Tesla Layoffs and a Cybertruck Pause

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[00:01:17] Hello everyone and welcome to Kailawadik podcast

[00:01:20] about electric vehicles, renewable energy,

[00:01:22] autonomous driving and much, much more.

[00:01:24] My name is Bode and I am your host

[00:01:27] and on today's episode, I have allergies.

[00:01:31] They're killing me.

[00:01:33] So you can hear it in my voice.

[00:01:35] My voice is not great today, so I apologize for that.

[00:01:38] On today's episode, we have a lot of stories,

[00:01:40] but not a lot of substance.

[00:01:44] So we're going to kick off with some EV news here.

[00:01:47] First up, we have Nikola Motors delivery numbers.

[00:01:51] In Q1 2024, Nikola produced

[00:01:55] 43 class eight hydrogen cell semi trucks

[00:01:59] and they wholesaleed, which means they were sent to dealers,

[00:02:03] 40 of those trucks.

[00:02:05] Nikola did say that they're working on their

[00:02:08] second generation battery electric semi truck.

[00:02:11] And honestly, I don't know if these are good

[00:02:13] or bad numbers for Nikola's

[00:02:15] because we don't really pay that much attention to it,

[00:02:17] but we'll keep an eye on it.

[00:02:19] Lucid Motors produced 1,728 vehicles

[00:02:24] in Q1 2024.

[00:02:26] It was estimated that they would produce 2,123,

[00:02:29] so they fell short of that estimation.

[00:02:32] They delivered though 1,967 vehicles

[00:02:37] and it was only estimated that they would deliver 1,745.

[00:02:41] So they were down on what the market estimated

[00:02:45] they would produce, but up on what the market

[00:02:47] thought they could deliver.

[00:02:49] So congratulations to Lucid on your deliveries.

[00:02:52] Shame on you for what you produced.

[00:02:55] The market didn't think it was enough.

[00:02:57] GM is relaunching their autonomous driving service

[00:03:00] that according to many headlines that I saw,

[00:03:03] but they're not really.

[00:03:06] So GM's autonomous driving services called cruise

[00:03:09] and in San Francisco there was a person that got hit

[00:03:12] and then drug by the vehicle and injured.

[00:03:15] I don't know how bad,

[00:03:16] but GM for a variety of different reasons

[00:03:19] shut down service of crews

[00:03:22] and now they're starting to bring that service back up.

[00:03:26] However, their very first step is not to operate these vehicles.

[00:03:31] Their first step is creating maps and gathering road information

[00:03:35] and these are going to be human powered vehicles

[00:03:38] and the autonomous features of the vehicles

[00:03:40] will not be engaged.

[00:03:42] So these are baby steps to getting back up to where they were

[00:03:46] and hopefully better than they were.

[00:03:49] Fisker has signed one auto dealer in Miami

[00:03:52] and a few more in Europe.

[00:03:55] I'm still rooting for Fisker to pull out of this nosedive

[00:03:58] and hopefully these are again baby steps of doing that.

[00:04:04] GM is building a $3.5 billion battery plant

[00:04:07] near New Carlisle, Indiana.

[00:04:10] Initially, GM was going to partner with LG on this plant,

[00:04:13] but for whatever reason that deal fell through.

[00:04:17] Instead, they're going to be partnering with Samsung SDI.

[00:04:21] GM is planning on using that plant

[00:04:23] to build cylindrical and prismatic cells.

[00:04:26] At the moment, they're prepping the site to begin construction

[00:04:30] by clearing the ground and bringing in utilities

[00:04:33] and all that stuff,

[00:04:34] but actual construction of the plant will begin in 2025

[00:04:38] and then they'll start producing batteries in 2027.

[00:04:43] Ford showed off its new 2024 Mustang Mach-E.

[00:04:48] The 2024 models saw a range bump,

[00:04:51] improved fast charging, and a performance bump

[00:04:54] over the 2023 models.

[00:04:56] Now I've been told by several different people

[00:05:00] that when I read off the trims and the numbers

[00:05:04] it just kind of all gets jumbled and lost in their brain

[00:05:07] and totally understand that.

[00:05:09] So we'll just say that how big of a bump

[00:05:12] depends on the trim that you're looking at.

[00:05:14] In the future, I'll try to find a better way to present that.

[00:05:17] However, right now my nose is all stuffy

[00:05:21] and I have morning voice

[00:05:23] and I'm sure you don't want to hear me reading off numbers

[00:05:26] with this monotone voice that I currently am rocking.

