News
Tesla eyes Mercedes-Benz as potential platform for electric service vans, suggests Daimler CEO
A collaboration between electric car maker Tesla and veteran automaker Daimler could be in the works. Following Elon Musk’s mention of Daimler’s Sprinter vans on Twitter last November, the two companies have reportedly been holding talks over potential cooperation for an all-electric version of the iconic van.
In a press conference in Stuttgart on Wednesday, Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche mentioned that Tesla is indeed interested in acquiring Sprinter vans for its service fleet. The CEO further added that the outcome of the two company’s ongoing talks is still open.
“These talks are happening. The outcome is open,” Zetsche said.
https://twitter.com/sascha_p/status/1093085274823774208
Last November, Elon Musk floated the idea of working with Daimler for an electric Sprinter on Twitter. During his Twitter session, Musk noted that it would be “interesting” to work with the German automaker, even hinting at the idea of acquiring van gliders from Daimler and fitting them with Tesla components. As noted in a Bloomberg report, it was not long before the two companies began talks, starting with a series of phone calls involving Tesla’s President of Automotive Jerome Guillen, who used to work for Daimler.
In Daimler’s recent press conference, Zetsche added that Elon Musk’s enthusiasm for a possible collaboration with the German carmaker was partly spurred by feedback from Tesla’s technicians, some of whom utilize Sprinter vans when servicing customers. That said, the Daimler CEO did not clarify if the potential collaboration with Tesla would result in a joint development of a completely new all-electric van, or if the California-based company would simply acquire Sprinters for its service fleet.
Lot on our plate, so it’s either get van gliders (no battery, powertrain or compute tech) from Daimler & produce sooner or do all & produce later. Not a big difference to total vehicles produced either way. Priority list is Model Y, solar roof tiles, pickup, semi, Roadster.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 19, 2018
Daimler is expected to release an all-electric version of the Sprinter later this year. The German-made electric van is quite robust with its maximum payload capacity of over 2,200 pounds, though its range of 93 miles per charge leaves much to be desired. That said, using Tesla’s industry-leading powertrain and battery technology could very well result in an all-electric Sprinter with closer to 200 miles of range per charge.
While the Daimler CEO’s recent statement gives the impression that no deal has been finalized with Tesla yet, the idea of a collaboration between the two companies echoes initiatives from the past. Back in 2009, Daimler invested $50 million on Tesla, taking a 10% stake in the electric car maker and practically saving it from going under in the process. Over the following years, Tesla supplied electric powertrains for Daimler’s electric Smart Cars and the electric Mercedes-Benz B-Class. Daimler would eventually stop its powertrain supply contract with Tesla in 2014, ultimately selling its stake in the electric car maker for $780 million — a notable profit over its initial $50 million investment.
As Tesla’s fleet grows with the ramp of vehicles like the Model 3, the need for more service vehicles becomes notable. While Tesla is already utilizing Model S and Model X vehicles for its service fleet, the addition of electric Sprinter vans will most definitely help the company support its growing number of customers across the globe.
Tesla has expanded its branded ‘For Business’ Supercharger program that it launched last year, as yet another company is using the platform to attract EV owners to its business and utilize a unique advertising opportunity.
Francis Energy of Oklahoma is launching four Superchargers in Norman, where the University of Oklahoma is located. The Superchargers, which are fitted with branding for Francis Energy, will officially open tomorrow.
It will not be the final Supercharger location that Francis Energy plans to open, the company confirmed to EVWire.
Back in early September, Tesla launched the new “Supercharger for Business” program in an effort to give businesses the ability to offer EV charging at custom rates. It would give their businesses visibility and would also cater to employees or customers.
“Purchase and install Superchargers at your business,” Tesla wrote on a page on its website for the new program. “Superchargers are compatible with all electric vehicles, bringing EV drivers to your business by offering convenient, reliable charging.”
The first site opened in Land O’ Lakes, Florida, which is Northeast of Tampa, as a company called Suncoast launched the Superchargers for local EV owners.
Tesla launches its new branded Supercharger for Business with first active station
The program also does a great job at expanding infrastructure for EV owners, which is something that needs to be done to encourage more people to purchase Teslas and other electric cars.
