Welcome to Electrified, it's your host Dylan Loomis. In case you missed it, Martin Vieja said that if you've been a long-term Tesla shareholder, you may now be able to get a foundation series Cybertruck early. I won't read through all of the eligibility requirements, just know if you own over 500 Tesla shares and have for a few years, you have until March 22nd to take advantage of this offer. Right now it's only in the United States and Canada. Of course, Tesla will never please everybody and some people are going to be upset about this feeling like they're being jumped in line for those that don't fit this criteria, but I think it is a cool way for Tesla to honor some of its long-term shareholders. If you're interested, I'll have the link with all of the information below.
Winston on X said 85,000 miles and the pads still look good at sharing a picture of the Tesla brake pad saying thanks region breaking. Another user Ben said, at the very least, I'd break heavily once per week to clear any surface rust in the UK. We have yearly inspections and it would not pass if it's rusted out. Then Lars said, we learned that lesson hard on original SNX, our early customers in Norway gave us this insight and we learned from them and improved. Now all Teslas come with brake disc wiping in cold climates to clear ice as well as extensive corrosion prevention on the rotors, pads and calipers to last longer than traditional ice brakes.
Then he was asked about Tesla's progress, bringing the Matrix software to the 2021 cars that have the hardware available for Matrix LEDs. Lars said, we just started rolling this out to older hardware capable 3 Y SNX cars in Europe with 2024.8. Great work by the teams to get this going and approved, more regions and features to follow as we get necessary certifications. I suppose there could be more to the story, but at least for now it's as we expected a regulatory reason why this feature is not yet rolling out in other places. For now it's still just parts of Europe that are getting this adaptive headlight functionality, but Tesla is working on rolling this out in the United States as well.
Whether or not there will be a retrofit available for the vehicles that don't have the proper hardware is to be determined. In case you're thinking wait a second, my high beams already automatically turn off when a car is approaching, this adaptive headlight functionality is just certain pixels or parts of the light that would actually be directed to any oncoming traffic, just those will go off allowing the rest to remain on. Instead of your high beams going off completely, it would just be select portions.
Bloomberg NEF did a new study asking the question are EVs actually cleaner than their gas guzzling counterparts? The result? The answer is a resounding yes. I think most people already understand this data, but the takeaway, the EV life cycle emissions can be over 70% lower than gasoline and diesel vehicles. This charted total CO2 emissions of medium sized ice and BEVs produced in 2023 and used for about 155,000 miles. In the United States, the blue for vehicle manufacturing is somewhat comparable for EV and ice. Then EVs of course you have the section for battery manufacturing, but when it comes to the third component, the use and the green, clearly that's where EVs come out way ahead. I'm sharing because I think it's good to keep these recent reports handy. This will still come up often in conversation, people thinking that EVs aren't actually better for the environment, so it's good to have some data handy. Plus, Rohan Patel added this is quite conservative. The reality for Tesla vehicles is actually significantly better than this chart.
Over the past 10 days or so, Bradford Ferguson from Rebellionair has been on a cross country road trip, mostly using Tesla's FSD version 12. I may or may not have met up with him for roughly an hour to do some testing of version 12, but I cannot confirm nor deny. My point, Bradford has a lot of miles under his belt in many different situations across the country. He said V12 has nearly perfected roundabouts, it's fixed nearly every issue in my neck of the woods in Carmel, Indiana, and some videos will be coming soon. I do have some thoughts of my own to share, but the time has not come just yet.
Bradford said V12 seems to have fixed 90% plus of the issues people were having with V11, but it's taken a step backwards by pulling out more often at the wrong time. I think this situation right here, going up a steep hill, no stop sign, your view is blocked to the left and the right. This would be the quintessential argument for Tesla needing a front bumper camera to actually complete full self-driving. Naturally, the easy counter argument for this one is that well, it just pulled off this situation without it. Add this to the list of conversations I would love to hear Elon and the engineers discussing, maybe while they're out demoing a version of FSD, I feel like once a quarter for 30 or 45 minutes, where we can ask questions and just hear them talk about those answers, we can dream right?
And yes, I know last week we talked about how Tesla is most likely in the process of bringing a front bumper camera to all of its vehicles sometime in the next 12 to 18 months. But the word right now is that'll be for AutoPark and other features, it will not be for full self-driving. There are at least a few users that are now getting FSD version 12.3. At least so far, there are no new release notes that I've been able to find. Elon doing something he's always done very well, providing some hype said this is a big release should arguably be called version 13. One criticism I'm seeing Elon get a lot right now is that he also said version 12 was not going to be a beta. He could still technically be correct if a later dot release of version 12 loses the beta, then he will have been correct. The word on this release so far, it's for employees, but a few customer vehicles as well. Will this be the version that eventually goes to a wide release? Right now we don't know for sure.
