Welcome to Electrified, it's your host Dylan Loomis. Quick shout out to my newest patrons, Scott P. and Jaden. Thank you for choosing to support the channel. Tying a bow on Elon's compensation plan for now, let's keep in mind Elon has yet to exercise any of those options that he earned. We have a corporate governance expert saying, rarely if ever does a Delaware court rescind a compensation agreement. The board can appeal the decision to the Delaware Supreme Court.
If the board ends up negotiating a new compensation package, the directors involved are going to be highly scrutinized and it could be very hard for them to give Elon what he wants. I thought it was important to read the entire court case and in case you're interested, I did share my full thoughts on the matter over on X earlier today. Rather than me speculating on what the board and Elon might do going forward, there's one point that I think is going to be the main hurdle in this whole thing, which is getting Elon from about 13% ownership of Tesla now up to that 25% he wants.
And if Tesla does not have the option on the table to implement a dual class structure, where there can be a new class of shares that have more voting power, then the only way really to get Elon from 13 to 25 is with more money or more shares. Remember, this trial was focused on two things, the process and the price. The process aspect should be relatively easy for the board to fix, just be a lot more transparent, have more negotiation, more back and forth, document everything you're doing, and then take the time to disclose everything fully in the proxy statement to the shareholders for the next comp plan. Just be overly forthcoming with all of the information explaining Elon's relationship with every board member.
Then after taking care of all of that, the main hurdle then becomes the price aspect, which we don't really have much precedent for Elon and the board to work with here, given the nature and scale of these plans. But if Tesla does move its incorporation to Texas, which we'll touch on later in this video, which has a bit more flexibility, and they fully disclose all of the information and they have a good back and forth for this new plan. If they leave it up to a shareholder vote again, which would most likely go through, then I really don't see what the problem will be.
And don't forget, if for whatever reason, Elon does not get compensated through this plan, that's actually a good thing for Tesla shareholders, because then you're not diluting by exercising all of those options. It would, of course, be brutal for Elon, and I would never root for that, but it's a fact of the matter. I could easily rant about this for the next 20 minutes, but I know everybody and their brothers have been talking about this ad nauseum the past 24 hours, so again, I'll direct you to my ex-profile if you want more of my full thoughts.
The entire test the lineup, including the Model 3 Plus and the Cybertruck will be at the Canadian International Auto Show this year, February 16th to the 25th at the Metro Toronto Convention Center.
今年2月16日至25日,包括Model 3 Plus和Cybertruck在内的整个测试阵容将亮相加拿大国际汽车展览会,地点是多伦多会展中心(Metro Toronto Convention Center)。
From Charlie Belello, the average price of a used Tesla has declined 18 months in a row from a record high of 67.9000 to a record low of 34.8000. After some steep cuts when this trend began, we thought it was tapering off here over the last few months, but we do have a bit of an acceleration with this last reading, so maybe all of those Hertz sales flooding the market are actually having an impact already.
Elon posted a video last night walking with Optimus, and as you can see, this version does not have the skin on the butt. Oops, sorry about that, that was the wrong video. Here's the actual video from Elon. Yes, it definitely looks pretty smooth, it's off leash if you will, and it looks like it has a bunch of nodes around it for some sensor motion type of tracking, but honestly, my first thought here was we just heard on the conference call that Tesla's competitors are tracking these videos very closely stopping them frame by frame to try to get a page of their playbook. And I would hope all of you guys know I'm all about Tesla's mission, but at some point I'm wondering where their line is for what they're willing to show and reveal. You can definitely argue that long term the hardware for these humanoid bots is going to be somewhat commoditized, but I would push back we're not even close to that point right now.
And yes, I know the real secret sauce is going to be in these end to end neural networks that actually enable these bots to learn on their own and actually function on their own. I'm just saying if I'm a competitor, I'm putting some of my engineers on this video going frame by frame using AI to enhance the images and figuring out exactly what we can find. If you're looking for a more technical breakdown of this video, John over at Dr. Know it all did a good video with Scott Walter earlier today. So I'll have that linked below.
