TALKING TESLA

The team covers a lot of ground but the key message, get involved at your local level and you will create change...

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Why do we not know how many people are in the beta? 10x is kinda meaningless without that data. 

1. Watched an interesting video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0pAOist3UY< showing an intersection and unprotected left turn when the opposing driver did not take the right of way and was an indicator of how the FSD reacts to that. 
2. Missed an entrance to a driveway and navigated to the next driveway 
3. Attempted to drive FSD into a self wash - Successful or not? Guesses from the boys!! 
   1. Interesting edge case - can you guys think of any others like this? 
   2. Does not slow down for the dips and bumps in the road - Would that be a warranty repair? Interesting thing to discuss. 
4. Delivery Truck double parked - How did the FSD do here? 

Will Robert be getting FSD beta?

• When Tesla expanded FSD beta from social media influencers (was in 2-phases, 20 then 100) to all Tesla Owner Club leadership in early November 2020, expected users would increase from 100 -> 1,000. I did not receive confirmation though I asked for it, chalked it up to disarray at Tesla. Turns out nearly half of club leaders have legacy cars without the necessary hardware.
• How you Talking Tesla Nation can get on the list:
• Email [email protected] include VIN & if you paid for FSD (a requirement for the first waves of Beta testers) or ….
• https://insideevs.com/news/492646/tesla-doubling-self-driving-fsd-beta-now/
• Tesla's CEO Elon Musk announced that the Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta program size is doubling now with the new 8.2 software update

• https://www.tesmanian.com/blogs/tesmanian-blog/tesla-will-add-download-beta-button-to-participate-in-testing-fsd-beta-on-in-car-displays 

Talking Tesla Twitter Poll: If you are a two car family and looking to get your second EV what sort of range would you be looking for?

• 
  
• Looks like a Mel-phenomenon, “longer is better”

Tesla’s yoke is no joke:
https://insideevs.com/news/491176/photos-tesla-model-s-plaid-yoke-steering/ & 

https://insideevs.com/news/492239/video-tesla-model-s-plaid-steering-yoke-randy-pobst/

• Looks like the yoke will be an option after original sightings are were all just full circle steering wheel:
  
  
• Photo by The Killowatts https://t.co/olTCz0bSbU?amp=1
• Randy Pobst and The Killowatts:
  • Prefers a round wheel
  • Concerned about turning more than 90 degrees
  • Will be AWK in parking
  • Thinks maybe a quicker turning wheel will do
    • Could be speed dependent as well
• WE posted a couple videos on TT twitter
  • https://twitter.com/talkingtesla/status/13683267605347942

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OS VERSIONS:

• Mel 
• Model 3 = 2020.48.35.11 
• Model S = 2019.16.2 
• Model Y = 2021.4.6 
• Tom 
• Model 3 = 2020.48.35.5 Please update
• Model S = 2019.16.1.1
• Robert   
• 2020 Model 3 = 2020.48.35.5  current as of 02/19/2021
• Joel 
• Model S = N/A  :-(  

TESLA,THE STOCK & EV STORIES:

• Tax Breaks for EVs in USA
• Tesla to Start Making Cars in India, Targeting Vast Market https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-15/tesla-to-start-making-cars-in-india-targeting-sprawling-market

AUTONOMOUS DRIVING:

• https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-autopilot-fsd-drives-to-service-center-no-intervention-video/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb9HL9-jXBQ&feature=emb_logo

SUPERCHARGERS:

• https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-norway-supercharger-queue-fix/ 

Supercharger Update:

• Thank you to supercharge.info
• Last SC Update:  
• Since our last BIG show, Supercharger activity includes:

Open9US: (Fl, NJ, CO), Sweden, Italy, France & Greece
Construction24
Permit17
TodayLast Show
TeslaStations:2,418(2079)
Stalls:21,819(19,409)
Electrify America (funded by Volkswagen’s penalty money)
Stations:556(525)
Stalls - CCS: 1,856(1776, 1752)
Stalls-CCS-CHAdeMO:552 (521, 516)
Total: 2,408(2,297)SPACE-X & AEROSPACE

• https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56133281
• https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/l31rcy/the_current_status_of_spacexs_starship_superheavy/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
• https://www.inverse.com/innovation/spacex-starship-video-sn10 
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwZl6YV3xYA
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egHxiX40eJY 
• https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/19/spacex-bought-former-valaris-oil-rigs-to-build-starship-launchpads.html

