Tesla Semi Pushed Back, Focus On Model 3 Production

The natives are restless in Teslaland. Model 3 production is not what people expected it to be and that has some folks worried. Is there a problem we don’t know about? Is this another Model X situation where full production doesn’t ramp up for a year? Is Tesla stock about to crash and take down everyone’s 401-K? Elon Musk has been busy texting today, trying to calm the fears of jittery Tesla fans and investors. Basically, his message is, “Relax, people. I’ve got this.”

The first bit of news is that Tesla is diverting resources to build more Powerwall residential batteries for the Caribbean islands ravaged by two powerful hurricanes last month. That includes Puerto Rico, of course, but also other islands that were devastated, like St. Johns and St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, Barbuda, Turks & Caicos, the Dominican Republic, and others.

Tesla has a unique opportunity to influence how the power structure on those islands gets rebuilt so it is more resilient to storm damage. The renewed focus on Powerwall production has pushed the introduction of the Tesla Semi back from October 26 to November 16. It’s not a big deal to move that event back a few weeks so Tesla can help the people in the Caribbean begin to rebuild their lives.

On the Model 3 front, Elon was asked on Twitter today when the Design Studio would become available for non-employees. His answer? “Probably 6 to 8 weeks.” There was some push back on that statement, so Elon clarified it this way:

6 Oct

Fred Lambert 

 ✔@FredericLambert

Replying to @elonmusk and 2 others

That's a delay? Tesla is currently still guiding 'late October' first customer deliveries.

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Elon Musk 

✔@elonmusk

Bear in mind that the production ramp is an exponential curve. Late Oct is possible, but not certain. Literally every day makes a big difference.

4:40 PM - Oct 6, 2017

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In other words, fear not, people. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and launching a new car on a production line that wasn’t even completed until late spring is hard work. Everything is as normal as it can be, given the circumstances. People forget that Elon himself said last year that Model 3 production probably wouldn’t ramp up until October.

When he surprised everyone by firing up the production line early, people assumed that meant cars would be coming off the end of the line at the rate of one a minute soon after. It’s not going to turn out that way though. Musk says they are “deep in production hell” and working feverishly to fix Model 3 bottlenecks. Musk was just a tiny bit touchy about the Model 3 configurator issue.

6 Oct

Fred Lambert 

 ✔@FredericLambert

Replying to @elonmusk and 2 others

I mean that '6 weeks' for design studio to non-employee customers leads people to believe actual deliveries won't happen until ~December.

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Elon Musk 

✔@elonmusk

There is only one config being built right now, so the only question is "What color?". Don't need a configurator for that.

4:54 PM - Oct 6, 2017

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When a Twitter follower suggested that any time estimates Musk gives should be taken with a grain of salt, Musk reverted to his familiar, always upbeat self.

6 Oct

Next Spaceflight @nextspaceflight

Replying to @elonmusk and 2 others

So 12 weeks after the Elon time conversion.

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Elon Musk 

✔@elonmusk

I'm doing my best to recalibrate, but that is a fair criticism. However, if I wasn't inherently optimistic, I wouldn't be doing electric cars and rockets in the first place!

4:34 PM - Oct 6, 2017

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So don’t sell your shares in Tesla. Don’t despair that your Model 3 won’t be in your driveway by Christmas. And don’t lose faith in Elon Musk. Delays are to be expected. And if you want to know more about what “production hell” is like, go back in time and research the origin of the word “snafu.” Chill, brothers and sisters. Everything’s going to be alright.

Electric Motorcycle Doubles As Residential Storage Battery

They say there is nothing new under the sun, but the Jahammer J1 electric motorcycle comes about as close as you can get. Johann Hammerschmid, founder of Johammer E-mobility Inc, says of his oddly styled creation, “This is a natural return to the concept of the horse, before there was noise and pollution from engines.” Some have compared its looks to a giant peanut or a horse used for jousting in the Middle Ages, but it also looks a lot like a cross between a Cushman motor scooter from the 1950’s and a Quonset hut.

The bike features a 12 kWh battery that is good for up to 186 miles of range on the highway — less in hilly terrain or off road use. That makes it the longest range electric motorcycle on the market. Some 60 Johammer J1’s have been sold in Europe since 2014. Hammerschmidt says he first started thinking about building the bike in 2017. His factory is located in eastern Austria near the Czech border.

Two striking features of the bike are the corrugated polypropylene bodywork and the center hub steering system. Hammershcmidt says it takes just a few miles aboard the J1 to get used to its handling characteristics. The J1 has no dashboard. Data displays are included in each rear view mirror instead. Rotating the throttle away from the rider engages regenerative braking. The more twist, the more the bike slows. There is also a reverse gear to assist in parking. Wheels, brake discs and tires are purchased from outside suppliers to make sure the bikes are road legal. Everything else is built and assembled in house.

But that’s only half the story of the Johammer J1. With a battery only slightly smaller than the latest Tesla Powerwall, it can be plugged in when riding is done and serve as a storage battery for a home or small business. That makes it ideal for those who have a residential solar panel installation. “A motorcycle like this is weather-dependent, so no vehicle is better suited for a secondary role as storage,” Hammerschmidt says.

He is proud of the fact that his invention does not quite fit any conventional description. Is it a storage battery on  wheels or a motorcycle that is also a storage battery? “We’re at the stage cars were at 100 years ago. The infrastructure was limited but it grew quickly,” says Hammerschmid. “The same will happen with e-vehicles, and it won’t just be gas stations used for recharging.” Homes, workplaces, shopping malls, parking garages—all will become places to recharge. “The change of pace will be quicker than we currently imagine,” he says.

