A Tesla Model X flexed its electronic traction control capabilities after taking on a Hummer H1 and a Dacia Duster SUV in an intense off-road course. The all-electric Model X navigated through the hilly course with the help of its All-Wheel Drive powertrain and dual motors that digitally control the front and rear wheel independently.
The test of the three vehicles managed to expose each vehicle’s strengths and weaknesses when confronted by the challenging off-road course. Many of the hill challenges and twists within the dirt track lifted one of the vehicle’s wheels off of the ground due to the rigid structure of each vehicle. The Model X was the only vehicle of the three tested that uses an All-Wheel Drive powertrain, powered by dual motors which Tesla describes as two independent motors that digitally control torque to the front and rear wheels. “Your car can drive on either motor, so you never need to worry about getting stuck on the road.”
With dual motors and precision traction control, the Tesla Model X was the only vehicle in the challenge that was able to traverse a steep uphill section of the off-road course with relative ease while the Dacia Duster and Hummer H1 needed to leverage speed and momentum to navigate through the course. This could present challenges if conditions are wet, or momentum is lost during a steep climb.
Unlike the simple electric powertrain found in the Tesla with instant torque, the combustion engine Hummer H1 and Duster utilize a traditional transmission and drivetrain assembly to transfers energy from the engine to the wheels.
Many would believe the Four-Wheel drive option that is offered by both gas vehicles in the off-road challenge to be the ideal choice for taking on hilly terrains, especially when considering the ruggedness that a Hummer has to offer. However, the luxury electric Model X SUV manufactured by Tesla maintained the most control and navigated through the track in an elegant fashion, making it the best option for off-road driving when it comes to tackling some of the toughest terrains.
Watch Teslicka CZ video of a Tesla Model X, a Dacia Duster 4WD, and a Hummer H1 try to navigate a tough off-road course below.
Tesla Model X takes on intense off-road challenge against Hummer H1 and Dacia Duster
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In a recent talk about the emerging electric truck market, Edmunds believes that the Tesla Cybertruck is one of the more exciting players to compete with the likes of Rivian’s R1T and the GMC Hummer EV.
Edmunds’ Feature Content Manager Carlos Lago and Content Strategist Will Kaufman talked about the growing electric truck sector. “There are a lot of ETs (electric trucks) coming our way, seemingly out of nowhere. There used to be just a bunch of rumors and now we seem to have a crowded market place,” Lago said.
With Rivian’s R1T hitting the production lines at the end of 2020, GM unveiling its Hummer EV during Super Bowl Sunday, and Ford releasing a battery-electric version of its popular F-150 pickup, truck owners have a lot to look forward to if they’re looking for “guilt-free” travel and towing. But the Cybertruck is unlike any truck before it, and Edmunds recognizes that.
The Cybertruck’s futuristic and Blade Runner inspired look resonates nicely with both Lago and Kaufman, who state they would love seeing an unorthodox vehicle design on the road. More impressive, however, is the Cybertruck’s expected specifications for towing capacity, payload rating, and range.
According to Lago and Kaufman, one of the most compelling questions Tesla will need to answer is how to handle a decrease in range when owners are towing. Edmunds‘ towing test with the Tesla Model X proved to provide plenty of hoops to jump through, like frequent charging stops because of decreased range. This is one of the biggest tests Tesla faces according to Lago and Kaufman.
Tesla has stated the Cybertruck will be capable of hauling 3,500-lbs of payload. This is an impressive number considering the Ford F-150’s heavy-duty payload package offers a best-in-class 3,270-lbs. Lago was curious to see how Tesla plans to combat the notoriously rough ride of a truck with a heavy payload rating. The drawbacks of a heavy payload bring on increased suspension stiffness and decreased ride comfortability, something Tesla plans to address with its four-corner air suspension system to fight this issue that has plagued numerous pickups in the past.
The Cybertruck was without a doubt one of the most talked-about stories in the auto industry in 2019 when it made its grand debut. While Tesla still has to figure out some details with the Cybertruck, like working on headlights and taillights that are Department of Transportation compliant, there is time. The Cybertruck is expected to begin production in late 2021 with its Dual and Tri-Motor variants.
