Electric vehicles – Page 9189 – I wish I had more to offer

Elon Musk Says An Upcoming Tesla Roadster Will Hover. Is He Joking?

Ultra Car An upcoming Tesla Roadster will literally hover off the ground using SpaceX thrusters — at least according to a tweet from CEO Elon Musk, who is known for sometimes-erratic behavior on social media. In a reply yesterday to a tweet that showed a hovering DeLorean — a likely nod to the film “Back to the Future” — Musk teased that “the new… Continue reading Elon Musk Says An Upcoming Tesla Roadster Will Hover. Is He Joking?

California Utility Offers $1,000 Rebate To EV Buyers

JAN 6 2019 BY MARK KANE SCE appreciate its customers who buy plug-in vehicles Southern California Edison (SCE) raises the rebate to customers who purchase or lease a new or used all-electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle. The amount increased from $450 for those who bought a plug-in before Jan. 1, 2019 to $1,000 for those… Continue reading California Utility Offers $1,000 Rebate To EV Buyers

Volkswagen e-up! Price Cut Reaches UK: Interior Gets Extra Flair

NOV 28 2018 BY MARK KANE Volkswagen improved the e-up! value proposition The most recent price cuts of the aging Volkswagen e-up! spreads throughout Europe and recently reached the UK, where the manufacturer states it as a £3,250 (€3,664) value boost. The e-up! is not only £2,935 (€3,310) cheaper, but also received more standard equipment, including… Continue reading Volkswagen e-up! Price Cut Reaches UK: Interior Gets Extra Flair

BMW Exec Suggests Automaker Should Work With Elon Musk

5 H BY STEVEN LOVEDAY This BMW exec knows the automaker must make its own batteries to surge forward with EVs. In a recent interview with Manager Magazin, BMW works council chief Manfred Schoch stated that he believes BMW must make its own batteries to be successful with its EV future. This makes perfect sense since arguably… Continue reading BMW Exec Suggests Automaker Should Work With Elon Musk

Tesla Autopilot Miles Soaring

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Published on January 5th, 2019 |

by Zachary Shahan

Tesla Autopilot Miles Soaring

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January 5th, 2019 by Zachary Shahan

Tesla Autopilot miles have been soaring as the company has scored insane sales growth in recent quarters. None of those Autopilot miles have been fully autonomous, of course. However, what many Tesla enthusiasts have learned — yet much of the market seems to discount or not know at all — is that Tesla vehicles with Autopilot hardware (which is all new Teslas in recent years) are learning with every tire rotation. The ones with the software enabled must be a learning a bit more, since they are processing how Autopilot thinks it should drive and where and how drivers occasionally correct it, but I’m sure the vehicles with Autopilot latent are still gathering important data.

It is the deep learning aspect of Tesla vehicles that makes Tesla’s move toward autonomy seem so formidable. Sure, Waymo uses deep learning as well and has a compelling approach to autonomy that is moving forward and even, within the limits the technology can operate, trialling full self-driving without a human technician onboard. But Waymo’s system is built around limited geographical areas, a very limited vehicle fleet, and more limited learning. Tesla has a fleet of hundreds of thousands that is growing by ~90,000 vehicles per quarter at the moment and is not built around a dependency on super precise maps.

As Mike Barnard, using his robotics background, explained extremely well in 2015 (republished recently) and Paul Fosse put into other words two months ago, Tesla’s Autopilot software is a deep learning animal. Tesla Autopilot, like a young human with a voracious appetite for improvement, is getting closer and closer to some human-level driving abilities every day while already having superhuman abilities in vision, data processing, and attention span.

With all of that in mind, the below update from Lex Fridman of MIT is all the more exciting.

We have a Tesla Model S with Autopilot 1 hardware. Admittedly, I haven’t driven it in many months and there have been some software updates related to Autopilot since I have used it (it’s in our Tesla Shuttle fleet in Europe), but either way, I was struck by how much better Autopilot was in the first Tesla Model 3 I drove last year. I was again struck by how much it had improved months later in another Model 3 test drive. The technology is improving continuously, and with big step changes improvements supposed to roll out in coming months, I can hardly fathom where Tesla Autopilot will be in a year or two.

