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GM announces $2 billion for electric vehicle factory in Tennessee, will build Cadillac LYRIQ and more - Electrek.co

GM announced today that it is investing $2 billion to produce electric vehicles at its factory in Spring Hill, Tennessee. The updated factory will produce the Cadillac LYRIQ electric SUV, among other electric vehicles. Only days after announcing Factory ZERO,…

GM announced today that it is investing $2 billion to produce electric vehicles at its factory in Spring Hill, Tennessee. The updated factory will produce the Cadillac LYRIQ electric SUV, among other electric vehicles. Only days after announcing Factory ZERO, GM’s new electric vehicle only factory built out of the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Center, GM is now announcing a new investment in electric vehicle production. Today, GM announced the transition of its its Spring Hill, Tennessee, assembly plant: General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) announced today that its Spring Hill, Tennessee assembly plant will begin the transition to become the company’s third vehicle manufacturing site to produce electric vehicles, joining Factory ZERO in Detroit and Hamtramck, Michigan, and Orion Assembly in Orion Township, Michigan. In addition, the company is confirming investments in five Michigan plants, including the Lansing Delta Township Assembly and Flint Assembly for future crossover and full-size pickup production. However, unlike Factory Zero, GM said that Spring Hill will produce both EVs and gasoline-powered vehicles since the Cadillac XT6 and XT5 will continue to be assembled at the plant. The Cadillac LYRIQ electric SUV is going to be the first all-electric vehicle produced at the newly updated factory. GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra commented on the announcement: We are committed to investing in the US, our employees and our communities. These investments underscore the success of our vehicles today, and our vision of an all-electric future. Earlier this year, GM unveiled the Cadillac Lyriq electric SUV, the first electric vehicle using GMs Ultium platform. The automaker announced 300 miles of range and 150 kW fast charging, and everything is packaged into a design that has been well-received. We reported yesterday that the electric SUV is also going to be equipped with a new advanced augmented reality HUD. The Cadillac Lyriq electric SUV is expected to launch in 2022 and start at less than $60,000. That’s we like to see: new electric vehicle production capacity. I would have preferred to see a full transition to only produce electric vehicle, but this is still a massive investment that should result in volume EV production. I am liking what I know so far about the Lyriq, but I don’t know how competitive it is going to be against other EVs in the segment when it reaches the market in 2022. What do you thinK? Let us know in the comment section below. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More. Subscribe to Electrek on YouTube for exclusive videos and subscribe to the podcast.

Tesla is getting into the mining business, buys lithium claim on 10,000 acres in Nevada - Electrek.co

Tesla is now officially getting into the mining business with a lithium claim on 10,000 acres in Nevada. At the Battery Day event yesterday, as part of its entire new battery supply strategy, Tesla announced that it is developing its own lithium processing me…

Tesla is now officially getting into the mining business with a lithium claim on 10,000 acres in Nevada. At the Battery Day event yesterday, as part of its entire new battery supply strategy, Tesla announced that it is developing its own lithium processing method. Drew Baglino, SVP of engineering at Tesla, said: “We are going to use a new process that we will pioneer. It’s a sulfate-free process again, we skip the intermediate. It will result in a 33% reduction in lithium cost.” They didn’t go into too many details about that process. CEO Elon Musk added: “What is the best way to take the ore and extract the lithium and do so in an environmentally-friendly way? We have been looking at from a first principle physic standpoint instead of just the way it has always been done. We found that we can actually use table salt, sodium chloride, to basically extract the lithium from the ore. Nobody has done this before to the best of my knowledge. He didn’t into more details about the process, and the comment is already raising some eyebrows in the lithium industry. But the big news is that Tesla plans to secure the lithium itself. The CEO confirmed that it acquired a lithium claim in Nevada: “We got rights to a lithium claim deposit in Nevada – over 10,000 acres.” Nevada is known to have a large reserve of libitum that is still not being exploited in volume. Lithium Americas is one of the companies most far along in the development of mining operations in the region. Musk said that Tesla is planning to have a low impact on the environment that it is mining: “We take a chunk of dirt in the ground, extract the lithium, and put the chunk of dirt back where it was. It will look pretty much the same as before.” Tesla didn’t offer a clear timeline on getting its mining operations up and running. However, it indicated that it plans to ramp up battery cell production to 10 GWh next year, 100 GWh in 2023, and 3,00 GWh in 2030. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More. Subscribe to Electrek on YouTube for exclusive videos and subscribe to the podcast.