Watch Edmunds team discuss the Tesla Cybertruck, Rivian R1T, and the GMC Hummer EV in the segment below.
Edmunds talks Tesla Cybertruck and its industry appeal amid growing competition
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The Tesla Cybertruck will be Hot Wheels’ newest remote-controlled creation. Designed in partnership with Tesla, Hot Wheels’ parent company Mattel has announced that they will produce the Cybertruck in a smaller 1:64 scale and large 1:10 scale and taking preorders for a December 2020 ship date – just in time for the holidays.
Mattel announced the introduction of the Tesla Cybertruck Hot Wheels remote-controlled car at the 2020 Toy Fair in New York City. The company has already produced the Tesla Cybertruck in a 1:64 scale die-cast version, and now taking it a step further by producing two different remote-controlled variants.
The 1:64 scale model RC version of the truck will have 20 minutes of drive time before needing a charge, while the larger 1:10 scale Tesla Cybertruck will offer an additional 10 minutes of playtime. The truck bed rolls off into a loading ramp, just like it did at the unveiling ceremony. But don’t get too excited, because Hot Wheels has not included the Tesla ATV with the RC Cybertruck.
Both RC models will be outfitted with the actual vehicle’s headlights and taillights. A piece of the plastic chassis is also removable for those who want to take a peek at the Cybertruck’s unique interior that includes a recycled paper dashboard. This feature gives owners a realistic, but slightly smaller, feel of what it is like to have the most talked-about pickup truck in years.
When Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled the Cybertruck in November 2019, he was starting a revolution in some ways. Nobody had ever seen a truck like this in the real world and perhaps no other automaker even thought about making a truck that looks like the Cybertruck does. The gamble inevitably paid off for Musk and Tesla. A quarter-million confirmed pre-orders later (and probably way more now), and the Cybertruck’s Blade Runner design has become the inspiration for a variety of different things.
Vice President of Design for Hot Wheels Ted Wu said, “We think for a Tesla fanatic this would be perfect.” And it is. The detail and effort Mattel and Hot Wheels put into the design of the RC Cybertruck is sure to turn some heads. Some of those who don’t have the resources to purchase the actual truck have the opportunity to bring a little bit of Tesla into their household.
Wu added that the 1:10 scale Cybertruck will be available for purchase in “extremely limited” quantities. So if your taste is big, but not quite big enough for the real thing, pre-orders are already being accepted and the RC Cybertruck will begin arriving at your doorstep in November. If you can’t put a Cybertruck in your garage, one under the Christmas tree might be the next best thing.
Tesla Cybertruck RC car is coming to Hot Wheels in two flavors
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The Ontario Provincial Police Highway Safety Division tapped Elon Musk for a suggestion on whether a Tesla Cybertruck or Model X would be better suited as a police cruiser.
The OPP Highway Safety Division tagged the Tesla founder and CEO in a tweet with images of the upcoming Tesla Cybertruck and the Model X flagship SUV sporting the traditional black and white cop colors. “Hey @elonmusk can you suggest which model would make a better police car? #Cybertruck or #TeslaX?” read the tweet.
Tesla vehicles are popular among police forces, not only in the United States but overseas as well. The electric vehicles, aside from looking sleek, have access to instant torque that may come handy when responding to different situations.
The Performance version of the Tesla Model X, for example, can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in a matter of 2.7 seconds, a performance that exceeds most premium sports cars. The vehicle can also carry up to 7 adults and has Falcon Wing Doors that may allow for easy passenger access when used as a police cruiser.
On the other hand, the all-electric Tesla Cybertruck’s dystopian design adds to its dominant presence that can be likened to an armored personnel carrier. To boot, the upcoming Tesla pickup truck is made from an impenetrable exoskeleton and equipped with armor glass. It is designed for utility but offers flexibility that may come useful for police forces too. The bed of the Cybertruck is big enough to carry a Tesla Cyberquad, an electric quad-bike that the OPP might also want to consider.
The performance and features of Tesla vehicles make them top choices for police forces. For example, a Mexico Mayor has ordered Cybertrucks for police use in a municipality in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.