Well, actually, I can fathom it. I expect the cars will be capable of driving me from point to point without making me sweat for a second. And perhaps then charging itself with a robotic snake charger.

Technically, according to Elon Musk in 2016, Autopilot may now be out of beta mode. Though, that’s not guaranteed. 1 billion miles was considered a minimum amount of experience for the tech, but I’m not sure what other parameters graduate Autopilot from beta mode. Perhaps it is when Tesla feels comfortable releasing Full Self Driving capability to the public?

f you would like to buy a Tesla and want the benefits that come with a referral, feel free to use my referral code — http://ts.la/tomasz7234. Or not.

About the Author

Zachary Shahan Zach is tryin' to help society help itself (and other species). He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director and chief editor. He's also the president of Important Media and the director/founder of EV Obsession and Solar Love. 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, and Canada.

Zach has long-term investments in TSLA, FSLR, SPWR, SEDG, & ABB — after years of covering solar and EVs, he simply has a lot of faith in these particular companies and feels like they are good cleantech companies to invest in. But he offers no professional investment advice and would rather not be responsible for you losing money, so don't jump to conclusions.

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BMW sold over 140,000 EVs in 2018

“Since launching the BMW i3 in 2013, the BMW Group has rapidly grown its sales of electrified vehicles.” New Delhi: Luxury carmaker BMW Group on Thusrday said that the company has sold more than 140,000 electrified (battery-electric and plug-in hybrid) vehicles in 2018 worldwide. In total, the company delivered 142,617 units of electrified BMW and… Continue reading BMW sold over 140,000 EVs in 2018

Audi closes 2018 with around 1,812,500 automobiles sold

Audi delivered around 1,812,500 automobiles to customers worldwide in 2018, 3.5 percent less than a year ago. In Europe, sales fell 13.6 percent in the past twelve months. On the home continent, Audi had replaced almost a third of its deliveries with important model changeovers for the A1, A6, A7 and Q3 since the start… Continue reading Audi closes 2018 with around 1,812,500 automobiles sold

Volkswagen sets new delivery record in 2018

Most successful year in company’s history with global deliveries of 6.24 million vehicles (+0.2 percent) Growth in South America, USA and Europe offsets situation in China and adverse effects due to WLTP SUV offensive and numerous other new products were key growth drivers Sales Board Member Jürgen Stackmann: “2018 was characterized by considerable uncertainty in some… Continue reading Volkswagen sets new delivery record in 2018

Tesla feature that gets car to follow you like a pet will ‘probably’ be available soon, Musk says

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

A Tesla feature that gets your car to follow you around like a pet and auto-park is undergoing regulatory approval and will “probably” be available for some customers soon, CEO Elon Musk said on Twitter on Thursday.

“Going through final validation & regulatory approval,” Musk said of Summon+, a planned upgrade to Tesla's Summon auto-parking feature. “Probably releases to early access program owners in a few weeks. It's trippy!”

However, the auto executive added the caveat that the firm might not be able to roll out Summon+ in all of the markets it operates in, saying it was “getting some regulatory pushback.” He didn't elaborate on those regulatory hurdles.

Musk said back in November that cars operating with Summon+ will be able to “drive to your phone location & follow you like a pet,” and that users will be able to control their car remotely “like a big RC car.”

He said at the time that the upgrade would be compatible with all Tesla cars made in the past two years.

The technology is part of Tesla's Autopilot self-driving system. It currently lets Model S and Model X drivers park their car in tight spots and get it to move short distances remotely using the Tesla app.

Tesla's CEO recently broke ground on a new factory the firm is opening in Shanghai, and met with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to discuss the plans.

Li told Musk at their meeting that he hoped the firm could become an “in-depth participant of China's opening and a promoter of the stability of China-U.S. relations.”

