Tesla Keeps Breaking Records | Ford Runs Out Of Badges. How?

Tesla Keeps Breaking Records | Ford Runs Out Of Badges. How?:- Today we’re getting into the latest Tesla news including Tesla’s massive end-of-quarter deliveries, AI Day predictions, Tesla’s fastest-growing business, and more, so let’s get into it.

INTRO First up today, one big benefit of electric vehicles is their efficiency. When you look at the Miles per gallon electric equivalent on any EV, including big ones like the Rivian R1T, they greatly surpass that of pretty much any gas vehicle.

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“MPGe is a unit of measure used by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to represent EV fuel economy in a common unit with gas-powered vehicles, where 33.7 kilowatt-hours of electricity are equal to the energy contained in one gallon of gasoline.”.

With smaller vehicles, it’s especially striking how efficient they can be. The Model Y is 122 miles per gallon electric equivalent, but the standard range Model 3 just earned the title as the most efficient EV. On the department of Energy’s list for 2022 Model year vehicles, they rank 17 vehicles. Each Tesla makes the list of highest MPG electric, but the Model 3 RWD got first with 132.

A big reason they can achieve that is that the car is very efficient, but it also features a smaller LFP battery pack than the RWD Model. The long-range models have more batteries, which naturally makes them less efficient due to the extra weight. One cool thing is that the Lucid Air came in second place.

These cars ship with very long ranges, so that’s incredibly impressive that they are achieving such high efficiency. When they hopefully make a more affordable, smaller range vehicle in the future, the efficiency could top this list by a lot.

On this list, they show 129 miles for the Model Y, 120 for the Model S, and 102 for the Model X. All of these efficiencies, compared to gas mileage as they are, are substantial. This should only see improvement in the future, so the future is bright for fuel-efficient cars.

Next up today, one of Tesla’s biggest advantages, its supercharger network, continues to expand. This time, they are building 4 new stations, 3 of which beat the record for largest superchargers ever. This comes as new legislation in GFO-21-604.

The full name for the program is California Energy Commission’s Clean Transportation Program Rural Electric Vehicle Charging Program. Whew. 28 applications were received, and funding was granted to 17 of them.

One big thing to note here is that a condition of these grants involved a minimum of 50% connectors being CCS standard. That means that Tesla will at the very least need to install CCS for other EVs to charge at in half the stations they build at these new sites.

This is something Elon has said they’d do for all charges for a bit now. The first site is in Baker, California, and could feature up to 96 stalls. It will also utilize a megabuck energy storage system and should be utilizing solar as well.

The second site is in Willows, California, and should include 100 Superchargers stalls. There aren’t location details yet, but it is estimated to be completed in the Spring of 2025 according to the project description. From what we can tell, this would be the largest supercharger station ever built.

The third site is a new Supercharger in Barstow, and will also have 100 stalls. Lastly, there’s a location planned in Coalinga. 164 stalls are planned somewhere in Coalinga, and they are currently finalizing the contracts. Tesla continues to expand their supercharger network hugely.

While some of these large stations are some time away from project completion, they will have a big impact as EV sales skyrocket. Not only will these large stations, one over 164 stalls, be able to charge Teslas, but at least half will have to charge all EVs.

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Tesla Keeps Breaking Records | Ford Runs Out Of Badges. How?

This is good news for electrification as a whole, and Tesla may end up being one of the largest charging providers for any EVs, not just their own. This is very exciting, but at the same time, Tesla is hiking up their supercharging prices in multiple markets.

Earlier this month it was reported that supercharger pricing was going up in Europe. An email from TEsla said, “Due to an increase in energy prices, we are adjusting Supercharging pricing across Europe.”. These prices increased an average of 12 cents, which is significant. That means many stations were around 60 cents per kWh.

Just this week in California, Tesla said “Starting Wednesday, September 28, charging rates and off-peak hours will change at select Superchargers. Avoid the rush and save on charging costs when you begin your charging session during off-peak hours.

