Tesla Motors released its delivery results today for July through September 2015 and confirmed that the company delivered 11,580 cars during the quarter. For the first time, the number includes two different models in the same quarter: Model S and Model X.
Presumably, only the 6 Model X’s delivered during the launch earlier this week are accounted for in the third quarter results, meaning Tesla delivered ~11,574 Model S’s beating its previous record of 11,532 units achieved during Q2 2015. Expand Expanding Close
SolarCity announced today that it has built the most efficient rooftop solar module with 22% efficiency according to a third party tester: Renewable Energy Test Center. Until now, SunPower’s X-Series panel was considered the most efficient rooftop panel with 21.5% efficiency.
SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive says that the new modules will produce between 350 to 360-watt compared to the company’s current 260-watt panels. Expand Expanding Close
Tesla board member Steve Jurvetson was one of the first person to take delivery of the new Model X last Tuesday. He is already putting the car to the test with a road-trip accompanied by his VC colleague at DFJ, Bubba Murarka. Murarka posted a short video of the Model X in the rain, which is an interesting experience with the car’s panoramic windshield. Expand Expanding Close
Tesla launched the Model X last night in Fremont. You can read our quick overview of Elon Musk’s walk-through of the vehicle here, but here’s the video of the event and a roundup of the videos shot during the press day leading up to the event.
Some reservation holders have been waiting for over 3 years for the Model X, and now it’s finally here. Tonight Tesla launched its all-electric SUV in Fremont, California in front of a crowd of reservation holders, employees and journalists. We already knew a lot about the Model X prior to the launch – 0 to 60 mph in 3.2 secs, AWD, up to 257 miles range – but Tesla CEO Elon Musk still had a few surprises… Expand Expanding Close
If you have been following news about Tesla Motors lately you know that the company is launching the Model X today, but you might have also heard that they will launch a “600+ miles vehicle” in about 2 years. Several publications have been publishing articles with a variation of the following headline: “Elon Musk says Tesla will have a 600 miles vehicle by 2017“.
These headlines, to no fault of Musk, are due to either a severe lack of knowledge about electric vehicle range or a malicious click-baiting attempt. Expand Expanding Close
Earlier today Forbes released its updated list of most influential young people in business – 40 Under 40 – and Tesla’s Chief Technology Officer and co-founder JB Straubel (39) took the second position.
The CTO is only outdone (according to Forbes) by Adam Neumann, the co-founder and CEO of WeWork, a provider of shared workspace and services to entrepreneurs and startups.
In his short profile, Forbes credits Straubel for being the person who convinced Elon Musk to invest in Tesla. Expand Expanding Close
This is part 2 of my report on the beta version of Tesla’s Autopilot. Please read part 1 if you haven’t yet.
Most advanced commercially available autonomous features
The language about the responsibility around the ‘Autopilot’ is somewhat straight-forward. The system is clearly not intended to turn the Model S into a self-driving vehicle with a bunch of redundant autonomous features, but it’s rather an evolutionary step toward self-driving. It alleviates some tasks for the driver, but without ever taking any responsibility.
Tesla uses very clear legal language throughout the beta release to place all the responsibilities with the driver. The driver can and should take over control if he or she thinks it’s necessary. Expand Expanding Close
As images of the Tesla Model X are rolling off the assembly line, we are seeing a number of improvements to the car over prototypes that have been publicly shown. One such improvement was revealed in a video showing the front trunk or ‘Frunk’ of the Model X. Compare the size of the Frunk in the shipping model above to a Prototype shown off by CEO Elon Musk last year.
Another image of the Model X Frunk, straight on the assembly line, is below. Expand Expanding Close
Although India probably isn’t a large market for Tesla’s luxury Model S/X and even the $35,000 Model 3 will be a tough sale for normal Indians, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the company’s Fremont car plant does have some immediate ramifications. According to the Indian Foreign ministry, Musk gave the PM a tour of the plant and paid particular attention to the Tesla Powerwall which the CEO noted could, when used in conjunction with Solar, help India’s rural communities bypass the electric grid.
‘Wild’ may be an exaggeration but at the Tesla plant in Fremont, a spy caught a prototype Model X opening and closing (video below) its Falcon Wing doors . The spies seemed to be concerned about the door closing mechanism, and many of the mules we’ve seen have had partially opened doors, but it is unlikely that this is the final design/spec.