是的,我知道真正的秘密酱料将在这些端到端的神经网络中,它们能让这些机器人自己学习和自己运行。我只是在说,如果我是竞争对手,我会让我的一些工程师使用人工智能逐帧查看这个视频,增强图像,并找出我们能找到的一切。如果你想更详细地了解这个视频,John在Dr. Know it all那里已经做了一个与Scott Walter合作的好视频。所以我将在下面给出链接。
On the humanoid front, we have figure AI in talks to raise as much as $500 million in a funding round led by Microsoft and open AI figure is seeking additional investors for the deal. In this potential scenario, Microsoft would invest about $95 million and open AI would put in $5 million. They're saying the deal could give figure a $1.9 billion pre money valuation. All that means it's what a company is worth before any money is actually put into it. The funding round is not finalized, the amounts could change, and the deal could fall through all together. It'll be interesting to watch how the markets are valuing some of these humanoid robot startups in the weeks and months ahead as this industry is certainly picking up steam as of late.
Reuters is reporting today that LA San Francisco and two dozen other California counties are suing Tesla over the alleged mismanagement of hazardous materials. The counties accused Tesla of violating state unfair business and hazardous waste management laws by improperly labeling waste and sending the materials to landfills that cannot accept hazardous material. California's hazardous waste management law carries potential civil penalties as high as $70,000 per violation per day. The lawsuit seeks civil penalties and an injunction that would require the company to properly handle its waste in the future. Specifically, the waste produced or handled at the facilities includes paint materials, brake fluids, used batteries, anaphrase, and diesel fuel. The lawsuit claims violations have occurred at as many as 101 facilities, including Tesla's manufacturing plant and Fremont. So is this 101 facilities a typo? Because I'm not even aware of Tesla having that many facilities to begin with. You may recall back in 2019 Tesla paid a $31,000 penalty and bought $55,000 in emergency response equipment thanks to a settlement with the EPA over federal hazardous waste violations at its factory. The EPA said Tesla failed to comply with air emission standards for equipment leaks and management requirements for generators of hazardous waste. And in 2022, Tesla settled with the EPA under which Tesla had to pay a $275,000 penalty. So yeah, unfortunately Tesla has been down this road before.
Tesla is set to expand battery production in Nevada opening a small facility using idle equipment from CATL. Tesla plans to buy machinery from CATL and install it somewhere in sparks. Tesla will have full control of the facility and cover 100% of the costs. CATL personnel will be uninvolved other than helping to set up the equipment. So this is not at all like that joint venture that Ford and CATL have been trying to get pushed through in Michigan that has faced a ton of pushback. This new plant which will make sells for Tesla's mega-packed is part of a broader effort for Tesla to onshore the supply for lithium iron phosphate or LFP cells. Tesla sees this equipment purchase agreement as a cost effective way to set up the new facilities.
The article said Tesla intends to double capacity this year in lay-through up just to be clear that was just the extra production line coming online this year that was talked about on the conference call so the max output at lay-through up is still 40 gigawatt hours.
Tesla's existing mega-packed product already uses CATL cells and Tesla plans to follow the design of those batteries for the cells built at the new facility.
Initially the plant will have a limited output around 10 gigawatt hours but could be expanded if the project goes smoothly and the supply chain can be established. The facility likely won't be operational until 2025 but it could eventually account for about 20% of Tesla's battery production in the region including the lay-through facility.
Thus if you assume the 40 from lay-through up in the 40 gigawatt hours from giga Nevada 80 times 20% is about 16 gigawatt hours per year that this new mini-factory
I can't say for certain but if previously Tesla was importing the cells and then assembling them here in the United States they would only be getting a portion of the credits that are available. Meaning with this new factory there's a chance that because Tesla will be actually building and assembling the packs here in the States they can get the full credit.
We don't know exactly how this deal will be structured but there's at least a chance that Tesla has access to the full credits not having to share it with CATL since CATL will be mostly uninvolved at this site other than providing the equipment and helping them to get it set up.
I briefly popped Elon's poll in the episode yesterday should Tesla change its state of incorporation to Texas 87% of the over 1 million votes said yes. The thing about this one though is probably 99% of those votes have no idea what they're talking about myself included. It was clearly just a scenario where everybody was fed up with what just happened in Delaware.
Naturally that poll led me down a rabbit hole to try to gather some information and come up with somewhat of a pros and cons list for incorporating in each state. Here's the problem for a multinational company as complex as Tesla this is not something that a 30 minute Google search is going to give you good answers for.
It becomes incredibly complicated and nuanced very quickly right when you get into it. However I was able to find this document now it is from the SMU Law Review which is a college in Texas but the main takeaway is that the legislature in Texas has been working to improve the system in recent years to attract more business to the state.