The Tesla Model S has also been tapped by the LAPD Hollywood Division as one of its latest patrol cars as the police force tries to explore greener options for its fleet.
Likewise, the Tesla Model 3 has been receiving praises as a police cruiser. In fact, the Bargersville, Indiana Police Department said that it’s a big hit among officers but even more popular among those who were pulled over by the police EV. The Bargersville Police force added the electric sedan to its force to replace one of the Dodge Chargers it used for patrolling streets.
Elon Musk tapped for suggestion on Tesla Cybertruck as police car for Canadian law enforcement
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Argentinian space agency CONAE says that both its SAOCOM 1B satellite and SpaceX are on track for a type of launch that the United States’ East Coast hasn’t supported in more than half a century.
CONAE has revealed that SpaceX aims to launch the ~2800 kg (6200 lb) radar Earth observation satellite into orbit on a Falcon 9 rocket as early as March 30th, 2020 – late next month. With such a light payload, the Falcon 9 booster – presumably reused – will be able to perform a Return to Launch Site (RTLS) recovery, touching down at one of SpaceX’s two Landing Zone (LZ) pads located at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS). While Landing Zone rocket recoveries have become increasingly rare for SpaceX, that’s not actually why the SAOCOM 1B mission is so unique.
Instead, it’s exceptional because it will be the United States’ first East Coast polar launch in nearly six decades. The mission’s “polar” launch profile refers to the fact that the Argentinian radar satellite will ultimately orbit Earth’s poles, effectively perpendicular to more common equatorial orbits. If successful and repeatable, the mission could ultimately spark a new era for CCAFS and Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and raises big questions about the future of California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) — or at least SpaceX’s presence there.
“In what somewhat inaccurately became known as “the herd shot around the world,” some..falling rocket debris apparently splattered on a Cuban farm and killed a cow. “This is a Yankee provocation,” accused Revolucion, an official Cuban publication, insisting that the rocket was deliberately exploded over the country. Government radio stations cited the incident as further proof that the United States was trying to destroy the regime of Cuban President Fidel Castro. One cow was even paraded in front of the U.S. Embassy in Havana wearing a placard reading “Eisenhower, you murdered one of my sisters.”
Castro filed a complaint at the United Nations, and Washington sheepishly conceded the possibility that “fragments from the rocket booster” could have landed in Cuba. CIA Director George Tenet later quipped somewhat tastelessly that it was “the first, and last, time that a satellite had been used in the production of ground beef.” Further launches overflying Cuba were postponed, and improvements were made to the Cape Canaveral range-safety system. In any case, it was a dejected NRL group that returned to Washington.”
That November 1960 launch thus shut down East Coast polar launches to avoid overflying Cuba and raising the country’s ire near the height of Cold War tensions. It’s believed that the Cape actually launched two more semi-polar missions in the mid-1960s, some five years later, but the fact remains that SpaceX’s prospective March 30th, 2020 launch will mark the United States’ first East Coast launch in more than half a century.
Falcon 9 B1048 produced a truly spectacular nebula-like cloud of sunlit exhaust during its October 2018 launch of SAOCOM-1A. (Tom Cross)
Back in October 2019, while SpaceX had effectively confirmed that it would try to move SAOCOM 1B’s launch from California to Cape Canaveral, CCAFS hadn’t fully approved the change or literally reopened the East Coast’s polar launch corridor. Now, given that CONAE has officially announced a specific launch date (March 30th), it seems safe to say that CCAFS has fully given SpaceX the go-ahead for the launch.
While Falcon 9’s upper stage will still technically overfly Cuba over the course of the launch, the combination of a rare ‘dogleg’ maneuver shortly after launch and the fact that said upper stage will be far above the Earth’s surface have effectively mitigated any technical or legal showstoppers. Around eight minutes after liftoff, the mission’s Falcon 9 booster will also attempt to return to Florida and land at SpaceX’s LZ-1 or 2 landing pad. SpaceX’s October 2018 Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) SAOCOM 1A launch coincidentally marked the first-ever use of Landing Zone-4 (LZ-4), a dedicated landing pad built for SpaceX’s West Coast launch site.
