News
Ford boasts over 167 percent growth in EV sales, announces Wal-Mart’s 1,100 E-Transit order
Ford released its January 2022 Sales Release, boasting some impressive figures in terms of electric vehicle sales. Ford states that its sales were up 167.2 percent in January compared to the same month in 2021. The growth is outpacing the industry average by almost four times, Ford said in its press release.
The Mustang Mach-E, currently Ford’s only available electric vehicle, accumulated 2,370 sales in January. The remaining sales can be attributed to the F-150 Lightning, whose Order Bank opened in January, finally allowing pre-orderers to finalize their trims and other options, and the E-Transit van.
Ford, who announced a massive $20 billion restructuring plan for its electric vehicle strategy, says its EV sales in January 2022 outpaced industry standards by “almost four times.”
“With a total of 13,169 vehicles sold, Ford electrified vehicles were up 167.2 percent, with share up 5.0 points to 10.9 percent of segment,” the company added. Ford also indicated that more than 300 businesses have put in orders for E-Transit vans. The most notable is Wal-Mart, which placed an order for 1,100 units of the E-Transit.
Update 5:34 PM EST: Wal-Mart reached out to comment on the story.
“Walmart placed an order for 1,100 Ford E-Transits that will be used to support our growing in-home delivery service. As we continue to build our last mile delivery fleet, we’re interested in working with electric van providers that help us achieve our goal of operating a 100% zero-emissions logistics fleet by 2040.”
Ford’s overall business saw just a 0.8 percent increase in overall retail sales. Truck sales actually declined, while SUV sales increased by 9.4 percent. Total sales of electrified vehicles increased by the 167.2 percent figure, while retail sales increased even more sharply. Ford reported 183.1 percent growth in this category.
If growth continues at this pace, Ford will need to prepare for a massive production ramp. CEO Jim Farley recently stated that he believes Ford will be one of the first to scale its EV lineup, vying to reach Tesla, who has gained mass notoriety as the industry leader. “We have to catch up,” Farley said in an interview with Grady Trimble in late January. “We’re going to do the investment in the product and capacity expansion and make vehicles as affordable as possible. We need the government’s help to make the switch to e-mobility through consumer incentives.”
Ford’s Farley commits to 600k units in 22 months: ‘I think we’re one of the first to scale’
The demand is not only coming from Ford’s EV program, unfortunately. Andrew Frick, Vice President of Sales for the U.S. and Canada, notes strong demand for several vehicles, including the Mustang Mach-E, contributed to the most successful months in terms of orders in company history. “Ford market share increased over a year ago on strong demand for our newest products such as Bronco, Maverick, and Mach-E,” Frick said. “Ford took in a record 90,000 new vehicle orders in January. Vehicles are turning at a record pace on dealer lots as we work to fill these orders. This year represents a turning point for Ford in electrified vehicles, as our electrified portfolio grew at nearly four times the rate of the industry segment, with E-Transit and F-150 Lightning set to hit the market.”
Ford will report its Earnings for Q4 and Full-Year 2021 tomorrow, February 3, at 4:05 PM EST. The company’s full January 2022 Sales Release is available below.
January 2022 Sales Release Final by Joey Klender on Scribd
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Tesla is expanding its Robotaxi service hours by pushing the time back by one hour, keeping the ride-hailing service operational until 11 p.m., one hour later than previously.
CEO Elon Musk confirmed the change and offered a specific reason the expansion has been gradual: the system still needs to reliably avoid small pets that are difficult to see after dark, as they commonly blend into the color of the road, especially when they’re grey.
The latest adjustment restores only a fraction of the operating window the service once held. When paid Robotaxi rides began in Austin on June 22, 2025, vehicles ran from 6 a.m. to midnight.
In September 2025, Tesla lengthened the day to a 2 a.m. close, producing a 20-hour window that stayed in place for most of the following year. By early August of this year, the cutoff had already been pulled back; an August 26 update formalized hours of 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. across Austin and several other markets.
The October move to 11 p.m. therefore leaves the Austin day one hour shorter than the original launch schedule and three hours shorter than the 2025 peak.
Musk addressed the constraint directly after the announcement. “The main thing we’re trying to solve is making sure that we don’t run over pets when they’re hard to see at night,” he wrote. “Literally trying to avoid grey kittens on grey tarmac in the dark.”
Robotaxi operating hours moved from 10pm to 11pm.
The main thing we’re trying to solve is making sure that we don’t run over pets when they’re hard to see at night. Literally trying to avoid grey kittens on grey tarmac in the dark.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 3, 2026
The example points to a low-contrast perception problem in which a small animal can blend into the road surface under limited lighting.
Tesla’s vehicles rely on cameras and neural-network processing rather than lidar; Musk has previously argued that advanced vision software can extract useful information even in low light by analyzing photon counts, but the pet-detection case remains the stated limiter in later hours.
