Electrified Speedways & Legal Highways
Kilowatt: A Podcast about Electric VehiclesFebruary 04, 2024
465
00:24:4622.68 MB

Electrified Speedways & Legal Highways

[00:00.000 --> 00:07.040] Welcome to your daily affirmations. Repeat after me. Working with others is easier than ever. [00:07.040 --> 00:12.080] I strive for perfect collaboration. Our teamwork keeps getting better. [00:12.080 --> 00:16.880] Yeah, affirmations are great, but monday.com can really get you the teamwork you desire. [00:16.880 --> 00:22.960] Work together easily and share files, updates, data, and just about anything you want all in one platform. [00:22.960 --> 00:27.040] Affirm yes to start. Or tap the banner to go to monday.com. [00:30.080 --> 00:35.600] We made USAA insurance for veterans like James. When he found out how much USAA was helping [00:35.600 --> 00:40.960] members save, he said, it's time to switch. We'll help you find the right coverage at the right price. [00:40.960 --> 00:45.040] USAA. What you're made of, we're made for. Restriction supply. [01:00.000 --> 01:13.040] Hello everyone and welcome to Kilowatt, a podcast about electric vehicles, autonomous driving, [01:13.040 --> 01:19.360] renewable energy, and much, much more. My name is Bodhi and I am your host. On today's episode, [01:19.360 --> 01:23.520] we're going to talk all about a lot of different stuff. Really. This is kind of one of those [01:24.080 --> 01:28.080] cleanup episodes. Like there's lots of news stories that I wanted to talk about, [01:28.080 --> 01:34.320] but none of them really fit that well together. Normally I tried to create a narrative for this [01:34.320 --> 01:41.680] show and let one article kind of like flow into another. I don't know if I always, [01:41.680 --> 01:46.080] I always am successful at that, but today I'm definitely not going to be successful at it [01:46.080 --> 01:52.400] because they just don't, they don't seem to match and meld. A number of you wrote in and talked [01:52.480 --> 01:58.800] about my cynicism when it came to General Motors earnings calls. Thank you very much. Everybody [01:58.800 --> 02:03.280] was very positive. Even if they didn't agree with my take, everybody was very nice and very [02:03.280 --> 02:08.560] polite. So I always appreciate that. I think after talking to a few of these folks, I think [02:08.560 --> 02:15.120] what it really comes down to, and I kind of had this epiphany is that I'm just disappointed in [02:15.760 --> 02:21.040] GM. I just want to be clear that I'm not tearing General Motors down because they're [02:21.040 --> 02:26.480] having a hard time getting the old team platform up and running. I think building an electric car [02:26.480 --> 02:33.360] or any vehicle or anything for that matter is extraordinarily difficult. What I'm frustrated with [02:34.080 --> 02:40.320] is their messaging, which from my perspective is just a lot of deflection. But anyway, [02:40.320 --> 02:44.080] we're not here to talk about that because honestly, I could go for another 20 minutes [02:44.080 --> 02:50.080] just on that subject alone. So let's move on to our Evie news ocean one, which is a YouTube [02:50.080 --> 02:57.920] channel dedicated to the Fisker ocean. The person that runs that channel did a 4000 mile review [02:57.920 --> 03:03.520] on the pros and cons of the Fisker ocean. The video is about 25 minutes long. I'll put a link [03:03.520 --> 03:09.760] in the show notes. I don't want to take anything away from this creator, but I really learned a [03:09.760 --> 03:15.360] lot about the Fisker ocean. So and I know some of you out there own Fisker oceans. So if you [03:15.360 --> 03:21.920] want to watch it and tell me if this creator's thoughts and your thoughts are similar, let me [03:21.920 --> 03:30.000] know. My email is Bodhi B O D I E at nine one eight digital.com on Sunday, February 4th, [03:30.000 --> 03:38.400] the national association for stock car auto racing or NASCAR is debuting their first EV race car. [03:39.920 --> 03:44.000] We don't know much about this, but I'm really happy that it's happening. [03:44.080 --> 03:48.640] Not because I love racing. I think auto racing is fine. It's just not really for me, [03:49.520 --> 03:56.320] but because the technology that gets developed for these racing teams will eventually make its [03:56.320 --> 