A rematch of the Tesla Cybertruck tug-of-war with the Ford F-150 is not going ahead anytime soon after Ford issued an official statement dismissing the challenge as “tongue-in-cheek”.
Earlier this week a senior executive at Ford had issued a challenge to Elon Musk via Twitter after a Tesla video showed a Cybertruck towing a Ford F-150 backwards up a hill.
The Ford tweet said: "Send us a Cybertruck and we'll do the apples-to-apples test for you.” Musk responded: “Bring it on”.
Ford claimed it was not a fair contest because the F-150 was lighter and only rear-wheel-drive, versus the heavier all-wheel-drive Cybertruck.
Now Ford has issued an official statement to US media outlets claiming the Twitter message from the Ford executive was “tongue in cheek to point out the absurdity of Tesla’s video, nothing more”.
The Ford statement to US media outlet Fox continued: “With America's best-selling truck for 42 years, we've always focused on serving our truck customers regardless of what others say or do. We look forward to our all-new F-150 hybrid coming next year and all-electric F-150 in a few years.”
In July this year Ford released a video showing an electric Ford F-150 prototype pulling a 450-tonne train, though the company declined to release technical details such as power output.
For now, the Tesla Cybertruck and F-150 tug-of-war is off. But it’s likely to be the first test anyone does when these vehicles come out.
The Tesla Cybertruck is slated for production in 2021; Ford is yet to announce an on-sale date for the fully electric F-150.
On November 27 2019 19:14 Broetchenholer wrote: That's exactly what they were thinking. Nobody but people who need a ridiculous status symbol will be interested in that thing, so they designed it to look just like that. Wake me up when ecars with a minimalistic approach are sold by tesla.
This is just wrong.
It's faster than a porsche 911, can out-muscle a ford F150, can tank a sledgehammer hit to the body, is all wheel drive, is electric, and the windows can stop 9mm bullets. all of this for a relatively low price
and it looks pretty sick
There are plenty who are, and will be, interested in this.
On November 27 2019 19:14 Broetchenholer wrote: That's exactly what they were thinking. Nobody but people who need a ridiculous status symbol will be interested in that thing, so they designed it to look just like that. Wake me up when ecars with a minimalistic approach are sold by tesla.
This is just wrong.
It's faster than a porsche 911, can out-muscle a ford F150, can tank a sledgehammer hit to the body, is all wheel drive, is electric, and the windows can stop 9mm bullets. all of this for a relatively low price
and it looks pretty sick
There are plenty who are, and will be, interested in this.
None of the things you've listed are in any way practically useful to the average driver. :p
On November 27 2019 19:14 Broetchenholer wrote: That's exactly what they were thinking. Nobody but people who need a ridiculous status symbol will be interested in that thing, so they designed it to look just like that. Wake me up when ecars with a minimalistic approach are sold by tesla.
This is just wrong.
It's faster than a porsche 911, can out-muscle a ford F150, can tank a sledgehammer hit to the body, is all wheel drive, is electric, and the windows can stop 9mm bullets. all of this for a relatively low price
and it looks pretty sick
There are plenty who are, and will be, interested in this.
None of the things you've listed are in any way practically useful to the average driver. :p
True, but now imagine you're a former software engineer trying to make your regular supply run to Trader (Immortan) Joe's
On December 08 2019 23:40 Dangermousecatdog wrote: What is it that you are trying to say?
It's basically a dystopian fantasy grocery getter, ideal for the hipster pseudo-prepper.
Or maybe its for those who have work trucks, and would prefer an electric version of their work truck. I know many truckers who would switch to the Tesla truck as soon as it was announced because they want to use no gas... It's not that hard to grasp that people want to switch from gas to electric already.
edit: Also wanted to include that on avg people who use trucks are spending between $20k-70k in diesel/gas a year. Imagine spending that on electricity. That's what tesla literally claims, that you'll spend nothing on fuel while only increasing your electricity cost by a small amount that is less than what you pay yearly on fuel.
On December 08 2019 23:40 Dangermousecatdog wrote: What is it that you are trying to say?
It's basically a dystopian fantasy grocery getter, ideal for the hipster pseudo-prepper.
