Posted on
March 24, 2023
by
Peter McGuthrie

When it comes to charging, many owners charge their Teslas at home. But when you’re out on a road trip or you simply need to stop at Superchargers, there’s a way you can increase the speed of your charging experience, ultimately cutting down your costs for timed-use billing systems.

Above: Tesla vehicles at a Supercharger (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX).

No matter where you charge your Tesla, it’s worth noting how a given Supercharger bills you, if you’re hoping to save money. Tesla owners may stand to save a significant amount of money at stations billed by the minute, and making sure you head to V3 Superchargers can have you out of there in as little time as possible.

Read this week’s Tesla Pro Tip from Erwin Meyer at EVSpeedy.com below to learn how to save money at Superchargers by increasing your charging speeds.

Increase Speeds, Decrease Costs

Most people obey the in-car navigation instructions, but the Tesla Navigation is quite conservative with charging planning, ensuring that you never run out of any charge under any condition. To increase charging speeds and decrease costs, you can try to use Superchargers with about 10 percent of charge. You should also try to prioritize V3 chargers if possible. Then, you should be able to max out the charging rate at 250kw. This way you can add about 65 miles in 4 minutes, or 125 in 10 minutes. If your Supercharger is billed per minute, this will save you a lot of money.

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You can find this and even more Tesla Pro Tips at EVSpeedy.com.

Posted in

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Superchargers,

Tesla,

Tesla Supercharging

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Posted on
March 24, 2023
by
Peter McGuthrie

Tesla has become nearly debt-free in just two decades, a feat that’s unheard of in the auto industry’s more-than-century-old history. How the electric vehicle company was able to keep its debts low has created a new precedent for auto manufacturers, simultaneously putting pressure on some of the industry’s biggest names.

Above: (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX).

A recent analysis from Guru Focus demonstrates how the automaker’s example could set the new precedent for the auto industry, even as other companies still have huge debts to their lendors. While traditional automakers have relied on massive debts to produce and sell their capital-intensive products in their 100-year histories, Tesla’s business model has found it with high levels of cash flow and unprecedently low debt for the industry.

Guru Focus writer Matthew Cobb breaks down how Tesla’s debt compares to those of the two largest U.S. automakers, GM and Ford, showing that both of the legacy manufacturers are swimming in debt. Meanwhile, Tesla could pay off its remaining debt tomorrow if it wanted to.

Currently, Ford has a total long-term debt of $140 billion, while GM is right behind with $115 billion in the same category. Tesla, on the other hand, has just $5 billion in long-term debt, and plenty of cash to show for. In fact, the company has $22 billion in free cash flow, meaning that its cash minus debt gives it a $17 billion surplus.

To be sure, the auto industry requires high capital expenditures to some extent, largely due to the expensive materials involved, as well as labor and equipment for production. Automakers also need top-of-the-line research and development, which can be costly from an investment standpoint.

Cobb attributes Tesla’s low debts to a few different things, with the first being its sleek lineup of cars, innovative technology and its overall dedication to renewable energy and sustainability. Through this and CEO Elon Musk’s ability to create investor buzz on social media, Cobb points out how Tesla was able to go from startup to a soaring stock with newly high valuation around 2020.

Once Tesla became highly valued, the company gained access to equity funding instead of typical debt financing. This allowed Tesla to keep debts low, since equity financing doesn’t require the same path to repayment as debt financing. Tesla has since used its own equity funding to help keep its ongoing debts low, and especially on debts generated prior to the company’s stock takeoff.

With a market capitalization of $548 billion (compared to those of $48.23 billion and $50.93 billion for Ford and GM, respectively), Tesla has demonstrated its strength in financial management over the last 20 years. And with the emerging EV sector gaining more ground than ever before, it will be interesting to see how legacy automakers attempt to catch back up to Tesla’s dominance in the next 20.

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Source: Guru Focus

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Big Auto,

Cash Flow,

Ford,

GM,

Tesla,

TSLA

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Posted on
March 23, 2023
by
Charles Morris

Automakers often take apart competitors’ models to learn what makes them tick. In recent years, Tesla has been a frequent target of this feat of reverse engineering, which is called a teardown. Auto manufacturing expert Sandy Munro has taken apart many a Tesla, with highly informative (and entertaining) results. Various legacy automakers have performed their own private teardowns—rumor has it that, when the Model 3 first appeared, a group of German automakers paid an enormous sum to have a couple of units shipped to Germany for their perusal.

