Tesla Space #66: Elon says thanks

Before we start — you as a Tesla Space Insider, can now access our newest category on our stock trackers: Humanoids!

(In case you are greeted with a paywall, there’s a “sign in“ link at the bottom there. Pro tip: you can also create a password there to avoid getting an email for logging in.)

This Humanoid page serves as just a general overview of all relevant all-purpose humanoid bot developers, their valuation and their product for now. Since nearly none of these companies are publicly listed, it is more of a company tracker than a stock tracker.

We will go way further to understand where each of these bots is in their development when I send you the deep dive on humanoids.

75 companies listed, and we’ve just covered four categories, wow.
Next category: SpaceX!

X OF THE WEEK

Elon finally acknowledged what’s happening publicly. And even more than once — noting ‘this is crazy’ on some torched Cybertrucks, and commenting “Damaging the property of others, aka vandalism, is not free speech!” on Brookline PD searching for a guy who had been tagging Teslas with Elon Musk decals. They found the guy btw.

Seems that Elon might be closer to find some of the source of anti-Tesla protests…

We’ll cover the latest on the vandalism — and also why it isn’t all doom and gloom — on the Tesla section below.

$TSLA

…is down 32.37% from our last week’s newsletter, now at $222.15/share and $696B market cap.

We dig deeper in this new section — every week from now on — for the Tesla Space Insider members. Join us?

Oh, did I mention we also added our 4th category for our Muskonomy stock/company tracker? We went over 16 companies that build general-purpose humanoid robots. 75 companies in total now — get access by clicking above.

TESLA, GLOBALLY

It looks like Tesla needs to remind people of their mission these days:

Tesla also released this video on X with the same thoughts well presented, and if you were around you could see this was a company-wide effort as well — most of the leading team members quote-posted the video with their comments in support of the mission.

And for a good reason. The situation is getting out of hand.

We already wrote about — and showed you in our YT video — some of the escalation on the vandalism against Tesla, be it a torched Supercharger, a burnt down Tesla, or just graffiti. This week, we’ve also seen some more of that:

• A number of CyberTrucks were torched in Seattle in a Tesla holding lot in SODO (video here). Elon even reposted it saying “This is crazy”.

• Oregon police are investigating a shooting incident involving a Tesla store in Tigard, a city southwest of Portland — luckily, the 7 shots, damaging 3 cars and shattering windows (one also through an office wall into a computer monitor), were fired during the night with no employees on site.

• Some Tesla owners sadly become a victim of these violent idiots on the road as well — someone threw a rock at the window of a driving Model X in Idaho Falls — with their 3-year-old daughter on the other side! Luckily, it was just a scare for her. More here.

• Tesla Service Center in Lynnwood, Washington notified a customer that his Cybertruck, along with many other Teslas, were vandalized and asked permission to access the sentry footage. The owner says the vandalism was the you-know-which symbols drawn on the vehicles.

• Another case of N*zi sprayed on a Cybertruck in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Somehow the guys still do not seem to know Tesla has cameras and caught on video.

• Seems the police have now arrested the likely suspect who threw Molotov cocktails to a Tesla dealership in late January in Salem, damaging 7 Teslas and destroying one.

• In Bristol, England, some guy smashed a Polestar EV thinking it was a Tesla, and was luckily arrested on the spot (video here).

• In a League City parking lot, 11 Teslas had their wheels stolen.

• The painting of signs or slogans on Teslas continues… like on this video of two dudes in a BMW driving up to a Cybertruck, spray painting it and taking off. Little did they know that the owner was able to wipe it right off the hydrophobic wrap.

• Kia in Norway decided to jump on the bandwagon in the extremely bad taste and advertised their EV3 on IG with a sticker “I bought this after Elon went crazy”. Deleted it by now.

• This crazy street sign was spotted in New York…

Every trend comes with an anti-trend

… this is that ‘one thing’ I’ve learned about how the world works over my 30-something years among humans.

If you are reading this newsletter, you are most likely at least a little like me — whether you support what Elon does or don’t, you certainly support what Tesla and some or all other Elon’s companies stand for. And since Tesla is still around, and doing what they do in a scale and innovation pace that is still incredible, you and I can easily justify supporting their mission and want to see them thrive.

All the team members involved — and their customers — are literally making our planet a better place to live on.

If you’ve noticed, I don’t give you my opinion on Elon’s doings. And no, that doesn’t mean it is all negative. I do have my issues with some of what he says or does. But I also just try to see the good and the bad at the same time, in parallel, as realistically as possible. Okay, ending my rant now.

Here is the anti-trend to torching Teslas:

People buying a Tesla who otherwise wouldn’t, to support Elon / Tesla.

Even Donald Trump posted on his social media, acknowledging the boycotts, that he will be buying a Tesla today.

Even Fox News' Sean Hannity — who has always been negative towards Tesla and EVs on the news — bought a Tesla to support Elon. He says: “this thing rips”.

Or see this perfect trolling video from a guy saying he’s had enough and sells his Tesla (to buy the new one because it’s awesome)

Tesla owners are also increasingly dropping by Tesla stores and service centers to show appreciation — often delivering something sweet for the team as well. We need more of that!