THIS EPISODE OF TALKING TESLA SPONSORED BY:

• You, our viewer and the gracious 217 Patreon Supporters
• Support the show by:
• Writing us a nice review on your favorite podcasting app
• Sending $$ to us on Patreon (talkingtesla.net/patreon) for even as small as 1 dollar. Need to change Patreon as currently it’s $5/mo minimum.
• Or go to TalkingTesla.NET/support 
• Using our referral code for your next Tesla, Tesla Solar System/Powerwall:
• www.TalkingTesla.net/referral (will land on a referral code randomly)

MEDIA PICKS

• Mel - How to Prepare for Climate Change by David Pogue
• Robert - 
• Abadon’s Gate, Cibola Burn by James S.

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Highlights/News/Events

• Reformed Bitcoin miner: Elon Musk’s $1.5 billion bet is ‘crazy’ https://fortune.com/2021/02/13/elon-musk-tesla-bitcoin-bet-1-5-billion-alex-pickard/
• “Few observers are better qualified than Alex Pickard to assess Elon Musk’s decision” to channel $1.5 billion of Tesla’s corporate cash into Bitcoin
• https://ycharts.com/indicators/bitcoin_average_transaction_fee

SOLAR & RENEWABLE ENERGY

• https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/16/texas-wind-turbines-frozen/ and
• https://www.bbc.com/news/world-56085733 
• Jenny Chase, Bloomberg analyst, predicts up to 194 GW of solar this year https://www.pv-magazine.com/2021/01/20/jenny-chase-predicts-up-to-194-gw-of-solar-this-year/?fbclid=IwAR3t1YhrWkHLJfoHef15lrDtfN2SGMDdewEf1X-w0pfavynGIPEf8S88gjU
• Average module prices fall a further $0.02/W to $0.18/W this year with the Chinese government, removing all obstacles for new investments (will this flair up anti-chinese sentiment re. Flooding the solar PV market? And in that anticalitalistic?
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sea_Wind_Power_Hub 
• https://nation.com.pk/14-Mar-2017/crazy-artificial-island-could-power-europe-by-2050 
• New EU financing mechanism set to boost PV investments https://www.pv-magazine.com/2020/12/19/the-weekend-read-disrupting-developments/ 
• A Monster Wind Turbine Is Upending an Industry https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/01/business/GE-wind-turbine.html
• Vineyard Wind, a large wind farm off Massachusetts, .

MEDIA PICKS

• Mel - Wanda Vision - Disney
• Robert - ???
• Tom -  in-of-itself  - Hulu 

Joel - ReThinkX youtube channel

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1. Financials
   1. Margins miss by about 20%
   2. Zac: one time charges
      1. Employee Stock increase and Stock based compensation
      2. Bonds coming due which converted to stocks
      3. S and X refurb
      4. If excluded above, would be better than previous quarter
   3. Risks for this year: Global Semiconductor market
      1. Other Covid impacts could affect them
   4. Could look at Tesla as revenue/cell output and it’s value as a company
      1. They’ll excel because of efficiency and want all cell manufacturers to produce and sell to them. 
      2. Will buy as much as they can send
   5. Regulatory credits could be the same could be lower
2. Growth
   1. Expect 50% growth for the next few years or more 
   2. Elon: The market undervalues FSD revenue still
   3. Because of cash on hand, will move faster on:
      1. Service centers
      2. Superchargers
      3. Manufacturing
      4. ?Products?
   4. Some human capital limitations but still expect above average growth
3. FSD
   1. Status
      1. Still moving towards 360 Cameras views for all parts of the code
      2. Things are on track
      3. Expanding the beta program
   2. Regulatory
      1. China will be allowing level 5 later this year
      2. EU is barely allowing level 3
      3. US is taking a wait and see.
         1. Looking at quality of software before going forward
   3. Have had inquiries from OEMs
      1. Willing to sell the tech 
   4. Will be selling access to DOJO when the time is right
   5. Version 4 HWD sounds done
      1. But expects this chip to be able to do everything he has promised
      2. Thinks introducing it now would cause confusion
      3. Will be 3x faster and user better cameras and more power efficient
4. Battery Advancements
   1. Costs are in line with projections
      1. Won't get there for a 3-4yrs (seemed to sandbag a bit there)
   2. Ordering 200gw/h of equipment expect 100 gwh next year
   3. Suppliers are still being asked to make as much as they can and Tesla will buy them
      1. Prelim discussions on 4680’s made by suppliers too
5. Service
   1. Gerrome: The best service is when it is not needed
   2. Would like to get Tom not to borrow tires
   3. 100 out of 140 centers can get an appt in less than 10 days
   4. 40% are mobile in North America
   5. 50% of all appointments are done in 2hrs
   6. App is better than a phone call
      1. Has a written record for every one
      2. Can send photos
      3. Payment
      4. See where your tech in in the process of getting the car done
6. CyberTruck Info
   1. Volume prod in 2021
   2. Will use a 8k ton press for castings
   3. Order parts and machinery
   4. Engineering done
7. Electric Van
   1. Nice idea but not enough cells out there. 
   2. Would like to eventually do a sprinter type van
8. Model S/X 
   1. https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/tesla-model-s-ev-sedan-refresh-interior-debut/
   2. Noticed touch controls on steering wheel
      1. Blinkers even!!
   3. Dash seems to have air quality
   4. Back seat screen
   5. Seats seem texture