04:02.640] way down to us, regular schlubs, and maybe go into a car that we might buy someday. And I'm [04:02.640 --> 04:10.240] especially curious as to what NASCAR is going to do with the battery swaps or fast charging. [04:10.240 --> 04:15.120] I'm guessing these are going to be battery swabs, but we'll find out tomorrow, February 4th. [04:16.560 --> 04:22.720] Let's see if you live in the United States, you can now lease a VIN fast VF eight for [04:22.720 --> 04:30.080] $249 a month. And this is a 36 month term, which is insane. Now you're going to have to [04:30.080 --> 04:35.600] put a little upfront is $944 due at signing. You also have to pay taxes on that. And there's [04:35.600 --> 04:39.760] some other fees. So it's a little bit more than that, but it's not, that's not bad. Let's say [04:39.760 --> 04:48.800] you're under $2,500 for upfront costs. That gets you a pretty decent vehicle with a 264 mile range. [04:48.800 --> 04:53.840] And just in case you were curious as to how VIN fast did in terms of deliveries in the United [04:53.840 --> 05:02.960] States in 2023, they delivered nearly 35,000 cars in 2023, which is about half as good as [05:02.960 --> 05:11.680] general motors. So there's a real world possibility that in 2024 VIN fast will deliver more cars, [05:11.680 --> 05:17.840] more electric cars, I should say, than general motors does in 2024. While we're on the topic [05:17.840 --> 05:25.040] of EV car sales, I want to thank Jamie for tipping me off to this next story. We're going to talk a [05:25.040 --> 05:34.720] little bit about car sales in Ireland. So EV sales in Ireland are up 12% over the same time last year. [05:34.720 --> 05:41.520] And to put that into perspective, in January of 2024, there was a total of [05:41.520 --> 05:53.040] 31,470 new cars sold in Ireland. 4,109 of them were electric vehicles. According to the society [05:53.040 --> 06:01.920] of the Irish motor industry or semi, these are the top 10 electric vehicles sold in January of 2024. [06:02.720 --> 06:15.680] Number one is Volkswagen. Then we have Hyundai, BYD, Kia, MG, Nissan, BMW, Skoda, which is owned by [06:15.680 --> 06:22.400] Volkswagen, Mercedes, and Volvo. So when Jamie sent this list, I was curious. It's like, why [06:22.480 --> 06:30.000] isn't Tesla in the top 10 of electric vehicles sold in Ireland? And Jamie wrote back very quickly, [06:30.000 --> 06:36.720] by the way. And Jamie said that cars tend to come to Ireland shores or the ports in waves. [06:37.280 --> 06:43.120] And it takes a little bit of time for them to go through customs. And right now there's a backlog [06:43.120 --> 06:49.920] of cars and probably other products waiting on documents to be processed. So I'll be curious to [06:49.920 --> 06:57.600] know what happens in February of 2023 in Ireland. And now we have two more quick little bits to wrap [06:57.600 --> 07:08.560] up our EV news segment. 268,785. Why is that number important? Well, that is Hyundai's global [07:08.560 --> 07:17.120] 2023 EV sales. It seems like this should go without saying, but the IONIQ 5 and IONIQ 6 [07:17.120 --> 07:24.080] made up the bulk of those sales. I don't have numbers for Kia or Genesis, just Hyundai at the [07:24.080 --> 07:31.920] moment. But when I do get those, I will pass them along as well. And then bringing things back to [07:31.920 --> 07:39.920] the United States, the overall auto industry rose 8% here in the US, but the EV industry [07:39.920 --> 07:47.120] grew by 29% in the fourth quarter of 2023. So what does that mean for you and me? Probably nothing. [07:47.920 --> 07:53.200] Just interesting GWAS information. Since we were already on the topic, I figured I should just [07:53.200 --> 07:58.480] include it. All right, it's a new month. You know what that means? It's time to thank our [07:58.480 --> 08:06.160] patrons and we are just going to go newest to oldest here in order. Starting off with [08:06.160 --> 08:18.720] Charles S. Paul. John. Just another Nick. Charles F. Electron Raceway Fabricator. Scott. Jean. [08:18.720 --> 08:32.320] Chris B. Jamie. Mo Cowbell. Dawn. Christopher. Stephen. Alex. Allen. FriendlySleet66. Joseph. [08:32.320 --> 08:47.440] Gerbo. Steve. Bruce W. Isaiah. Howard. Bruce C. Michael. Rolando. Tommaso. Chip. Chris S. B. [08:48.400 --> 08:58.160] Sierra. Dale. Dawn. Cameron. Nate. Mark. And