Month: January 2021

Tesla Dropped the Mic !!!

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Panoramic roof looking into refresh model S
Image courtesy of Tesla.com

Tesla Dropped the Mic !!! The Model S and X put on a show this week after the earnings call. Tesla.com updated their lineup of Model S and X vehicles with some dramatic flair. 

This was on top of their first profitable year by posting a profit of $575M for Q4 earnings. It is amazing that a company which just a small number of years ago were struggling to be able to meet production of the Model 3 and now going from strength to strength. 

Speculation

The refresh of the Model S and X has been rumoured for a while since the modified Model S achieved some phenomenal lap times at the Nürburgring last year.

At the time the exterior refresh seemed to be the only update with and increase in motors and performance. These exterior changes were subtle as they conformed to the same shape as the original 2012 design. 

Many speculated that any changes to the interior would more than likely align with the Model 3 and Y. 

Some of this speculation certainly hit the mark however there were a number of areas that many had not guessed. 

Model s 2015
Image courtesy of Tesla.com

The Model S is the “flag ship” of the Tesla fleet. It helped to bring the fledgling startup in 2012 into the broader market. Reliability, quality of design and quality of manufacturing gave the Model S exceptional standing at the time of its release. That reputation continues to this day. 

It was imperative that if Tesla were to update any of the Model S’s features it would have to build upon that success, whilst bringing the vehicle almost 8 years old now, into the next decade.

Tesla has not disappointed. Its ability to take the pieces of the Model 3/Y and morph them into the luxury sedan has proven to be a challenge they can meet.

The updated interior of the Model S reflects similar characteristics to the Model3/Y including the display and other standardized functions. They did deviate in the styling by the inclusion of an extra display and a new steering wheel.

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Refresh S and X

Images courtesy of Tesla.com

The Model S and X have had a refresh of the interior as outlined in the images below.

The centre display features a 17” Horizontal orientated display as opposed to the vertical display from older vehicles. The instrument cluster conforms carefully into the new dash. Retaining the aesthetics of the original design.

interior of Model S
Image courtesy of Tesla.com

Yoke steering wheel

One of the best examples where Tesla dropped the Mic is the “YOKE” steering wheel. It appears similar to the one found in the cyber truck. This particular change will have buyers either loving it or hating it. However there has been images of a standard steering wheel being available.

steering yoke
Image courtesy of Tesla.com

A new minimal dash similar to the Model 3/Y and the center console phone charger is also present. 

On the doors there is the same button exit to open the door. This again is a throwback to the Model 3/Y. 

Back seat additions

  • Interior Model S
  • interior of Model X
Images courtesy of Tesla.com ( Model S and X)

Beyond these subtle changes a more significant change has been made to the back seat of the vehicle with the inclusion of a 3rdscreen. This third screen has been indicated to be able to change the environmental setting in the back and also deliver games and movies to the seats in the back.

Whether this is practical is yet to be seen as the location of the screen does appear to be quite low in comparison to the people seating position. Time will tell. Dedicated charging ports have also been included allowing charging of devices.

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Roof

Tesla Dropped the Mic by updating the exterior of the Model S with the inclusion of the panoramic roof. The influence upon the Model S is taken directly from the Model Y, the panoramic roof. Gone is the sunroof and the cross beam that divides the front and back and instead the panoramic roof takes its place. 

Panoramic roof
Image courtesy of Tesla.com

Falcon wing doors

The Model X retains is large windscreen and Falcon wing doors. I would believe that it also retains the Fabergé egg status that Elon alluded to with the last Model X. 

  • Model X
  • Model X frame
Images courtesy of Tesla.com

As for the specs it would seem that both vehicles have had a significant bump in performance and drag coefficient with the plaid models. 

These changes are in combination with exterior changes the most resolved update that Models S and X have had since their unveiling many years ago.

It is something that customers have been asking for many years. It is hoped that these changes will help to drive new customers into the luxury vehicles and deliver greater distribution of the Tesla Brand to new customers. 