Elon Musk confirms Tesla ‘high volume’ battery cell production won’t start until 2022, will affect Cybertruck, Semi, and Roadster - Electrek

Elon Musk confirmed today that Tesla’s “high volume” battery cell production won’t start until 2022 and therefore, it will mostly affect the Cybertruck, Tesla Semi, and Roadster programs. Tesla is going to hold its Battery Day tomorrow – an event where the au…

Elon Musk confirmed today that Tesla’s “high volume” battery cell production won’t start until 2022 and therefore, it will mostly affect the Cybertruck, Tesla Semi, and Roadster programs. Tesla is going to hold its Battery Day tomorrow – an event where the automaker is expected to announce its plan to build its own battery cell on a massive scale. As we reported last week, Tesla is currently building a pilot production line for its new battery cell in Fremont and it is building new equipment as it learns from this pilot line: “Tesla is currently building a pilot production line to produce those cells in volume in Fremont. Tesla Grohmann, the companys automation group, is currently building the machines for higher-volume production based on what they are learning from the pilot line, according to a source familiar with the matter.” Therefore, volume production is not expected for a little while. Considering the new battery cell is expected to greatly improve the performance of its vehicles, it was raising questions about Tesla’s rollout of the new cells since the automaker doesn’t usually announce upgrades to its existing vehicle lineups until they are available. Now Elon Musk has clarified the situation – saying that “high volume” production won’t happen until 2022 and it will especially be for the Tesla. Semi, Cybertruck and Roadster vehicle programs: “Important note about Tesla Battery Day unveil tomorrow. This affects long-term production, especially Semi, Cybertruck & Roadster, but what we announce will not reach serious high-volume production until 2022.” Musk also confirmed that Tesla plans to continue to buy batteries from its current suppliers and even possible others: “We intend to increase, not reduce battery cell purchases from Panasonic, LG & CATL (possibly other partners too). However, even with our cell suppliers going at maximum speed, we still foresee significant shortages in 2022 & beyond unless we also take action ourselves.” Tesla is going to hold its battery event tomorrow after its Shareholders Meeting, which is starting at 1:30PM Pacific time. That answers something that we have been wondering over the last few weeks. We have discussed it on the podcast last Friday: Basically, despite those cells being better than the current cells being used in Tesla’s vehicle programs, they won’t talk about adding them to those vehicles until volume production is happening. That will protect sales – at least to a degree. However, Elon does mention “serious high-volume production” won’t happen until 2022. This is would indicate that Tesla will still achieve a decent level of production before that. What kind of volume though? Hard to tell. Enough for Model S and Model X? I don’t know. What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More. Subscribe to Electrek on YouTube for exclusive videos and subscribe to the podcast.

Tesla is finally going to Nikola Tesla’s home country - Electrek

After years of waiting, Tesla is finally expanding to Croatia, the home country of the automaker’s namesake, Nikola Tesla. An ethnic Serb, Tesla was born in a village called Smiljan in the Austrian Empire, but it is now located in Croatia. Tesla has been talk…

After years of waiting, Tesla is finally expanding to Croatia, the home country of the automaker’s namesake, Nikola Tesla. An ethnic Serb, Tesla was born in a village called Smiljan in the Austrian Empire, but it is now located in Croatia. Tesla has been talking about expanding into Croatia for years, but the launch in the country has been delayed a few times. Last year, CEO Elon Musk seemed serious about opening a store and service center in the country and said the company would “do Nikola Tesla proud”. The CEO said: “Hoping to open in Slovakia, Croatia, Serbia & most of Eastern Europe early next year. Finally, we will do Nikola Tesla proud by having his cars in his countries of origin!” While Tesla doesn’t have a retail or service presence in Croatia, there are already plenty of Tesla owners in the country. The automaker has already deployed 8 Supercharger stations in the country and plenty of buyers decided to import vehicles despite no sales or service support from Tesla. But now it’s finally about to change. Tesla has started posting job listings to hire people at a sales and service location in Zagreb, the capital and the largest city of Croatia. The automaker writes in one of the job listings: “As we prepare for our exciting new entry in to Croatia, we are looking to recruit a number of Tesla Advisors to join our brand new team in Zagreb!” While not a big automotive market, Croatia has already started embracing electric vehicles with several groups of EV enthusiasts in the country. Last year, Tesla owners, as well as a few other EV owners, in Croatia protested against gasoline car owners blocking charging stations by blocking a gas station for a few minutes. Also, Croatia is the home of Rimac, an electric hypercar manufacturer now partly owned by Porsche. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More. Subscribe to Electrek on YouTube for exclusive videos and subscribe to the podcast.

