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Urging employees to give their all, Elon Musk sends another internal letter
Yesterday, Elon Musk sent an internal email to Tesla employees stating that Tesla still has a chance to achieve the goal of delivering 500,000 cars this year, but it requires everyone to “give it their all”. He called on employees to accelerate the delivery process and to use the fact of reaching this goal to counter critics.
To achieve this annual goal, Tesla needs to deliver more than 181,000 cars in this quarter, which is 40,000 more than the previous quarter.
Quick Comment:
Earlier this month, Musk sent an internal email to employees calling on everyone to increase production capacity. This year, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tesla’s Fremont factory in California cannot meet production targets as planned, and the current unfavorable overseas situation undoubtedly adds fuel to the fire of the situation.
In contrast, the production capacity of the Shanghai Super Factory is relatively stable, and the first batch of Model 3s produced in China has been shipped to Belgium, and has started supplying the European market. According to the plan, the Berlin Super Factory will be completed and put into production next year. If it can be completed on schedule, it may be able to alleviate Tesla’s production capacity anxiety to some extent.
Panasonic expected to start production of 4680 batteries in 2021
According to Nikkei News, Panasonic is expected to start production of Tesla’s new 4680 battery in 2021, and plans to build new production lines in its existing factories, with project costs estimated to be in the tens of millions of dollars.
The new 4680 battery was first introduced at Tesla Battery Day in September this year. Its diameter is 46 mm and its height is 80 mm. It uses different raw materials to reduce costs. In addition, the 4680 battery adopts a poleless ear design to improve its density.
Quick Comment:
At present, the 4680 battery is only in trial production at Tesla’s Fremont factory in California. Although Tesla has started the construction of battery production facilities at its Berlin super factory and asked suppliers such as LG to increase production capacity, it is clear that various means are needed to keep up with its car production and delivery targets.
Therefore, outsourcing the production by Panasonic is a faster way to increase production capacity, and Panasonic can also share some of the early costs.
Toyota China: “Akio Toyoda’s Attack on Electric Vehicles” is Misread
According to the Daily Economic News, on December 26th, Dong Changzheng, Executive Vice President of Toyota China, stated that “Akio Toyoda’s Attack on Electric Vehicles” was a misreading of the Japanese media. What he really wants to express is that “realizing electrification and carbon neutrality requires the three links of production, transportation and use to develop in accordance with the same strategy coordination.”
Dong Changzheng revealed that Toyota China’s cooperation with BYD in pure electric vehicle models is about to make substantial progress, and the power batteries cooperation with CATL is also advancing, bringing new achievements in the field of electric vehicles at the Shanghai Auto Show next year.
Quick Comment:
Last week, Akio Toyoda just attacked electric cars for being over-promoted. Later, Toyota stated that it will launch a two-seat compact electric car next year, and the initial users will be business users and local governments in the Japanese market. The two news comparisons cannot help but make people feel that the “slap face” came too fast.
However, considering the policy changes of governments around the world towards fuel-powered vehicles and the wave of new energy vehicle manufacturing, traditional automakers have limited choices.
Elon Musk Responds to Apple’s Creation of Cars, Recalls Past “Low-price Dumping” Company Unresponded by Tim Cook
On December 23, Elon Musk responded to Apple’s creation of cars on Twitter and revealed that at the darkest moment of Model 3, he once wanted to contact Tim Cook to discuss the possibility of Apple acquiring Tesla, but Cook refused to participate in the discussion.
Musk also stated that Tesla currently uses lithium iron phosphate batteries, and Apple’s “individual battery” design is not feasible from an electrochemical perspective.
Quick Comment:
In 2014, Apple launched “Project Titan”. The following year, Apple poached more than 300 employees from Tesla, which was a significant blow to Tesla at the time. Among them was Doug Field, who joined Tesla from Apple in 2013 and led the development of the Model 3. In 2018, he returned to Apple and joined the autonomous driving team.
Today, everything in the past has become history, and Tesla’s market value is ten times that of the “darkest moment” in the past. I don’t know if Tim Cook now regrets that there was an opportunity to acquire Tesla back then.
Rational view of Apple car production
Recently, TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo warned not to trust the earlier supply chain confirmation that Apple will release the Apple Car in September next year. The current hype surrounding this message is more about boosting the value of “concept stocks” related to Apple car production.
On the 22nd, Reuters exclusively reported that Apple plans to build the Apple Car in 2024, which will be powered by lithium iron phosphate “individual batteries.” Last week, Taiwanese media reported that Apple is expected to release the Apple Car in September next year.
（Concept image of the Apple Car, source: wccftech）
Previously, Volkswagen CEO Diess stated that tech giants like Apple, with their strong financial resources, entering the automotive industry will accelerate industry changes, bring new technologies, and bring greater challenges to the industry as a whole.
Quick Comment:
In the past two weeks, there have been various reports about Apple’s entry into the automotive industry. It has been seven years since Apple announced its entry into the automotive industry. Each new report, from considering full vehicle production to leaning towards providing software and services, arouses heated discussions.
However, it can be seen that making cars is not an easy task, even for a financially powerful and innovative company like Apple. From the supply chain to production capacity, coupled with the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the global economy, perhaps we still need to wait for some time to hear more specific and accurate news.
DJI unveils self-driving system patent
Recently, Shenzhen-based DJI innovations has publicly disclosed a patent entitled “Method and Apparatus for Displaying Information Flow, Autonomous Driving System, and Mobile Platform.”
This patent includes a method and device for displaying message flow, an unmanned driving system, and a movable platform. The method comprises creating a display identifier for each node and a display identifier for the input and/or output message, so that the display identifier of the input and/or output message of the node is located around the display identifier of the node (S201); creating connection identifiers between the node and the input and/or output message of the node to indicate the message flow of the node (S202).
This message flow display method records the messages that are published or subscribed by each node in the message transmission system based on the node, forming a link relationship diagram. It can accurately display the incoming and/or outgoing messages of the same node, facilitating the synchronization of message debugging by users.
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As a leader in the drone industry, it is very encouraging for DJI to apply its accumulated technology to the field of automatic driving and artificial intelligence. The accumulation of related technologies may help DJI gain a competitive advantage. Prior to this, rumors of DJI entering the automatic driving field have been circulating. With further deployment such as the publication of this patent, new players in the automatic driving field may bring new changes to the industry.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.