Elon is a friend of mine. I think the world of him. This guy has no ego. Okay, that may be hard for you to believe, but having spent the amount of time I have with Elon, he is willing to listen to anybody. It has the same attitude we do that will steal any good idea and be proud of it, but his ideas are beyond anything I've ever seen in my whole life. He's a brilliant guy, understands so many things about the world. And all you want to do is listen to a lot of what he's got to say, but he's a good listener as well. And the really smart people in the world are good listeners. Welcome to Electrified. It's your host, Dylan Loomis. Quick shout out to my newest patron, Blake T. Thank you for choosing to support the channel. Nelson Peltz is just your average billionaire, co-founder of Trian Partners, which is a hedge fund. He's the non-executive chairman of Wendy's and the Madison Square Garden Company, among many other ventures. Elon said, Nelson is great, and I find it interesting that most people who actually know Elon like really know him always have glowing things to say about him. Much of the world thinks Elon is self-centered, narcissistic, power hungry, but those that actually know him say the opposite. He has no ego, great listener, actually motivated by serving humanity.
Unfortunately, we have Rohan Patel throwing some cold water on FSD, at least in its full form, making its way to Europe on the timeline many we're hoping for. Even after the most recent decas update, Rohan said, the current regulations don't allow for these system-initiated maneuvers, which are the hallmark of FSD. More still needs to change at the UN in order to allow for the full safety benefits of FSD. When Rohan says the UN, he's referring to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Today, Rohan said, the updated decas regs are encouraging, but they won't go into effect until around November, and don't address the key issue, system-initiated maneuvers, in order to enable the full benefits of FSD. He said a mindset change is needed for regulators, no surprise, he added Japan is quite forward-leaning, and that the definition of what can be considered an advanced driver function must also change. The most exciting technology advancements in transportation will take place outside of the great nations that adhere to those UN standards. He said Tesla could make some small improvements given the new regulations by the end of this year, but unless there's an updated allowance for those system-initiated maneuvers, the full benefits are not type-approvalable. With the latest regulation, the driver would need to approve of almost every significant maneuver. There will be more on this soon, but generally speaking, we need more support from a wider set of leaders. This is far more than a road transportation issue. By the way, this is also very true in the US also.
As it stands right now, anything that FSD itself would initiate or decide to do on its own, something as simple as a lane change is not going to fly under these UN regulations. Not great news for many European countries, sounds like FSD in its full version won't make its way to those countries until sometime in 2025 at the very earliest. More importantly, we still need another regulatory change for FSD to operate in those areas. Elon went on a bit of a posting spree about Tesla last night to get everybody caught up. He said, The production rate and fully considered cost are the challenges when it comes to the megapack, demand for stationary batteries is super high. I think Tesla might end up doing more total jewels and stationary than mobile long-term. In my opinion, this needs to be a question on the Q1 call, what is the production challenge right now for the megapack? As far as we know, the Lathrop facility is still operating somewhere around 50% of capacity. It would be nice to know what the main bottleneck for the production rate is. You can argue Tesla has a demand problem on the auto side, but that is definitely not the case on the energy side and will most likely remain that way for years to come.
