Welcome to Electrified, it's your host, Dylan Umis. I found an interesting report from Zendy, which is a company that specializes in microgrids and actually coming up with plans and blueprints for other companies to install EV chargers using microgrids. As I'm sure you can imagine, there is much more involved than just plopping down some solar panels and maybe a substation and then having an EV charging station ready to run. Thus, Zendy is doing work to push forward more EV charging and they directly talk to the companies that are the ones actually building these EV charging stations.
This is now the second year they have run this survey and one of the main takeaways, the limitations of the electric grid and high costs remain the largest challenges to developing commercial EV charging infrastructure. In this context, commercial EV charging is just in contrast to residential charging. There were 175 companies responding to this survey and 75% of them said that electric grid limitations were a significant roadblock to the rollout of their EV charging infrastructure. The second biggest hurdle was the total cost of EV charging infrastructure and then the third was permitting and construction challenges and delays.
Almost 9 in 10 respondents in 2024 named the ability of electric grid infrastructure to accommodate expected charging load as very important or important when deciding where to locate charging infrastructure. And this that may lead to some disruptions for EV charging rollouts this year. 56% of respondents said they're concerned the 2024 election will have a significant impact on EV charging infrastructure project decisions for the next 2-5 years. So while many of these station developers are finding out they're unable to procure adequate electricity from utilities, many have been unable to get information they need about the grid's capacity from utilities in a timely fashion, and some regions have seen electricity prices spike above economic levels.
One industry player said time of use rates and power chargers are a really big problem. If you end up paying more for electricity than gas, then something is wrong. It should make you think that Tesla being a first mover with a supercharger network gave them the edge of picking some of the best locations where power supply and capacity wasn't as much of a problem as it is right now. And of course Tesla's choice to slow down the supercharger rollout was based on many factors but maybe one of them is that some of the best locations for new sites now require a little bit more work than they did just a few years back.
I think we'd all agree that microgrids are the solution, solar and battery storage but that does require more upfront cost and a lot more planning to get everything working together. Which is why a company like Zendy exists in the first place. I know it's not the most entertaining of subjects but given a Harvard study this month just confirmed that one out of every five public chargers currently does not work, it just highlights the magnitude of this problem. Whether you believe the fears are justified or not, this is the number one reason people give for not wanting to buy an EV.
This video was shared on Reddit, somebody spotted a Tesla semi with LIDAR up top. Plenty of folks were getting carried away but this is most likely just Tesla's normal testing and validation of its autopilot and FSD systems. Something that Tesla has used LIDAR for now for years across all of its vehicles. To be clear, Tesla will not be using LIDAR on the Tesla semi. As Greg and some others are sharing, if you're not going through with your power share installation for your cyber truck purchase, Tesla is now giving vouchers to those customers to be used at the Tesla shop.
Some people already got a $700 voucher and then in addition they're getting an extra $1800. It looks like the total voucher could be up to $2500. And the number one reason I've seen why people are not going through with a power share installation is the cost is too prohibitive. I know a fair number of you are out in California so if any of you happen to be near the Chatsworth area in LA, Tesla's about to have a new delivery hub. Tesla is taking over the old Winetka Pacific theaters which used to be a drive in and here's a render of what it'll look like. Tesla's looking to be done with construction and improvements by the end of 2025.
As Tesla's used vehicle fleet grows, news like this makes more and more sense, Tesla is expanding its used car business in the UK. They'll be boosting the number of locations where it sells Tesla's official certified pre-owned vehicles. The program is currently available at 8 locations and they're bumping it up to 10.
Jim Farley shared an awesome article on LinkedIn talking about electric vehicles and their future and his past as a petrol head and all of the work he's done at Ford over decades with his family. I'm not going to read the whole thing but I am going to post this below because this would be a great article to send to all of your friends and family or anybody that you run into that says, app, I would never buy an EV.
Just a few lines from Jim he said, so as a lifelong petrol head I was surprised as anyone when I fell in love with EVs. It was not government policies or political beliefs that sparked this late career romance with EVs, it's because I drive one the F-150 Lightning. He highlighted things like no gas stations ever, the lockable frunk in the Lightning, how it can work as a mobile generator and can power his home.
He said EVs are not for everyone and every job, but as the CEO of a major automaker I feel compelled to tell customers the truth about EVs amid all the disinformation and misunderstandings. Our research shows roughly half of Americans take trips over 150 miles, only 4 days or fewer per year. It's true that we're losing money on EVs in the first innings of this transition, largely due to upfront investment costs, but that too is changing.
After all, what major technological leap forward was not challenging and costly at the early stages. The tipping point we're working toward will come not from regulators who push us or from politicians who try to hold us back, it'll come from consumers. Not when an arbitrary market share is reached, but when EVs are simply better for more customers, better to drive, cheaper to own and easier to integrate into daily life. This is the reality for millions already.
