Tesla Gigafactory Shanghai hits 3K Model 3 per week as China revives car production in C-19 epicenter


Tesla’s Gigafactory Shanghai has reportedly hit a new milestone, with local reports pointing to the facility producing 3,000 Model 3 per week. The update comes amidst China’s ongoing push to jumpstart its auto industry, with the country even reopening a car factory in Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. 

A recent flyover by Tesla enthusiast and drone operator Wuwa Vision revealed that Giga Shanghai is budding with activity. Since its brief shutdown earlier this year during the height of the coronavirus outbreak in China, the electric car production facility has steadily resumed its operations. Today, the site seems to be as busy as ever, with Phase 1 humming along and Phase 2 under active construction

Images from the recent flyover show that Tesla is making great progress with Phase 2, which seems to cover a large swath of land. A number of Made-in-China Model 3 were also being driven to a large parking lot beside the Phase 1 area, seemingly awaiting delivery. Large numbers of container vans are also on the site, supplying the facility with the necessary parts to produce the all-electric sedan. 

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With local reports pointing to Gigafactory Shanghai hitting a production rate of 3,000 Model 3 per week, Tesla seems to be well on its way towards reaching its goal for its China facility. Tesla has shared aggressive plans for Giga Shanghai, with the electric car maker looking to hit an annual production rate of 150,000 vehicles per year. Considering that Tesla China has already reached the 3,000-per-week milestone, the electric car maker may very well end the year with a run-rate far above its initial target. 

While the C-19 pandemic continues to take its hold in several countries, including the United States, China appears to be on its way towards recovery. The coronavirus outbreak hit the Asian country’s auto industry hard, but China has started initiatives to jumpstart and boost its local car market. As noted in an Automotive News Europe report, for example, the PSA Group’s joint venture with the Dongfeng Motor Group has announced that car production has resumed at its plant in Wuhan, the actual epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. 

Amidst China’s efforts at boosting its auto industry, car sales in the country are expected to see a rise in the coming months. This rebound will likely be appreciated by carmakers, including Tesla, considering that numbers hit bottom in February, a time when the entire country was vastly affected by the C-19 pandemic. 

Watch a recent drone flyover of the Tesla Giga Shanghai site in the video below.

Tesla Gigafactory Shanghai hits 3K Model 3 per week as China revives car production in C-19 epicenter

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Tesla Model Y has a heated radar to winter-proof Autopilot


The Tesla Model Y is proving to be a vehicle that is full of tricks, especially when it comes to winter driving. If recent reports from the Tesla community are any indication, the all-electric crossover is equipped with a radar heater, which should help the vehicle navigate icy roads without disengaging driver-assist features like Autopilot.

References to the Model Y’s radar heater were shared with the Tesla community by resident hacker-enthusiast @greentheonly, who discovered the new feature in the crossover’s wiring diagrams. The supplier of the radar and the model number of the actual part used in the Model Y remains unknown, but the presence of the heating unit does bode well for the vehicle’s Autopilot performance in icy conditions.

Tesla’s electric cars like the Model S, Model X, and Model 3 are great winter cars, thanks to their all-electric construction and design. That said, Tesla’s vehicles do have areas of improvement, especially when it comes to their cameras and radar, as both parts could be compromised when they get caked by a layer of ice or snow. 

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This is something that is experienced by Tesla community members such as Model 3 owner Chris from the Dirty Tesla YouTube channel, who lives in an area that experiences harsh winters. As could be seen in several of the YouTube host’s Autopilot tests, Tesla’s advanced driver-assist features, or even basic cruise control, can get disabled once the cameras or radar are covered in ice. 

Such instances would be far less likely with the Model Y’s radar heater in place. In a way, its addition is something that seems to have been planned by the electric car maker, as Elon Musk referenced radar heaters back in late 2018. Musk noted that while Teslas will primarily operate on a vision-only system, a radar heater would be a good idea anyway. As it turned out, Tesla was only looking to equip the new component in its next vehicle. The company has just been very discreet about it. 

