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Tesla jumps to top spot in Norway as automaker with most loyal customers

(Credit: Elon Musk/Twitter)

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The Norwegian Customer Barometer has determined that Tesla has become the carmaker with the most loyal customers in Norway for 2020 so far. What’s particularly impressive is that the organization’s findings come amidst a widespread decline in customer loyalty ratings among legacy automakers. 

The past year has not been easy on Tesla’s customer loyalty ratings in the country. The company had a record year for deliveries in 2019, with over 15,000 Model 3 being registered over the year. However, delivery challenges in Europe, especially during the start of the year, put a damper on Tesla’s customer loyalty ratings in Norway. 

But this year, Tesla is no longer in the same position as it was in 2019. With deliveries coming to Europe in a more efficient manner, Tesla’s ramp of the Model 3 has generally been optimized in the country, and it showed in its results from the Norwegian Customer Barometer’s survey. Tesla is the only automaker whose customer loyalty ratings actually improved this year, with the company’s scores rising 3.9 points. All other carmakers saw a decline instead. 

Pål Silseth, project manager for the Norwegian Customer Barometer, noted in a statement to Dagens Næringsliv that the electric car maker showed a significant recovery from last year’s challenges. “Tesla has recovered after a bang. They delivered many cars in a short time (last year) and were not ready to handle that situation,” the project manager said. 

Even Sandvold Roland, Information Manager at Tesla Norway, acknowledged the electric car maker’s challenges in 2019. Roland stated that Tesla’s improved customer loyalty scores in 2020 are a big accomplishment, especially considering that the company does not use traditional advertising at all. 

“We have been through a period of growing pains, and this has not been a desirable situation. We will not let this progress become a resting cushion, but will continue to work on the coming cars as well. The fact that our customers are satisfied with our products and services is what drives our sales, so we are happy with this progress,” Roland said. 

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Tesla’s remarkable recovery in Norway has actually allowed the company to pass Toyota in customer loyalty. This is notable considering that the Japanese auto giant has been operating for decades, and its vehicles are famed for their reliability and affordability. For its part, Nissan has ended up on the opposite side of the spectrum from Tesla, dropping 10 points in customer loyalty despite the presence of popular EVs like the Leaf.

Silseth noted that Nissan’s struggles, especially with the Leaf, highlight the impact of competition in the market. “Nissan will really struggle in the future. When competitors come with their electric cars, Nissan will not be able to keep up. They hit the jackpot with being in the right place at the right time. Nissan had available cars when no one else had. That’s why they got so big,” Silseth said. 

Nissan Norway begs to differ. In a statement to local news, Knut-Arne Marcussen in Nissan Norway stated that the company does not acknowledge the findings of the Norwegian Customer Barometer’s recent study. 

“We do not recognize that we have such poor loyalty, on the contrary. We were first out in mass production of electric cars in the world, and are now on the second generation of Leaf. It’s been ten years since it was launched in the fall. I think we are counting on the future, electrification is part of our business strategy, and more models are coming from us,” Marcussen said. 

Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Elon Musk

The Boring Company’s latest Tesla tunnel truck mod “fits like a glove”

The Boring Company has modified a Tesla powered tunnel truck to carry freight containers underground.

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The Boring Company has found a second job for the Tesla hardware it already runs underground. In a post on X, Elon Musk’s tunneling company showed its latest Prufrock Liner Truck modified to carry a standard 20 foot shipping container. “Using TBC tunnels to transport freight,” the company wrote. “The latest Prufrock Liner Truck (using Tesla Model 3 batteries and drive units) has been modified to carry a standard 20′ shipping container. Fits like a glove!”

The photo shows a red container sitting on a long, low white chassis parked outside, with drive hardware visible at one end. The Boring Company did not say where or when freight hauling would start, which customers it has in mind, or how many trucks it is converting.

Until now, the liner trucks have hauled concrete. Teslarati reported in August on Liner Truck 3, which uses Model 3 battery packs and drive units to move more than 22,000 pounds of precast tunnel segments to the boring machine. It has 28 miles of range, tops out at 12 mph, and is piloted remotely from the company’s operations center in Texas. The freight version appears to be the same platform with a different bed, and The Boring Company has not said whether it will also be remotely piloted.