Elon Musk on Tesla Self-Driving: ‘I can almost go from my house to work with no intervention’ - Electrek

Elon Musk said that he is testing Tesla’s latest alpha built of its self-driving system and claim that he can “almost” go from his house to work without intervention. Last year, Musk announced Tesla’s plan to deploy 1 million “Robotaxi” vehicles for a self-dr…

Elon Musk said that he is testing Tesla’s latest alpha built of its self-driving system and claim that he can “almost” go from his house to work without intervention. Last year, Musk announced Teslas plan to deploy 1 million Robotaxi vehicles for a self-driving ride-sharing network by the end of 2020. The goal is to improve on Tesla’s current system through software updates – leading to what he has been referring to as ‘feature complete’ full self-driving. With the end of the year coming fast and Tesla’s CEO missing several previous timelines when it comes to Autopilot and self-driving, Tesla owners are skeptical about the automaker delivering on the timeline. However, the CEO is showing some great confidence with the deadline being just months away. In a conference call following the release of Teslas Q2 2020 financial results, Musk said that he is testing an alpha built of Tesla’s latest full self-driving system and the performance is making him confident that Tesla is still on track: “So I personally tested the latest alpha build of full self-driving software when I drive my car and it is really I think profoundly better than people realize. Its like amazing. So its almost getting to the point where I can go from my house to work with no interventions, despite going through construction and widely varying situations. So this is why I am very confident about full self-driving functionality being complete by the end of this year, is because Im literally driving it.” As we previously reported, Tesla is going through a significant foundational rewrite in the Tesla Autopilot. As part of the rewrite, Musk says that the neural net is absorbing more and more of the problem. It will also include a more in-depth labeling system. This Autopilot rewrite is behind the new capacity that Musk is talking about. Recently, the CEO said that the Autopilot update is 2 to 4 months away and it will help Tesla deploy more functionalities a lot faster. While Musk is confident in Tesla releasing the “feature complete” version of self-driving, he does clarify that the system will still require driver monitoring and it will take some time to convince regulators to allow Tesla owners to operate it as a full self-driving system. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More. Subscribe to Electrek on YouTube for exclusive videos and subscribe to the podcast.

Tesla (TSLA): Elon Musk secures more stocks to finance SpaceX’s Mars colonization plan - Electrek

Elon Musk has secured the second tranche of his stock compensation plan as Tesla CEO worth over $2 billion in TSLA stock, which he eventually plans to use for his plan to colonize Mars. While Musk doesn’t accept a salary from Tesla, shareholders granted him a…

Elon Musk has secured the second tranche of his stock compensation plan as Tesla CEO worth over $2 billion in TSLA stock, which he eventually plans to use for his plan to colonize Mars. While Musk doesnt accept a salary from Tesla, shareholders granted him a very generous and ambitious stock compensation plan in 2018. The plan is linked to a significant increase in revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and a massive increase in Teslas market valuation. After those milestones are achieved, each $50 billion increase in Teslas average market capitalization would result in Musk receiving 1.69 million shares at a set price of $350 a share. The CEO would pocket the difference between $350 and whatever price Tesla’s stock trades at when he exercises the stock options. Here are the main details of the compensation plan: Back in May, Tesla confirmed that all the milestones for the first tranche of Musk’s compensation plan were achieved and they awarded the block of 1.69 million – though the CEO has yet to exercise them. He has 5 years to do so. But with the rapid increase in Tesla’s stock price, the next milestones have already been achieved just a few months after the first tranche. As of today, Tesla’s average market valuation is high enough for the second tranche of Musk’s compensation plan to vest. At the current stock price, the new tranche is worth close to $2.1 billion and since he hasn’t exercised his first tranche, he already has access to $4.2 billion in stock options from his current compensation plan. Tesla’s board still has to approve the award for it to become official. This is an insane amount of money and once Elon decides to exercise those options, things will go crazy. First of all, there’s going to be a crazy amount of taxes to pay, but more interestingly, it might be what finances Elon’s plan for SpaceX to colonize Mars and make humans a multi-planetary species. When Elon’s generous compensation plan was approved in 2018, the CEO said that he plans to sell s major stake in Tesla in about 20 years to finance SpaceXs Mars plans. He commented something similar again earlier this month: Essentially. Long-term purpose of my Tesla stock is to help make life multiplanetary to ensure its continuance. The massive capital needs are in 10 to 20 years. By then, if were fortunate, Teslas goal of accelerating sustainable energy & autonomy will be mostly accomplished. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 7, 2020 Musk already owns a large 20% stake in Tesla, but those new stock options are going to go a long way in helping him finance those plans while still maintaining a stake in the company. The CEO could also use dividends from Tesla to finance other projects if the automaker ever decides to go that route. Currently, Tesla doesn’t pay a dividend and doesn’t plan to do so in the foreseeable future as it reinvests everything into growth, but it could be a different story in 10-20 years from now. What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More. Subscribe to Electrek on YouTube for exclusive videos and subscribe to the podcast.

