There has been a silly amount of drama in the run-up to Tesla‘s annual shareholder meeting on Thursday.
It will also hold a vote whether the company will change the location where it is incorporated from Delaware to Texas.
Some of Tesla’s biggest boosters are calling on the company’s “retail army” of shareholders to vote in favor of both, but with special focus on Musk’s compensation.
“A deal is a deal,” Tesla posted to its CEO’s social media platform X.
At the very least, it’s a primer for the legal battles that are sure to continue after Thursday’s vote.
It’s been more than a minute since Tesla went public, but the EV company was inescapable on TechCrunch this week.
From layoffs to pricing changes and more, it was a week dyed deeply in Tesla colors so we had to chat through the latest.
But that was just one element of what we got into on Equity this week.
We also dug into Mary Ann’s reporting about Ramp’s latest round — and up valuation — that fit neatly next to Rippling’s own impending fundraise.
Equity is back tomorrow with a special interview between Mary Ann and Notable Capital’s Hans Tung, so stay tuned!
One of Tesla’s delivery workers who was cut this week and spoke to TechCrunch on the condition of anonymity said their location was “short staffed” but still lost multiple employees.
The decision to end discounts across its lineup in the United States, including the Model 3, Model Y, Model S and Model X is a bit of a whiplash moment for Tesla.
And in the first quarter of 2024, Tesla’s delivery numbers fell year-over-year.
It’s not clear how removing discounts on Tesla vehicles fits into the automaker’s new strategy to streamline sales and delivery.
But beyond the initial purchase, Tesla has almost always been making changes to its sales and delivery strategy.
Tesla’s layoffs and executive departures took a bite out its share price this week.
The well-known electric vehicle company shed around 10% of its staff, impacting an estimated 14,000 staff or more.
It missed delivery estimates for the first quarter, has reportedly reduced hours for the production-line of its Cybertruck, and is seeing rivals in China stack market share with low-priced EVs.
Tesla, in other words, helped foster the global electric vehicle market, but is losing some of its primacy in that same market.
In human terms, for every dollar of car that Tesla sells, it generates far more company worth than its rivals.
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The Apple falls far from the car: Apple, after packing in its electric car project, let go of 600 staff who were reportedly working on the project.
I’d pay good money to see the prototypes …Apple, after packing in its electric car project, let go of 600 staff who were reportedly working on the project.
Ford was the first to start offering the so-called North American Charging Standard (NACS) adapters last month for free.
Most automakers have announced that future EVs will incorporate Tesla’s charging tech into future vehicles.
Rivian’s next-generation vehicles, which it just revealed earlier this month, will also include the Tesla charging port.
Making Tesla’s Supercharger network accessible to owners means they now have 15,000 new fast chargers where they can plug in.
Rivian has also been building out its own network of fast-charging stations, which it calls the Rivian Adventure Network.
India will lower import taxes on certain electric vehicles for companies committing to invest at least $500 million and setting up a local manufacturing facility within three years, a move that could potentially bolster Tesla’s plans to enter the South Asian market.
Firms meeting these requirements will be allowed to import 8,000 EVs a year at a reduced import duty of 15% on cars costing $35,000 and above.
India currently levies a tax of 70% to 100% on imported cars depending on their value.
The decision could pave the way for Tesla to enter India, as the Elon Musk-led company has been in talks with the government to lower import duties on its electric cars for years.
The move also aligns with India’s goal to boost the adoption of EVs and reduce its dependence on oil imports, with the country setting a target of achieving 30% electric vehicle sales by 2030.
Tesla’s factory outside Berlin, Germany will likely be shut down for days and cost the automaker more than $100 million, after a suspected arson attack on the local power grid.
The fire didn’t spread to Tesla’s factory and nobody was harmed, though employees were evacuated.
A purported activist organization calling itself the “Volcano Group” took credit for the fire in a letter posted online Tuesday.
The same group took credit for a similar fire near the site in 2021.
Last month, Tesla’s plan to expand the factory was also voted down by the public.
Less than a year ago, every automaker and EV charging company operating in the United States used the Combined Charging System (CCS).
Six months later, Ford announced a deal to that would give owners of Ford EVs access to Tesla Superchargers.
Within nine months every major automaker selling vehicles in the United States has agreed to the Tesla charging standard, with many committing to integrate the technology within their next-generation vehicles.
Tesla owners have long enjoyed sole access to the network and newcomers may put pressure on an already popular charging network.
Ford executives were quick to note in a briefing with reporters that not every Tesla Supercharger will be accessible to Ford owners.
What went wrong at Cruise, a pivot at Vroom and a home for Tesla’s Dojo supercomputerTechCrunch Mobility is a weekly newsletter dedicated to all things transportation Sign up here — just click TechCrunch Mobility — to receive the newsletter every weekend in your inbox.
Autonomous vehicle and EV startups — even those that have since gone public — are trying to cut costs in hopes of extending their capital runway.
Now, a few little birds are telling us that Canoo and Faraday Future — both EV startups that went public via mergers with special purpose acquisition companies — are either reducing salaries or furloughing employees.
So what went wrong at Cruise?
Cruise also revealed that the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission have also opened investigations into the company.
