With the exception of Tesla, which I believe will struggle next year, as the womb is off the electric rose.
除了特斯拉之外,我认为明年将会面临困境,因为电动汽车行业的黄金时期已经过去。
Welcome to Electrified, it's your host Dylan Loomis, so today we're going to zip through the news a bit faster than usual, that's because we have a special guest appearance later in this video from our friends over at Rebellioner.
Matt Smith and Bradford Ferguson have been doing some really good research and they put together a video for us, so stay tuned for that.
Matt Smith 和 Bradford Ferguson 进行了一些非常好的研究,并为我们制作了一个视频,所以请继续关注。
First up today, as you can tell by the title, we have another negative piece about Tesla coming from Reuters, according to sources.
今天首先,正如标题中所描述的,我们有一篇关于特斯拉的负面报道,据消息来源称该报道由路透社撰写。
Either way though, let's go through and see what they have to say. 9 people familiar with the matter are saying Tesla's 4680 production and the speed it can make those cells for the Cybertruck with the dry coating technology is the limiting factor.
I'm guessing what they mean by required output is that 250,000 Cybertruck per year number, but let's not forget, they're not expecting to do that in terms of maybe even a run rate until 2025.
So to argue that Tesla's current 4680 production rate is a tenth of where it needs to be right now is just disingenuous at best.
所以,要说特斯拉目前的4680电池产量仅为其实际需求的十分之一,最好是在欺骗人的程度上夸大其词。
These 9 sources said that Tesla had yet to crack the dry coating technology at scale, and that specifically they're struggling with that technique for the cathode.
This really isn't news we've known for months now that Tesla has DBE figured out for the anode, but the cathode has been giving them challenges.
这真的不是什么新闻,我们早就知道特斯拉已经解决了关于阳极的DBE问题,但阴极一直是他们面临的挑战。
As I often say, don't forget the immense challenge that Tesla is undertaking with this 4680 production.
正如我经常说的那样,不要忘记特斯拉正在承担的这项巨大挑战,即4680电池生产。
We have a battery consultant saying the challenge is that not only does Tesla have to scale it up and speed up the process, it also lets develop its own equipment and tools, it's daunting to save the least.
Plus, when it comes to this tricky DBE tech for the cathode, Tesla is the first one to try to commercialize this.
此外,当涉及到阴极的这种棘手的DBE技术时,特斯拉是第一个尝试商业化的企业。
According to three of the sources, each Cybertruck pack has 1,360 4680 cells.
根据三个信息来源,每个Cybertruck电池组装有1,360颗4680电池单体。
Then it's lines like this that give you insight into how the author of this article is trying to frame the situation by saying the Cybertruck is entering a hot market with rivals like the F-150 Lightning, the R1C, and the Hummer from GM.
Rivians definitely making progress, but they're still only doing a few thousand units per month, and then the Hummer from GM were talking a few thousand sales per year.
So in a pickup market that sells millions of trucks per year in the United States, I would not classify the EV section as hot right now.
在美国每年销售数百万辆卡车的货车市场上,我不认为电动车(EV)部分目前火热。
They said right now, Gigatexus makes 10,04680 cells every 16 weeks, so every roughly 4 months. Only roughly 32 million cells per year, and if you divide by that 1,364 each battery pack, that's only enough for about that 24,000 Cybertrucks per year.
Don't forget though, 24,000 a year, divided by 52 weeks, is about 460 Cybertrucks per week, and Tesla definitely is not making that many trucks just yet.
So the fact is Tesla's 4680 production, if this article is accurate, is still ahead of the pace of the Cybertruck production, so it's really not a limiting factor.
When they sneak in, two sources said 4680 production will likely gain steam, especially once it achieves stability with the production know-how on one production line.
Saying once you crack the code and establish stability, it's like exponential. Speed would pick up. There's already a lot of traction in dry coding, according to this source.
And as Drew said on the call right now, Tesla has two lines of 4680 production, but they plan to install a total of 8 lines there in two phases, with the last four due to be running toward the end of 2024.
Back to the DBE, one of the sources said Tesla's dry coding method for cathodes was not proving to be any faster than the old wet process, though scrap rates had dropped to as low as 10-20%.
They're saying the DBE process on the cathode is working for small amounts, but when Tesla tries to scale it up, it's generating a lot of heat and it's actually melting the binder.
One source said specifically, it was about building data infrastructure around Tesla's battery development, manufacturing and in-field use, because in some cases, the flaws were hidden in the coding and did not show up for a few months down the road.
