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Tesla releases shareholder report, breaks ground on Gigafactory site in Reno Nevada, Conference call at 5:30 ET

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From today’s Shareholder Report(PDF):

In June, we broke ground just outside Reno, Nevada on a site that could potentially be the location for the Gigafactory. Consistent with our strategy to identify and break ground on multiple sites, we continue to evaluate other locations in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. The final site for the first Gigafactory will be determined in the next few months, once we have full visibility and agreement on the relevant incentives and processes for enabling the Gigafactory to be fully operational to meet the timing for Model 3. We see these concurrent efforts as prudent. This vehicle will be
our third-generation product and will substantially broaden the addressable market for Tesla, helping to accelerate the transition towards sustainable transportation. Any potentially duplicative investments are minor compared to the revenue that could be lost if the launch of Model 3 were affected by any delays at our primary Gigafactory site.

Conference call will be at 5:30 here. Stock is down in after hours on unit shipment numbers.

When a recall isn’t a recall. Tesla is replacing plug adapters on charging cables

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Oh lordy. The press has gotten ahold of a lunker with its latest TESLA RECALL! meme. Unfortunately for the sensational, Tesla has already announced (last week) that it would be replacing the NEMA 14-50 adapters on its built-in charging cables (pictured above, circled). It also issued a software update that would step down charging if it had detected thermal resistance. Here’s the official letter (PDF).

It is the equivalent of Apple replacing its iPhone USB cable AC adapters.

All of this was in reaction to a garage fire that was likely caused by bad internal wiring (the investigation is still pending).

Today’s formal announcement says “recall” so the dimmer of us is running with that even though the facts on the ground are this:

  • No cars are being recalled or have to go anywhere.
  • Tesla will mail the $10 (guesstimate) adapter to customers
  • The press is not properly educated on electrical engineering concepts
  • Stock traders are. The “news” along with better than predicted production numbers has sent the stock upwards

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/423145289310953473

TSLA share price drops on news it is sending out replacement car chargers that will protect shoddy wiring

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I kid you not. Bloomberg:

The charger connectors, which tether Tesla-issued cables to wall outlets, will be mailed out in the next two weeks, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said in an interview today.

“These are very rare events, but occasionally the wiring isn’t done right,” Musk said. “We want people to have absolute comfort, so we’re going to be providing them with an upgraded adapter.”

Tesla fell 2.6 percent to $143.72 at 12:20 p.m.

Tesla also upgraded the Model S firmware last month to prevent cars from drawing too much power from inadequate wiring.

At first blush, you might be thinking (as I had) that this is silly. My house is wired properly so I shouldn’t ever have issues like the person in California whose garage caught on fire after a short in the wiring in November.

But what if you go to a vacation rental or visit the family/relatives for a weekend. Can you be sure that the electrician that did their wiring was competent?

Good on Tesla for covering this; ‘Short sighted’ on investors for seeing this as a sign of weakness and not strength.

Update: Press release follows:
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Tesla ends the year with 50 US superchargers and most of the East and West Coast covered

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What you are looking at above is the state of the Tesla Supercharger network on The last day of 2013/first day of 2014.  Tesla counts 50 Superchargers in the US (1 per state!) and another 14 in Europe. While Elon Musk originally planned to take his family on a Christmas holiday across the country, there are still some rather big holes to fill.

Those holes all fall in the “coming soon” category and if you take a look at this helpful 3rd party map, you can see a lot of the country is still being built.

Tesla pushes back Supercharger station rollout moving Fall and Winter into “Coming Soon” category

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Tesla rejiggered its Supercharger map today moving Fall and Winter 2013 into a “Coming Soon” category. Fall is a few weeks from being over and it was clear Tesla wouldn’t be able to make the deadline on many of its stations, especially in the east coast where things have all but stalled in the Supercharger front. 
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Tesla does #Drivefree adventure from San Diego to Vancouver to celebrate completion of Supecharger network

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Pictures above via Ryan! Tweets below chronicle the journey:
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Tesla opens Springfield Oregon Supercharger, announces West Coast Corridor open

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Tesla today officially announced the Springfield Oregon Supercharger had opened thereby allowing Tesla owners to travel the whole West Coast of the US without spending a penny.

I had called the thing a bit early last week but Tesla wasn’t ready to give it the green light until the Springfield OR station opened because the distance between the two previous Oregon stations “would be a little bit risky” for 60kWh owners.

The new station is a few blocks off the highway, contains 8 stalls and is open immediately.

Press release follows:
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California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont team up to support electric vehicles

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The NYTimes:

In an effort to spur lackluster sales of electric cars, California, New York and six other states said on Thursday that they would work jointly to adopt a range of measures, including encouraging more charging stations and changing building codes, to make it easier to own an electric car.

The goal, they said, was to achieve sales of at least 3.3 million vehicles that did not have any emissions by 2025.

The states, which represent more than a quarter of the national car market, said they would seek to develop charging stations that all took the same form of payment, simplify rules for installing chargers and set building codes and other regulations to require the stations at workplaces, multifamily residences and at other places.

Charging stations, charging stations, charging stations.

Tesla Supercharger dashboard reveals that I5 corridor is close to being finished, more East Coast/Texas as well

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Great find from @mgillet onTwitter. This appears to be a Tesla dashboard at the headquarters showing significant growth in charging over the past few months.   More importantly, we some highly anticipated charging stations ‘coming soon’.  Probably most exciting for Tesla is the Oregon and northern California stations that will close the I5 corridor meaning the West Coast will be covered.  Also two stations on the California/Arizona border will allow trips to/from Phoenix and LA/San Diego.

You’ll notice that two stations, one in Colorado and one in Texas, are lit up even though Tesla hasn’t pushed to the  Supercharger Station website Map, below.

Texans will get two more Supercharger stations in Eastern Texas linking them to Arkansas and Louisiana. East coasters will get a couple in Northern New Jersey as well as Virginia and North Carolina allowing folks in Vermont/New Hampshire to travel to the Carolinas and vice versa.

Some fun facts:

  • Fremont (Tesla Factory) and Hawthorn in SoCal seem to be far and away the busiest Superchargers with Gilroy coming in third over the last 30 days.
  • Unsurprisingly, most people put 20-40kWh into their Teslas during a stop.
  • 1576 cars visited superchargers in the last week
  • Almost 4 million miles have been charged at Supercharging stations…
  • That equates to 14,000 MWh…
  • Which has saved nearly 160,000 gallons of gas.

Compare with the current map as of today, 10/21/2013:

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