Or maybe its for those who have work trucks, and would prefer an electric version of their work truck. I know many truckers who would switch to the Tesla truck as soon as it was announced because they want to use no gas... It's not that hard to grasp that people want to switch from gas to electric already.
edit: Also wanted to include that on avg people who use trucks are spending between $20k-70k in diesel/gas a year. Imagine spending that on electricity. That's what tesla literally claims, that you'll spend nothing on fuel while only increasing your electricity cost by a small amount that is less than what you pay yearly on fuel.
I think we're talking about different trucks? Besides the sourcing of materials I don't have any qualms about the electric semi's that don't apply to their diesel counterparts.
I'm talking about the bullet/sledgehammer resistant truck that's can't fit typical full bed loads.
My reaction to the Tesla truck was "this is stupid and looks absurd" but I guess maybe it's smart.
But for sure it faces a lot of challenges. -Lots of truckers like their F150 and using oil, many do a lot of work where there's not necessarily much access to electricity. -There aren't any affordable vehicles on the market with a stainless steel body. Probably because it's expensive and unsafe. No way they make it for $40k. -Small trunk, awkwardly narrow, surrounded with an expensive stainless body... -Target audience probably isn't particularly sensitive to environmental advantages of electric vehicles
Ultimately I strongly suspect that the product we'll end up getting is going to be substantially different from what was showed. But in any case it's hard to deny that there is at least some amount of interest for it, I suspect a large part of it comes from people who don't even use pickup trucks. Maybe that's why it's so strange. If they had just made an electric F150 style truck, it just would have been aimed at people who like their old work horse.
But maybe I'm just biased. I personally don't imagine most pickup truck owners tend to be early adopters of new technologies.
-Lots of truckers like their F150 and using oil, many do a lot of work where there's not necessarily much access to electricity.
Electricity is basically everywhere in the US and even for most people using a truck for work charging during the night will be enough. People like oil but they like paying half the cost for fuel even more.
-There aren't any affordable vehicles on the market with a stainless steel body. Probably because it's expensive and unsafe. No way they make it for $40k.
There aren't any vehicles using a conventional load bearing underbody with a stainless steel body because of weight, probably cost and it offer no real benefits with that design. However they aren't planing on using that design but rather a folded load bearing "exoskeleton". This is why the it looks like a triangle and also why it can take a sledgehammer. Most engineers commenting doesn't seem to doubt that this design can make a really cheap and resistant truck but rather doubt if it can meet safety standards (mostly for the other car involved in a collision) and how it would handle damage to the body. Would fender bender total the entire car since it hit a load bearing part of it?
-Small trunk, awkwardly narrow, surrounded with an expensive stainless body...
Apparently not that bad. It's narrow but the car is also huge and it has no wheel houses limiting the bed space. It's also 6,5ft extending to 8ft. This is apparently important measurements for people who need it for work (F150 modell selling most apparently has 6,5ft of bed space.) I know shit about these things but it's been discussed a lot and apparently not as awkward as initially expected. It also has an actual trunk space (actually frunk) and built in storage compartment in the sides. Stainless steel is also typically cheaper that aluminium which a modern car would be made out of. A very high grade 300X stainless steel alloy might be more expensive but it wouldn't need paint which is very expensive and easy to damage. Overall steel is usually the cheapest material around.
-Target audience probably isn't particularly sensitive to environmental advantages of electric vehicles
True but they are interested in the money. If Tesla can deliver the specs AND the price it is a hell of a deal, especially considering charging is way cheaper than gas AND maintenance costs are much lower for electric cars. You could argue that they won't be able to do this.
Keep in mind that this argument has been made for every single Tesla and SpaceX product/innovation ever made and so far they have always delivered more or less what they promised.
I'm sure Tesla is planning/hoping to start deliveries before January 25th, the Chinese new year, as well as producing enough so the backlog isn't as bad as it has been in the West.
Tesla is gearing up for the first deliveries of its “Made in China” Model 3.
Local customers have noticed that Tesla’s China-specific Model 3 configurator has been updated with the removal of language that translates to, “MIC Model 3 is subject to regulatory approval.” The update comes after the Chinese government officially recommended the Model 3 for its electric vehicle incentive, giving buyers as much as $3,550 off the price of the car.
Additionally, following Tesla’s confirmation of a permit to sell its China-manufactured mass-market electric car, carriers loaded with Model 3 and a holding area full of Model 3 inventory were spotted at Gigafactory 3, further supporting speculation that the carmaker is preparing to make its first customer deliveries in the country.
