Musk endeavours

[Howard]

And slow progress getting the plant in Germany finished.

Against good advice, Tesla fans claimed this would be completed ages ago. Can't blame the German authorities for insisting that acceptable environmental standards are met?

Would VW have completed it quicker?

regards

Howard

[TheMotorcycleBoy]

Solar storm knocks out 40 newly launched SpaceX satellites

LOS ANGELES, Feb 9 (Reuters) - A geomagnetic storm triggered by a large burst of radiation from the sun has disabled least 40 of the 49 satellites newly launched by SpaceX as part of its Starlink internet communications network, the company said.

The incident was believed to mark the largest collective loss of satellites stemming from a single geomagnetic event, and was unique in the way it unfolded, Harvard-Smithsonian astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell said on Wednesday.

The company's announcement, posted on its website on Tuesday, said the satellites were stricken last Friday, Feb. 4, a day after they were launched to a preliminary "low-deployment" orbit about 130 miles (210 km) above Earth.

SpaceX said it routinely deploys its satellites to such low orbits at first so they can quickly and safely be allowed to fall back toward Earth and incinerate on re-entry if a malfunction is detected during initial system checkouts.

https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/scien ... 022-02-09/

[BobbyD]

Driver prevents FSD taking out cyclist: https://youtu.be/N_iQSRMzmRQ?t=1509

"Are we going to have to cut that?"

[BobbyD]

It will be interesting to see how this case develops in California.

"California sues Tesla over ‘racial segregation’ claims at factory"

"The state of California is suing Tesla over allegations of operating a “racially segregated workplace” at its factory near San Francisco.

California’s department of fair employment and housing (DFEH) said it had filed a lawsuit alleging widespread discrimination and harassment of black employees following complaints from hundreds of Tesla workers at its main factory in Fremont."

regards

Howard
https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... at-factory

Worth remembering they had $137 million of damages awarded against them in for a single litigants accusation that they turned a blind eye to racial taunts and offensive graffiti in October 2021.

https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-r ... ?r=US&IR=T

[odysseus2000]

Nice star shop review by Elon:

https://youtu.be/3N7L8Xhkzqo

Approx 1 hr 20; starts at circa 5 mins

Regards,

[BobbyD]

Model X is the most complex passenger car ever and a complete bitch to build:

Tesla delays more Model X deliveries as Elon Musk admits to problems in the production ramp

In a series of tweets this week, CEO Elon Musk admitted that Tesla is having issues with the Model X production ramp and that the automaker shouldn’t have stopped production of the old version:

We dropped the ball badly regarding new Model X production ramp and still haven’t fully recovered. It was idiotic to stop production of old Model X in Dec 2020 when there was still plenty of demand!

The CEO added that the current bottleneck is with the interior trim:

Model X is an extremely difficult car to build. Most complex passenger car ever. Limiting factor is interior trim.

- https://electrek.co/2022/02/10/tesla-de ... tion-ramp/

Ford Motor Company has poached former Tesla engineering director Alan Clarke as the Detroit carmaker looks to challenge North America's EV leader in the coming years.

Clarke, a 12-year Tesla veteran, joined Ford in January to work with the Advanced EV Development department in California, according to his LinkedIn page. He made the move public on the professional network earlier this week.

Before joining Ford, Clarke worked as director of new programs engineering for Tesla between October 2017 and January 2022, senior manager of new programs engineering (January 2012–October 2017), and senior design engineer (September 2009–January 2012).

- https://insideevs.com/news/566847/ford- ... rke-tesla/

Tesla forced to remove another 'feature' which doesn't comply with requirements by OTA:

Tesla Recalling 579,000 Cars To Disable Boombox Via OTA Update
Boombox sounds may obscure the mandatory Pedestrian Warning System (PWS) sounds while the vehicle is in motion.

- https://insideevs.com/news/566671/tesla ... s-boombox/

[BobbyD]

Spoiler Alert!

Most powerful production estate car ever produced goes up highest mountain pass in Germany in a blizzard, pulls it's camera car (BMW diesel SUV) out of one snow drift, fails to pull it out of a second snow drift, gets stuck itself going for help, calls the police for help, the police get stuck and then a snow plough turns up to get everybody out!

Oh, and the estate is an electric car, and it's a fun video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lNlwdhx7vA&t=1s

[BobbyD]

More details on the DFEH racism suit:

DFEH has 50 former Tesla employees complainants who claim they were subject to racist comments from not only colleagues, but also supervisors and managers. They also alleged that black employees were less likely to be promoted and are not represented well represented in managerial roles.

