiat Talks, Sales – Bloomberg: Renault SA Chief Executive Officer Thierry Bollore discusses the French automaker’s sales, its alliance with Nissan Motor Co., the collapsed talks with Fiat …

ABB Stock Dropped Because Auto Makers Aren’t Buying Enough Robots – Barrons: The stock dropped anyway, by about 2% in overseas trading, because the global automotive industry is weak. That isn’t a surprise. Automotive is the …
New auto safety technology leaves insurers in the dark – Reuters: Automakers are accelerating the rollout of technology designed to avoid crashes, but insurance companies are …
Editorial: Even car companies aren’t going along with Trump’s rollback of mileage and emissions standards – Latimes: President Trump is hellbent on rolling back the nation’s fight against climate change. But he’s increasingly going it alone. Even some of the companies whose …
Tesla Loses a Founder, and a Piece of Its Soul – Bloomberg: J.B. Straubel, the outgoing technology chief, says he’s taking a break before getting back to “building things.”
Wildcat Discovery, InoBat to build electric car battery line in Slovakia – Reuters: Slovak group InoBat and U.S. energy tech firm Wildcat Discovery Technologies will build a 100 million euro ($111 million) automotive battery production line in …
Woes at Maruti Suzuki underscore troubles in India’s car industry – FT: India’s largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki, has recorded a 27.3 per cent drop in net profits in the April to June quarter, compared to the same period last …
Ford will ax Ka+ minicar in Europe – Automotive News: PSA Group’s Opel-Vauxhall unit has said it will drop its Karl and Adam minicars. PSA has also hinted that the Peugeot 108 and Citroen C1 might be …
Renault cuts revenue goal as car industry misery spreads – Reuters: Renault warned revenue may decline this year, scrapping a previous goal, after first-half profit was hit by weakening car demand and an earnings collapse at alliance partner Nissan in the wake of the Carlos Ghosn scandal.
Maruti Suzuki India June-quarter profit dives, but tops estimates – Reuters: IndiaMaruti Suzuki India Ltd on Friday posted a 27.3% plunge in its first-quarter net profit amid an industry-wide slowdown in demand, but beat market expectations.
Ford, BMW, VW, Honda reach compromise with California on emissions – Automotive News: The automakers reached an agreement on fuel efficiency rules with California, which accounts for 12 percent of U.S. vehicle sales.
China’s CATL to start battery storage business in Japan with Next Energy – Reuters: China’s electric vehicle battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL) said it will start offering products to homes and plants in …
Renault cuts revenue goal after weaker first half – Reuters: Renault warned that revenue may decline this year, scrapping a previous goal, after first-half profit was hit by weakening car demand and an earnings collapse at alliance partner Nissan in the wake of the Carlos Ghosn scandal.
French carmaker Renault cuts 2019 revenue outlook – Reuters: French carmaker Renault on Friday cut its 2019 revenue outlook, on the back of falling demand and tough conditions within the automotive industry.
China will not set blanket winter output cuts for heavy industry – Reuters: China’s central government will not set overall output restrictions on heavy industry for the coming winter, but will direct local governments to set limits based on manufacturers’ emissions, the environment ministry said on Friday.
Renault Lowers Sales Outlook as Europe Auto Downturn Takes Hold – Bloomberg: Renault SA lowered its outlook for full-year sales as the French carmaker grapples with a downturn in the European car market and dismal results from partner …
As electric vehicle production ramps up worldwide, a supply crunch for battery materials is looming – CNBC: As car manufacturers ramp up production of electric cars, metals used to make the vehicles’ batteries may face a supply crunch, according to a new report.
China’s Pony.ai gallops up behind Google in driverless cars – Nikkei: China’s Pony.ai gallops up behind Google in driverless cars … China also maintains tighter restrictions on self-driving cars than the U.S., and there … a one-hour drive from the city center, and plans to expand the fleet to 100 this year.
Japan, US eyeing ministerial trade talks in Washington, DC on August 1 – Reuters: Japanese Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi is … and instead wants to prod the United States into cutting tariffs on auto parts.
SoftBank Forms $108 Billion Vision Fund 2 With Apple, Microsoft – Bloomberg: … two or three years to take advantage of opportunities to invest in cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence and autonomous driving.