Falcon 9 B1048’s SLC-4E launch and LZ-4 landing in one camera frame. (Pauline Acalin)
If successful, a polar Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral also raises the question: if SpaceX can potentially perform all conceivable launch profiles from its two Florida pads, why go the effort and expense of maintaining a third pad – entirely dedicated to polar launches – in California? Aside from one lone launch six months later, SpaceX’s last California launch occurred in January 2019 and the next one is expected no earlier than November 2020 – and could very well never happen at all. The only plausible reasons to continue launching from SpaceX’s Vandenberg pad would be if Florida’s polar capabilities were somehow limited or if conservative, bureaucratic customers like NASA and the US military were dead-set on their polar missions only launching from semi-arbitrarily selected launch pads.
Without any modifications whatsoever, Falcon Heavy could also immediately begin performing polar launches from Cape Canaveral, whereas SpaceX would likely need tens of millions of dollars and 6-12 months to modify its California pad to support the massive rocket. Perhaps keeping that pad quietly mothballed and flying launch staff in from Florida and Texas for occasional missions is a much smaller ordeal than it seems. Still, the allure (and efficiency) of a one-stop-launch-shop at Cape Canaveral is almost certainly hard to ignore for a company like SpaceX.
For the SAOCOM 1B launch, the next milestone will be the Argentinian satellite’s arrival at SpaceX’s Florida payload processing facilities, likely to occur within the next week. Already, March is lining up to be an exceptionally busy month for SpaceX, with two separate Falcon 9 launches currently scheduled on March 2nd and March 4th and another Starlink mission likely later in the month. With a little luck, SpaceX might be able to end Q1 2020 with its first four-launch month ever.
Check out Teslarati’s newsletters for prompt updates, on-the-ground perspectives, and unique glimpses of SpaceX’s rocket launch and recovery processes.
SpaceX sets date for first Florida launch of its kind in more than half a century
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Recent observations from Tesla’s Powerwall API hint that the company’s electric cars will soon have a feature that will allow them to communicate better with the home battery system. With such a system in place, Tesla’s electric cars will not drain the Powerwall when the grid goes down.
The upcoming Powerwall and Tesla integration feature was first spotted by Model X owner and Reddit user u/cwiedmann.
“Looking through the data returned from the API, I see there’s now evidence of upcoming features for integrating Powerwalls and car charging as Elon mentioned. This appears to be support for preventing car charging from draining the batteries when the grid is down and maybe to allow the car to absorb surplus solar energy,” u/cwiedmann wrote on the r/TeslaMotors subreddit.
When the grid goes down, Tesla Powerwalls can meet the energy demands of a home, including charging an electric car like the Model 3, Model X, or Model S. That being said, there’s a big room for improvement especially when it comes to how a Tesla vehicle communicates with the home battery system. Tesla’s electric cars have massive battery packs after all, and they can drain an off-grid Powerwall if left unattended.
This appears to have happened in May 2019 to Tesla owner Erik Strait, who also runs the YouTube channel DӔrik. Strait brought up the Powerwall issue they encountered in Colorado and suggested features that may come handy to consumers, such as a setting that allows the home battery system to prevent cars charging when they are off the grid. Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded with a brief “Coming soon.”
Elon Musk posted his response to the Tesla owner-enthusiast last May, and there have been few updates on the feature since. Nevertheless, references to the feature in the Powerwall’s API today suggests that the home battery-electric vehicle integration may be coming sooner than expected. How the functionality will be rolled out remains to be seen too, but there’s a good chance that Tesla may introduce the feature through an over-the-air update, similar to how the company activates “Storm Watch” for Powerwall-equipped homes located in areas that are facing natural disasters.
Ultimately, the upcoming Powerwall feature shows that Tesla is making a lot of headway in integrating key features of its energy products and its electric cars. This ecosystem could ultimately encourage buyers of Tesla’s electric cars to adopt the company’s energy and battery storage products too, similar to how Apple has encouraged customers to purchase devices within its product line due to their feature integration.
Very early on, we had the ability to use the car as a battery outputting power. Maybe worth revisiting that.