Australian Conundrum

Earlier today while scrolling through the conversations of EV’s in Twitter an Australian EV enthusiast highlighted something I had not truly comprehended. They explained that in Australia in 2021 the only vehicle that is available to be delivered is the Model 3. 

As many of you may have seen I have posted a number of times on Twitter to Elon Musk regarding the availability to order the Model Y. Up until the refresh of the Model S and X austrlia had the ability to order Model s/x and 3 and have them delivered within weeks. 

It seems that Australia now has no other option when purchasing a tesla to choose the Model 3 if you wish your vehicles to be delivered in 2021. Currently when ordering a Model S or X the delivery date just says, EST delivery:2022 as shown in the image below.  

Model X interior
Image courtesy of Tesla.com

This would be lessened if the ability to order and have delivered the Model Y to Australia would be enabled. 

I will give Tesla and Elon the benefit of the doubt and suggest they did not realize this oversight. However now that I and others are aware, I hope we can pass this information along so that, at a minimum, Model Y ordering could be enabled with a delivery date before the beginning of 2022. 

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Leading the pack

I still believe that the Tesla brand is leading the pack when it comes to reliable and appealing EV’s and as I have said a number of times before Model Y is built for the Australian consumer.

It’s capabilities and cargo carrying ability aligns with the current feelings of SUV in Australia. SUV market has been growing exponentially across the world and Australia is no different. 

The rise of the Australian Dollar and the growing acceptance for electric vehicles will only strengthen the uptake of electric vehicles in Australia and the globe which will inevitably help to reduce emissions from vehicles by increasing the purchase of electric vehicles. 

Tesla Dropped the Mic !!! The new refreshed Model S and X will become a sort after commodity. Its interior refresh helps to capitalize on the consistent design choices Tesla is making and will continue to excite buyers with their performance and safety. 

As the world moves towards a renewable future including electric vehicle transport it is encouraging to be part of the story and help to share the passion for EV’s and the impact this will have on the environment around us. 

Dave 

David McCann
David McCann

EV-HQ founder, passionate about sharing the passion for Tesla and Electric Vehicles everywhere.

EV-HQ.com

Tesla Big Year Ahead

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Tesla Logo
Photo by Austin Ramsey on Unsplash

Tesla expectations

Tesla Big Year Ahead, At the close of 2020 Tesla had achieved some incredible objectives. This was whilst some of the most difficult political, environmental, logistical and health related emergencies being experienced in recent history. 

These achievements culminated due to a number of factors. The most important of these is leadership. Tesla has been led by Elon Musk since the very yearly days. At the time he was a reluctant CEO, however he has become one of the world great leaders. He is unconventional, smart, clever and pragmatic when dealing with issues at hand. He also understands that problems that need solving require a team effort and lateral thinking to achieve positive outcomes.  

Over the last number of years Elon has focused solely on the CEO role. Tesla board has bought some stability and clear focus to guide Tesla through the challenges of 2020. Previous challenges, like the Model 3 “Production Hell”, taught Elon and Tesla valuable lessons. These lessons helped to teach Tesla, responsiveness, resilience and adaptability that stands it apart from contemporary car manufacturers. 

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Tesla has had over the years many challenges when dealing with the pressures of growing a business in a highly competitive and hostile environment. With a laser focused on their drive to achieve the impossible. 

2021

As the beginning of 2021 has started, we are about to see the strength that tesla will bring to the table. The years of resilience and trepidation has taught Tesla many life lessons and these lessons are starting to pay dividends. 

Tesla demonstrated this with the delivery and production numbers from Q4 of 2020. With just under 500000 vehicles delivered and just over 500000 produced, Tesla has finally achieved a goal set by Elon Musk almost 6 years prior. This outcome will be the catalyst to move tesla from a fledgling start up to a fully-fledged Global powerhouse in the electric vehicle community. 

These numbers in combination with the finalizing of two new factories in Berlin and Austin respectively, will strengthen Tesla’s car manufacturing capabilities and strengthen their ability to grow and expand. 

