Tesla bear Gordon Johnson appeared on a live debate with Tesla Daily’s Rob Maurer on September 3rd. Johnson is a notable skeptic of Tesla and its electric vehicles and holds a $19 price target for the company’s stock. Arguably the most controversial of Johnson’s points during the debate was that Tesla does not have a technological advantage in terms of its batteries, and its range ratings are misleading.
The point Johnson made came from the thought that Tesla’s batteries, which are manufactured by Panasonic, LG Chem, and CATL, are obtainable by any automaker. Interestingly, Maurer countered with the point that if the cells were available for any other automaker, how were other car companies not able to match Tesla’s technological advantage in terms of EV range.
Johnson’s rebuttal was simple: Tesla’s advantage does not exist.
“There’s been a number of articles, one of which was written in the Washington Post, that suggests if you actually go out and test their cars, their range is far less than what they say,” Johnson said.
Tesla has held the reputation of having significantly more range than any other electric car that is currently available on the market. The Model S currently holds the highest EPA-estimated range rating for an electric vehicle with 402 miles. With over a million Tesla vehicles sold, it would be difficult to imagine that the company is fabricating its range ratings as an excuse to sell more cars.
While other automakers, like Lucid, have been given EPA ratings that are far greater than the Model S rating of 402 miles, those cars are not available on the market yet. The Lucid Air was given a 517-mile rating recently, but the company has not unveiled the vehicle yet. The Air will be revealed during an online event on September 9th.
“When you go out and actually test the cars versus what they [Tesla] state, the mileage isn’t what it seems,” Johnson added.
While EPA rated vehicle mileage is subjected to certain conditions and is not identical to real-world driving, it is relatively accurate in terms of how many miles an owner would get per charge. When being assessed, the EPA requires a vehicle to travel at different speeds while utilizing features, like air conditioning, that could reduce range during operation.
However, real-world owners have proven that Tesla vehicles do maintain and sometimes exceed the range ratings they were given. A test from Model S owner Sean Mitchell showed that the Performance variant of Tesla’s flagship sedan achieved greater range than expected.
Tesla has also put a substantial focus on its cars, having a sufficient range rating. Recently, Elon Musk announced that the company was scrapping plans for a Standard Range configuration of the Model Y because its range would be below 250 miles. “Range would be unacceptably low (< 250 mile EPA),” Musk detailed.
Tesla’s technology lead is not only evident through its vehicles’ performance, but government-regulated entities like the EPA have also proven it. The company has held a sizeable lead in terms of EV tech and continues to maintain a considerable advantage in terms of the technological developments of its cars. This has been admitted to by numerous CEOs of other car companies.
Rob Maurer‘s debate with Gordon Johnson is available below.
News
Tesla Optimus is learning martial arts in new video teasing capabilities
For the past few months, Tesla has been refining its capabilities and making some serious progress on what Optimus is capable of. This morning, Musk released a new video showing Optimus learning Kung Fu, perhaps its most impressive feat yet.
Tesla Optimus is learning martial arts, a new video released by CEO Elon Musk shows, a crazy development and advancement in the robotics project the company has been working on for a few years.
Optimus has been a major focus of Tesla for the past several years, especially as Musk has said he believes it will be the biggest product of all time and could be the biggest contributor to the company’s valuation.
For the past few months, Tesla has been refining its capabilities and making some serious progress on what Optimus is capable of. This morning, Musk released a new video showing Optimus learning Kung Fu, perhaps its most impressive feat yet:
Tesla Optimus learning Kung Fu pic.twitter.com/ziEuiiKWn7
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 4, 2025
The video shows Optimus working with a Kung Fu teacher, known as a Shifu, going through what appears to be some sort of routine of combinations. It’s quite impressive to see the fluidity of the movements and Optimus’s ability to keep up with Shifu.
Tesla has been “working hard” to scale Optimus production, Musk said last week, a project that has obviously confronted both AI and manufacturing teams with a variety of challenges.
The plan is to have an annual production run-rate of one million units by 2030, and there were plans to build 5,000 units this year.
Musk still believes Optimus will make up roughly 80 percent of Tesla’s value. In January, he said it would be “overwhelmingly the value of the company.”