Tap the Supercharger map pins on your in-vehicle touch screen to view rates.”. Prices have increased throughout the year, and while still cheaper than filling up with gas, charging as certain superchargers are already over 50 cents per kWh.

Some stations are closer to 40 cents and they will be increasing further. Energy pricing is going up, so it makes sense that this is necessary, but it’s unfortunate to see the big gasoline savings being reduced a bit as Supercharger prices continue increasing.

Next up today, there’s an interesting transition happening in the car world, and this time it’s being illustrated funnily. Tesla is reportedly expecting a very high volume of vehicle deliveries during the end of this quarter. This happens in most quarters, and Elon Musk has tried to push Tesla away from the end-of-quarter pushes, but this one looks to be bigger than ever.

In a Tesla management email to employees, they said “We will be delivering a very high volume of vehicles to eagerly waiting for customers during the final days of Q3. To help ensure we can delight as many customers as possible, the delivery team requests additional support with key delivery-execution tasks.”.

Tesla is asking employees from all positions, and not those who work in delivery, to help with the tasks of delivering customer vehicles at the end of the quarter. This includes moving the vehicle, washing and preparing them, and delivering vehicles directly to customers.

With only a couple of days left in the quarter, they are in crunch mode, and many analysts believe Tesla will deliver anywhere from 350 – 370,000 cars this quarter, resulting in a new record. Their previous record was 310,000 in Q1 of 2022.

Part of these deliveries is coming from fleets, with Tesla particularly focused on delivering large fleet orders, like Hertz who ordered 100,000 Teslas back in October. Hertz says they expect to have all 100,000 Teslas by the end of 2022 and are getting a lot of them this week.

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As for the future, we may see more ordered there as well. Demand for Tesla rentals has skyrocketed at Hertz. Their CEO said “Demand has been very, very solid. We’re seeing demand not just among leisure travelers but also among corporate travelers, where corporations want their employees in an electric vehicle to satisfy some of their carbon footprint objectives.”.

Tesla is prioritizing Hertz to a degree if they are getting them 100,000 vehicles this quickly. Autonomy is also expecting to take delivery of 500 Teslas by the end of the week. At the same time, a big contributor to Tesla’s delivery ramping is Giga Shanghai.

Tesla recently completed a production capacity expansion in Shanghai, and reports are saying they may reach between 80 and 90,000 deliveries within September alone. This would break monthly records by a lot if they can hit that goal.

Judging on insurance data in previous weeks, it seems like this may not be possible within September, but we’ll likely get more info soon. They did deliver 78,000 within June, so a production capacity increase could help out significantly here. We’ll see delivery numbers released shortly after the quarter closes.

Tesla is set with battery supply. Martin Viecha, vice president of investor relations at Tesla confirmed this recently saying “For the first time I can remember, we can access all the supply we need for both businesses.”. This all comes before the ramp of Tesla’s own 4680 cells.

They also seem to be getting past supply issues as a whole, ramping up multiple factories, and getting back to delivering a record number of cars each quarter. At the same time, other companies trying to go electric are having a little harder time.

In reality, they’re just further behind than Tesla, because batteries are such a big factor for EVs being able to ship. Tesla has their supply secure, but over at Ford, they were recently forced to delay shipments of new vehicles because…they ran out of “Ford” badges.

Throughout the past couple of years, we’ve seen various supply issues, but this may be the most interesting one yet. The iconic Blue oval Ford badge is what is delaying deliveries, with some F150s sitting in lots awaiting their final piece for delivery.

Ford has been filling up the Kentucky speedway with unfinished F-150s awaiting final parts, and these are said to be other than semiconductors. Technically they could be the badge, but anything else as well. This isn’t apples to apples, but it’s interesting to see something like a badge holding back deliveries.

For the first time in a while, it doesn’t seem to be semiconductors. As of July, Ford had sold just under 5,000 F150 flashes of Lightning, but they have been ramping up. It’s exciting to see with that truck, so hopefully, this latest issue gets resolved quickly.