On FSD licensing, Omar said one, allow the OEM to integrate it into any car for free or at cost, car owner pays for the FSD license. Two, active safety and basics come free. Three, leverage supercharger deals offer same pricing as Tesla cars for EVs that integrate FSD hardware and share data. Elon responded to that saying, Tesla would be happy to do such deals. I was talking about this on X earlier today, given that Tesla's cost for hardware three and the eight cameras is most likely around $1,000. That's why a deal like this could work, even if Tesla decided to give away the hardware suite for free. Imagine Ford charges its customers $12,000 for FSD on its vehicles, as long as Tesla takes at least a 12% split of that revenue, they would be in the green. In reality though, it could be 70% for Tesla, 30% for Ford. Ford obviously wins because they get that hardware for free. They get part of the profits for charging customers for FSD. Yes, they have to pay Tesla a license fee and give up a cut. But even after doing that, they would still also most likely be in the green. That's all possible because of how affordable Tesla's FSD suite is. Julian E. Bars who works on the Tesla bot said this, FSD is running with cheap sensors on a cheap computer and with no HD maps, let that sink in. Omar's then said, FSD licensing earnings will exceed Tesla's auto business earnings and Elon said, good chance that turns out to be true. It's certainly exciting to run some calculations on the possibilities here, but at the end of the day, how many of these companies will actually take Tesla up on their offer and how many will do it before Tesla actually has a working Robotaxi proven. Until that time, I'm guessing maybe one or two best case scenario and then it's going to take a few years for them to actually get the system integrated into their next gen vehicles. This is definitely more of a long-term option but nice to have it nonetheless. Elon said, Tesla is increasing compensation, which is contingent on progress milestones of our AI engineering team. Then he said, Ethan who just left for XAI is very talented, but Vision Chief would be overstating things. There are over 200 excellent engineers in the Tesla AI autonomy team. Tesla's pace of progress with autonomy is accelerating.
The talent war for AI is the craziest talent war I've ever seen. For some context, some of these AI engineers at some of the top names in the industry are earning anywhere from 500,000 to upwards of $1 million per year. Oftentimes people think chips are the scarcest resource for AI or transformers. In all actuality, most people actually say it's talent. That's the scarcity. Alexander asked, when can we finally vote on your new comp plan? Elon said, the support is super appreciated. I obviously don't need the money personally but I'm concerned about not having voting power, enough to influence Tesla to do the right thing. So he totally avoided the question altogether with that one. The actual answer, we still have to wait for Tesla's appeal of the Delaware verdict before we do anything with a new compensation plan. I'm guessing we won't get an update on that until sometime in quarter three or four of this year.
James Dowlin said he just did 1600 miles on version 12 on the highway and he's one of the only people saying the highway stack on V12 is a substantial upgrade over V11. He then shared a specific list of what he thinks is better on version 12 in conclusion, overall a great improvement in user experience, even compared to the most recent V11 versions. The highway stack on version 12 is still not end-to-end like city streets, but that doesn't mean it's not getting better. Many folks in addition to Alex have been suggesting that Tesla charges a per mile fee for FSD rather than a subscription. The third idea he had though was pretty interesting, basically Tesla gamifying FSD, rewarding miles for useful data and safe driving. I definitely think there's something there. Ultimately though, the overall point is Tesla has so much optionality with this, wherever it goes in the future, there are multiple different levers they can pull.
Tesla energy said there's now 1300 plus homes with Powerball in Puerto Rico that are supporting the grid through Tesla's VPP. I've been experimenting with my homework outs fasted. This one was about 20 hours or so. I'm still in golf mode for the next few weeks, but I'm trying to avoid too much atrophy. I finally hit two minutes this morning for a dead hang. When I heard about the correlation with longevity, I figured I'd gamify it. I'm not even really optimizing for longevity per se, but rather a high quality of life, however long I get. Part of that optimization is thanks to AG1, the sponsor of this episode. I've looked into and drank much of the competition, not only do I think AG1 has the better sourcing and transparency and testing and leadership team, but up there in importance is the taste. I enjoy this with nothing added. It's like pineapple if I had to describe it. You can add lemon or whatever you want, but it's not required for me. Whether I'm on the go or overly busy, it's become a quick and easy way to get all of this goodness. 75 vitamins, minerals and probiotics to be precise. 50 calories, six carbs, less than one gram of sugar. As I always say, at least 90% of everything you consume should be Whole Foods, Sorstwell, Organic, et cetera, but even if you pull that off, you may not be getting all that you need. You can still grab five travel packs and a one year supply of vitamin D3K2 for free using my link below or the QR code on the screen. Cheers.