James. Those are our Patreon supporters. Moving on to [08:58.240 --> 09:06.320] our Acast Plus supporters, Ravi and Sean. Thank you all so much for supporting the show. It means [09:06.320 --> 09:12.080] a lot. I really appreciate your support. I haven't done the math yet, but I'm pretty sure this is [09:12.080 --> 09:19.200] the first year this podcast is ever broken even. And if it hasn't broken even, it is [09:19.760 --> 09:25.120] pretty close to breaking even. So thank you all so much for your generosity. I really appreciate [09:25.440 --> 09:29.760] it. If you're interested in supporting the show, you can go to patreon.com forward slash kilowatt [09:30.560 --> 09:37.680] or you can check the show notes and there'll be a link for supporting us on Acast or a link [09:37.680 --> 09:46.000] for supporting us on Patreon. We made USAA insurance for veterans like James. When he found out how [09:46.000 --> 09:51.040] much USAA was helping members save, he said, it's time to switch. We'll help you find the right [09:51.040 --> 09:56.640] coverage at the right price. USAA what you're made of or made for restrictions apply. [09:59.600 --> 10:07.040] Okey doke. Let's go ahead and move on to our Tesla news. Tesla is building a small LFP battery [10:07.040 --> 10:15.600] cell factory with partner CATL in Nevada. Sounds like CATL had some extra machines laying around [10:15.600 --> 10:20.880] that weren't doing anything. So it seemed like a good idea for the two companies to get together [10:21.440 --> 10:28.720] and build a small factory that will supply cells for the mega packs. So that's, that's pretty neat. [10:29.760 --> 10:34.640] Just imagine having enough equipment sitting around doing nothing that you're like, you know, [10:34.640 --> 10:38.480] it'd be useful. Let's just build a whole new factory because otherwise we're just not even [10:38.480 --> 10:45.200] going to use this equipment. And I would imagine that a small battery factory by today's standards [10:45.280 --> 10:52.480] would have been an enormous battery factory 15 years ago. Just guessing. All right. The [10:52.480 --> 10:57.520] national highway transportation safety administration was looking into steering [10:57.520 --> 11:02.960] issues found on some Tesla models. It sounds like it was mostly on the model three and the model [11:02.960 --> 11:11.600] Y. Well, they've gone beyond looking into the issue. They have now moved on to the engineering [11:11.600 --> 11:16.240] analysis. So they investigated it and they said, you know what, let's have some engineering folks [11:16.240 --> 11:21.760] look at it and see what they think. So that puts it one step closer to a recall. Apparently Tesla [11:21.760 --> 11:27.520] owners were reporting a loss of steering control with the occasional message on the screen saying [11:27.520 --> 11:32.880] that power steering was either reduced or disabled, which made the car more difficult to turn. [11:33.760 --> 11:40.240] This may be caused by steering rack failures, which I would imagine if this does get to a [11:40.240 --> 11:44.880] recall, this is not going to be one of those recalls that can be fixed with the software update. [11:44.880 --> 11:53.040] It's actually going to be a physical fix. This could potentially affect 334,000 Teslas. [11:55.680 --> 12:03.120] Let's go ahead and jump into some cyber truck news. There have been a lot of conflicting reports [12:03.120 --> 12:07.440] on the cyber truck. There's a lot of people saying a lot of things about this, this truck [12:07.440 --> 12:13.680] and some of it good. A lot of it bad. I'm not going to wait into that poll because if you bought [12:13.680 --> 12:20.640] this truck, enjoy it. Some of the criticism out there could be, you know, valid criticism. [12:20.640 --> 12:26.320] And what it seems like to me, a lot of it out there is just wanting the cyber truck and Tesla [12:26.320 --> 12:34.400] and mostly Elon to fail. So I have genuinely no idea how this truck is in real life. I do know [12:34.400 --> 12:40.000] somebody who has one and that person really enjoys it. So for a variety of reasons, I haven't [12:40.000 --> 12:45.200] really touched on those stories about how the cyber trucks failing or succeeding in one way or [12:45.200 --> 12:50.880] another, simply because there's not enough out