CCP-Tied EV Manufacturer Dethrones Tesla as Global Industry Leader

BYD

A Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-tied electric vehicle maker dethroned Tesla as the worldwide industry leader in the last quarter of 2023, according to stock exchange filings.

BYD and Tesla both posted record sales for battery electric vehicles in the final quarter, according to the filings. BYD sold 526,409 vehicles in the quarter while Tesla sold 484,507, with the Chinese company achieving its highest-ever car sales in 2023, according to The Wall Street Journal.

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Tesla Issues Recall for Almost All U.S. Vehicles After Government Probe

Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla filed a safety recall for over 2 million vehicles with federal regulators following a two-year investigation into the company’s autopilot feature, according to an announcement from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Wednesday.

The Tesla recall covers 2.03 million vehicles, including the Model 3, Model Y, Model X and Model S, made between Oct. 5, 2012 and Dec. 7, 2023, over concerns with their autopilot feature enabling driver misuse through a lack of engagement while operating the vehicle, according to a document from the NHTSA. The recall covers nearly all Tesla vehicles in the U.S. and is one of many actions taken by the NHTSA around Tesla’s autopilot feature, with the agency contending that the feature’s name is misleading as drivers still have to be engaged during its use, according to The Associated Press.

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Mozilla Investigation Finds Cars Are Collecting Data on Driving Habits, Routes, and Even ‘Sexual Activity’

The Mozilla Foundation recently investigated the privacy practices of 25 major car brands through its ongoing series, *Privacy Not Included. The research uncovered the automotive industry as the worst category the group has looked into yet when it comes to protecting consumer privacy. Across all manufacturers reviewed, excessive collection and misuse of personal data was rampant, with car brands systematically ignoring driver consent. Vehicles now contain numerous sensors and constant connectivity, enabling persistent tracking of location, driving habits, in-car activities, and more. Data collected encompasses highly sensitive details like medical history, sexual activity, and music taste. Car manufacturers claim to use this trove of information internally for purposes like research and marketing. However, most also admit to sharing or selling data to third parties such as data brokers. Despite industry principles advocating “data minimization” and “choice,” the report claims car companies act in blatant disregard of users’ privacy. Compounding the risks, an alarming majority of brands had a history of security failures, with hacks and breaches exposing driver data. The researchers investigating the privacy practices of auto makers were unable to confirm even basic functions like full encryption of personal information on vehicles. The most disturbing findings the report lists…

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Automakers’ Push to Remove AM Radio in New Cars Gets Pushback from Hannity to Hill

Video didn’t kill the radio star. But auto manufacturers might, as they consider eliminating AM radio from new vehicles in their transition from gas- to electric-powered fleets.

Manufacturers such as BMW, Mazda, Tesla, and Volkswagen are taking AM radio out of new electric vehicles over concerns their engines will interfere with how AM stations sound, according to The Washington Post.

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Elon Musk Tells Tucker Carlson AI Could ‘Absolutely’ Take Control of Civilization

Elon Musk told Fox News host Tucker Carlson Monday that it was “absolutely” possible for artificial intelligence to take control of civilization and make decisions for people.

“That’s real? It is conceivable that AI could take control and reach a point where you couldn’t turn it off and it would be making the decisions for people?” Carlson, a co-founder of the Daily Caller and Daily Caller News Foundation, asked Musk during an interview that aired Monday.

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Caterpillar Announces Relocation of Global Headquarters from Illinois to Texas

Construction and mining equipment giant Caterpillar Inc. announced Tuesday it will move its global headquarters from its current location in Deerfield, Illinois, to the company’s existing office in Irving, Texas.

“We believe it’s in the best strategic interest of the company to make this move, which supports Caterpillar’s strategy for profitable growth as we help our customers build a better, more sustainable world,” said Chairman and CEO Jim Umpleby in a press release. 

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Bill Gates Funneled Hundreds of Millions to Organizations Attacking Elon Musk

New research reveals that Microsoft founder Bill Gates, formerly the world’s wealthiest man, has been donating hundreds of millions of dollars to dark money groups that have been publicly attacking Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, the current wealthiest man in the world.