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SHOW NOTES: TT 191Best New EV

• Model Y
• Taycan
• VW ID3
• VW ID4
• Mach E

Top Space Story

• SpaceX launches 26 rockets 
• SpaceX Crew 1
• Chang’E 5 Moon Mission
• Boeing Software Failure
• SN8 best flight of the year
• JAXA Touch & Go mission

Best Announced EV 

• Tesla Model $25k
• GM Hummer
• Buick Lyric
• Aptera EV
• Canoo
• Zoox
• Archimoto
• Where’s Rivian?

Biggest Battery Announcement 

• Costs reductions at Tesla Battery Day
• LG signs massive ~$10 billion deal to make batteries in Indonesia
• Tesla battery researcher shows new test results pointing to batteries lasting over 2 million miles
• Battery startup backed by VW and Tesla cofounder JB Straubel QuantumScape (QS) goes public
• Microsoft will be carbon negative by 2030
• https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2020/01/16/microsoft-will-be-carbon-negative-by-2030/
• Apple commits to be 100 percent carbon neutral for its supply chain and products by 2030
• https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/07/apple-commits-to-be-100-percent-carbon-neutral-for-its-supply-chain-and-products-by-2030/
•  ITC extension (Solar investment tax credit)
• A spending package President Trump signed before the New Year keeps the Investment Tax Credit at 26 percent through 2022 and at 22 percent through 2023, a policy similar to one the White House eliminated during spending negotiations at the same time last year.
• US Presidential Change of Focus on Renewables
• Joe Biden’s win presents major upside for the solar industry. The candidate campaigned on a national plan to reach 100 percent clean electricity by 2035. Solar offers a key technology to achieve that goal, with 2020 marking its second year in a row to claim the largest share of new generating capacity of any resource.
• COVID impact on pollution 
• Half of the world population is under some form of lockdown due to COVID-19.
• Environmental pollution is reduced up to 30%.
• Mobility is reduced up to 90%.
• A  study found that even as NO2 emissions plummeted 60% and fine particulate matter dropped 31%, global average ozone went up slightly around the world. 
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969720323378
• https://cen.acs.org/environment/atmospheric-chemistry/COVID-19-lockdowns-had-strange-effects-on-air-pollution-across-the-globe/98/i37#:~:text=When%20viewed%20broadly%20and%20globally,Natl. 

2021 -  Tesla’s Biggest News Story

• Joel - Acquisition of Battery or Auto manufacturing enablement company...
• Mel. Battery day. 

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Highlights/News/Events

• How to watch the Jupiter and Saturn 'great conjunction' of 2020 https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/dec/15/how-to-watch-the-jupiter-and-saturn-great-conjunction-of-2020
• On Dec 21st Jupiter and Saturn will appear closer to one another and brighter than they have in 800 years 
• an event known as a “great conjunction”

TESLA,THE STOCK & EV STORIES

• Plug-in hybrids in new emissions scandal as tests show higher pollution than claimed https://www.transportenvironment.org/press/plug-hybrids-new-emissions-scandal-tests-show-higher-pollution-claimed

AUTONOMOUS DRIVING

• Las Vegas approves Boring Company’s Loop transport system with Tesla vehicles
• Here’s a map of the next stop, The Wynn: https://www.teslarati.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/wynn-to-lvcc.jpg 