It is pertinent for Tesla to ensure that Autopilot and more advanced Full Self-Driving features such as Navigate on Autopilot with automatic lane changes could function in any type of weather. Tesla, after all, intends to roll out a dedicated Robotaxi network that utilizes self-driving vehicles with need no human drivers. For the service to be fully operational, the company must be able to ensure that its cars can drive even in the iciest of conditions. 

The Tesla Model Y is looking to be Tesla’s best vehicle for winter driving to date. Apart from its radar heater, the Model Y is also equipped with a new heat pump system, which is expected to reduce range reductions during winters. 

Tesla Model Y has a heated radar to winter-proof Autopilot

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SpaceX Starship launch pad upgraded as Elon Musk reveals rocket production milestone


SpaceX has begun to upgrade its South Texas Starship launch pad in anticipation of the completion of the next full-scale rocket prototype, photos of which CEO Elon Musk revealed just hours ago.

Working in parallel with efforts to repair damage caused by Starship serial number 1’s (SN1) violent February 28th test failure, SpaceX has managed to build, complete, and test an entirely separate ‘test tank’ and complete fabrication of a second full-scale Starship in a handful of weeks. Flexing the growing capabilities of the impressive Boca Chica, Texas Starship factory SpaceX has sprung up in just three months, the company is working around the clock to build not just one – but several – Starship prototypes simultaneously.

A successful March 9th tank test designed to prove a new thrust structure design managed to do just that less than two weeks after the same faulty part brought about Starship SN1’s demise. In the two weeks since that its test completion, SpaceX has been busy welding, stacking, welding, and stacking several separate sections of the next Starship prototype, known as SN3. Potentially a matter of days away from structural completion, focus has recently shifted to the launch pad the ship will be tested at. In the last few days, SpaceX technicians have begun to install a bizarre, new structural element on the mount Starship SN3 will be secured on top of, hinting at the goals of the rocket’s first test campaign.

SpaceX has officially stacked Starship SN3’s tank and engine section, effectively completing the business end of the rocket prototype. (NASASpaceflight – bocachicagal)
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Squeezing in alongside efforts to repair the propellant lines that run into the launch mount, upgrades began on March 24th as a SpaceX team worked to install what looked like an incredibly sturdy tripod (with four ‘legs’, of course). Thanks to familiar testing done with SpaceX’s most recent Starship tank prototype, the purpose of the launch mount’s newest appendage quickly became clear.

Visible at the bottom of the Starship SN2 test tank, SpaceX is using an intriguing setup to simulate the thrust of Raptor engines. (NASASpaceflight – bocachicagal)
SpaceX began upgrading Starship’s Texas launch mount with a mount for three jacks on March 24th. (NASASpaceflight – bocachicagal)

During the Starship SN2 tank’s thrust structure (‘thrust puck’, per Elon Musk) test campaign, SpaceX debuted the concurrent use of a beefy hydraulic jack to simulate the forces a Raptor engine static might produce. Capable of producing upwards of 200 metric tons (440,000 lbf) of thrust at full power, SpaceX will likely begin Starship static fire tests with a single Raptor engine. As soon as a Starship prototype completes one or several single-engine test fires, the plan is to install three sea level-optimized Raptor engines and repeat static fire tests.

Before that triple-engine static fire milestone, a first for the cutting-edge Raptor engine, SpaceX needs to verify that Starship’s thrust structure can stand up to the ~600 tons (~1.3M lbf) of force it will be subjected to during such a test. Sitting on a much smaller stand, Starship SN2 used a single hydraulic jack and temporary stand to simulate a single engine’s thrust. Starship SN3, sitting much higher above the ground, will need three jacks to simulate three Raptors.

The bulk of Starship SN3’s tank section is pictured here on March 23rd. (NASASpaceflight – bocachicagal)

As such, it looks likely that Starship SN3’s first cryogenic tank proof test – filling the vehicle with inert liquid nitrogen – will coincide with a second dedicated stress test of a Starship thrust structure, hopefully proving itself capable of surviving the force of three Raptor engines at full thrust. While orbital-class Starships will need three more vacuum-optimized Raptor engines, three sea-level engines are all SpaceX needs to begin flight tests with suborbital prototypes.