Implying there's a delay until Tesla actually figures out which of these dry cells are good to use.
这句话的意思是,暗示特斯拉需要一些时间来弄清楚哪些干电池适合使用,直到确定之前会有一些延迟。
I have a few thoughts. First, let's not forget about Kato Road, although technically it's a pilot line, right now it's actually down for upgrades, so when that comes back online, most likely in quarter one, hopefully they have better production rates and better yields and they can start using some of those cells in addition to what they already have at Gigatexas.
Two, just because 4680 production for the Cybertruck is not a limiting factor yet, doesn't mean that if Tesla can't solve DBE at scale for the cathode sometime in 2024, that it won't become a limiting factor over the next 12 months. And I have to say, given that this has never been done before at scale, there really are no guarantees that Tesla is going to figure it out in time before it does start slowing down Cybertruck production rates. But as we know, Tesla has already pulled many rabbits out of hat, so hopefully they can do it again.
Three, one thing the article didn't really mention that certainly wouldn't be ideal for Tesla, but they could just continue with the wet process for the cathode if need be. That's at least until they can figure out the DBE process, because don't forget the DBE process hasn't been really working to date, but they've still made great progress with overall 4680 production.
Four, nowhere in that article did they break out anything about the Cybersale or the Gen 2 cell, because that's what Cato Road is supposed to be shut down to upgrade to. And the word based on all of the public data we have is that 4680 production has been growing at a rate around 20% per month. So yeah, I think you get the picture, I could go on, but for now it's not a problem just yet, however it is absolutely something to keep an eye on, there are no guarantees that get this sorted out, so it is a risk of sorts over the next 12 months. And for now we just rely on Tesla's proven track record and the talent at the company that they'll figure this out before it comes more of a problem.
When it comes to Tesla in Sweden we have another Danish pension fund, Pategorni's, selling it steak in Tesla stock as the mafia, I mean as the sympathy strikes carry on. What's this though, we have 24 sources reporting on this story, 7 of which lean left politically and 3 of which lean right. And check this out, some spot on main points to bring us up to speed on the story as quickly as possible. This useful interface that you're seeing right now is brought to us by ground news to sponsor of this video. Ground news is a website and an app that shows you the bias behind breaking news stories and helps you stay updated on the topics you care about most. Take this one for example, I can scroll down and right away see all of the different sources reporting and I can compare all of the different headlines for left leaning sources, center and right leaning. I can also look at these tags right here that will tell me the reliability of each article, the political bias and the ownership of that article. I can also click on any article and go read the full one anytime. So you know, the bias distribution is based on three independent news monitoring organizations. I have to say, it's been very insightful to actually see the ownership of all of these different news sources. If you'd like to support the ground news mission staying informed without the propaganda and media bias while also supporting Electrified, head to ground.news slash electrified to check it out. And subscribe through my link for just $1 a month or you can get 40% off unlimited access to the vantage subscription, which is what I use.
Just to highlight making EVs profitably is an immense challenge, let alone spinning up an entirely new battery production line. The Wall Street Journal identified 43 companies that went public between 2020 and 2022. EV startups, five have already filed for bankruptcy or been acquired. For the remaining 38, they found 18 companies were on track to run out of cash by the end of next year if they didn't cut costs or raise new capital. Seven of those companies had just weeks of cash on hand. A clean energy analyst said everyone was out there looking for the next Tesla. They should have listened to us. We've been saying Tesla is one of one now for years.
From the journal, the Biden administration is discussing raising tariffs on some Chinese goods, including electric vehicles. Chinese EVs are already subject to a 25% tariff on top of a 2.5% tariff on auto imports. Other targets for potential tariff rate increases are Chinese solar products and EV battery packs. However, the administration has not decided on these tariffs. For some context, I was able to find from auto news that China exported around 48,000 EVs to North America as of October this year compared to 564,000 it sent to Western Europe.
Ford said half of its dealers in the US or about 1,550 have chosen to stick with selling hybrid and ice vehicles only in 2024, meaning they are not opting into the Ford Model E certification program for the dealers. Speaking of that, customers shopping for EVs at Ford dealers will soon see signage that identifies dealers as Model E certified elite or Model E certified.
It's not that half of their dealers are opting out of selling full BEVs for good, as Ford will have another round of an opt-in period in 2027. And it's not just Ford dealers that are opting out. We also have the free press saying that half of the Buick dealerships or about 1,000 will opt out of moving forward with GM as it transitions to all electric by 2035. Just so you know, I have seen other sources out there that say Buick is looking to go all electric by 2030. GM bought out around half of its 2,000 Buick dealers over the past year as part of the voluntary buyout program. That's after telling its dealers to invest at least $300,000 to facilitate selling and servicing EVs or give up the Buick franchise.
