Connect with us

News

Tesla’s battery strategy has “no advantage,” Ford CEO says

Credit: YouTube | Portable Electric Vehicle

Published

on

Tesla’s battery strategy will not be adopted by legacy automotive company Ford, because Jim Hackett, the company’s CEO, says there is “no advantage” in migrating capital into owning a cell manufacturing facility.

During Ford’s Q2 2020 Earnings Call in late July, Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas asked about the company’s strategy to produce EV batteries in-house, as opposed to sourcing the cells from third-party companies like Panasonic and LG Chem.

Hackett, who elected to retire from his post as head of Ford earlier this year, stated that his team did a “deep dive” on whether it was advantageous to create its own battery cells.

It proved not to be advantageous for Ford.

“I’ve met with a number of the people that you know that are in the supply side of this. And it was our estimation, in fact, our whole team went through a really deep dive on this six months ago, that the supply chain has ramped up since Elon built his Gigafactory,” Hackett said. “And so there’s plenty there that does not warrant us to migrate our capital into owning our own factory. There’s no advantage in the ownership in terms of cost or sourcing as what Ford can draw on.”

Advertisement

Instead, the company will continue to go the path that it is now, which requires sourcing batteries from third-party suppliers instead of researching and improving on cells within the company’s facilities across the world.

Interestingly enough, Tesla has found tremendous advantages in producing its own batteries at its Giga Nevada facility, which is responsible for assembling battery packs with the help of Panasonic.

Forbes stated that a Trefis analysis from January 2020 showed that battery costs fell by 45% from 2016 to 2019, which effectively decreased the price of Tesla’s vehicles by $7,000 on average.

Despite this, Ford isn’t budging, and the company’s executives don’t believe they require a battery plant at the current time.

Hau Thai-Tang, Ford’s Head of Product Development and Purchasing, stated that the company would need to manufacture between 100,000 and 150,000 electric vehicles a year to justify a battery production facility, Automotive News reported.

Advertisement

“We don’t have that volume initially to justify that capital expenditure,” Thai-Tang said. “There’s insufficient scale for any one OEM, other than somebody who’s a full-line battery-electric manufacturer like Tesla, to justify that spending.”

Thai-Tang’s statement indicates that there is a possibility that Ford could change its mind about battery production in the future. Still, the company will have to increase the production of its electrified lineup. For now, he is okay with buying batteries from suppliers.

“It gives us the ability to access the latest technology and innovation across multiple suppliers,” he said.

Tesla, however, is thriving by developing its battery technology. Many Wall Street analysts contribute the company’s cell strategy as a primary reason for its success, which has been exponential so far this year for investors.

Ford is still fine-tuning its EV project and is planning to release a fleet of forty electric cars by 2023 by spending $11 billion by 2022 to develop the technology required to be competitive in the quickly-growing sector.

Advertisement

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

News

Ford considers drastic move with F-150 Lightning: ‘The demand is just not there’

Published

on

Credit: Ford Motor Company

Ford is considering a drastic move with its F-150 Lightning, which was the best-selling EV pickup on the market last quarter, beating out Tesla’s Cybertruck.

Ford has had a tumultuous entrance into its more expanded electric vehicle strategy over the past several years. At one point, the company was widely considered to be the most invested legacy automaker in the transition to electrification, but as the company has seen some real backtracking in terms of its sales and demand, it is cooling down its commitment.

At the end of Q3, it seemed to already be considering making some moves to cool off its EV ambitions, especially as the $7,500 EV tax credit was removed and it appeared that consumers would be less attracted to its vehicles without this sizeable discount.

Now, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, Ford is considering scrapping the F-150 Lightning altogether, as one employee said “the demand is just not there.”

Despite it being the best-selling EV pickup in the U.S. last quarter, the sales simply do not match up with the pricing, and financially, it is not the time to try to dive further into a project that is not making a profit. Ford has been dwindling in its commitment to EVs over the past several quarters, and its profits are reflecting a slowing interest in its electric vehicles.

