From Tesla and Rivian to Ford and GM: Take a look at the electric trucks automakers are planning – CNBC

From electric car startups to the old-school Detroit auto giants, the automotive industry is gearing up for a battle royale as companies race to deliver the first all-electric pickup truck to the mass market.

The best-selling vehicle in the U.S. is a pickup truck (Ford's F-150). Meanwhile, electric vehicle sales have been steadily rising for years, with some analysts expecting those numbers to jump by nearly 40% globally in 2021, topping 3 million electric vehicles sold around the world.

So, it was just a matter of time before automakers began flooding the market with electric trucks.

On Monday after selling out reservations for its first set of R1T pickups Rivian opened another round of pre-orders. Elon Musk and Tesla generated buzz with the wild (and smashing) unveiling of the Tesla Cybertruck in November 2019. And, Ford has also said the electric version of its best-selling F-150 will finally be available in 2022.

Here's a look at some of the most anticipated electric pickups set to hit the market over the next few years.

Rivian is a startup that's looking to take down major players in the electric vehicle market. The Irvine, California-based electric automaker has raised roughly $6 billion from investors that include the likes of Amazon and Ford (which is partnering with Rivian on electric battery technology). Amazon has ordered 100,000 Rivian electric delivery vans, and the e-commerce giant plans to start deploying the vehicles in 2022.

Rivian R1T electric truck

Source: Rivian

Meanwhile, the Rivian R1T could be the first electric pickup to hit the market when it's expected to arrive in early- to mid-2021. The pickup will have a base price of $69,000 and a top speed of 125 miles per hour (like the Hummer EV, it will also go from zero to 60 MPH in 3 seconds). The truck will also come with three different battery options, offering a low-end range of 240 miles per charge and a high-end range of more than 400 miles.

Rivian said recently that the company had sold out its reservations for the first set of R1T pickups to be delivered in 2021 (customers who pre-ordered the trucks had to plunk down a $1,000 deposit), though the company hasn't revealed how many pre-orders its received in total. For Rivian's current round of pre-orders for pickups, customers can customize their trucks by color and battery size (and can even add a pull-out camping kitchen for $5,000). But those pickups likely won't be delivered at least the beginning of 2022 due to limited production capacity, the company recently told Bloomberg.

Ford's F-150 pickup truck has been the best-selling vehicle in America for nearly four decades (the company's F-series trucks sold nearly 900,000 vehicles in 2019), so it's no surprise that the truck's electric version is highly anticipated. The company has already unveiled plans for electric versions of other Ford vehicles, including the iconic Mustang sports car and an electric transit van.

Set to hit the market in the middle of 2022, Ford has promised that the electric F-150 will be "a very fun truck" to drive and that it will feature dual electric motors and a large front trunk with hundreds of pounds of storage capacity. The company also boasted about the electric truck's power in 2019 by tweeting a video of an electric F-150 prototype towing a payload of double-decker rail cars containing 42 pickups weighing a total of 1.25 million pounds.

Ford has not yet revealed the full extent of the electric F-150's specs, or how much the electric pickup will cost.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveils the Cybertruck at the TeslaDesign Studio in Hawthorne, Calif. The cracked window glass occurred during a demonstration on the strength of the glass.

Robert Hanashiro | USA TODAY | Reuters

Musk unveiled the much-anticipated Cybertruck (with a futuristic design inspired by two films: "Blade Runner" and "The Spy Who Loved Me") a year ago at a press event that also saw him accidentally shatter two of the electric truck prototype's supposedly unbreakable windows with a steel ball.

The Cybertruck has a starting price of $39,900 for a single-motor version of the pickup and is expected to begin production in late-2021. The single-motor Cybertruck will have a range of 250 miles per charge, while a more expensive three-motor version (expected to begin production in 2022) will have a range of 500 miles.

Not looking to get left behind in the battle to dominate the electric vehicle market, General Motors said this month that it plans to spend $27 billion on all-electric and autonomous vehicles through 2025. In October, GM unveiled a prototype for an electric Hummer, which the company described as "the world's first supertruck."

Expected to begin production at the end of 2021, the GMC Hummer EV pickup will start at $112,595 and will have a top range of 350 miles per charge, as well as the ability to accelerate from zero to 60 MPH in just 3 seconds, according to the company.

2022 GMC Hummer EV sport utility truck "Edition 1"

GM

Meanwhile, GM also recently confirmed that the company's Chevrolet brand will produce an electric pickup truck to compete with rivals like Ford and other electric pickups. While full details are not yet known, the company announced plans this summer to produce an electric pickup, called the Chevrolet BET Truck, that will get more than 400 miles of range per charge.

GM had also considered an investment in Rivian, but that partnership fell through when GM wanted exclusive rights to the startup's technology, CNBC previously reported.

Other competitors in the electric pickup market expected to launch in the coming years include Ohio-based Lordstown Motors, which plans to begin delivering its all-electric Endurance pickup by September 2021. The pickup has a starting price of $52,500, a range of more than 250 miles and an engine with 600 horsepower.

Michigan-based startup Bollinger Motors also plans to release its all-electric B2 pickup in 2021, with a starting price around $125,000 and a roughly 200-mile range on 614 horsepower.

Nikola Motor Company Badger pickup truck

Source: Nikola Motor Company

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From Tesla and Rivian to Ford and GM: Take a look at the electric trucks automakers are planning - CNBC

Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Amazon, Tesla, AstraZeneca, Carnival & more – CNBC

An Amazon.com Inc worker prepares an order in which the buyer asked for an item to be gift wrapped at a fulfillment center in Shakopee, Minnesota, U.S., November 12, 2020.

Amazon.com Inc | Reuters

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.

Moderna The drugmaker's stock jumped 11% after AstraZeneca's CEO said the company would run another trial on its coronavirus vaccine candidate amid questions over the drug's effectiveness. Pizer and BioNTech, which are also working on their own vaccine, gained 1.7% and 3.1%, respectively.

Lowe's, Home Depot, Gap Shares of retailers rose due to investor optimism around shopping for the Black Friday holiday. Shares of Lowe's rose about 1% and Home Depot ticked about 0.5% higher. Gap, TJX Companies, Dick's Sporting Goods, Etsy and toymaker Hasbro all rose on Friday in midday trading.

Amazon Shares of Amazon gained about 0.9% as investors cheer what is expected to be a strong holiday shopping season for the e-commerce giant. Wall Street firm Truist estimated that Amazon will claim 42 cents of every dollar spent during the full year-end shopping season as the pandemic forces many Americans to shop online.

Tesla Shares of Tesla jumped more than 3%, bringing its weekly gains to more than 21% and its rally this year to 600%. The stock has been on a tear after it was selected for inclusion in the S&P 500 benchmark. The electric car-maker, which is worth more than $560 billion, could end Friday with a larger market cap than Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway.

AstraZeneca The biopharmaceutical stock slipped 0.7% after AstraZeneca's CEO told Bloomberg News that the company would run another phase-three trial for its Covid-19 vaccine candidate. A dosing error in the first trial resulted in patients receiving a smaller amount of the vaccine, though that appeared to be more effective than the full dosage.

Carnival, MGM Resorts, Delta Air Lines Shares of stocks that hinge on the economy reopening rose amid a week of positive vaccine developments. Carnival rose more than 2.5% and Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean gained 2% and 1%, respectively. Casinos stock MGM Resorts popped 2.7% and Wynn Resorts rose more than 2%. Delta Air Lines and United Airlines rose about 1% a piece, with American Airlines gaining over 2%.

Mesa Air Group Shares of the regional airline popped nearly 3% following news that billionaire investor Ron Burkle owns a 7.8% stake in the company, an SEC filing showed. The stock is down nearly 30% in 2020 as the pandemic hit air travel.

CNBC's Maggie Fitzgerald, Jesse Pound and Fred Imbert contributed reporting.

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Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Amazon, Tesla, AstraZeneca, Carnival & more - CNBC

Tesla’s wild rise and European plan – Axios

Data: FactSet; Chart: Axios Visuals

Tesla's market capitalization blew past $500 billion for the first time Tuesday.

Why it matters: It's just a number, but kind of a wild one. Consider, via CNN: "Tesla is now worth more than the combined market value of most of the world's major automakers: Toyota, Volkswagen, GM, Ford, Fiat Chrysler and its merger partner PSA Group."

What's new: Tuesday also brought some more nuts and bolts Tesla news. CEO Elon Musk said they're planning a small car for European markets to be built at its upcoming German factory, per Bloomberg.

The big picture: Stocks move around for all kinds of reasons, but it's safe to say that investors see lots of growth potential for Tesla and EVs in general, particularly with tailwinds from Joe Biden's win.

Between the lines: Tesla's market stature is also benefitting from its upcoming arrival in the S&P 500. Business Insider looks at what's in store...

Of note: Tesla is not alone. The share price of several public EV companies have been rising, and a whole bunch of others are about to go public.

