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Yes, it's a 3 year lease in which I plan to buy out at the end of the lease. The information I provided was from a Polestar owner who was looking to sell to buy a Model 3. He posted that on the Polestar 2 forum. I was just mentioning that December would have been a good time to sell if I wanted to sell and possibly break even to get out of my lease and get into a Model 3
Speaking of In and Out, I read that they are coming to the East Coast soon. And I'm so damn excited.... For the burgers. The fries better not make that same trek.
Speaking of In and Out, I read that they are coming to the East Coast soon. And I'm so damn excited.... For the burgers. The fries better not make that same trek.
We have a couple of In n Out burger locations here, and the drive through lines are LONG! I've never had a burger there, but seeing the lines, they must be good
Speaking of In and Out, I read that they are coming to the East Coast soon. And I'm so damn excited.... For the burgers. The fries better not make that same trek.
Tesla is spotted assembling giant casting machine for Cybertruck production
Tesla has been spotted assembling its giant new casting machine for Cybertruck production at Gigafactory Texas.
Last year, Idra, the maker of Tesla’s large casting press, teased a new 9,000-ton Giga Press that would take the prize as largest in the world. Considering Tesla’s relationship with Idra, it was rumored that the new machine would be for the automaker.
Tesla’s investment in larger cast parts has been extremely successful so far. The automaker managed to produce the Model Y with a single rear body piece that replaced 70 different parts in the vehicle, and it is doing the same with the front underbody.
This greatly simplifies the manufacturing process and reduces costs.
Following the success of the integration of large casting technology, several other automakers are apparently looking to follow in Tesla’s footsteps.
Idra reported last year that half a dozen other automakers are currently in talks to adopt the technology, but it could take years before they can integrate it into any vehicle programs.
But as for Tesla, the automaker is already moving into a wider integration of the technology, including with the Cybertruck, which is going to have even larger single casting parts.
Now a new drone flyover of Gigafactory Texas that managed to peek inside the factory showed that Tesla is currently assembling the new 9-ton Giga Press: https://youtu.be/D8stcVjuMks
The giant machine has been spotted partly assembled in a section of the factory where Tesla plans to build the Cybertruck’s body:
There are about 1.5 million people interested in the Tesla Cybertruck, and they have been starved of information for a while.
An update on the production version with final specs and pricing has been expected for the past year, but the automaker has decided to stay quiet about the electric truck, which already had some delays.
When Tesla unveiled the Cybertruck back in 2019, Tesla said that the electric pickup truck would make it to market by the end of 2021. As the deadline was approaching, the automaker confirmed that production slipped to 2022.
CEO Elon Musk later said that Tesla was targeting a start of production for the electric pickup truck in “late 2022” at Gigafactory Texas. With the focus clearly on bringing the Model Y to production at the factory (that being delayed as well), it appeared likely that the Cybertruck production timeline could also slip.
In its communications, Tesla has stuck to a mid-2023 timeline over the last few months. Therefore, it’s important to see Tesla making progress on some of those critical new production tools like this Giga Press in order for the automaker to stick to its timeline.
More news. Since Tesla is responsible for the majority of EV share, I'm putting this article here
EVs grab huge share of car market as gas-guzzlers choke on legacy business models
The market share of electric vehicles charged ahead in 2022, with fully electric BEV sales surging in most major auto markets around the world.
2023 is shaping up to be a watershed moment for the electric vehicle revolution, and a year of reckoning for legacy auto manufacturers who are now shackled to a decade of disastrous strategic decision making, and a lack of vision.
In Germany battery electric vehicle sales increased to 470,559 for 2022, making up an 18% share of Europe’s largest car market. Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority (Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt) reported that BEV sales in December alone reached 104,325, representing an impressive 33% market share for the final month of 2022.
The numbers for the UK were almost identical, with 17% BEV market share for the full year rising to 33% for the month of December.
BEVs also saw solid growth in China, with a 21% market share, up from 16% in 2021. By December fully electric vehicles made up a quarter of all sales in the world’s largest car market.
As the graph below shows Australia still has a long way to go to catch up with the rest of the world, but if this growth rate continues that might not take very long.
Winners and losers
The bulk of this growth in new EV sales is coming from Tesla and Chinese auto manufacturers like BYD. These companies, who have invested heavily in battery development and EV manufacturing are now taking huge chunks of market share away from the German and Japanese incumbents who have so far failed to shift away from petrol and diesel cars.
The speed at which consumer sentiment is now changing should be deeply concerning for legacy auto manufacturers, many of whom have been caught completely flat footed. This is especially true for world’s largest car maker Toyota which currently holds around 14% of the 70 million unit global car market.
By October, Toyota had only sold around 14,000 EVs globally in 2022. An annualised production rate of less than 20,000. This means EVs make up just 0.2% of Toyota’s total production. A staggeringly low proportion considering the rapid growth in EV market share globally.
And there’s no indication of any strategic shift with CEO Akio Toyoda recently saying that the ‘Silent Majority’ has doubts about pursuing only EVs and that Toyota would continue its diversified approach with hybrids and hydrogen powered cars.
This is despite governments ending incentives for hybrids (which are really just petrol cars) and virtually zero consumer demand for hydrogen vehicles.
Other Japanese automakers are also yet to prove they can manufacture EVs at scale. In 2022 EVs made up just 0.35% and 2.2% of production for Honda and Nissan.
Global EV market share doubled from 4% in 2020 to over 8% in 2021 and is expected to exceed 13% when the December 2022 numbers come out. Based on the exponential growth in countries like Germany and the UK, global EV market share could be over 30% by 2025.