[00:05:29] Ford also reduced the price of the 2024 F-150

[00:05:34] in some cases by as much as $5,500.

[00:05:38] See your local dealer for more information.

[00:06:04] Give it a try at MintMobile.com.

[00:06:34] To catch up on the latest episodes without the ads.

[00:07:05] Millions of people have lost weight with personalized plans from Noom.

[00:07:08] Like Evan, who can't stand salads and still lost 50 pounds.

[00:07:12] Salads generally for most people are the easy button, right?

[00:07:16] For me that wasn't an option.

[00:07:18] I never really was a salad guy.

[00:07:20] That's just not who I am but Noom worked for me.

[00:08:05] If you don't like Patreon, there is an A-Cast Plus option.

[00:08:08] Just check out the link in the show notes

[00:08:11] and you can sign up that way as well.

[00:08:14] In addition to helping support the show

[00:08:16] and getting a good feeling from that,

[00:08:18] you also get an ad free show.

[00:08:21] Okey doke, let's move into our Tesla news.

[00:08:25] Tesla is pausing Cybertruck deliveries

[00:08:27] because of an unexpected delay

[00:08:30] and it sounds like the problem is due to a decorative piece on the accelerator.

[00:08:36] So you have the actual lever that you push down on

[00:08:39] and it makes the car move forward

[00:08:41] and then you have that decorative pedal piece.

[00:08:43] As that decorative pedal piece slips up and off the mechanical piece,

[00:08:48] there are some reports of that decorative piece being stuck

[00:08:51] like on the carpet or wedged in

[00:08:53] so that the accelerator is still pushed down

[00:08:56] even when you lift your foot off

[00:08:58] and the Alisson and Steve Sheridan sent along

[00:09:01] a TikTok video of somebody illustrating this point

[00:09:04] because it happened to them in their Cybertruck.

[00:09:06] Now, the person isn't doing it on the road,

[00:09:08] they're perfectly safe as they're demonstrating this.

[00:09:11] So I'm going to put a link to that in the show notes

[00:09:14] but again thanks to Alisson for sending the video

[00:09:17] and Steve for pointing out what the actual problem was.

[00:09:20] We do have more Cybertruck news.

[00:09:22] Munro Live did a tear down of the Cybertruck

[00:09:25] and it shows that the battery pack is half empty

[00:09:28] or as I like to look at it half full

[00:09:31] and I thought I was very clever with that joke.

[00:09:33] However, Tesla Cybertruck's lead engineer,

[00:09:36] Wes Morrill already made that joke

[00:09:39] so I'll have to turn myself in to the comedy police.

[00:09:42] Back to the battery pack story though.

[00:09:45] No one's really sure why

[00:09:48] there's only half the cells that there could be

[00:09:51] in the battery pack.

[00:09:53] I haven't watched them in Rotary down of the Cybertruck just yet.

[00:09:56] It is on my list after hearing this.

[00:09:58] It's very likely that I'll have watched it before our next episode

[00:10:02] but I'm very curious as to why the Cybertruck battery pack

[00:10:05] is half empty or half full

[00:10:09] but if you want the extended range battery pack

[00:10:12] you have to have that big shelf in the back of your truck.

[00:10:16] So why is that do you think?

[00:10:19] I don't know, I have no idea.

[00:10:21] If you have thoughts on this you can email me

[00:10:24] bodibodeat918digital

[00:10:26] and let me know what you're thinking

[00:10:28] because I honestly have no idea.

[00:10:31] Alright, let's move on to Tesla's $25,000 car

[00:10:35] codenamed NV9.

[00:10:39] According to Electric, the car is on the back burner.

[00:10:43] So a week or so ago we got a Reuters report

[00:10:46] saying that Tesla had cancelled the $25,000 car

[00:10:51] and decided to focus on robotaxis.

[00:10:54] Elon denied this.

[00:10:56] It seemed like that was the end of the story

[00:10:59] but Electric spoke with people familiar with the matter

[00:11:03] and they've said that that car is on the back burner.

[00:11:06] It doesn't mean it's cancelled.

[00:11:08] It just means for whatever reason

[00:11:10] Tesla decided to delay it.

[00:11:13] There are plenty of reasons, valid reasons

[00:11:16] to delay a project like this or even cancel it.

[00:11:19] One of those reasons could be that they can't build the car

[00:11:23] and actually sell it for $25,000 and make a profit

[00:11:26] because that's kind of important when you're a business

[00:11:28] but it's also important to have an affordable car

[00:11:31] that people can buy.