These recent observations on the Powerwall API also invoke some thoughts on a feature that was mentioned by Elon Musk back in 2018. In a tweet then, Musk noted that it may be worth revisiting the idea of using its cars as batteries that output power, similar to a V2G (vehicle-to-grid) system. Tesla does seem to be exploring this idea recently, as hinted at by the Cybertruck’s capability to use its massive battery pack to power tools from its onboard outlets.
Teslarati will update you once the Powerwall-Tesla electric vehicle integration feature goes live. For now, this is a welcome development so the habit of “always be charging” does not lead one to a home without power. But of course, there’s always Camp Mode just in case.
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Two Tesla owners and respected members of the electric vehicle community will try to make history and attempt to drive a Model 3 Performance across Canada on a nonstop, coast-to-coast all-electric road trip from British Columbia to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Ian Pavelko and Trevor Page of Tesla Owners Online Forum will set off on Sunday from Delta, BC and attempt to complete a non-stop 3,600-mile (5,794 km) journey, using Tesla’s newly opened Trans-Canada Supercharger route. The duo looks to increase awareness that electric vehicles are perfect for long distances even in the harsh and unpredictable weather in Canada.
“So many people think that EVs are limited to secondary roles as commuter cars here, and while that may have been true in the early days, the advances of the last few years have changed the segment dramatically. As Tesla owners and fans, as well as advocates for the entire EV movement, we’re excited to make this trip and show people in dramatic fashion how capable these cars and the charging networks that support them really are,” said the Tesla Model 3 drivers in a press release via Tesla Owners Online.
Pavelko and Page will set out to complete the trip along the entire stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway, a federal and provincial transportation artery that traverses the 10 provinces of Canada from the Pacific Ocean side to the Atlantic on the east, in three days. The cross-country electric trip will be helped by Tesla’s Trans-Canada Supercharger route which went online last December. More than 50% of the fast-charging stations along the coast-to-coast route are 250 kW V3 Superchargers that are capable of charge rates of 1,000 miles per hour.
Zero-emission vehicles in Canada are gaining popularity with a 25% year-over-year growth in Q3 of 2019 with roughly 17,000 units sold but consumers still worry that there are not enough public chargers yet. Tesla’s Supercharging network addresses that concern on a global level.
While the upcoming journey is expected to kick off with much fanfare in the Tesla community and across social media, the #FastEVLightningRun drivers are actually not the first ones to attempt the Pacific to Atlantic coast trip. In 2016, couple Silke Sommerfeld and Rolf Oetter drove their Model X from Vancouver to Newfoundland with a solar trailer in tow. In December 2019, Victoria residents and climate advocates Kevin Belanger and Don Goodeve also attempted a cross-country drive in Canada in their Tesla, but did not complete the journey due to poor weather conditions.
Pavelko and Page’s trip is sponsored by Fast EV, a division of Fast Wheels and a company under the umbrella of Fastco Canada. Fast Wheels offers a line of aftermarket alloy wheels that are specifically designed to maintain the efficiency of electric vehicles.
Tesla Model 3 owners look to set record in Trans-Canada electric road trip using Superchargers
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It appears that Tesla is getting faster with its Hardware 3 retrofits, with recent reports from the electric car community suggesting that the upgrade could now take as short as a few hours. This suggests a notable improvement in the turnaround times for HW3 upgrades, especially since previous anecdotes from Tesla owners indicated that the process could take as long as a few days.
Elon Musk has noted that Hardware 3 retrofits will be available for electric cars equipped with HW2 and HW2.5, and whose owners purchased the company’s Full Self-Driving suite. The CEO has also mentioned in the past that retrofits should not take too long, and that Tesla’s mobile service fleet should be able to accomplish the upgrade without any difficulties.
Who says HW3 retrofit takes a long time?!! Dropped off at 8:30am estimated completion is 3:30pm! pic.twitter.com/0yVvqMO5kB
Initial accounts of Hardware 3 retrofits suggested that this was indeed the case. A Tesla Model X P100D owner who runs the Electric Dreams YouTube channel reported back in December that his HW3 retrofit only took a few hours, thanks to a member of Tesla’s Mobile Service team coming over to his home to perform the upgrade. In the case of the Model X owner, the mobile service technician started the retrofit in the morning and completed the upgrade by night.
