Welcome to Electrified, it's your host, Dylan Loomis, quick shout out to my newest patrons, Bill B and Patrick D. Thank you for choosing to support the channel. As a reminder, I update the Patreon outro screens once every quarter, but if you want your name on there sooner, just shoot me an email. And a quick shout out to Hostway D and Josh S. Thank you for choosing to use my Tesla referral link and congratulations on your new Teslas.
On Friday's episode, I said that in the next few weeks, I would not be surprised if the tariffs on Canada and Mexico go away as it's likely to be a negotiating tactic, and here we are just a few days later. The tariffs were set to go into effect Tuesday, February 4th, but now Trump has delayed the 25% tariffs on Mexico for one month because Mexico has agreed to send 10,000 National Guard Officers to the border to stop the flow of fentanyl and migration to the US. In negotiations between the US and Mexico will continue over the next 30 days during this pause.
And after talking to Justin Trudeau, Trump is also delaying the 25% tariffs on Canada for one month as Canada has agreed to pause its 25% tariffs on the US for 30 days to continue negotiating and Canada has agreed to implement a $1.3 billion border plan, again, to stop migration and the flow of fentanyl. When it comes to the 10% tariff on goods from China, Trump is still talking to Chinese officials and China has threatened to sue the US over this through the World Trade Organization.
Trump has said he believes China is using Mexico as a backdoor to send cheap auto parts to the US. So for the next 30 days, the tariffs between Canada, Mexico and the US are all on pause and Trump has received what he wanted originally. For the weekend, Kyle from Out of spec put out a video showcasing one of the best FSD like systems in China, Huawei's ADS 3.2 on the Avatar 11 vehicle.
特朗普曾表示,他相信中国正在利用墨西哥作为后门,将廉价汽车零件输送到美国。因此,在接下来的30天里,美国、加拿大和墨西哥之间的关税都将暂停,而特朗普也如愿以偿。周末期间,来自Out of Spec的凯尔发布了一段视频,展示了中国最好的类似全自动驾驶系统之一——华为的ADS 3.2,该系统搭载在Avatar 11车辆上。
Before we touch on this, some important context, this Avatar 11 vehicle sells between $40,000 and $60,000 US depending on the trim, but this ADS 3.2 self-driving system is actually included in the price of the vehicle. So unlike FSD, there's no additional cost and no monthly subscription. On the Avatar website, all variants of the 11 have 3 lidar systems and the word was in the video that each lidar costs about $200. The vehicles also have 3 millimeter wave radars, 11 HD cameras, so 3 more cameras than Teslas and 12 ultrasonic wave radars.
So that's 29 sensors in total on the Avatar 11 compared to the 8 cameras in a Tesla vehicle for FSD. So yes, of course, the cogs for this ADS suite is going to be more expensive relative to Teslas, but they're still offering it between $40,000 and $60,000 in the overall vehicle package. ADS 3.2 functions a lot like FSD in that it's technically only level 2, so the driver is still always responsible and required to pay attention and take over at any time.
And most importantly, Avatar has become the first auto brand in China to offer these intelligent driving features without relying on HD maps. Based on multi-sensor fusion perception, ADS 3.0 has achieved smart driving nav functions covering both highways and urban areas without relying on high precision maps. On the decision-making end, it adopts the PDP network allowing for pre-planning, decision-making, and planning to be integrated into one network replacing the previous rules-based algorithms.
Which yes, sounds a lot like Tesla’s end-to-end network. To be clear, there's ADS 3.2 and then there's ADS SE, and it's the SE version that does not include LiDAR and thus it does not support urban navigation for assisted driving. Huawei has also said this year they're upgrading to the D3 Pro LiDAR that'll incorporate an AI model capable of preventing interference from rain, snow, and dust.
这听起来确实很像特斯拉的端到端网络。需要明确的是,有ADS 3.2和ADS SE两种,SE版本不包括LiDAR,因此不支持城市道路的辅助驾驶。今年,华为还表示,他们正在升级到D3 Pro LiDAR,这款雷达将整合一个能够避免雨、雪和灰尘干扰的AI模型。
There were definitely a few nice clips of ADS 3.2 in Kyle's video, but honestly for me overall I wasn't that impressed by what I saw in the video. Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying it's not impressive, but I've seen a lot of people all of the sudden saying that this is way better than Tesla’s FSD and drawing those conclusions from this video I just don't understand.