It appears to be affecting Ford deliveries as a whole, but likely will resolve quickly. Next up today, One of the largest expanding parts of Tesla’s business may come as a surprise to many: their used vehicle business. The thing we hear about the most is customers buying new Teslas, but longevity is a big part of what Tesla is trying to prove with their cars.

If you’re looking for an available Tesla, one way to do it is to buy used, but lately, due to Tesla lead times buying new, used prices are often more than buying new. This has happened across the board for cars, but especially Teslas. You pay a premium to get your vehicle right away.

Tesla has a whole used inventory site, selling used for all of their vehicles, but nobody thought much about it. This week, Jimmy Douglas, the director of sales and delivery operations at Tesla said “Most people don’t realize that Tesla runs its own vertically-integrated, nationwide online used car retailer.

It’s as big as some publicly traded used car retailers you’ve heard of, despite no Super Bowl commercials or wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube men.”. Electrek speculates that he’s comparing Tesla’s used business to companies like Carvana and Auto Nation, worth between $4 and $6 billion.

Tesla is getting these vehicles in multiple ways, but one is through trade-ins. Something that could be helping their growth here is the high selling prices, along with the low trade-in offers they are known to give.

Another big piece though, is that they do not offer lease buyouts. Back in 2019 “Tesla did not allow end-of-lease purchases on the Model 3 sedan due to the company’s stated desire to get those vehicles back to launch a robot taxi ride-hailing service”.

This started with the Model 3, and of many of those leases have ended. There is no robot taxi service for these cars to be put onto, so Tesla can take their leases back, and sell them at new high prices. In April of this year as well, Tesla officially updated their policy for leases across the board.

“All Tesla vehicles delivered on or after April 15, 2022, are not eligible for purchase. Third-party dealerships and third-party individuals are not eligible to purchase leased vehicles.”. Tesla end of lease options is to turn the vehicle in and walk away, extend the lease up to six months, or upgrade to a new Tesla.

This should work in their favor for the future, leading to many more Teslas they can turn around and sell at the end of the lease. I keep people updated on the latest for Tesla’s vehicles, and getting the latest and greatest is very exciting, but as I showed in my review of a 2018 Model 3 I purchased a few months ago, these cars hold up incredibly well.

The software is up to date, and this used vehicle feels great after 30,000 miles. It makes sense that their used business is taking off in the way it is with what I mentioned, as well as the simplicity Tesla has for it.

They already have an expansive delivery network setup, and when a used Tesla comes to them, they can put it on their website, and turn it around easily. For a customer, when you click to buy a new Model 3 and see you’ll have to wait a few months, you can just click over to Tesla’s used inventory site, and shop for Teslas in your area to take delivery immediately.

Next up today is an overview of what we could be seeing at AI Day on Friday. Tesla is holding AI Day 2022 on Friday, September 30th, and as always, Elon has hyped this up quite a bit. In the poster for the event, they’ve shown a teaser of what the hands of a Tesla bot could look like.

Regarding this bot, unveiled first last year at AI Day, Elon said “Tesla is arguably the world’s biggest robotics company because our cars are semi-sentient robots on wheels. It kind of makes sense to put that onto a humanoid form.”. At that event, they teased specs [2:08:58] and had a dummy on display as to what the shape of the bot could be.

They didn’t have a prototype ready to show, but Elon has said Tesla may have a prototype ready for AI Day #2. Tesla is working towards that goal, so we’ll have to see what form this prototype is in at the event. Either way, we’ll get an update on development there, and potentially see a functional prototype of the bot.

Then, FSD will likely be the focus. Tesla recently expanded the FSD beta to 160,000 drivers in the US and Canada, but they still have a ways to go before they reach their true ambitions here, to have their current fleet able to turn into robot taxis with a software update.

The FSD Beta now comes in at $15,000, so we’ll see Tesla’s latest predictions as to the timelines of this technology, and how progress has been in recent months. Then, Tesla will be talking about their Dojo computer.