Anticipation for refresh

Anticipation has been building for the redesign of the Model S and X. This has not happened for almost a decade. Just shows the caliber of the design in the first place.

The semi-truck will move from concept to production. Along with the cybertruck starting to see production and deliveries before the year is out.

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Energy is Important too!

Of course, Tesla is not just a car company, energy is at the core of the philosophy that Tesla promotes.  Their passion to grow all aspects of their business still continues to be a focus for the board and Elon.

The solar roof and solar panels will continue to grow and be innovated upon. This business will become a pivotal part of Tesla moving into the future as the world continues to pivot towards renewable energy production and storage. 

The creation of the new battery technology with the 4680 cells is a revolution in how energy storage can be developed. This new way of thinking will help to improve the storage density and capabilities of the vehicles but will be essential for the battery storage technologies as well. 

The global shift to renewables of all types has one major hurdle to overcome. The ability to store large useable quantities of energy. Demand driven energy production is one of the major hurdles for renewables yet battery storage may help to reduce this challenge. Tesla Batteries provide a good way of retaining energy that would otherwise got to waste and can be called upon at a moment’s notice. A great example that Tesla champions is the Hornsdale mega battery in South Australia. 

Tesla has been developing battery storage on many scales both for residential and commercial purposes. This arm of the business will see exponential growth over the coming years and offer opportunities that previously were too expensive and unreliable.  

The Big Year

Future road
Photo by Lennon Cheng on Unsplash

To say that Tesla is planning for a big year might just be the tip of the iceberg. They never rest on their ideas and never stop innovating. 

The marketplace for electric vehicles is slowly starting to grow and become more than it ever has before s the world continues its transition to electrification and renewable energy. 

Tesla has been instrumental in their ability to see what the marketplace needs and to move in that direction. They have had challenges along the way but at no time have they or Elon ever faulted from their mission of transitioning the world to sustainable transport and energy. 

Dave 

Confirmed Chinese Model 3 coming to Australia!!!!!

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Tesla.com
Image courtesy of Tesla.com

Confirmed

Confirmed Chinese Model 3 coming to Australia 2021……Tesla silently updates Australian Tesla website

It has been a while since I looked at the Australian Tesla store. Last night someone posted that the shop link was down. I went to have a look and found the same thing. 

Today I thought I would look again. The shop seems to be back up, so I did what I always do and look at the ordering of a Tesla Model 3 and dream about the car I want. 

BUT…….. What I found blew my mind 

I found something I never thought I would see.

Chinese Model 3 seems to be confirmed to coming to Australia.

Configurator changes

Tesla.com
Image courtesy of Tesla.com

Recently images appeared of a new china model 3 for the Chinese market. The door had enhanced wrap around dash colours and features. The Tesla Configurator has been updated to show these same changes.

China-made Tesla Model 3 in RHD and Model Y spotted

Wheels

To the rest of the international community these changes have been available for a long time but here in Australia we seem to have delays in getting some of the better features. 

The wheels for the Standard range have always been the hubcap aero wheels. Now it seems it is possible to select the sports wheels as an alternative.

New wheels selection
Image courtesy of Tesla.com

These were previously exclusively for the Long range. This subtle change was exciting and certainly sparked my interest to see what other changes may come. This change provides more variety for the purchases to modify the car to their liking. 

Tesla.com
Image courtesy of Tesla.com

Moving to the interior there now is a choice of black and white for the interior. Again this choice has always been for the performance model in Australia and no other variant. It now seems this is across all models. This change will delight those that have been looking forward to the changes. It allows greater variety and choice. 

tesla.com
Image courtesy of Tesla.com

Chinese design

Whilst the changes to the wheels and colour choice of the interior is significant the most significant change is also the most subtle. In the images of the interior the new Chinese door changes can be seen. This would indicate that the Australian market is about to receive Chinese made model 3’s.

Tesla.com
Image courtesy of Tesla.com

This would also mean that the possibility of the LFP battery configuration is also coming to Australia.

