01 Oct 2018 | Elon Settles Whilst Deliveries Soar, Japanese Brands Lead EV Surge in Britain and Insight Into Audi e-tron Rear Cameras
Elon Settles, Moves On | Profitability Is Nigh, Community Comes Together | Japanese Brands Lead British Electrified Car Surge | Will The Model Y Be A Tesla Killer, Killer | Insight Into Audi E-Tron Rear Cameras | Tesla App Give More Control Over Your Car
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Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Monday 1st October 2018. It’s Martyn Lee here and I’ve been through EV story today so you don’t have to.
Thank you to MYEV.com for helping make this show, they’ve built the first marketplace specifically for Electric Vehicles. It’s a totally free marketplace that simplifies the buying and selling process, and help you learn about EVs along the way too.
ELON SETTLES, MOVES ON
- After saying over the weekend that I wouldn't comment about on-going legal action, that didn't last long! Elon Musk's fallout with the SEC about his "funding secured tweet" is all over and both parties have agreed to settle the lawsuit.
- The SEC has agreed on the settlement which makes clear Elon Musk doesn't have any suggestion of doing anything guilty levelled at him.
- Elon Musk is currently Chairman and CEO but has agreed to hand over the reigns of the Chairmanship within 45 days. Plus there's a $20million fine which I've seen people saying he won't even notice as he's a billionaire. Well that may be so, but $20m is a lot of money in anybody's language. Tesla as an organisation has also agreed to pay $20m.
- Once three years has passed Elon Musk is clear to be re-elected as the Chairman again should the company wish.
- There will also be two new independent directors appointed to the board.
- One of the strangest conditions will be the line that a new independent committee of directors will put in place controls on Elon's communications. There is a line in the settlement about pre-approved permission before Elon tweets anything material to the company, so I guess they need to work out what's material and what is just his Twitter.
- My take is this is the perfect solution to a hastily sent tweet. However this story didn't need to rumble on for months or perhaps even years, for one simple reason. Today. Today is the first day of a new quarter. And that means the Q3 numbers are locked in stone as of midnight last night. And we'll get onto that in a moment. But this story had the potential to overshadow any good news such as profitability. With any legal case you never know how it will end up, even if you're confident, and it would have dominated every story.
PROFITABILITY IS NIGH, COMMUNITY COMES TOGETHER
- "Elon Musk told Tesla Inc. employees that the company was on the cusp of making money, hours after he and the carmaker reached a settlement with the U.S. that steps up oversight of the chief executive officer’s communications of material information." reports Fortune: "Sunday marks the end of the third quarter, and Tesla has frantically pushed to boost deliveries before the period ends."
- Elon said to staff: "We are very close to achieving profitability and proving the naysayers wrong, but, to be certain, we must execute really well tomorrow (Sunday). If we go all out tomorrow, we will achieve an epic victory beyond all expectations.”
- Meanwhile Simon at Teslarati has been noticing the same thing as I did over the weekend, so many people posting online about volunteering: "Based on social media activity from members of the Tesla community, it appears that the company’s volunteer-boosted delivery initiative continues to be strong. While volunteer Model S, 3, and X owners are not able to help with paperwork, the assistance they provide to new owners is looking to be quite invaluable. This was perfectly captured in a picture shared by the N TX Tesla Owners group on Twitter, which depicted every volunteer helping new owners download the Tesla app even before they are checked in."
http://fortune.com/2018/09/30/elon-musk-tesla-profitable/
https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-community-final-end-of-q3-2018-model-3-delivery/
JAPANESE BRANDS LEAD BRITISH ELECTRIFIED CAR SURGE
- The ongoing strength of the automotive relationship between the UK and Japan was highlighted today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) at the 31st Electric Vehicle Symposium (EVS), the world's largest electric mobility expo, in Kobe, Japan.
- Latest figures from the UK trade body show that six out of 10 (59.5%) new hybrid, plug-in and pure electric vehicles registered by British buyers this year had a Japanese badge, with demand up by a fifth (18.5%) over the past 12 months.[3] Models enjoying particularly strong growth, included the hybrid Toyota Yaris (+47.9%) and Lexus NX (+24.7%, and the plug-in hybrid Toyata Prius (+109.4%).[4] Meanwhile the Nissan LEAF, which is manufactured in the UK for Europe, was the UK's market leading pure electric vehicle, accounting for more than two fifths of registrations.
WILL THE MODEL Y BE A TESLA KILLER, KILLER
- Those who follow me on Twitter know I love to retweet any article with a headline which includes "tesla killer", and in the last few months alone I've been retweeting non-stop articles about how the I-PACE, the Audi e-tron Quattro, the Mercedes EQC and even the Hyundai Kona are all Tesla killers. Once again the mainstream media look at a car and because it has batteries, lump it into the same cateogy. A £35,000 Huyndai is being compared to a 7 seater Model X which can cost £!50k because...batteries.
- But over the weekend I love how Clean Technica asked: is the Tesla Model Y the ultimate Tesla Killer KIller?
- One of the key points will be the price of the Model Y. Now there's a car which WILL directly go up against those German SUVs I mentioned, plus the BMW iX3, and will do it perhaps $20,000 cheaper because of massive scale. In USA i don't see much competition, but here in Europe where perhaps the image of those German companies is still good (despite some morally questionable diesel antics) it might not be such an easy win.
https://cleantechnica.com/2018/09/30/4-tesla-killers-ready-to-be-crushed-by-tesla-model-y/
INSIGHT INTO AUDI E-TRON REAR CAMERAS
- In case you thought Audi's engineers have been busy developing that rear-camera solution instead of wingmirrors, you'd be wrong.
- The Spanish auto supplier Ficosa has said it's the one behind the rear-view camera system which will be fitted to markets where regulations permit, such as Europe. Sorry America you'll get bog standard mirrors. The cameras are made in Spain and the wings which support them are made in Germany, in total 90 engineers have been working on the advanced optics and software.
- Here are the nerdy bits: the system is known as a CMS (Camera Monitoring System) and is made up of a rear facing camera where the wingmirror would be, and touchscreen 7" OLED displays inside the doors.
- Javier Pujol, CEO of Ficosa, said: "Rear-view systems are Ficosa's core business, so being the first to launch a CMS to the European market is a turning point in our technological transformation process. In this way, we've not only proven our ability to take advantage of our know-how in vision but we've also blazed the trail, being the first to reach this accomplishment that will revolutionise the automotive industry. It is an honour for Ficosa that Audi, one of the most renowned automobile manufacturers in the world, has trusted our expertise in vision to develop and manufacture this solution".
- Benefits are obviously reduced drag, which is the holy grail for EVs. But also the cameras remove blind spots, increase the field of vision and are more reliable at night because they don't glare.
TESLA APP GIVE MORE CONTROL OVER YOUR CAR
- I've been talking so much about the Tesla Version 9 software recently that we need to give some love to the app. Firstly third-party map apps sharing. So you can plan your route on Google Maps and then send it to your car. Next up you can remotely start updates FROM you app and not have to go to your car to initiate it - hmm that's useful if, say, your car spends a lot of time away from you if it were being used for car sharing. And finally - this is great - Media control for passengers. For passengers they can use their phone to change tracks, volume etc.
COMMUNITY
And thanks to MYEV.com they’ve set us another Question Of The Week. Keep your comments coming in on email and YouTube…
Plug In Hybrid or Pure EV? Which would should you buy, or did you buy? Is range still a concern or maybe not enough selection in EV segment?
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