Tesla Energy
Governor Sandoval signs record $1.3 billion deal with Tesla
After two days of debate and deliberation in the Assembly and Senate, the Governor of Nevada signed the Gigafactory bill into law late last night.
Official Gigafactory Address Decided
From Elon Musk's Twitter account yesterday, "Official Gigafactory address to be: Electric Avenue, McCarran, Nevada". If you're not familiar with the song Electric Avenue by Eddie Grant, you can check out the song here. It's great to see Elon and Tesla with a sense of humor and playfulness.
Economic report says Tesla to generate $1.9 billion in new taxes for state
A positive economic report for the Gigafactory's impact on Nevada was released this past week. The report noted that the Gigafactory would "be built in four phases. The first phase would create 700 jobs in 2015. The second phase would add 1,000 more jobs in 2016. Another 3,000 jobs would be added in 2017, with the remaining 1,800 jobs starting in 2018." So, it seems possible that limited battery production could start much earlier than 2017.
Nevada Gigafactory Announcement Video
If you haven't watched the Nevada press conference where the Gigafactory was announced, Tesla has uploaded an official video (25 minutes). If you're pressed for time, you can view just Elon Musk's comments starting at 12:48 by clicking here.
Model S
Firmware 6.0 Begins Deployment
Tesla's new 6.0 firmware release started being deployed to owners yesterday view change log.
The most impressive features of 6.0 are:
1. Smart Navigation - the Model S will consider traffic and commute routes to give navigation suggestions.
2. Remote Start - owners can now start their car from their smartphone app
3. Location-Based Smart Air Suspension - the car will remember where air suspension was raised and then then automatically rise at those locations in the future
4. Calendar app - a new calendar app that syncs with your smartphone has been added to the Model S interface
Owners seem generally very pleased that there cars are getting better just by sitting in the garage.
TSLA
FBN Initiates TSLA Coverage With $325 Price Target
FBN Securities joins the growing list of firms covering TSLA. Coverage initiated earlier this week with a $325 price target.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk in Japan
Elon was in Japan earlier this week to deliver the first Model S cars in the country. He shared aspirations of Japan becoming the 3rd most important market to Tesla, after the U.S. and China. Here's a link to a 30-minute press conference by Elon in Japan and is well worth watching.
One of the highlights is Elon talked about how autonomous driving is progressing faster than he originally expected, and he sees full autonomous driving possible in 5-6 years (with 2-3 more years for regulatory approval). If you're pressed for time, here's a quick summary of the press conference from teslamotorsclub.com user chickensevil.