Tesla’s China-made Model 3 battery charges slower and has shorter lifespan, say reports

Currently the price for the model 3 is still around that $70000 dollar mark but one might think that due to the delivery coming from China and the fact of proximity and Chinese trade deals with Australia, we may see a possible change to prices in the coming months.

The new interior combined with the recent reports of a lot of model 3 Right hand drive model 3 being produced at Shanghai Gigafactory gives a strong argument that the Australian market is about to get an influx of Chinese made model 3. 

If this is the next step, this will have significant impacts upon the uptake of Tesla and Electric vehicles to Australia in a positive direction.  

I am hopeful that this discovery of Chinese MOdel 3 coming to Australia will have far reaching impacts to the uptake of Electric vehicles.

Dave

David McCann
David McCann

EV-HQ founder, passionate about sharing the passion for Tesla and Electric Vehicles everywhere.

EV-HQ.com
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2021 the year of the Electric Vehicle

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If you are buying a Tesla Use a referral code, Andrew the optometrist referral link – https://ts.la/andrew53106

Tesla, Rivian, NIO, ACE, and hundreds more car companies are hoping that 2021 will be the year of the electric vehicle(EV). 

The EV movement has continued to grow in strength globally in recent history. Unfortunately 2020 changed a number of plans.

The pandemic became the leading story and focus in 2020. Plans were postponed.

Vaccines are becoming more prevalent which is improving the community confidence. This in turn is growing confidence in the EV marketplace. 

Electrification was subject to much discussion over the last 10 years.

Taking a view that shifting towards electric vehicles is considered the solution to improving the environment.

Introducing Electric vehicles to the marketplace has taken on new life recently with many established car manufacturers starting to shift their fleet towards an all-electric lineup.

Nissan, Mercedes, GM and many more have all started to unveil a plan to transition to electric in the coming years. 

Nissan Electric vehicle
Image courtesy of Nissan.com

Transitioning would not have been possible had it not been for the pioneers of the electric vehicles.

Since the invention of the electric motor, notably attributed to the inventor Nikola Tesla, to the modern-day technological advancements of autonomous driving, the electric car is offering very compelling reasons to transition away from the ICE vehicles of the last century. 

Since the beginning of 2021 a number of Electric car manufacturers have been given confidence that 2021 will be a year to remember. 

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Tesla

The end of 2020 was a race for Tesla to deliver a record-breaking delivery/production of Tesla vehicles in one Year. Elon musk himself in 2014 predicted that Tesla would manufacture 500000 vehicles by 2020. This prediction was right on point. 

Tesla had an encouraging year with Production of 509,737 vehicles from their factories in Fremont California and Shanghai, China. This production rate is quite impressive considering that both factories has to shut their doors and manufacturing for a number of weeks in the earlier part of 2020 due to the pandemic. 

What is even more significant about these numbers is the evidence that Elon Musk prophesized 6 years ago that 500,000 was possible. 499,550 deliveries for 2020. 

The response to these figures along with the acceptance to the S&P 500 has seen the Share price in the beginning of 2021 surge close to 5% and the share price is currently at $880.02 (USD) a share.

The market is now realizing that the electric vehicles market will grow into the future and become the dominant vehicles sales leading into the next decade. 

Rivian

Rivian has been an exciting company to follow and understand. After spending 10 years in stealth mode developing their new platform of off roading vehicles, they revealed to the world just a few short years ago 2 compelling and exciting vehicles, the R1T, and R1S. 

Recently, Rivian worked with Ewan McGregor and Charlie Borman’s Long way Up as part of an epic road journey. This journey sent them on a 12000 miles journey from the tip of south America to the Las Angeles home. 

As the support vehicles they selected the Rivian R1T to be their vehicle of choice. Rivian’s vehicles became the first two ever built and they were a test bed for the vehicles to perform. Perform they did. Not only did they make the journey, but they also helped to develop their technology further and show the real capabilities of what the years of development have led too. 

2021, for Rivian, will be a year of growth and deliveries. R.J. Scavenger the CEO of Rivian, and the whole team at Rivian should be proud of what they have done and what the future holds. 

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NIO

NIO released details of another vehicles that will help to compete in the marketplace both in China but also globally.