As reported by Breitbart, Gates’ foundation donated to 11 of the 26 organizations that signed onto an open letter last month demanding a boycott of Twitter by its advertisers over Musk’s recent purchase of the company. The report comes from the Foundation for Freedom Online (FFO), which traced the money from the signatories of the letter back to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

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Musk Takes 9 Percent Stake in Twitter amid Speculation Buy Will Lead to ‘Active Stake,’ Stocks Soar

Elon Musk

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has questioned Twitter’s commitment to free speech, has taken a 9% stake in the social media platform, making him its largest shareholder.

Musk bought 73.5 million shares worth $2.9 billion, based on the closing price Friday, the Associated Press reported Monday.

However, what Musk intends to do as a result of the purchase remains unclear.

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Pelosi’s Husband Buys $2 Million in Tesla Shares as Democrats Push Green Energy Handouts

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband purchased 2,500 shares of Tesla stock amid Democrats’ push for increased green energy spending.

Paul Pelosi, the Democratic House leader’s millionaire husband, purchased the tranche of Tesla stock on Thursday, when the company’s share price reached about $872 per share by the end of day, according to congressional filings published Monday. Pelosi bought the shares, worth roughly $2.18 million at the time, at a strike price of $500 per share.

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Tesla Recalls Nearly 600,000 Vehicles, One of Five Recalls in 8 Months

Tesla recalled nearly 600,000 vehicles on Thursday, the electric car maker’s fifth major recall in the past several months.

The recall, which affects all 2020-2022 Tesla Model S, X and Y cars and as well as certain 2017–2022 Tesla Model 3s, a total of 578,607 vehicles, is due to safety issues raised by the vehicles’ “Boombox” feature that plays music outside the vehicle, according to Bloomberg. The Boombox feature impairs the vehicles’ “pedestrian warning system,” an auditory feature that alerts pedestrians to the vehicles’ presence.

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Tesla Recalls 475,000 Cars over Safety Concerns

Tesla issued recalls for nearly half a million Model S and Model 3 vehicles over potential safety concerns resulting from malfunctioning trunk technology, Barron’s reported.

The recalls, submitted on Dec. 21 to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), are for issues related to opening and closing the trunk in around 355,000 Model 3 cars and for a misaligned front trunk latch assembly in roughly 120,000 Model S vehicles, Barron’s reported.

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Electric Vehicle Push Is Sparking Massive Deforestation, Environmental Damage

A major nickel mine in a Philippines rainforest has continued to expand, mowing down acres of trees as global demand for minerals essential for electric vehicle manufacturing surges.

The Rio Tuba mine in the region of Palawan supplies an important mineral for electric vehicle batteries in Tesla and Toyota cars, but the mine is nearing an expansion that would cause it to grow from four square miles to 14 square miles, according to an NBC News investigation. The growth of the mine would cause massive deforestation of the land which environmentalists warn could destroy the area’s ecosystem.

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JP Morgan Sues Tesla, Says Company Owes It $162 Million

Investment bank JP Morgan filed a complaint against Tesla late Monday alleging the electric car company owes the firm over $162 million.

The complaint centers on stock warrants, financial instruments allowing a buyer to purchase shares at a set price within a certain length of time, that JP Morgan bought from Tesla in 2014. The two firms agreed to a “strike price” at the time of purchase, and they agreed that if Tesla’s share price exceeded the strike price within the agreed-upon length of time, the electric car company would have to give JP Morgan stock or cash equivalent to the difference in prices, JP Morgan said in the complaint.

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Elon Musk’s Tesla to Move Headquarters from California to Texas

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on Thursday that the company will be moving its headquarters out of California and into Texas, according to CNN.

“I’m excited to announce that we’re moving our headquarters to Austin, Texas,” Musk announced to a shareholders’ meeting on Thursday. The company, which specializes in electric vehicles, had been based out of California since its foundation in San Carlos, with its first factory built in Fremont and its current headquarters located in Palo Alto.