there, I think, to really know how it's going to [12:50.880 --> 12:56.160] do until we get a lot of these trucks on the road. And I just want to see normal people do [12:56.160 --> 13:00.480] normal things with the truck. And as more of that data comes in, we'll start talking about the [13:00.560 --> 13:04.240] successes and the failures of the cyber truck. But right now, I'm not going to hit the cyber [13:04.240 --> 13:09.120] truck too hard. It's a new product. There are bound to be some downsides to this vehicle. [13:09.120 --> 13:17.760] Tesla does have a reputation of making things better, not worse. So yeah. Now I told you all [13:17.760 --> 13:23.920] that so I could tell you this. The arrow wheel covers on the cyber truck seem to be chewing up [13:23.920 --> 13:31.280] the side walls of the tires, which is obviously no bueno. Tesla has stopped including the arrow [13:31.280 --> 13:38.160] wheel covers with the cyber truck until they can figure out how to fix this issue. And I reached [13:38.160 --> 13:42.480] out to that person that I know that does have a cyber truck and they did confirm that they did [13:42.480 --> 13:49.120] not get the arrow wheel covers with their cyber truck. And that little interaction is probably [13:49.120 --> 13:55.920] the closest I'll ever get to investigative journalism. All right. Let's see here. Tesla [13:55.920 --> 14:00.560] dropped the price of the all wheel drive and rear wheel drive model wise in Canada, [14:00.560 --> 14:09.600] and it now qualifies for up to a $7,000 rebate in Quebec. Now the total rebate, [14:09.600 --> 14:16.320] if you live in Quebec, could be up to $12,000. Let me explain. The model Y rear wheel drive [14:16.320 --> 14:24.880] decreased by $4,000, which brings the starting price to $53,990. With that starting price, [14:25.440 --> 14:32.000] the rear wheel drive version of the model Y qualifies for an additional $5,000 credit or [14:32.000 --> 14:41.200] up to, I should say, and that is a total of up to a $12,000 rebate. So that's pretty impressive. [14:41.920 --> 14:50.960] The model Y all wheel drive also saw a $4,000 decrease and that currently starts at $63,990 [14:50.960 --> 14:59.120] and also qualifies for that $5,000 rebate, federal rebate from the federal government in Canada. [15:00.240 --> 15:03.840] So I asked this to my Canadian friends, what are your thoughts on this? [15:04.400 --> 15:09.200] Obviously, if you live in Quebec, this is amazing. But what about the other provinces? [15:09.200 --> 15:17.280] What are your thoughts? You can email me. It's Bode, B-O-D-I-E at 918-digital.com. [15:19.440 --> 15:27.200] Let's see. Oh, you know what? Tesla is relaunching lifetime supercharger transfers. So if you own [15:27.200 --> 15:35.680] the Tesla with free lifetime supercharging and you take delivery of a new model S, X, or Y by [15:35.680 --> 15:42.880] March 31st, 2024, you can actually transfer your lifetime supercharging from that old vehicle to one [15:42.880 --> 15:47.520] of these newer vehicles. And one of the things that I thought was interesting is I think this is the [15:47.520 --> 15:54.640] first time that the model Y has been included when Tesla's offered these supercharger lifetime [15:54.640 --> 16:00.640] supercharger transfer deals. If you're one of those folks with a older Tesla that has this [16:00.640 --> 16:08.800] lifetime supercharging, is this enough to get you to buy a newer model? Even if it isn't an S or X, [16:08.800 --> 16:13.680] maybe you go with the Y, which I think is a great deal, by the way. Is that something to get you [16:14.640 --> 16:18.800] to pull the trigger and buy a new car? Go ahead and email me and I'll give you [16:18.800 --> 16:27.840] the email again at the end of the show. Tesla is being sued by 25 California counties over [16:28.480 --> 16:36.720] mishandling of hazardous waste at its facilities. And by mishandling, Tesla is accused of improperly [16:36.720 --> 16:42.160] labeling waste and sending it to landfills. And this waste includes paint, brake fluid, [16:42.160 --> 16:48.640] used batteries, antifreeze, and diesel fuel. Tesla has faced allegations related to waste [16:49.280 --> 16:55.600] management practices in the past. In 2019, they settled with the Environmental Protection Agency. [16:56.400 --> 17:02.480] In the settlement, Tesla agreed