This introduction of the new ET7 will be their first step towards the Sedan market. This will be a direct competitor with eh model 3 that Tesla produces. 

Up till now has been focused on the sports car and SUV market. Their development of Battery swap technology and autonomous driving gives them an established footprint to grow their customers and market value. 

They have demonstrated one thing above all, you need to compete with, or better than, your competitors. The introduction of the ET7 may just be the vehicle to do that. 

Here in Australia we have not been as prolific with our uptake of electric vehicles. This is due to a number of challenges including lack of understanding the shift to the global transition of electrification.

Federal government lack luster attempt to support the economy with propping up the Gas, Coal and Oil industries to the tune of Billions a year whilst missing the opportunities that electric vehicles and renewables could offer the Australian economy. 

However, Australia has some bright lights in this shadow. 

ACE EV 

ACE EV is an Australian electric vehicle company. They continue to take strides to develop and grow the uptake of electric vehicles.

They have shown how passionate they are about their products. This will help drive the uptake and transition to the electric vehicles market. 

They has been developing a lightweight, compact vehicles. Their focus is on last mile delivery vehicles and is looking to the consumer market in the coming years. 

Australian ingenuity and innovation is driving the industry. It is hoped that it will drive further innovation and growth in this marker. 

These 4 car companies and the hundreds more that exists with their innovative thinking and passion towards improving the environment, hoping to develop and introduce safer and autonomous driving experiences demonstrate that 2021 just might be the year of the electric vehicle. 

The excitement that has occurred in late 2020 and is now starting to ramp up in 2021 only encourages me to think that this year will be transformative and will be the year that history looks back on saying how amazing it would have been to see this transition in person. 

Dave 

Happy New Year 2021 – It’s been a while

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Happy new Year plaque
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Happy New Year 2021 – It’s been a while since I last wrote a blog. I have been taking some time over the holidays to refresh and reboot. Spend time with family, laugh, smile, and just be me. 

2020 was a year of ups and downs, lefts and rights and just downright weird. 

Looking forward

But that is behind us now and we need to look towards a new year and a fresh start. I have always liked the beginning of a year. A way to swipe the slate clean and start fresh with new inspirations and time to reflect and look towards what might be.

I have spent some time looking at what EV-HQ will deliver for my followers on Twitter and what I am hoping to achieve for the next 12 months. 

I am excited about the prospects of what I have planned, and I hope you too will enjoy the evolution of EV-HQ into 2021. 

The blog has been my main source of inspiration during the last couple of years. Being able to share my thoughts about Electric vehicles. I hope I have kept most people informed and also helped to inspire debate. I have also felt that there is more that I can provide.

2021 will be a year of creation. A year where I can grow and expand the EV universe, especially here in Australia, so that all can see the potential that is possible when you put your mind and passion into one focus. 

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Manufacturers of the Future

Typewriter
Photo by Florian Klauer on Unsplash

Starting in February EV-HQ will be starting my new concept for 2021 – “The Manufacturers of the future.”

This will be an in-depth look at the new and evolving car manufacturers that will ultimately drive electrification forward and challenge the status quo. 

I have a large list so this will be fun and take some time to develop so I hope you will enjoy the new Blog series on top of my usual weekly blog. 

It’s time to take EV-HQ.com to the next level as well so I will be working on growing the website to be more functional, intuitive, and easier to navigate. It will be a subtle transition at first but keep your eyes out and let me know what you think.

2021 I hope will help more people understand the benefits that electric vehicles can provide. How they can be beneficial not just to your driving but to the environment and the health of your loved ones. 

Happy New Year 2021 – It’s been a while. 2021 is the year that we take back control of what we truly are passionate about and how we can move the world forward to a cleaner, safer, and healthier world around us. 

Dave 

David McCann
David McCann

EV-HQ founder, passionate about sharing the passion for Tesla and Electric Vehicles everywhere.

EV-HQ.com

If you are buying a Tesla Use a referral code, Andrew the optometrist referral link – https://ts.la/andrew53106