Tesla

Tesla’s Optimus robot is now available through the company’s online store, but in a version that’s even less capable than the ones at its recent Cybercab reveal. The $40, 1:10-scale Tesla Bot Action Figure stands 7.16 inches tall and is assembled from over 40 parts offering 20 points of articulation. It includes a tiny matching charging stand and a CyberHammer.

Unsurprisingly, President-elect Donald Trump plans to end the federal incentive, which encouraged Americans to buy EVs like Teslas for years. Now, Reuters is reporting Tesla is for it:

All cars lose value as soon as you drive them off the lot, but EVs in particular have been know to depreciate more than usual. YouTuber and Out of Specs reviewer Kyle Conner found this out recently when he tried to trade in his Tesla Model S Plaid, for which he paid a whopping $140,940 two years ago, only to find out Tesla’s offer was just $46,400. That’s $94,450 in value obliterated in 24 months. On top of that, the Model S is “falling apart,” Conner noted.

The US Fifth Circuit Appeals Court found that the Tesla CEO’s 2018 tweet questioning why workers attempting to unionize would “give up stock options for nothing” was protected free speech, reports Bloomberg.

Tesla exceeded expectations by delivering a great third quarter earnings report, but selling more cars wasn’t the reason. As noticed by Sherwood, the real winner was the company’s home energy and storage business, which spiked by nearly 50 percent year over year. And it was significantly more profitable too, with gross margins nearly double that for its automotive business. Maybe Tesla should double down on renewable energy, and not robots?

Earlier this year, I said that Tesla was in its flop era. Now, the company is crushing it, posting its biggest gains in almost 11 years, according to Bloomberg. What a difference a few weeks make, when the stock tumbled after the glitzy-but-disappointing robotaxi event. Investors wanted to see signs of life, and they got it in the form of lower material costs, a surging energy business, and increased sales of regulatory credits to lagging automakers. They also said cheaper EVs are coming next year.

Apologies to the Ford Mustang Mach-E, which the polarizing truck pushed back to claim the No. 3 spot during this most recent quarter. We had an inkling that the Cybertruck was exceeding expectations when word got out that registrations were surpassing overall EV truck registrations. Tesla confirmed it in its Q3 earnings report, announcing that the Cybertruck was third behind the Model Y and Model 3.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has long promised off-the-grid Superchargers powered by the sun. Now, the company has broken ground on “Oasis,” a new, 168-stall Supercharger station in Lost Hills, California, says Tesla’s North American director of charging, Max de Zegher:

Edmunds conducted one of its U-Drag down-and-back drag races between Lucid’s most expensive car, the 1,234 horsepower Air Sapphire, and a 1,020 horsepower Tesla Model S Plaid ($89,990 today) with the $20k Track Pack upgrade that includes carbon ceramic brakes.

Shout-out to Krugler in the comment section.

Interestingly, the UX seems to prioritize video streaming over any kind of trip visualization. Tesla seems to think people would rather watch movies than be assured their driverless car can see other cars and pedestrians. (They’re probably right, too.)

Tesla shares are trading down as much as six percent premarket, a few hours after digesting the Cybercabs and ruBOvehns.

Check out our video highlighting the most important parts.

One called Elon the “Technoking.”

Why didn’t Tesla call it the Cybervan?

It’s wearing a cowboy hat, for some reason.

Lots to parse. A few surprises. But as we’ve said before, the robotaxis are operating in a highly controlled setting and none of this is guaranteed to launch when Musk predicts it will. So stay tuned.

They’re doing the robot. What else?

The bots will be mingling with guests at the event, Musk says, who implores his guests to “be nice” to the robots.

Elon is putting the emphasis on the “bo” in robovan, so I wasn’t quite sure what he was saying at first. But yeah, it’s obviously not a conventional looking van.

The robotaxi will charge wirelessly through an inductive charger, Musk says. Tesla has long teased wireless charging for its EVs.

This is becoming a running theme with Musk: the idea that the unused compute power of millions of idle Tesla vehicles could be used like Amazon’s cloud service business. Of course, it’s not that easy.

Elon says he plans on starting fully autonomous Model 3 and Model Y trips in Texas and California “next year.” Cybercab won’t go into production until “2026... before 2027.”

Cheers as Musk says the cost will be “below $30,000.” Take that with a huge grain of salt.