Tesla Energy
Tesla Powerwall demand jumps 30 times after blackouts
Demand for Tesla's Powerwall home storage batteries has jumped more than 30 times at some large installers after power blackouts in two states. Installers say "blackout proofing" has become a new buzzword among householders. The surge in inquiries about home storage battery systems has been almost overwhelming as it adds a new level of demand from customers previously focused on environmental considerations and reducing power bills from weaning themselves off the traditional electricity grid.
Model S
Tesla Dominates U.S. Luxury Sedan Sales
Tesla’s U.S. sales of its Model S sedan jumped 59 percent over the same quarter last year, increasing its already sizable lead among large luxury cars, according to internal third-quarter sales numbers—which Tesla usually keeps confidential—and competitor data compiled by the automaker. Tesla says it’s now responsible for almost a third of all sales in the segment. Its nearest competitors are the newly updated BMW 7-Series and the Mercedes-Benz S-Class.
Model X
Tesla Model X’s Falcon Wing doors are significantly faster after v8.0 software update
The update was pushed to both Model S and Model X, but there were some vehicle specific improvements like one to the Falcon Wing doors, which now open and close much faster. We are talking about the opening time reduced by 22% (6.6 to 5.1 seconds) and 26% faster closing time (8.4 to 6.2 seconds). Not bad for an over-the-air software update.
Model 3
Tesla’s new long-range plan could double size of Fremont factory
Tesla Motors’ bustling Fremont factory could roughly double in size under a long-range plan filed with city officials, as the upstart automaker seeks to dramatically expand production of its luxury electric cars. New buildings could be added near the plant’s paint shop, in its parking lot and on open land next to the facility’s test track along Mission Boulevard. Tesla also has purchased a 25-acre lot just north of the factory from the Lennar development company.
Autopilot
Tesla is about to increase its lead in semi-autonomous driving w/ ‘Tesla Vision’: computer vision based on NVIDIA’s parallel computing
Sources close to the ‘Tesla Vision’ program told Electrek that it’s actually not a SoC, but an end-to-end computer vision framework built with NVIDIA’s CUDA, a parallel computing platform. The system will be able to take raw data from camera sensors and run its own image processing to control Tesla vehicles. It will be combined with deep neural net training and work in tandem with Tesla’s recently released radar processing technology. Tesla put a small army of PhDs in computer vision and “hardcore” software engineers on the program, including one of Microsoft’s scientists who developed the Hololens and experts in simulating human perception.
TSLA
Elon Musk teases new Tesla product reveal
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is at it again. In a classically cryptic tweet to his more than 5.5 million followers earlier this week, Musk teased that a new product announcement was coming on October 17. What made the tweet even more intriguing is the fact that Musk said the new Tesla (TSLA) product was "unexpected by most." Musk hinted that the news won't have to do with Tesla's controversial merger plan with SolarCity, the alternative energy company run by two of Musk's cousins. A separate Tesla/SolarCity event was happening on October 28.
Tesla, SolarCity shareholders to vote on merger next month
Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk faces a referendum next month, as shareholders decide whether to support his vision and combine Tesla with solar panel company SolarCity Corp. Tesla and SolarCity announced Wednesday that shareholders will vote on the controversial proposal Nov. 17. SolarCity shareholders will receive 0.11 share of Tesla for each SolarCity share. As of Oct. 10, the deal values SolarCity shares at $22.10, for a total value of $2.45 billion.
Tesla makes Elon Musk’s words official: no need for capital raise this year
Tesla Motors Inc. has scrubbed language pertaining to a possible capital raise this year from its latest government filing, two days after CEO Elon Musk said it would be “unnecessary” to tap markets to secure a merger with SolarCity Corp.
Elon Musk’s Magnificent Seven: How Dream Deal May Test Board
Seven holders with minority stakes have sued, claiming directors breached their fiduciary duties with the SolarCity bid. One alleges Musk has “demonstrated his dominance over the board” while another claims the SolarCity deal would benefit Musk’s inner circle “at the expense of Tesla and its minority stockholders.” At a hearing in Wilmington, Delaware, Monday, a judge ruled that the lead plaintiff in the combined lawsuits will be the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System.
Tesla’s new VP of Vehicle Production is impressed: ‘they are about seven years beyond everything I’ve seen before’
In the interview published in this month’s issue of the Manufacturing Leadership Journal, Hochholdinger explains how Tesla CEO Elon Musk convinced him to leave Audi after 22 years and join Tesla: “The cars we build are about seven years beyond everything I’ve seen before, and it’s quite thrilling and exciting to be here and to be part of this car manufacturing group. It’s the only company in the world that builds 100 percent electric vehicles; everybody else is continuing with the normal business of building [internal combustion] cars, and I think that will not work.”
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s Wild Ride
Wall Street and casual onlookers often find Musk’s approach abhorrent, and this makes perfect sense. They want consistent earnings-per-share figures and straight talk, while he’s in an inventive fugue state more concerned with trying to save mankind from oblivion. Musk lives in a way that few of us would choose and has a tolerance for risk that would drive most of us nuts. It’s precisely because Musk has operated his companies on the edge of what’s possible that he has achieved so much.
Elon Musk Buys Fifth Bel Air Mansion
Between late 2012 and mid 2015, the South African-born Canadian-American multibillionaire businessman, who as of today the bean counters at Forbes estimate has a net worth of around $11.5 billion, plunked down a total of $48.05 million for four properties perched above the Bel-Air Country Club. We now hear from always on top of everything real estate yenta Yolanda Yakketyyak, who back in February (2016) exhaustively chronicled the tech tycoon’s earlier purchases, that Mister Musk is, through an opaque corporate concern, the mysterious buyer who just shelled out an $24.25 million in a hush-hush off-market deal to acquire a brand spanking new ultra-contemporary spec-built mansion located on a high ridge above Bel Air. The newly acquired property, never listed on the open market, sits at the tail end of a ridge line cul-de-sac with spectacular views that sweep over Los Angeles and though is in close as-the-crow-flies proximity to the four other Bel Air properties he already owned it is not, however and somewhat curiously, contiguous to any of the other four properties, none of which are, even more curiously, contiguous to each other.
Other News
Tesla rival Atieva’s first electric car looks a lot like a Model S
Atieva, the troubled Silicon Valley startup that began by making batteries for Chinese buses, is expected to unveil a rival to Tesla’s Model S in early December, Recode has learned. Using public records requests, Recode has also obtained exclusive images of the car’s design and initial manufacturing facility: An electric bike company in rural China. The documents, which were filed with the state of California late last year, say that Atieva’s first vehicle will be called Atvus. The design render shows a conventionally streamlined, four-door sedan much like a Model S. Over the summer, Atieva has been raising its profile with a series of videos showing a van equipped with an electric battery and drivetrain outperforming a variety of high-end cars, including a Ferrari, a Dodge Viper and even a Model S. The van, called Edna, has about the same range and acceleration as a mid-range Tesla, including a 2.74 second 0-60mph dash. In September, Zhang Xin, Atieva’s deputy general manager in China, told Chinese reporters that the car will have fully independent front and rear electric motors, and will be able to accelerate from zero to 100km/h (about 62mph) in under three seconds.