Tesla FUD: Tax Credit & Tesla Pricing — #TSLA

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Published on January 5th, 2019 |

by Frugal Moogal

Tesla FUD: Tax Credit & Tesla Pricing — #TSLA

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January 5th, 2019 by Frugal Moogal

The goal of this series is to examine current topics being written about Tesla [TSLA] that appear to be stirring up “Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt” (or FUD). The plan is to try to provide reasonable analysis about the validity of the claims. I generally do not link to the articles that “inspire” me to write this, as I do not wish to reward analysis I feel is poor with increased traffic. However, I will freely admit that my analysis may contain incorrect assumptions, and will do my best to acknowledge them in future articles.

If you somehow missed it, Tesla just announced Q4 deliveries totaling 90,700 vehicles, and that the company was dropping the price of its vehicles by $2,000 in response to the phaseout of the federal EV tax credit.

The stock price responded by dropping almost 7% on the day.

There is actually a TON to unpack in Tesla’s Q4 communication, and I intend to do that soon, but I wanted to briefly touch on the believed reason for the stock hit — the price drop on the vehicles and the supposed “price ceiling” to Tesla’s current offerings.

Before I go on, my usual boilerplate paragraph about my stock: I’ll note that I remain a Tesla shareholder with a whopping 8 shares, with no intention to add to or sell that stake. I do think that Tesla remains a risky investment for a plethora of reasons that I won’t get into right now (a few people commented that they want to hear that, so I need to think about how to explain it without creating my own Tesla FUD article…), but also one that has the potential to increase astronomically in the future, which is why I decided to purchase and hold a very limited number of shares. I would not suggest anyone use the following article as their sole data point to decide to invest nor sell shares in Tesla.

What Did The Market Expect?
I don’t get what the market wanted Tesla to do here.

Like it or not, the federal EV tax credit is considered to be a discount on the purchase to nearly all buyers of EVs. Every other time we have had a market where EV credits or rebates have phased out, we have generally seen a surge in demand followed by a sudden drop in demand, especially if the pricing of the vehicles remains the same.

Duh?

Between Black Friday and Christmas, Microsoft knocked $100 off its Xbox One S console, making it just $199 to get one. It was advertised as a limited time promotion, and today the same console does indeed cost $299 to purchase. Is anyone expecting Microsoft will sell the same number of Xbox One S consoles this month as it did last month? If so, they seem to have missed some lessons on supply and demand, and the impact of pricing on that demand.

Tesla’s Response
Tesla decided to offset the $3,750 reduction in the federal tax credit by reducing the cost of its vehicles by $2,000. To me, it’s a genius move for a whole variety of reasons. I’m trying to keep this article short, so here’s a quick rundown of some of the positives here:

Auto loans don’t take into account the tax credit (that has to be claimed by the individual who owns the car), meaning that this makes the monthly payments for purchasing a new car cheaper. Most people take out loans to purchase cars.
Tesla is making more than $2,000 in profits off all of its cars. It can reduce the price and still make money.
According to Tesla, more than ¾ of Model 3s sold were to new customers, not reservation holders, meaning that new Model 3 demand was more than 45,000 vehicles. Considering that Tesla hasn’t started international deliveries, that means that demand remained very strong. Some of that demand may have been moved up due to the tax credit expiring, but not all of it.

Let’s also remember, Tesla hasn’t pulled several demand levers for the Model 3 — in particular, international sales and the start of leasing.

Conclusion
I have been accused of being a Tesla shill in the comments before, and I guess this article may continue that trend, as my conclusion for this one is simple: Not just did I expect Tesla to make a move like this (I expected it to be a slightly larger reduction, actually), but the scale of Tesla’s EV production leaves the company in a much stronger position to reduce pricing to raise demand as the tax credit begins its phaseout process than other automakers producing electric vehicles.

In short, I don’t understand the reaction here.

If you think I’m overly positive on this one, leave me a comment explaining why — the more detail, the better. I intend to write a longer article soon unpacking how the tax credit affects demand, and different demand levers that I expect Tesla can and will use to keep that demand up, and I’ll do my best to incorporate and reply to any comments I get.

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.

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