Based on an unofficial analysis of existing photos, it appears that every single major structural piece of Starship SN3 – excluding legs and fins – is nearing completion, even including the ship’s shiny nosecone. Likely to head to the launch pad for its first tests as soon as the tank section alone has been completed, just one stacking event remains before said tank section reaches its full height. Right now, both of those parts have been moved to a dedicated Vehicle/Vertical Assembly Building (VAB) and are probably no more than a day or two away from being joined*. Perhaps just a day or two after that milestone, SpaceX will likely transport the massive rocket to the launch pad to begin preparing for its first proof tests.

*Around 3am local time, SpaceX technicians stacked Starship SN3’s two main segments, completing its tank and engine section.

SpaceX Starship launch pad upgraded as Elon Musk reveals rocket production milestone

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Tesla Model Y wheels and its impact on 0-60 acceleration


With the Tesla Model Y just beginning first deliveries a few weeks ago, owners are getting their first tastes of how the new all-electric crossover performs. Brian Jenkins from YouTube channel i1Tesla took his experiments a few steps further and recorded the Model Y Performance 0-60 MPH acceleration time based on the factory 21″ Uberturbine wheel size and several aftermarket wheel options.

Brian brought his Model Y Performance to a research center known as NCCAR in Northhampton County, North Carolina, to test acceleration rates from 0-60 MPH. The tests were performed with the 21″ Uberturbine wheels that come standard with the Model Y’s optional performance upgrade, 19″ TSW wheels from EVtuning.com, and 18″ MWO3 Forged rims from Martian Wheels.

The Uberturbine front wheels weigh 64.8 pounds, with the slightly wider rear wheels weighing 68.6 pounds with the tires attached according to a wheel weight test performed by Brian at the NCCAR facility. Meanwhile, the 19″ TSW wheels weigh 47.6 pounds with a tire and 23 pounds on their own. The 18″ Martian MWO3 Forged wheels weigh 40.7 pounds with a tire installed onto the rim. Martian’s website states the rim weighs only 17.3 pounds without a tire attached to them.

The first runs of the vehicle were with the 21″ Uberturbine rims. Brian ran four times with these wheels on the vehicle, utilizing two runs to test its normal 0-60 MPH time, one run using Tesla’s Slip Start feature, and one run using the Model Y’s Off-Road setting. The tests were performed with a battery charge of between 82% and 74%. A Dragy GPS recorded the times.

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Tesla Model Y 0-60 mph with 21″ Tesla Uberturbine Wheels (68.6 pounds with tire)

  • Run 1 – Normal: 0-60 MPH in 3.77 seconds
  • Run 2 – Normal: 0-60 MPH in 5.74 seconds
  • Run 3 – Slip Start: 0-60 MPH in 3.81 seconds
  • Run 4 – Off-Road: 0-60 MPH in 3.83 seconds

The next two runs were performed with both the 19″ TSW and 18″ MWO3 Wheels. Because of the lighter weight, the runs with these tires were noticeably faster.

Tesla Model Y 0-60 mph with 19″ TSW Wheels (47.6 pounds with tire, 23 pounds without tire)

  • Run 1 – Normal: 0-60 MPH in 3.45 seconds

 

Tesla Model Y 0-60 mph with 18″ Martian MWO3 Forged Wheels (40.7 pounds with tire, 17.3 pounds without tire)

  • Run 1 – Normal: 0-60 MPH in 3.42 seconds

 

The lighter and smaller TSW wheels shaved .29 seconds off of the Tesla Uberturbine wheels, but the even smaller and lighter 18″ Martian rims managed to trim almost a third of a second off of the quarter-mile time with a .32 second faster 0-60 time.

The size of the wheel also affects the range of the vehicle. The EPA’s current rating of the Model Y Performance states the car offers 315 miles of range, when paired with the 19″ Gemini wheels, and 280 miles of range with the larger and heavier 21″ Uberturbine wheels.

Comparisons of the Model 3’s different rim sizes affect the range as well, where the 20″ wheels give 299 miles, 19″ wheels offer 304 miles, and 18″ will give the driver 322 miles of driving range.