Polestar 2 Walkaround In London At World Tour: Video

Here is a quick look at the Polestar 2 exterior and interior. Polestar 2, the upcoming hot high-end model is currently presented in its anticipated biggest markets around the world (also in North America). Here we can take a look at the potential Tesla Model 3 competitor in London where What Car? did a walkthrough… Continue reading Polestar 2 Walkaround In London At World Tour: Video

Tesla Wants to Produce 1 TWh Of Battery Cells Per Year

The battery production puzzle gets more pieces every day. We have been collecting pieces of a puzzle on Tesla producing its own batteries every day. First, the company bought Maxwell Technologies in order to have access to its dry electrode technology for batteries. Then, we heard Tesla is in a consortium for nickel and cobalt… Continue reading Tesla Wants to Produce 1 TWh Of Battery Cells Per Year

European Tesla Gigafactory Production Should Begin In 2021 Says Musk

The location of Tesla’s European Gigafactory will be decided this year. Tesla has entered the final stretch of construction on the third Gigafactory located in Shanghai, China. Production costs are expected to be much lower for every Tesla Model 3 coming out of China. Despite this, European-bound Tesla production will not be coming out of this new factory. At… Continue reading European Tesla Gigafactory Production Should Begin In 2021 Says Musk

Tesla CTO and battery mastermind JB Straubel exits

At the start of a call Wednesday to provide guidance on Tesla’s record sales but $408 million loss in the second quarter, Tesla CEO Elon Musk dropped a bombshell: that its chief technical officer, JB Straubel, will be stepping down from his executive post.

Drew Baglino will take over most of the responsibilities held by Straubel, who will be transitioning to the role of senior advisor.

The departure of Straubel is a huge loss for the company. He’s considered a co-founder of Tesla, as well as an expert on energy storage and propulsion—and in many intents and purposes has been Musk’s partner in Tesla’s rise. The Stanford grad has been the mastermind behind key decisions made on Tesla’s power systems and battery technology—decisions that have given the company a continued advantage in efficiency and driving range after other companies have created rival electric models. To this day he's considered one of the world's top experts in vehicle battery tech.

Straubel's public role for the company that often played well with Musk’s zeal. He was composed and engaging, often chiming in on company calls or presentations with smart answers to technical points, provided some deep-dive insight on the company’s tech in blog posts, and was approachable, helping provide rides and demos at product events. In a 2016 speech, prior to the launch event for the Model 3 and the hundreds of thousands of advance orders to follow, Straubel said, “I never imagined that things would scale or grow as quickly as they have.”

Tesla Model 3 design prototype – reveal event – March 2016

But Tesla and its share price did grow quickly, and it earned him tremendous wealth. According to Bloomberg, Straubel has offloaded Tesla shares eight times in the past nine months, in transactions netting him about $30.1 million.

After Musk announced the change Wednesday, Straubel chimed in and said, “Yeah, it’s been a great adventure, 16 years.”

“And maybe just to add a bit more to that, I'm not disappearing,” said Straubel, who was in his 20s when the company started work on its Lotus-based Tesla Roadster. “I’m not disappearing, and I just wanted to make sure that people understand that this was not some, you know, lack of confidence in the company or the team or anything like that.”

Musk reminisced briefly about the first meeting he had with Straubel, at McCormick & Schmick's in El Segundo. “If we hadn't had lunch in 2003, Tesla wouldn't exist, basically.”

The initial premise of that meeting, Straubel has previously said, was to get Musk to financially support Straubel’s electric airplane project. Electric cars were looking like a long shot for a startup in 2003; perhaps electric airplanes may take off in the next decade, with Straubel the pilot.

Musk Completes Dizzying 360-Degree Turn on His Plan for Tesla’s Retail

For years, Tesla Inc.’s Elon Musk loved his chain of store and service centers. Quarter after quarter, the carmaker kept adding more, even waging legal battles to set up shop in states where dealers tried to block him.

7 Top Takeaways From Tesla’s Q2 Conference Call

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Published on July 25th, 2019 |

by Matt Pressman

7 Top Takeaways From Tesla’s Q2 Conference Call

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July 25th, 2019 by Matt Pressman

Originally posted on EVANNEX.

To recap the second quarter, Tesla issued its shareholder letter and held its quarterly conference call with Wall Street analysts. The news, as always, is a mixed bag. While improving over its $702M loss in Q1, Tesla still missed Wall Street’s expectations, posting a Q2 loss of $408M. Traders can expect a bumpy ride in the short term. That said, there were some highlights worth considering for those long-term TSLA investors.

