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Tesla’s Fremont factory could manufacture up to 1 million vehicles per year, says Musk

Following Tesla’s announcement that it plans to double its total production output to 500,000 vehicles in 2018 and 1 million in 2020, Tesla CEO Elon Musk was asked by analysts how and where he plans to manufacture those vehicles.

While the company has been talking about plans to build more vehicle factories in Europe and China, Tesla’s Fremont factory remains its only full-fledged car manufacturing facility. Company officials have always referred to the Fremont plant’s total capacity to be around 500,000 cars per year once optimized, which is what Toyota and GM were producing when they owned the factory, until now.
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NextEV will build a $500 million factory to manufacture electric vehicle motors in China

Chinese electric-car startup NextEV announced that it signed a strategic partnership agreement with the Nanjing Municipal Government in China, to build a 3 billion RMB ($465 million) factory in the region. The young company, which came out of stealth mode just last year, is said to have already raised close to $1 billion.

The company appears to have a similar approach as Tesla’s high-end car to mass-market vehicle strategy. NextEV says it will launch an electric vehicle with supercar-like performance by the end of the year, which will be followed by a mass-market vehicle they plan to offer for about $50,000 in China. The startup already developed electric race car for the Formula E (see picture above).
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ChargePoint raised $50 million to expand its EV charging network internationally

EV charging station maker and network operator, ChargePoint, announced that it closed a significant funding round with $50 million to expand infrastructure to new countries and ramp up its residential business. A couple of venture capitalist firms and electricity company Constellation Energy participated in the round of funding.

Since its inception in 2007, ChargePoint has raised $164 million.
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Tesla sets July 1st 2017 as deadline for Model 3 parts with suppliers and internally

During a conference call with financial analysts, Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed some of the most important details of the production plan for the Model 3. Most interestingly, he said that Tesla set a deadline for Model 3 internal parts and supplier parts for July 1st, 2017.

Musk called the date an “impossible date” and therefore it doesn’t mean that Tesla will start shipping in the weeks following this deadline, but Musk added that he estimates Tesla could manufacture as many as 100,000 to 200,000 Model 3 vehicles during the second half of 2017.
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Tesla (TSLA) surged following Q1 financial results, slightly below expectations, better outlook

Tesla reported its first quarter 2016 financial results and the company missed earnings expectation slightly with a loss per share of $0.57 vs $0.54, but also beat revenue expectation by a very slight margin with $1.6 billion.

The automaker’s stock (TSLA) still surged because of the announcement of a new build plan advancing its 500,000 units per year guidance by two years to 2018. The stock gained 7% after the announcement, but it is holding up 3% in after-hour trading.

Here are the highlights of Tesla’s shareholders letter:
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Tesla announces new Model 3 production plans, guidance of 500,000 cars/yr by 2018, instead of 2020

Tesla’s stock price (TSLA) surged by 7% in after-hour trading after the release of its first quarter 2016 financial results. The reason for the surge wasn’t as much about its earnings, but because of its new Build Plan.

The automaker announced that it is advancing its 500,000 units per year guidance by two years to 2018. Tesla says that the new production plan is in reaction to the over 400,000 Model 3 reservations it received since the unveiling last month.
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Chevy Jolt a clever fake, but the Tesla Model 3 competitor GM should build

An interesting Chevy-branded concept debuted this week: A sporty, 230-mile-range, 2-door ELR-inspired EV coupe, said to be available by “late 2018.” Quick and attractive, it has much of what the Chevy Bolt will be missing once it is up against the Tesla Model 3. Like the Tesla, it will accelerate to 60 mph in less than six seconds, five to be exact. Like the Tesla, it will have automated crash avoidance safety features and fast charging.


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Two Tesla top manufacturing executives to leave following Model X production issues

Two of Tesla’s top manufacturing executives, Vice President of Production, Greg Reichow, and Vice President of Manufacturing, Josh Ensign, are leaving the automaker following several issues with the production ramp up of the Model X, according to a new report from Bloomberg.

On the other hand, a Tesla spokesperson confirmed both departures, saying that Reichow, the most senior exec of the two, will remain until his replacement is found, but the representative has denied a connection with the issues with the Model X production ramp up.
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Tesla is now fighting direct sales restrictions in North Carolina

The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) is currently holding a hearing to decide whether or not to allow Tesla to get a second dealership license to operate in the state without having to go through a third-party franchise dealerships.

Tesla currently operates a store and service center in Charlotte and a service center in Raleigh. The automaker is now trying to get a second sales license since having won a legislative battle that successfully stopped a bill from outright banning direct car sales in the state back in 2013.
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Report: Tesla to introduce new Autopilot hardware and pedestrian alert to the Model S [Update: unlikely]

Update: adding to the skepticism in our article, a source familiar with the matter refutes Cleantechnica’s report.

Last week, we received a tip that Tesla is about to introduce a new trifocal Autopilot camera and a system to emit a noise to alert pedestrians for the updated Model S released just last month. We were not able to confirm it and therefore left it on the back-burner.

Now Cleantechnica is running it as an “exclusive” and a done deal though without specifying how they confirmed it (or even if). It looks like they received the exact same tip since they are not adding any new information. So I would take all this with a grain of salt.
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A new and much-needed 12-stall Tesla Supercharger is under construction in Montreal [Gallery]

Last month, we reported on Tesla already starting to deliver on their announcement made during the Model 3 unveiling event that the automaker will significantly expand its two networks of charging stations. CEO Elon Musk said that Tesla will double the number of Superchargers to 7,000 units and quadruple the number of Destination chargers to 15,000 units within the next 2 years.