We’ve embedded Brian’s video below, which shows how Model Y’s 0-60 MPH acceleration varies by wheel and tire sizing.

Tesla Model Y wheels and its impact on 0-60 acceleration

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SpaceX dropped a Crew Dragon mockup to save a helicopter and its passengers


SpaceX says it encountered an issue that forced it to drop a Crew Dragon spacecraft mockup during parachute testing — not a failure of the vehicle or its parachutes, to be clear, but still a problem nonetheless.

This is now the second significant hurdle SpaceX’s Crew Dragon astronaut spacecraft has faced in the last few days, following the revelation that NASA will not permit the company to launch astronauts until it completes an investigation into an in-flight rocket engine failure during its March 18th Starlink launch. There is likely no technical corollary for the new Falcon 9 rockets that will launch NASA astronauts, but existing Commercial Crew Program (CCP) contract rules still require SpaceX’s internal investigation be completed before it can proceed. With lives on the line, caution – within reason – is unequivocally preferable to the alternative.

Thankfully, SpaceX’s parachute test article anomaly should have a much smaller impact on Crew Dragon’s astronaut launch debut schedule, but it’s unlikely to have zero impact.

“During a planned parachute drop test [on Tuesday], the test article suspended underneath the helicopter became unstable. Out of an abundance of caution and to keep the helicopter crew safe, the pilot pulled the emergency release. As the helicopter was not yet at target conditions, the test article was not armed, and as such, the parachute system did not initiate the parachute deployment sequence. While the test article was lost, this was not a failure of the parachute system and most importantly no one was injured. NASA and SpaceX are working together to determine the testing plan going forward in advance of Crew Dragon’s second demonstration mission.”

SpaceX — March 24th, 2020

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On March 24th, SpaceX says it was preparing for one of the last system-level Crew Dragon parachute tests planned before the spacecraft can be declared ready for human spaceflight. These final tests are reportedly focused on corner cases, referring to unusual but not impossible scenarios the spacecraft might encounter during operational astronaut landing attempts. Those likely include parachute deployment scenarios that are far more stressful than a nominal reentry, descent, and landing would allow.

Regardless, things did not go as planned during Tuesday’s test attempt. SpaceX primarily uses cargo planes, helicopters, and large balloons to carry its Crew Dragon test articles (not actual functional spacecraft) to the altitudes and speeds needed to achieve certain test conditions. On March 24th, SpaceX was using a helicopter – either a civilian Blackhawk or a much larger Skycrane.

SpaceX technicians often use an S-64 Skycrane helicopter to drop high-fidelity Crew Dragon parachute test articles. (SpaceX)

For unknown reasons, the helicopter carrying the Crew Dragon test article on March 24th began to experience “instability”, likely referring to some sort of resonance (wobble, sway, oscillation, etc). Out of an abundance of caution, the pilot – likely highly trained – decided the instability was becoming an unacceptable risk and chose to drop the cargo load (a Crew Dragon mockup). Unsurprisingly, the parachute test article was not ready to drop and plummeted to the Earth without any kind of parachute deployment, likely pancaking on the desert floor shortly thereafter.

Again, it needs to be noted – as SpaceX did above – that the loss of the Crew Dragon parachute test article was entirely unrelated to the performance of the spacecraft or the parachutes it was testing. The mockup destroyed in the incident is essentially just a boilerplate mass simulator shaped like a Crew Dragon capsule to achieve more aerodynamically accurate test results. As such, it’s far simpler and cheaper than an actual Dragon spacecraft and shouldn’t take long at all to replace if SpaceX doesn’t already have a second similar mockup ready to go.

Crew Dragon successfully returned from its first orbital mission and performed a perfect parachute deployment and splashdown sequence on March 8th, 2019. (NASA)

Thankfully, that means that the loss of the test article should have next to no serious impact on Crew Dragon’s inaugural astronaut launch schedule. Planned no earlier than (NET) mid-to-late May according to NASA’s latest official statement, SpaceX and the space agency still have at least a month and a half to work through a final parachute test campaign, complete an investigation into Starlink L6’s Falcon booster engine failure, and finish several trees worth of paperwork and reviews. Delays remain likely but they shouldn’t be more than a few weeks, barring any future surprises.

