Welcome to Electrified, it's your host Dylan Loomis. Quick shout out to my newest patrons, John G. and Isaac. Thank you for choosing to support the channel.
Just in case you missed it, it does appear as though the Cybertruck Tano cover will be able to at least open if not close as well while in motion. There are some people out there now saying that steer by wire on the Cybertruck is all but confirmed. I'm not ready to go that far, but I am optimistic that the Cybertruck will have that feature.
Speaking of features, we're going to need our collective discernment here as over the weekend, Holmar said hey Elon or Tesla team, and I guess when customers might be able to try out FSD12, to which Elon said about two weeks. Whether this turns out to be an actual two weeks or six months, I think we should be expecting regressions may be in certain areas relative to FSD11, but as a whole and with time, we should all be very eager to see how FSD12 works in the real world on customer vehicles relative to past iterations.
In theory, FSD12 should behave very human-like given that it's trained on the best human drivers, and as Tesla continues to increase the amount of compute power that it actually has, FSD12 should learn and iterate much faster, given that there's effectively no human or heuristic code involved. It's worth keeping in mind at the end of August, Elon said hardware 4 software will lag hardware 3 by at least another 6 months, as Tesla's focus was on getting FSD on hardware 3 working well and provided internationally. Elon then confirmed a real 6 months, maybe less, which would have taken us to February. You may recall though, about two days after this post, FSD actually rolled out to hardware 4 vehicles.
To me, it does seem like this response from Elon is a form of trolling, it's the ongoing joke in the Tesla community, and oftentimes with whole Mars about two weeks turning into two months or two years. However, I have to say in about two weeks is the Cybertruck launch, so maybe Cybertruck rolls out with FSD12 for customer deliveries, because those initial deliveries will go to trusted entities or employees at Tesla. Timelines like this are always subject to change, but FSD12 has been operating in shadow mode as far as we know, so if that's been going well for the past few weeks then maybe we do actually see this with the first Cybertruck deliveries. With that said, I will not be holding my breath, but what do you guys think?
We're not going to dive into this one because I'm not sure how prevalent this problem really is specifically with the Model 3, but if you're somebody that owns one and your Model 3 has smelled and you haven't figured out why, this video may be able to help. The TLDW, this duct has a drainage port in the bottom that leads to where some cabin filters are, and when the vehicle sucks air into the cabin sometimes forcefully, water can actually get onto those filters. So just in case any of you are experiencing this problem, this video should be very helpful and will be below.
For those of you interested in service mode, the .38 update adds a new menu for brake service. This menu will also show your wheel speed readout from the sensors. Tesla continually giving more access to the DIY community. Supercharge.info is now telling us Tesla has 200 supercharging sites in Canada, the first one they opened back in 2014. With each location having around 10 stalls, that's about 2000 stalls across Canada.
Do you guys remember this headline from a few weeks ago? Tesla to face EU anti subsidy probe over China exports. At the time, the story was that Tesla fans should want Tesla to be left out of this probe because any companies that were going to be involved in it may likely face counter tariff measures from the EU to try to level the playing field for European automakers compared to those cars coming from China. Fast forward to today and we have this article from Politico and at the end I'll try to explain what's going on but let's go through what they say.
Tesla has now been excluded from the EU Commission's list of companies that are being examined in this subsidy probe. That's despite Tesla by far being the biggest exporter of EVs from China into Europe.
As lawyers are now saying after it's been excluded, Tesla could now find itself unfairly targeted by countervailing duties imposed on the basis of Chinese subsidies awarded to other companies.
For now, this probe is only going to be focused on BYD, SAIC, and GILI. A legal response says the commission's decision to exclude from the sample by far the largest exporting producer is entirely unprecedented and untenable. Putting its entirely unreasonable not to include Tesla, given it exports more than the three selected firms to Europe.
In the first half of this year, Tesla accounted for 39% of all EV exports from China. So why would Tesla want to be included? They're saying the range of companies included in the sample helps determine the level of subsequent countervailing duties. AKA what any future level of tariffs against these Chinese or other companies will actually be to level the playing field for the Europeans.
If the commission finds proof of subsidies for the three companies they're looking into, it'll calculate an average extra duty that will apply to all imports of EVs coming from China, even those like Tesla that were not part of the sample. And they say non-sampled companies, presumably any companies not BYD, SAIC or GILI, get a weighted average of the individual duties. So if I'm reading this correctly, it sounds like whether Tesla's included in the probe or not, they may eventually face some level of these counter-tariffs.
