Tesla Industry News Cars

Whether you like him or hate him, there’s no ignoring him. And, if you thought you wouldn’t see more of him this year, well, we’ve got some news. Elon Musk has been named the ’Time Person of the Year’, and it doesn’t come as a surprise. The man has created news and controversies many times this year and is definitely one of the most influential people of 2021. Can you think of anyone else who deserved the honor instead?

The Tesla Cybertruck debuted almost two years back, but the deliveries have still not begun. We keep getting constant updates about the unorthodox truck, but it wasn’t spied or seen testing… until now. A long, detailed drone footage of the Cybertruck testing at the Tesla’s Fremont facility has come to the fore, courtesy of ‘Chile Al100’. The video shows the Cybertruck, which seems to be in its production form, and features many changes when compared to the prototype that was unveiled in 2019.

There were rumors of a quad-motor setup making the cut in the Cybertruck, and the EV czar, Elon Musk, has now confirmed the same. Replying to a tweet, Musk said that a four-motor variant will hit the production line first. What’s more, the truck will also have Tank Turn and Crab modes! Talk about taking the Rivian R1T and the GMC Hummer EV’s most-talked features.

On October 25, Hertz announced an initial order for 100,000 Teslas. The order would have given Hertz the title of having the largest electric vehicle (EV) rental fleet in North America. Unfortunately, this deal has not yet been signed by Tesla, according to a recent tweet by its CEO Elon Musk.

Rental car company Hertz was in pretty bad shape in 2020, but things have now turned for the better. The company exited bankruptcy earlier this year, and thanks to a massive order of 100,000 Teslas, both companies stock prices soared, pushing Tesla’s company value at more than $1 trillion.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has revealed that the company’s headquarters will be relocated from California to Texas at the 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders event. The famed EV automaker was previously based in Palo Alto, in Silicon Valley. However, last year, Musk vowed to relocate the company’s headquarters to Texas in response to the closing of its primary facility in Fremont outside, San Francisco. He was dissatisfied with the factory’s temporary closure owing to Covid restrictions.

The Biden administration is so enthusiastic about transitioning to green vehicles that it hosed an EV-themed event to announce that it want’s 50-percent of new vehicle sales by 2030 to be battery-electric, PHEV, or hydrogen-powered vehicles. General Motors was there, Ford was there, and even Stellantis had a representative at the party. Who wasn’t there? Elon Musk or a single person related to Tesla. But why would the Biden administration snub the only American automaker who’s lineup is 100-percent electric?

Tesla was quite active at the Green Hell before the Covid hit us, but it seems like it’s back there again; this time, with a prototype of the Model S Plaid. The only logical explanation for the red prototype to be there is it gunning for a record lap. The company had unofficially set a record back in 2019, but is back two years later to set another record that could possibly be an official attempt to dethrone the Porsche Taycan. Exciting stuff, isn’t it?

As you are probably well aware, a lot of governments offer some relatively big incentives to get people into EVs, probably, well before they would normally make the transition. Government incentives have been a big deal here in the U.S. and even over in Europe. Canada also has a new incentive – a $5,000 tax incentive – but there’s a catch: The electric car in question needs to have a base price under $45,000 and cost no more than $55,000 with options. Tesla’s entire lineup was out of the running, until recently when Tesla dropped the price of the entry-level Model 3 to $44,999 by removing autopilot and cutting range down to just 151 km or about 94 miles. This is where it gets sketchy, and it gives a good reason for criticism.

Electrification is happening whether you like it or not, but the government is trying to make the deal sweeter for you. In the States, there is a federal tax credit of $7,500 capped for 200,000 EVs for every automaker. Until now, Tesla and GM have surpassed that cap and you can’t get the credit if you purchase EVs from this brand. However, a new Bill from the Biden Administration could change that.

The winter storm wasn’t been kind to the Texans with basic services like power and water taking a big hit. A lot of good Samaritans have come to the rescue, including Ford, who had asked the dealerships to loan out the F-150 trucks with Pro Power onboard generators to people without power at home. In such dire situations, one would assume that using EVs as a stationary power source would also be a good idea, but as it turns out, it’s not the case with Tesla.

As pointed out by ‘Green’ on Twitter, using your Tesla as a power generator will void its warranty. If you already have, well, don’t talk about it on social media.