What we're watching: How much Biden boosts U.S. deployment beyond the existing trajectory.

The intrigue: Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, in a note and email exchange, said GOP lawmakers could be on board with some kind of new EV incentives.

The bottom line: Overall, he sees lots of coming demand.

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Tesla's wild rise and European plan - Axios

Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Tesla, Dollar Tree, Carnival, Best Buy and more – CNBC

A salesman carries a Best Buy shopping basket in San Francisco, California.

Getty Images

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.

American Airlines, United Airlines, Carnival Airlines and cruise stocks surged on Tuesday as stocks tied to an economic recovery continued to rise after a series of positive vaccine announcements. Shares of American and United both jumped more than 9%, while Carnival led the way for cruise stocks with an 11.3% gain.

Tesla Shares of the electric vehicle company jumped 6.4% to hit a record high as investors continue to favor the stock. The move pushed Tesla's market cap above $500 billion for the first time on record. Shares have gained more than 550% this year.

Best Buy Shares of Best Buy dropped 7% after the retailer sounded alarms on the headwinds from higher shipping costs, inventory challenges and lower-margin holiday sales. Best Buy also declined to provide guidance for the fourth quarter due to the uncertainties from the pandemic. The company reported better-than-expected earnings amid strong online sales in the third quarter.

Dollar Tree Shares of the discount retailer jumped 14.1% on the back of quarterly results that beat analyst expectations. Dollar Tree reported third-quarter earnings of $1.39 per share on revenue of $6.18 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet expected a profit of $1.15 per share on revenue of $6.13 billion. Same-store sales for the company increased by 5.1% on a year-over-year basis, topping a forecast of 4.7%.

Hormel Foods Shares of the food company lost 5.6% after missing on the top and bottom lines of its quarterly results. Hormel reported earnings of 43 cents per share on revenue of $2.42 billion. Analysts expected earnings of 44 cents on revenue of $2.59 billion, according to Refinitiv.

Abercrombie & Fitch Abercrombie shares fell 1.2% after the company announced an early exit from four of its European flagship locations. The company said the move was part of its plan of "repositioning from larger format, tourist-dependent flagship locations to smaller, omni-enabled stores that cater to local customers."

Ambarella The semiconductor stock jumped 15.3% after Ambarella beat Wall Street expectations in its third quarter report. The company reported 9 cents in adjusted earnings per share and $56.1 million in revenue. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were looking for 5 cents per share and $54.1 million in revenue. Fourth quarter guidance was also above expectations.

Medtronic Shares of Medtronic popped 2.8% following its better-than-expected earnings. The medical technology company reported earnings of $1.02 per share, topping estimates of 80 cents per share, according to Refinitiv. Revenue came in at $7.65 billion, higher than the forecast $7.1 billion.

Urban Outfitters Shares of Urban Outfitters fell 4.8% despite its quarterly results that exceeded analysts' expectations. The apparel retailer reported quarterly earnings of 78 cents per share, beating the 45 cent consensus estimate, according to Refinitiv. Its revenue also came in above forecasts.

with reporting from Pippa Stevens, Yun Li and Jesse Pound.

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Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Tesla, Dollar Tree, Carnival, Best Buy and more - CNBC

Tesla, Inc. | History, Cars, Elon Musk, & Facts | Britannica

Tesla, Inc., formerly (200317) Tesla Motors, American electric-automobile manufacturer. It was founded in 2003 by American entrepreneurs Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning and was named after Serbian American inventor Nikola Tesla.

Tesla Motors was formed to develop an electric sports car. Eberhard was Teslas chief executive officer (CEO) and Tarpenning its chief financial officer (CFO). Funding for the company was obtained from a variety of sources, most notably PayPal cofounder Elon Musk, who contributed more than $30 million to the new venture and served as chairman of the company, beginning in 2004.

In 2008 Tesla Motors released its first car, the completely electric Roadster. In company tests, it achieved 245 miles (394 km) on a single charge, a range unprecedented for a production electric car. Additional tests showed that its performance was comparable to that of many gasoline-powered sports cars: the Roadster could accelerate from 0 to 60 miles (96 km) per hour in less than 4 seconds and could reach a top speed of 125 miles (200 km) per hour. The lightweight car body was made of carbon fibre. The Roadster produced no tailpipe emissions, as it did not use an internal-combustion engine. Tesla Motors found that the car attained efficiency ratings that were equivalent to a gasoline mileage of 135 miles per gallon (57 km per litre). The vehicles electric motor was powered by lithium-ion cellsoften used in laptop-computer batteriesthat could be recharged from a standard electric outlet. Despite a federal tax credit of $7,500 for purchasing an electric vehicle, the Roadsters cost of $109,000 made it a luxury item.

In late 2007 Eberhard resigned as CEO and president of technology and joined the advisory board of the company. It was announced in 2008 that he had left the company, though he remained a shareholder. Tarpenning, who was also vice president of electrical engineering, supervising the development of electronic and software systems for the Roadster, also left the company in 2008. Musk took over as CEO. In 2010 Teslas initial public offering raised some $226 million.

In 2012 Tesla stopped production of the Roadster to concentrate on its new Model S sedan, which was acclaimed by automotive critics for its performance and design. It came with three different battery options, which gave estimated ranges of 235 or 300 miles (379 or 483 km). The battery option with the highest performance gave an acceleration of 0 to 60 miles (96 km) per hour in slightly over 4 seconds and a top speed of 130 miles (209 km) per hour. Unlike the Roadster, which carried its batteries at the front of the car, the Model S had its underneath the floor, which gave extra storage space in front and improved handling because of its low centre of gravity. The Tesla Autopilot, a form of semiautonomous driving, was made available in 2014 on the Model S (and later on other models).

Beginning in 2012, Tesla built stations called Superchargers in the United States and Europe designed for charging batteries quickly and at no extra cost to Tesla owners. Later versions of those stations were called Tesla Stations and also had the capability of complete replacement of the Model S battery pack.

Tesla released the Model X, a crossover vehicle (i.e., a vehicle with features of a sport-utility vehicle but built on a car chassis), in 2015. The Model X had a maximum battery range of 295 miles (475 km) and seating for up to seven. Because of demand for a more inexpensive vehicle, the Model 3, a four-door sedan with a range of 220 miles (354 km) and a price of $35,000, began production in 2017.

The company also branched out into solar energy products. A line of batteries to store electric power from solar energy for use in homes and businesses was unveiled in 2015. Tesla bought the solar panel company SolarCity in 2016. In 2017 the company changed its name to Tesla, Inc., to reflect that it no longer sold just cars.

The following year Musk made a series of tweets about taking Tesla private, claiming that he had secured funding. In September 2018 the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged him with securities fraud, alleging that his tweets were false and misleading. Later that month Teslas board rejected a proposed settlement from the SEC, reportedly after Musk threatened to resign. However, news of the rejected deal sent Teslas stock plummeting, and the board quickly accepted a less generous settlement, the terms of which included Musk stepping down as chairman for at least three years. However, he was allowed to remain as CEO. In addition, both Tesla and Musk were fined $20 million.

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Tesla, Inc. | History, Cars, Elon Musk, & Facts | Britannica

Tesla stock to rally another 20% as investors bet on Musk, trader says – CNBC

Soon-to-be S&P 500 stock Tesla has rallied nearly 500% this year.

Its run is not yet over, according to Todd Gordon, founder of TradingAnalysis.com. While the stock may now look expensive, he says the market is pricing in explosive growth for the company and the opportunity for more gains.

"If you look at the forward earnings, we're trading 100 times next year's earnings and granted, that's a lot. Trust me, I understand. But I think what people are missing. I think the pricing mechanism of the market is becoming more efficient. It's hard to put a fundamental valuation and justify what's happening on Tesla now because markets are getting smarter and they're pricing the CEO and the visions of the CEO," Gordon told CNBC's "Trading Nation" on Thursday.

Investors are betting on Tesla's innovations with electric vehicles and CEO Elon Musk's private space exploration company SpaceX, Gordon added. He predicts that SpaceX's satellite coverage and the expansion of 5G could lay way to Tesla's domination of the driverless car market. Proof is in the charts, he said the last two SpaceX launches unleashed gains for Tesla stock.

Gordon's most recent bet on Tesla paid off. He bought the 450 call with Nov. 20 expiration and sold the 500 call in early October, an options spread that netted him $2,600.

Now, Gordon is buying the 550 call and selling the 600 call spread with Jan. 15 expiration, costing $1,300 to potentially make $3,700. A move to $600 implies 20% upside the stock was trading just below $500 on Friday.

Disclosure: Gordon holds Tesla stock outright in his portfolio.

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Tesla stock to rally another 20% as investors bet on Musk, trader says - CNBC

TSLA – Tesla Inc Stock quote – CNNMoney.com

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: 2019 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc.2019. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2019 and/or its affiliates.