The modest schedule change arrives alongside faster growth in the purpose-built Cybercab fleet. Texas registration data tracked by observers showed the Austin Cybercab count rising sharply in recent weeks, reaching 169 vehicles after more than 100 were added in a short span.
Tesla has indicated that a broader shift toward 24-hour operation is tied to the upcoming FSD v15 software release expected this month on Robotaxi vehicles. Until that capability is validated for the edge cases Musk described, the company continues to add service time incrementally rather than jumping straight to overnight coverage.
The one-hour extension gives Austin riders a later option for evening trips while the underlying detection work continues.
Tesla has snagged a deal with IMC Logistics to supply the company with 50 Semi units for its logistics operations.
IMC handles drayage and landside logistics and has over 2,700 asset trucks in its fleet. In its over forty years of service, it has established more than 50 locations across the United States and spans operations from coast to coast.
Jim Gillis of IMC said that the addition of the Tesla Semi will help IMC move toward a “zero-emission service for long-haul lanes.”
The move is one that has become more common over the past few years, as more and more companies doing large-scale logistics have moved to sustainable powertrains, using either Tesla or others.
🚨 IMC Logistics announced that it will add 50 Tesla Semis to its fleet https://t.co/ymh1Ca2IuX
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 5, 2026
Tesla’s Semi program just entered its first truly public phase, as the company handed over its first production units to companies in September, although a pilot program with companies like PepsiCo. and Frito-Lay has been ongoing for years.
IMC announced its intention to purchase 50 Semi units from Tesla in September, and according to VP of Marketing and Public Relations on September 29 to Trucking Drive, the company will take delivery either this week or took delivery late last week.
With surging prices of diesel and high logistics costs, Tesla and the Semi could truly revolutionize how companies manage their fleets. With the advent of Full Self-Driving, the Semi will potentially cut down on driver fatigue and increase productivity, while decreasing the cost of operation per mile by being cheaper to refuel.
Tesla had a dedicated Semi handover event at the Semi factory in Sparks, Nevada, a few weeks back, as it officially introduced its truck to many company fleets that have been waiting to add these sustainable powertrains.
Lifestyle
Tesla wins over Netflix’s Selling Sunset star, who’s now ditching his Bentley
Selling Sunset’s Jason Oppenheim swapped his Bentley for a Tesla and promised ten for employees.
Jason Oppenheim, the luxury real estate broker best known as the star of Netflix’s Selling Sunset, has parked his Bentley for good and moved into a Tesla Model Y, and he says Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is the reason.
Oppenheim, who founded The Oppenheim Group, the Los Angeles brokerage at the center of the show, posted a video to X on Saturday evening that he called “the most important video I’ve ever posted.” In it, he rides from Newport Beach to his firm’s Los Angeles office, a trip he put at roughly an hour and 15 minutes, while FSD handles the drive and parks the car without him touching the wheel or the accelerator. He said he handed the Bentley to his father because he no longer has any use for it.
Tesla shared the clip from its main account on X about two hours later, pulling out the quote that has since spread well beyond the Tesla community:
“[FSD Supervised] is life-changing. I was on the phone with my brother last night, and I made him buy one. He literally bought one while we were talking. I’m buying 10 of my employees a Tesla with FSD. It’s 8x safer than the average driver. There’s nothing more important than the safety of you and your loved ones.”
Oppenheim was candid about why the safety pitch landed with him. He admitted in the video that he is a distracted driver who answers emails and texts behind the wheel, and framed the employee purchases as a way to keep his team off their phones while driving. Elon Musk posted “Tesla FSD feels like magic” less than half an hour after the video went live.
The endorsement lands at a convenient moment for Tesla. The company delivered 486,532 vehicles in Q3, beating Wall Street’s estimates and marking its best quarter ever without the $7,500 federal EV tax credit.
A public service announcement. https://t.co/NYa1IpKwBX
— Jason Oppenheim (@OppenheimJason) October 4, 2026
Tesla FSD has been subscription only in the U.S. since February at $99 per month, and Tesla said in its Q2 update that active subscriptions hit 1.48 million, up 56 percent year over year, with more than 55 percent of new North American deliveries leaving with FSD attached. That attach rate is the figure Ron Baron cited last month when he told CNBC “the time to buy the stock is now.” At current pricing, Oppenheim’s 10 employee cars alone would add $990 a month, or about $11,880 a year, in FSD revenue.
Tesla AI head Ashok Elluswamy said in July that FSD had logged more than 12 billion miles while going roughly twice as far between collisions as manual driving. FSD also remains a supervised system, so Oppenheim and his employees are still required to watch the road, even as Tesla rolls out v14.3.10 with Automatic Collision Evasion, which can steer or brake on its own to avoid a frontal crash.
Tesla Robotaxi expands hours, Musk explains why it’s been a challenge
Tesla snags Semi supply deal with major logistics firm