Tesla (TSLA) announces official battery day and shareholder meeting - Electrek

After several delays, Tesla has now announced an official date for Battery Day and its annual shareholder meeting. Today, the automaker released a new SEC filing announcing September 22 as the new date: Tesla, Inc. (“Tesla”) announced today that its 2020 Annu…

After several delays, Tesla has now announced an official date for Battery Day and its annual shareholder meeting. Today, the automaker released a new SEC filing announcing September 22 as the new date: Tesla, Inc. (Tesla) announced today that its 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the 2020 Annual Meeting) will be held in person on Tuesday, September 22, 2020, at 2:30 p.m. Pacific Time, at Teslas Fremont Factory located at 45500 Fremont Blvd, Fremont, CA 94538. Eligible stockholders may also attend Teslas separate Battery Day presentation, which will be held on the same day, with additional details to be announced at a later time. No formal stockholder business will be conducted at such presentation. Tesla intends to webcast both events live. Tesla previously pushed the event because it wanted to invite people to attend and in-person event restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic prevented them to hold the event. Musk also said that Tesla planned to give tours of its battery production capacity in Fremont. Last year, Musk said that Cybertruck is Teslas last product unveil for a while, but he teased some upcoming tech announcements. Those announcements were expected to happen at what Tesla has been referring to as Powertrain and Battery Investor Day. Much like the Autonomy Day that happened last year, Tesla said that it is planning to give presentations to investors, which are livestreamed, about the automakers latest development in powertrain and battery technology. Later, Musk referred to the event as the Tesla April company talk, and said that it would be held at Gigafactory New York, where Tesla plans to offer media and investor tours of the facility. Last month, Musk updated Teslas upcoming event to add that it will focus just on batteries and not powertrain. During Teslas Q1 2020 earnings results, the CEO hyped up the event again: Yes. Actually, we dont want to preempt Battery Day. We want to leave the exciting news for that day, but there will be a lot of exciting news to tell. And I think it would be one of the most exciting days in Teslas history and were just trying to figure out the right timing for that. At that point, Musk said that it would happen the third week of May and it would likely be in California or Texas. As we previously reported, Electrek revealed that Tesla will present the result of its internal secret Roadrunner project at the battery event. The goal is for Tesla to produce its own battery cells using technologies developed by Teslas internal teams, including work from its research lab in Canada led by Jeff Dahn, and new technologies recently acquired through the acquisition of Maxwell, on a massive scale and at a cost below $100 per kWh. A plan to mass-produce the cells at several locations is also expected to be part of the announcement. In June, Musk delayed the event again, saying that the plan is now to have a webcast next month and an in-person event a few months later. Later, the CEO said that it would likely happen in September along with Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting, which also had to be pushed due to coronavirus restrictions. Now it looks like it’s going to happen on September 22. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More. Subscribe to Electrek on YouTube for exclusive videos and subscribe to the podcast.

