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NIO’s new Formula E race car represents a turning point for the EV industry

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At a flashy unveiling in East London on Monday night, NIO, the Chinese-based electric vehicle startup, unveiled their Gen2 Formula E car for Season 5 of the all-electric racing series. The extravagant fanfare wasn’t unwarranted, as the new car marks a historic point for the Formula E racing series and, more broadly, electric cars in general.

Up until this point, Formula E has been an exciting sporting event that, despite its best efforts, has struggled to overcome one of the longtime disadvantages of electric vehicles: range. This season, range anxiety is taking a back seat as battery improvements move the series forward. Advancements in the battery cells and the overall pack technology have allowed the cars to run the entire 45-minute race on a single charge. In prior seasons, each driver swapped into a second fully charged vehicle mid-race. The battery capacity has doubled, from 26 kWh to 54 kWh, while maintaining nearly the same size and weight.

NIO’s Formula E Season Five Launch in London, England (Photo: Drew Gibson/NIO)

The new vehicles will not only aide in the teams’ performance on the track but will also serve as a testbed for NIO’s most advanced technologies. “We are working on the cutting edge, whatever we learn here, may go down into the NIO production cars. Currently, the components we use are too expensive, but that’s a matter of time. The actual software that we use to program the inverter and everything that can all be used in the future,” said Paul Fickers, Performance Program Engineering Director at NIO.

The new technological advancements signify a much larger change in the entire EV industry: the impending dominance over internal-combustion engines. Allowing companies to go head-to-head, on a technological and skill-based level, by leaving range concerns behind and upping the maximum power output in the cars, will heat up competition between the teams to a truly exciting level.

With nearly all the teams entering or nearing production of their own electric roadcars, Season 5 of Formula E will be the most important yet. NIO began production of their first vehicle earlier this year in China, Audi announcing the e-Tron, Jaguar’s brand new i-Pace, Nissan’s long-time Leaf, and BMW’s i-Series. NIO’s Fickers told Teslarati that he especially believes NIO’s motor and inverter will best the competition.

Outside of technological changes to the vehicles, NIO is switching up their driver roster by adding Tom Dillmann to the team, joining long-time NIO driver, Oliver Turvey. Dillmann tells Teslarati that the driving experience of a Formula E vehicle is like no other, “I don’t compare it to a normal single seater, I just see it as Formula E. It is 900kg, it has a driver, this amount of power, different tires. Formula E for me is separate.”

Dillmann also highlighted the increased power on the new generation vehicle, with peak power rising from 200 kW to 250 kW. “On the tracks we are racing on, very narrow, twisty, it’s fast,” Dillmann noted, going on to state the power capacity boost will be especially noticeable in the qualifying races (when speed is the number one objective), “it’s going to be fast.”

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In addition to a new vehicle and driver, NIO added Switzerland-based, cybersecurity firm Acronis as a long-term partner. The company will also be providing NIO with technology services.

In September, NIO listed on the New York Stock Exchange and became the second all-electric automaker to go public, after Tesla in 2010. With over 6,000 employees across the world, NIO is making a large bet on the world’s largest electric vehicle market in China.

While the Formula E races do help the company’s branding, they are looking to eventually bring the cutting-edge technology into their production vehicles, the NIO ES8 and ES6 (both crossovers). The vehicles have prices ranging from $55,000-$65,000, far less than Tesla’s Model X, which costs more than double that in China.

While only time will tell if NIO can meet their sales targets in China, we will be able to see NIO’s racing technology in action shortly. Formula E’s first race of Season 5 is being held in Ad Diriyah, Saudi Arabia on December 15th. With larger batteries and more powerful motors, the new season will surely be the most exciting yet.

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Christian Prenzler is currently the VP of Business Development at Teslarati, leading strategic partnerships, content development, email newsletters, and subscription programs. Additionally, Christian thoroughly enjoys investigating pivotal moments in the emerging mobility sector and sharing these stories with Teslarati's readers. He has been closely following and writing on Tesla and disruptive technology for over seven years. You can contact Christian here: christian@teslarati.com

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Tesla Board Chair slams Wall Street Journal over alleged CEO search report

Denholm’s comments were posted by Tesla on its official account on social media platform X.

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robyn-m-denholm-tesla
CeBIT Australia, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Tesla Board Chair Robyn Denholm has issued a stern correction to The Wall Street Journal after the publication posted a report alleging that the electric vehicle maker’s Board of Directors opened a search for a new CEO to replace Elon Musk.

Denholm’s comments were posted by Tesla on its official account on social media platform X. 

The WSJ’s Allegations

Citing people reportedly familiar with the discussions, the WSJ alleged that Tesla Board members reached out to several executive search firms to work on a formal process for finding Elon Musk’s successor. The publication also alleged that tensions had been mounting at Tesla due to the company’s dropping sales and profits, as well as the time Musk has been spending with DOGE.

The publication also alleged that Elon Musk had met with the Tesla Board about the matter, and that members told the CEO that he needed to spend more time on Tesla. Musk was reportedly instructed to state his intentions publicly as well. The CEO did not push back against the Board, the WSJ claimed. 

Elon Musk did announce that he is stepping back from his day-to-day role at the Department of Government Efficiency during the Tesla Q1 2025 earnings call. Musk’s announcement was embraced by Tesla investors and analysts, many of whom felt that the CEO’s renewed focus on the EV maker could push the company to greater heights. 