Here’s one example of the claims in the lawsuit:

Throughout the day, every day, Black and/or African American workers heard Defendants’ workers, leads, supervisors, and managers make racial slurs and comments about Black workers. Examples of the racist language include the n-word, “porch monkey,” “monkey toes,” “boy,” “hood rats,” and “horse hair.” Defendants’ workers, including production leads and supervisors, made references to Black and/or African Americans in racist comments and racist jokes such as “N[ ] word out of the hood,” “from the ghetto,” “Tesla [was] hiring lazy coons,” and “go back to Africa.”

Another example:

Because the factory was racially segregated, Defendants’ workers referred to the areas where many Black and/or African Americans worked as the “porch monkey station.” Defendants’ workers with tattoos of the Confederate flag made their racially incendiary tattoos visible to intimidate Black and/or African American workers. Racial slurs were also dispensed in Spanish and included “mayate” and “negrita.” Additionally, Defendants’ workers referred to the Tesla factory as the “slaveship” or “the plantation,” where Defendants’ production leads “crack[ed] the whip.” Many Black and/or African American workers understood these terms to be references to how Defendants treated its Black and/or African American workers. One Black worker heard these racial slurs as often as 50-100 times a day.

- https://electrek.co/2022/02/11/tesla-df ... us-racism/

[odysseus2000]

Interesting pod cast with Tesla chief designer:

https://audioboom.com/posts/8028108-fra ... holzhausen

Starts at circa 8 minutes.

Regards,

[Howard]

Spoiler Alert!

Most powerful production estate car ever produced goes up highest mountain pass in Germany in a blizzard, pulls it's camera car (BMW diesel SUV) out of one snow drift, fails to pull it out of a second snow drift, gets stuck itself going for help, calls the police for help, the police get stuck and then a snow plough turns up to get everybody out!

Oh, and the estate is an electric car, and it's a fun video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lNlwdhx7vA&t=1s

It's clearly too low for snow!

Howard

[BobbyD]

Spoiler Alert!

Most powerful production estate car ever produced goes up highest mountain pass in Germany in a blizzard, pulls it's camera car (BMW diesel SUV) out of one snow drift, fails to pull it out of a second snow drift, gets stuck itself going for help, calls the police for help, the police get stuck and then a snow plough turns up to get everybody out!

Oh, and the estate is an electric car, and it's a fun video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lNlwdhx7vA&t=1s

It's clearly too low for snow!

Howard

Yeah, the X3 obviously isn't designed for inclement weather conditions! The sport tourismo does pretty well though, although the CT (Cross Tourismo, obvs) might have been a better choice.

[ReformedCharacter]

Elon Musk answers all your questions on SpaceX Starship (Full Mars Q&A)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpdYmWZUAUM

RC

[odysseus2000]

Munroe, solid state too late?:

https://youtu.be/tcORNM3cXqk

Regards,

[BobbyD]

Tesla surrenders its 'great advantage' in the Netherlands...

Tesla expands access to Supercharger network to all electric cars at all stations in the Netherlands

- https://electrek.co/2022/02/14/tesla-ex ... therlands/

Presumably not that great afterall, especially when you don't really have the userbase to support it.

[odysseus2000]

Elon donates over $5 billion to charity:

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/02/15/busi ... index.html

Regards,

[BobbyD]

Elon donates over $5 billion to charity:

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/02/15/busi ... index.html

Regards,

Well he has an awful lot of tax to write off....

[BobbyD]

Elon Musk firm accused of torturing monkeys in 'brain chip' trials

Neuralink, the firm set up by Musk to develop a device which connects our brains to computers, has denied animal cruelty claims

- https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/ ... rain-chip/

[BobbyD]

Elon has out Eloned himself. Please bear in mind that this isn't just in incredibly bad taste but Elon's twitter account is a recognised method for distributing price sensitive information about an s&p 500 company.

Elon Musk tweets meme comparing Trudeau to Hitler amid Canada trucker protests

- https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 17472.html

Elon Musk

@elonmuskReplying

to @CoinDesk, @Aoyon_A and @realDannyNelson

- https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/149 ... 17472.html

Oh, coincidentally:

Tesla "Phantom Braking" Under NHTSA Investigation

NHTSA has received 354 complaints about Model 3 and Model y phantom braking over the past nine months.

https://insideevs.com/news/568182/tesla ... stigation/

[Howard]

Over the last 12 months Ford shares have risen by around 50%. BMW shares are up 35%. VW shares are up 33%.

Tesla shares went up 11%.

regards

Howard

[BobbyD]

Watch CNBC Try Tesla Full Self-Driving In Three Different Locations

The news outlet wanted to see how Tesla FSD does in three different environments from different parts of the country.

- https://insideevs.com/news/568245/cnbc- ... locations/