As Tesla started ramping its Hardware 3 retrofits, it quickly became evident that not all owners will experience the same convenience as related by the Electric Dreams host. Tesla Model 3 owner and enthusiast Tesla Joy, for example, noted that her vehicle’s upgrade ended up taking over five days. This was highly inconvenient, particularly as it resulted in the Model 3 being stuck in the Service Center during New Year’s.
Similar complaints from fellow Model 3 owners suggested that Joy’s experience was not an isolated case. Fellow Model 3 owner Greg Wester, for one, claimed that his Service Center advised him that his HW3 retrofit will take a whole week to complete because of the “disassembly and troubleshooting” that will be involved. Similar to Joy, Wester was given Uber vouchers due to the absence of loaner vehicles.
More recent reports from Tesla owners suggest that Hardware 3 retrofits are now far quicker and more efficient. Tesla owner-enthusiast Tesla Raj recently shared that his Model 3, which was dropped off at a Service Center at 8:30 am, will be fully upgraded by 3:30 pm on the same day. Other Tesla owners commenting on Raj’s tweet shared similar stories, with some stating that their retrofits were also completed within the same day. Even vehicles that had to be left overnight for the retrofit were ready to get back on the road the following day.
Lynnwood WA service center. They estimated just 2 hours so he declined a loaner and just waited.
Overall, it appears that Tesla is now at a point where its HW3 retrofit process is getting quicker turnaround times. Recent anecdotes from electric car enthusiast @stillstainless noted that the Tesla Lynnwood WA Service Center was actually able to complete a HW3 upgrade in just 2 hours 20 minutes. During this time, the vehicle’s owner reportedly just opted to wait, instead of acquiring a loaner vehicle.
Elon Musk has suggesting in the past that the HW3 retrofit will be a quick, simple process that could be performed by mobile service technicians without any issue. Based on the most recent reports from the Tesla community, it appears that the electric car maker is getting closer to Elon Musk’s estimates. This bodes well for Tesla’s push into the autonomous driving market, especially since Hardware 3 is an important part of the full self-driving puzzle that the company is trying to solve.
Tesla is getting faster with its Hardware 3 retrofits
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Tesla takes a step closer to laying the first brick of its first Gigafactory in Europe as a German court ruled that the electric carmaker can resume clearing trees at the forest where it plans to build Giga Berlin.
The Berlin-Brandenburg court gave Tesla the green light to continue its work, noting that Brandenburg authorities did not violate laws and did not take any shortcuts when they allowed work to begin in Grunheide.
State authorities gave Tesla the initial go signal to clear about 90 hectares of land that will be used for the first phase of Giga Berlin. On Feb. 15 the clearing operation was halted after a complaint was filed by environmental group Gruene Liga Brandenburg that voiced concerns on the local water supply. The group also appealed that the carmaker must not clear trees until after March 5 when the deadline was set for the community and concerned groups to comment about Tesla’s project.
The favorable decision of the court would help Tesla keep to a proposed timeline to begin construction by mid-March. An unfavorable decision would have delayed construction by six to nine months and risk plans to vehicle production slated for July 2021. Tesla aims to produce 10,000 Model Y crossovers per week and expected to create 12,000 job opportunities for Germany and nearby countries.
The ruling was seen as a positive development by state Economics Minister Jorg Steinbach. “We are very pleased to see the verdict,” Steinbach said.
Tesla tried to address concerns of local residents and environmental groups in Grunheide by opening a community center where it held talks to inform locals that the carmaker is taking all the necessary steps to take care of the environment such as replanting trees three times the number it would cut and relocating wildlife as necessary.
Amid environmental protests, Tesla has won the heightened support of the economic minister and industry leaders who all called for faster review processes in Germany so as not to delay big projects such as Tesla. They warned that such long delays may weaken the appeal of Germany to investors.
German government’s Green Party also voiced out displeasure with the complaints lodged by the environmental groups.