Above: A Tesla Model Y (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX).

We’re happy to hear that Toyota recently tore down a Tesla Model Y, because the venerable brand badly needs an infusion of electrical inspiration. According to Automotive News, the teardown may even have pushed Toyota to begin work on a new EV-only automotive platform. The current e-TNGA platform appears to be an existing ICE platform with a battery and a motor shoehorned in, and AN opines that the lack of a proper electric platform may be one reason for the poor performance of the bZ4X crossover that Toyota launched in 2022.

When Akio Toyoda resigned Toyota’s CEO post in January, EV fans saw hope for a new direction. His public statements, however, have been ambiguous. “The new team can do what I can’t do,” said Toyoda. “I now need to take a step back in order to let young people enter the new chapter of what the future of mobility should be like.”

New CEO Koji Sato has hinted at a change of strategy, and at the end of January, Toyota announced it was working on a new platform developed exclusively for EVs, which is expected to become active by 2026.

Automotive News tells us that Toyota decided to develop the new platform after engineers and executives were “impressed” and “shocked” by what they saw in the Model Y’s innards. “Taking the skin off the Model Y, it was truly a work of art,” one Toyota exec told AN. “It’s unbelievable.”

Tesla doesn’t use model years, and its cars may look the same over time, but changes and updates are made on a frequent basis. Recent Model Ys built at Gigafactory Texas that use both front and rear megacastings and a structural 4680 battery pack—an architecture that enabled the automaker to eliminate hundreds of parts and greatly increase overall efficiency. One Toyota estimate shared with Automotive News showed that Tesla had reduced the vehicle’s weight by as much as 220 pounds while improving efficiency and cutting costs.

Since Tesla’s early days, skeptics have predicted that legacy automakers would use their expertise and financial expertise to bury the upstart—the fact that that hasn’t happened reflects a basic difference in corporate cultures. As Automotive News puts it, “Given enough money and time, we’re sure Toyota could produce electric vehicles at the same level as Tesla. It has money, but time is of the essence. And it lacks another essential ingredient: the mindset. Toyota needs a cultural change to accomplish that.”

Reading AN’s report, we’re hopeful that such a welcome cultural change is at hand. “We need a new platform designed as a blank-sheet EV,” one Toyota executive said.

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This article originally appeared in Charged. Author: Charles Morris. Sources: Automotive News via Teslarati, autoevolution

Posted in

Model Y,

Tesla,

Toyota

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Posted on
March 21, 2023
by
Peter McGuthrie

It’s been just four months since Tesla CEO Elon Musk took over Twitter, and a lot has happened in that time. Despite declining advertising revenue in recent months, the company may still improve its cash flow by next quarter, according to Musk.

Above: “Elon bucks” above a Tesla frunk (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX).

Musk said that Twitter has “a shot” to become cash flow-positive in Q2, as detailed in a recent report from Business Insider. The statement came at a Morgan Stanley conference, where Musk was interviewed by the consultancy’s Michael Grimes, the head of global technology investment banking.

Twitter has been facing “a massive decline in advertising” in recent months according to Musk, who cites the cyclical nature of business and “political” reasons as the reasons behind the losses. Despite these losses, Musk’s hopes to improve cash flow do show some positive undertones.

“It’s been a very difficult four months, but I’m optimistic about the future,” Musk said.

Alongside the optimism, however, Musk has been vocal about Twitter’s lack of monetization since the beginning of his saga to purchase the company for $44 billion. During the interview with Grimes, he called it “startling,” saying that Twitter earns only 5 to 6 cents per hour, despite the fact that users spend a cumulative 130 million hours on the platform every day.

Upon Musk’s initial takeover of Twitter, he made huge shifts toward cutting costs, including things such as mass layoffs, cutting free lunches and other employee benefits, and more. Musk also said in November 2022 that Twitter was losing $4 million per day.

Musk also pointed out in the interview that Twitter was looking to monetize the company, including the Blue subscription launched in November, which lets users pay $8 per month to gain extra security verification and other benefits.

