A few weeks ago, the EV folks on social media joined together to sing the scorn of a German engineering firm’s “Hyper Hybrid” — a modified Tesla with a reduced battery pack and a small range extender under the hood instead of a frunk. “Why fix what isn’t broken?” some asked. The general consensus was that battery EVs are the answer, while plug-in hybrids are a step backward. It’s not that simple, though.
This is your guide to part 2 of the Elon Musk interview done by Third Row Tesla. There isn’t really any need to read about or watch part 1 before part 2, but if you want to, here is the link to my article on part 1 of the interview. I think they both stand on their own, so you can read, listen to, and/or watch them in either order.
Below are a number of top takeaways from Tesla’s latest shareholder letter and conference call. Perhaps these thing stood out to you as well. Perhaps they will light a spark in your brain.
After the Tesla earnings call, I was thinking, what has really changed? Sometimes the questions are more important than the answers. Consider what we learn from examining the following questions that most investors had 2 years ago as the Model 3 production ramp began:
Can 2020 be yet another year of spectacular growth for Tesla? Just ahead of the company’s quarterly call, we can try to predict production figures for what promises to be another banner year for Musk’s company, as electric mobility picks up share in the global car market and the Californian startup expands its footprint on many fronts.
The European plug-in electric vehicle market registered a record 77,000 vehicles in December (+88%!), with the Dutch market most helping to pull the market up. Fully electric vehicles (+91% year over year) grew a bit faster than plug-in hybrids (+81%), with the powertrain breakdown becoming even more friendly to fully electric vehicles (68% to 32% in December, versus 64% to 36% in 2019).
Last night I wrote an article “10 Best Things About Owning A Tesla Model 3.” I’m in the media, so I have to be sure to engage in false balance from time to time. So, in response to the article above, here’s a piece on the 10 worst things about owning a Tesla Model 3.
Interestingly, the anecdote of one couple buying a Tesla Model X was the biggest story of the week last week for us. Perhaps this is something we need a bit more of on CleanTechnica.
We’ve had our Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus for about 5 months now. The car is a wonderful vehicle and I wouldn’t trade it for anything else. (Though, I frequently debate with myself if I’d prefer the Model 3 or the Model Y.)
If you haven’t see the part one of the Elon Musk interview with the Third Row team yet, I highly recommend it. That said, I know it is challenging to find 2 and a quarter hours to dedicate to listen to it, so I summarized the content of the podcast/video for you so that you can easily jump to sections that most interest you!
