I couldn’t get the fable of the scorpion and the frog out of my head this morning as I contemplated what it means that Tesla has decided it maybe it isn’t going to expand its Supercharging network as much as it once promised it would. This seems bad for everyone, including Tesla owners, but maybe more so for the other automakers who decided to switch to Tesla’s charging standard.
The first big automaker to switch to the standard was Ford, and it’s maybe wishing more of its cars were EVs given that it’s facing more scrutiny from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is not super pleased about Ford’s supposed fix for its potentially fiery Bronco Sports and Escapes.
In better news, Mazda was able to ride a lower Japanese yen and a global yearning for hybrids to record profits. It’s not making Toyota money, but it’s making money.
And, finally, it’s Friday and I like to end on a high note, so I’m going to share a trailer for a new documentary about Le Mans created by some old friends.
WTF Tesla?
This week is going to be bookended by Tesla-led TMDs, which is something I like to avoid, but they’ve been making more moves than Mario Andretti since announcing a weak (for them) first quarter.
A couple of weeks ago it came out that Tesla was letting go of most of its Supercharging network team, and I made the point that Tesla should just sell (or spinoff) the business. You can go back and read it if you like. If you don’t have the time, here’s the rough idea:
- Tesla’s network was a moat, but if everyone can access it then the moat goes away.
- Tesla seems less interested in being a car company and making steady money, instead, it wants cash to make Moon Lambo money on AI and robots.
- Selling/spinning off could be good timing for Tesla.
Of course, what seems to have happened is that Tesla has just picked the worst possible outcome for everyone. Instead of selling a thing with an incredible edge, the company instead seems to have killed some of the inherent value.
Here are all the reasons why this is terrible, ranked by who gets screwed the most.
Bad: President Joe Biden/Biden Administration
One of the holdups in having robust EV sales is that people are worried there are not going to be enough functional chargers in convenient places if they buy an electric car. This isn’t entirely wrong! One of the reasons everyone went to Tesla’s standard in the first place is that charging networks like VW-created Electrify America were so bad that automakers just gave up hope of it ever working.
The Biden Administration’s goal was to build out 500,000 new EV chargers and, via the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, was planning to give out $5 billion to do it. Guess who was going to get a lot of that money? Tesla.
There was some concern early on that NEVI shouldn’t go to Tesla Superchargers given that they only served Teslas, but automakers solved this problem by announcing a switch to the Tesla NACS charging design.
But what now? Via Reuters:
Since news of Tesla’s abrupt EV charging layoffs surfaced, however, executives at charging companies say they have been receiving phone calls from landlords looking for a new partner for their private charging projects after Tesla pulled out.
Now, the charging companies are preparing for Tesla to pull out of the federal program. That, they say, could throw a new wrench into an already-slow rollout.
“It’s going to delay NEVI rollout. There’s no question about it,” said Aatish Patel, co-founder of XCharge North America, which makes EV chargers for fleets and charging station operators.
If Tesla backs out, then the solicitation by states for NEVI-funded charging projects starts over, he told Reuters. “A lot of these sites aren’t going to get built this year, or within the time frames that were initially dictated.”
I don’t know if you know this, but government programs only give out money very slowly, and this could make the roll-out of more EV chargers even slower. That’s bad.
Bad: Tesla Owners
If you own a Tesla and have enjoyed having to only share chargers with other Teslas you’ve probably not had to wait too long at a Supercharger station unless you’re in a specific market or use it at a specific time. That’s one of the perks, relative to chargers like those from Electrify America (also, Tesla’s uptime for its chargers is higher, which helps with this).
When Tesla started onboarding new automakers, the presumption was that Tesla would have a lot more Superchargers, therefore reducing the total impact on Tesla’s own customers.
That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. Here’s what Musk said when the news was announced:
Tesla still plans to grow the Supercharger network, just at a slower pace for new locations and more focus on 100% uptime and expansion of existing locations
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 30, 2024
The company already brags about having 99.95% uptime, so I’m not sure how much there’s to be gained by going to 100% uptime (well, it’s a 5 basis point improvement, I guess).