So the only reason it would make sense for Tesla to actually be upset they were not included is if their inclusion would change the ultimate level of those tariffs they may face. The EU Commission is saying that their selection of those three companies was on the basis of their export volume, which leaving out Tesla wouldn't make any sense, but also other information including their eligibility for subsidies.
So at least to me right now, this makes it seem like Tesla's upset because if they were included that weighted average may be dragged down, meaning they have not received the same level of subsidies from the Chinese government that those other three companies have.
Meaning if Tesla was included, that weighted average would be pulled down, meaning eventually they face lower counter-tariffs. Tesla's lawyers are now arguing that previous investigations explicitly refused to rely on criteria other than the export volume. An auto analyst said it's understandable Tesla would be bitterly disappointed, think of it as an economic collective punishment.
He then posed the argument that the EU making Tesla's Chinese-produced cars more expensive when they import could force it to expand production in Europe, developing to create some much-needed jobs in Europe. This would be a call to Tesla to shift European Model 3 production from China to Europe.
This last bit, of course, is more speculation than anything else, and we just heard that Tesla already has plans to make the $25,000 vehicle at Gigabirlin. In summary, Tesla is currently being left out of this EU probe. They're upset because had they been included, those potential counter-tariffs may have been lower because Tesla has not been receiving the same level of subsidies as those other three companies.
And if Tesla's lawyers are correct that leaving Tesla out in something like this doesn't really have any historical precedent, this then becomes a thinly veiled way for the EU to try to slow Tesla down in the European market. And yes, this would slow down other Chinese EV makers importing into the EU, but it would effectively be punishing Tesla for the sins of these other three Chinese EV companies benefits Tesla has not even been receiving.
There was a lot of chatter over the weekend about some terms and conditions being updated for Tesla when it comes to the Cybertruck. Specifically in the first year of ownership, you would not be able to resell your Cybertruck unless you gave Tesla written notice first and they gave you written notice back that it was okay with Tesla having the ability to buy it from you allowing for a bit of depreciation.
And anybody that does not comply, Tesla could come after you for $50,000 and they have the right to never sell you a Tesla again. Here's the deal though, I went back and pulled the actual terms and conditions directly from Tesla and that Cybertruck portion is now gone unless I'm missing something.
In the version I'm seeing they do have a section about no resellers but again nothing at all specific to Cybertruck. Here are the terms and conditions that were shared on X over the weekend and as you can see it was right after that section no resellers where it had this part 4 Cybertruck only. But again for me pulling this document right now from the Tesla website it does not have that Cybertruck section and I've tried it 5 or 6 different ways. If this is still true why would Tesla do this? Well one their production constrained. Since the demand is going to be high and the supply is going to be low, Tesla doesn't want people buying cars, flipping them for a profit and then having the customer pocket that difference rather than Tesla. 2. There are also plenty of people that have more than one Cybertruck reservation so if they were planning to flip their vehicle for a profit now they won't be able to do that so the reservation number may shrink down to more of an actual number they need to produce. As far as legality goes I'm not a lawyer but I do know that other companies have tried to do something similar. Most recently GM tried to do this exact same thing with the Hummer. I'll certainly keep an eye on this discrepancy but again let me know what you guys are seeing.
Tesla's newest business line is now expanding as we have EG group looking to buy superchargers from Tesla to roll out their own branded fleet across the UK and Europe. The chargers will be branded EV point and not supercharger but they will be open to all drivers not just for Tesla vehicles, they will support the plug and charge protocol making things seamless and easy, they do expect to have some of these rolling out before the end of the year. This is now the first deal of its kind entered into by Tesla with a third party charge point operator in Europe and this EG company installed their first EV charger back in 2012. EG's strategy officer said they have 600 chargers across 189 sites already deployed. This EG group does a lot more than just refueling and EV chargers, they own a lot of retail and convenience stores among other things as well. They are one of Europe's fastest growing EV charging networks with access to more than 3500 roadside retail sites. Another article said all EV point chargers are supplied by 100% renewable energy. You would think this is due to solar on location but some of these companies have been marketing things like this but they are actually buying renewable credits from other companies to offset their emissions. Unfortunately though they did not say anything about the contract amount, how many superchargers Tesla would supply and what value this deal would be worth. Typically when figures are left out it's because they are not that big and given that EV point and EG group overall is still relatively early in the EV charging space, this deal is probably not massive. However the first domino has to fall in the EU and the UK and this is that domino. I really hope in time we get some more clarity on what this deal will look like for Tesla, we know there will be some level of hardware margin on the sale but could Tesla have some recurring revenue when it comes to allowing these companies to integrate with the Tesla network when it comes to these locations showing up on in car navigation, on their apps and of course when the customers are paying for that electricity that's supplied by Tesla hardware.