A Malaysian news source has confirmed Model Y deliveries are officially underway. The first batch of 80 units is being handed over to customers today. Rohan quote posted a customer taking delivery saying Southeast Asia will undoubtedly be a major place of growth over the coming years in battery storage and EV adoption. Looking at the rough size of some auto markets in Southeast Asia, these numbers are for 2022. Indonesian auto sales just over 1 million for the year. Thailand 849.4 thousand. Malaysia 720.7 thousand and Vietnam 404.6 thousand. It looks like Elon is headed to Gigabirlin for a visit as of tomorrow. The plant manager just said it could take some time until production fully restarts, but the most important step has been taken. That being the power supply is back on.
The Tesla China weekly number came in at 13,200 comparing that to the same weekend quarter four. That number was 15.4 thousand. As we've been saying for most of the quarter though, comparing Q1 to Q4 is a fool's errand. So if you wanted to compare year over year, we're still 2.57% ahead of that pace. It was the best week of the year for Tesla as we continue to get further removed from the Chinese New Year. It was 3400 model threes and 9800 model wise. Starting Model Y deliveries in a new market like Malaysia is not going to boost Tesla's Q1 given that we only have a few weeks left, but heading into future quarters that will be a slight tailwind. Zooming out to the main Q1 number, we're still tracking to come in somewhat flat year over year, which is unchartered territory for Tesla.
Tesla is now offering LFP pack retrofits to some model three owners that require a battery replacement under warranty. This option is now available for those vehicles that were initially equipped with the 2170s, and this also includes some upgrades to the suspension to handle the heavier LFP battery owners that are opting for this LFP retrofit are required to sign an agreement that outlines the advantages and drawbacks of the LFP battery. If you're someone that would benefit from the ability to charge to 100% all the time, LFP could be for you.
This one's about two weeks old, but I thought it was pretty cool. Fremont was dubbed the happiest city in the United States. The survey said Fremont residents report high rates of life satisfaction and low rates of depression. Another factor contributing to Fremont's happiness level is the city's low separation and divorce rate at 8.9%. It's the lowest in the country. This was an interesting article from the Nikkei Asia talking about how Washington is now lasering in on the use of LiDAR technology by some of these Chinese companies. Basically, our government is concerned that Chinese vehicles using LiDAR can collect sensitive information. There's one Chinese company in particular that's under the most scrutiny right now. That's HSI, reason being they control 47% of the global market sales of LiDAR technology. HSI has also been accused by US companies, Velodyne and Alster of IP infringement. HSI was the first Chinese LiDAR company to list on a US stock exchange back in February 2023.
HSI has denied any allegations that they're linked to the Chinese military saying, HSI LiDARs are for civilian use only. We don't sell our products to any military in any country, nor do we have ties of any kind to any military in any country. The company blamed the Pentagon's move on intense lobbying by LiDAR competitors who are, quote, years behind in product development and failing to deliver any product suitable for the automotive market. I must say, I would be curious to hear what our government would deem as sensitive data that these LiDARs could actually gain access to. Other than location coordinates which are somewhat public already, what are we talking about here?
More importantly though, from a competitive standpoint, think about how pretty much all of the industry is reliant on LiDAR technology in their efforts for solving autonomy, outside of maybe Tesla, Comma AI and a few others. There are no guarantees anything happens from this heightened scrutiny. However, if there are more regulations and restrictions in place on what LiDAR sensors companies can actually use in the United States, that of course puts companies in a tough competitive spot, especially if any performance gap between Chinese LiDAR and American LiDAR would actually persist into the future.
In China, all eyes are going to be on Xiaomi, they're well known for making smartphones, but now they're trying their hand at making electric vehicles. They just announced they're going to offer their SU-7 series for purchase on March 28th and 29 cities without disclosing the price. Their co-founder has said the company's EV will not be a budget proposition. He said they're intending the SU-7 to rival Porsche's Ticon Turbo in terms of performance and Tesla's Model S in technology features, a pretty high bar. This is not a sponsored episode, but just to show you I do actually use ground news, this Tesla item today, 65 different outlets reporting on this one topic.
The IIHS rolled out a new safety rating system for partially automated driving systems, and let's just say this first round of testing did not go well for anybody. The scores up for grabs, good, acceptable, marginal, or poor. None of the automated systems, there were 14 of the industry leaders that were tested, landed an overall rating of good, zero. Of the 14 systems rated, 11 were found to be poor, including Tesla's autopilot and FSD. The only system that performed worse than Tesla's was Volvo's Pilot Assist. Let me make the distinction here, this new testing is not for the actual capability of these ADAS systems, it's only for the car's ability to actually monitor the driver while using these ADAS systems.