Musk did sort of walk this back a little today:
Just to reiterate: Tesla will spend well over $500M expanding our Supercharger network to create thousands of NEW chargers this year.
That’s just on new sites and expansions, not counting operations costs, which are much higher.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 10, 2024
That’s hard to square with all the landlords reportedly looking for new charging tenants and firing much of that division. Maybe Musk did a full turnaround or maybe this is just more smoke and mirrors. Who knows?
Bad: Other Automakers
Last year I wrote that it seemed like Tesla had won the charging wars after most automakers agreed to adopt Tesla’s NACS charging standard. This would give brands like Chevy and Ford the opportunity to point out to prospective customers that they can access the Supercharging network.
That’ll still be true, but will the expansion of Superchargers match the demand for them? Again, it’s unclear, but Musk inadvertently just made the access to the network seem that much less appealing.
If I were a CEO at one of those other companies I’d be pretty furious.
Ok, so we know how it’s bad for, but who is it good for?
Good: Other Charging Companies
The charging arm of oil company BP has already told landlords it’s happy to pick up those leases, saying it plans to spend $1 billion on charging the rest of this decade.
Good: Tesla
Congrats, you got everyone to switch over to your standard and it seems that you kinda sucker-punched them.
Again, it’s hard to know with anything Elon-related where the truth lies, but saying Tesla will expand slowly and firing everyone isn’t a good sign.
NHTSA To Ford: Ok, But F’real How Does This Work?
While Ford has said it’s working harder to avoid recalls and quality issues, it’s not there yet. If you own a specific vintage of Ford Bronco Sport or Ford Escape you may have had your vehicle in for a recall to fix an issue related to faulty fuel injectors that could result in a fire.
Here’s how the issue is described by NHTSA:
Failure or malfunction of the subject component resulting in a fuel leak, fuel odor inside and/or outside of the vehicle, accumulation of liquid fuel and/or fuel vapor near ignition sources, and under hood fires.
And here’s the suggested fix, via the AP:
Ford’s remedy for the leaks is to add a drain tube to send the gas away from hot surfaces, and a software update to detect a pressure drop in the fuel injection system. If that happens, the software will disable the high pressure fuel pump, reduce engine power and cut temperatures in the engine compartment. Owners also will get a “seek service” message.
And here’s NHTSA’s response to that fix:
Based on our review of the alleged defect, the resulting consequences, and the recall’s remedy program, ODI believes that the remedy program does not address the root cause of the issue and does not proactively call for the replacement of defective fuel injectors prior to their failure; therefore, ODI has decided to investigate the adequacy and various safety concerns of the remedy program described in NHTSA Recall 24V-187.
Ford has to provide a lot of details to NHTSA to explain why the fix will actually work, prove that it doesn’t just spill gasoline everywhere, and show that it’ll reduce fires.
Mazda’s Raking In That Yen
When Toyota announced its annual results (on a March-to-March fiscal year) it admitted it made more profit than any Japanese public company had ever made before. Some of those profits were because the company makes attractive hybrids efficiently. Some of it was Japanese currency fluctuations.
Do you know who else makes hybrids and exports a crap ton of cars? Mazda!
The company just reported its FY 2024 results and it’s all about the operating income, which is up a wild 76.4% year-over-year, or about $1.7 billion. At the same time, revenue went up about 24% to $32 billion.
Mazda makes most of its cars in Japan, meaning the dramatic drop in the yen had an outside impact on the company’s bottom line. Hybrids are also a big part of Mazda’s present and future, and the company is already planning to roll out a hybrid CX-50 in the second half of the year.
Watch The Trailer For No Perfect Formula
I left the production company TangentVector a little less than two years ago to join The Autopian and go on this adventure with all of you. The reality of filmmaking is that the distance between pitching the idea and doing it, as measured in time, is quite large.
One of the last things I briefly worked on was a pitch for this documentary about Cadillac going to Le Mans. Now it’s a whole movie that’ll be airing on Hagerty’s FAST channel later this month at 7:00 PM. Watch the trailer! It’s great and has a very Truth in 24 vibe.