Example Texas has adopted a viable and successful tort reform system while the Delaware courts tend to create legal theories that are dependent on relatively uncertain and fact specific standards of conduct. Thus the historical Delaware approach of relying on judicial interpretation to resolve many issues has in recent years created more uncertainties than it has resolved.
Although the process of molding the Texas Business Corporation Act into a modern and flexible statute is an ongoing process the efforts of Texas to create a friendly environment for business has been successful. Today while Texas may not have as expansive a body of case law on corporation law issues as Delaware's nor arguably as sophisticated a judiciary on such issues Texas corporations enjoy many advantages over their Delaware counterparts.
Those advantages are provided through a combination of a statutory philosophy of providing corporations with maximum flexibility and a clearer and more precise statute that obviates the need for case law to interpret the ambiguities existing under the Delaware General Corporation law.
Once you get past those basics I get out of my depth very quickly and it's not a place I'm willing to wait. The conclusion as is evident from the above discussion the TBCA has evolved over the last decade into one of the most modern flexible and progressive corporation law statutes in the country. As such it's on par with the DGCL Delaware and in many areas provides corporations with greater flexibility options and alternatives than are available to corporations under Delaware law.
Just know that this choice is way more complicated than you are most likely thinking right now. It is true in more recent years Texas has been offering more favorable tax laws and we have the Governor Greg Abbott saying Elon it's over the election desk is declaring a landslide victory for Texas.
Just a few days ago Rohan Patel commented on Tesla not technically being able to sell cars directly to consumers in Texas yet saying just to be clear on this one we have very few operational constraints in Texas. This has enabled tens of thousands of new customers in Texas has taken creative work by the Texas government and the Tesla North America team.
As we've touched on, these anti-competitive dealer laws are a pesky thing to get rid of with a lot of money behind them. You may recall Goshen is looking to set up two battery factories in the United States that they are getting tax dollars for. Now we have a former CIA director saying that these plans may be used for espionage. He said, "I don't think there's any question that they're going to take advantage of that situation, and I think we have to be very vigilant about what the heck is going on, that's just the way they operate. They'll establish a manufacturing unit, they'll establish whatever they can, and then they'll use that for their own intelligence purposes." And Mike Pompeo, the former secretary of state, said, "I think it's worse than the fact that they will engage in espionage. I think that's just the top of the list. They'll use this in ways that will leverage the Chinese advantage. These plans are deeply dangerous to our national security and ought not to be built." To top it all off, for the one battery factory that's supposed to be in Illinois, costing around two billion dollars, they were set to get five hundred and thirty-six million dollars in incentives. This, of course, coming from the government and ultimately the taxpayer. Keeping a finger on the pulse of what the chatter is around these topics will be very important over the next decade when it comes to the likelihood of Chinese companies ever being able to sell electric vehicles here in the United States.
Jim Farley just posted on X: he's pleased to confirm eligible Machi and F-150 Lightning owners in the US and Canada can reserve a complimentary adapter starting soon. More details will be coming soon for this fast charging adapter, giving Ford customers access to the Tesla supercharger network. 2021 to 2024 model year Machi and F-150 Lightning customers will be eligible, and the reservation process will be validated by VIN. One charger per VIN. Ford will cover the cost of shipping. Details on how to reserve and the tech specs of the adapter will be shared soon. Activating charging and payment, once a customer has an adapter, will be seamless through Ford Pass or in-vehicle public charging app.
Some auto finance experts are now agreeing with Elon and Tesla that affordability remains a key concern. Right now, 21% of new vehicles are now paid for in cash, which is decreasing the loan opportunities. That compares with an average rate of cash deals of about 13 or 14% historically. Delinquencies are also steadily increasing, and they mention this stat that 41% of EV owners go back to gasoline-powered vehicles when they return to the market. But if you remember what I said yesterday, the devil is in the details. If you go find the actual study from S&P, you will see that data excludes Tesla. If you actually include Tesla in the data, that number jumps to 72.6% of people with an EV that, when they go back to the market, buy another EV.
The actual pricing for the Polestar 4 is now unveiled, starting around $64.8 thousand dollars. This car, that yes, does not have a rear window. The single motor variant, with a 100kWh battery pack, promises a 379-mile range and a 0 to 62 mile per hour sprint in 7.1 seconds, charging up to speeds of 200kW. The long-range dual motor goes 0 to 60 in 3.7 seconds. Production for North American orders are expected to start sometime later this year, and then deliveries to customers in North America are planned to begin late 2024. I've seen a lot of people ask why Polestar removed the rear window. As far as I understand it, so they could extend the rear header and expand the panoramic glass roof behind the rear passengers. Basically, for a more spacious and a brighter interior environment, the rearview mirror has been replaced by a high-definition screen that displays a live camera feed from the car's roof. That way, you don't have any headrests or passengers in the way of that view. The screen can also be switched to a traditional mirror mode if the driver wants to check on the rear occupants.
