Tesla Plans Factory In China, Discounts Insurance For Self-Driving US Cars (electrek.co) 104
Business Insider reports:
Tesla has created a customized insurance package, InsureMyTesla, that is cheaper than traditional plans because it factors in the vehicles' Autopilot safety features and maintenance costs. InsureMyTesla has been available in 20 countries, but Tesla just recently partnered with Liberty Mutual to make the plan available in the U.S. InsureMyTesla shows how the insurance industry is bound for disruption as cars get safer with self-driving tech.
Electrek reports: There have been several false alarms over the past few years about Tesla building a factory in China. Earlier this year, Tesla finally confirmed working with the Shanghai government to establish a manufacturing facility in the region and promised an announcement by the end of the year. Now the Wall Street Journal reports that they have come to an agreement with the local authorities on a "wholly owned" factory in the region... China is already the biggest market for electric vehicles, or any vehicles for that matter, and Tesla profited from the demand by tripling its sales to over $1 billion in the country in 2016. Tesla continues to have strong sales in the country this year, where it leads foreign electric car sales with no close second.
Electrek reports: There have been several false alarms over the past few years about Tesla building a factory in China. Earlier this year, Tesla finally confirmed working with the Shanghai government to establish a manufacturing facility in the region and promised an announcement by the end of the year. Now the Wall Street Journal reports that they have come to an agreement with the local authorities on a "wholly owned" factory in the region... China is already the biggest market for electric vehicles, or any vehicles for that matter, and Tesla profited from the demand by tripling its sales to over $1 billion in the country in 2016. Tesla continues to have strong sales in the country this year, where it leads foreign electric car sales with no close second.
Re:Great, now it'll ALL be made in CHINA! (Score:5, Informative)
The Chinese gigafactory is for the Chinese market (the largest EV market in the world). The US gigafactory is for the US and European markets (although the EU will likely get its own gigafactory eventually).
Re:Great, now it'll ALL be made in CHINA! (Score:5, Insightful)
It doesn't matter. Getting in bed with the Chinese apparently means they now have a significant influence within your company.
Say, just as a completely hypothetical example, the Chinese government doesn't want a political dissenter living in New York to be able to broadcast videos critical of the Chinese government. [slashdot.org] Why, just drum up some evidence of harassment, and you get your YouTube and Facebook accounts blocked, just like that. Maybe you even pressure the Chinese security officer who is currently the head of Interpol to file some charges against him. And, naturally, it's completely coincidental that this happened during the once-every-five-years meeting of the Chinese communist party.
But like I said, that's just a hypothetical example. I'm probably over-thinking this, right?
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Yes, Daimler's plans are not new:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news... [bloomberg.com]
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Take US taxpayers' money and run away!
If by run away you mean continue to manufacture in the USA while expanding and improving production, increasing economies of scale, all the while offsetting the carbon emissions in our world which was the primary purpose of the tax breaks in the first place, then I hope every company "runs away".
Speaking of taxpayers' money, you do realise this is based on USA sales and productions right? Meaning none of this money goes to this factory? I guess that doesn't suit your anti Tesla / anti government subsidy ran
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In addition, the model 3 is the MOST American made car going, bar none.
There is nothing from GM, Ford, Chrysler, etc that are more American made. And yet, you continue to troll here, likely on Koch's payroll.
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Hmm...I'd say the Chevrolet Corvette is more american made than the model 3. Considering that the vast majority of all those expensive components in the model 3 batteries are mined in China, and those batteries make up a large portion of the cost of the car, it'd be hard to make a claim otherwise.
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Tesla's CObalt is currently coming [www.cbc.ca] from Canada, with Idaho starting up as well [investingnews.com]
Lithium is coming from Northern Mexico [insideevs.com], along with Nevada. [seekingalpha.com]
Nickel does come from Australia,Indonesia, and Japan, so, those will be imported.
Steel and Aluminum are from all over, including America.
However, these are the RAW materials. As it stands, IIRC, Model 3 is about 93% American made. Corvette, like its speed, does not touch it.,
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Why do you dicks continue to lie and just make up bull shit.
This was for 2016: 1) Congo : 66,000 MT. [investingnews.com]
2) CHina: 7700 MT.
3) Canada: 7300 MT (which provides for Tesla).
4) Russia: 6200 MT.