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Consumer Reports is no longer recommending Tesla’s Model S and is panning the reliability of the new Model Y – CNBC

Brand new Tesla Model S cars sit on front of a Tesla showroom on August 2, 2017 in Corte Madera, California. Tesla will report second-quarter earnings today after the closing bell.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Consumer Reports is no longer recommending Tesla's Model S and is panning the reliability of the new Model Y.

The Consumer Reports' annual Auto Reliability Survey, released Thursday, also dropped a Toyotabrandfrom No. 1 for the first timein 15 years, although the Japaneseautomaker's vehicles maintained high reliability scores overall.

Tesla's Model S had problems with its air suspension and main computer and touchscreen controls, according to Jake Fisher, senior director of auto testing at Consumer Reports. The Model Y had body hardware and paint problems, he said.

Consumer Reports in 2015 ranked the Model S as its top-rated vehicle ever. Now, Fisher said, "We see a variety of problems on that car. It's wavered throughout its life cycle" as Tesla has consistently updated the Model S, which was introduced in 2012.

Typically older models fare better in reliability as companies tend to address problems as the vehicles age, but Tesla has continued to update the cars without much change to their exteriors, including over-the-air, or remote, software updates an emerging trend in the auto industry led by Tesla.

Overall, Tesla ranked second to last in the reliability study. It was down two spots from a year ago due to the issues identified in the Model S and the Model Y, which went on sale earlier this year. The Model Y has "well below average reliability," the publication said.

In a recent, widely reported incident, the glass roof flew off of one owner's brand new Tesla Model Y.

Tesla Model S dual motor all electric sedan on display at Brussels Expo on January 9, 2020 in Brussels, Belgium.

Sjoerd van der Wal | Getty Images

Many of the problems identified by Consumer Reports have been ongoing for Tesla. The company notified owners of older Model S and Model X vehicles that Tesla will some refunds for repairs if the owner previously had to pay out of pocket to fix a problem in their main computers. That problem manifested as a blank touchscreen, and drivers losing access to temperature controls, rear view cameras and other glitches. It was related to memory-device failures in the computer that stores data from the vehicle.

After Tesla sent that notice to owners, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration expanded a safety probe into the issues with the main computers in Model S and Model X vehicles made from 2012 to early 2018. Depending on results of the engineering analysis, the federal probe could prompt a mandatory recall that goes beyond Tesla's warranty adjustment. According to NHTSA documents, approximately 159,000 vehicles may have been effected.

Consumer Reports' Jake Fisher said, "We continue to recommend many reliable EVs such as the Chevrolet Bolt, Nissan Leaf, and Hyundai Kona Electric that have lower operating costs than traditional gas-powered vehicles. The initial problems we are seeing in some of the latest EVs are still covered under warranty and may improve over time. We will continue to monitor the reliability and costs of EVs over the long term as more models hit the market."

Of the 26 brands ranked in the Consumer Reports reliability survey, Japanese automakers fared the best.

For the first time, the Japanese brand Mazda ranked at the top of the nonprofit organization's reliability list. Toyota vehicles ranked second and third. Toyota products had always topped the reliability rankings since the survey began in 2005, Consumer Reports said.

Buick, Honda and Hyundai were No. 4-6 on this year's reliability list. Ford Motor's Lincoln brand, down 11 spots from a year ago, ranked last in the study, behind Tesla.

The survey, which covers the 2000-2020 model years, is based on data collected from owners of more than 300,000 vehicles. The nonprofit then assigns a predicted new-vehicle reliability score to various nameplates based on their amount of reported problems and other measures.

The reliability rating is a key element to Consumer Reports' overall score of a vehicle and whether or not it's "recommended" for consumers. The overall score also includes road-test performance, owner satisfaction survey results, whether a vehicle comes with key safety systems, and results from crash tests, if applicable.

Here are the ratings:

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that this was the first year for the Model Y ranking in the list and the Model S fell in its standing.

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Consumer Reports is no longer recommending Tesla's Model S and is panning the reliability of the new Model Y - CNBC

Tesla is morphing into more than a car maker – Fox Business

New Street Research managing partner Pierre Ferragu provides insight into Teslas profitability, stock and future.

Elon Musk's Teslais way more than just anelectric-car maker,according to Morgan Stanley.

That's why the firm says the stock can continue to climb, building on its 428% advance this year, as it transforms to a software/connected vehicle services provider -- the entry ticket to a much larger business.

To only valueTesla on car sales alone ignores the multiple businesses embedded within the company, and ignores the long term value creation arising from Teslas core strengths, driven by best in class software and ancillary services, wroteanalyst Adam Jonas.

Teslas services business, which includes self-driving, GPS, entertainment options, performance upgrades and more, is expected to grow significantly over the next decade.

Current revenue from services just below $1 billion, or about 1% to 2% of all sales. Jonas believes that business will reach 6% of company sales by 2030, equating to as much as 20% of EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciationand amortization, which is a measure of a company's overall financial performance).

Teslas advantage lies in its scale and cost in EVs which will allow the company to undercut its competition in pricing its products and expand its addressable market, according to Jonas.

New services, which will be distributed to users through software upgrades, have the potential to range from increased self-driving capabilities to upgrade content to insurance.

Jonas believes the boost in services revenue will lift shares by 22% from their current level to $540 per share. His previous target was$360.

Shares could reach $1,068 apiece in a bull case scenario. Jonasalso raised his rating to overweight from equal weight.

To reach his price target, Jonas assigns the following sum-of-the-parts valuations to Teslas businesses.

Shares were higher on Wednesday after theS&P Dow Jones Indices announced on Monday that the shares will be added to the S&P 500 on Dec. 21 as part of the indexs rebalancing.

The company in the three months ended Sept. 30 posted its fifth consecutive quarterly profit, helping pave the way for its inclusion.

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Tesla is joining the S&P 500. What Cramer and five others see ahead for the electric-auto maker – CNBC

Tesla is officially on track to join the S&P 500.

Shares of the electric-auto maker jumped more than 9% in Tuesday trading after S&P Dow Jones Indices announced the company would be added to the major market index, a long-awaited move and a triumph for Tesla bulls.

Some market watchers cheered the validation from a top index provider, while others were laser-focused on how the move could shake up the S&P.

Here's what six of them, including CNBC's Jim Cramer, said of the move:

Dan Ives, managing director at Wedbush Securities, said the electric-vehicle maker's path to profitability just received a vote of confidence:

"I don't view this as a traditional auto company. It's a disruptive technology company on the EV front. And I think that's why if you just look at the numbers, you would not get to a valuation where it is today. ... I think the one thing on this S&P 500 that's important [is] this speaks to profitability. That's why, in our opinion, they got the snub back in early September. So, this is the validation, the feather in the cap for the bulls. But no doubt, right now, [Elon Musk] has the gold touch, of course not just on Tesla but SpaceX."

Joanne Lipman, a distinguished journalism fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study and a CNBC contributor, said Tesla's inclusion spoke volumes to how the market is setting up for the future:

"Just to pull the camera back for a moment, I actually think this is a bigger story than Elon Musk and bigger than Tesla in that what we're really looking at is this confirmation, this declaration, recognition that electric vehicles are our future and that they're finally going mainstream. And you see it with every other automaker that is rushing in to try and compete with Tesla. ... So much of this has to do with the charisma of Elon Musk. ... People are trying to get the next Henry Ford. I actually think a lot about Steve Jobs. I've been around long enough to remember when he left Apple and then came back and a lot of people were scratching their heads about Apple, but the customers who bought those products were just rabid. It was a cult. They loved the charisma of the guy. But I do think that is also the big unknown with Tesla because on the one hand, you've got this charismatic guy with this massive following, but on the other hand, you have to be able to separate the company from the founder and the kind of sometimes crazy things he says. I mean, he just said a couple of weeks ago that they're going to be building 20 million cars a year within a decade. Will they? I mean, that's, like, twice as big, almost, as their largest competitor right now. And ... in March he said that Covid would be down to zero cases in April and, of course, he was just diagnosed with Covid over the weekend. So, that would be kind of the question, of separating the company from the hype and the founder, and how does it do absent that founder."

Cramer, host of CNBC's "Mad Money," said wrapping Tesla into the index effectively might be a challenge for S&P Dow Jones:

"I think they're baffled. I really don't think they know how to handle this. What do you do? You can't have the S&P 500 only have 497 companies, although I have heard people on air sometimes say there are 500 companies in the S&P. Shocker. I don't know what they would do. I mean ... they can't knock out the smalls. It doesn't do anything. When they balance this ... they almost seem to have to make everything smaller."