In any case, we’ll be live on the Model X launch on the 29th, come back and join us! Expand Expanding Close
Tesla is still tuning the Model X’s options ahead of its launch scheduled for September 29th at the Fremont factory. Earlier this month, the company added an option for hitch accessories directly at the purchase of the vehicle in order to get around the limitations of the ‘Falcon Wing’ doors. Later, it updated the EPA-rated range to 250 miles for the P90D version of the all-electric SUV. Today we learn Tesla now added an option for a 6-seat configuration to the vehicle. Expand Expanding Close
Tesla CEO Elon Musk was in the Netherlands today for the opening ceremony of Tesla’s second plant in Tilburg. The company already had a ‘final assembly factory’ in the city (see picture below), where the company completes the assembly of the Model S’s going to the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany. Expand Expanding Close
Tesla (and Space X CEO, Solar City Chairman) CEO Elon Musk made some important remarks yesterday at the “Business for Tomorrow” summit at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy yesterday. While the translations and the moderation/questions at the end are frustrating, Musk’s comments at the beginning are poignant.
On Refugees:
“Today’s refugee problem is perhaps a small indication of what the future will be like if we do not take action with respect to climate change. Today, the challenge is in terms of millions of people, but in the future, based on what the scientific consensus is, the problem will be in the hundreds of millions and much more severe.”
On taking action:
I think it’s very important that we take action today to recognize that we are making a very significant change to the chemical constituency of the atmosphere and oceans. One that is almost impossible to reverse…
And where you could really feel some emotion:
If you go 20, 30, 50 years in the future, what do you say to your kids or your grandkids? It’s almost, like, scientists have all said that these bad things are going to happen, it’s, like 97 percent… So, to say to your kids or grandkids, like, ‘Did nobody tell you?’
No, everyone was telling us. ‘
So why didn’t you do anything?’ What’s the answer?
…I think it’s very important that we do something.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is currently traveling across Europe to meet with Tesla employees and European politicians. During a press conference in Belgium, he briefly commented on the current Volkswagen scandal and cheating on emission-tests:
What Volkswagen is really showing is that we reached the limit of what is possible with diesel and gasoline.
If you need to cheat in order to pass emission tests with diesel and gas, maybe you should use something else? We expect Musk would prefer if manufacturers would use electric powertrains, like Tesla Motors…
Tesla World, an international conference about Tesla Motors organised by the Tesla Club Belgium, launched today in Antwerp and you can watch it live below.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, although not announced, is expected to be the “anonymous speaker” scheduled for 10:40 eastern time – 16:40 local time. Expand Expanding Close
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is currently traveling through Europe to meet with Tesla’s teams in European countries and meeting with politicians to promote electric vehicles. He is expected to visit Belgium on Friday and since we have been analyzing electric vehicle sales through car registration data, we decide to take a look at Model S sales in Belgium. Expand Expanding Close
This morning Tesla updated the pre-order webpage for its upcoming all-electric SUV, the Model X, to indicate that new reservations will only ship out during the “second half of 2016”. Only yesterday, the estimate was “early 2016”, but with a growing backlog of reservations ahead of the September 29th launch, it is not surprising for Tesla to warn new buyers about the delivery schedule. Expand Expanding Close
During a press conference today in Germany, Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla is in talks with “some [auto] manufacturers” to share the Supercharger Network.
In the past, Tesla confirmed being opened to the idea of sharing its extensive network of fast charging stations, which now operates over 2,900 chargers at over 500 locations around the world, but until now, we couldn’t confirm that any automaker showed interest in the offer. Expand Expanding Close
The Netherlands is an important market for Tesla Motors. The country is Tesla’s second biggest market in Europe behind Norway. The company has an important presence in the country especially through its plant in Tilburg (see picture above) where some light assembly operations are completed for the Model S’s going to Europe.
Model S sales in the Netherlands have been progressing nicely. In 2014 it was the best-selling 100% electric vehicle in the country and it remains at the top spot so far this year with an impressive ~73% growth. Expand Expanding Close
On Monday morning Tesla sent out invitations to attend the launch of the Model X scheduled for September 29 at 7 p.m. PT in Fremont, California. Only Signature Model X reservation holders and a few select media are invited to the event, but Tesla confirmed that there will be a livestream available on its website.
The California-based automaker has been inconsistent about providing a livestream for its events. In October 2014, Tesla didn’t livestream the launch of the Dual Motor version of the Model S and the announcement of the ‘Autopilot’, but in April 2015, it did present a livestream of the launch of ‘Tesla Energy’ and the stationary energy storage product line.
But today we can confirm that Tesla will livestream the launch of the Model X on its website. Expand Expanding Close
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Tesla Motors released its delivery results today for July through September 2015 and confirmed that the company delivered 11,580 cars during the quarter. For the first time, the number includes two different models in the same quarter: Model S and Model X.