Tesla’s focus on the Chinese market is important to the future of the company. China has the largest automotive market in the world according to a report from nolasia.net. In 2015, Chinese citizens bought 24.6 million vehicles, 7.5 million more units than the second closest vehicle market in the United States. The locally-produced Model 3 will cost around $50,000 USD or 355,800 Chinese Yuan.
China could be a major key to the growth of Tesla’s international market. With the help of the Chinese government, Tesla was able to open Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai in an area where the company would not be impacted by tariffs set into place between the United States and China. Thanks to Gigafactory 3, Tesla will be able to compete in the local Chinese market with Model 3 and Model Y variants that are more aggressively-priced than their imported counterparts.
“Tesla has the first wholly-owned manufacturing facility in China of any automotive company. So, this is profound. And we’re very appreciative of the Chinese government allowing us to do this. I think it is symbolic of them wanting to open the market and apply and it farewells to everyone. I’d just say like an order of appreciation for the Chinese government in allowing us to do that. It’s a very significant thing,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk said during an earnings call in January 2019.
I was wondering about this stainless steel business since stainless steel is notably less resistant to impact than other high strength steels, which is fine for crumple zones I guess, and I got a load of pseudo terms, like exoskeleton and structural skin which don't describe the actual load bearing structure but suggests a monocoque structure, which it cannot possibly be due to the prevalence of openings for car doors. I highly doubt Tesla invented a new type of construction and whatever the construction is, the car doors cannot be load bearing so so it's just a load of marketing. Though that long upper rear strut does suggest a semi-monocoque structure so who knows. Also 30X steel isn't any steel I've ever heard of. A load of marketing bunkum.
Drone footage confirms that Tesla is now steadily producing and shipping made-in-China Model 3 vehicles out of Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai.
In October, Tesla confirmed that it has produced full vehicles at Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai as part of its trial production.
A few weeks later, the automaker obtained its manufacturing license for the new factory in China, but it was still awaiting official sales approval of the made-in-China version of the Model 3.
Earlier this month, we reported that the made-in-China Model 3 was added to the Chinese government’s list of approved vehicles for new energy vehicle subsidies, and deliveries are now expected to start any day.
We reported last week that Tesla had already produced over 400 Model 3 vehicles out of the factory, and it started shipping them out.
Now, a week later, it looks like Tesla is steadily producing and shipping even more made-in-China Model 3 vehicles out of Gigafactory 3.
The latest drone video from Jason Yang shows that the Model 3 lot is still full, and trucks keep coming to take more vehicles away:
The automaker is presumably taking the vehicles to delivery centers around the country, and it is expected to start deliveries to Tesla employees and customers any day now.
In China, the Model 3 Standard Range Plus with Autopilot starts at ¥355,800 (about $50,000).
Tesla has been taking pre-orders for a while now, and the automaker hasn’t disclosed the number of orders it has received.
The company said that it aims to ramp up production to 3,000 Model 3 vehicles per week at the factory by early next year.
"30X" a different word from "X30", it's "X 30" in the link not "X30", and isn't called "X 30" anyways, as in your link refer to a different name (did you know, if you are a steel producer, you can name the steel you produce as anything you like?).
I have long since found out after writing that post that the steel being used is 300 series steel, most likely 304 a completely ordinary stainless steel under an American naming scheme. twitter.com
Tesla has reached a deal with Michigan that will allow the company to sell its cars directly in the state, bringing a multiyear legal battle to an end. It’s a small but crucial victory for Tesla, and one that comes in the home state of the automotive industry.
Thanks to a state law that forces automakers to work with dealers to sell their vehicles, would-be Tesla customers in Michigan have had to travel to neighboring states to buy one of the company’s vehicles. Tesla owners had to do the same to get their vehicles serviced.
But that will now change. The Michigan attorney general’s office announced Wednesday morning that it reached an agreement with Tesla to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the company in 2016 over the state law. (Tesla sued after the state denied it a dealership license.) While Michigan is not repealing the law, it is essentially admitting that there’s enough wiggle room in the language to allow Tesla to sidestep dealer networks and sell directly to consumers moving forward.
Tesla will now be able to make deliveries to customers in Michigan, and also walk customers through the buying process at its lone showroom in the state — something it was previously unable to do. The company will also likely open more showrooms and service centers as a result.
There are small caveats to all this, though. Cars sold in the state will have to come with out-of-state titles in order to get around the language of the law. That means customers in Michigan will have to go through the process of transferring the title if they want the car to be titled in their home state. And any service centers Tesla opens in Michigan will have to be owned by a subsidiary.