SpaceX dropped a Crew Dragon mockup to save a helicopter and its passengers

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Tesla confirmed as Medtronic partner in ventilator production


Tesla will begin manufacturing ventilators made by medical equipment company Medtronic in an effort to address the medical supply shortage due to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.

Medtronic CEO Omar Ishrak appeared on a televised episode of CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” on the morning of March 25 to talk about his company’s ramping efforts to increase production of ventilators and help those affected by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“We’re also opening up with other partners who have come forward. Tesla is one that I think people have heard about. One of our ventilators will be made by them, and they’re fast on track to make that as well,” Ishrak said in the CNBC interview.

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Musk stated that the Tesla team is “making good progress” toward the development of manufacturing the ventilators at the Fremont production facility. “We will do whatever is needed to help in these difficult times,” he added.

In response to a plea for help by New York officials, Musk noted that its factory in New York is expected to reopen for ventilator production. “Giga New York will reopen for ventilator production as soon as humanly possible. We will do anything in our power to help the citizens of New York,”

Ishrak added that Tesla will be manufacturing the Medtronic Puritan Bennett 980 ventilator, which is the company’s highest-volume product. Tesla is also looking to begin manufacturing other products that Medtronic offers.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk began speaking with Medtronic on March 21. After stating that he had just finished an extensive conversation with the Medtronics team regarding the engineering of their ventilators, he added that they had a “very impressive team!” Musk seems to have struck up a relationship with the Medtronic team, as he will now begin manufacturing their most popular ventilator system.

Musk and Tesla have already made attempts to alleviate the shortage of ventilator systems in the United States. Recently, Musk announced the purchase and delivery of 1,200 ventilators from China, noting the country had an oversupply.

“Yup, China had an oversupply, so we bought 1255 FDA-approved ResMed, Philips & Medtronic ventilators on Friday night & airshipped them to LA. If you want a free ventilator installed, please let us know,” Musk tweeted. The ventilators were delivered to the City of Los Angeles earlier this week.

Watch Medtronic CEO Omar Ishrak’s interview with CNBC below.

Tesla confirmed as Medtronic partner in ventilator production

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SpaceX Starlink wins permit to send internet to customers like you


SpaceX has been busy building its Starlink satellite constellation. To date, the company has launched more than 350 of the internet-beaming satellites into orbit. But now, it’s snagged approval for another piece of crucial hardware: user terminals.

The FCC granted SpaceX permission to roll out up to 1 million of the ground-based terminals needed to operate its internet venture.

The approval comes nearly a year after SpaceX’s request and is suitable for 15 years. Announced in a public notice on March 18, the approval is a blanket license that covers the operation of up to 1,000,000 fixed earth station that will communicate with the satellite system.

Elon Musk, SpaceX founder and CEO, has described the terminals as a “UFO on a stick,” citing that they will be easy enough for anyone to install. They will come with just two basic instructions: plugin and point at the sky. (The terminals will have actuators that will ensure they’re pointing in the proper direction at all times.)

SpaceX is eyeing a market that could singlehandedly give Starlink a billion-dollar annual revenue stream. (Teslarati – SpaceX)
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The goal of the Starlink project is to provide global internet coverage. Right now, we depend on satellites that are perched high above the Earth to beam down internet coverage or have it routed into our homes and businesses via cell towers and cables. However, these two options are not always a possibility, and often remote and rural areas are left without coverage or are forced to depend on sluggish services.

Musk aims to change that. By operating the fleet in low Earth orbit, SpaceX hopes to provide reliable coverage at an affordable price. Initially, the network of small, broadband satellites, will total 1,584, with the potential for thousands more. As of now, the company has FCC approval for 12,000 satellites and could eventually seek permission to launch 30,000 more.

But it’s not the only one: OneWeb and Amazon have similar constellations planned. OneWeb is the only other company with hardware in space. It has already launched two batches of 34 satellites each, joining an initial set of 6 launched in 2019. Its initial constellation is expected to consist of 650 satellites. However, the company has recently run into some financial issues. According to a recent report, OneWeb is considering filing for bankruptcy.