Francis Energy operates at least 14 EV charging locations in Oklahoma, spanning from Durant to Oklahoma City and nearly everywhere in between. Filings from the company, listed by Supercharge.info, show the company’s plans to convert some of them to Tesla Superchargers, potentially utilizing the new Supercharger for Business program to advertise.
Moving forward, more companies will likely utilize Tesla’s Supercharger for Business program as it presents major advantages in a variety of ways, especially with advertising and creating a place for EV drivers to gain range in their cars.
Tesla Cybercab is perhaps the most highly-anticipated project that the company plans to roll out this year, and as it is undergoing its testing phase in pre-production currently, there are some things to work through with it.
Over the weekend, an image of the Cybercab being loaded onto a tow truck started circulating on the internet, and people began to speculate as to what the issue could be.
Hmmmmmm… https://t.co/L5hWcOXQkb pic.twitter.com/OJBDyHNTMj
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 11, 2026
The Cybercab can clearly be seen with a Police Officer and perhaps the tow truck driver by its side, being loaded onto, or even potentially unloaded from, the truck.
However, it seems unlikely it was being offloaded, as its operation would get it to this point for testing to begin with.
It appears, at first glance, that it needs assistance getting back to wherever it came from; likely Gigafactory Texas or potentially a Bay Area facility.
The Cybercab was also spotted in Buffalo, New York, last week, potentially undergoing cold-weather testing, but it doesn’t appear that’s where this incident took place.
It is important to remember that the Cybercab is currently undergoing some rigorous testing scenarios, which include range tests and routine public road operation. These things help Tesla assess any potential issue the vehicle could run into after it starts routine production and heads to customers, or for the Robotaxi platform operation.
This is not a one-off issue, either. Tesla had some instances with the Semi where it was seen broken down on the side of a highway three years ago. The all-electric Semi has gone on to be successful in its early pilot program, as companies like Frito-Lay and PepsiCo. have had very positive remarks.
The Cybercab’s future is bright, and it is important to note that no vehicle model has ever gone its full life without a breakdown. It happens, it’s a car.
Nevertheless, it is important to note that there has been no official word on what happened with this particular Cybercab unit, but it is crucial to remember that this is the pre-production testing phase, and these things are more constructive than anything.
Tesla analyst Andrew Percoco of Morgan Stanley teased the company’s dominance in its self-driving initiative, stating that its lead over competitors is “not even close.”
Percoco recently overtook coverage of Tesla stock from Adam Jonas, who had covered the company at Morgan Stanley for years. Percoco is handling Tesla now that Jonas is covering embodied AI stocks and no longer automotive.
His first move after grabbing coverage was to adjust the price target from $410 to $425, as well as the rating from ‘Overweight’ to ‘Equal Weight.’
Percoco’s new note regarding Tesla highlights the company’s extensive lead in self-driving and autonomy projects, something that it has plenty of competition in, but has established its prowess over the past few years.
He writes:
“It’s not even close. Tesla continues to lead in autonomous driving, even as Nvidia rolls out new technology aimed at helping other automakers build driverless systems.”
Percoco’s main point regarding Tesla’s advantage is the company’s ability to collect large amounts of training data through its massive fleet, as millions of cars are driving throughout the world and gathering millions of miles of vehicle behavior on the road.
This is the main point that Percoco makes regarding Tesla’s lead in the entire autonomy sector: data is King, and Tesla has the most of it.
One big story that has hit the news over the past week is that of NVIDIA and its own self-driving suite, called Alpamayo. NVIDIA launched this open-source AI program last week, but it differs from Tesla’s in a significant fashion, especially from a hardware perspective, as it plans to use a combination of LiDAR, Radar, and Vision (Cameras) to operate.
Percoco said that NVIDIA’s announcement does not impact Morgan Stanley’s long-term opinions on Tesla and its strength or prowess in self-driving.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang commends Tesla’s Elon Musk for early belief
And, for what it’s worth, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang even said some remarkable things about Tesla following the launch of Alpamayo:
“I think the Tesla stack is the most advanced autonomous vehicle stack in the world. I’m fairly certain they were already using end-to-end AI. Whether their AI did reasoning or not is somewhat secondary to that first part.”
Percoco reiterated both the $425 price target and the ‘Equal Weight’ rating on Tesla shares.
Tesla expands its branded ‘For Business’ Superchargers
Tesla Cybercab ‘breakdown’ image likely is not what it seems
