Teslaverse #11: ⚡️ Tesla paid the man — 1.2M miles on one Tesla S — XPeng likes FSD

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Hey, Jaan here.

This right is our once-a-month special edition that focuses specifically on Tesla. It’s useful to keep up with Tesla (and entertaining too). But in case you want to opt out of these, just send me a reply with “out” and you’re good. 11 of you have opted out so far.

I’m already almost finished with another great industry newsletter coming your way this week (two reports if you’re a member), too. A little teaser: we’ll talk about Rivian partnering with VW, and the launch of Rimac’s new Verne robotaxi.

But today, let’s focus on Tesla, with topics like:

• [Deep dive] Tesla Shareholder Meeting recap;

• CDK Cyberattacks also affect Tesla, somewhat;

• a Tesla M3 Performance at 163mph,
  and a Tesla MS P90D at 1.2M miles (~1.93M km);

• Cybertruck police cars and FSD again transferable;

• Beach Buggy leaderboards on Supercharger locations;

• …and a lot more.

Words: 2,340 | Reading time: 11 minutes | Feeling: like dancing, awkwardly.

Before we kick off, our monthly Teslaverse editions wouldn’t be possible without our partner — Beast Rent. I was happy to see some of you already taking up the offer to launch a Tesla service based on Beast OS in your country:

BeastOS — the Ultimate Operating System for Tesla Fleets.

They call it the “only solution with real skin in the game”, and I think that’s about right after building a whole operating system running their Tesla fleet over 2.5M miles (4M km). With it, you can

• Run B2C, B2B and P2P operations with your own brand

• No IoT/OBD devices required;

• Go to market fast.

Beast’s pivot to offering the op system didn’t come out of nothing — they’re currently the only P2P solution in the world that has incorporated Tesla SSO.

So if you plan to, or are running a Tesla fleet of any kind, consider leveling it up with Beast Operating System.

Anyway, let’s jump

Overview of the Tesla Shareholder Meeting

First off, here are some resources to dig in yourself:

• LIvestream of the 2h26min meeting, Musk walks on stage at 42:30.

• PDF of all 33 slides shown at the meeting by Musk.

The slides also started with some refreshing self-awareness here:

Tesla will pay the man

A lot of Tesla executive and employee Elon-praising posts, some real Tesla ads, and a shareholder-initiated rally for everybody to vote later…

…Elon Musk’s $56B pay package was approved (or rather, re-approved) by 72% of shareholders. That’s nearly the same as 73% in 2018. Tesla’s largest shareholder with $39B worth of Tesla stock, Vanguard, said it voted for the pay package this time, even though it voted against in 2018.

Texas reincorporation was approved by 63%. You can find votes for all proposals in this SEC filing. Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas, said “Welcome to a state that has neither a personal nor a corporate income tax.”

Here’s the updated Tesla ecosystem map including AI:

On new models: Musk says “we got some new products we're working on. They're going to be pretty special. Just wait, they will be."

There was a lot more shared on the event, from Cybertruck production to Optimus, from sustainability to FSD and Hardware 5 updates. I couldn’t fit it all here, so I uploaded the whole thing separately for you:

Musk posted that he is working on Tesla Master Plan 4. “It will be epic,” he says.

Tesla has started hiring again in nearly every category from manufacturing to services to software — after removing nearly all listings in April (the layoff rounds).

Cyberattack delays Cybertruck delivery? It seems like Tesla is also somewhat affected by the cyberattack on dealership software CDK Global which crippled most of the US dealerships for days last week.

In Michigan, a CyberTruck delivery was delayed as Tesla needs to register vehicles in the state through the software. Our friend hadn’t gotten his Cybertruck even earlier this week, Wisconsin and Colorado seem to be affected too.

Going deeper into this, I found that Tesla seems to be using the CDK system in select states only, where it’s required by the state itself to register the vehicles through the system.

Largely, however, Tesla was unaffected by the CDK problems in most states. Musk’s post on June 11th still stands strong: “Better to just buy things online. Our stores are just for test drives and answering questions.

Reading tip: One of my favorite Tesla analysts with real financial background and ability to provide clear reasoning, AJ (@alojoh), has created a 55-slide deep dive on Tesla 2^nd Quarter earnings estimates.

In TL;DR, he expects Q2 will be a significant improvement over Q1 but earnings metrics will be distorted by record high one-time charges related to headcount adjustments." Here’s a specific look at those restructuring costs (RC) in historical perspective, showing the Tesla statement of at least $350M will exceed any prior RC by over 2x or even more.

Why I call out specific people like this here: my goal in these newsletters is also to introduce you to the Tesla content creator ecosystem — people you’d perhaps miss otherwise, but are great to follow for deeper looks into the industry and the Tesla side of it.

Martin Viecha, now having left from the Tesla head of IR position , comments on Tesla’s advertising:

Tesla now has a toggle to list specific inventory that qualifies/doesn't qualify for the US $7,500 tax credit.

$7,500 IRA tax credit eligible?
Great, here’s our Model 3/Y with Panasonic batteries.
Not eligible for credit anyway?
 No problem, you’ll just get one with LG batteries.

However, it might be worth considering which battery option is better for you anyway (Panasonic batteries tend to have a better charging curve as far as I recall)… Let’s see if Tesla passes on the savings to the customers too.