[00:11:33] So companies like BYD want to come into the US

[00:11:36] and they want to start selling their very affordable cars here.

[00:11:41] BYD has received over $3.7 billion in incentives

[00:11:46] from the Chinese government

[00:11:48] while $3.7 billion in the grand scheme of building cars

[00:11:52] isn't a lot of money.

[00:11:54] It can help you or incentivize you to build affordable vehicles

[00:11:58] and BYD has done it.

[00:12:00] I have no idea if they're profitable.

[00:12:02] You know, I don't know if they're selling an $18,000 car

[00:12:06] and they're making any money off of it

[00:12:07] or if the Chinese government is just propping them up

[00:12:10] but it would be very foolish for Tesla to cancel this project

[00:12:14] all together because Chinese companies like BYD and NIO

[00:12:17] would love to come into the US and sell their cars

[00:12:20] and it would be a real issue for US automakers

[00:12:23] if these very affordable Chinese cars

[00:12:26] and pretty impressive for the amount of money that they cost

[00:12:28] came in and started taking market share

[00:12:31] away from these other companies in the US.

[00:12:34] And the way to combat that is to make just as compelling

[00:12:37] and affordable cars.

[00:12:39] And right now US automakers, they're just not doing that.

[00:12:43] Alright, let's move on to full self-driving.

[00:12:46] Tesla launched full self-driving in Canada

[00:12:49] and reduced the subscription price of full self-driving

[00:12:53] from $199 to $99.

[00:12:56] If you want to buy full self-driving though,

[00:12:59] no change in the price, which I think is a mistake

[00:13:02] because at $100 a month for 12 months

[00:13:06] that's $1,200 a year, you would have to own your car

[00:13:09] for 10 years for that to actually make sense to buy it.

[00:13:13] And for a lot of people that just doesn't make sense

[00:13:15] so I do think eventually the price to purchase

[00:13:18] full self-driving will come down or go away altogether.

[00:13:22] But that's the least interesting news about

[00:13:24] full self-driving. I've got more news.

[00:13:27] Some Tesla owners received the full self-driving

[00:13:30] one month trial. I have not received that yet

[00:13:33] and no, I'm not bitter but I'm still kind of bitter.

[00:13:37] Anyway, some of those lucky folks who actually did receive

[00:13:40] the full self-driving trial are claiming that their

[00:13:43] Teslas are hitting or jumping curbs when

[00:13:46] full self-driving or summon mode is activated, allegedly.

[00:13:51] Not surprisingly, these owners went to Tesla

[00:13:54] asking them to take responsibility for the damage

[00:13:57] and according to inside EVs, Tesla's not going to pay

[00:14:00] for the damage to be fixed even though one of the owners

[00:14:03] had proof that FSD was activated and there was

[00:14:07] video showing the damage occurring.

[00:14:10] So, you know, the damage is mostly just tires and stuff

[00:14:13] but those rims are not cheap. They're pretty expensive.

[00:14:17] So this is a problem with over-promising

[00:14:20] on your capabilities for a feature

[00:14:23] and then not taking responsibility

[00:14:26] when there's actual damage.

[00:14:29] I don't think anybody who had experienced this feature

[00:14:34] and then damaged their car is going to pay Tesla

[00:14:37] after this experience the $99 or $12,000 needed

[00:14:41] for full self-driving. Even the most

[00:14:45] die-hard Tesla fan probably would feel a little bit

[00:14:50] shafted by this.

[00:14:55] Alright, just a couple more stories left

[00:14:57] but to be honest, the stories are not all that

[00:15:01] uplifting. They're kind of depressing.

[00:15:04] So Tesla has settled with the family of a 38-year-old

[00:15:07] Model X owner who passed away after his vehicle

[00:15:10] hit a concrete barrier on a freeway in northern California.

[00:15:14] The vehicle was going about 71 miles per hour

[00:15:17] when it actually hit the concrete barrier.

[00:15:20] Autopilot was engaged.

[00:15:23] So if you remember this, the owner, his name is Walter Hong,

[00:15:26] he had complained to Tesla a few weeks

[00:15:29] or even a few days earlier about the car swerving

[00:15:33] towards this specific concrete barrier

[00:15:36] when Autopilot was engaged.

[00:15:39] The National Transportation Safety Board actually ruled

[00:15:42] that Autopilot was partially responsible for the accident.

[00:15:46] Hong had the other part of the responsibility

[00:15:49] because he was playing a game on his phone

[00:15:52] prior to the car hitting the barrier.