Aswath Damodaran, a professor of finance at New York University's Stern School of Business sometimes known as the "Dean of Valuation," shared his take on how Tesla's massive market cap would impact the index:

"You can't evade reality, which is when you've got a $400 billion company out there and you call yourself the S&P 500, how long can you hide from not having the company in your index? It was only a matter of time. So, I'm glad it's in there and I think the inclusion in the index by itself is not going to change the game with Tesla. Tesla's always had a story of its own, a life of its own, traders who basically trade based on its future, but I think it is ... about time. I'm glad it's in the index. ... I think that if we think about EV being the market of the future, it's not just Tesla that's going to benefit, to the extent that the other car companies are also making these EVs. You're going to see the market change. What the market seems to be forecasting is in that new market that's out there, Tesla will be the leader, not GM or Ford or Volkswagen. And that's a pretty solid bet at the moment. Whether it pays off in terms of a $400 billion market cap is the big question."

Tiffany McGhee, CEO, partner and co-chief investment officer of institutional client services at Momentum Advisors, saw catalysts on the horizon for Tesla:

"I think its addition to the S&P 500 is very interesting, and I think about what that means for S&P 500 index funds. They're going to have to sell positions to mimic the index. They're going to have to buy Tesla. That whole situation is interesting to me. ... When Tesla makes these really cool announcements, the stock tends to go up. So, I am a long-term investor, but it doesn't mean that I can't get in on little cool things like this."

Ritholtz Wealth Management CEO and co-founder Josh Brown, a regular on CNBC's "Halftime Report," was indifferent on the move as it related to the stock:

"If you're managing money in an index strategy, it's not like the old days where the announcement happens and you have to buy that day. They have time to get into the trade, and they knew that they would have to at some point. So, I wouldn't be surprised if there were some anticipatory trades dating back a couple of months ago when we first thought it was obvious they would have to add the company. So, they punted by a couple of months, the index committee, but ultimately I think everyone knew it was just a matter of time. So, I don't really look at that as a catalyst to want to buy it or sell it."

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Tesla is joining the S&P 500. What Cramer and five others see ahead for the electric-auto maker - CNBC

Here’s How Elon Musk Is ‘Eating The Lunch’ Of Tesla’s Rivals – InsideEVs

This article comes to us courtesy ofEVANNEX, which makes and sells aftermarket Tesla accessories. The opinions expressed therein are not necessarily our own at InsideEVs, nor have we been paid byEVANNEXto publish these articles. We find the company's perspective as an aftermarket supplier of Tesla accessories interesting and are willing to share its content free of charge. Enjoy!

Posted onEVANNEX on November 20, 2020byIqtidar Ali

Honda recentlybecameanother automaker joining Fiat Chrysler in pooling regulatory credits with Tesla in Europe. European regulations now require an average of 95 grams of CO2emissions per kilometer per car that Honda (and many others) have failed to achieve.

In turn, Honda has to pay up. The beneficiary just happens to be Tesla. Tesla, it turns out, doesn't have to worry about this issue because they're an all-electric automaker and can "sell" credits to Honda and traditional automakers.

This unique situation with Honda has opened another revenue stream for Tesla that's potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars stretching over the next few years. The financial details of the Honda-Tesla credits pooling have not been disclosed yet.

That said, Steven Mark Ryan from the YouTube channelSolving The Money Problemestimatesa ballpark figure of $100M+ per year that Tesla can expect from Honda. TheFiat Chrysler deal is far bigger the automaker has contributed $1.2 billion to Teslaprofits this year.

Also, keep in mind, Honda is ceasing the sale of its diesel-powered vehicles in Europe in 2021 as theyannounced last year. This might lower the number of zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) credits Honda needs to buy each year until the automaker reaches its goal of a fully electric lineup in Europe which, by the way, isset for 2025.

And, according to a Honda USApress-releasefrom August, theJapanese autogiant is aiming to reduce its overall fleet CO2emissions to 50% by the year 2050. It further states, "Electrification is one of the critical technologies we are deploying to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

Steve Westly, an early Tesla investor and former board member of the company,toldCNBC: "Tesla is eating their competitors lunch, and theyre making them pay for it. Thats a pretty cool trick."

Above:Tesla shares can go higher if you believe its more than just a car company, says former Tesla board member (YouTube:CNBC).

Eric Rosenbaum reports inCNBC, "Tesla, unlike traditional automakers, risked it all on making and selling EVs. Meanwhile, traditional car companies are required to pay up, by other means, for the choice of delaying their transition to battery electric [vehicles]."

The last thing a company wants to do is pay their competitor to eat their own lunch, said Simon Mui, deputy director of the clean vehicles & fuels group at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "They wont advertise this, but you can bet that every company, whether GM or Toyota or FCA, does not want to pay Tesla.

"All of these automakers are facing similar standards in the other largest markets, like China and Europe... Automakers are finding themselves in make-or-break moment, either shift to innovate or become irrelevant. Thats why we see the success of Tesla in market value, the NRDC analyst said.

These standards are not going down, air pollution is not reduced as a problem and governments will be ratcheting up standards over time, so one or two EV products will not be enough. They will need to have a wholesale portfolio shift in each and every product line, Mui said.

Garrett Nelson a senior equity analyst at CFRA Research does not begrudge Tesla's success in this area. "Other manufacturers dont have the EV sales Tesla has right now,"he explains.

Analysts complain and the bears question the earnings quality because so much is driven by RECs, said CFRAs Nelson. We view the credits market as operating efficiently and it is separate issue from the lack of predictability in forecasting earnings. Tesla takes all the risk and has many other hurdles to overcome and high fixed costs and it is a capital-intensive business with high barriers to entry, he said.

The big boys, the Fords and GMs, these companies are still kind of far from really getting a good high-selling electric vehicle on the market," Benjamin Leard, an environmental economist and fellow at Resources for the Future told CNBC. "They are far behind Tesla introducing popular, affordable electric vehicles... so Tesla and other companies introducing EVs will really be cashing in" for the foreseeable future.

Iflegacy automakers continue to drag their feet, Leard says, They will have to go to Tesla, and say we really need those credits, and that will bid up prices.

===

Written by:Iqtidar Ali. An earlier version of this article was originallypublished onTesla Oracle.Sources:Bloomberg,CNBC

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Here's How Elon Musk Is 'Eating The Lunch' Of Tesla's Rivals - InsideEVs

Tesla gets a spot on the S&P 500 – TechCrunch

Tesla will be added to the S&P 500, a milestone that will expand its investor base and put the electric automakerin the same company as heavyweights like Apple, Berkshire Hathaway and Microsoft.

The announcement, made Monday afternoon by the S&P Dow Jones Indices, sent shares 13.7% higher in after-market trading.Tesla will officially join the benchmark index prior to trading December 21, theS&P Dow Jones Indices said in a statement.

When Tesla joins the S&P 500, it will be among the most valuable companies on the benchmark. Its weighting will be so influential that the S&P DJI is mulling whether to add the stock at the full float-adjusted market capitalization weight all at once or in two tranches.

Tesla will be one of the largest weight additions to the S&P 500 in the last decade, and consequently will generate one of the largest funding trades in S&P 500 history, S&P DJI said in a statement. However, Tesla itself is very liquid, and adding the stock at the upcoming December quarterly rebalancing coincides with the expiration of stock options, stock futures, stock-index options, and stock-index futures, which may help facilitate the funding trade.

Joining the S&P 500 has its benefits, as investors that have index-tracked funds will be forced to buy shares. With share prices already popping, that will mean investors will have to sell other stocks to make room for Tesla. Existing investors may, in turn, want to take advantage of that demand and sell. The upshot: The traditionally volatile stock might get a bit more volatile.

The inclusion on the benchmark follows Teslas decision in August to split its shares 5 for 1.

Original post:

Tesla gets a spot on the S&P 500 - TechCrunch

Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Shopify, L Brands, Tesla, GoPro & more – CNBC

Here are the companies making headlines in midday trading:

Shopify Shares of the e-commerce company advanced 3.8% after Jefferies upgraded the stock to a buy rating. "We have a greater appreciation for SHOP's ability to deliver robust growth for the next several years and reach ~$10B of revenue in 2025," the firm wrote in a note to clients. Shares of Shopify have gained more than 145% this year.

L Brands Shares of the parent company of Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works rallied more than 17% after posting blowout quarterly results. The company reported earnings of $1.13 per share, topping estimates of 9 cents per share, according to Refinitiv. Revenue came in at $3.06 billion, higher than the forecast $2.67 billion. Bath & Body Works same-store sales rose 56%.

Tesla Shares of the electric vehicle company jumped more than 2% amid continued momentum after S&P Dow Jones Indices announced on Monday night that Tesla will join the S&P 500 in December. Earlier in the session Tesla hit a new all-time high of $508.61.

Sonos Shares of Sonos surged more than 29% after the company reported stronger-than-expected results for its fiscal fourth quarter. The company reported 15 cents in earnings per share, while analysts surveyed by FactSet expected 2 cents in earnings per share. Revenue came in at $339.8 million, also topping expectations of $298.7 million. Sonos said that its direct-to-consumer revenue was up 67% year over year.