Tesla UK factory rumor gains some traction as Elon Musk gets involved - Electrek

The rumor that Tesla is looking for a location for a factory in the UK is gaining traction as there are now local reports that Musk went to visit the UK last weekend. Last week, we reported on local reports in the UK that Tesla was working with the government…

The rumor that Tesla is looking for a location for a factory in the UK is gaining traction as there are now local reports that Musk went to visit the UK last weekend. Last week, we reported on local reports in the UK that Tesla was working with the government to look for a site to build an electric vehicle (EV) research, development, and manufacturing plant. The Department for International Trade (DIT) confirmed that it is looking for a site for a facility-related to electric vehicles, but they didn’t say it was for Tesla. It is unclear what sources the local media are basing the reports that Tesla is behind the project, but now the rumor is gaining steam as Tesla CEO Elon Musk reportedly visited a site in the UK. The Times reported that Musk went to Bristol last Wednesday: “It is believed that Mr Musks private jet landed at Luton just after midday on Wednesday and took off on Thursday morning from the same airport, spending only 19 hours on the ground.” He reportedly visited a 650-acre location near Bristol that used to hold a BAE factory, but it is now getting developed as a new complex called ‘Gravity’ – pictured above. The Times added: “A law forcing all foreign travellers to enter quarantine for two weeks on arrival into Britain does not come into force until Monday. It is probable that Mr Musk would have used a helicopter to tour the Gravity site rather than drive or walk around the area.” Musk previously stated that Tesla looked at the UK for a possible factory location before choosing to build its first European Gigafactory near Berlin, but they thought it “too risky to put a Gigafactory in the UK” due to “Brexit uncertainty”. This rumor is certainly starting to become more credible. It’s just hard to believe that Tesla would be looking for another factory in Europe even though they barely started construction on their first one near Berlin. But with the UK government desperate to boost the economy after the pandemic, Tesla might be getting a sweet incentive package to land a factory in the UK. We also recently learned that Tesla has applied to virtually become an electric utility in the UK, which could mean that they plan to expand Tesla Energy in the market. So many possibilities. What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More. Subscribe to Electrek on YouTube for exclusive videos and subscribe to the podcast.

Elon Musk: Tesla will move from California to Texas/Nevada due to local coronavirus response - Electrek

Elon Musk announced that Tesla will move its headquarters and more from California to Texas and Nevada due to the local response to the coronavirus, which he believes is excessive. Over the last few weeks, Musk has been criticizing the shelter-in-place orders…

Elon Musk announced that Tesla will move its headquarters and more from California to Texas and Nevada due to the local response to the coronavirus, which he believes is excessive. Over the last few weeks, Musk has been criticizing the shelter-in-place orders and restrictions related to the pandemic – going as far as calling them fascist. Things are now starting to ramp up from just talk to actions. As we reported earlier this week, Tesla attempted to reopen Fremont factory following comments from California’s Governor about starting to slowly reopen the state, but Alameda County, where the Fremont factory is located, shut down Tesla’s attempt to restart production. In response, Musk announced on Twitter that Tesla is filing a lawsuit against the county: “Tesla is filing a lawsuit against Alameda County immediately. The unelected & ignorant Interim Health Officer of Alameda is acting contrary to the Governor, the President, our Constitutional freedoms & just plain common sense!” The CEO went even further and announced that Tesla will be moving its headquarters and “future programs” to Texas and Nevada: “Frankly, this is the final straw. Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately.” Musk even suggested that Tesla might not even keep Fremont factory, where it employs about 10,000 people, depending on “how it gets treated in the future”: “If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependen on how Tesla is treated in the future. Tesla is the last carmaker left in CA.” The CEO added that Tesla has been able to keep operating its castings foundry and other facilities in San Joaquin County, which located next to Alameda, despite the shelter-in-place orders. Furthermore, Musk encouraged Tesla shareholders to file a class-action lawsuit against the county. I understand that Elon is frustrated, but I think that’s an overreaction, which ironically is what he believes the county is doing. “Moving HQ” can mean a lot of different things, some more extensive than others, but it’s going to be a big deal. Though no bigger than moving Fremont factory or whatever he means by the possibility of not “retaining Fremont manufacturing activity”, which sounds just insane. While I tend to start to agree with Elon about Tesla being able to reopen safely with similar measures as the ones implemented in Shanghai, I feel like he is not going about it the right way with those threats. What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More. Subscribe to Electrek on YouTube for exclusive videos and subscribe to the podcast.