Now Tesla is adding another location and starting construction of a much-needed 12-stall Supercharger in Montreal.
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Google and Chrysler have confirmed a partnership for 100 self-driving electric minivans

2021 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid, a plug-in

Following a report this morning from Bloomberg suggesting that Google and Chrysler were about to announce a deal that would see Google’s self-driving technology being implemented in Chrysler’s upcoming new Pacifica minivan, the CEOs of both companies have now confirmed an agreement albeit not exactly what was being discussed earlier today.

While this morning’s report suggested a plan to work on a few “dozens of self-driving prototypes” in order to later bring the technology to the production version of the Pacifica, instead the deal would now see Google buying about 100 Pacifica minivans from Chrysler to use as prototypes,  but no exactly like it does with its current Lexus SUVs, and the Mountain View company will provide a “technological crash course” in self-driving technology to Chrysler though the new partnership.
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Tesla’s stock (TSLA) down ahead of earnings, Wall Street weighs in

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Tesla’s stock (TSLA) fell over 3% on Tuesday morning as Wall Street analysts are releasing notes on the company ahead of the financial results tomorrow. To be fair, the whole market is down (NASDAQ -1.15%) and crude oil took a hit (-2.32%), but it is still interesting to know what Wall Street thinks of Tesla going into the earnings.
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Tesla confirms the 75 kWh battery pack is coming to the Model S [Updated]

The California Air Resource Board (CARB) updated its website to surprisingly add an unannounced new Tesla Model S 75D to its list of vehicles eligible for single occupant carpool lane stickers. While Tesla unveiled a new drivetrain powered by a 75 kWh battery pack for the Model X last month, the automaker didn’t want to confirm the same battery option for the Model S.
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A ‘flood’ of Tesla Model 3 pre-orders from China makes it the second biggest market for Tesla

While talking with the South China Morning Post, Tesla’s Vice President of Asia-Pacific Ren Yuxiang confirmed that China was the second biggest market for Model 3 reservations since its unveiling last month. He didn’t really confirm which country is the biggest market, but it is safe to assume that it is the US.

The last update on the number of reservations for the Model 3 came from Elon Musk when he said that Tesla received “some 400,000 pre-orders” during a meeting last month. 
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Tesla will be hosting a “massive” job fair to hire “hundreds” of new production workers this weekend

As Tesla is looking to almost double its annual vehicle production every year for the next few years, it has to significantly increase its headcount, which currently stands at just over 15,000 employees. Now Tesla is reportedly set to go on a hiring spree this weekend to hire “hundreds” of “production assembly associates” at a “massive” job fair in Fremont, California, according to job listings.

Tesla recently confirmed that it is currently working on increasing its production plans to minimize the wait for the Model 3 following the storm of reservations it received for the $35,000 all-electric sedan – approaching 400,000 cars as of the latest update.
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Tesla adds an important 1 million sq-ft of space near the Fremont Factory

Tesla recently signed a lease for two new buildings in the Bay Area, adding a total of over 1 million square feet of production or warehouse space in the region, according to a new report from Silicon Valley Business Journal’s Real Estate Reporter, Nathan Donato-Weinstein.

The buildings are located in the new Oaks Logistics Center in Livermore, about 20 miles from Tesla’s Fremont factory. The buildings cover 635,533 square feet and 367,734 square feet, and there’s a third 294,000 square feet building that Tesla could also be looking into leasing according to Donato-Weinstein’s report.
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Tesla offers a distribution center with 150 jobs to Connecticut in last-ditch effort to pass direct sales bill

While the bill SB3, a new legislation to allow electric automakers to sell directly to consumers in Connecticut, appeared to have died during the weekend after bill sponsor Bob Duff said that his caucus was divided on the issue and that he didn’t have the votes:

“I think the car dealers and others have been very effective in lobbying in their favor. We’ll come back again and try in another year.”

Now in a last-ditch effort as the legislative deadline approaches on Wednesday night, Tesla offered the state a new distribution center with 150 jobs to sweeten the deal.
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A Tesla Model S equipped with a robotic arm for your wheelchair [Video]

A Germany-based company, Paravan, is a leader in the electric wheelchair market and related accessories to adapt vehicles for people with disabilities. While they mostly work with vans and trucks, their latest product makes almost any car with enough trunk space extremely practical for someone using a wheelchair.

They installed it in a Tesla Model S to illustrate the functionalities of the product and the range of vehicles it can be installed on.
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Tesla (TSLA) will publish its Q1 2016 financial results this week – here’s what to expect

Tesla (TSLA) montreal

tesla montreal

Tesla is set to release its first quarter 2016 financial results on Wednesday, May 4 after market close. As usual, the release of the results will be followed by a conference call and Q&A with Tesla’s management at 2:30pm Pacific Time (5:30pm Eastern Time). Now here’s what to expect on Wednesday:
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Apple Campus drone flyover includes images of monster rooftop solar power installation

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Sister site 9to5mac posted a drone video of a flyover at the new Apple campus – that’s pretty sweet to see the Apple campus coming along. More importantly though – there is an image of the solar power installation! It’s nothing beyond a square parking structure building with some modules, but it represents something pretty cool – a large scale solar power installation at time of building construction. Apple is going to have very positive financials on a thing like this.
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Tesla: “Bioweapon Defense Mode is not a marketing statement. You can literally survive a military grade bio attack by sitting in your car”

Tesla released today more information about its HEPA air filter system to back its “Bioweapon Defense Mode” claim. The company details its testing process and how it came to implement a system inspired by the air filtration systems used in hospitals, clean rooms, and the space industry.

Update: CEO Elon Musk of course Tweeted some background on the story giving credit for the idea to Alphabet CEO Larry Page. 

The automaker describes some of the tests the system had to go through:
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