Tesla plans to launch the Gen 3 version of Optimus soon, and although a video of a new-look prototype was released by Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce, the company’s frontman stated that this was not what the next-generation prototype would look like.
Elon Musk confirms Tesla has never shown Optimus V3 design yet
This video seems to show there is still significant progress being made on the Optimus project, and it will be perhaps one of the most impressive humanoid robots available to consumers in the coming years.
Elon Musk
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 gets new release date, Elon Musk details
“Last minute bug cropped up with V14. Released is pushed to Monday, but that gives us time to add a few more features.”
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving version 14 has gotten a new release date after new details from CEO Elon Musk opened up some new perspectives on the suite.
Originally slated for an “early wide release” of v14 this past week, then a launch of v14.1 and v14.2 this week and next week, respectively, delays arose after Tesla’s Autopilot team found some issues within the software.
Tesla FSD V14 set for early wide release next week: Elon Musk
Musk detailed on X this morning that a “last minute bug” appeared before release, which has now pushed FSD v14’s release back to this Monday:
Last minute bug cropped up with V14. Released is pushed to Monday, but that gives us time to add a few more features.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 4, 2025
Musk also said the delay would give Tesla the ability to “add a few more features,” which seems like an added advantage, although he did not provide any additional details on what these features could be.
In classic Musk fashion, he has teased the capabilities of this version of the FSD suite since it became public knowledge that Tesla was working on it. He said that it is the second most important update for the AI/Autopilot team since FSD v12.
V14 will have a parameter count that is ten times what previous iterations were, which should provide more accuracy and a more human-like operation.
🚨 Tesla is making “significant improvements” in FSD software and plans to increase parameter count by roughly 10x from what people are currently experiencing pic.twitter.com/r974W6ToGi
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 23, 2025
Musk has said v14 “feels alive” and has used the word “sentient” to describe its performance. The goal with the new FSD rollouts is to eliminate as many interventions as possible, making it as close to human driving as possible.
Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) just got a weird price target boost from a notable bear just a day after it announced its strongest quarter in terms of vehicle deliveries and energy deployments.
JPMorgan raised its price target on Tesla shares from $115 to $150. It maintained its ‘Underweight’ rating on the stock.
Despite Tesla reporting 497,099 deliveries, about 12 percent above the 443,000 anticipated from the consensus, JPMorgan is still skeptical that the company can keep up its momentum, stating most of its Q3 strength came from leaning on the removal of the $7,500 EV tax credit, which expired on September 30.
Tesla hits record vehicle deliveries and energy deployments in Q3 2025
The firm said Tesla benefited from a “temporary stronger-than-expected industry-wide pull-forward” as the tax credit expired. It is no secret that consumers flocked to the company this past quarter to take advantage of the credit.
The bump will need to be solidified as the start of a continuing trend of strong vehicle deliveries, the firm said in a note to investors. Analysts said that one quarter of strength was “too soon to declare Tesla as having sustainably returned to growth in its core business.”
JPMorgan does not anticipate Tesla having strong showings with vehicle deliveries after Q4.
There are two distinct things that stick out with this note: the first is the lack of recognition of other parts of Tesla’s business, and the confusion that surrounds future quarters.
JPMorgan did not identify Tesla’s strength in autonomy, energy storage, or robotics, with autonomy and robotics being the main focuses of the company’s future. Tesla’s Full Self-Driving and Robotaxi efforts are incredibly relevant and drive more impact moving forward than vehicle deliveries.
Additionally, the confusion surrounding future delivery numbers in quarters past Q3 is evident.
Will Tesla thrive without the EV tax credit? Five reasons why they might
Tesla will receive some assistance from deliveries of vehicles that will reach customers in Q4, but will still qualify for the credit under the IRS’s revised rules. It will also likely introduce an affordable model this quarter, which should have a drastic impact on deliveries depending on pricing.
Tesla shares are trading at $422.40 at 2:35 p.m. on the East Coast.
Tesla Optimus is learning martial arts in new video teasing capabilities
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 gets new release date, Elon Musk details
Tesla just got a weird price target boost from a notable bear
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