5) Australia.5100 MT.
6) Zambia 4600 MT
7) Cuba 4200 MT
8) Phillipines 3500 MT
9) Madagascar 3300 MT
10) New Caledonia 3300 MT.
Where is Finland, Norway, and Japan? They are NOT part of it. And Tesla has said that they get all of their metals from nations that are not controversial (though that was before they stru
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Tesla already said Canada for Cobalt. In fact, they have said that they would not use any nation that has issues,SUCH as CHina and Congo, though they did cut a deal with China for rare earth.
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Let's see.
http://www.american.edu/kogod/... [american.edu]
Corvette comes in #3, while the Tesla Model S comes in #14. Unless the model 3 has radically increased it's sourcing from the US, I suspect the Model 3 will remain around the 14th rank.
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OTOH, MS/MX are around 50-55% American made, which is JUST ENOUGH to pass NAFTA and nothing more.
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Yeah, it shows that GM, Ford, etc just plain sux for what they are doing to America. The fact that W and O bailed them out is just disgusting. If we are going to bail them out (and yes, we bailed out Ford by giving them 22+ billion loan with no interest and it is STILL NOT PAID OFF), we should have broken them up into multiple small car makers. That way they would turn out to be li
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I agree as part of the bailout, we should have broken the companies up. Both GM and Ford likely would be better today if they were (as well as the consumers).
Re: Great, now it'll ALL be made in CHINA! (Score:2)
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The gasoline and oil in the corvette uses, is almost completely produced in the US.
https://www.eia.gov/energyexpl... [eia.gov]
Collective? (Score:3)
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They all have the same flaws since they all use the same software, and therefore have the same risk.
Not true. If I commute everyday on the highway, and you drive twisty icy mountain roads, or if you live in a bad neighborhood with lots of uninsured drivers, the risks will not be the same. With conventional insurance, your zipcode can often affect your premiums as much as your driving record.
Legal differences also matter, especially in how medical expenses are covered. Some states allow hospitals to bill auto insurance companies directly, while others require the hospitals to bill the patients medical i
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Legal differences also matter, especially in how medical expenses are covered. Some states allow hospitals to bill auto insurance companies directly, while others require the hospitals to bill the patients medical insurance company, which is then reimbursed by the auto insurance company.
Michigan is the only state with *unlimited* medical liability coverage for automotive insurance. People here are always asking why our premiums are so incredibly high.
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But the driver does not have control how they drive on those twisty mountain roads.
But they do have a choice of where to live.
If you choose to live in the mountains, don't expect others to subsidize your lifestyle.
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Re:Collective? (Score:5, Informative)
In the US, they are using Liberty Mutual for "Insure my Tesla".
Out of curiosity, I entered my information and received an insurance quote for my Tesla which is 4 times what I am currently paying.
So... not a good deal... at all.
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I wonder if they are planning on using data from your car. In the UK you can opt to have a telemetry box installed in your car which monitors your driving. If you drive "badly" it reports you to the insurance company and they jack up your premium, otherwise you get a small discount. They are not very reliable - for example some cars with very small engines need full throttle to get slow up steep hills, which looks to the box like you are accelerating really hard.
Re: Collective? (Score:2)
My current low cost insurance does that but Liberty doesn't.
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They all have the same flaws since they all use the same software, and therefore have the same risk.
Only if the insurance only covers the driver while auto-pilot is engaged.
I'm actually wondering if it is going to be the complete opposite where the insurance rate is not only determined by the driver history and traits, but also vehicle diagnostics. E.g. insurance rates go up if you accelerate heavily, break heavily, frequently suddenly turn the steering wheel, leave your hands off the wheel with auto pilot engaged for too long, go around corners too fast, speed, etc.
Reminds me of our one of the company ca
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No, I still think there should be a surcharge for stupid drivers.
If you're young and stupid and decide to watch a blockbuster movie with your DVD player sitting on your passenger seat (while keeping your hands on the wheel, because otherwise, the car gets upset at you), then you could still get into a head-on collision.
Also let's be honest here, killing an entire family with your car is probably going to be much more expensive in a place like LA or New York than a place like Arkansas. In Beverly Hills alone
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If Tesla trusts its self driving (Score:3)
Re:If Tesla trusts its self driving (Score:4, Informative)
Legally in the US you are required to either have a minimum set of insurance or put up a large amount of money in a bond with the state in lieu of insurance. The latter may differ from state to state.