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Brazil’s Minister of Science, Technology, Innovations and Communications Marcos Pontes and Congressman Daniel Freitas are reportedly in early talks about the potential for a Tesla Gigafactory in Brazil.
Both Pontes and Freitas did not disclose what company they’re negotiating with, only they hinted that it is one of the most valuable automakers in the world today. The officials also noted that they are hoping the talks will eventually result in the company opening one of its facilities in the country by 2023, the Brazilian publication NSC Total first reported.
However, a Tweet posted on Thursday by Eduardo Bolsonaro, son to Brazil’s President and a lawmaker in the country, would later confirm that talks have taken place between Brazilian authorities and William Popp, charge d’affaires at the U.S. embassy in Brasilia, on the prospect of Tesla opening up a factory in South America’s largest country.
Bolsonaro’s tweet follows earlier reports that officials met on Feb. 12 to discuss the initial plans to help the federal government convince Tesla of the benefits of setting up shop in the country. The plan is to form a delegation that may include President Jair Bolsonaro to visit the Tesla headquarters in the United States.
The official entry plotted on the schedule of Minister of Science, Technology, Innovations and Communications reveals that Tesla’s Senior Staff Manufacturing Engineer Anderson Pacheco was present via video conference in the office of Pontes. Pachecho graduated with a Master of Science in Production Engineering from Brazil’s Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. He has been with Tesla for over 4 years now and works both at the Fremont facility and Gigafactory 1 in Sparks, NV.
Details are limited as of reporting but the proponents may encourage Tesla to put its first Gigafactory in South America at Santa Catarina, a state in Southern Brazil and roughly 1.5 hours by plane from Rio De Janeiro.
Meanwhile, Freitas is the author of a bill that pushes for the exemption of electric vehicles from import tax. The said bill also proposes tax incentives for EVs or hybrid vehicles produced in Brazil.
If the talks of the Brazilian government and Tesla prospers and results in the building of Giga Brazil, it would be another step towards Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s goal of having Gigafactories in every continent.
Can’t wait to bring Tesla to Brazil. One of my favorite countries!
Elon Musk also recently hinted that Tesla is considering a Giga Texas, which could be a perfect solution to ramp battery production or may even be the facility to help produce its upcoming all-electric Cybertruck.
Gigafactory Brazil also makes perfect sense as the country is considered a sleeping tech giant and is one of the countries of the future. With a Tesla strong foothold in Brazil, the distribution of Tesla vehicles in South America will be easier just like how the carmaker plans to do it in Asia with Giga Shanghai and in Europe with Giga Berlin.
Tesla gets courted by Brazil to establish a Gigafactory in the country
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Funktional
Immer aktiv
Die technische Speicherung oder der Zugang ist unbedingt erforderlich für den rechtmäßigen Zweck, die Nutzung eines bestimmten Dienstes zu ermöglichen, der vom Teilnehmer oder Nutzer ausdrücklich gewünscht wird, oder für den alleinigen Zweck, die Übertragung einer Nachricht über ein elektronisches Kommunikationsnetz durchzuführen.
Vorlieben
Die technische Speicherung oder der Zugriff ist für den rechtmäßigen Zweck der Speicherung von Präferenzen erforderlich, die nicht vom Abonnenten oder Benutzer angefordert wurden.
Statistiken
Die technische Speicherung oder der Zugriff, der ausschließlich zu statistischen Zwecken erfolgt.Die technische Speicherung oder der Zugriff, der ausschließlich zu anonymen statistischen Zwecken verwendet wird. Ohne eine Vorladung, die freiwillige Zustimmung deines Internetdienstanbieters oder zusätzliche Aufzeichnungen von Dritten können die zu diesem Zweck gespeicherten oder abgerufenen Informationen allein in der Regel nicht dazu verwendet werden, dich zu identifizieren.
Marketing
Die technische Speicherung oder der Zugriff ist erforderlich, um Nutzerprofile zu erstellen, um Werbung zu versenden oder um den Nutzer auf einer Website oder über mehrere Websites hinweg zu ähnlichen Marketingzwecken zu verfolgen.