Nasdaq Shares of stock exchange firm rose 1.7% after Nasdaq announced a deal to acquire Verafin, a software company which specializes in preventing financial crimes. The deal is for $2.75 billion in cash and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021, according to the announcement.

Macy's Shares of department store retailer Macy's rose more than 2% despite reporting a same-store sales decline of more than 20% in the third quarter. Macy's posted earnings and revenue that topped analyst expectations. Macy's reported a loss of 19 cents on revenue of $3.99 billion. Wall Street was expecting a loss of 79 cents on revenue of $3.86 billion, according to Refinitiv.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Shares of the television company climbed 5.9% after Sinclair announced a naming rights deal with sports gambling company Bally's for its regional sports networks. The deal will also involve incorporating Bally's content across Sinclair's channels. Shares of Bally's gained more than 20%.

Jack in the Box The restaurant stock rose 4.8% on Thursday after the company beat Wall Street expectations for its fiscal fourth quarter. Jack in the Box reported $255.4 million in revenue, $6.2 million higher than what analysts surveyed by FactSet expected. The company's operating earnings per share also topped estimates, and Jack in the Box said restaurant traffic improved quarter over quarter.

Nuance Communications The health software stock surged 17% on the heels of a better-than-expected report for Nuance's fiscal fourth quarter. The company earned 18 cents per share and $352.9 million in adjusted revenue. Analysts from FactSet were expecting 16 cents per share and $345.9 million in adjusted revenue. Nuance also announced deal to sell off two of its health tech businesses.

GoPro Shares of the high definition camera maker dropped more than 13% after the company said it is planning to raise $100 million through the sale of senior convertible notes due in 2025. GoPro intends to use the proceeds to pay the cost of the capped call transactions as well as general corporate purposes.

CNBC's Yun Li, Maggie Fitzgerald and Pippa Stevens contributed to this story.

See the article here:

Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Shopify, L Brands, Tesla, GoPro & more - CNBC

A 4bn UK ‘mini Tesla’ choosing to list stock in US is worrying – The Guardian

Right on cue, here comes a 4bn stock market listing of a young and exciting UK electric vehicle company a mini Tesla, if you wish. Its just the thing for ministers to crow about, you might think: evidence that the UK possesses a few fast-growing tech innovators capable of injecting oomph into the governments loose 10-point sketch for a green revolution.

Theres just one drawback. Arrival, with its head office in London and operations in Oxfordshire, will not be arriving on the London Stock Exchange. It is listing in New York on Nasdaq, via injection into one of those special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, that are all the rage on Wall Street this year.

From Arrivals point of view, you can understand why it chose the US. Teslas gravitational pull is strong. The pool of investors wanting to punt on electric vehicle firms is bigger.

And, since Arrival intends to plant its decentralised microfactories around the world, the international profile that comes with a US listing helps. It adds to the backing Arrival has already received from Korean carmakers Hyundai and Kia.

The appeal of the SPAC model is also easy to explain. This is the structure whereby investors put up capital and then look for a target to buy. Critics deride it as blank cheque investing but the acquired companies in this case, Arrival get speed and, potentially, long-term partners.

Arrival likes the look of the financial backers assembled by Peter Cuneo, a former chief executive of the Marvel Comics company. Now a listing, and $660m (500m) of fresh capital, will be achieved in early 2021 without fuss.

One response is to shrug and say that Arrivals choice of stock market home doesnt matter. The company will keep its headquarters in the UK and sustain its research and development budget, currently 80m-100m a year, here. It can play its part in the green push. Whats the problem?

Its this: a vibrant, buzzy stock market for technology companies is a very useful asset if, like the UK, you need vast quantities of private capital to make your green revolution happen. It draws in investors and expertise and makes the process run more smoothly.

Londons stock market already risked looking leaden-footed on the green tech front but the SPAC factor from the US is new. Purists can decry SPACs as a governance abomination (scrutiny is minimal) but well be less relaxed if US investors use the fast and loose approach to shop around the world, including in the UK, for the most interesting tech firms.

SPACs are possible in the UK indeed, theyve been used. But the structure is clunkier. For starters, deals are regarded as reverse takeovers under Financial Conduct Authoritys listing rules, which slows the process. Third-party investors also dont get the same rights of refusal on a proposed acquisition, which lessens the appeal for them.

There is a potential problem here and the UKs financial establishment seems to sense it. When Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, briefly mentioned a taskforce to reform the UK listings regime during his green gilt speech last week, David Schwimmer, chief executive of the London Stock Exchange Group, leaped on the line. Hes keen for swift action to further enhance Londons reputation as a competitive and innovative place to list and raise capital.

You cant blame him. Arrival is only one company but, with a 4.1bn valuation, it would have been a short hop away from the FTSE 100 index if it had a premium listing in London. So much for the prestige of Footsie status. Instead, a US-style SPAC, seen as faddish only a year ago, got the gig. Its a worry.

Stephen Hester, chief executive of RSA, can count it as a successful innings. His shareholders will be happy with a 7.2bn takeover of the ancient insurer by Intact, of Canada, and Tryg, of Denmark the premium is 50%.

He will land a payday of up to 16m for himself on completion. And, since RSA is infinitely less exciting than post-crash Royal Bank of Scotland, his last outing, the popular prints have had fewer occasions to use that picture of him on horseback.

Whatll he do next? Lady Luck normally comes up with a future for you which isnt the one you expected, he said.

OK, but hes been chief executive of three FTSE 100 companies (the other one was British Land) and is still only 59. A fourth outing possibly never done by anyone before must be a possibility.

Read more:

A 4bn UK 'mini Tesla' choosing to list stock in US is worrying - The Guardian

From Hyundai to Tesla and BMW, battery fires turn the heat on electric cars – HT Auto

Electric vehicles (EVs), benefiting globally from a push for tighter emissions controls, are facing challenges after a global string of fires from overheating batteries.

Here are some vehicle recalls and investigations facing major EV makers worldwide.

HYUNDAI MOTOR

After 16 Kona EVs caught fire in Korea, Canada and Europe over two years, Hyundai Motor Co is expanding a recall to cover at least 74,000 of its top-selling EVs in South Korea, the United States, Europe and Canada to update its battery management system.

About 23,000 Kona EVs in South Korea have completed the software upgrade, with 800 of them found to have battery defects requiring replacement of affected modules, according to the office of lawmaker Jang Kyung-tae, which was briefed by South Korea's transport ministry.

Hyundai, in a filing to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in October, blamed "internal damage to certain cells of the lithium-ion battery increasing the risk of an electrical short circuit."

(Also read | Hyundai faces lawsuit over Kona EV fires)

The battery maker, LG Chem Ltd denied any cell defects, saying a joint investigation was under way.

GENERAL MOTORS

General Motors Co said last week it was recalling nearly 69,000 Chevrolet Bolt EVs worldwide that pose a fire risk after five reported fires and two minor injuries. Affected vehicles will get battery software updates, limiting charges to 90% of capacity.

In October, NHTSA opened a probe after reviewing reports of three Bolt EVs catching fire under the rear seat while parked. The probe covers 77,842 Bolt EVs from the 2017 through 2020 model years.

LG Chem is the supplier of the batteries.

FORD MOTOR

In September, Ford Motor Co recalled 20,500 Kuga plug-in hybrid EVs in Europe and suspended sales over battery fire concerns. There had been seven fires but no injuries.

Ford offered to replace the entire battery pack, saying the root cause had been identified as a battery-cell contamination issue in its suppliers production process, which could cause "serious consequences."

The Kuga setbacks forced the automaker to pool its fleet with other automakers to avoid a fine. It also delayed its US production of its plug-in electric Escape SUV, which shares the same batteries, to next year.

Samsung SDI is the battery supplier.

BMW

In the United States, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) said it will recall 4,509 plug-in hybrid EVs, saying debris may have been able to enter battery cells during production at supplier Samsung SDI.

(Also read | Battery fires put BMW and Ford on back foot just as electric vehicles take off)

This could lead to short-circuiting and a "thermal event" which could increase the risk of an injury, BMW said, instructing drivers not to charge their vehicles.

Altogether BMW has recalled some 26,000 plug-in hybrids, mostly in Europe, over the potential battery problems.

A spokesman at Samsung SDI said an investigation is under way about the cause of the fire, declining to elaborate further.

TESLA

NHTSA said last year that it was probing potential defects in certain Tesla Inc Model S and Model X vehicles that could result in non-crash fires in the affected battery packs.

The probe was in response to a petition from an attorney representing plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit filed against the electric car maker last year. They claim Tesla limited the battery range of older vehicles via a software update to avoid a costly recall to fix alleged defective batteries.

Japanese battery manufacturer Panasonic Corp supplies Tesla with battery cells, while Tesla turns them into battery packs.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

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From Hyundai to Tesla and BMW, battery fires turn the heat on electric cars - HT Auto

Audi, BMW, Jaguar, MINI, and Tesla Pickups Rendered – the BMW i3 Is Too Good – autoevolution

Well, if you live in the U.S., you don't really need an answer to that question, because you already know the Ford F-150 has been the best-selling vehicle for the past God knows how many years, and you only need to step outside to notice just how many of the cars around you have a bed at the back.