I bet a few of you will remember this, back toward the end of 2021 Herbert Deese was warning that if VW slowed its transition to EVs it could cost the company 30,000 jobs. Fast forward to today and we have this report from Electro Auto News saying that VW leadership will be having a meeting this Friday the 17th, they're discussing the possible reduction of up to 20,000 jobs. These reduction options are being discussed very controversially internally. They're saying this may be one of the most important supervisory board meetings in the past three decades.
我打赌你们中的一些人会记得,2021年底时,赫伯特·迪斯警告说,如果大众汽车减缓转型至电动汽车,可能会导致公司损失3万个工作岗位。现在快进到今天,我们有了Electro Auto News的一份报告,称大众汽车领导层将于本周五17日举行会议,讨论可能减少多达2万个工作岗位的事宜。这些减少岗位的选项在内部引发了争议。他们表示,这可能是过去三十年来最重要的监事会会议之一。
VW has laid out its goal of increasing their operating profit margin to 6.5% by 2026. For context in Q3 of this year, Tesla's operating profit after coming down pretty significantly still sits at 7.6%. We do have a VW spokesperson saying that this information is incorrect, such a number that 20,000 job cut has no basis. As we've learned though where there's smoke there's usually fire.
A VW exec has said they want to cut the excessive number of committees and decision-making levels at VW in order to enable faster decisions. They also want to reduce the average duration of the product development process for new car models from 54 down to 36 months. Several VW execs said after a brutally honest analysis, the bottom line is VW has at least one vehicle factory too many but the closure of a larger factory is unlikely in the foreseeable future. Why? Because we've talked about in the past, none of these legacy CEOs want to be the ones making the tough decisions while they're at the helm. However, VW management has said it won't work meaning the cost cuts and hitting their goals just through price increases and savings on purchases.
Then we have somebody with insight to the situation saying the figure of 20,000 is still far too low. Despite these VW advisory board conversations happening behind closed doors, they said the conversations are often quite loud, sometimes even strong shouting. So in the next few weeks, we may be getting some pretty big announcements from VW.
Along similar lines, we have Reuters jumping on the bandwagon of the EV demand is slowing. Now they're talking about that happening in Europe. They did say VW's EV order intake was half of what it was last year. The head of a car dealership said the main problem is uncertainty. Many assume the technology will improve and they'd rather wait 3 years for the next model than buy a vehicle now that will quickly lose value.
Last week, the car dealership guy on X said that Tesla started listing new vehicles on cars.com. Then with the response you have to laugh at, Elon said, first I've heard of this seems odd. Here's the deal though. If you go to cars.com and look for new Tesla vehicles, there are indeed some listed. However, when you actually scroll down and then click to order now, it just takes you to the Tesla website. Then in the URL on this page, it has a third party campaign almost like it's affiliate marketing. So, was cars.com trying to abuse the referral program or were they just looking to get some free traffic to their website? At least for now, I do want to say this does not have to be coming directly from Tesla, it could be strictly from cars.com on their own. Still I have more reliable and clear info on what's going on here. I'll withhold any commentary.
Luca on X, our new resident gigapress expert, has said that Tesla has ordered 3 9000-ton gigapresses for Cybertruck. The word right now, one of these gigapresses is up and running at Texas. The second one should be up and ready by Q1 2024, and the third one is still to be built. Joe Tett-Mayer shared some images of plenty of Cybertruck castings at Gigatexas, and I believe once they have that second gigapress operational Q1 of next year, that would mean they would use one for the front castings and one for the rear. That according to Luca's sources.
A quick word on the Tesla, Sweden, strike, I am in touch with some people in Sweden right now that may have some insight into the situation. I'm working on talking to them, no promises but I'll see what I can do. I did want to share this post about fears growing for Tesla owners in Sweden thinking that Tesla may actually leave them and leave Sweden altogether. And yes, while I do think this is on the table, I'm not ready to say it's a likely outcome.