Having made a Le Mans doc with much of this crew I was a little jealous watching them post on Instagram about being there, but also grateful I didn’t have to deal with French rental cars.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
Ezra Furman is so good and her work on the Sex Education soundtracks perfectly encapsulates that feeling of profound teenage yearning the show also does, along with a healthy dose of sweaty angst and gleeful stupidity. I can’t even pick out a best song, just listen to all of them. #teamruby
The Big Question
What’s your favorite motorsport film? It can be a doc or it can be fiction.
I’m going to ask here since it’s easier than looking for information myself.
Is NACS proprietary to tesla? What is preventing another charging company from building a knockoff supercharger that uses the same plug?
NACS was opened up for anyone to use. It’s new official name is SAE J3400.
Nothing, it’s just that the other charging networks have demonstrated an inability to build and maintain their infrastructure. The killer feature of adopting NACS was access to Tesla’s network, and it’s increasingly looking like that may have been fool’s gold.
“Nothing, it’s just that the other charging networks have demonstrated an inability to build and maintain their infrastructure. “
And now, Tesla will probably demonstrate the same.
What if Tesla decides to pivot to gasoline cars?
They seem to pivot into everything else in self drive mode.
I am going to go with Gone in 60 Seconds (2000) in the pure fiction category. In the more realistic (as far as Hollywood goes) vein, it would be Ford v Ferrari.
With Disney Movie Club closing, I just filled out my Herbie blu-ray collection (Love Bug, Rides Again, Monte Carlo, Bananas).
Favorite racing movie:
“First rule of Italian driving: what is behind us doesn’t matter!”
Also up there, “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.”
And I just read your comment above mind after responding, lol.
+1 for It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
Probably the Little Rascals movie from 1994. I like my motorsports to emulate Mario Kart meets Wacky Races.
Then you would probably also like “The Great Race.” Bonus points for Natalie Wood in 1920’s era lingerie covered in blueberry pie filling and whip cream.
I’ll uhhhhhhhh, go check that out.
That reminds me, It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963, no reboots please) is also a great time for slapstick racing.
“Push the button, Max!”
I’ll be in
the tubmy bunk.Either of the first two Mad Max movies. Now that’s racin’!
Driven starring Stallone is a bit campy, not great CGI flick I secretly adore
I am going to respectfully disagree with you. I saw Driven in the theatre, and I wouldn’t say “campy” so much as “pants-on-head stupid.” The poor CG is endemic to most other movies from that time frame, but to me it wasn’t “so bad it’s good” it was “Oh no, this was BAD. I spent my limited high school funds on a bad movie!”
Oh goodness no. It’s not even Good Bad, it’s just 90 minutes of straight cringe.
I was at Chicago Motor Speedway when they were filming during the race, and I was convinced with the access CART had given them, the movie would be awesome. I made two friends come see it with me in the theater. As we walked out no one said anything until I said, “I’m sorry” and continued to profusely apologize for my massive error in judgement. They made me buy the first two rounds afterward as a penance, which I thought was fair.
“Now that we’re the only real choice, and have established brand loyalty, the product will gradually worsen”
-Tesla, and most companies really.
Enshittification all the way down.
Opposite of cromulence?
Everyone getting on one standard was absolutely a necessary move for EV adoption. Everyone relying on a charging network run by someone more interested in attention than running a charging network, not so much.
The goal should be a unified, open standard that a variety of companies can build and install. The existing network is a boon, for sure, but relying on Tesla to continue the buildout seems shortsighted. Assuming they did keep building enough to accommodate, allowing a near-monopoly on fast charging means relying on their pricing structures and continued goodwill.
Personally, I’d prefer charging companies to be unaffiliated with car companies. Less risk of using incentives or access to sell vehicles.
This is how it already is for every non-Tesla manufacturer, and it’s been such a disaster that basically everyone has taken the “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” route.
The reason it’s been a disaster hasn’t been because they’re unaffiliated with car companies, but because they’re rolling out stations without plans to maintain them. That’s partially on the companies and partially on the government funding for buildout, and it’s a damned shame.
