Innovation

Musk Reads: Tesla's value reaches new highs

Tesla’s market value soars to new levels and solar prices get slashed. Could the Cybertruck give a helping hand with tires?

by Mike Brown

Tesla’s market value soars to new levels and solar prices get slashed. Could the Cybertruck give a helping hand with tires? It’s Musk Reads: Tesla Edition #136.

A version of this article appeared in the “Musk Reads” newsletter. Sign up for free here.

Musk quote of the week

“Munro’s analysis of Tesla engineering is accurate, both pro & con. I think he will appreciate some elements of the Model Y body design.”

Tesla

Tesla’s stock value has continued to rise. The automaker has now overtaken Volkswagen to become the world’s second-most valuable automaker in terms of market cap, coming in at $102.66 billion versus Volkswagen’s $89.68 billion. Toyota is far ahead in first place, on $230.95 billion. If the company can hold the value for a month, and over a six-month average, Musk will unlock the first part of his 10-part $2.6 billion compensation deal.

The company has denied claims that its vehicles suffer from “unintended acceleration.” The NHTSA, a division of the United States Department of Transportation, received a petition from Brian Sparks, an investor who currently shorts Tesla stock but has previously held a long position. He was informed of a story from Jennifer Terry, who was driving her new Model 3 last summer when the car suddenly accelerated. Tesla claimed the accusations were “completely false”: The car operated as designed in every single similar scenario it has investigated, and the accelerator has two independent position sensors that default to cut torque in the case of an anomaly.

Tesla solar

Tesla has slashed the price of its retrofit solar panels as the United States federal tax subsidy drops from 30 percent of system cost to 26 percent as of January 1. CleanTechnica notes that prices appeared to drop across the board on all system sizes. A 3.8-kilowatt-hour system, designed for a home between 1,000 and 2,000 square feet, dropped in price over the past week from $8,342 to $7,770.

What’s next for Tesla: Tesla is expected to start Model Y production by this summer.

Musk Reads mailroom

Bryan Seagondollar writes:

The 1970 Citroen cars used their active suspension to raise them up to change a tire. Could [the Cybertruck] use a similar [technique to] do the same?

Funnily enough, the Citroen sparked a similar discussion over at Tesla Motors Club back in 2017. Musk has been keen to highlight the Cybertruck’s active suspension height and damping control, but he has yet to explain whether Tesla would support tire changes using the advanced suspension system.

Got any comments or queries? Don’t forget to send them over to muskreads@inverse.com.

Photo of the week

A first look at the Model Y’s third row?

The ultra-fine print

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