They are also being challenged by significant price cuts announced by Tesla, across its entire range, something it is able to do because it already boasts the best margins in the car industry.
Morgan Stanley's Adam Jonas notes that legacy auto companies, their management teams and board of directors must now recalculate the payback periods and risk/return profile of their entire EV strategies.
He said these were already a net consumer of cash even during the peak EV pricing era, and it is not clear that they will be willing or able to keep funding them. "Everybody will need to cut price, but we don’t think everybody will be able to cut costs and fund the business," Jonas notes in a recent report.
Which means that companies like Toyota risk having little to offer this rapidly changing market and it could take years for them to develop high volume EV manufacturing lines.
After dominating the film camera market for decades, Kodak failed to adjust its business when the world shifted to digital cameras and filed for bankruptcy in 2012. If big legacy car companies don't rapidly change their strategies in 2023 they may be soon facing their own Kodak moment.
*Graph Data: Australia - EV Council, China - CAAM, USA - IEA, Germany - KBA, UK - SMMT
BYD continues expansion to UK – could it pass Tesla in global BEV sales this year as projected?
Having already expanded into several countries throughout Europe, Build Your Dreams (BYD) has announced that sales of its EVs will begin in the UK this quarter. As the veteran Chinese automaker continues to expand its BEV production and sales presence around the globe, we wonder if 2023 is the year that BYD Auto usurps Tesla for the top spot in global sales.
BYD Auto is the automotive subsidiary of BYD Company founded two decades ago to develop and produce passenger cars, buses, trucks, and forklifts for China. More recently, the company has begun manufacturing rechargeable batteries and eBikes while shifting its manufacturing focus to BEVs and plug-in hybrid EVs.
In fact, BYD produced its final combustion vehicle in March of 2022, refocusing its business on a future that is not only entirely electric, but is globally recognized. This past summer, BYD shared plans to begin selling its EVs in the Japanese market. Just ten days later, the company followed up by promising EV deliveries in Germany and Sweden before the end of 2022.
With a current sales presence in the countries above plus Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Belgium, BYD capped off the year by sharing plans for at least one, if not two, manufacturing facilities in Europe to support these markets and beyond. BYD continues to gain momentum headed into 2023, following a very successful year prior.
Now, the automaker plans to begin sales in the UK, another huge global market and a growing one for EVs especially. One where BYD can continue to try and compete against the current sales leader, Tesla. Even in China, BYD has pulled no punches in stating its BEVs are designed to compete against Tesla, and some have projected the former will overtake the latter in global EV sales this year.
BYD already overtook Tesla in 2022 if you count PHEV sales
That’s true, but this is Electrek, so we’re gonna focus on BEV sales. By beginning UK sales this quarter with the ATTO 3 seen above, BYD has added one of Europe’s largest market to its order sheet – one that saw BEV models account for roughly 17% of deliveries in 2022, overtaking diesel for the first time ever.
When you combine BYD’s six countries in Europe beginning EV sales with its current and expanding markets in Asia and Australia, then recognize the company’s widening manufacturing footprint, it’s hard to argue it’s recipe for success. At the very least, we’ll be able to look back and say BYD swung for the fences, but will it be enough to overtake Tesla?
According to BloombergNEF, BYD already overtook Tesla in global EV sales last year, but only if you count PHEVs and we’re simply not going to do that. We would like to point out, however, that Bloomberg is still projecting BYD to overtake Tesla in BEV sales as early as this year.
BNEF was the first to say that betting against Tesla has never fared well for those naysayers, but BYD’s 2022 sales numbers cannot be ignored. The Chinese automaker sold 911,140 BEVs last year, compared to 321,000 in 2021. That’s an 184% sales increase YOY.
The outlet expects Tesla’s BEV sales to grow by 30-40% this year on the wings of ramped up production at GigaBerlin and Austin, but it may come down to pricing and how many consumers Tesla can steal away from BYD and vice-versa. Despite BYD’s global expansion, much of its sales strength still comes from the Chinese market, another region Tesla EVs are sold. BYD’s distribution of sales could shift, however, as it gets its European manufacturing operational and assumedly expands to more and more markets.
Could BYD bring the fight to Tesla’s home turf in the US? The company isn’t showing its hand yet, so the immediate focus appears to be on Europe and Asia for now. But that could prove interesting in the future and could really put the BYD brand on the global map as a BEV automaker to be considered.
Other sites mention that the cheaper 279-mile SRs are the Austin-built ones with the new 4680-style batteries, which are heavier and less efficient apparently; thus the shorter range.
Other sites mention that the cheaper 279-mile SRs are the Austin-built ones with the new 4680-style batteries, which are heavier and less efficient apparently; thus the shorter range.
I remember there was a lot of hype about the 4680.
Model Y. Yes its the 4680 battery. But this new model is still a dual motor, so its not as cheap as it could be. The rest of the world gets the single motor Y SR at an even lower price point. Personally, I think the single motor Tesla's are the way to go if you are just looking for basic transportation from them.
Model Y. Yes its the 4680 battery. But this new model is still a dual motor, so its not as cheap as it could be. The rest of the world gets the single motor Y SR at an even lower price point. Personally, I think the single motor Tesla's are the way to go if you are just looking for basic transportation from them.
I agree. But I need those dual motors . It's very hard to go backwards. If you have been driving a car with a certain refinement, HP, number of cylinders etc it's like taking steps backwards
01-17-23, 01:09 PM