to take steps to properly manage waste at their facilities. [17:02.480 --> 17:13.600] They were fined $31,000 in addition to that agreement. Now, that was in 2019. In 2022, [17:13.600 --> 17:23.360] Tesla was fined an additional $275,000 because they weren't keeping good records or any records, [17:23.360 --> 17:27.920] and they failed to minimize air pollutants from the paint shop at the Fremont plant. [17:28.560 --> 17:32.960] I'll definitely keep an eye on this story and report back when we know more. [17:34.720 --> 17:41.920] Okay, it's time for our final Tesla story. And this story is really, I'm just mentioning this [17:41.920 --> 17:47.760] because it's been in the news, and it's not really about electric cars, but it is about [17:47.760 --> 17:57.600] Elon and Tesla a little bit. Tesla was sued over Elon's $56 or $55 billion pay package, [17:57.600 --> 18:01.840] depending on which article you read. They do both. We're just going to go with $56 billion [18:01.840 --> 18:08.480] in this case. The lawsuit claims that the pay package is ridiculously high and shouldn't [18:08.480 --> 18:15.680] be that high. And to just give you an idea of how big this package is, $56 billion is about [18:15.680 --> 18:24.080] six times larger than the combined pay of 200 of the highest paid executives in 2021. [18:24.080 --> 18:33.920] This is according to Amit Bhattish of ECLR. Tesla is a $600 billion company, and Elon's pay [18:33.920 --> 18:41.360] package would be worth a little bit more than 9% of the total value of Tesla, which is insane. [18:42.000 --> 18:48.960] The plaintiff's side argued that Tesla's board had a duty to offer a more reasonable pay package [18:48.960 --> 18:56.560] or look for another CEO. The plaintiff also argued that the 12 goals that Elon had to meet were far [18:56.560 --> 19:03.520] too easy. And shareholders were not told how easy these goals were going to be to achieve. So [19:03.520 --> 19:10.160] Elon didn't take a salary. And in return, he got a pay package if he met certain goals. [19:10.960 --> 19:18.640] Tesla argued that shareholders were told that the goals were challenging yet attainable, [19:18.640 --> 19:25.120] which I would argue for $56 billion, they should probably be challenging and they should probably [19:25.120 --> 19:32.080] be attainable. From what I understand, the $56 billion pay package is made up of stock options [19:32.080 --> 19:39.040] that have a very low strike price, which would allow Elon to buy the stock ridiculously cheap. [19:39.040 --> 19:46.960] So the Delaware judge because Tesla's incorporated in Delaware, called the compensation an unfathomable [19:46.960 --> 19:54.240] sum and that it was unfair to shareholders. Judge Kathleen McCormick of Delaware's court of [19:54.240 --> 20:01.680] chancery wrote the following in her ruling. The incredible size of the biggest compensation plan [20:01.760 --> 20:09.760] ever. An unfathomable sum seems to have been calibrated to help Musk achieve what he believed [20:10.320 --> 20:17.280] would make a good future for humanity. Now, Elon and Tesla have argued that Elon's going to use [20:17.280 --> 20:22.560] this money to do all of these great things and send people to Mars and maybe he will and he [20:22.560 --> 20:29.200] probably will use some of it. But it doesn't seem like a judge's job is to award something [20:29.200 --> 20:36.640] to somebody based on what they might do with it. Elon could take this $56 billion and just put it [20:36.640 --> 20:41.520] on the bank and do nothing else with it. That's his prerogative or buy Tesla stock. [20:44.320 --> 20:49.120] The directors from Tesla argued that the pay package is designed to ensure that Elon [20:49.120 --> 20:55.600] continues to dedicate his attention to Tesla, to which SpaceX, the boring company, [20:55.600 --> 21:03.440] X, formerly Twitter, Neuralink, and XAI all laughed out loud because Elon is definitely not [21:03.440 --> 21:10.000] giving his full attention to Tesla. Now, at this point, you should already be aware the judge did [21:10.000 --> 21:14.960] side with the shareholders. Well, who are the shareholders? Well, to be specific, it's one [21:14.960 --> 21:21.600] shareholder who holds about nine shares at Tesla and that person's name is Richard Tanada. [21:21.600 --> 21:27.280] Just for a little bit of