Tesla's New Quantized FSD

FYI: any text in italics denotes it’s my take or my own added context. I’d also recommend: after you click an X hyperlink to login on the web if you’re not already. It will make the experience much better and you should also have the option to open the links directly in the X app if you’d prefer

⚡️ J.D. Power Tech Study

The 2024 Tech Experience Index (TXI) study dropped and spoiler alert, Tesla was in first by miles. You wouldn’t know it from the press release though because Tesla, Polestar and Rivian don’t officially qualify for the results because JD only has registration data from those companies in 35 states.

The study analyzes 40 different automotive technologies in 4 categories (convenience, automation, energy and sustainability). The study is based on responses from 81,926 owners of new 2024 model-year vehicles who were surveyed after 90 days of ownership (survey done from July ‘23 to May ‘24)

Key findings:

• Drivers prefer hands-on tech and consumers aren’t that impressed with ADAS features. They still just want things like cameras and alerts to assist with backing up/parking

• They said Tesla may be losing it’s tech edge thanks to low scoring on its driver monitoring. However when you look at the overall scores below, that comment feels like missing the forest for the trees

⚡️ FSD 12.5.1.5

It’s going out to non-employee HW3 vehicles. Finally. Time for a shot of Tesla Tequila if you have it. Supervise responsibly.

As I mentioned this week on Electrified, I’m expecting some minor performance differences with this quantized model but without specific testing next to HW4 I think it will be tough to discern

James Douma had a nice write up on this smaller model for HW3. The TLDR: Tesla is still heavily incentivized to keep making Supervised FSD better on HW3 until it’s good enough to move to Unsupervised given the size of the HW3 fleet. A point we’ve shared on the channel a few weeks back, but good to see it confirmed from JD

⚡️ Project Juniper Spotted

Still hoping for a 2025 release

⚡️ Lightning Round

• Colorado residents can now get a $5,350 point of sale credit on new Tesla purchases. Adding that to the $7,500 tax credit brings the entry Model 3 to $29,640 and the entry Model Y to $32,140 in CO

• Joe Tegtmeyer shared a picture showing 72 transformers on site at Giga Texas. As Elon has said, you need transformers to run transformers. Tranformers are a big piece of the energy puzzle as they manage the flow of electricity along the power grid by changing high-voltage electricity from transmission lines into low-voltage electricity before it reaches the end consumer. Seven trade groups have called for $1.2B in federal funding to help manufacturers of distribution transformers boost their production capacity

• Tesla has launced an Amazon storefront in Canada allowing customers to buy the Wall Connector and the Universal Wall Connector through the website. These are the only two products listed for now and they’re the same price as if you purchased them through the Tesla website. Amazon may have faster shipping with an easier return process though

• The Tesla Semi will be at the Electrify Expo this weekend in Alameda, California

• The first ever all electric Range Rover reportedly has over 42,000 reservations. Details on the vehicle are still very sparse

• Tesla Charging shared the Giga New York team has ramped NACS adapter production to 8,000 units per week and that OEM’s are also ramping up suppliers. In June, Jim Farley said Ford was waiting on 90,000 adapters so hopefully in the next few months, all Ford customers wanting an adapter will have one

• Joe Tegtmeyer shared another image of the parking garage at Giga Texas. You’ll notice a privacy wall of sorts constructed along the floor level (presumably to block us from seeing something). What exactly they’re hiding is anyone’s guess :)

• TSLA stock closed the week at $220.32 up 4.59% on the day and up 4.34% for the week. LCID, PSNY and RIVN were all up 9%, 7.6% and 8.9% respectively today.

Hope you all have a wonderful and a safe weekend. I’ll be testing FSD 12.5.1.3 and hopefully continually getting back to my normal energy levels. Cheers!