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Commentary: Biden’s Electric Car Plan Means Rigging Manufacturing to Favor Unions

At NREL future research should focus on understanding consumer driving and charging behavior and the nuances determining the choice of residential charging infrastructure for plug-in electric vehicles (PEV). Shown is in the Power Systems Lab in the Energy systems Integration Facility (ESIF)

In a highly orchestrated and publicized White House gathering this month, President Biden presented a detailed plan for the development of a U.S. fleet of clean, high-mileage electric automobiles that would reduce reliance on gasoline and generate thousands of good union jobs. It’s a new, government-encouraged, taxpayer-subsidized auto world. The plan calls for U.S. auto production to become 50% electric by 2030. Today, the electric share stands at a paltry 2%.

Top leaders from Ford, GM, and Stellantis (formerly Fiat-Chrysler), along with environmentalists and governors, were prominently invited to share in the announcement. Yet the absence of any non-union, America-located auto producers was glaring. There were no representatives from Hyundai, Nissan, or Toyota – companies that have long produced popular vehicles within our borders and recently expressed some support for Biden’s goal. Also striking was the absence of Tesla’s Elon Musk, the world’s acknowledged leader in the electric car and battery revolution. Tesla is an American firm, but it is not unionized.

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Commentary: Electric Vehicles and Their Drawbacks, Chapter II

There is a growing push in the U.S. and throughout much of the developed world to convert transportation from a primary reliance on fossil fuels to an almost-exclusive use of renewable energy (wind and solar). With this goal come promises of unlimited clean and free energy, the creation of millions of green jobs, and the benefit of helping save the planet from an imminent climate catastrophe.

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Minnesota Adapts California Vehicle Emission Standards

The Minnesota Automobile Dealers Association (MADA) filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday aiming to stop Gov. Tim Walz’s administration from adopting California’s vehicle emission standards.

MADA, which represents 350 franchised new car dealers with more than 20,000 employees, alleges Minnesota lacks the authority under the Federal Clean Air Act to regulate motor vehicle emissions.

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Analysis: Electric Vehicles and Their Drawbacks

Electric-powered cars are now the rage. Tesla’s market capitalization is seven times larger than that of General Motors and fourteen times larger than Ford’s, though it builds a fraction of the vehicles that those companies do. Many politicians are even considering banning gasoline-powered cars within a few years in favor of electric vehicles (EVs), all in the name of saving the planet. 

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Top Silicon Valley Company Leaves California for Nashville

Revance Therapeutics (Revance), a premiere biotechnology company, announced its plans to relocate its headquarters from Newark, California to Nashville. It is the fourth prominent company to depart from Silicon Valley this month.

Governor Bill Lee and Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe shared the news in a joint press release with Revance. According to them, the company will invest over $10 million and create approximately 150 jobs.

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Driving a Tesla Results in More CO2 Than a Mercedes Diesel Car, Study Finds

by Michael Bastasch   A Tesla Model 3 is touted as a zero-emissions car by government regulators, but it actually results in more carbon dioxide than a comparable diesel-powered car, according to a recent study. When the CO2 emissions from battery production is included, electric cars, like Teslas, are “in the best case, slightly higher than those of a diesel engine, and are otherwise much higher,” reads a release from the German think tank IFO. “It’s better read as a warning that new technologies aren’t a climate-change panacea. Recall the false promises about corn and cellulosic ethanol,” The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote of the study. Driving a Tesla Model 3 in Germany, for example, is responsible for 156 to 181 grams of CO2 per kilometer, compared to just 141 grams per kilometer for a diesel-powered Mercedes C220d — that includes emissions from producing diesel fuel. IFO looked at electric car production in Germany, which is heavily reliant on coal power. Electric car emissions in other countries depend on their energy mix, but Germany is the world’s third-largest electric car maker. China and the U.S. are the first- and second-largest electric car producers, respectively. China gets 65 percent of…