If you are effectively forced to buy insurance anyway, Tesla is partnering with Liberty Mutual to offer discounted (supposedly) insurance that takes the cars self-driving and other safety features into account to hopefully give you a better insurance rate.
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If you are effectively forced to buy insurance anyway, Tesla is partnering with Liberty Mutual to offer discounted (supposedly) insurance that takes the cars self-driving and other safety features into account to hopefully give you a better insurance rate.
Unlike all other insurances, that blissfully ignore any vehicle's track record and safety features. This is just a PR stunt where Liberty Mutual offers a volume discount for Tesla to send customers their way.
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When you drive your car, do you control all the external factors?
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If software is driving for them, the cars won't exceed speed limits. More software-driven cars means a more constant flow of traffic, means less accidents.
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Statistics. That's what insurance companies use.
Re:If Tesla trusts its self driving (Score:4, Interesting)
I wonder if they are applying discounts for their own repair work. Tesla cars are notoriously expensive to repair and not all accidents are your own fault and not all other drivers are insured or will own up to a parking lot incident.
This is what $30k of damage looks like.
http://gas2.org/2015/01/06/thi... [gas2.org]
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Why do you have to pay insurance for their self driving? If Tesla trusted its self driving feature, it would indemnify the owners in the event of an accident. The fact you have to buy coverage hits on the fact it is an alpha release of âoeself driving.â
I guess you're talking about the liability portion of an auto insurance policy, which is what is required by law. If you finance your car purchase, the finance company will require you to also carry comprehensive and collision coverage. Liability insurance won't pay to fix your car if a tree falls on it while it's parked in your driveway, or if someone slams into it in a parking lot, or if a truck kicks up a rock that cracks your windshield.
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IP Theft (Score:3)
Expect a multitude of EV clones in China appearing that look strangely similar to Teslas.
The Chinese market may be massive, but that market is only available to Chinese citizens for the long term. It will be known in history as the great IP theft of the west.
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Expect a multitude of EV clones in China appearing that look strangely similar to Teslas.
Tesla Motors was created for the purpose of proving EVs were viable and proliferating them, so this would be a win for Elon. If you haven't you noticed, all their patents are free to use. [tesla.com]
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Tesla Motors was created for the purpose of proving EVs were viable and proliferating them, so this would be a win for Elon. If you haven't you noticed, all their patents are free to use.
Only for those companies that reciprocate and make all of their patents free to use for Tesla.
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Only for those companies that reciprocate and make all of their patents free to use for Tesla.
Obvious solution: Start up a shadow subsidiary that doesn't have any patents.
This is easy to do in China, which has weak laws on corporate disclosure.
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Only for those companies that reciprocate and make all of their patents free to use for Tesla.
Where did you get that information?
Re: IP Theft (Score:2)
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Meh, you've never experienced quality until you've driven a Temla. Their new Optopilot system is amazing!
Re:IP Theft (Score:4, Funny)
I'm sorry but Temla is crap. The best one out there is the Tesra, no contest.
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China is already well ahead in the EV market. BYD has cars with similar range to Tesla but costing a fraction as much, which they developed themselves. They have fully electric busses and commercial vehicles, while Tesla has yet to show their electric truck prototype.
Japan is getting very worried about it. Japanese manufacturers chose hybrid technology, thinking that batteries wouldn't be good enough for decades. There is a big scramble to develop not just fully electric cars, but for all the part manufactu
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Cars have already gotten 'safer'. That generally means they cost _more_ to repair.
Self driving tech is nowhere near ready to make cars safer. If it was, Tesla wouldn't be using statistical lies (e.g. comparing Tesla 'auto drive'* to all human driving, not similar driving) in an attempt to show that they are safer.
* Autodrive: Lane following and adaptive cruise control.
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Paying customers. Duh.
You don't 'get' markets, do you? Start every analysis by identifying the marxist class of players?
Spyware (Score:2)
What a wonderful idea. So you can get insurance from the company that has, essentially, unlimited spyware in your car. So they can charge you for your "risk" based on how hard you brake, how hard you accelerate, how hard you corner, how fast you drive, where you like to drive, what times you drive, and so much more, and all regardless of the ACTUAL outcomes or how actually safe you are.