Advertisement

Simply put, Ford’s combustion engine lineup of pickups in the F-Series is, by far, the best-selling division of trucks globally. Ford brought an awesome product forth with the Lightning, a mirror of the gas-powered F-Series that had a variety of trim levels for whatever the truck would be used for by the consumer.

However, the demand and sales have caused Ford to take a loss on its electric truck: figures from early last year indicated it was losing between $100,000 and $132,000 per vehicle.

It is not an official announcement, as Ford has not publicly said anything regarding its plans for the Lightning at this time.

Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Tesla schedules Roadster unveiling event, and you won’t believe when it is

Published

on

Tesla has tentatively scheduled its unveiling event for the Roadster’s next-generation iteration, and you will not believe the date the company picked for it.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said during the 2025 Annual Shareholders Meeting that the company is aiming for an April 1 demo event.

Yes, April Fools’ Day.

Tesla originally aimed for its “most epic demo” to take place at the end of this year. However, the writing on the wall as 2025 winds down seemed to indicate the company was not quite ready to show off everything it plans to implement into the Roadster.

Its capabilities have been teased quite heavily throughout most of the year, but the biggest hints came last week when Musk appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast.

He said:

“Whether it’s good or bad, it will be unforgettable. My friend Peter Thiel once reflected that the future was supposed to have flying cars, but we don’t have flying cars. I think if Peter wants a flying car, he should be able to buy one…I think it has a shot at being the most memorable product unveil ever. [It will be unveiled] hopefully before the end of the year. You know, we need to make sure that it works. This is some crazy technology in this car. Let’s just put it this way: if you took all the James Bond cars and combined them, it’s crazier than that.”

Advertisement

The Roadster has been somewhat of a letdown, at least in its newest version, thus far. Tesla has routinely delayed the project, putting those who put lofty down payments on the car in a weird limbo, lost at what to do.

One notable pre-orderer cancelled his reservation last week and got in a spat with Musk about it.

Now that there is a definitive date for the Roadster unveiling, Musk and Co. should have a more definitive cutoff date for features and capabilities. Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen said earlier this year that when they showed Musk what they had done with the Roadster, the CEO encouraged them to do even more with it.

This delayed things further.

Musk also said he believes production would begin between 12 and 18 months after the unveiling, putting it out sometime in 2027.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Tesla (TSLA) shareholders officially approve Elon Musk’s 2025 performance award

To earn his landmark pay package, Musk would be required to lift Tesla’s market capitalization from about $1.1 trillion today to $8.5 trillion over the next decade.

Published

on

Justin Pacheco, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk has officially approved his 2025 Performance Award, a landmark pay package that could make him the world’s first trillionaire and make Tesla the most valuable company in the world by a mile. 

The 2025 CEO Performance Award was officially approved by Tesla shareholders at the 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting.

Elon Musk‘s landmark pay package

As per Tesla, more than 75% of the shareholders approved Elon Musk’s 2025 CEO Performance Award. It was then unsurprising that the approval of Elon Musk’s pay plan received overwhelming applause from the event’s attendees.

The CEO took to the stage with much enthusiasm, welcoming every shareholder to the event and dancing briefly on stage. Optimus also danced on stage smoothly, demonstrating its improved movements to much appause.

Elon Musk’s 10-year targets

To earn his 2025 CEO Performance Award, Musk would be required to grow Tesla’s market capitalization from about $1.1 trillion today to $8.5 trillion over the next decade. At that level, Tesla would surpass every major public company in existence. The compensation plan also requires Tesla’s operating profit to grow from $17 billion last year to $400 billion annually. 

Advertisement

Apart from leading Tesla to become the world’s biggest company in history, Musk is also required to hit several product targets for the electric vehicle maker. These include the delivery of 20 million Tesla vehicles cumulatively, 10 million active FSD subscriptions, 1 million Tesla bots delivered, and 1 million Robotaxis in operation.

Continue Reading

Trending