The whole industry right now is just a little goofy, you have these automakers trying to offer features like hands off the wheel, the ability to read a book or do whatever on the highway, yet now we have the IIHS saying no no, you need more cameras, more driver monitoring to make sure that they're paying even more attention. I just happen to be in the camp right now that no matter what system you're using at this point, if you're behind the wheel of the vehicle, you should always be paying attention. The top rated system was from Lexus, their teammate with advanced drive, it got a rating of acceptable. The number two spot went to GM's Super Cruise. The IIHS did say the two Tesla systems that tested used software that preceded the company's latest update from December.
So contrary to what many of these headlines would have you believe, this is not just Tesla being singled out. It's a new rating system, there will definitely be back and forth in the weeks and months ahead between the automakers and the IIHS, but this could result in more of a nag situation for all automakers. The IIHS president said most of them don't include adequate measures to prevent misuse and keep drivers from losing focus on what's happening on the road. He also said they're trying to fill a regulatory void left by inaction on the systems from NHTSA.
He said NHTSA needs to do more to set standards for the systems which are not able to drive themselves. They said the systems should be able to see if a driver's head or eyes are not directed on the road and whether their hands are on the wheel or ready to grab it if necessary. If a system does not see a driver's eyes on the road or hands aren't ready to steer, there should be audible and visual alerts within 10 seconds. Before 20 seconds, the system should add a third alert or start an emergency procedure to slow down the vehicle. None of the 14 systems met all the driver monitoring requirements in the test, but fords came close.
Just months ahead of Lucid Gravity production, Lucid is at risk of losing the trademark for the name Gravity. Remember that EV charging company we just talked about? They launched their flagship indoor EV charging site Gravity? They're claiming in a petition that Lucid's use of the Gravity name could confuse consumers since Gravity Inc uses it for EV charging and has used it in the past to operate a fleet of EV taxis. It should be noted though this pilot program by Gravity was actually ended in 2023. Lucid is arguing that company Gravity does not currently operate in EV Fleet and argues consumers would not be confused by the two different uses of the Gravity name. Lucid also filed a counterclaim with the purpose of trying to force Gravity Inc to give up its trademark because it abandoned the fleet business. Just another headache for Lucid in something that could become somewhat costly at a time when it needs to save every dollar it can.
As it turns out, some Georgia senators are not happy that Rivian apparently blindsided them with their decision to pause construction of their new factory. Some members of a Senate subcommittee explored ways on Monday to potentially punish Rivian. Some are urging a halt to infrastructure projects underway until Rivian starts construction. One senator called Rivian's decision completely irresponsible. If they come back to Georgia and start making good on their promises, I'll be the one surprised. At the time of the deal, this was Georgia's largest ever jobs deal. But the company does have several years before it would violate its incentives agreement with the state. Until they tell us they can't live up to that commitment or they breach their contract, then we are under obligation to allow them to live up to their commitment. Seems like maybe this was more of a case of some senators having a little tantrum.
Mike Bell was just interviewed. He worked at Apple for 17 years. He worked on the development of multiple different products, one of which was the iPhone and Apple TV. Most recently though, he's Lucid's VP of digital. He said the biggest thing I see is that traditional automotive manufacturers don't seem to understand you can't apply old ways of doing things to this new software defined vehicle paradigm. You have to do most of the stuff in house, writing a spec, giving it to a third party, waiting six months, then slapping together the piece you get, you're gonna end up with something pretty mediocre against what happens if you bring the talent in house to own everything yourself. This, the automotive industry is now a systems play, the software and the hardware, the mechanics and the dynamics, they're all one thing. A lot of people are not willing to make that leap and adopt this new way of doing things. I think the auto industry needs to adopt a little more of the Silicon Valley mindset. We fix things in days not weeks or weeks not months. The thing that will propel the software defined vehicle forward is to take advantage of these huge leaps in technologies and capabilities. It's not just 10% better every year, it's a dramatic leap. Finally, people don't understand the power of software defined vehicles where the functionality and behavior of the vehicle can be changed through software. I totally agree with that final sentiment that I think your average consumer still does not know how much better cars can get with time from software updates. I'm sure most of you picked up on it, but everything he was saying was effectively describing what Tesla does incredibly well.
This is also not sponsored at all just any electrified community member Vashow who does some wood burnings in his big Tesla fan. He has all kinds of different Tesla designed items on his Etsy store and I just wanted you guys to know he is open to doing custom work too if you had your own design that you wanted to have him turn into some art. He's a friend of the channel, I think he does cool work and I wanted to give him a shout out. I'll have his store linked below if you're interested. You've heard me say on the channel now for a long time, EVs are sadly going to be politicized more and more as we lead up to the election. I just want you guys to know if I don't share an article like this one today, some of those comments that Trump had about EVs that were no surprise they were negative. I promise you I am not doing it from any sort of political angle, it's just really not news. At this point we know each candidate's stance and both sides are going to play the vote getting game, it's just how things work. If we learn something new or a policy might change, we'll absolutely cover it, but most of this stuff is just noise.