Pass
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Shanghai Factory (Score:3)
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TTAC called, they want you for their Tesla Deathwatch column nearly a decade ago.
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TTAC called, they want you for their Tesla Deathwatch column nearly a decade ago.
If any of you knew how to read a 10K and actually looked into Tesla's finances, you'd realize that given their latest junk bond offering and negative cash flow, they are incapable of ever making a profit. It's losses all the way folks, until the inevitable reorg.
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And yet, their stock trades at $345.10 a share [google.com], and their market cap is $57.59 billion [google.com].
That their stock price is ridiculously over valued is the best investment thesis you have?
Another company that doesn't make a profit: Amazon [forbes.com]. Shorting them too? Good luck with that.
Amazon has almost always had positive cash flow to fund their operations and growth. They had to go the capital markets just once many years ago. Tesla has to continually go the capital markets just to keep the lights on. https://imgur.com/a/IKilJ [imgur.com] And their cash burn is still increasing - Q3 results will be the worse yet. Once they run out of OPM they are toast.
they're holding $16B worth of Model 3 orders... (Score:2)
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they're holding $16B worth of Model 3 orders
A $1000 refundable deposit to hold a spot in line is not an order. A fraction of those will turn into actual orders. What was the last number of deposits that Musk gave out? 457,000? Given Musk's propensity to fudge numbers, do you really even believe that number was accurate at the time? What do you think the continuing Model 3 delay will do to that number? Which may all be a moot issue, since Tesla has yet to show they can even make a car at a profit. Tesla can't figure out how to make money at $100K - $
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economies of scale?
Economies of scale didn't help Tesla make a profit selling the much more expensive Model S or X, even before they had to institute massive discounts to move metal.
Then mortgage your trailer and short the stock. (Score:2)
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But we both know that you don't really *believe* that Tesla is going to fail, you just really, really want them to.
Yes, I do. Just calling it as I would a terminally ill patient. Some company will pick up the pieces after the reorg and the Tesla name will probably continue, and hopefully Tesla car owners will still have a company that'll service them and perhaps build newer models in a profitable manner.
Good thing you have 1014 other burner accounts (Score:2)
Until then, here's some Econ 101:
1. There's a big difference between not turning a profit because noone wants to buy your crap and not turning a profit because you can't manufacture products fast enough to keep up with demand and every $ of revenue is reinvested into expanding capacity.
2. You can't make a
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because I'm going to wait a couple years and then stalk you through every thread, and replay those words back to you.
How mature; comes out in your investment decisions.
Congratulations on learning nothing from: "No wifi, less space than a Nomad, Lame".
When has Apple lost money on every unit it sold?
There's a big difference between not turning a profit because noone wants to buy your crap and not turning a profit because you can't manufacture products fast enough to keep up with demand and every $ of revenue is reinvested into expanding capacity.
So many people want the Model S and Model X that Tesla had to offer massive discounts last quarter just to keep sales flat.
r and every $ of revenue is reinvested into expanding capacity.
Tesla needs capital raises just to keep the lights on. They have negative cash flow. The comparisons to Amazon are flawed.
You can't make a product fail by hating the company's CEO.
There are financial reasons to stay away from Tesla as an investor, besides the fact they have PT Barnum for a CEO.
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Every company loses money on 'every unit sold' until the point that they've paid back the R & D. That is true for literally every product ever made. When the R&D is especially capital-intensive (like a new car or rocket) then it takes longer. Pretty much every time this happens some moron looks at the shareholder report and says "Company X is losing $Y on every unit!!! They should stop making units!!!".
Companies that are growing fast don't g
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Every company loses money on 'every unit sold' until the point that they've paid back the R & D. That is true for literally every product ever made. When the R&D is especially capital-intensive (like a new car or rocket) then it takes longer. Pretty much every time this happens some moron looks at the shareholder report and says "Company X is losing $Y on every unit!!! They should stop making units!!!".
Musk said 2 years ago Tesla would be cash flow positive and not need another capital raise. It's been several raises later and yet another one is just around the corner. BTW, the Chief Accounting Officer at Tesla just dumped a block of shares: http://secfilings.nasdaq.com/f... [nasdaq.com] You sure you want to be one left holding the bag?