Cars

In our series of exclusive articles about Tesla’s beta Autopilot and v7.0 software update, we described in details its capabilities and functions, but we couldn’t publish any pictures or videos of the systems in action in order to protect our sources.

But as the wide release of the update is getting closer, we found a video (via TMC) of a Model S owner apparently from China running v7.0 with Autopilot and testing the system with Autosteer and TACC on the highway.
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Following last week’s announcement to invest $1 million in battery research with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Tesla Motors opened its Gigafactory internship program for applications while visiting the University of Nevada, Reno earlier this week.
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Volkswagen’s new board of management issued a new statement this morning highligting its new strategy to come out of the emission scandal. CEO Dr. Herbert Diess about the announcement:

“The Volkswagen brand is repositioning itself for the future. We are becoming more efficient, we are giving our product range and our core technologies a new focus, and we are creating room for forward-looking technologies by speeding up the efficiency program.”

On top of obviously changing its diesel strategy to now comply with American and European standards, the company plans on making significant investments in electric vehicles.
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Media organisations will be disappointed to learn that Tesla CEO Elon Musk plans on cutting back on media appearances. In the past week, Musk mentioned on two occasions, on the Marketplace report and at the New Establishment Summit, that he wishes to reduce time spent on “press stuff” from “2 or 3 percent” of his time to only 1%.

We did the math. 1% of 24 hours is roughly 15 minutes a day or 100 minutes a week – assuming Musk includes sleep in his time.

The CEO says that he already spends most of his time on engineering and design, but he plans to use the time freed up by making less media appearances to focus even more on the products.
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<em>Musk with the Tesla Model S in Fremont on Oct. 1, 2011.</em>

In a radio interview today, Telsa CEO Elon Musk spoke about future demand for Tesla’s vehicles.

“I think the demand for the Model 3 is going to be very good,” said Musk today’s Marketplace report.

“As it is, we’ve got pretty good demand for the X and the S. And I think over time, the combined X and S demand is, you know, maybe a hundred thousand units per year, or maybe a bit more as we mature various markets,”

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Jim Chanos is a famed billionaire hedge fund manager known for short selling companies. He is also a regular market commentator for CNBC and Bloomberg. Chanos recently disclosed having a short position on solar installer SolarCity (SCTY) and although he refused to disclose his position on Tesla Motors (TSLA), he doesn’t have good things to say about the company.

During an interview with Bloomberg on Monday morning, Chanos explained why he thinks both companies are overvalued, but the “facts” he used to support his opinion are misleading.
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This year electronics and auto parts giant Bosch has been heavily investing the auto industry’s transition to electric powertrain. Earlier this summer, Bosch bought the solid-state battery start-up Seeo Inc. and has since been sparsely revealing details about its plan to bring new battery technologies to market by 2020.

During the company’s recent inauguration of its Renningen research campus, head of battery technology R&D Dr. Thorsten Ochs revealed more information about the company’s goals for Seeo’s solid-state battery. The Germany-based part maker is aiming for a 50 kWh pack to weight only 190 kg.
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Earlier this month SolarCity announced details of a new high-efficiency solar panel it plans on producing at its 1 GW module factory under-construction in Buffalo, NY. The company claimed that the module’s 22.04% efficiency was enough to make it the “most efficient rooftop solar module” ever made.  The claim apparently sparked a “war” of high-efficiency solar panels because in the week following the announcement two other solar panel makers claimed to have surpassed SolarCity’s record.
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on Twitter Saturday night that his company will release its software v7.0 with Autopilot for the Model S on Thursday (October 15th). In mid-August Tesla sent out the first release of the beta update to about 600-700 early access testers all around the U.S. and parts of Europe. This particular update is an extremely anticipated one. It includes an important UI design overhaul, but also and more importantly several new ‘Autopilot’ features, which some Model S owners have been waiting for over a year now.
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Yesterday we reported on comments made by Tesla CEO Elon Musk during a recent interview with German newspaper Handelsblatt. The CEO, known for speaking his mind candidly on occasions, made comments that could easily have been interpreted as critical to the design of the Apple Watch and the quality of the company’s hires from Tesla, but Friday afternoon Musk took to Twitter to soften those comments.
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk was at Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit earlier this week for a talk with Sam Altman, the President of Y Combinator.  New York Times and CNBC contributor Andrew Ross Sorkin moderated the conversion on topics from sustainable energy to artificial intelligence.
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The Tokyo Motor Show is coming up on October 29 and automakers are starting to announce a few concepts they will unveil at the event. Yesterday we covered Mitsubishi’s eX electric vehicle concept, today we take a quick look at Nissan’s Teatro with a gallery of renders.
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When Tesla Motors negotiated with the state of Nevada to build its battery factory in the desert east of Reno, the state government agreed to give the automaker up to $1.3 billion in tax incentives over 20 years to build the $5 billion project.

But the deal came with several requirements the company needs to meet to get access to the tax breaks. Most of which have to do with employment – Tesla is expected to create up to 6,500 jobs through the Gigafactory once it operates at full capacity in 2020 – but a lesser known requirement was for Tesla to invest in educational research in the state and this week the company fulfilled the commitment by signing an agreement to invest $1 million in battery research with the University of Nevada in Las Vegas (UNLV) over the next 5 years.
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Mitsubishi announced today that it will unveil a new electric vehicle concept at the Tokyo Motor Show, which starts on October 29. The new vehicle is called the eX concept and the company hopes to bring it to market in 2020.
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Last month we reported on the likely possibility of the Tesla Model X being eligible to $25,000 in tax deduction for business use under Section 179 of the tax code, also known as the ‘Hummer Tax Loophole’. The provision got its name for making Hummers very popular with businesses when it allowed for tax deductions of up to $500,000 for the purchase of heavy vehicles and equipment.

A vehicle requires a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of over 6,000 lbs to be eligible for the tax deduction. Last month we didn’t have the official weight of the Model X nor its GVWR, which consists of the curb weight of the vehicle plus the weight of driver, passengers and cargo capacity, but excluding the weight of any trailer and towing capacity.

Today Tesla confirmed the curb weight of the Model X is 5,441 lbs and the company “expects the GVWR to exceed 6,000 lb” – making the Model X eligible to the tax deduction. Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s Model X P90D has a rated GVWR of 6768 lbs, well exceeding to required capacity. 
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Fred did some excellent work sorting out the Model X pricing but I was surprised to hear that I’d be able to buy a Model X for $75K  before incentives and $65K with…next year.  But how does Tesla get to the $75K price point without going against CEO Elon Musk’s “Model S +$5000” pricing scheme? After all a Model S 70D is currently listed at $75,000.
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As we recently mentioned, there’s been some confusion in the media about the price of the Tesla Model X. The confusion even spread to Wall Street where analysts have been reducing their target price on Tesla’s stock because of the expensive $132,000 price tag circulating in the media.

To be clear, $132,000 is the starting price of the Signature Model X which is already sold out. The Signature comes standard with the performance package (P90D) and several options which increase the price. For example, a maxed out Tesla Model S cost $138,000, but the base version  starts at $70,000. Yesterday Elon Musk confirmed at a Vanity Fair conference that the Model X will have a similar price structure starting next year (when Tesla can actually catch up to demand).
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There’s been some inconsistencies and very little information about the Model X’s availability and pricing, but it could change in the coming weeks as Tesla says it will invite the next group of reservation holders to configure their cars in the “next few weeks”. The company sent out an email this morning to people who have a reservation for the production version of the Model X (see email below).
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