This time around Sawyer put together a separate petition different than the one we shared a couple weeks back. Same topic though, for NHTSA to stop requiring paper recall letters and classifying OTA updates as recalls. If you want to sign this one too, it can't hurt, it'll be below. We have some executives at BYD saying there are some issues including a weak market demand, too high of pricing, quality control, and internal tension over how quickly BYD should seek to grab market share in Europe. They said the company's inexperience showed in some problems that have arisen like handling of mold in cars and the piling up of thousands of vehicles in European warehouses. The exec said the company was unlikely to achieve the leadership's internal target of selling 400,000 cars outside of China this year compared with the 242.8,000 it sold last year. In Europe, BYD sold around 16,000 vehicles in 2023, but the word is BYD has been disputing that figure without providing a different one. One internal concern at BYD involves the number of fixes or repairs that passenger car models exported from China require before they can be sold to consumers. Post-import touch-ups are common in the auto industry, but BYD models often require more extensive fixes than most.
This in part due to what they see as the company's inexperience in handling long-distance logistics. There are other quality complaints when it comes to things like paint and plastics. They also highlighted how BYD vehicles can cost significantly more overseas than they do in China. One example, the Addo 3 costs $41,000 in Germany. Compare that to what it costs in China which is less than $20,000. That's more than twice the price. Finally, at the end of last year, more than 10,000 BYD passenger cars were waiting in warehouses in Europe and the certificates authorizing them to be sold in the EU are set to expire soon meaning it may not be possible to sell them in Europe. Honestly though, outside of the much higher cost in Europe, I think a lot of these problems could just be some growing pains for BYD as they try something they really haven't done in volume. I would imagine most of these issues will be fixed with time, but just keep in mind, it's not just Tesla that may be seeing weaker pockets of demand. We just learned the price for the Hyundai IONIQ 5N, their performance variant, it's going to start at $66.1,000. They're touting a 0-60 of 3.25 seconds with launch control and their boost function, the Model Y performance is 3.5 seconds. And it also costs about $14,000 less and that's before the tax credit. Checking in on Tesla stock valuation metrics, just looking at the 2024 forward PE that sits at about 45. Gary Black shared this from the Bloomberg terminal, just showing Tesla's historical forward PE so you can get a sense of where 45 actually falls.
The lowest this metric has been over the past few years, it dipped briefly below 20 and the highest it was up over 180 back toward the end of 2020. Personally though, I'd rather look at the peg ratio, so if we look at the far column on the right, that's for an implied 10% growth in Tesla's earnings, that would give Tesla using its forward PE, a peg of 4.52. I'm showing you this because using these traditional metrics that yes, Wall Street does still at least look at. From this standpoint alone, you can still argue Tesla stock is overvalued. I have a few of these cells grayed out because Tesla's Q4 gap number had that one-time item that was over $5 billion. Thus, that was a one-time positive impact that has artificially inflated Tesla's gap numbers for Q4. Tesla stock closed the day at $177.54 down 0.13%, while the Nasdaq was up 1.54%. It was a lower volume day for Tesla trading about 14 million shares below the average 30-day volume. What I'm about to say is just for fun, but I do think relatively speaking, Tesla stock has held up fairly well given how negative the sentiment is and how significantly Wall Street has cut its expectations for Tesla's earnings.
I would say though, Tesla is still showing a lot of weakness and if Q1 rolls around and the numbers are worse than expected and then Tesla's margins surprise on the downside, there's not a lot of support below this level we've been at for a few days around $175. Many of you will remember the last time we fell through $175 and broke through this downward channel. That's when we quickly went all the way down to $100. Don't go making any buy or sell decisions off of this. I'm just saying I personally would be prepared for some more downside in the weeks and months ahead.
Robin Denholm did file a Form 144 showing that she unloaded over $16 million of Tesla. But if you've been following along, you may remember late last year Robin Denholm actually set this plan in place. Her insider share trading plan set up in October allowed her the potential to sell up to 281.1k shares. Her plan is set to expire on August 16th. I would also note she's held some of those shares for over 6 years.
Robin Denholm提交了一份144表格,显示她抛售了价值超过1600万美元的特斯拉股票。但是如果你一直在关注的话,你可能会记得去年年底罗宾·德霍姆实际上已经制定了这个计划。她在去年十月制定的内幕交易计划允许她最多出售281.1万股股票。她的计划将在8月16日到期。我还要注意的是,她已经持有其中一部分股票超过6年了。
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