This report from Reuters that Elon is yet to deny is the best evidence we have that Tesla is planning to move forward with a factory in India. Tesla has begun production of right hand drive cars at Gigabrelin for export to India later this year. This is the first time Gigabrelin has made a right hand drive vehicle. Of course, it's a Model Y. Typically, right hand drive vehicles come from Shanghai for markets like Japan and Australia. Tesla's India entry plan also includes investment in a charging network, which will come on top of the $2 billion earmarked for the plant. Tesla already imports parts from India and is now looking at reducing sourcing from China and making India a bigger sourcing hub. On the factory front, they said Tesla expects to build it in two years. I'd like to temper everybody's expectations for these imports into India from Tesla, the way it stands now to get that reduced 15% import tariff, Tesla can only import 8,000 vehicles per year at that rate. However, the reason this is significant is because the companies that take advantage of that reduced rate are the ones that also have to commit to building a factory. So this news is telling us what Tesla intends to do. I just wanted to be clear. If you thought this news was going to significantly boost Tesla's delivery numbers for this year or even next year, personally, I don't think that's likely.
Tesla has cut the prices of the Model Y in Australia. This is a slightly updated version of the Model Y for this market by anywhere between $1,500 for the entry model and then 5,500 and 8,500 for the long range and performance, respectively. No, Australia is not getting the interior ambient lights or the removal of the stocks just yet. The only updates they're receiving, the black finish for the Gemini wheels and three new colors being Stealth Gray, Quicksilver and Ultra Red. This means the Model Y now starts around $42,000 in the Australian market. Tesla also said Quicksilver and Midnight Cherry are now available in the UK, Ireland and Israel. Us Americans may have FSD, but we still experience FOMO for some other features.
We've talked about this before, but post are just confirmed. They're not trying to be like Tesla. They're going to remain a luxury more niche player. A communications executive said, from a global perspective, I'm not here to comment on Tesla, but Tesla is chasing volume. They're a mass market production player. We are a premium luxury brand with volume targets that are in line with that, saying they're aiming for 150,000 units globally next year. I did join their email list to get updates on when test drives will be available for the Polestar 3, not that I would buy one over a Tesla, but I'm curious. If you're new, Polestar is my second favorite EV brand behind Tesla, definitely rooting for them to make it.
Tesla is now offering some pretty significant inventory discounts specifically on the Model Y. They've also added the option to sort or filter by vehicles that only qualify for the tax credit. Don't get excited when you see the new Model 3 pop up. That's because they include it thanks to the leasing loophole. We're talking about discounts between four, some near $5,000. So if you're looking, just be aware. Those discounts do apply to new vehicles in inventory. Next week, Tesla will be in court to defend itself in an autopilot lawsuit over a fatality where that Apple engineer died. The word is Tesla now wants Apple to testify in Tesla's defense, basically saying that the Apple engineer was playing a video game on his phone at the time of the crash. But the plaintiff's lawyers are accusing Apple who is not a party in this lawsuit of engaging in a secret discovery workaround to help support Tesla in its defense.
Walter Huang's family claims he was letting those games run passively on his phone to collect data. But cell phone logs have shown that there was a pattern of active gameplay during his morning commute in the days leading up to the crash. Tesla has already avoided culpability in two fatal autopilot crashes, so hopefully they can keep that street going. Ford just said it delayed the planned launches of the three-row EVs in Canada and its next-gen electric pickup that's set to be built in Tennessee. Ford separately said it was boosting hybrid EV offerings and by 2030 expects to offer hybrids across its lineup of gas-powered vehicles. Farley said we're committed to scaling a profitable EV business using capital wisely and bringing to market the right gas, hybrid and fully electric cars at the right time.