BATTERIES, GIGAFACTORY, ENERGY STORAGE

• Rumor: Tesla Giga Berlin Will Soon Receive Model Y Prototypes with New 4680 Tabless Cells & Structural Architecture https://www.tesmanian.com/blogs/tesmanian-blog/tesla-giga-berlin-will-soon-receive-prototypes-model-y-with-4680-tabless-cells-and-a-new-architecture

SUPERCHARGER UPDATE 

• Thank you to supercharge.info  
• Since our last BIG show, Supercharger activity includes:

Open20
Construction11
Permit1
TeslaStations:2079
Stalls:18,940

• Electrify America (Volkswagen)

Stations:525
CCS Stalls: 1776  +24
CCS-CHAdeMO Stalls: 521+ 5 = Total: 2,297SPACE-X & AEROSPACE

• SpaceX SN8 Flew, Pitched, Belly Flopped, Rited itself then KABOOMY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egHxiX40eJY 

MEDIA PICKS

• Mel 
• The Virgin Way - Richard Branson

• Robert  
• Cooking with AOC https://www.instagram.com/tv/CIpCnIFHoE3/?hl=en She starts to make salmon in a cream sauce and gives an off the cuff breakdown of government efforts to pass a COVID stimulus bill, provide student debt relief and more. 
• Shook One: Anxiety Playing Tricks on Me by Charlamagne tha God, A super honest self assessment and example setting for good health both physical and mental from provocative cohost of Power 105.1’s The Breakfast Club

• Tom 
• Street Food: Asia on Netflix - A lovely (low carbon)  way to pretend to not be locked in your home and be able to travel in your mind
• Season 2 of the Mandelorian 
• Aussie Gold Hunters on Netflix

• Joel - https://www.parrygripp.com/ for the parents. He’s really good. 

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At it again...

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Joel interviews Eric Berger from Arstechnica they talk about the new administration's impact on NASA and commercial space providers like SpaceX. He delves into the future of SpaceX and his upcoming book Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX

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Highlights/News/Events

• Dinosaurs could have survived
• https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/18/world/dinosaur-extinction-intl-scli-gbr-scn/index.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twCNNi&utm_content=2020-11-22T21%3A31%3A03&utm_term=link
• Dinosaurs were doing well and could have continued to dominate Planet Earth if they had not been wiped out by an asteroid, new research has found.
• Timeline of all software updates: https://www.notateslaapp.com/software-updates/ 

BATTERIES, GIGAFACTORY, ENERGY STORAGE

• Indonesia to woo Tesla investment in push to become battery superpower
• https://ca.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-president-tesla-exclusive-idCAKBN27T13Q 
• What Indonesia's labor reforms mean for workers' rights, the environment
• https://www.dw.com/en/indonesia-labor-reforms-hit-workers-environment/a-55204313
• Tesla Israel:  Tesla Energy is setting its sights on another market that’s ready for a battery storage disruption
•  https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-megapack-batteries-worldwide-invasion/
• Tesla in the UK: Tesla (TSLA) launches new ‘Energy Plan’ to offer low electricity rates with solar and Powerwall VPP
• https://electrek.co/2020/10/27/tesla-tsla-energy-plan-powerwall-vpp/
• Tesla’s move into mining aimed at energising battery supply chain
• https://www.ft.com/content/b13f316f-ed85-4c5f-b1cf-61b45814b4ee

Supercharger Update 

• Thank you to supercharge.info 
• Since our last BIG show, Supercharger activity includes:

OpenMore than 5…Fresno, Oakland, Emeryville
Construction7including Davis, CA
Permit3including Howard HughesSPACE-X & AEROSPACE

• China launches Chang'e-5 lunar mission with Long March-5 rocket
• https://youtu.be/vppYWohS67I AND
• https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/23/science/china-moon-rocks.html
• SPACEX STARSHIP:ELON MUSK RESPONDS TO IMPRESSIVE RENDER OF FUTURE LAUNCH https://www.inverse.com/innovation/spacex-starship-elon-musk-responds-to-impressive-render-of-launch
• https://t.co/r4bM6Cz94x
• https://twitter.com/Neopork85/status/1316437495748456448?s=20 
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94TUSNxX01c 
• Tesla owner puts SpaceX Starlink to the test in the wild

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