The rest of the world, however, isn't sold on the idea as much. Pickups are seen as work vehicles. Well, not so much at Lease Fetcher, apparently. The British company with a mission to make leasing a car a much more enjoyable (and profitable) experience decided to give pickups a more recreational spin, using their beds to haul sporting and adventure gear instead of work-related stuff.

Well, maybe not so much their beds as their roof racks since these aren't exactly your ordinary full-size pickup trucks. No, in most cases, quite the opposite. The company commissioned an artist to convert five different premium cars into their fictional pickup equivalents, then place them in a setting that will make you want to get out of the house instantly. Glancing over the images, we'd say the graphics wizz did an excellent job on both accounts.

First up is the Audi TTS Coupe, which was turned into a camping master. With a roof-mounted tent and a trailer behind, the small German sports car becomes a snail impersonator, except this one is pretty schnell. Next is the Jaguar I-PACE, the electric crossover from the British manufacturer. Its pickup version reminds us of the Fiat Fullback for some reason, but it's worth pointing out this is fully electric. The Jag is pictured against the gorgeous backdrop of the Lake District in North West England, carrying a pair of mountain bikes. The fact it's stopped in a turn with nobody inside is a bit worrying, but we'll let that slide.

The third conversion is another electric vehicle (the second out of a total of three), one that most would consider the poster boy of the EV movement: the Tesla Model 3. Funnily enough, there actually is a Model 3-based pickup out there owned by a famous YouTuber and it doesn't look that dissimilar to this rendering.

The fourth is based on a MINI Countryman, with the pickup conversion borrowing the split tailgate of the Clubman. It carries a surfboard on a roof rack with the bed probably reserved for the wetsuits needed for a bathe in the cold waters of the English Channel.

Finally, we have the third EV and our personal favorite: the BMW i3. Who knew the German urban runabout would make such a convincing pickup truck? The conversion keeps the suicide door layout and even the rear seats, though there doesn't appear to be too much room left for them to be of any use. The limited range of the i3 was not enough to keep it from reaching the slopes in the German Alps with a set of skis on top, apparently, though leaving it in the cold with nowhere to plug in might not be such a great idea. Good thing these are just renderings and not actual pictures, then.

Continue reading here:

Audi, BMW, Jaguar, MINI, and Tesla Pickups Rendered - the BMW i3 Is Too Good - autoevolution

1st Tesla Owner To Use Teslas New, Gigantic V3 Supercharger Station In Firebaugh Shares Her Story – CleanTechnica

November 15th, 2020 by Johnna Crider

Tesla just installed a total of 56 of its new V3 superchargers in Firebaugh, California, along Interstate 5, which is the main stretch for West Coast drivers traveling between San Francisco and LA. In a conversation with the Tesla Owners of East Bay account on Twitter, I learned that the Kettleman City supercharger station is around an hour south of the new station and has 40 chargers. Three years ago, it was the biggest Tesla Supercharger station in North America. Teresa Kamakea, one of the members of the Tesla Owners of East Bay, was the very first customer to ever use the brand new supercharger. She told me in an email that both she and her daughter agreed that it was kismet, for sure.

Teresa was thrilled to even run across a V3 supercharger for the first time. Charging at a V3 charger for the first time was like seeing a unicorn to me. I belong to Tesla Owners East Bay, and the club always keeps us up to date on all that is new and exciting in Tesla, so I had been reading a lot of posts about them on our club Facebook page and was hyped up about it. But the first time Id seen a V3 charger was last night at the Kettleman City Supercharger not the new Firebaugh Superchargers.

I stopped there on my way home from helping my elderly father in Southern California. They have clearly labeled all of their 150kW and 250kW chargers and I was freaking excited because I didnt know they had the V3 chargers there they werent there the last time I went through. I got charged to 306 miles on my battery in about 30 minutes while I was walking my dog and then browsing the Tesla gear and using the bathroom myself in the lounge. That was more than enough charge to get me all the way home to Livermore without needing to stop again. That was the first time that Id used the V3 charger.

Teresas story of how she found these new Superchargers seems like something out of a fictitious adventure. Youre running an errand or something and you need to stop for a minute or are suddenly forced to take a detour, and then you find something. Its equivalent to finding a hidden bookstore off to the side in an area you probably wouldnt go in because its never crossed your mind as she said earlier, kismet.

So when I pulled into the brand new Firebaugh location just 60 miles down the road, it was not because I needed a charge. My doggie was acting like she had to go, so I was just pulling off at the first exit that looked safe, Panoche Rd exit. That is when I saw the new Tesla superchargers at Firebaugh, but I didnt know thats what it was. It wasnt on my Supercharger map and I was kinda shocked because in all of my trips Id never seen it before and you cant miss it if youre on 5. I was freakin excited to see from a distance that there were so many chargers and they all had skinny cables!!! Thats how I can tell the V3 from the V2 chargers the size of the cable. Size matters.

I asked Teresa to give me a comparison so we could show how far along Tesla has come with its Supercharging network. Teresas very first Supercharger experience was at the Bakersfield Superchargers. I remember that my screen said it would take 45 minutes to charge enough to get the rest of the way to my dads house in Temecula. That really was not enough time for me to walk my dog, go to the bathroom myself, eat, and visit with the other Tesla owners that I met that were also charging there. I didnt note or calculate how long it took to charge per kW.

She noted that the charging speed has never been a concern, with her pointing out that, obviously, she doesnt want to have to wait hours to charge, but even the older V2 superchargers would still finish charging before she was finished with her break from a long 810 hour drive.

She shared her thoughts about progress with me as well. For me, the progress Ive noticed is in the feel of the supercharger stations. At Bakersfield where I used a Supercharger for the first time, the chargers are a minority on the huge lot in comparison to all of the space that the gas pumps take up. It feels like, well, you can have a little bit of unused space here in the corner of our lot for your chargers. But the Firebaugh Supercharger station like the Kettleman City Supercharger station makes me feel like we belong and we are here to stay.

Ive always thought that if I want to know the exact numbers, it would be easy enough to look that up to calculate the difference and progress from V2 to V3 chargers. For me, the more important progress is in the growth and acceptance of Tesla.

Looking at Teresas photos that she provided for the article, I noticed something. The new V3 supercharger has both a Chevron and a Shell gas station within sight. This is brilliant, and strategic marketing by Tesla. Having a large Supercharging station catty-corner two gas stations off of a major interstate exit should be the norm for Tesla.

Looking at these photos is like seeing the future in front of you while frozen in time. One day, these gas stations will be either closed or converted into something else. As we observe this frozen moment while still in the present, it gives me an incredible sense of awe to be able to note this. One day, we will look back at this article and Teresa will say, I remember when those gas stations were there. Now theres something else.

And that something else will most likely be related to Tesla or electric vehicles.

All photos by Teresa Kamakea used with permission. Featured photo by Teresa and edited by Johnna for artistic effects. The last thing the fossil fuel industry will see before it dies is the red glow of a Tesla Supercharger.

Appreciate CleanTechnicas originality? Consider becoming aCleanTechnica member, supporter, or ambassador or apatron on Patreon.

Sign up for our free daily newsletter or weekly newsletter to never miss a story.

Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.

Tags: California, Firebaugh, Tesla, Tesla supercharger stations, tesla superchargers, Tesla Supercharging, Tesla V3 Supercharging

Johnna Crider is a Baton Rouge artist, gem, and mineral collector, member of the International Gem Society, and a Tesla shareholder who believes in Elon Musk and Tesla. Elon Musk advised her in 2018 to Believe in Good.Tesla is one of many good things to believe in. You can find Johnna on Twitter

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1st Tesla Owner To Use Teslas New, Gigantic V3 Supercharger Station In Firebaugh Shares Her Story - CleanTechnica

Is Leasing a Tesla a Good Deal? What to Know. – Barron’s

Tesla appears to be leasing more of its vehicles. Could that be a risk to the stock? Not likely. In fact, the way used Tesla vehicles trade, leases look like a bad deal for car buyers, but a great deal for Tesla shareholders.

Tesla (ticker: TSLA) no longer discloses the number of vehicles leased anymore. But during the second quarter, leasing revenue grew 29% year over year while overall automotive sales fell 5%.

More leasing isnt necessarily a surprise. Roughly 30% of new cars in the U.S. are leased. Street estimates puts Tesla leasing as a percentage of vehicle sales at less than 20%.

A lease is, effectively, a decision to rent a car for a fixed monthly payment. At the end of the lease term the lesseeor the driverwill turn a vehicle back into the dealership with no more financial obligations remaining, assuming the lessee doesnt overdo it on mileage. That leaves the lessor with the risk of selling the used car. That is why residual valuesor used-car pricesare such a big deal for car buyers, leasing companies, and even auto makers.

