Rich Heley was one of Tesla’s biggest hire and quickly rose in the executive ranks of the automaker. We broke the news of his hire back in 2013 when he was still leading Alloy Engineering at Apple. Now we learn that only 3 years later, the engineer, who until recently was Vice President of Product Technology at Tesla, is now leaving for Facebook.
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If you are wondering how come Tesla’s stock price is performing relatively well in the past week despite all the bad publicity following a recent fatal accident while a Model S driver was using Autopilot, an NHTSA evaluation that could lead to a recall and an important delivery miss for the last quarter, Ihor Dusaniwsky, Head of Research at the financial analytics firm S3 Partners, has an interesting theory explaining the situation.
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The Economic Times released an interesting article with a reaching title ‘How Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors maybe killing flamingos with its electric cars‘ yesterday. The claim is so absurd that it prompted Musk to mock it on Twitter:
Because of course I hate flamingos…(maybe try eating fewer flamingo eggs in your salad)https://t.co/tUKsWqCobo
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 5, 2016
While the endangerment of the Flamigos’ environment is not a laughing matter, the publication’s link back to Musk and Tesla certainly looks like one.
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Update: Tesla Model X rollover accident in PA: Tesla says ‘no data to suggest that Autopilot was engaged’
Just a few days after the first fatality in a Model S accident while the Tesla Autopilot was activated came to light, we now learn of another severe Tesla crash while the vehicle was allegedly on Autopilot, but this time with a Model X and fortunately everyone survived.
The crashed happened last Friday (July 1) on the Pennsylvania Turnpike near the Bedford exit, about 107 miles east of Pittsburgh. The Model X hit a guard rail and then the concrete median before rolling over and coming to a rest in the middle lane. The driver, Albert Scaglione, told the police that the Autopilot was activated at the time of the accident.
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Norway is still moving down the list of Tesla’s top-selling markets with another disappointing quarter in deliveries for the Model S. The market was the automaker’s biggest in Europe with about 8% of its total worldwide deliveries last year.
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Following the news of the fatal accident in a Tesla Model S on Autopilot, which happened in May but only came to light last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk claims that about half of the approximately one million people who died in auto accidents last year would have been saved if the Tesla Autopilot was universally available.
He made the comment in a somewhat strange email conversation with a retired journalist.
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You remember the Hyundai IONIQ? The South Korean automaker’s one-car platform to release three models with different electric powertrains, IONIQ Hybrid (HEV), IONIQ Plug-in (PHEV) and IONIQ Electric (BEV). It created a lot of buzz earlier this year with hopes that the all-electric version could compete with the Chevy Bolt, Tesla Model 3 and other long-range electric cars coming to market in the next year.
We were disappointed when it was actually revealed that the IONIQ Electric will actually have a 28 kWh battery pack allowing for an EPA-rated of about 110 miles. Now Hyundai reveals the first pricing for the vehicle in Europe, starting with the UK, further confirming that the vehicle will actually be competing with the Nissan LEAF.
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Today is the first trading day for Tesla’s (TSLA) stock after the automaker released its second quarter production and delivery results – missing its goals for both. The automaker confirmed missing its delivery guidance of 17,000 vehicles in Q2 with only 14,370 vehicles, while also missing its production guidance of 20,000 vehicles with only 18,345 vehicles.
The stock price fell sharply (over 4%) in pre-market. Now the first Wall Street analysts are commenting and adjusting their earnings prediction to account for the new information released by Tesla.
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While electric vehicle startup Faraday Future (FF) has yet to unveil its first vehicle meant for production, the aspiring automaker has two important things going for it: it’s attracting a lot of top talent and it reportedly secured a lot of funding.
Now FF says that it is about to announce a “meaningful” funding round from “Asian investors” in the coming weeks, which will help pay for the $1 billion factory under construction in North Las Vegas.
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Earlier today, we were discussing how Tesla could increase its global deliveries with upcoming expansions to new markets. We mentioned Mexico, South Korea, Eastern Europe and the Middle East, but Taiwan went right under our radar. Electrek readers pointed out that Tesla is just now entering the country with orders for the Model S starting this week.
The automaker is opening a ‘pop-up store’ this week in the upscale Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store in the Xinyi District of Taipei, the nation’s capital city.