And there really is not a ton of footage of Huawei's system on YouTube, but I was able to find this video that does have some impressive clips of this ADS system, but this was actually 3.0. Because of the Chengdu Marathon, there's a big billboard temporarily blocking the intersection. Will it go into the bike lane? It went around it and found the correct lane perfectly. After yielding to the pedestrian, the low latency kicks in again, suddenly.
A delivery scooter came speeding from our right rear. That delivery guy's got some skills, after merging into the main lane. There's a car making a U-turn about 50 meters ahead. The system first initiates an overtake lane change request to the right, then checks the road conditions. This is another human-like strategy added in version 3.0. Traffic efficiency is prioritized. The low latency is also crucial in this scenario.
That black car tried to cut us off. Luckily we accelerated quickly. Chengdu has a lot of these waiting areas before turns. If I were driving myself, this intersection would be super stressful. We're only about 50 meters from the car ahead. They are turning right. We need to turn left. That turning path is insane, because the black car in front was crowding us. We had to tighten our turning radius. Another thing about Chengdu is these four lane left turns that merge into three lanes. Oh man, everyone gets squeezed together here.
Here we see version 3.2 still hasn't recognized the bus lane time restrictions. It's initiated a lane change request to the left. Look closely. It's actually permissible to use the bus lane right now. So personally I thought those clips were a bit more impressive than some of the more standard driving and scenes that we saw in Kyle's video. In my research I was able to find that Huawei's ADS operates nationwide in all Chinese cities.
Again, this is regardless of prior HD mapping, so technically it sounds like it's not geo-fenced. It can navigate electronic toll collection lanes by adjusting its speed and it can handle construction zones. For me, the most impressive part of Kyle's video was the parking toward the end of the video and if you didn't see it, I'll have the whole thing linked below. But parking seems to be one of the strongest features of this system.
Which obviously checks out with all of those sensors, but Huawei just announced last month they're launching the world's first commercial pilot of autonomous parking at an airport. Once a driver gets to the airport, they can leave the vehicle and use the mobile phone app to select the parking space. The car can then start unmanned valet parking while the occupants can enter the airport. So this is a lot like Tesla's banish. That we don't yet have.
While doing this, the car will project an auto parking pattern on the ground if the vehicle has pixel headlights to alert nearby traffic. If the target space is already occupied, the car will independently choose a vacant space and will power off after parking. And when the owner gets back to the airport, they can summon their vehicle to themselves. This feature is still in the early days of testing, but it sounds like it's around the corner.
I think this really highlights how fast things are happening. If you remember early last year, the word out of China was that most of the electric vehicles have pretty basic advanced driving features and it really was an area that the Chinese automakers weren't focusing on heavily at the time, especially when it comes to vertical integration. And the narrative will now undoubtedly shift at least when it comes to the leading edge systems in China like Huawei's ADS 3.2.
So while overall, we still have quite limited video footage of this ADS 3.2 system, and we don't have any official data about intervention frequency with this system. Despite that, I think it's safe to say that Tesla does have more FSD competition in China than many were believing. And while the cost of goods sold will be higher, I think plenty of customers would be willing to pay extra for extra sensors, especially if they can solve the sensor fusion problem, which is the main reason Tesla chose not to use radars and LiDAR.
Kyle also put out a video with a German engineer who's living with a Tesla in China and some takeaways from that video he said Tesla is not seen as a tech leader in China, but you have to remember that Tesla is not able to deploy its full FSD suite in China. And that's not really Tesla's fault. Tesla's lack of a good AIDAS is a real hindrance to more sales, again, not much Tesla can do.
Tesla has a huge reputation for being safe, reliable, and a sensible choice. People like that Tesla is stable and not really at risk of going bankrupt like some other newer EV companies. And Tesla superchargers are cheap compared to America in China, but close to double the price of other networks in China. It's really hard not to wonder if the Chinese government is delaying Tesla deploying its FSD to give companies like Huawei a bit more of a head start when it comes to actually training in China using Chinese data.