reference, the California State Teachers Retirement System and some proxy [21:27.280 --> 21:35.760] advisory firms also agree that the pay compensation is way too high. After the judge made the decision, [21:35.760 --> 21:40.400] Elon went to Twitter saying, never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware, [21:41.120 --> 21:46.000] to which I say you didn't seem to have a problem of all of the advantages of incorporating Delaware [21:46.000 --> 21:55.680] up to this point. Elon is also asking shareholders to vote to incorporate in Texas instead of Delaware, [21:55.680 --> 22:02.320] where he thinks that the Texas courts will be much more fair to him. Obviously, on this podcast, [22:02.320 --> 22:07.280] we do not talk about legal or financial matters just because that is so far out of my depth. [22:08.640 --> 22:11.680] None of you would listen to it. And if you did, shame on you, you shouldn't. [22:12.560 --> 22:19.280] I would expect Tesla to appeal this ruling. I have mixed thoughts on this, and I don't really know [22:20.080 --> 22:26.560] that sharing those thoughts brings any benefit to the show. I will say, though, Fred Lambert wrote [22:26.560 --> 22:33.040] a really good article on electric. The article is entitled, I think Elon deserved his $55 billion [22:33.040 --> 22:40.080] compensation, but it doesn't mean he should get it written by Fred Lambert again. And Fred actually [22:40.080 --> 22:46.560] starts the article off with, look, I voted for this package, but here are the reasons why he [22:46.560 --> 22:57.120] shouldn't get it. I will tell you one thing that I think is cool about this. One person with nine [22:57.120 --> 23:04.000] shares in a company, which is a fraction of a fraction of a fraction, I mean, when we go into [23:04.160 --> 23:10.960] millions of a fraction in the company, this one person was able to file a lawsuit on behalf of [23:10.960 --> 23:16.160] shareholders and say, hey, I don't think this is right. And a real life judge actually heard the [23:16.160 --> 23:22.240] case and said, you know what, you got some merits here, I think you're right. I think that's pretty [23:22.240 --> 23:30.800] cool. Whether or not you wanted to Elon to get 55 or $56 billion, the fact that one person can [23:31.360 --> 23:37.920] make that change. One person with such an insignificant number of shares can make that [23:37.920 --> 23:45.440] change is pretty cool. I have no idea what it costs Richard to bring this lawsuit. It probably [23:45.440 --> 23:51.040] was not cheap, but in a world where it seems like we have less and less of a voice, especially [23:51.040 --> 23:57.600] here in the United States, that's good to hear. And I see seems like because it's probably not in [23:57.600 --> 24:02.560] actual reality that we have less and less of a voice. It just feels that way. So anyway, [24:02.560 --> 24:07.680] I was heartened by this story. All right, I will leave it here. I hope you all have [24:08.400 --> 24:12.000] a wonderful weekend or had a wonderful weekend depending on when you listen to this. [24:12.880 --> 24:18.080] If you want to email me, it's Bodhi B O D I E at nine one eight digital.com. You can find me [24:18.080 --> 24:25.520] on X at nine one eight digital. I will say I've been getting a ridiculous amount of bots lately [24:25.520 --> 24:31.200] and I have to block them and it is really irritating almost to the point where I'm ready [24:31.200 --> 24:37.360] to leave X. All of the nonsense that Elon did, all of the nonsense that happened with Twitter [24:37.360 --> 24:46.640] before Elon bought it, I was fine with. But now I have to spend a, you know, five, six minutes [24:46.640 --> 24:52.720] out of my day now and just delete bots or block bots. I don't like it. That's enough for me to [24:52.720 --> 24:59.200] move the needle in and leave for me. So you can, for now, you can follow me on Twitter [24:59.200 --> 25:06.880] or X at nine one eight digital, maybe not forever. Okay, everybody. Thank you so much for listening. [25:06.880 --> 25:11.200] I will talk to you on Tuesday. And by the way, we're going to have Bruce Wilson on [25:11.200 --> 25:14.480] and he's going to talk to us about one pedal driving and blended. Transcription results written to '/home/forge/transcribe3.sonicengage.com/releases/20240204160217' directory