More valuable used cars means less annual car depreciation and lower lease payments. Residual values are critical to avoiding losses for leasing companies. And auto makers derive pricing power based on strong used-car values.

If an auto maker is leasing more vehicles, it could mean that car buyers are doing better leasing a car versus buying a car outright. That situation can arise when used-car values assumed in leases are too high. That doesnt appear to be the case with the Tesla. Its used-car values hold up incredibly well. In fact, the residual values embedded in Teslas leases look too low.

That makes leasing a Tesla a lousy deal for car buyers. Its the leasing companyin some cases Tesla itselfwho benefits from Teslas high used-car values, because theyre the one who get to sell a more valuable asset when the initial lease is done.

Consider a midrange 2015 Model S. In the used car market, its priced at about 54% of its original retail price, according to industry data providers Kelly Blue Book and Autotrader. A higher-end Model S is priced at about 46% of its original selling price.

Autotrader and Kelly Blue Book are both owned by Cox Automotive and are have extensive, national databases of both wholesale and retail used car transactions.

Is half of original value after five years good? Its excellent. Cars, roughly speaking, lose up to about 50% to 60% of their value over the first five years of ownership according to data provided to Barrons by Edmunds. But over five years, the average large luxury carsimilar to a Model Sloses around 70% of its value. Tesla is doing better than average and much better than its competition.

For instance, a 2015 BMW 750i priced with options making it roughly equivalent to a 2015 Model S had only about 25% of its original value left. The BMW 750i seems to be doing a little worse than the category average and worse than its stiffest competition.

There are more examples of strong Tesla residual values.

Looking at sport-utility vehicles, a one-year-old 2019 Tesla Model X is valued at roughly 90% of its original retail price, according Kelly Blue Book. A 2019 Audi etron is valued at about 80%, depending on mileage. Barrons used the 2019 model year, which was the first model year of Audis electric SUV. The average gasoline-powered, luxury SUV loses between 20% and 30% of its value over its first year of ownership, according to Kelly Blue Book.

Then there is the Tesla Model 3. A 2017 used Model 3 can sell for up to 90% of its original value, according to Cox data provided to Barrons. Thats, frankly, incredible. There has been little depreciation over its first three years of driving. The average midsize luxury car loses half of its value over the same span, according to Cox.

There are a few possible reasons for strong residual value.

Reduced supply is one. The population of three-year-old Model 3s on the road is relatively limited. A brand new Model 3 can still take up to a month to deliver.

There are fuel and maintenance savings to consider as well. Teslas are cheaper to runat least based on gasoline costscompared with traditional, internal combustion vehicles.

Tesla also updates its vehicles with over-the-air software upgrades. Its a little like getting new features on your old iPhone when Apple (AAPL) rolls out an operating system update.

Its all of the above, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives tells Barrons when asked about Teslas used-vehicle prices.

Brand, was the one-word answer from Roth analyst Craig Irwin when Barrons asked him about Teslas residual value strength. Ives agrees with that observation too. The Tesla brand and resale value in secondary markets is another huge value [proposition] for a consumer, added the Wedbush analyst.

Ives answer highlights another issue. Residual value strength benefits vehicle owners. Any car buyer knows the total cost of vehicle ownership is ultimately tied to trade-in value.

But even high residual values could be a risk for Tesla stock if high used-car prices were embedded in current lease contracts. In that scenario, monthly lease rates would be low, stimulating demand for new Tesla vehicles. Then if residual values normalize, Teslas finance unit could be left with cars which have values below implicit guarantees. That isnt much of a risk for Tesla stock these days.

Tesla currently assumes normal vehicle depreciation in its leaseson the order of 50% over the first three years of vehicle existence. Thats consistent with industry peers even though actual residual values are holding up much better than that.

For drivers interested in buying a Tesla and willing to take a little more risk, the Barrons leasing analysis means they would do better to buy the car outright. Selling the car for a high price down the road lowers total cost of ownership.

There are very few negatives for Tesla, or any auto maker, from high residual values. Strong used car pricing is a competitive weapon. Tesla, for instance, could embed higher residual value assumptions in its leases, lowering payments and helping it sell more cars.

Tesla didnt respond to question about its leasing practices.

Tesla stock is up about 290% year to date, far better than comparable returns of the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average as well as returns of automotive peers.

Tesla shares are up 4.8% in midday trading Thursday, Shares are up 19% since the company announced a 5 for 1 stock split on August 11.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

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Is Leasing a Tesla a Good Deal? What to Know. - Barron's

Tesla hints at new car model made in China in new job openings – Electrek.co

Tesla is hinting at working on a new car model made in China with new job openings in the country.

Earlier this year, CEO Elon Musk saidTesla will design an electric car in China for the global market.

In June, Tesla started taking design submissions from the public for the new car. It was the first indication that Tesla was moving forward with the new vehicle program following the CEOs comment back in January.

Now Tesla is posting some new job openings that have to do with car designing in China:

Heres the job listing post that Tesla shared on its official Weibo account in China this week:

All those jobs are related to designing a car locally, hinting at Tesla taking a bigger step toward building a new car program in China.

When first talking about the car, Tesla released this car drawing:

Based on Musks comments, the entire car would be designed and engineered in China, and produced locally, but it will be sold globally.

Earlier this year, Tesla started Model 3 production in China at Gigafactory Shanghai, but the vehicles are only meant to supply the local Chinese demand.

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Tesla hints at new car model made in China in new job openings - Electrek.co

12. A Wrench in Tesla – Business Insider – Business Insider

This year, Tesla's image took a hit. The company fell behind on production targets, reports came out that it may be skipping safety tests and making mistakes on the production line, creating more waste. It didn't help that Elon Musk smoked weed on a podcast, attacked a diver rescuing the Thai soccer team, and got sued by the SEC. At the same time, a guy near Boston taught himself how to bring damaged Teslas back to life, and in doing so, he revealed a lot of the cars' flaws. Now the question is: will Tesla support him or stop him?

Produced by Dan Bobkoff and Amy Pedulla, with Anna Mazarakis and Sarah Wyman.

Read more:

Note: This transcript may contain errors.

DAN BOBKOFF: Linette Lopez is a senior correspondent at Business Insider and she started hearing rumblings about Tesla years ago, but at first she kind of dismissed them.

LINETTE LOPEZ: A lot of my Wall Street sources started getting involved in Tesla around 2014 and that is when they started talking about how the stock was overvalued. That story was never particularly interesting to me, because it seemed clear that the stock was overvalued and that the company never made money. But it didn't seem that any of the shareholders actually cared about that and so that to me was not a particularly interesting story until I was contacted by somebody within the company.

DB: It was spring. Linette was at home when she saw an email.

LL: I was contacted by a guy who worked on the manufacturing line at the gigafactory, which is Tesla's Nevada plant. It makes all the drive units and batteries. His name is Martin Tripp.

DB: He sounded credible, so she called him up.

LL: He basically told me that Tesla wasn't exactly living up to its brand. It was not making sexy cars that saved the world because its manufacturing process was so flawed.

DB: Martin tells Linette that Tesla's factories may not be as good at making things as many thought.

Then, Linette publishes her findings from internal documents showing the factories are generating huge amounts of waste because of flaws in the manufacturing process.

LL: For every car that it made, it would throw away about a third of a car.

DB: Her source alleges that a misprogrammed robot once punctured holes in hundreds of battery packs and then the company repaired them and put them back into cars. Tesla denies this.

Sources said the company kept shutting down the production line to fix problems. That all that scrap from mistakes was costing the company $150 million and hadn't been recycled. Tesla said that cost was an exaggeration. Looking at all this, it started to make sense to Linette why Tesla might be spending so much cash.

LL: Martin Trip's claims made sense to me, and of course they were backed up by internal documents, but they made sense because Tesla's balance sheet had always been out of control. It had always been spending too much money. In fact, the company had only turned a profit in two quarters over the course of its history. So this was kind of the missing piece of the puzzle of why Tesla was just burning so much cash.

DB: Linette continued writing stories about Tesla's manufacturing process. On July 2nd, Business Insider published one, again citing internal documents.

She reported that Elon had ordered Tesla to stop doing a critical brake test on Model 3s as they left the factory. The stock fell.

Two days later, she got a response, but not the kind you'd expect.

LL: I had like six missed calls and my Twitter was going insane and it was because Elon Musk was addressing my reporting, rather aggressively, on Twitter.

DB: Elon Musk Tesla's CEO called her reporting false. He accused her of paying her sources, and being paid by people who wanted to profit from a falling share price.

Then it got nastier and some might say childish.

LL: The weird part was when Musk started tweeting out screenshots from my Facebook page and he was totally trolling.

DB: Elon put up some of her posts from years ago attempting to show she had a close relationship to big investors betting against Tesla's stock. Elon called them "love letters" to sources.