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2020 Hopeful John Kasich Backs Carbon Pricing, Brags About Buying a Tesla with Taxpayer Subsidies

by Michael Bastasch   Former Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a potential 2020 opponent for President Donald Trump, has a pitch for Republicans: back global warming policies that are favored by Democrats. “This is like a call to arms. Let’s have conservatives have a discussion instead of being in denial that this is a problem. You can’t just be a science denier,” Kasich told Axios in an interview released Tuesday. Kasich sat down with Axios to preview a speech he’s set to give at Canada’s University of British Columbia. The former governor said his views on global warming had evolved from his 2016 presidential run. Kasich will use his speech to lay out what he calls “centrist” policies aimed at global warming, including pricing carbon dioxide emissions — possibly through “cap-and-trade,” which failed to pass Congress roughly a decade ago. Since then, opposition against pricing carbon among Republicans seems to have hardened. House Republicans overwhelmingly voted in 2018 for a resolution opposed to carbon taxes, though a handful of GOP lawmakers do support such policies. Kasich will also call for subsidies for renewable energy, electric cars and other technologies. Axios noted that “Kasich says he took advantage of an existing…

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Elon Musk ‘Certain’ Tesla Will Be Producing Self-Driving Cars By Year’s End

by Chris White   Tesla CEO Elon Musk predicted Tuesday that the electric vehicle automaker will begin producing purely self-driving cars by the end of 2019. The mercurial tech guru has made similar predictions in the past. Musk argued in 2015 that his company would complete a self-driving feature within two years; it never happened. He’s now doubling down on that forecast. The Silicon Valley billionaire told Cathie Wood and Tasha Keeney of ARK Invest that he is certain of this prediction. “I think we will be ‘feature complete’ on full self-driving this year, meaning the car will be able to find you in a parking lot, pick you up, take you all the way to your destination without an intervention this year,” Musk said, referring to Tesla’s long-awaited self-driving feature. “I am certain of that. That is not a question mark.” Musk did add one important caveat. The speed at which customers adopt the technology depends on the rules regulators hammer out for such vehicles, he said. “My guess as to when we would think it is safe for somebody to essentially fall asleep and wake up at their destination? Probably towards the end of next year,” Musk added.…

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Is One Labor Union Killing the Ohio Lordstown Plant?

An ongoing feud between one labor union and an automaker may cost thousands of jobs in Lordstown, Ohio. The Lordstown Assembly Complex in Lordstown, Ohio has been the lifeblood of that town since 1966. Currently, the factory is owned and operated by General Motors, while the workforce is represented by the United Automobile Workers, an international worker’s labor union. In late November, GM announced that the factory, along with four others in the US, would close in 2019. In the months following the announcement, there has been a furious battle to save the plant in any capacity. Very early on in the effort, then-outgoing Governor John Kasich, made it clear that the future of the plant would be with an “alternative” to GM. This statement seemed to make it clear that that was no chance GM would keep the plant open while indicating that the only future for the facility would be with another company. Kasich then began reaching out to Tesla Motors CEO; Elon Musk who expressed interest in Tesla acquiring the plant. For months, this was as far as the public knew negotiations had gone. Then, in January, GM CEO Mary Barra revealed that there were no ongoing negotiations with Tesla for a…

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Tesla Plans 7 Percent Staff Cut, Says Bumpy Road Ahead

Electric car and solar panel maker Tesla said Friday it plans to cut its staff by about seven percent. “The road ahead is very difficult,” the company’s founder and CEO Elon Musk said in an email to employees posted on the company’s website. He said Tesla Inc. hopes to post a “tiny profit” in the current quarter but that after expanding its workforce by 30 percent last year, it cannot support that size of staff. Musk said in a tweet in October that Tesla had 45,000 employees. A seven percent cut would involve laying off about 3,150 people. Tesla’s shares tumbled earlier this month after it cut vehicle prices by $2,000 and announced fourth-quarter sales figures that fell short of Wall Street estimates. “Our products are too expensive for most people,” Musk said in the memo to Tesla staff saying the company has to “work harder.” “Tesla has only been producing cars for about a decade and we’re up against massive, entrenched competitors,” he said. The company says it delivered over 245,000 electric cars and SUVs last year, nearly as many as all previous years combined. But its 2018 production fell far short of a goal set nearly three years…