SpaceX says it’s building satellites four times faster than OneWeb, by far its closest competitor. (SpaceX/Arianespace)

Musk has said that SpaceX will need at least 400 Starlink satellites in orbit for “minor” broadband coverage and 800 for “moderate” coverage. Service could roll out later this year to parts of the U.S. and Canada first, with international coverage following soon after.

So will SpaceX need more terminals? One million user terminals sound impressive, but it’s not near enough to cover homes in the U.S., let alone that world. But that’s ok because right now, Musk says that the company is targeting the places that are the hardest to reach for traditional telecommunications companies.

The project isn’t expected to have a lot of customers in major cities, as the bandwidth won’t be high enough, but for those currently without service, the chance to be connected will be crucial. According to a 2018 report issued by the United Nations, only around 58% of households worldwide had access to the internet.

SpaceX Starlink wins permit to send internet to customers like you

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Tesla contracts German power company E.ON for Giga Berlin project


Tesla has reportedly hired Germany’s largest electric utility company, E.ON, to design the energy solutions for the company’s new Giga Berlin production plant located in the state of Brandenburg.

The announcement that the two companies would work together was made by E.ON’s CEO Johannes Teyssen on March 25. E.ON will be responsible for designing the energy solutions that will power Giga Berlin while utilizing Tesla’s sustainable energy products, according to Reuters.

E.ON is based in Essen, a city in Western Germany and supplies solar solutions, nuclear, wind, and other forms of energy to countries in Europe, the Middle East, and even the United States.

E.ON’s use of sustainable forms of energy through its energy solutions and windfarm projects makes the company an ideal candidate for other entities with an environmental mission, like Tesla.

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Tesla plans to build Giga Berlin with “sustainability and the environment in mind,” according to CEO Elon Musk. When the company began the preparation of land where Giga Berlin will eventually stand in 2021, Musk stated that the new production plant would be used to “build sustainable energy vehicles using sustainable energy, so net environmental impact will be extremely positive!”

Based on Tesla’s Giga Berlin website, the plant will utilize a solar roof and use only renewable energy to power the facility and produce vehicles and powertrains.

“Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg will have a solar roof and aims to use renewable electricity to help Germany and Brandenburg achieve its ambitious ‘Energiewende’ objectives,” the site says.

Tesla began preparing 90 hectares of the 300-hectare site in early January, and construction crews are continuously working to have the land ready by the company’s aimed first production date of July 2021. Most recently, construction crews have worked to excavate and level the ground to make it suitable for building a structure.

Tesla plans to begin producing vehicles in 2021, with the first production phase, including the building of 10,000 Model Y vehicles per week.

Tesla gave E.ON an 18-month deadline to finalize the designs for the factory’s energy solutions.

Teyssen replied, “And we’ll deliver.”

Tesla contracts German power company E.ON for Giga Berlin project

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BMW attracts car community’s ire after ad campaign goes awry


During times of crisis, some members of the auto industry adapt to help out. Such is the case with GM, Ford, and Tesla, all of which have received approval from the US President to help out the country’s medical infrastructure by producing ventilators and other key medical equipment. Other car companies, on the other hand, are opting for a slightly different approach to the crisis. 

Unfortunately, some of these approaches do not seem to sit particularly well with the auto community as a whole. A perfect example of this is a recent ad from BMW i, the German automaker’s EV division. The ad featured the division’s i8 hybrid sports car, a vehicle expected to be put to pasture this coming April. 

The ad was simple enough, but it included references to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The team behind the BMW i8 ad even opted to include the #FlattenTheCurve hashtag, which is currently partly being used to inform and address the online community about the C-19 outbreak. “Be a roadblock of the outbreak and make your own contribution to #FlattenTheCurve. The BMW i8 Coupe Ultimate Sophisto Edition,” the ad read. 

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Needless to say, BMW’s advertisement prompted a strong response from the online community, including veteran car authorities such as The Drive’s Alex Roy, who urged the German automaker to terminate the ad agency behind the post. In a way, such reactions are understandable, considering the current state of the coronavirus outbreak and how it has disrupted the lives of millions across the globe. 

