EV Discussion thread

JKenH

More Tesla rumours. I would be surprised if they are cutting back Cybertruck production given how many orders had reportedly been placed.

Tesla (TSLA) is rumored to be preparing a massive round of layoffs

Tesla announced to Gigafactory Texas employees that it will shorten Cybertruck production shift amid rumors that it is preparing a round of layoffs.

We received several reports today from Tesla employees hearing rumors of an important round of layoffs happening this week at the company.

Some of them are talking about layoffs as high as 20% of the workforce, which would mean tens of thousands of employees.

https://electrek.co/2024/04/14/tesla-rumor-massive-round-layoffs/

Grumpy_chap

Tesla cuts 10%, not 20%
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-68818113

1961Nick

The earnings figures due later this month should make interesting reading.

1961Nick

It looks like Britishvolt is officially no more.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/04/15/ftse-100-markets-latest-news-oil-prices-rise-middle-east/

The site that had been earmarked for the Britishvolt gigafactory has been bought by Blackstone CREDIT: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire

US private equity investors have bought the site of what had been hoped would become Britain’s first electric car battery gigafactory in a blow to Britain’s net zero ambitions.

Land in Cambois near Blyth in Northumberland had been expected to become the home of the £3.8bn Britishvolt factory before the company fell into administration last year.

However, Northumberland County Council revealed it has sold the site to Blackstone, which plans to turn the site into a data centre.

michaels

MeteredOut said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Solarchaser said:

I certainly pointed out more than once that you being in NE Englandshire was part of your issue as at that point it had the worst penetration of chargers in the whole UK, contributing to your charging issues.
I probably suggested that knowing this, you should plan your routes and charging stops more thoroughly. 
The smaller battery car plus long journeys fairly often wasn't a good combo either,

That sounds very much like victim blaming.

The issue is, this limitation on choice of car or only covering some parts of the country is an absurd type of restriction to have.

I don't think we should discount simplicity either. No, not the ICE drivers but with an ICE car, you simply drive up and fill up. With an EV, even if there are plenty of chargers available to you locally, you still need to know which platform it is on and ensure you have the appropriate app (or at least know it takes contactless).

Same for price - with an ICE, you know you'll be ripped off a little if you go to one just off a motorway, but the difference between that and a local supermarket is perhaps 10-20%. With public EV chargers, we have rates from 15p/kWh all the way to 92p/kWh locally.

I was in Italy trying to fill up my hire car in time for return, first filling station the tanker driver was telling people not to start filling as he wanted to fill the tanks, second one did not take uk debit/cards. 

Would rather have hired an EV but they were expensive for a decent size so ended up with a POS called a t-roc - absolutely minute on the inside and zero power delivery.  How are you supposed to make a hill start (it was the alps) when the 1 litre 3 pot does not produce any power till you give it enough revs for the turbo to cut in without burning out the clutch?

Solarchaser

Grumpy_chap said:

Solarchaser said:

I certainly pointed out more than once that you being in NE Englandshire was part of your issue as at that point it had the worst penetration of chargers in the whole UK, contributing to your charging issues.
I probably suggested that knowing this, you should plan your routes and charging stops more thoroughly. 
The smaller battery car plus long journeys fairly often wasn't a good combo either,

That sounds very much like victim blaming.

The issue is, this limitation on choice of car or only covering some parts of the country is an absurd type of restriction to have.

I know you selectively quoted me to make your point, omitting the later parts, but even then, how is it victim blaming saying there are less chargers in the area?
How exactly is that blaming Ken?

And if I have victim blamed, then you have also, as apparently your calling him absurd.

Sounds like a ridiculous conclusion to come to based on what you typed right?

Right back at ya 😉

MikeJXE

Selective quoting on here is par for the course or else it would be difficult to get an argument going 

JKenH

This article probably doesn’t mean much to anyone who isn’t a Tesla follower but it could be significant - see my next post also.

Tesla’s top engineering executive Drew Baglino leaves in massive leadership loss

https://electrek.co/2024/04/15/tesla-top-engineering-executive-drew-baglino-leaves-leadership-loss/

JKenH

Tesla heads are rolling over critical projects at Gigafactory Texas

Baglino was leading many engineering projects at Tesla, including the 4680 battery cell production and the cathode factory at Gigafactory Texas in Austin. Those two projects have seen serious delays.

Sources familiar with the matter have told Electrek that Tesla has also let go of Anthony Thurston, Senior Manager of Cathode Materials & Manufacturing at Tesla, who was reporting to Baglino regarding the cathode factory project.

A person familiar with the project described it to Electrek as “a financial black hole.”

https://electrek.co/2024/04/15/tesla-heads-rolling-critical-projects-gigafactory-texas/

JKenH

Sounding increasingly likely we won’t see the Model 2 anytime soon. Musk denied the Reuters report it had been cancelled but it amounts to the same thing. 

Tesla puts ‘$25,000 electric car’ codenamed NV9 on back burner despite what Elon Musk said

Electrek can confirm that the program, which was internally called ‘NV9’, was postponed, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Musk might take issues with claiming that it is “canceled”, but the project is effectively scratched right now as Tesla is putting all resources into its self-driving effort.

According to sources familiar with the matter, Musk told Tesla’s team in Austin in December 2023 that NV9, an expansion of Gigafactory Texas for the new cheaper next-gen model, was a priority for 2024.

However, the project was recently completely defunded, and many people involved in it were laid off as part of the round of layoffs announced today.

https://electrek.co/2024/04/15/tesla-puts-electric-car-codenamed-nv9-back-burner-despite-elon-musk-said/