They'll start producing battery-grade lithium on site as soon as 2027, and by 2030 they want to have enough for 1 million EVs per year. They said discussions with potential customers are ongoing. I was able to find another article that said Exxon has held talks with Tesla, Ford, and VW. Exxon will use drilling techniques used in oil and gas extraction to access saltwater reservoirs rich in lithium that are 10,000 feet below the ground. The lithium will be separated from the saltwater and turned into lithium or refined on site.
We talked about many times in the past. Right now the US only has one commercial-scale lithium production in operation in Nevada. Ars Technica reported Exxon would use direct lithium extraction on the brine as opposed to evaporating in ponds. The more lithium production in the United States the better and potentially a new supplier domestically for Tesla.
A quick blurb on the Tesla India situation the Financial Times is now reporting that the tariff concessions that Tesla and all companies may receive would have some kind of sunset clause meaning they would not last into perpetuity and potentially they would only last for a few years. It should be obvious by now but India is pretty serious about protecting its local players. However it appears as though Elon will visit India this week when he was originally scheduled to do that next year. If you've been following along the drum beat for Tesla India has been pretty steady over the past few weeks and with this visit maybe they're a lot closer to coming to a deal than the media would lead on. Both sides will be negotiating and posturing publicly but in the next few weeks maybe we get an announcement.
We have Parker's A Company from the UK with their new car awards for 2024. The car of the year went to the MG4 EV. But Tesla is not going home empty handed as they won the best company car. There's nothing in this write up that would be new for us here and of course if the Model Y's the best selling car in the world you would expect it to win a few awards along the way.
Joe Biden and the Indo-Nesian President Joe Koawidodo will be meeting today kicking off preliminary talks toward a critical minerals agreement. We've discussed this previously they're going over a limited free trade agreement. Why this matters when it comes to the inflation reduction act part of the requirements have to do with sourcing minerals from companies either in the US or with whom the US has a free trade agreement with. Yes, talks have begun but these negotiations could take months if not years. Indonesia is known for its nickel industry but people have been complaining that a lot of that industry is actually driven by Chinese companies both when it comes to mining and refining. And the whole point of the IRA in the first place was to reduce our dependence on China. We'll see how the negotiations go.
Good news for Vivian after months of back and forth and a lot of pushback they finally got official approval for their R2 factory in Georgia. They also announced a new apprenticeship program which will be a two year in depth training to start hiring people for this site. Construction at the new facility should start early 2024.
Another sign of the times one here we have BMW this month building its last combustion engine in Germany after 60 years of operation. The site will be converted for the production of EVs. Today, Hyundai broke ground on a one and a half billion dollar plant dedicated to making EVs in South Korea. They're aiming for mass production of vehicles from the plant in Q1 2026. The factory will have an annual capacity of 200,000 units and the first model to be built an SUV from Genesis.
A storyline to watch in the Chinese EV market there are plenty of companies not just in the auto industry but tech companies looking to get involved, kind of throwing things at the wall and just seeing what sticks before the ultimate consolidation happens.
We have Huawei who is well known for making smartphones and other tech in the Chinese world looking to become an auto supplier specializing in tech like car operating systems and assisted driving. They've already partnered with at least five automakers to launch EVs. Huawei wants to get its tech into as many platforms as possible so that when the market eventually consolidates it's partnering with as many survivors as possible.
Volvo just released its EM90 but it's targeted at the Chinese market so we're not going to dive in too far unless we get an announcement that eventually it'll make it to the states. Volvo is of course under the parent GLE corporate umbrella so this vehicle is going to share a platform and a powertrain with the electric ZEAKER 009.
Previously, Polestar had said that their upcoming 6 was only going to be limited to 500 production units now they're saying they'll make as many as the demand warrants. Polestar also unveiled the final production version of the upcoming Polestar 5. They said their goal is to launch this vehicle in 2024. No pricing as of now.
We have Stellantis offering buyouts to roughly half of its US salaried workers in a move to reduce headcount and cut costs for their transition to EVs. Employees will have until December 8th to accept these buyout offers.
Today, NVIDIA announced its new chip the H200 after Tesla recently talked about setting up their cluster of H100s. This new chip should be available quarter to 2024 so we'll see next year if Tesla buys any of these.
I hope you guys have a wonderful day. You can find me on X linked below. Please like the video if you did and a huge thank you to all of my Patreon supporters.