[00:15:55] Recently, Hong's family brought a lawsuit against Tesla.

[00:15:59] Tesla and the family have now settled that lawsuit.

[00:16:02] No word on what the terms of the settlement were

[00:16:05] but that matter has been settled.

[00:16:08] Alright, moving on to our final story of the episode.

[00:16:11] Tesla is laying off 10% of its workforce.

[00:16:14] Right now, Tesla has just over 140,000 employees.

[00:16:19] So they're laying off about 14,000 in total.

[00:16:22] According to a possibly leaked email from Elon

[00:16:26] to Tesla employees, the layoffs had to do

[00:16:31] with Tesla's rapid growth and then they duplicated roles

[00:16:35] and job functions.

[00:16:37] So I'm going to read the email to you here.

[00:16:39] Over the years we have grown rapidly

[00:16:41] with multiple factories scaling around the globe.

[00:16:44] With this rapid growth there has been

[00:16:48] duplication of roles and job functions

[00:16:50] in certain areas.

[00:16:52] As we prepare the company for our next phase of growth

[00:16:55] it is extremely important to look at every aspect

[00:16:58] of the company for cost reductions and increasing productivity.

[00:17:02] As part of this effort, we have done a thorough review

[00:17:06] of the organization and made the difficult decision

[00:17:09] to reduce our headcount by more than 10% globally.

[00:17:14] There's nothing I hate more but it must be done.

[00:17:18] This will enable us to be lean, innovative, and hungry

[00:17:21] for the next growth phase cycle.

[00:17:24] I would like to thank everyone who has

[00:17:26] departed Tesla for their hard work over the years.

[00:17:29] I am deeply grateful for your many contributions

[00:17:32] to our mission and we wish you well

[00:17:34] in your future opportunities.

[00:17:36] It is very difficult to say goodbye.

[00:17:39] For those remaining, I would like to thank you in advance

[00:17:41] for the difficult job that remains ahead.

[00:17:43] We are developing some of the most revolutionary

[00:17:46] technologies in auto-energy and artificial intelligence

[00:17:50] as we prepare the company for that next phase of growth.

[00:17:54] Your resolve will make a huge difference

[00:17:56] in getting us there.

[00:17:58] Thanks Elon.

[00:18:00] So honestly, I'm not surprised that this happened.

[00:18:02] I am surprised how long Tesla was able to hold off

[00:18:06] and not do layoffs because tech companies

[00:18:09] and automakers around the world are laying off employees.

[00:18:12] So this doesn't surprise me in the least

[00:18:14] and it's not new for Tesla to evaluate the health of the company

[00:18:17] and find out, you know, is there duplication?

[00:18:20] Elon is big on not duplicating job functions.

[00:18:24] When I first started this podcast,

[00:18:26] when Tesla almost went bankrupt or allegedly was going

[00:18:29] bankrupt and I think it's probably they were almost

[00:18:32] bankrupt, Elon and the team at Tesla went through

[00:18:35] and looked at all the employees and the contractors

[00:18:37] and what they actually did for the company

[00:18:39] and they found a tremendous amount of bloat

[00:18:41] and they made a huge cut to staff at that point in time

[00:18:46] and this should come as a surprise to no one

[00:18:49] because Elon likes running or having that startup feel

[00:18:53] when he's running his companies and, you know,

[00:18:55] he went into Twitter and laid a ton of people off.

[00:18:58] So I guess what I'm saying is the biggest take away from this

[00:19:01] is that Tesla waited so long honestly to lay folks off

[00:19:05] because it was coming.

[00:19:07] They just have a history of doing it.

[00:19:09] With any luck, the employees who are laid off

[00:19:11] will have enough severance to give them a bit of time

[00:19:14] to collect themselves and find another job

[00:19:16] and land on their feet.

[00:19:18] So best of luck to everybody who is getting those layoff notices.

[00:19:21] Now this is not really related to the layoffs

[00:19:24] but senior vice president of powertrain

[00:19:27] and energy Drew Baglino is leaving Tesla.

[00:19:31] He didn't give a specific reason for this

[00:19:34] but you've heard Drew on earnings calls

[00:19:36] and he's been at other Tesla events.

[00:19:38] He's leaving, he's been with the company for 18 years.

[00:19:41] I read a lot of articles of people trying to read the tea leaves on this.

[00:19:44] I don't think it's anything except for this guy's worked

[00:19:47] for 18 years for the same company

[00:19:49] and he wants to move on.

[00:19:51] I'm going to play one news report

[00:19:54] that sums up our Tesla segment really nicely.