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You can now drive the Tesla Model X with the Falcon Wing doors completely extended. Of course, it is not recommended and if you decide to do it, you will be met with both audible and visual alerts. It allows to quickly reposition the SUV for a better exit if needed and it’s a pretty cool party trick (as seen in the recent Chicago and SF pride parades), but other than that, it’s preferable to only open the doors when parked, especially when in a garage.
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Too good to be true? Yes, probably, but that’s what a Tesla Model S owner on Craiglist is claiming. While we will have to disagree with the owner’s definition of “minor dents and dings”, it’s not impossible to imagine how this Model S would still be able to drive – though its salvage status is evidently still well-deserved.
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As we reported after Tesla’s performance in the country last quarter, the automaker has found an interesting and growing market for the Model S in relatively small Austria, a country of ~8 million people.
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Tesla’s detractors have been claiming that the automaker reached the peak demand for its flagship sedan, the Model S, ever since its first full year of production in 2013. Tesla has proven them wrong over and over again with record-breaking deliveries last year, but as evidenced by the company recent results, it will be more difficult to reject allegations of reaching peak demand.
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Just as the first fatal crash in a Tesla with the Autopilot activated came to light last week, we revealed that the automaker is planning to release its software version 8.0. Tesla refers to the update as the most important to its touchscreen since the launch of the Model S in 2012, but it will also feature significant improvements to the Autopilot.
While Tesla has obviously been working on the update before the highly publicized crash, which happened in May, the timing is still interesting as Tesla’s semi-autonomous system is now subject to more scrutiny than ever before.
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Tesla (TSLA) released today its production and delivery numbers for the second quarter 2016. The automaker confirmed missing its delivery guidance of 17,000 vehicles in Q2 with only 14,370 vehicles, while also missing its production guidance of 20,000 vehicles with only 18,345 vehicles.
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Following a fatal Model S crash on Autopilot reported earlier this week, one of Tesla’s main supplier for the Autopilot program, Mobileye, commented on the accident and explained that its Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) wasn’t meant to avoid the impact.
Tesla has since responded to Mobileye’s statement, which we added to our article on the comment, but it’s worth elaborating on the differences between the systems as we recently learned more about them through tests earlier this week, and the tragic accident which is only now coming to light.
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Tesla Model 3 prototypes are being spotted more frequently lately. Last week, we saw the black matte Model 3 prototype in a video on the road and leaked shots inside of what looked like a service center. Now the silver prototype was spotted at the Fremont factory.
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As we previously reported, the fatal Tesla Autopilot accident happened last month in Florida, but it has been fascinating the media since last night after NHTSA launched an evaluation of Tesla’s Autopilot system over the accident. Now ABC sent a team to investigate in Florida and uncovered images of the aftermath of the accident.
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Blake Fuller, CEO of GO Puck, shared a video his complete record-breaking hill climb run completed at Pikes Peak last weekend. Earlier this week, we reported that Fuller set the new record for a production electric vehicle at the International Hill Climb with a 11:48 time – over a minute faster than the previous record.
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The first reported death in a Tesla Model S crash while the Autopilot was activated has been shaking the Tesla and self-driving car community since yesterday. The tragic accident happened May 7th in Florida, but we only learned about it yesterday when Tesla revealed that the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched preliminary evaluation in Tesla’s Autopilot system.
We don’t pretend to know everything about the accident, but based on the information released by the Florida Highway Patrol, Tesla and NHTSA, we try to convey our best understanding of the events and the possible impact of the regulator’s probe on the Autopilot.
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Mobileye, an Israel-based tech company developing some of the technology behind Tesla’s Autopilot, commented on the fatal Model S crash reported yesterday. A spokesperson said that the company’s current Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) system is only meant for rear-end collision avoidance and since the crash was front (of the Model S) to side (of a truck), the system was not designed to avoid it.
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As we predicted yesterday, electric car startup Faraday Future announced today a partnership with Dragon Racing, an existing team in the Formula E championship, to create a new race team now called ‘Faraday Future Dragon Racing’, which will compete in the Formula E’s next season starting in October.
With the announcement, the team revealed a few images of the vehicle they will race in the championship.
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In a new note to client today, Credit Suisse downgraded SolarCity’s (SCTY) stock from ‘Outperform’ to ‘Neutral’ with a price target of $27.00 (from $38.00 previously) based on what it sees as an increased probability of the Tesla’s (TSLA) acquisition deal closing, which it estimates to be ‘grossly undervalued’.
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