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Tesla and Musk’s Response

In response to The Wall Street Journal’s report, Tesla’s official account on X shared a comment from its Board Chair. In her comment, Denham noted that the WSJ‘s report was “absolutely false.” She also highlighted that Tesla had communicated this fact to the publication before the report was published, but the Journal ran the story anyway.

“Earlier today, there was a media report erroneously claiming that the Tesla Board had contacted recruitment firms to initiate a CEO search at the company. This is absolutely false (and this was communicated to the media before the report was published). The CEO of Tesla is Elon Musk and the Board is highly confident in his ability to continue executing on the exciting growth plan ahead,” Denholm stated.

Elon Musk himself commented on the matter, stating that the publication showed an “extremely bad breach of ethics” since the report did not even include the Tesla Board of Directors’ denial of the allegations. “It is an EXTREMELY BAD BREACH OF ETHICS that the WSJ would publish a DELIBERATELY FALSE ARTICLE and fail to include an unequivocal denial beforehand by the Tesla board of directors!” Musk wrote in a post on X.

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Investor's Corner

Tesla Board member and Airbnb co-founder loads up on TSLA ahead of robotaxi launch

Tesla CEO Elon Musk gave a nod of appreciation for the Tesla Board member’s purchase.

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(Credit: Tesla)

Tesla Board member and Airbnb Co-Founder Joe Gebbia has loaded up on TSLA stock (NASDAQ:TSLA). The Board member’s purchase comes just over a month before Tesla is expected to launch an initial robotaxi service in Austin, Texas.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk gave a nod of appreciation for the Tesla Board member in a post on social media.

The TSLA Purchase

As could be seen in a Form 4 submitted to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday, Gebbia purchased about $1.02 million worth of TSLA stock. This was comprised of 4,000 TSLA shares at an average price of $256.308 per share.

Interestingly enough, Gebbia’s purchase represents the first time an insider has purchased TSLA stock in about five years. CEO Elon Musk, in response to a post on social media platform X about the Tesla Board member’s TSLA purchase, gave a nod of appreciation for Gebbia. “Joe rocks,” Musk wrote in his post on X.

Gebbia has served on Tesla’s Board as an independent director since 2022, and he is also a known friend of Elon Musk. He even joined the Trump Administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to help the government optimize its processes.

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Just a Few Weeks Before Robotaxi

The timing of Gebbia’s TSLA stock purchase is quite interesting as the company is expected to launch a dedicated roboatxi service this June in Austin. A recent report from Insider, citing sources reportedly familiar with the matter, claimed that Tesla currently has 300 test operators driving robotaxis around Austin city streets. The publication’s sources also noted that Tesla has an internal deadline of June 1 for the robotaxi service’s rollout, but even a launch near the end of the month would be impressive.

During the Q1 2025 earnings call, Elon Musk explained that the robotaxi service that would be launched in June will feature autonomous rides in Model Y units. He also noted that the robotaxi service would see an expansion to other cities by the end of 2025. “The Teslas that will be fully autonomous in June in Austin are probably Model Ys. So, that is currently on track to be able to do paid rides fully autonomously in Austin in June and then to be in many other cities in the US by the end of this year,” Musk stated. 

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Investor's Corner

Tesla hints at ‘Model 2’ & next-gen EV designs

Tesla’s Q1 2025 update confirms new models this year, with production tied to existing factory lines. Could it be time for the Model 2 debut?

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(Credit: Tesla)

During its Q1 2025 earnings call, Tesla executives hinted at the much-rumored “Model 2” and other next-gen EV designs.

Tesla slightly addressed whether or not it will be pushing forward with the debut of new models later this year in its latest earnings call. The company’s product development executive, Lars Moravy, shared some details about Tesla’s design process and the upcoming affordable models.

“We’re still planning to release models this year. As with all launches, we’re working through, like, the last minute issues that pop up. We’re knocking them down one by one. At this point, I would say that the ramp might be a little slower than we had hoped initially…But there’s nothing that’s blocking us from starting production within the next, within the timeline laid out in the opening remarks.

“And I will say it’s important to emphasize that, as we’ve said all along, the full utilization of our factories is the primary goal for these new products. And so the flexibility of what we can do within the form factor and, you know, the design of it is really limited to what we can do on our existing lines rather than building new ones. But we’ve been targeting the low cost of ownership. Monthly payment is the biggest differentiator for our vehicles, and that’s why we’re focused on bringing these new models with the, you know, the lowest price, to the market, within the constraints I just highlighted.”

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In January, Tesla’s Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja teased several new product introductions for this year. There is at least one product that most Tesla supporters and investors are hoping to see: the company’s affordable vehicles, which have been dubbed by the EV community as the “Model 2” or “Model Q.”

Before Tesla’s Robotaxi event last year, many speculated that the company would also unveil its affordable next-gen vehicle. Gene Munster from Deepwater had expected Tesla to release a stripped-down version of the Model 3 as its affordable vehicle during the Robotaxi event. In the end, Tesla unveiled its Robotaxi vehicle and its Robovan design.

It’s been a while since the Robotaxi event, and Tesla has kept mum about its affordable vehicle. Considering its Q1 2025 performance, TSLA investors look forward to catalysts that could boost the stock.

The “Model 2” has been labeled a potential catalyst for Tesla. As such, TSLA investors and supporters have been itching for news about the new affordable vehicle. The main questions surrounding the “Model 2” revolve around its design and price. Based on Moravy’s statement, the “Model 2’s” design will heavily depend on Tesla’s current assembly lines and supply chain structures.

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