It's a weird time to be Linette. The Elon tweet-storm led to TV interviews like this one on CNBC:

CNBC: I would prefer to talk about the reporting, and it's up to shareholders to decide whether or not the CEO of a $50 million company should spend his time yelling at reporters on Twitter.

DB: It's also a really a weird time to be Elon Musk. It's a weird time to be Tesla. For years, Tesla was held up as the future of transportation: sleek, curvy, efficient electric cars that would leave old car companies like GM and Ford in the dust.

NEWS: Tesla. [applause] The name alone triggers devout worship among some.

DB: And at the same time, Elon Musk was built up as this genius inventor kind of like Alexander Graham Bell, Howard Hughes, and Steve Jobs rolled into one.

NEWS: The South African-born businessman, engineer, inventor, real life Iron Man, and probably savior of the human race...

DB: Musk was introducing cheaper Teslas for the masses at the same time he was launching rockets into space.

SPACEX ARCHIVAL: SpaceX and Tesla. You would be hard pressed to find two companies that are more popular today. And yet, in the not too distant past, both companies were basically unknown, and were in fact simultaneously on the verge of bankruptcy.

DB: Touting new solar panels for roofs.

ARCHIVAL: The interesting thing is the houses you see around you are all solar houses.

DB: And dreaming of new forms of transportation like the Hyperloop, which would move people on pods through a tube that works kind of like an air hockey table. Tesla and Elon could do no wrong they embodied the future. Until this year.

NEWS: Tesla is defending its safety standards after one model felt short of the highest rating in a major crash test study.

DB: The Tesla narrative changed. And some of Elon's other projects stalled.

NEWS: Tesla's been accepting $1000 deposits for the roof tiles since May 2017, by at that point, the company wasn't even close to mass producing them...

LL: So from the beginning of Tesla's history, Elon has overpromised on production targets and timing and under-delivered. So the question has always been for how long can he do that and at this point it's still unclear on Wall Street.

DB: And after the dustup with Linette, Elon seemed to become more erratic.

He tweeted out that he planned to take Tesla private off the stock market. Then he smoked weed on a podcast.

PODCAST ARCHIVAL: "I mean it's legal, right?" "Totally legal."

DB: Then the Securities and Exchange Commission sued him over the tweet and charged him with fraud. He was forced to step down as chairman of the board though he's still CEO. The damage had been done.

LL: He has said in interviews in the past that he thinks that the internet is a video game where things don't matter and you can just say whatever you want to people and because he has an army he has a, it's ridiculous that he says things like that.

DB: So what happens when someone plays Elon at his own game?

From Business Insider and Stitcher, this is Household Name. The show about brands you know, and stories you don't. I'm Dan Bobkoff.

Today: Tesla.

In a sense, Elon Musk trolled Linette for reporting on the conditions of Tesla's factories and cars.

At the same time, there's a guy in Massachusetts who's trolling Tesla.

Rich Benoit knows the cars better than almost anyone. He taught himself how to take a wrecked Tesla and bring it back to pristine condition.

And along the way, he's discovered a lot of Tesla's issues.

Now the question is: will Elon do to him what he did to Linette?

Stay with us.

ACT I

DB: To help me tell these two stories we have with us Household Name producer Amy Pedulla.

AMY PEDULLA: Hey!

DB: OK, so, this has been quite a year for Elon Musk and Tesla.

AP: Yeah, what happened to Linette from her reporting is like this microcosm of what's going on more generally at the company. First of all, Tesla has a cult following that you know about, I know about, everyone knows about. Its drivers and fans are rabid, and part of that is the mystique of Elon Musk. Like, who knows the name of the CEO of Subaru? Do you?

DB: I do not.

AP: Exactly. Everyone knows Elon Musk. And people have very strong opinions. Here's Linette Lopez again:

LL: You know as a Tesla reporter, you're constantly being pulled in different directions. I think that a lot of people who are very supportive of the company think that I hate it or that I hate Elon Musk or that I want Tesla to fail and that's really not true.

AP: And Linette thinks Tesla has an amazing mission.

DB: What's the mission?

AP: So its goal is to "accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy." Sounds like a good thing for all of us. It does that through its electric cars and solar panels for homes.

LL: What I am paid to do is try to figure out whether the company is living up to that mission of making these sexy cars that save the world, and the cult of Musk crowd is always very skeptical of anyone who actually applies skepticism to the company and thinks that they must have some hidden, anti-Tesla agenda. In fact, I followed this guy on Twitter the other day and he's like a big, you know Musk supporter, I guess.

AP: So the guy immediately sends Linette a message on Twitter.

LL: And this person was like, 'wow I can't believe you followed, me you're on the other side.' They act like this is some kind of war like we're playing online Cowboys and Indians or something and that's just simply not the case. They tend to think that journalists hold these petty grudges or have some kind of dog in this fight, I don't have a dog in this fight, I haven't driven a car since the Bush administration

DB: So other cars have fans, you know there are websites for fandom of various brands, but Tesla seems like something else.

AP: Yeah, it's totally totally different. So people don't like it when people point out the company's problems. I'm just gonna take a step back for a sec:

Here are some of the things that have happened to Tesla recently.

Tesla struggled to get its new Model 3 to its customers. The Model 3 is supposed to be this cheaper Tesla more of a car for the masses than a plaything for the rich. But for a lot of the year, it couldn't make enough of them.

And the ones it did make had some problems. So for instance, one customer who got an early model said his bumper fell off in the rain 30 minutes after bringing it home for the first time.

DB: So are they still having these problems?

AP: So they're making a lot more Model 3's lately, and the bumpers seem to be staying on these cars, but recently the issue hasn't been the cars, it's Elon.

I reached out to Tesla directly for this story, and while I requested an interview with Musk, it was declined. The company also did not follow up to multiple follow ups for questioning.

DB: So, here are some things I know about Elon Musk, just from the ether. I know Elon wants to build a giant tube that will apparently whisk people from Los Angeles to San Francisco really quickly.

AP: Mhm, exactly.

DB: He says he wants to colonize Mars.

AP: Somebody has to do it.

DB: And he thinks that in the meantime, artificial intelligence is going to destroy us. And somehow he's running this car company, and he also has time to run a rocket company, SpaceX and then there's also Tesla, which has all those production problems you talked about and Elon apparently is sleeping in the factory on this bad couch because they are so behind on production.

AP: Yeah, he's a pretty busy guy. But there's another side of Elon that we've been starting to see this year which is just very very different. Like the time Elon's then girlfriend, the Canadian singer Grimes, invited rapper Azealia Banks over to Musk's house to collaborate on a new album.

DB: Just like the Ford CEO! (laughs)

AP: Yeah, exactly. While there, Banks posted Instagram stories, claiming that she had been waiting alone for Grimes for days in the Musk's house, alleging he was making freaked out phone calls to financiers, and that his money came from colonialism.

DB: What a mess, do we even know if any of this is true?

AP: No, we can't confirm a lot of this but look: even before all that went down, a month before,he inserted himself into that rescue of the Thai soccer team in a cave.

NEWS: A British diver who played a key role in the rescue effort of that Thai soccer team trapped in a dark cave for weeks is back in the headlines. He's considering legal action against Elon Musk over comments the billionaire made on Twitter.

DB: Right didn't he say he could solve it with a robot or something?

AP: Yeah, a small submarine. But then a diver saved the kids, and criticized Elon and Elon called the guy a "pedo" on Twitter.

DB: It seems like Elon has a nasty side.

AP: And the diver even sued Elon... and is asking for damages.But Tesla is worried about the reports. It recently asked employees to "renew their vows" to the company, in an effort to plug the leaks.

DB: And what happened to that guy who tipped off Linette about all the problems in the factory?

AP: Oh yeah listen, it did not end well for that guy.

LL: Tesla figured out who Martin Tripp was, and that he was leaking, and then he was fired and now he is being sued by Tesla. And the company accused him of writing code and hacking his way into Tesla's back end and sabotaging the company's manufacturing process. Tripp on the other hand said that he can't even code and that he was making 28 bucks an hour in the middle of the desert, so.

AP: I can see why Elon feared Tripp and feared Linette too.

LL: Once you start breaking stories on a company other sources approach you, and I started using their resources as well and once Martin was fired I wrote another story and that's when things really started getting interesting.

I wrote a story based on more internal documents that appeared to show that Elon Musk himself had ordered that Tesla stop doing a test that checked the breaks and alignment on Model 3s as they were leaving the factory. The test is called the brake and roll test.

And this was the week that Tesla had something to prove because it had promised Wall Street that it would make 5,000 model 3s within a week.

So my story was essential said, 'ok, these guys are willing to cut this, what everyone seems to be telling me in autoland is a really crucial part of the process' and that was shocking to anyone that worked in automative. And the day my story went out, the stock fell 7%.

DB: And then Elon had his meltdown and started posting Linette's Facebook pictures?

AP: Look, I would not find that fun, but at the end of the day it was good publicity for her reporting.

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