[00:19:57] Some of the things that they mentioned in the report

[00:20:00] like Tesla pausing orders or deliveries of the Cybertruck

[00:20:05] and the Drew Baglino leaving and the layoffs

[00:20:11] I don't think any of those things have anything to do with one another

[00:20:14] but they mention it because all of these things happened this week.

[00:20:17] But what I want you to concentrate on is how Tesla

[00:20:22] notified some of these employees that they were laid off.

[00:20:26] So I'm going to play the video

[00:20:28] and then we'll chat for a moment on the other side.

[00:20:30] Cybertrucks lined the side of the highway in southeast Austin

[00:20:34] a minute reports that Tesla is temporarily holding deliveries.

[00:20:38] As a top Tesla,

[00:20:40] Exac announces his resignation on Twitter

[00:20:43] and the company announces mass layoffs.

[00:20:45] Just out of the blue they laid me off.

[00:20:50] Until Monday, Bradley Olson worked on Model Ys at the Gigafactory.

[00:20:54] At 2 a.m. which is middle of the day for me

[00:20:59] because I was night shift overnight shift.

[00:21:02] Just look at my phone and my Microsoft Teams logged me out.

[00:21:07] I was like, oh, okay, I probably just need to reset my password.

[00:21:11] But then I try and they said

[00:21:15] and then it says my account was blocked

[00:21:17] and I had like a straight up panic attack.

[00:21:22] Some employees even showed up to work Monday morning.

[00:21:25] I was literally standing outside trying to figure out

[00:21:28] why my bad isn't working.

[00:21:30] Why isn't that I can't log in?

[00:21:32] The employees Fox 7 spoke to were sent an email

[00:21:35] notifying them around three Monday morning.

[00:21:38] It notes the need for cost reductions and increasing productivity

[00:21:42] though quote this decision was not made lightly.

[00:21:45] Employees were told in the memo that their last working day

[00:21:49] was Sunday, the day prior.

[00:21:51] Also included in the email a warned notice

[00:21:54] in case of quotes any possible obligation under federal or state law.

[00:21:59] The warn act requires companies with a certain number of employees

[00:22:03] to provide notice 60 days in advance ahead of plant closures

[00:22:07] or mass layoffs.

[00:22:09] Official employment termination will occur as early as June 14th

[00:22:13] and according to Tesla, employees will receive further information

[00:22:17] regarding severance packages and benefits continuation

[00:22:21] within 48 hours of the original email.

[00:22:24] It's ridiculous.

[00:22:26] The bomb that they just dropped on me and like who knows how many other people

[00:22:31] this is this is sad.

[00:22:33] This is the heads up would have been nice.

[00:22:39] All right, so if this video is true

[00:22:42] Tesla turning off people's teams accounts

[00:22:46] or turning off their badges or sending an email in the middle of the night

[00:22:51] to notify people that they no longer have a job

[00:22:54] and that they'll reach out to them within 48 hours

[00:22:57] with their severance information.

[00:22:59] That is unacceptable.

[00:23:01] That is, there's no reason to cause that much undue stress

[00:23:07] to folks who are losing their job.

[00:23:09] That is an absolute ridiculous way to do it.

[00:23:13] I don't know if it's true.

[00:23:15] I would imagine because this came from a news source

[00:23:19] that the new source is going to report accurately

[00:23:23] but I'm going to give Tesla the benefit of the doubt here

[00:23:27] until I read it in more locations.

[00:23:29] I've only seen it from this one news source.

[00:23:31] If that is true, that is absolutely unacceptable

[00:23:34] and Tesla should be ashamed of themselves.

[00:23:37] That is no way to treat people who are working for you

[00:23:42] and in Elon's email he said that he was grateful

[00:23:46] that they came and they worked so hard for the company.

[00:23:51] That's not showing your gratitude.

[00:23:54] That's being a coward.

[00:23:56] So I will leave it there.

[00:23:59] Let's go ahead and give you my email.

[00:24:03] If you want to email me, my email is bodi.

[00:24:05] B-O-D-I-E at 918digital.com.

[00:24:08] You can find me on Twitter or X at 918digital.

[00:24:11] Yeah, I hope everybody enjoyed this episode.

[00:24:14] My voice got better at the end.

[00:24:16] The allergy medicine kicked in

[00:24:18] and I sound almost normal, I think.

[00:24:21] It was real touch-and-go there at the beginning.

[00:24:24] But yeah, I hope you all have a wonderful week

[00:24:27] and we have more news on Friday.