Freight has been on the company’s menu for years. When TBC updated its product lineup in 2021, its freight tunnel was described as sized to fit a standard shipping container, “barely.” The company later used the idea at Tesla’s own factory, where Prufrock 3 dug a tunnel to Giga Texas that now moves finished Cybertrucks away from the production line.

The Boring Company closed a $3 billion Series D in September at a $23 billion valuation, and Teslarati has covered how that money is tied to a UAE tunneling push and a faster Nashville build. In Nashville, Prufrock MB1 and MB2 are mining at the same time, and a third machine is expected to launch in late October. Each machine needs a steady supply of liner trucks, so any design that works for segments and containers alike gives the company more use out of the same Tesla parts.

The Vegas Loop remains the only Boring Company system open to the public, and it moves passengers in Tesla vehicles. A freight service would be a separate product, and the post gave no indication that one is close to launch. For now, it is a truck, a container and a short caption saying they fit together.

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Elon Musk will give ‘every kid in America’ a SpaceX share in 2027

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Credit: Grok Imagine

Elon Musk said he is planning to give “every one of his SpaceX shares to every kid in America” in 2027, stating that “this will be the first of many.”

SpaceX went public earlier this year, and its stock price has been relatively stable since leveling off shortly after its IPO. Based on its current price, it’s a gift of just over $10 billion to children across the United States.

It appears to be closely related to President Donald Trump’s bank accounts for children, which were set up earlier this year as Trump Accounts.

Just hours earlier, Anthropic had announced the establishment of its Anthropic Public Benefit Fund, “a new wholly-owned entity dedicated entirely to public benefit.” Musk responded by stating he recommended “giving the shares directly to the public,” and that he would be doing it that way.

Just a little bit later, Musk said children across the U.S. would be getting a share from him:

There are roughly 70 million children, meaning someone under the age of 18, in the United States, according to the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. Musk’s ownership of SpaceX stock shows he has around 849 million Class A shares of SpaceX stock, according to filings with the SEC.

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Elon Musk reveals why Boring Co’s biggest East Coast project never happened

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(Credit: The Boring Company)

Elon Musk revealed in a post on X that “Permits were impossible to get,” explaining the fate of The Boring Company’s most ambitious East Coast proposal.

The comment responded to a query about what became of his July 20, 2017 announcement that he had “just received verbal govt approval” for an underground Hyperloop connecting New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., capable of carrying passengers from the Big Apple to the Nation’s Capital in just 29 minutes.

The Boring Company receives verbal ‘approval’ to build NY to DC Hyperloop tunnel

The 2017 post, which envisioned city-center stations and multiple elevators in each city, sparked immediate scrutiny. Local and state officials in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and D.C. said they had no knowledge of any approval. A White House spokesperson confirmed only “promising conversations” about the transformative infrastructure.

Musk clarified shortly after that there was “still a lot of work” to do for formal approvals.

Limited progress followed, as Maryland Governor Larry Hogan’s administration issued a conditional utility permit and supported work near Fort Meade. In 2018, Washington, D.C., granted a preliminary permit for site preparation and excavation on a vacant lot at 53 New York Ave. NE in the NoMa neighborhood, which The Boring Company said could become a station.

A draft environmental assessment for a D.C.-Baltimore segment was released in 2019. Yet, by April 2021, the company had removed the project from its website, and the Federal Highway Administration reported receiving no indication of further interest. Communication with Maryland officials had ceased.

The full corridor would have required coordination among the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, the Federal Highway Administration, the Army Corps of Engineers, the National Park Service, and other agencies.

Environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act, utility clearances, and approvals for novel infrastructure added to the overall complexity of the project and its approval.

Speculation on the permitting barriers centers around a few factors, but a multi-state, multi-level route involving unproven high-speed vacuum-tube technology inherently triggers exhaustive safety, environmental, and engineering reviews that can stretch for years, even for conventional projects.

There are also other elements, of course, like officials who may face political exposure if a privately funded, untested system encountered anything such as cost overruns, delays, or safety issues. On the outset of this project, there were limited things such as engineering plans or demonstrated technology maturity, which also added to the potential skepticism.

The East Coast vision for Boring Co., once framed as a privately funded revolution that could reshape Northeast travel, quietly ended without construction of the promised network. Musk’s recent statement frames the outcome as a regulatory impasse, unfortunate but not unexpected.

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