The top stories surrounding Tesla Motors include, give-aways, competitors, crashes, unionization, summons update and funding.
Keep Employees Give ‘Em Telsa 3s
Practichem, a company that makes scientific instruments, will lease a Tesla Model 3 for each of its employees, including those it plans to hire in the coming year, the company’s CEO Nick DeMarco confirmed to North Carolina news outlet News Observer. The company will lease Model 3s for its existing full-time staff team of 15 employees, as well as the 10 people it’s looking to hire.
Lotsa’ Competitors
USA Today looked at all the competitors Tesla will have by 2020 in the electric car space.
- GM will offer the closest competitor the Bolt late this year.
- VW by 2020 will offer 20new electric plugin vehciles with the Prosche Mission E electric sports car.
- Nissan has the best seller LEAF.
- Ford will over 13 PEVS and PHEVs by 2020.
- Hyundai will release the electirc Ioniq this year.
- Daimler plans a Mercedes-Benz with a 310 mile range by 2020.
- Toyota is touting hydrogen cars.
- BMW has plans for more electric cars and offers the i3 and i8.
- Honda is working on hydrogen, EVs and PHEV Clarity cars.
Workers’ Non-Compensation
According to a lawsuit filed by an injured worker, Gregor Lesnik, contractor ISM Vuzem provided more than 150 Eastern European workers to Eisenmann paint shop provider for a construction job at Tesla’s plant. The laborers worked long hours for low wages as little as $5 per hour that is apparently violation of U.S. visa and labor laws.
USA Today reports that the United Auto Workers would like the Tesla Motors assembly plant in California to be unionize. The factory is the only U.S. assembly plant owned by an American automaker that is not represented by a union.
Audi Producer Hired
Tesla hired Peter Hochholdinger, Audi’s Senior Director of Production behind the manufacturing programs of the A4, A5 and Q5 vehicles. He will be the VP of Vehicle Production for Telsa S, X and 3.
Kids’ Tesla Sold-Out
Tesla announced it will offer test drives in the ‘Model S for kids’ at its retail locations in a cross-promotional effort with Radio Flyer. The kids model starts at $500 with customizations available via the Radio Flyer Tesla Model S for Kids by Radio Flyer[Every Tesla Model S for Kids lets the buyer shoose the paint color, performance, accessories and personalization. May and June shipments are sold-out.
Creepy Creeping Tesla S
A Telsa owner reported that his Tesla creeped away by itself and then crashed into a trailer. Tesla repsoned with exact details of the crash and reported that summon mode was activated, which could have happened by mistake. It left some wondering if Tesla gathers too much information about its drivers.
In the next second, the brake pedal was released and two seconds later, the driver exited the vehicle. Three seconds after that, the driver’s door was closed, and another three seconds later, Summon activated pursuant to the driver’s double-press activation request. Approximately five minutes, sixteen seconds after Summon activated, the vehicle’s driver’s-side front door was opened again. The vehicle’s behavior was the result of the driver’s own actions, and as you were informed through multiple sources regarding the Summon feature, the driver is always responsible for the safe operation and for maintaining proper control of the vehicle.
Summoning new Summons
After the summoning incident, Tesla pushed out a softwarel update that forces selection of the Summon direction prior to exiting the car when Summon is activate using the parking stalk.
The next over the air update for Tesla cars will have more accurate energy calculations.
Risky Business
Michael Hitlzik in the LA Times reported that SEC risk disclosure filings showed the Model 3 is may have “unanticipated deviations from the expected price point, vehicle features or performance characteristics.” Translation: The Model 3 might cost more than $35,000 .
More Crashes Blamed on Malfunction?
A Tesla owner in Utah claimed that his parked Model S decided to crash into parked trailer of its own accord, which Tesla disputes.. Arianna Simpson claim that the safety features in her Model S did nothing to prevent her crashing into the back of another vehicle at speed. Tesla reports that both of the vehicle’s data logs don’t support the story. When a car stopped in front of Simpson, she figured that car would brake on its own.
A statement sent to Ars Technica from Tesla, stated
“Tesla Autopilot is designed to provide a hands-on experience to give drivers more confidence behind the wheel, increase their safety on the road, and make highway driving more enjoyable. Autopilot is by far the most advanced such system on the road, but it does not turn a Tesla into an autonomous vehicle and does not allow the driver to abdicate responsibility.”
Tesla $$$$ & Numbers
Tesla, is selling almost $2 billion worth of stock in order to raise money for their ambitious Model 3 project. Tesla has taken 373,000 orders for the Model 3.
Reuters reported that – Panasonic is prepared to move up its investment plans for Tesla Motors’ battery plant if needed to meet strong demand for the electric car maker’s upcoming Model 3 sedan.