I say that because any privacy barrier or requirement that China has set up for Tesla, Tesla has surpassed no problem. So as far as we can tell, Tesla has really done everything that the Chinese government has asked, but when it comes to FSD, it seems like we're stuck. I would say it's encouraging to know that the Model Y is still the best selling vehicle in China despite not really having its best feature FSD allowed on the streets yet. So whenever that time comes, that could be a material boost to Tesla demand in China. So is Tesla's FSD in trouble? Well of course not, the world's a pretty big place and the US market and most of Europe is still wide open when it comes to someone solving for generalized autonomy. But when it comes to the Chinese market based on everything I'm reading, I would be ready to say that Tesla absolutely has some competition for FSD in China.
The new governor of Delaware, Matt Meyer said that he's planning to win some of the companies that left the state back. He just took over late last month and he said any company thinking about leaving, we're actively reaching out, we're talking to them, we're understanding what the issues are and understanding what ways we can do better. And for those entities that have already made the decision to leave, we're going to continue to work hard to earn their trust and hopefully have them come back. He said it's really important we get it right for Elon Musk or whoever the litigants are in Delaware courts, we're cognizant that there may be some things that need to change, we're going to work on them. I think within the coming weeks you're going to see some things rolled out that'll help move our state forward and bring us into 2025 and beyond to make sure we're protecting and growing the corporate franchise. So perhaps a bit of political pressure on the judges that will be involved with Elon and Tesla's appeal for his pay package so that could be beneficial for Tesla but we'll see how it shakes out over the next year.
We got the California Auto Outlook for January. I just wanted to highlight Tesla's numbers, so for 2023 they did 230,000 vehicles for the year and in 2024 that number was down to 203,200 down 11.6% year over year. Of course there were some headlines about that number but you have to remember Tesla changed over to the new Model 3 in quarter two and that took longer than expected at the Fremont factory. But it's also fair to argue that Tesla did have the Cybertruck available for 2024 as well which should have boosted sales figures a bit. Tesla won a new megapack contract for a company in Japan, they'll supply about 140 megapacks for a project that's 548 megawatt hours which will begin operation as early as 2027. This project will be one of the biggest grid connected storage plants in Japan. These megapacks will be imported from the US, not from Shanghai.
Jado put out its report for 2024 and it turns out the Model Y was the 4th best selling vehicle of any vehicle type for the year. This across the year up 28 and it was beaten out by the Dacia Sandaro, the Renau Cleo and the VW Golf, 3 vehicles that are much more affordable than the Model Y. But the Model Y was down 17% year over year. When it comes to fully electric vehicles for the year, the Model Y and the Model 3 were the top two far and away, followed by the Volvo EX30 and 3rd, the Skoda Enyak and then the VW ID4 and 5th. There was a study published in Nature Energy titled the closing longevity gap between battery EVs and internal combustion vehicles in Great Britain. The researchers just used battery degradation models and then combined those with some real-world driving patterns from telematics data.
The mileage estimates you see on the screen reflect the distance traveled before the batteries degrade to about 70-80% of the original capacity, which is considered the end of life threshold for EVs. Their analysis included 6,300 EVs across different manufacturers and regions, with the battery performance tracked over 3-8 years. And the mileage numbers specifically reflected the battery pack lifespan, not the durability of other vehicle components. So basically the study assumes that EVs are retired when their batteries reach the end of life capacity. And one important note the study called out, they said 10% of EVs in their data set did require battery replacements within 8 years. And since ICE vehicles don't have battery packs, they just compared to the distance traveled before those vehicles were permanently retired from service. I really think they could have presented this data in a much more digestible fashion, but the takeaway here is that Teslas are expected to last over 204,000 miles, which is over 65,000 miles longer than the second-placed make, which is batteries from Hyundai. Not only that, but the Teslas are expected to last 23,000 miles longer than the best diesel vehicle which was from SCODA at 181.8,000 miles. And finally, Tesla beat the best petrol car which was from Audi by 61,000 miles. Which is why the headlines are now out there, Tesla leads in vehicle longevity and mileage. So don't forget that as a talking point for any EV or Tesla skeptics, I'll have the full study linked below. If you want to see the new Model Y in person on the screen right now, you have the list of all of the current locations in the United States that have the vehicle on display.
