Oatly, the Swedish premier oat-based food producer, announced today that it will become one of the world’s first companies to electrify its fleet of heavy trucks. Its first electric trucks will roll out in October, covering about 125 zero-emission miles per day. Plans are under way for those deliveries to use remote-operated, self-driving EVs such as the Einride Pod.
The boxy, American postal truck now in service across the US is built on specs from 1994, with a design dating back to 1984. While Amazon is moving forward with electrifying its fleet of delivery vehicles, plans for the US Postal Service to modernize its trucks have stagnated for more than a decade. Now, under Trump’s new postal chief, plans for a fuel-efficient delivery vehicle are once again postponed.
The list of available electric passenger vehicles is growing fast. But the fastest-growing automotive segment — believe it or not — is local delivery vehicles. That’s because global consumers are in an e-commerce frenzy of Amazon orders. Black Friday is coming up. And each one of your orders will trigger a big, loud, polluting delivery truck to hit the streets and deliver your package.
Bjørn Nyland, a Tesla vlogger based in Norway, won a free Founders series Model X through Tesla’s referral program. The limited edition status of his car will make him one of the first owner in Europe and he now reports that his SUV finally entered production this week.
Several other European Model X reservation holders are now reporting having received confirmation that their vehicles entered the production phase this week.
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It’s rare for Tesla to disclose its sales per market, but it looks like they couldn’t resist the opportunity to highlight the Model S’ market performance in the U.S. during the earnings this week. The company confirmed 25,202 Model S sales in the U.S. in 2015, which gave the company a 25% market share, while every single other large luxury sedan has seen its sales decrease during the same period.
It gave me the idea to look into the midsize luxury segment in the US, which is the segment the upcoming Model 3 is expected to compete in, and see what it would look like if the vehicle was to do as well as the Model S did in the large luxury segment.
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A new patent that surfaced on Tuesday (via Qz) suggests that Google/Alphabet could have plans to use its self-driving car technologies for a truck-based delivery service. The patent describes an “autonomous delivery platform” for an autonomous truck with lockers (not unlike an Amazon locker), driving to a customer’s location to deliver a package…
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Tesla confirmed achieving a 238 units per week production rate for the Model X during the last week of December. The company produced just over 500 Model X’s in 2015, which represents about half of the ~1,000 US reservation backlog of limited-edition ‘Signature Model X’.
If the company maintained its production rate during the past two weeks, it means the company is starting the production of its regular production Model X, and the first report of a production Model X reservation holder having his car entering production is corroborating the assumption.
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Model X deliveries are picking up as evidenced by numerous new videos and pictures posted to social media websites. We gathered a few of our favorites.
A new Tesla Model X was spotted at the Syosset service center in Long Island yesterday. A Tesla forum member posted some pictures to PlugShare and claims the VIN number was for a Signature Series #664, which would indicate that Tesla started deliveries of the Model X beyond the initial few “Founders Series”.
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As Signature Model X reservation holders are still patiently (or impatiently) waiting for a delivery date from Tesla, one more Founders series owner managed to get his hands on the all-electric SUV. This time its the #36, a significant jump from the last reported #13 delivered to Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya.
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According to the registration data coming in for November in European markets, Tesla delivered 157 Model S’s last month in the Netherlands – up from 145 units in October. The Netherlands continue to be an important market for Tesla. It is the second biggest European market for the company with Norway being the first.
Year-to-date, the company delivered 1,613 cars in the country, which represents a 44% increase versus the same period last year.
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Tesla recently reported its third quarter financial results and the company disclosed delivery guidance for 2016. Tesla expects to produce and deliver between 1,600 and 1,800 vehicles per week on average next year – meaning a yearly total of 83,200 to 93,600 units. If the company can achieve the higher end of its guidance, it would deliver more cars in a year than it did since the company was founded in 2003.
The automaker delivered 11,603 cars from July through September, which made the last quarter its best to date, but the company is aiming to significantly increase production this quarter in order to deliver between 17,000 to 19,000 units during the last three months of year.
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During a recent presentation at the University of Nevada, Reno, Tesla CTO JB Straubel mentioned that the company is now selling more cars in Europe than in North America. The company rarely reveals information about its sales by segment and it was the first official confirmation that European markets now outperform the U.S. in demand for Tesla’s Model S.
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