Quick takes:

• In that Tesla mission statement video, we also got a glimpse inside of the Tesla Semi factory! The Semi boss Dan Priestley says “Was in the factory today; it's going great!” We also got some pics of the Robovan and Cybercab being built:

• Elon, in an interview, when asked “Have you given up your other stuff? How are you running your other businesses?”, answers: “With great difficulty... (sighs)”

• 🇺🇸 Tesla introduced 1.99% APR financing for all new Cybertruck orders in the US, and it can be combined with free lifetime Supercharging when buying the Foundation Series.

• 🇺🇸 Tesla also introduced 0% APR financing for new Model 3 orders in the US for loan terms of 60 months (and 0.99% on 72-month loans).

• 🇲🇽 🇨🇦 Incentives: Tesla expands free lifetime Supercharging on all new Cybertruck Foundation Series orders from Mexico & Canada.

• 🇦🇺 Incentives in Australia: Buyers in Australia who purchase a new Tesla MY LR or a M3 from Tesla's inventory will get a free universal mobile connector charger and 5,000 km of supercharging credit.

• 🇮🇳 Tesla India has announced a hiring event for Sales Advisors. Group interviews. Tesla entering India will be great to witness over the next year or two.

VEHICLES

Model Y came out on top again?!

Since this chart is based on Statista’s numbers, I am not yet fully convinced… but their data compiled and visualized by Visual Capitalist shows that the Model Y has won the best-selling vehicle title for the second year in a row.

New Model Y Delivery events in US & Europe

Here’s a quick video from Giga Berlin by Tesla on the delivery event there, and here are some pics from the Fremont factory & Giga Texas event.

There were a few more posts from new owners visiting the Giga Texas event we found — including Sawyer Merritt for his new Model Y. Really cool to see they even got to ride through the Cybertunnel. I also loved seeing this torn-up New Model Y he posted:

I also found a little Tesla team event, shared by Izabela Miric, the Director of Sales, Service & Delivery Operations at Tesla: “An incredible gathering at the New Model Y track event with Franz von Holzhausen, Lars Moravy, and Hrushikesh Sagar from Fremont production! Great talks with design, production, engineering teams, and Tesla enthusiasts about the future of driving.”

🇦🇺 Cybertruck for Australia is being lobbied for:

Thom Drew, Tesla’s Country Director for Australia and New Zealand, says: “The only [product] we’re missing at the moment that we really want here is the Cybertruck, and we are in conversations trying to make that happen. […] We want it here. Part of the tour was to get fresh eyes onto it, get a true perception of what people think about it and what the potential demand might be…we have a couple more that have just arrived. We are really gunning for feedback, helping us to hopefully bring it to market..”

You can also see the huge interest for a Cybertruck demo vehicle from last week in the Sydney Everything Electric show:

Quick bites:

• Research tip: I found Zac, a Tesla employee working on the Robotaxi, posting a great geeky thread on designing sound isolation systems to make the cars quieter at the source, isolator, and structure level, even removing the electric drivetrain sounds. “Whisper-quiet EVs are coming.”

• Tesla released a new video: “New Tesla Model Y in 60 seconds”. It’d be a good ad to run on any channel, especially YouTube, if I may add.

• JerryRigEverything, the huge (9.2M subs) YouTuber who has taken a strong anti-Tesla stance over the past few years, released a video on testing Cybertruck’s tow hitch until it breaks. Note that this is tongue weight, so not fully representative of actual towing capabilities. CT is rated at 1,100lbs, and the aluminium cast frame held at over 10,000 lbs — he used an excavator to push on it.

Remember the Cybertruck that was blown up in front of the Trump tower? While Elon said they’ll get the truck back on the road, it has instead surfaced on an IAA auto auction website - and was then removed. 🤷‍♂️ 

SUPERCHARGING & ENERGY

The third Megapack factory will be in Texas!

It’ll be a 1.6 million sqft (!) Megapack factory, utilizing an existing 1-million-sqft building in Waller County, Texas, with Tesla investing ~$194M in upgrades and equipment. This will also bring an estimated 1,500 jobs to the area. Tesla had a lease on the building since October 2021 and had it occupied by a third-party logistics company that handled the company’s car parts.

Tesla is now using a new post foundation for its Superchargers, made out of polypropylene and ballasted on site with local gravel — without concrete pouring needed. Max says it is “easier to install by a single person vs shipping precast or pouring concrete. It reduces CO₂ footprint, is faster, and reduces cost.

Tesla is going to build an 88-stall charging station in Bakersfield, California — it includes 18 Tesla Semi charging stalls, as well as multiple pull-through stalls for EVs with trailers.

Remember the Superchargers torched in Littleton, Massachusetts, we covered last week? As the Supercharging team promised, in less than 48 hours, they managed to replace the Supercharger cabinets and wires that were set on fire in MA, now fully back online. This spot would’ve been down for months with any regular operators.

PS! If you’re hungry for more from us, consider becoming a Tesla Space Insider.