1. Biggest Bank Balance Ever
Tesla generated $614 million of free cash flow in Q2. Combine that with the $2.4 billion raised in a public offering of equity and convertible bonds and the company ended the quarter with $5 billion in the bank — the highest level in Tesla’s history. “This level of liquidity puts us in a comfortable position as we prepare to launch Model 3 production in China and Model Y production in the US,” explained Elon Musk.

Photo by Cynthia Shahan | CleanTechnica

2. Record Deliveries of Model 3
Tesla produced 87,000 cars in the quarter and delivered a record 95,200 of them in Q2, generating about $6.3 billion in revenue. “Tesla is expanding at an exponential rate,” Musk said. And demand continues to be strong. The company noted, “Model 3 [was] once again the best-selling premium vehicle in the US, outselling all of its gas-powered equivalents combined.”

Model 3 takes off. Image by Zach Shahan | CleanTechnica

3. Less Emphasis On S & X
As focus moves to Model Y and Tesla’s Pickup, S and X sales have slowed. Musk believes many have been on the sidelines awaiting a refresh. “There may be a false expectation in the market that there’s, like, some big overhaul coming for S and X … like some radical redesign coming, which is why I emphasized publicly that this is not the case,” Musk explained. “The Model S and X today are radically better” than prior versions of the car.

Editor’s note: I have heard frequently for several quarters about expectations for a big Model S & X interior refresh. We never published about this because we never received solid evidence of it. However, it has seemed to me that many Tesla followers have been treating it as a given since at least sometime in 2018. I personally do not think a short tweet shooting down the rumor and a couple of notes on conference calls is enough to extinguish the expectations. I think Tesla needs to more explicitly and “loudly” explain that there is no big refresh coming. I’d package the information in a blog post about how much the S & X have changed over the years and how much better a 2019 Model S is than a 2015 Model S (something I can attest to from personal ownership experience). —Zach Shahan

4. China Gigafactory Progress
According to Tesla, the Gigafactory in Shanghai “continues to take shape,” and remains on track to begin production of a “Model 3 line with capacity of 150,000 units per year.” The company also said, “Given Chinese customers bought well over a half-million mid-sized premium sedans last year, this market poses a strong long-term opportunity for Tesla.”

Inside Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory. Image courtesy Tesla

5. JB Straubel Transitions
CTO JB Straubel will be “transitioning” to an advisory role after more than 15 years at Tesla. “I’m not going anywhere,” Straubel said during the call, adding he’ll work closely with Drew Baglino, vice president of technology, who’s slated to take over the roll. “I want to thank JB for his fundamental role in creating and building Tesla,” Musk said. “If we hadn’t had lunch in 2003, Tesla wouldn’t exist, basically,” Musk added.

6. Service and Supercharger Growth
Tesla stated, “we added 101 vehicles to our Mobile Service fleet and opened 25 new store and service locations… [and] Supercharger capacity has grown to roughly 1,600 charging locations worldwide.” Musk said, “Service scales not just with new production, but as the whole fleet” expands worldwide. And as demand grows, Tesla’s CFO Zach Kirkhorn explained a larger “focus on service and supercharging, as opposed to a retail presence.”

Tesla Model S, Model 3, and Model X charging at Tesla Supercharger in Florida. Photo by Zach Shahan | CleanTechnica

7. Tesla Model Y is on Track
Prep for Model Y production in Fremont is already underway according to Tesla. The company highlighted, “a significant overlap of components between Model 3 and Model Y, [therefore] we are able to leverage existing manufacturing designs in the development of the Model Y production facilities.” The outlook? Tesla stated, “Due to the large market size for SUVs, as well as higher ASPs, we believe Model Y will be a more profitable product than the Model 3.”

About the Author

Matt Pressman is all about Tesla. He’s a TSLA investor, pre-ordered the Model 3, and loves driving the family's Model S and Model X company cars. As co-founder of EVANNEX, a family business specializing in aftermarket Tesla accessories, he’s served as a contributor/editor of Electric Vehicle University (EVU) and the Owning Model S and Getting Ready for Model 3 books. He writes daily about Tesla and you can follow his work on the EVANNEX blog.

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