As a result of Tesla being the only company spending much on charger maintenance, EVs are in a worse position than they could be. If every EA and Chargepoint charger (and whoever else) were properly maintained, we’d have a lot more options for fast charging and more chargers available. And Tesla laying off their team wouldn’t have everyone on edge.
I think they need to shift the government incentives to be based on power delivered, not chargers deployed.
Power delivered would be good, number of vehicles served would be good, and just some sort of requirement that you don’t get the loan forgiven until you’ve had the stations up for a certain amount of time with a certain percentage uptime. There are so many solutions that aren’t just an emphasis on building as many stations as possible without a plan to service them.
Of course, that metric would then be gamed.
https://m.xkcd.com/2899/
As always, there is an xkcd for everything.
Rush is my favorite racing movie. The Hunt/Lauda rivalry is an all time classic. Also I’m stoked to see lil old Mazda doing well. They deserve it. If they get the damn kinks worked out of the CX90 my wife and I would love to buy one…but boy does that transmission seem to be a nightmare.
Rush is my favorite as well.
I’m always cheering for Mazda. My wife’s ’15 CX-5 has been an absolute rock star of a car.
Redline
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redline_(2009_film)
That movie makes you feel like you’re on acid without actually having to take it. 11/10, no notes.
Now I really want to watch it while on acid. For science. To see if it balances out or really amplifies that effect.
My vote is for the KFC result. It’ll DOUBLE DOWN.
Blues Brothers
It’s got a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant, it’s got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. It’s a model made before catalytic converters so it’ll run good on regular gas.
Fix the cigarette lighter.
“You don’t like it?”
“No, I don’t like it.”
*Mashes the loud pedal and jumps the bridge*
Fix the cigarette lighter.
Look for BP to buy Tesla’s charging network
“What’s your favorite motorsport film? It can be a doc or it can be fiction.”
DIRT
1979 documentary on off-road antics. I watched it at a drive-in theater in Albuquerque. It shaped my life for decades afterwards.
The Love Bug. Classic.
Came here to say this. Cannonball Run is another favorite.
But, Cannonball Run 2 is the one with Charles Nelson Reilly
Ah, but the eye candy in “Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo” is exquisite.
Stole my comment. Well done.
“grateful I didn’t have to deal with French rental cars.”
What’s wrong with French rental cars? The brown 5MT Peugeot 2008 diesel I rented in France on my last visit was quite nice as was the 5MT diesel Skoda Octavia I had on the previous trip. Those are the REAL enthusiasts cars! Everyone knows that!
I love driving weird French cars, I don’t love sitting in CDG because they suddenly are in a sympathy strike or the car I actually rented is in another terminal and they’re bringing it back up… three hours later. I feel like rental cars in France are always a hassle.
Ah so not the cars, just the airport.
Yeah, returning the rental to CDG was a hassle now that you mention it. The signage was AWFUL! I think it had more to do with the airport management and their expectation for you to just know how its done or STFU and just go away than the rental agency though.
I had no problems whatsoever with my rental in Marseilles.
CDG seems like a hassle on a number of levels, largely because it’s not close to anything.
We rented a car at the train station in Nice on our honeymoon last month and it was a pretty seamless experience. As for the car — a Citroen C3 Aircross — it was a really pleasant drive, but (sadly) not the slightest bit weird.
I’ve always been content with a rental Renault in France.
But I did really like the Citroen C4 Cactus. I hated it at first, but after a little while: it grew on me.
Love renting tiny MT cars in Europe.
We had a rental Citroen AX in Portugal in 1987, with a manual of course. It was a blast, if not as much fun as the Alfa 33 we had in Elba in 1985.
Bruce Brown’s “On Any Sunday”
While we’re talking about Bruce Brown, one can’t forget (Bruce’s son) Dana Brown’s “Dust to Glory”.
Uppity: The Willy T Ribbs Story, is a great watch.
“Of course, what seems to have happened is that Tesla has just picked the worst possible outcome for everyone. Instead of selling a thing with an incredible edge, the company instead seems to have killed some of the inherent value.”