Meanwhile, Tesla raised the lease starting prices for Model Y trims in the US by up to 12.5%:

• LR RWD $399 → $449/mo

• LR AWD: $429 → $479/mo

• Performance: $509 → $559/mo

Also, the Tesla Model 3 LR AWD now qualifies for the IRA tax credit.

The Model Y is not getting the refresh this year. Although… we also saw Model 3 hit China and Europe first and then the US just by the year’s change. Might they do the same with MY this year?

Airless tires? Tesla is in talks with Michelin to test its new Uptis airless tires on Tesla vehicles, Michelin CEO Florent Menegaux confirms in an interview. Here’s how the prototype tires look on a Chevy Bolt EV:

Note that prototypes of these airless tires have been circling for years upon years now. Let’s see if they’ve become closer to reality — it’d sure be great for robotaxis.

👀 Watch tip: Tesla Model 3 Performance going 263 km/h (163 mph) on German Autobahn in this video review (acceleration to max speed starts at 4:50 in the video). Looks stable. Tesla commented: Improved aerodynamics from front splitter & rear diffuser + spoiler bring you high-speed stability”

👀 Watch tip #2: Munro Live tears down the Cybercell.

What range anxiety?

This Tesla Model 3 LR has done 320,000 miles (516,000 km) in the Netherlands. Battery has degraded 20% so far, and the owner has had €3,500 ($3.7k) worth of repairs done over this time.

This Tesla Model S 90D from Chesterfield, UK has done 430,000 miles since 2016, used as a premium airport taxi over the years. It still runs on the original battery and electric motors. Here’s a 13-minute video from AutoTrader.

There is another… this Model S P90D that has done 1.2 million miles 🤯 since 2014, but by now runs on the 4th battery and 13^th electric motor. Here’s a 24-minute video from Watt Energy on the story.

Speaking of long trips, just a few days ago Rob finished his ‘winter tour’ across Australia ina Model Y, taking a 21-day, 7,200-mile (11,604-km) trip. He tracked it all on polarsteps here, including 560 photos.

Cybertruck

Cybertruck patrol cars start popping up. In the US, we find Unplugged Tesla new arm called Up Fit, which has created this police Cybertruck about to be deployed. It even made it to the news in NY video).

One of the CT perks: this Cybertruck was sideswiped at speed by a Mustang… and saw no damage under the wrap:

Fun watch: when Cybertruck is updating, the steering wheel becomes loose as there is no mechanical connection to the wheels.

No comments needed for this post from the one and only Doc Brown:

Related: in case you haven’t seen it yet, check out the “Back to the Future meets Cybertruck” video, with the DeLorean swapped with Cybertruck in a great CGI.

Oh and I cannot not mention this recent image from Wham Baam Teslacam of a Cybertruck being charged with 1.21 gigawatts:

Meanwhile, two totaled Cybertrucks have popped up on IAAI auction site, one with flood damage and another with a front-end crash.

FSD

FSD transfer is again available from today, for people who take delivery of a new S3XY before August 31^th, 2024. Trade-in of the existing VIN with FSD is not required… which means you can keep the existing vehicle.

XPeng CEO, He Xiaopeng, tried out (S)FSD in California, here’s what he wrote:

Musk commented: “The Chinese automakers are by far the most competitive.” And XPeng official account replied offering Musk a test drive of their XNGP ADAS, and asking to borrow a Tesla with FSD 12.4.1.

It is also interesting that Musk didn’t recall 2020, when Tesla sued an employee that went to XPeng for stealing its software (and then settled), and Musk called out XPeng as “they have an old version of our software & don’t have our NN inference computer”

FSD in China: Tesla gets approval for testing 10 Tesla vehicles with FSD from Shanghai. (link)

SOFTWARE

2024.20 software update (release notes)

• Headlights now adapt for curves in the road also in US, CA, MX, PR, and KR.

• Beach Buggy Racing now offers Supercharger-specific leaderboards (as on the image).

• When set to Auto, the AC now cools down the cabin faster & your vehicle better regulates the HV Battery temperature. On all M3/Y and new MS/X.

• AC in Cybertruck has been made quieter.

• Atari games have been removed from the 3/Y with AMD Ryzen processors.

• New Model X’s that came without ultrasonic sensors can now again get self-presenting doors (aka self-opening when you come near the car).

It seems that Tesla is creating a Voice Assistant to replace Voice Commands (link). Can’t wait for a Grok integration…

Tesla is building these massive GPU coolers in Texas, and Elon says they are sizing for ~130MW of power & cooling this year, and increase to >500MW over next 18 months or so. “Play to win or don’t play at all,” he says. I titled the image of those fans below with “when gamers take it too far”:

👀 Watch tip: Tesla Manufacturing released a three-minute “A day at Giga Berlin” video.

• Everyday Astronaut released a new Starbase and Starfactory tour video with Elon. This was shot before Flight 4 of Starship (early June). And here’s part two of the interview with the launch.

• Starlink Mini dish is now launched, currently as invite-only. Initally priced at $599 and later cheaper, available for early Starlink Residential customers. Here are the details. Musk says it took less than 5 minutes to set up and can be carried in a backpack. Here’s a pup for scale:

• POV: Elon Musk hand-delivers your Tesla Model 3. In 2018.

That’s it for today! This Teslaverse edition went out to 7,251 subscribers. If you like what we do here, consider becoming a Pro member.

I’ll be back with more EV industry insights on Friday!

— Jaan