The monetization measures also include a cut of non-debt expenditures to $1.5 billion from its original projection of $4.5 billion for this year. This resulted in decreasing cloud services, which cut down on the bill by as much as 40 percent. Twitter is also up against around $1.5 billion in annual interest payments following its $13 billion debt incurred during the acquisition, says Musk.

By the end of the year, Musk is expected to step down as CEO at Twitter, and he has already said he’s looking for someone to replace him. In any case, Musk’s bid to make Twitter profitable will be a challenge, though his track record with financially-sound companies could influence the outcome.

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Source: Business Insider

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Elon Musk,

Twitter

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Posted on
March 21, 2023
by
Peter McGuthrie

Tesla’s stock has been popular this year, and retail investors have been no exception to this fact. With tens of billions spent on Tesla shares already purchased this year, the company outpaces any other security by far, and they’re already on track to beat records from last year.

Above: A Tesla valve stem cap (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX).

Investors have spent a net $13.6 billion on Tesla shares in 2023, according to Vanda Research and as detailed in a recent report from The Wall Street Journal. Vanda also notes that the figure is rapidly approaching the stock’s $17 billion in net share purchases throughout all of last year, a record sum for the company.

Additionally, investor interest in Tesla’s shares have far outweighed those of other securities, and by a wide margin, as pointed out by Giacomo Pierantoni, head of data at Vanda.

“The aggregate retail inflows into Tesla have never been higher,” Pierantoni said.

In the final week of February, the five-day moving average of Tesla’s net one-day purchases from individuals reached around $460 million, says Vanda. The next-most-popular security, the SPDR S&P 500 ETC hadn’t even reached $150 million.

Pierantoni also added that individual investor purchases of Tesla shares have likely comprised of a roughly-55-percent jump in the clean energy company’s jump in stock prices so far in 2023. Retail investors and fans of the company have taken every opportunity to support it financially, no matter the stock’s performance.

Above: Two top Tesla watchers debate the bull vs. bear cases for the stock (Video: CNBC / YouTube).

Last year, as Tesla’s share prices took a nosedive, investors accelerated purchases and bought the dip. The same can be said of Tesla’s bottom on January 3, and of nearly every other low the automaker’s stock has faced in the last few years.

Even Webull CEO Anthony Denier points to Tesla as the most popular amongst individual investors, and the recent lows only fueled the fire in these camps.

“Tesla reigns supreme on our platform,” Denier said. “We’ve seen a huge spike in volume since December.”

One investor, Durga Bobba, bought Tesla shares for the first time in December as the company’s stock tumbled.

“I saw the stock go to a multiyear low and thought, ‘If I’m ever going to do it, now’s the time,’” Bobba said.

Already having seen gains on the investment, Bobba also notes that the stock is a popular one among peers.

“I’m a marketing guy, and the broad appeal was the No. 1 reason I bought Tesla,” Bobba added. “People love it, regardless of age and gender. I bought it for about $110 a share and I’m very happy. I probably will never sell.”

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Sources: The Wall Street Journal / YouTube

Posted in

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Tesla stock,

TSLA,

Vanda Research

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Posted on
March 20, 2023
by
Peter McGuthrie

One major benefit of owning a Tesla is the ability to avoid garage lockouts with the use of HomeLink. Whether used as a backup to your garage door code, or as your primary way of parking in the garage, HomeLink is an important feature for Tesla owners, and it makes it easy to get into the house when you need to.

Above: (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX).

Conveniently, you can also use HomeLink to someone else into the garage when you aren’t home, making it versatile for friends and loved ones, deliveries and more.

Read this week’s Tesla Pro Tip from Erwin Meyer at EVSpeedy.com below to learn how to use HomeLink, whether for yourself or someone else.

Tesla Garage HomeLink Tip

If you have a Tesla, Garage, and Homelink, this tip might save you from getting locked out of your house. If your front door has a code to be unlocked and it is accidentally locked or jammed, you can open and click on the Tesla App > Controls > Homelink. This way your garage door will open, and you’ll be able to enter your home from the garage’s side. You can also let a neighbor or delivery guy put packages in your garage when you’re not at home so that they’re not left on your doorstep.

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You can find this and even more Tesla Pro Tips at EVSpeedy.com.

Posted in

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HomeLink,

Tesla,

Tesla Pro Tip

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