Walter Huang的家人声称他只是让手机上运行那些游戏来收集数据。但是,手机通话记录显示,在事故发生前的几天,他在早上上班途中存在着游戏活动的模式。特斯拉已经在两起致命的自动驾驶事故中避免了责任,希望他们能够继续保持这种表现。福特刚刚宣布,延迟了在加拿大推出三排座电动汽车和下一代电动皮卡的计划。福特还另外表示,他们正在加大混合动力电动车的推出力度,到2030年预计将在其所有汽油动力车型中提供混合动力电动车。法利表示,我们致力于以明智的资本使用规模化盈利的电动汽车业务,并在适当时机推出正确的汽油、混合动力和纯电动汽车。
Ford has said they will only launch their next-gen EVs at the point they can become profitable. Ford's pushing back the launch of the new large EV SUV that it'll build in Ontario. They were going to do it in 2025. They pushed it back to 2027. For Ford's Ontario plant, they're still going to overhaul that facility so they can make EVs. They're going to start that in the second quarter of this year. This to allow for the consumer market for three-row EVs to further develop and to enable Ford to take advantage of emerging battery tech. The EV truck that was set to be built in Tennessee in 2025 has now been pushed back to 2026.
Customer deliveries for that truck will begin in 2026 and gradually ramp up production to help assure quality. At the plant in Ontario that's now facing a two-year delay, they said there will be layoffs. What I am not looking forward to seeing is how many of these hybrids from Ford and GM will ultimately qualify for the tax credit. One of China's largest battery storage players is now targeting a global expansion, including the United States. The company has set up offices in California, in Frankfurt, Germany, and Australia to target North America, EMEA, and the APAC regions.
Hyperstrong sources the battery cells from other companies and then integrates them into a bunch of different battery storage solutions. One of their latest generation products is a best with five megawatt hours that would be compared to Tesla's megapack at four megawatt hours. Considering the speculation around the United States continuing to curb imports from China, Hyperstrong will be seeking partners in the United States. They said whatever market relationships can be developed before that happens is very important. This one will go overlooked, but I think it's a big deal.
This factory from LG in Arizona was in jeopardy, but they did finally start construction. At full capacity, this facility will produce 36 gigawatt hours of 4680 cylindrical cells for EVs and an additional 17 gigawatt hours of pouch type LFP batteries for the energy storage market. They said this will be one of the first energy storage exclusive battery production facilities in the world. Full-scale recruitment will begin in the second half of 2025. We still have roughly two years to production, but most of these batteries coming from this factory will be delivered to Tesla.
This will be a significant supply of batteries from the United States, qualifying for all of the tax credits for Tesla's EVs and potentially for their megapack as well, actually finally using LFP cells. That will also qualify for all of the tax credits. More 4680 supply for Tesla made in America. This is a huge W. Just to show you in case you have not been following along, LG said earlier it was reassessing the Arizona plant project, citing unfavorable business conditions including increasing costs driven by rising inflation. But that's been sorted out and construction has begun.
The DOE just announced $4 billion in tax credits for over 100 projects, of which 2.7 billion has been allocated for clean energy manufacturing, including solar, which we desperately need to wean ourselves off of China. This funding forms the first round of this initiative with the Department of Transportation saying it'll issue a notice for the second round of allocations in the coming months. Some of the projects that have received this funding include clean hydrogen fuel cells, energy storage, grid infrastructure and EVs. Of the funding, $800 million will go towards recycling, processing and refining of critical materials.
500 million will be committed to industrial decarbonization projects. For the first round, the DOE received 250 applications from projects requesting a total of $13.5 billion in credits. BYD basically released one odd photo of an EV pickup truck that they plan to launch and really no other details. Here's the picture of the truck, which is covered in what I'm guessing is some form of camouflage. All they really said was they plan to launch this later this year in global markets.
In a new Tesla app version, there's now the ability for non-Tesla owners to demo more parts of the app. Things like remote access, climate controls and planning a trip and finding chargers. Coming from a five-year-old ice car myself, the ability to set the climate through the app is such a beautiful thing. Giving people the option to demo that is, I think, a wise move. Tesla stock closed the day at $171.11 up 1.62% while the NASDAQ was down 1.4%. It was a high-volume day for Tesla trading about 26 million shares above the average volume the past 30 days.
Don't forget to check out AG1 linked below if you're interested. Hope you guys have a wonderful day. Please like the video if you did. You can find me on X-linked below and a huge thank you to all of my Patreon supporters.