This is what Tesla claims to be the world’s most advanced supercomputer to train AI software, and they unveiled a piece of this last year. This year, they’re expected to unveil a fully functional cluster of this training computer, which could be very impressive.

It also may prove vital for their self-driving efforts, which are completely reliant on AI. “When completed, Dojo is expected to be among the most powerful supercomputers on the planet. But rather than performing advanced calculations in areas like nuclear and climate research, Tesla’s supercomputer is running a neural net to train its AI software to power self-driving cars. “.

As always, it’s important to keep Elon’s timing, and predictions in check, but this could prove to be a very impressive event. It’s taking place Friday at 5 pm pacific time and 8 pm eastern time, so be on the lookout for my video after the event concludes. Next up today, a vehicle Tesla originally announced back in 2017 seems to finally be ready to make its first deliveries: The Tesla Semi.

Multiple Tesla Semis have been spotted shipping out to different areas of the country. Tesla Owners of Kentucky saw a Tesla Semi being shipped, while another was spotted in Arizona. Reportedly, this was headed to Giga Texas. Tesla is first planning to use the Semi themselves, but now many more prototypes are being spotted.

Their first customer is expected to be Frito Lay, who already has mega chargers installed to power these massive trucks, so first deliveries could be coming soon. Tesla last said it should officially ship this year. Initially, the Semi is being made in Nevada, but volume production is planned out of Giga Texas once that factory gets underway with the Model Y.

Last up today, some updates about other automakers. Over in India, Tata motors has launched a new $10,000 EV. It’s an all-electric version of their Tiago hatchback and is very competitive at its pricing. They expect it to have an operating cost of about 1/7th the cost of its gas-powered version.

Tata is India’s third largest carmaker and has outlined plans to launch 10 electric models by March of 2026. This particular car will get around 250km of 155 miles on a charge, and they are offering a more expensive version with a longer range.

They said that data from current owners show only daily usage of around 50km, so in this lower range, the cheaper vehicle made sense. That’s a very impressive cost, but it comes with certain advantages companies have within India, so we’ll see how this could affect cheaper EVs in the future.

Over at Nissan this week, they officially unveiled the starting price of the all-electric Ariya crossover SUV. It starts at $43,190 for their Engage FWD trim which includes a 62kWh battery. For just a bit more, you can get an 87kWh battery, and the trims mostly go up from there.

Their most expensive offering is the Platinum+ e-4orce with 87kWh at $60,190. The large packs, with the right motor combo, should see an impressive range of up to 304 miles. This car has been heavily delayed, so much so that it was supposed to be a 2022 year vehicle, and now is coming as a 2023 Model year.

Hopefully, they can get it properly launched this time, and dealers handle it well. Those are competitive prices, assuming they end up what customers pay. Over at Rivian, they have begun launching their R1S SUV.

This is a very exciting car because it’s based on the platform of the R1T, but is a very functional full-size electric SUV. This is the first of its kind that isn’t some form of a teardrop shape. It’s a large, boxy EV with 3 rows of seating.

This week it was reviewed by Doug Demuro, and he gave it the best score of any car he has ever tested. Not just any EV, any car. His Doug score tied it with the McLaren F1 because he sees this as one of the best overall vehicles he has ever seen. It does so many things well and is fully electric.

That’s great for Rivian because it’s showing that the popularity of the R1T is just the start of things for them. They are starting to ramp up deliveries, and last week when I picked up my R1T in Costa Mesa, I saw at least 5 of them sitting around the lot. Most likely, these were prepped for delivery.

I saw them in launch edition colors and normal colors like forest green. This should be a very popular SUV in general, and I’m excited to see Rivian ramp this up.

That’s all the latest Tesla news for today, so in the meantime, if you want to see my first impressions of the Rivian R1T after taking delivery this past weekend, you can check that out linked up here or in the description below. Thanks so much for watching, and I’ll see you at the next one.

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