ARK's big ideas for 2024 just came out. I have not had a chance to study it yet, but I want to share a few slides. In case, for some reason, you're out there doubting Tesla and Elon's striving toward AI, look at this chart where ARK has the economic impact of select technologies. We know how massive and kind of unfathomable the autonomous mobility market is. That's this bar here in light blue. Compare that to the purple bar which is what ARK believes is the economic impact of AI for the next seven years.
ARK said if EV adoption continues to gain traction, traditional automakers may be forced to restructure or consolidate. ARK said in the past five years, charging rates to get to 200 miles of range have improved nearly threefold, from 40 minutes to 12, and could drop another threefold to four minutes over the next five years. As EV charging reaches acceptable rates, manufacturers are likely to optimize for other features, including autonomous driving, safety, and entertainment. In the absence of an EV supply chain, Tesla had little choice but to vertically integrate. Now that the supply chain is evolving other auto manufacturers will reach profitability if they scale. Many are pulling back from the market however because the already profitable market leaders are cutting prices aggressively.
I always love these price and unit sales dot plots because it shows how set apart the model why really is specifically in the biggest market in the world in China. This chart on the right with the green line shows us the vehicle price versus the addressable market as you can see at that twenty five thousand dollar price point things become incredibly exciting when it comes to the total addressable market which is why the next gen platform is so crucial. ARK said if EVs continue to gain share as we believe they will then used cars and new EVs will make more economic sense than new ice vehicles perhaps causing a death spiral for incumbent auto manufacturers. As EV and used car prices fall consumers could delay purchases waiting for even lower price points. While I do still think this will happen eventually I'm now believing it'll be closer to the end of this decade rather than in the next few years.
Robo taxis are operating in around 20 cities globally with fully driverless commercial options in at least seven cities. In 2023 Baidu was operating at a run rate of 1.6 million autonomous trips triple those of Waymo. Cruise has ceased US operations with access to 50 times more driving data than Baidu in 280 times more than Waymo. Tesla has a massive data advantage as it prepares to launch its Robo taxi service the largest AI project in the world. This data for Baidu does only include the roughly 55% or so of rides that Baidu offers that are fully autonomous. And in case you need a chart to share with your unbelieving friends about Tesla's data advantage for FSD here's a good option. Another chart you can share around with family or friends ARK said with FSD mode on surface streets a Tesla appears to be around five times safer than a Tesla in manual mode and around 16 times safer than the national average. Waymo's autonomous cars are two to three times safer than the national average while Cruise now sidelined by regulators seems to have underperformed the national average considerably.
We've heard similar numbers before but their most updated target from ARK ride hail is likely to create an 11 trillion dollar addressable market. We know all about the interest rate hikes and the impact on affordability. ARK said thanks to Wright's law, ED prices should continue to fall shifting more miles onto electric platforms and decreasing the value of gas powered vehicles. As a result the around 1.6 trillion dollars in auto loans currently sitting on financial institution balance sheets or OEM balance sheets issued predominantly for gas powered vehicles could be at risk over the next 10 years. It's a very lengthy report. I'll have the whole thing link below.
A quick rundown of the FOMC meeting rates are unchanged at 5.25 to 5.5 percent. They're open to cuts but most likely not soon. March is not the base case for rate cuts. Right now most likely that's off the table. The next option for a rate cut would be May or June. That means the market will probably adjust down from some people expecting March cuts. Powell said the FOMC needs to be confident inflation reaches 2% sustainably not just momentarily. They did actually remove commentary about the potential for additional monetary policy firming. What to watch in the macro space going forward banking which they oddly didn't give any commentary on and of course corporate earnings. The specific wording the US banking system is sound and resilient was removed and again no commentary on that nor questions on that. Overall to summarize the meeting I would peg it as near term bearish but long term bullish.
For whatever it's worth the CME Fed watch tool did just jump up when it comes to expectations for a rate cut at the March meeting currently sitting at 53% when just about an hour ago it was down under 40%.
Tesla stock closed today at $187.29 down 2.24% while the Nasdaq was down 2.23%. Tesla stock traded about 6 million shares below the average 30 day volume.