Does this make Tesla the new GM?
Damn, great (and unfortunate) analogy.
In 2022 they laid off the FSD team. It’s 2024 and development is cranking along. So yeah, I’m not calling this function yet. Just because folks don’t see the reason for the action doesn’t mean there wasn’t a good one. Wait and see.
Tesla is an American company and has no trouble acting like one 🙁
The difference between genius and insanity has always been a thin line. Many geniuses have likely wandered back and forth across that line a little. But none so publicly I think as Musk.
As for films, Dust to Glory is my favorite documentary. Rush or Ford v. Ferrari for hollywoodized history films. Days of Thunder for pure Hollywood (and maybe Talledega Nights).
That suggests Musk is a genius. He’s not. He’s a self-important huckster with a good business sense on occasion.
It shouldn’t take this many people to see that ford’s “fix” is not at all a fix. The fuel is still leaking and the leaking needs to be addressed. We really are living in the movie Idiocracy.
https://giphy.com/embed/QMHoU66sBXqqLqYvGO
This is my chance to point out that I’m an extra in that movie!
You can’t just leave us hanging!! What scene? Where should we look to spot you?
Please tell me you were one of the heavy metal guitar players in the “rehabilitation” scene.
“This is my chance to point out that I’m an extra in that movie!”
Seems fitting 😉 Were you paid with Taco Bell?
Maybe the EPA also needs to chime in on Fords leaking gas everywhere they go.
Ford v Ferrari is my favorite currently. Gran Turismo was also fantastic though.
It’s either Talladega Nights or the Cannonball Run movies.
I wonder if the automakers delay or cancel the switch to NACS until Musk lays out a realistic plan, instead of evidence free tweets.
Amazing to watch this imbecile squander his business in pursuit of being an edgelord and getting his $50B bonus.
Tesla: Musk is not creating shareholder value. The stonk is down 31% YTD. Thanks to his erratic leadership. Bruh needs to go. This talk of autonomy and AI is just that, talk.
Yes, he’s done a generally good job building up Tesla from a tiny assembler of electrified Lotus Elises to a truly global automotive giant, but sometimes you get to a point where a change of leadership is necessary to guide a company through the next stage, and Tesla may be at that now. Time for Musk to be given the honorary title of CEO Emeritus and devote more of his time to his rocket company
YUP, the Peter Principal. Time to take a bow and move on, buddy.
Funny. The head of NASA just stated something to the effect of the reason they trust SpaceX is because Musk isn’t running the company.
Except he is, to a much greater extent than Tesla – he’s simultaneously chairman, CEO, and CTO of SpaceX, and owns 79% of the company’s voting rights.
He’s only CEO and board member at Tesla, and has maybe 13% of the votes (though he’s pushing to be granted more)
Titles are one thing, day to day involvement is another.
He appears to be letting the smart people he hired at SpaceX do the jobs they were hired to do, and there’s a very big stick (intense government oversight) that is quite likely a significant factor in them being able to continue to work that way.
There are no such extreme guardrails at the other companies, and they don’t seem to be fairing so well.
If the head of NASA implies Musk isn’t very involved with the day to day stuff, I’m very inclined to believe him.
I am not, because of the entire way the company is structured, owned, and governed, and because NASA would have a vested interest in maintaining public confidence in their sole manned space program
Fair point.
Though let me fix one thing for you – sole VIABLE manned program. (Looking at you, Boeing. Your cost structure isn’t sustainable.)
No question he did a great job during Tesla’s growth phase. Did, in the past tense. Now he needs to step aside. Growth leaders aren’t always able to transition to keeping established concerns growing. Tesla is now well established and needs a different kind of leader. Less visionary and more stable hand. Grow the existing product lines that still have tons of potential.
I have only seen one decision from Musk recently that actually created value. The one month free trial of FSD and lowering the monthly subscription price to $100. That trial got some people hooked and they are now paying customers.
I think most of the layoffs and new product decisions destroyed value in the short and long term. Some periodic deadwood cleaning is required at any company. But some of these cuts went too deep. It’s time for Musk to be replaced by a stable adult.