I could say take it from a car guy that EVs are a great choice for many people, but you're better off trying one for yourself and making your own decision. What's more American than that? Who knows, you might just surprise yourself, I know I did. It may seem basic, but if you haven't been able to figure it out already, I place a high value on authenticity from CEOs these days and that one just felt authentic.
Ford has also decided to bring its next gen EV low cost platform team to Long Beach, California. They plan to open this new campus in early 2025 and it will accommodate up to 450 employees. The main idea behind this move was to help Ford attract top talent from around the world, giving them a place to work where they also want to live. This Ford Skunk Works team is being led by a former Tesla executive Alan Clark.
They said this project draws inspiration from the Model T, which was the epitome of innovation and affordability for the masses. In fact, this is a full circle move for Ford as back in the 1930s, Ford had a plant also in Long Beach where they produced Model A's. Unfortunately, not only do connected vehicles collect data about drivers and sell that information to insurance companies, but we're also learning that now many apps on your smartphone are doing the same. Information about driving habits is also being collected by apps that are only tangentially related to autos. And look, the backlash is working. GM said it stopped working with a data broker that was selling customer data to insurance companies without their consent after public backlash. So as consumers, we need to keep this momentum going, so what can we do? Well, I for one would recommend signing up for Delete Me yesterday. Now yes, they sponsor the channel and they're a US based company that's doing all of the time consuming work, removing all of my personal information from these data brokers continually. So I get to sit back, relax and just read the reports every quarter.
Delete Me is super affordable and in my opinion, it's a no brainer given the fact that last year 2.7 billion dollars was lost to imposter scams and there was 2.5 million reports of fraud. And data brokers are often the catalysts for these events because nefarious actors have easy access to your sensitive info whether you think they do or not. I just got my 5th quarterly report from Delete Me and in June alone, they reviewed nearly 4000 listings, removing my information from 40 of those, saving me over 50 hours of time. And I would add, the avoidance of all of the headaches of making all of these phone calls is absolutely priceless. You can always see the status of each individual data broker and your information, whether that removal is in progress or actually complete. Plus, new data brokers pop up all the time so Delete Me continually scans for those new ones to ensure your data is removed.
So if you'd like to get your family's privacy back and support a US based company doing what I think is important work, you can head to joindeleitme.com slash electrified and use my code electrified to get 20% off, the link is below. Some local media outlets just got a tour of the new Panasonic factory in Kansas that will largely be supplying 2170s to Tesla. They confirmed the factory is on track to launch spring of 2025. As you would expect, Panasonic said they're now bringing the experience they've learned from Giganavada in partnership with Tesla to Kansas. They're saying this factory will be a 5 million square foot production facility and it will be the largest battery factory in the world. The facility is divided into two sections, wing 1 and wing 2 and there are going to be four lines of battery production in each wing. Officials said they're completely done with wing 1 as far as the infrastructure of the building.
About 5 weeks ago they started moving in the actual cell production equipment and will be continuing in finishing wing 2 next. They're saying it's been moving very rapidly. They expect the plant to eventually employ about 4000 people and they're saying the average starting pay should be between $20 and $30 per hour. They'll be running 12 hour shifts, and it will be a 24-7 operation. The plant is less than one year from completion. Sounds like maybe some low volume cell production for Tesla as soon as spring next year. Gigabrelin's plant manager Andre Terek posted the Gigabrelin Rave Cave aka Hamster is now alive. Now I'm not sure if this is an after shift type of thing or take a break type of thing but either way I'm sure not many other car companies are doing anything similar.
Remember how Polestar had some accounting misstatements over the past few years so we were waiting on some updated financials? Well, we got some new numbers for 2023 and they're not great. Polestar's revenue for last year was $2.38 billion down 3% from 2022 when it was $2.45 billion. Polestar reported a gross loss of $414 million last year compared to a gross profit of $98 million in 2022. And Polestar's net loss was $1.17 billion last year compared to $481.5 million the year prior. I did sign up to test drive a Polestar 3 and I just got the email. The problem is the closest Polestar location to me is about 4.5 hours away and I'm not that interested. I really just want to experience the vehicle and compare it to our Model Y but the point is Polestar is facing an uphill battle between all of that and reduced investment from Volvo.
Fun fact, a World War 2 bomb was discovered in the forest near Gigabrelin and it's going to be safely detonated on site on Saturday. They found it because it's where Tesla plans to lay tracks for a new freight station. It won't affect production because production isn't scheduled for Saturday anyways but the protesters in the forest will not be forcibly evacuated allowing the activists to choose if they'd like to remain in the area.