The winter snow in Texas left people dead in their tracks. It has impacted even basic services like power and water and has left the Lone Star state crippled. People there are facing electricity bills as high as $17,000, which shows what a massive impact the storm has had on the day-to-day lives of the residents. The rocketed prices have affected EV owners, too, as Oilprice.com reports that charging a Tesla cost the owners around $900, which is almost 50 times more than how much it generally costs!

Don’t look now, but a collaboration between Halo and Tesla could be more than just a pipe dream. The potential partnership received a shot in the arm after Microsoft Xbox executive Aaron Greenberg took to Twitter to respond to Tesla big boss Elon Musk admitting that Halo is the only console game he’s ever played.

Last week’s biggest news came from yours truly Tesla, who announced that the Model S and X will be going under the scalpel for much-needed nip and tuck. The highlight of said nip and tuck was the yoke-style steering wheel which is certainly an enticing feature for Tesla die-hards and at the same time, something that might not see fruition.

Tesla is a hot company with its own, growing community of fanboys that are relentless in sharing their beliefs. In some respect, it’s understandable – some of the world’s largest automakers could learn a thing or two from Tesla. But can the company continue as it has? As reported by pymnts.com, Tesla’s market value just hit $820 billion on January 8, 2021, pushing the company into the top 5. This puts the company under Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet. This means Tesla has seen a 700-percent growth in market value over the last year, and Wedbush analyst – Daniel Ives – saying Tesla could become a $2 trillion company within two years. Is it sustainable and how is it possible?

While Tesla keeps rolling out over-the-air updates frequently, it has never really refreshed the Model S and the Model X. The Model 3 is an exception, but even that didn’t come with any major changes. There have been no real facelifts so far, no new generations; just software updates. It didn’t matter until now because none of its products had real competition, but it looks like times are changing and Tesla is feeling the heat.

According to Electrek, Tesla is planning to refresh the Model S and the Model X after all. The production lines for these two models have been shut down longer than expected, thus hinting at a design refresh. High time!

Tesla’s pricing for its models is going down, but the automaker is making up from those prospective losses by raising the prices for using its Supercharger network. That appears to be the case after a report from the Aussie website CarExpert indicated that charging at any of Tesla’s 35 Supercharger stations in the Land Down Under will now cost AUD0.52 (USD0.37) per kilowatt-hour. That’s an increase from the AUD0.42/kWh (USD0.30) that Tesla was charging as recently as September. Since 2017, the cost of charging a Tesla in Australia has gone up by as much as 23 percent, and with Tesla’s model price cuts continuing, don’t expect the cost of using the Supercharger network to flatten out, either.

The Tesla Model 3 is the undisputed king despite some strong upcoming competition, like the Polestar 2. People may say it’s because of the first-mover advantage or the fact that it has been in the segment the longest, which is true to an extent, but it’s also because of the continuous updates. Tesla has managed to keep the product fresh – even though it looks the same from the beginning – by introducing new packages, constant over-the-air updates, and so on. Now, the automaker has refreshed the Model 3 for the 2020 model year and it comes with quite a few changes that make it an even better product.

When you take the delivery of a new car, there are times when everything is not perfect. You might see the floor mats missing, hear a random rattle from somewhere within the car, or something really minor. But, this is something you wouldn’t ever imagine happening. This brand-new Tesla Model Y’s roof just flew off while cruising on the highway. Has that ever happened before? Not that I can recollect.

The much-hyped and anticipated Tesla Battery Day is now done and dusted, but it brought some news on Tesla’s advancements in the battery tech department. It started with the Annual Shareholders Meeting and then moved on to the Battery Day event.

The event was witnessed by 240 shareholders, each sitting in a Model 3, while the rest of the world watched the live stream on the website. As expected, Tesla announced a cheaper battery, but it is still some time away. There were a few other announcements apart from this, and here’s a rundown of the event:

Volkswagen and Tesla have been having some sort camaraderie for quite some time now that seems a little more than just healthy, mutual respect. Recently, Elon Musk test drove the Volkswagen ID.3, and now, VW’s CEO, Herbert Diess, took a drive in the Tesla Model Y. This leads to speculations if Tesla and Volkswagen are joining forces, but the German automaker’s CEO put an end to the rumors saying there is no deal between the two companies. But, could the two giants tag-team EVs in the future?

At a time when automakers are focused on making electric cars more efficient and working towards eliminating range anxiety, Elon Musk is thinking on a whole different level. The electric czar is thinking about electric airplanes, something that could be viable in half-a-decade. Tesla’s battery research partner, Jeff Dahn, said that the new battery-cell technology offers a tremendous improvement in energy density and could enable ‘electrified urban aviation’.