On the Tesla shop, they have some new Model 3 performance and Model SNX Plaid gear available for sale. I won't lie, I was a bit excited for the Wagonier SEV as one of my closer friends is a big, jeep guy and I've been trying to get him into EV land. So I thought this would be my opportunity, but after this review from Kyle and out of spec, I'm not so sure anymore. I did watch the whole video and there were some things that Kyle and his friends liked. The interior was nice, the design wasn't bad, but the software is still incredibly slow and laggy and unintuitive and in some cases unhelpful, specifically when it comes to navigating and charging. Not only that, but you can see in the title, he said impressively terrible drive train tuning. And for a vehicle that costs around $70,000, stuff like this really is unacceptable. Tesla has dropped the lease rates for the Cybertruck specifically on the all-wheel drive variant as down to $749 per month down about $150. If you take delivery of a foundation series Cybertruck by March 31 this year, you get a complimentary expel installed vehicle wrap. This for orders placed in the US and Canada after February 1. Tesla also dropped the lease pricing for all variants of the Model 3 except the performance variant by $50 per month.
在特斯拉商店里,他们上架了一些新的Model 3性能版和Model S、Model X Plaid版本的装备出售。我得承认,我对Wagonier SEV有点期待,因为我的一个好朋友是个吉普车的爱好者,我一直想让他转向电动车领域。我以为这次会是个好机会,但看完Kyle的评论后,我有点拿不定主意了。我看了整个视频,Kyle和他的朋友有一些喜欢的地方,比如内饰不错,设计也还可以,但软件慢得让人受不了,操作也不太直观,有些功能用起来还很困难,尤其是导航和充电方面。而且在视频标题中,他甚至提到驾驶系统调校得特别差劲。对于一辆售价约7万美元的车来说,这种问题实在让人难以接受。特斯拉降低了Cybertruck的租赁价格,特别是全轮驱动版本,每月费用降至749美元,降低了约150美元。如果你在3月31日之前交付基础系列的Cybertruck,可以免费获得由Expel公司安装的车辆包膜。这适用于在2月1日之后在美国和加拿大下的订单。特斯拉还降低了所有Model 3版本(性能版除外)的租赁价格,每月降低50美元。
And when it comes to the referral program, if you use a link you now get an extra $2,500 off up from just $500 before. I'm sure Tesla has received a large influx of new Model Y orders so this is an attempt to shift some of those back to the Model 3. Tesla is now offering a new discount on Tesla insurance if you use FSD enough. The more you use FSD, the bigger the discount on your insurance premium. Tesla will calculate your miles driven with FSD enabled and they'll divide that by your total miles driven based on the past 30 days. You can earn up to a 10% discount on those coverages when you drive 50% or more of your miles with FSD enabled. But right now this is only for customers in Arizona and Texas. The discount only applies to certain eligible coverages on your insurance policy and not to your total insurance policy premium. It's not quite the Tesla insurance update we've been hoping for but it's something.
Honda now plans to invest $1 billion up from $700 million before to upgrade its plant in Ohio which will become its EV hub. Most notably, the upgrades include installing 6 gigapresses and a new cell manufacturing system for its upcoming EV battery cases. When it's done, the site will be able to produce 220,000 vehicles per year.
I will send you guys off with a video from Tesla on its robot cleaner. It somehow got deleted from my notes on Friday so apologies on that one. I wanted to say this robot cleaner is part of the reason Tesla designed the cyber cab doors in the way they did so it would have easier access. So really, the trifecta for autonomy is in place. We have the cyber cab, we have the robot cleaning, we have the wireless charging. Tesla stock closed the day at $383.68 down 5.17% while the NASDAQ was down 1.2%. The volume was 16% higher than the average.
I hope you guys have a wonderful day, please like the video if you did, you can find me on X-Link below and a huge thank you to all of my Patreon supporters. For me, so kind. They feed me like a king. But I don't do it for accolades. My work is my sustenance. Soaking up every last crumb and every last crevice. Potato chips. Like our own little game of hide and seek. I found you.