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Rivian schedules Normal Factory shutdown in April

(Credit: Rivian)

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Rivian plans to shut down production at its factory in Normal, Illinois, between April 5 to 30, 2024. Rivian plans to retool its Normal Factory during the shutdown. 

Rivian’s Normal Factory shutdown is well-timed. The company’s retooling plan is expected to significantly reduce the costs of producing each vehicle while increasing Rivian’s production rate.

Rivian expects 2024’s production to be flat year over year at 57,000 units. Last year, Rivian delivered 57,232 R1 electric vehicles.

“The changes we plan to make in our R1 manufacturing line during the mid-year shutdown [sic] are designed to deliver greater plant efficiency, with [the] production rate expected to improve by approximately 30%,” Rivian noted in its Q4 and Full Year 2023 Update Letter. 

The electric vehicle (EV) startup’s main goals for 2024 are to improve its cost efficiency and enhance customer experience. The company has already made strides in the latter as R1 owners recently received access to Tesla Superchargers with the NACS connector. Rivian’s 2024 goals will hopefully help it maintain its customer base and prepare for growth in the coming years.

According to the Financial Times, RJ Scaringe sent an email last month to employees discussing Rivian’s current challenges and how to combat them. The email mentioned that the company faced “a challenging macroeconomic environment — including historically high interest rates and geopolitical uncertainty — and we need to make changes now to ensure our promising future.”

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Rivian unveiled the R2 and R3 vehicles earlier this month, revealing its future path. The company’s current moves will determine whether the R2 and R3 will reach production and succeed in the United States’ growing EV market.

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Maria--aka "M"-- is an experienced writer and book editor. She's written about several topics including health, tech, and politics. As a book editor, she's worked with authors who write Sci-Fi, Romance, and Dark Fantasy. M loves hearing from TESLARATI readers. If you have any tips or article ideas, contact her at maria@teslarati.com or via X, @Writer_01001101.

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Tesla gamifies Supercharging with new ‘Charging Passport’

It will also include things like badges for special charging spots, among other metrics that will show all of the different places people have traveled to plug in for range.

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Credit: MarcoRP | X

Tesla is gamifying its Supercharging experience by offering a new “Charging Passport,” hoping to add a new layer to the ownership experience.

While it is not part of the Holiday Update, it is rolling out around the same time and offers a handful of cool new features.

Tesla’s Charging Passport will be available within the smartphone app and will give a yearly summary of your charging experience, helping encapsulate your travel for that year.

It will also include things like badges for special charging spots, among other metrics that will show all of the different places people have traveled to plug in for range.

Tesla will include the following metrics within the new Charging Passport option within the Tesla app:

  • Charging badges: Iconic charging badges for visiting places like the Tesla Diner, Oasis Supercharger, etc., Explorer Badge, and more
  • Total Unique Superchargers Visited
  • Total Charging Sessions
  • Total Miles Added during Charging Sessions
  • Top Charging Day
  • Longest Trip
  • Favorite Charging Locations

This will give people a unique way to see their travels throughout the year, and although it is not necessarily something that is needed or adds any genuine value, it is something that many owners will like to look back on. After all, things like Spotify Wrapped and Apple Music Replay have been a great way for people to see what music they listened to throughout the year.

This is essentially Tesla’s version of that.

With a handful of unique Superchargers already active, Tesla is also building some new ones, like a UFO-inspired location in New Mexico, near Roswell.

Tesla is building a new UFO-inspired Supercharger in the heart of Alien country

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Tesla launches its coolest gift idea ever just a few weeks after it was announced

“Gift one month of Full Self-Driving (Supervised), which allows the vehicle to drive itself almost anywhere with minimal intervention.”

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has launched its coolest gift idea ever, just a few weeks after it was announced.

Tesla is now giving owners the opportunity to gift Full Self-Driving for one month to friends or family through a new gifting program that was suggested to the company last month.

The program will enable people to send a fellow Tesla owner one month of the company’s semi-autonomous driving software, helping them to experience the Full Self-Driving suite and potentially help Tesla gain them as a subscriber of the program, or even an outright purchase.

Tesla has officially launched the program on its Shop. Sending one month of Full Self-Driving costs $112:

“Gift one month of Full Self-Driving (Supervised), which allows the vehicle to drive itself almost anywhere with minimal intervention. All sales are final. Can only be purchased and redeemed in the U.S. This gift card is valued at $112.00 and is intended to cover the price of one month of FSD (Supervised), including up to 13% sales tax. It is not guaranteed to cover the full monthly price if pricing or tax rates change. This gift card can be stored in Tesla Wallet and redeemed toward FSD (Supervised) or any other Tesla product or service that accepts gift card payments.”

Tesla has done a great job of expanding Full Self-Driving access over the past few years, especially by offering things like the Subscription program, free trials through referrals, and now this gift card program.

Gifting Full Self-Driving is another iteration of Tesla’s “butts in seats” strategy, which is its belief that it can flip consumers to its vehicles and products by simply letting people experience them.

There is also a reason behind pushing Full Self-Driving so hard, and it has to do with CEO Elon Musk’s compensation package. One tranche requires Musk to achieve a certain number of active paid Full Self-Driving subscriptions.

More people who try the suite are likely to pay for it over the long term.

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Tesla expands Robotaxi app access once again, this time on a global scale

Tesla said recently it plans to launch Robotaxi in Miami, Houston, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Dallas.

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Credit: Grok

Tesla has expanded Robotaxi app access once again, but this time, it’s on a much broader scale as the company is offering the opportunity for those outside of North America to download the app.

Tesla Robotaxi is the company’s early-stage ride-hailing platform that is active in Texas, California, and Arizona, with more expansion within the United States planned for the near future.

Tesla said recently it plans to launch Robotaxi in Miami, Houston, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Dallas.

The platform has massive potential, and Tesla is leaning on it to be a major contributor to even more disruption in the passenger transportation industry. So far, it has driven over 550,000 miles in total, with the vast majority of this coming from the Bay Area and Austin.

First Look at Tesla’s Robotaxi App: features, design, and more

However, Tesla is focusing primarily on rapid expansion, but most of this is reliant on the company’s ability to gain regulatory permission to operate the platform in various regions. The expansion plans go well outside of the U.S., as the company expanded the ability to download the app to more regions this past weekend.

So far, these are the areas it is available to download in:

  • Japan
  • Thailand
  • Hong Kong
  • South Korea
  • Australia
  • Taiwan
  • Macau
  • New Zealand
  • Mexico
  • U.S.
  • Canada

Right now, while Tesla is focusing primarily on expansion, it is also working on other goals that have to do with making it more widely available to customers who want to grab a ride from a driverless vehicle.

One of the biggest goals it has is to eliminate safety monitors from its vehicles, which it currently utilizes in Austin in the passenger’s seat and in the driver’s seat in the Bay Area.

A few weeks ago, Tesla started implementing a new in-cabin data-sharing system, which will help support teams assist riders without anyone in the front of the car.

Tesla takes a step towards removal of Robotaxi service’s safety drivers

As Robotaxi expands into more regions, Tesla stands to gain tremendously through the deployment of the Full Self-Driving suite for personal cars, as well as driverless Robotaxis for those who are just hailing rides.

Things have gone well for Tesla in the early stages of the Robotaxi program, but expansion will truly be the test of how things operate going forward. Navigating local traffic laws and gaining approval from a regulatory standpoint will be the biggest hurdle to jump.

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