I won't get into this one on Tesla safety by Brandon Patek because most of us here already know the real story, but it was a very well-written article getting into a lot of detail, probably worth a bookmark, maybe something to share with people when they have questions about Tesla safety. This one is below.
Speaking of GM and Chevy, we have this article from Edmunds saying our Chevy Blazer EV has 23 problems after only 2 months. Here they listed all of the Blazer EV's faults in that time period. As you can see, it's a fairly lengthy list on what is effectively a brand new car. And how could we forget that the Chevy Blazer EV was Motor Trends 2024 SUV of the year? Now yeah, this is just one anecdote, but this is a major brand for GM. They need to get this EV right and so far the production has been pretty slow. I think they only sold around 18 in quarter 3, so we'll see what happens with the Q4 data.
Here we have a Swedish article and specifically we have a lawyer who is an expert on collective agreements weighing in on the situation. She said now this is affecting small business owners and private individuals who have nothing to do with the dispute, saying EF Matal has gone too far. The sympathy measures hit small businesses that run taxi operations with Tesla cars, paint shops that carry out car repairs, and private individuals. She said what's the value of this Swedish model when you are exposed to trade union sympathy measures even though you yourself have a collective agreement. And she said it's dead quiet from a political point of view. In summary, I think the union damages the Swedish model more than Tesla does. I doubt this changes anything, but it's at least good to see an expert on the matter speak out against what's going on.
在这里,我们有一篇瑞典文章,特别是一位专门研究集体协议的律师对这种情况发表了评论。她表示,现在这影响到与纠纷无关的小企业主和个人,她认为 EF Matal 做得太过分了。这些同情措施打击了经营特斯拉汽车出租车服务的小企业、进行汽车维修的喷漆店以及个人。她说,当你自己有集体协议但仍受到工会同情措施的影响,那么瑞典模式还有什么价值呢?她还说,从政治角度来看,没有任何声音。总而言之,我认为工会对瑞典模式的损害比特斯拉还要大。我怀疑这并不会改变什么,但至少很高兴看到一位专家对所发生的事情发表了批评的言论。
Pretty interesting timing with this one after what we just talked about yesterday, now we have Tesla facing an inquiry by Norway's traffic safety regulator into suspension failures. For this one, a decision is expected by Christmas, but this agency has the authority to order a recall if Tesla refuses. The regulatory review in Norway was prompted by more than 10 customer reports to the agency in 2022 about suspension parts like the control arms suddenly breaking. So maybe for the last year, this regulatory agency was gathering data about the Tesla situation, but again, I just find it to be very peculiar timing.
BMW is aiming to sell more than 500,000 EVs next year for the first time, this coming after selling 247,000 fully electric vehicles in the first nine months of this year.
宝马计划在明年首次销售超过50万辆电动汽车,此前该公司在今年前九个月销售了24.7万辆纯电动汽车。
Apple's next-gen car play is going to start its rollout with Porsche and Aston Martin vehicles in 2024. Here's a quick glimpse of the expanded UI in an Aston Martin. The theme will be distinct to each automaker and gives car play access to the vehicle's features like your radio and temperature settings. In the Porsche setup, there will be a three-dial layout with a speedometer on the left and a wallpaper made to match its houndstooth seat pattern.
In case you heard the news about that fire at a GM EV plant, now we know it was caused by a forklift that accidentally punctured a container holding battery materials. Authorities did have to request triple the usual number of firefighters and equipment, but production has already resumed at the plant as of yesterday.
I won't play the audio due to potential copyright issues, but Tesla on X posted a video of a new light show this time featuring Cybertrucks, rolling out now in this year's holiday update.
Alright, so here's that special research report from Matt Smith and Bradford Ferguson over at Rebellioner. If you don't already know, they help Tesla investors handle their positions with all types of different strategies, so their information will be below.
At the very least, I'd encourage you to follow both of them on social media as they have done excellent research. This is not at all a sponsored spot or anything like that. They're just friends of the channel we sometimes talk about Tesla offline, and I wanted to learn a little bit more about this news item. Enjoy.
So a few weeks ago, I noticed a tweet from Simon Mayhand who was attending the Southeast Renewables Conference in Charlotte. He had been listening to a presentation by an attorney named Keith Martin. Keith is an incredibly well regarded attorney within energy circles. He actually specializes in renewable energy financing deals, and I would say he's arguably the most informed energy lawyer at maybe the most esteemed energy-focused law firm. So a huge quantity of US energy projects pass over his desk.