While it may seem like a strange way to compromise, Dan Crane, a law professor at the University of Michigan, believes it may have been the only way for the state to save face.
“What happened here is I think the Michigan attorney general realized that going through this trial would be embarrassing for the state,” he said.
Instead, Crane said, the state decided to “settle in a way that lets Tesla do what it wants to do, but gives the appearance of complying with Michigan law.”
Will Zerhouni, who wrote an analysis of Tesla’s legal fight with Michigan for the Cato Institute in 2018, agreed — though he’s not sure the state went far enough.
“The settlement shows that Michigan saw its position as untenable and potentially indefensible at trial,” wrote Zerhouni, who is now a founder and partner at Mighty Stream Capital Management LLC, a new firm focused on impact investing and litigation finance. “Instead, the state, which couldn’t rescind validly passed law on its own, settled in a way that read onerous and anticompetitive (and potentially unconstitutional) restrictions out of that law. That is all to the good — but it would be better if the state (and others) did away with the charade and repealed the law altogether.”
The decision to dismiss Tesla’s lawsuit, once it’s approved by the court, will not just make it easier for Tesla to sell its cars directly to consumers, but could help other automakers as well, according to Crane and Zerhouni.
“Consumers are used to e-commerce and direct-to-consumer sales these days, and are starting to expect to be able to buy cars this way. It’s going to be hard to hold back the floodgates,” Crane said.
“The settlement is technically only an agreement between Tesla and Michigan,” Zerhouni said. “It would, however, be very hard for Michigan to say that they are going to interpret the statute differently for other automakers.”
The decision could also put pressure on other states that have resisted allowing car companies to sell directly to consumers, like Connecticut and Texas, according to Crane.
“Michigan really is a momentum-shifter on this, and it’s going to be increasingly hard for state legislators to convince consumers why they can’t do what everyone expects to be able to do,” he said.
Dealer organizations could try to stand in the way of these changes, possibly by suing the state itself over this new interpretation of the law, Crane said. (Michigan’s dealer association told The Verge it is “still reviewing” the decision, and the National Automobile Dealers Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment.) Still, he doesn’t see them winning out in the end.
“These are legacy statues that came from a much different time, 40, 50 years ago,” Crane said. “The world has changed in so many ways.”
Tesla Model Y first deliveries will begin in March of this year. The all-electric carmaker noted in its Q4 2019 Update Letter that the production ramp for the crossover began as early as January 2020. The company also stated that the Environmental Protection Agency has increased the Model Y’s Dual Motor All-Wheel Drive range to 315 miles, from its original 280-mile rating.
Tesla noted that the pace of its producing vehicles has improved significantly. Crediting the improvements the company has made in its production of the Model 3 in the United States, the Fremont factory has started producing the Model Y and expects to produce 500,000 units of the crossover each year. The vehicle is planned to enter production at Giga Shanghai in 2021.
Tesla expects to begin delivering the Model Y crossover by the end of Q1 2020. “The ramp of Model Y will be gradual as we will be adding additional machinery in various production shops. After such expansions are done by mid-2020, installed combined Model 3 and Model Y capacity should reach 500,000 units per year,” Tesla wrote.
On top of the news that production and deliveries for the Model Y will happen ahead of schedule, Tesla also announced that the EPA formally increased its AWD variant from 280 to 315 miles.
“Due to continued engineering progress of the Model Y all-wheel drive (AWD), we have been able to increase its maximum EPA range to 315 miles, compared to our previous estimate of 280 miles. This extends Model Y’s lead as the most energy-efficient electric SUV in the world,” the company stated.
Initially, the Model Y’s first deliveries were anticipated for the end of 2020. However, Tesla announced during its 2019 Q3 earnings call that the vehicle’s production availability was ahead of schedule and the company formally moved its anticipated delivery dates forward to Summer 2020.
As Tesla enthusiasts have shared numerous sightings of the Model Y over the past months, the company has worked intensively to perfect its first crossover vehicle. It appears that Tesla’s diligent work toward perfecting the production quality of the Model Y has paid off as its production ramp has started ahead of schedule and the company will begin delivering the vehicle by the end of March 2020.
The Model Y is available in two variants, thus far. The Long Range Dual Motor and Performance configuration will both have 315 miles of range and cost $52,990, and $60,990 respectively.
EPT