It did not take long before BMW i issued an apology, admitting that its recent ad caused the online car community to be “irritated.” The German automaker followed this up by a pledge to do better. “We are sorry. Our last Tweet caused some irritation, and you were right in your criticism. Our main intention these days is to share optimistic and helpful content to brighten up your days. We are all in this together. We can do better, and we will,” the automaker noted. 

Despite the blunder from the BMW i marketing team, the German automaker has actually adopted some proactive measures for its European facilities. In an announcement last week, for example, BMW, together with Japanese carmakers Honda and Toyota, stated that it would be suspending its car production in the UK. BMW noted that the suspension of production would be in effect until April 17, at least for the meantime. 

Marketing gaffes aside, some key players in the auto industry are showing remarkable initiative to help out amidst the coronavirus outbreak. In a recent announcement, for example, Ford revealed that it is partnering with GE and 3M to build ventilators, respirators, and face shields at some of its facilities. Tesla, on the other hand, has been hard at work, donating N95 masks and ventilators to cities that require medical supplies. 

BMW attracts car community’s ire after ad campaign goes awry

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Tesla Model Y ‘off-road’ assist test bodes well for Cybertruck’s overlanding abilities


The Model Y is pretty unique in the way that it is the only Tesla today with a dedicated “Off-Road Assist” mode. This feature, despite being more of a side function for the Model Y, bodes very well for the Cybertruck’s off-road and overlanding capabilities. 

The Tesla Model Y’s design gives the impression that the vehicle is designed for the city, and this is no more emphasized in the Performance variant, which sits low on the ground with large 21″ Überturbine Wheels. The Model Y Performance is built for quickness and handling, but if a recent video is any indication, even such a vehicle can hint at some of Tesla’s off-road tech that is currently in development. 

The Out of Spec Motoring group recently managed to get their hands on a brand new Model Y Performance, thanks to owner-enthusiast Brian of the i1Tesla YouTube channel. The motoring group tested the Model Y’s track capabilities, and they came away impressed at the vehicle’s driving dynamics. But in a recent tweet, the group also demonstrated how Tesla’s Off-Road Assist feature worked on the Model Y. 

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The test was brief, and the location of the run was only the uneven, grassy outskirts of the North Carolina Center for Automotive Research track. But even in the quick test, it was evident that the Model Y’s “off-road” assist feature performed quite a bit better than the AWD systems used by Tesla in its previous vehicles, like the Model X and the Dual Motor Model 3. 

The group, for one, opted to check how the Model Y handles a situation where some of its tires are off the ground, compromising its traction. Based on the short clip, the all-electric crossover did not seem to have any problems sending power to the correct wheels. This allowed the Model Y to navigate the uneven terrain without any difficulty. 

While critics would be quick to point out that Out of Spec Motoring‘s Model Y off-road test only provided a slight strain on the all-electric crossover’s systems, it should be noted that the vehicle will likely provide Tesla with valuable data that could then be used for the company’s upcoming vehicles like the Cybertruck. 

The Cybertruck’s overlanding capabilities as teased by Tesla. (Credit: Tesla)

Unlike the Model Y, the Cybertruck is designed as a true rough-and-tough vehicle, and it would require a dedicated off-road assist feature that’s enough to match or perhaps even shame industry leaders such as Jeep and land Rover. This is especially true if Tesla were to target the overlanding market, a community of buyers that prioritize vehicles that can handle the elements for extended periods of time. 

The Model Y’s Off-Road Assist feature will likely be used for the most part to traverse terrain much like the one used by Out of Spec Motoring in its brief test. Yet the feature could very well turn out to be the next Track Mode, a capability that will likely allow the company’s flagship vehicles to dominate on the closed circuit when they get released. While the Model 3’s Track Mode would likely enable the next-gen Roadster to outclass other supercars, the Model Y’s off-road assist would likely pave the way for the Cybertruck’s disruption of the pickup truck market. 

Tesla Model Y ‘off-road’ assist test bodes well for Cybertruck’s overlanding abilities

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