Now one of the slides from his presentation included the line, Tesla is circulating a legal opinion that its megapacks have 95% domestic content. That was the tweet from Simon, which caught my eye.
So why is this important? Well, it's important because projects that meet the domestic content requirements under the IRA are eligible for a 10% bonus credit on top of the baseline 30% credit available for all projects. So this would be a very good thing for megapack demand. It's also important because it might give us some insights into Tesla's cell supply strategy. If 95% of the cost of a megapack is actually US based, then that would seem to imply that Tesla must be using cells manufactured in the United States. There's no other way to get that math to work.
But last we knew the cells for megapacks in Tesla's Lathrop facility were actually being provided by CATL and manufactured in China. Bradford and I thought this might be an interesting bit of information. So we put out a video where we're hoping the community could help us fill in some of the gaps.
The first pushback we received was from MadManks89 on X, who is another great follow in addition to Simon Mayhan, who pointed out that there could be some legalese or definitional reasons why a megapack made with CATL cells might still technically qualify for the domestic content bonus. His point was that qualification for the ITC bonus is not particularly restrictive, noting that just final assembly of the cells needs to happen in the US.
It's possible that this is the correct interpretation, but I do think it's worth a deeper look. Specifically, there is a table on the IRS's notice on this matter, which notes that the cells are included in the definition of a manufactured product component. So cells themselves must be manufactured in the US in order to qualify. You can't just assemble the cells into a megapack and have that count.
But how exactly do you determine whether the cells have been manufactured in the US? Here is the IRS guidance on the matter. And just fair note, there's a little bit of legalese here, so stick with me. A manufactured product is considered to be produced in the United States if, one, all of the manufacturing processes for the manufactured product take place in the United States, and two, all of the manufactured product components of the manufactured product are of US origin.
A manufactured product component is considered to be of US origin if it is manufactured in the United States, regardless of the origin of its sub-components. Now that is a lot of legalese for sure, but the key line to me is that a manufactured product component, so for our purposes, read that as cell. So a cell is considered to be of US origin if it is manufactured in the United States, regardless of the origin of its sub-components.
So for the Madmanx interpretation to be correct, Tesla would need to be doing some final assembly of the individual cells from CATL at Lathrop, and then further assembling those into the megapack. That's possible, but it seems like it would be a bit of a mess to be doing that with many gigawatt hours of individual cells. The Lathrop facility is not particularly large, and I'm skeptical they would have the equipment and space to handle final assembly of that many cells, unless it were some extremely basic definition of assembly.
And if it were some superfluous amount of assembly, like putting a logo on the cells or something very small instead of, you know, actually assembling anodes and cathodes together, then it seems like this would actually open Tesla up potentially to some quite intense scrutiny or maybe even legal liability.
Another possibility is that Tesla isn't planning to use CATL cells in Lathrop anymore, but could be supplying megapacks with 4680 cells, either from Gigataxis or maybe even Cato Road once that facility gets back up and running.
Now I have not seen any evidence of this other than Elon noting that some of the 4680 cells from the future Giganovata expansion would be used for megapacks. But the final possibility I can see is that Tesla could be moving some of the 2170 cells from Giganovata to the megapacks being assembled in Lathrop.
This could make sense, and it does seem to track with another bit of news we heard recently, which is that Model 3 will no longer be eligible for the $7,500 tax credit. So could it be that the cells which had been supplying the Model 3 are now supplying megapack? And so that's why this Model 3 is not eligible for the credit anymore, but the megapack is. And the cells which had been supplying the megapack are now in the Model 3.
I'm not sure, and I'm certainly not an attorney, but I do think there are some interesting implications brought about by this piece of news. And even if it turns out that Tesla's megapack cells are in fact still being supplied by CATL, this is still good news for Tesla in my mind, because they are able to demonstrate the 95% domestic content for their megapacks, which does make the economics more attractive for their customers.
I hope you found this information helpful. If you're interested in hearing more about this topic, you can check out the video Bradford and I did with Jordan Geecidi on this topic at our Rebellionary YouTube channel. And if you're interested in working with a financial advisor who understands Tesla as well as you do and wants to help you grow your shares instead of selling down to get to some diversified amount, you can find some more information at Rebellionary.com.
Hope you guys have a wonderful day. Please like the video. If you did, you can find me on X, linked below. And a huge thank you to all of my Patreon supporters.