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Tennessee Truck Drivers Reportedly Rebel Against Tesla and Its Tax Credit

Pickup truck drivers across the South, including Tennessee, are reportedly blocking access to Tesla electric car Superchargers. Environmentalists’ feelings are apparently hurt because of it. According to the left-leaning Green Car Reports, “these incidents have occurred in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas, and even overseas.” Green Car Reports speculated angry truck drivers are targeting Teslas specifically because “they are expensive luxury cars and qualify for a large federal tax credit.” “Photos shared across Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit over the weekend showed all kinds of trucks blocking Superchargers, from small pickups to big semis,” the website reported. “Some have termed it ICEing—a reference to the internal combustion engines under the hoods of the offending trucks.” Green Car Reports said “whole rows of trucks either pulled across whole rows of Superchargers or backed in to block several at a time. In two more cases, semi-trucks pulled across rows of Superchargers, blocking them, when other parking was available.” The writers at the website guessed it was an organized campaign, but they also confessed they don’t know who is behind it. Many cities, according to Green Car Reports, have passed laws restricting parking at electric-car chargers. The website did not list which cities. CarrBuzz.com,…

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GM’s Mass Layoff Includes Eliminating a Hybrid Car Obama Once Championed

by Chris White   General Motor’s decision to restructure and layoff thousands of employees Monday includes eliminating a hybrid vehicle former President Barack Obama once called the car of the future for the Detroit company. GM said Monday that it will cut roughly 14,000 people in North America and will idle factories in Michigan, Ohio, Maryland and Canada. The layoffs come as the company focuses on manufacturing electric vehicles over gas-powered sedans. Politicians and ordinary citizens are blasting the decision. “It’s all about greed. It’s all about putting more in their pockets,” one employee said, according to CBS. “The bad thing is to get this news on the day after we come back from Thanksgiving,” another employee noted. “GM owes the community answers on how the rest of the supply chain will be impacted & what consequences its disastrous decision will have” Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, wrote in a tweet following the announcement. The bulk of the cuts include 8,000 salaried jobs, making it the largest cutbacks since GM went bankrupt and was bailed out by taxpayers during the 2008 financial crisis. One victim of the move is the Chevrolet Volt, a hybrid car Obama once championed. “I got to get…

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Elon Musk Takes the Deal – Agrees To Step Down From Tesla As Chairman In SEC Settlement

Elon Musk

by Chris White   Billionaire tech guru Elon Musk agreed to step down as the chairman of Tesla after the Securities and Exchange Commission sued the electric vehicle company for fraud, according to court documents published Saturday. Musk, who owns roughly 20 percent of the company, also agreed to pay a $20 million fine in connection with a tweet he wrote in August telling followers that he had enough funding to take Tesla private, the documents note. He neither admitted nor denied the allegations the SEC leveled against him. The SEC has spent months probing whether Musk’s promise was designed to hurt short-sellers at the expense of new investors. Musk gets to retain his position as CEO, but the move could drastically affect the company’s structure. He told his Twitter followers in an Aug. 7 post that he had sufficient funding to take the company out of the public domain. Reports about Musk’s tweet came shortly after a source told The Financial Times that the Saudi’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) bought share of Tesla. The PIF’s position is worth between $1.7 billion and $2.9 billion at Tesla’s current share price. The stake makes the fund one of Tesla’s eight biggest shareholders. Musk used recent discussions with…

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SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy Launch Was a Joyful Success

Patience was in short supply during the leg-jiggling, finger-tapping, tension-filled hours before the launch of the Falcon Heavy, which would, if successful, become the most powerful operational rocket on the planet. From thousands of miles away viewers obsessively checked Twitter for live updates from the hundreds of reporters and thousands of visitors who showed up to witness history.

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