You see this headline titled Toyota to launch first EV with advanced self-driving system for China in 2025 and you probably roll your eyes. And it would get worse because they said it'll be similar to Tesla's FSD for the Chinese market. But this is through Toyota's joint venture with GAC and the first car to use this tech will be a BOGI 3X SUV. They said this would ensure its leadership in autonomous driving technology offerings among all foreign brands in China. And par for the course Toyota said it's going to roll out a new LFP battery in 2026 or 2027 that could reduce the production cost of the BZ4X by 40%.
But on the autonomous driving, GAC Toyota is partnering up with Momenta who also uses Nvidia, specifically the Nvidia Drive SOC which does not rely on HD maps. But this system will use 11 cameras, one radar and yes, one LiDAR. But it could be one to watch because Momenta has also integrated China's first mass produced end to end large scale foundation model for autonomous driving, which sounds a lot like video in and controls out. A VP from Nvidia said Momenta is bringing together its strength in advancing software algorithms through data driven approaches with Nvidia's cutting edge tech and expertise to achieve full stack end to end autonomous driving capabilities. Toyota has been very quiet when it comes to autonomous technology and what its real plans were going to be so, we'll see if Toyota rolls out a similar strategy outside of China and it may be based on if this initial deployment goes well.
Energy shared a slick video of the Riviera apartment building in Brisbane, Australia, saying that the common areas are powered by 9 power walls and solar energy. Number 1, this apartment complex is awesome and obviously it's not a huge project but it's the blueprint that should be the future. So not just for new home construction is the micro grid VPP the way to go but for apartment complexes as well.
Energy 分享了一段关于澳大利亚布里斯班 Riviera 公寓大楼的精美视频,称其公共区域由 9 个电力墙和太阳能供电。首先,这个公寓项目非常棒,虽然规模不大,但它是未来应有的蓝图。所以,不仅新建住房应采用微电网虚拟电厂(VPP),公寓大楼也应该这样做。
Tesla stock closed the week at $197.88 up 0.23% while the NASDAQ was down 0.71%. And intraday Tesla did wick above 200 for the first time since February of this year. I know some of you are about to roll your eyes but I did want to highlight the $200 level for Tesla stock has been a key one now for over 3 years. Remember TA is just historical data and how consumers were behaving at certain price points. Back in 2020 Tesla stock ripped through 200 and then retested it twice before taking off again. Then it proceeded to test it twice before ultimately breaking through.
And again in 2023 it served as a resistance before ultimately serving as a support yet again. So are we going to rip through and then retest or are we going to be rejected? I'll save that for a different platform. I'll send you guys into the weekend with a video that highlights the weaponization of electric vehicles and really the lack of education of our leaders of the country. Don't forget check out Delete Me linked below if you want to protect you and your family. Hope you guys have a wonderful and a safe weekend. 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. And this dictatorial policy.
Well thank you. Given time is limited I will confine myself to addressing the factually incorrect portions of what you have said beginning with the assertion that EV sales are going down. They are in fact going up every government sales year or private sale. Every single year. Private sales for a member of the government sales. Mr. Secretary. The entire market. The government is forced to buy them so sales are going up but private sector are private sales too. Yeah. I'd like those numbers. 1.2 million EVs were sold in the US in 2010. How many government and private? We'll get you that breakout but as you know more private citizens buy EVs than government purchase. No I don't. Let me address the second factual mistake in your remarks which was that EV costs are getting higher. They're in fact getting lower and according to JD power have now reached parity or are slightly lower than the. With or without subsidy Mr. Secretary. With or without? Yeah that does include the subsidy. That's right. But the point is they are going lower. But they're not because we're all buying.
The statement that they are going up is incorrect. The third incorrect assertion you made is that sales dropped in Q1. They did not drop compared to Q1 the previous year. Of course if you compare them to Q4 they dropped because they always do because car sales are seasonal but I would imagine most people are aware of that. No I'm talking about Q1 EV. Q4 to Q1. EV. Not just overall car sales. Any car sales go down Q1 to Q4 because more people buy cars in Q4 but I'm telling you to use every single year. More Americans buy EVs than the year before.
The word tailspin is just a bizarre word to use for a growing sector of our economy. We also think that since that's the way that the market is headed we should not allow China to build on the advantage that they developed during the Trump administration. Not because they're environmentalists but because they understand the economic power of trying to dominate the EV market we want those EVs to be made in America and increasingly they are. I'm happy to have them made in America Mr. Secretary. What I'm not happy about is the mandate.
The American people should be able to buy them. That brings me to the fourth and final thing that I need to challenge is being factually inaccurate which there is no mandate. You can purchase a gas car if you want to.