The top of the line Johammer J1 is priced at around $27,000 and the company has begun a crowdfunding campaign to help pay for an expansion of production. Hammerschmidt says he is riding the early wave of multi-function green transport. “This trend is irreversible, we are seeing it in all sectors and especially those connected with mobility.”

He may be correct, but his creation still looks weird from every angle. Perhaps that is the price of innovation.

Source: Bloomberg Pursuits

Tesla Opens Spectacular New Store In Sydney, Australia

Until this week, Tesla had only two facilities in Australia, a combined sales and service center in North Sydney and a service center in Melbourne. On Wednesday, it opened a spectacular new Tesla store in the trendiest shopping center in Sydney’s Central Business District. Known officially as 20 Martin Place, it is located next to an Apple store.

Tesla makes no secret of the fact that its stores are patterned after Apple locations. The way they look and the way they operate is basically the same. Both use their sales facilities as places where people can come to learn about their products in a relaxed, no pressure environment. Not everyone knows about electric cars and they tend to have a ton of questions. It should be noted that traditional car manufacturers have done an abysmal job of teaching people why they should want an electric car.

Like all Tesla stores, the two story, 5,000 square foot facility in Sydney features floor to ceiling glass in front. Inside is a spacious, welcoming environment with large pieces of art work and photos of Tesla automobiles gracing the walls. There are three Model S sedans on the first floor. The Model X is not yet available Down Under, but will be along later this year.

There is a full design studio on the first floor, where customers can view colors and options to help them decide how they wish to configure their cars.Upstairs, there is another design studio and several private areas where customers can meet with a member of the Tesla sales staff personally.

If they see something they like on display, they can purchase it right off the showroom floor, but they will have to wait a few hours to drive it home. The store does not have a back door large enough for cars, so the staff need to shuttle cars in and out using specially constructed ramps that traverse the front stairs. Moving cars is reserved for times when the mall is closed to pedestrians. Test drives are available upon request nearby.

To date, Tesla automobiles have traveled more than a half million miles in the country, saving Australians more than 185,000 gallons of gasoline. Tesla has a network of Superchargers along the highway between Sydney and Melbourne. In addition, it has more than 100 destination chargers available to motorists with 75 more planned by the end of the year.

In what may be a sign of the future, at the back of the store is a display featuring the Tesla Powerwall home battery storage system. The Powerwall isn’t sold directly through Tesla, but staff can direct potential customers to one of the company’s third-party suppliers and installers, who package the battery with an inverter and solar panels.

Solar systems with battery backup are very popular in Australia, where electricity costs are significantly higher than in other countries. As Tesla starts to think about becoming an energy company after it merges with SolarCity (if it does), all Tesla showrooms may one day offer information on residential solar products.

Source and photo credits: Gizmodo Australia

Tesla PowerWall Sells Out Through 2016, Brings In $800 Million

When Elon Musk unveiled the Tesla PowerWall last week, it unleashed a tidal wave of orders — so many, in fact, that filling them all will take well into 2016. Assuming all those orders get completed, they will bring in $800,00,00 in new business for  Tesla, says Engadget.

Why would they not all be completed? Frankly, because many people have no idea what they are signing up for. Some analysts call it “The Prius Effect.” Once we think someone else is getting some cool, new technological bauble, we want one too. Let’s see if we can gain a little clarity here.

The Tesla PowerWall comes in two configurations. The 7 kilowatt-hour kWh model is intended for daily use. Tesla’s corporate cousin, SolarCity has made the decision not to offer the 7 kWh unit to its home solar customers. It “doesn’t really make financial sense,” says spokeman Jonathan Bass. That’s because customers are better off selling any excess solar power to the local utility and getting paid for it that using that power to charge their PowerWall. The economics of an average home with rooftop solar “are not significantly enhanced by including the Tesla battery,” according to an analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

The larger version is a 10 kWh model that is not intended for daily use. In fact, it is designed for no more than 50 discharge cycles a year, according to  Bloomberg News. That’s the unit SolarCity will be offering customers. “Our residential offering is battery backup,” Bass said in an e-mail. A backup battery in the basement seems very cool, but in fact, it is only rated for 2 kilowatts of continuous power and even then only for a few hours. That’s barely enough to power a toaster or a few small window air conditioners. It it not anywhere near enough for people to fire their electricity provider and move completely off the grid.

In order to meet the energy needs of a typical American household, 8 or 9 PowerWall units would have to be linked together. Since the deposit on each one is $5,000, the homeowner would need to spend $45,000 to get the same back up power available from a this $3,600 generator Home Depot sells, says Bloomberg. Even Elon Musk admits storing residential power with the Powerwall is more expensive than grid power, but he says, “that doesn’t mean people won’t buy it.” Adds Brian Warshay, an energy and technology analyst with Bloomberg New Energy Finance, “It’s a luxury good—really cool to have—but I don’t see an economic argument” for it.

What’s the good news about the Tesla PowerWall? Simply this. At current prices, it means Tesla has lowered the cost of batteries to $250 per kWh. That’s something the “experts” said wouldn’t happen until 2020. And when the GigaFactory begins production in 2016, costs should drop another 30%. That will give Tesla a huge economic advantage in the marketplace versus other battery makers.

When the price of the PowerWall drops another 30%, or even more, then it will make sense to get one for your home. In 10 years, in-home battery backup systems will be as common as refrigerators and washing machines — and cost just about as much.