Tesla’s stock (TSLA) is free-falling today as its newly unveiled robot is getting ridiculed, but Elon Musk claims people don’t understand the value.
Tesla’s stock is down 8% today while the Nasdaq is up 2%. This is one of Tesla’s biggest drops of the year, and it comes off of two separate events that happened since the last market close on Friday.
The second event contributing to Tesla’s stock falling is the AI Day event held late on Friday.
The market is still digesting the event, but the general consensus appears to be disappointment, mainly that Tesla didn’t communicate clearly how much closer it is to its goal of delivering a self-driving system.
Tesla did disclose some significant progress with its Dojo supercomputer program and impressive new technologies to improve its self-driving program, but there’s still no clear path to delivering on its promise.
Then there’s the Tesla Bot.
After pulling opinions from analysts and social media, it appears that the consensus is mainly that the two prototypes unveiled were mostly underwhelming.
One of them couldn’t even walk, and the other was barely able to walk and wave to the crowd. Tesla did release some videos of the robot completing other tasks, but those were mostly unimpressive, and it looked like purpose-built robots would make more sense for those tasks.
Musk again said that “only a few people understand the value of Tesla Bot,” and he believes that the humanoid robot can eventually increase economic output by an order of magnitude.
Electrek’s Take
Some of the critics of the Tesla Bot are missing an important point. Yes, it is unimpressive in many ways, especially if you compare the prototypes to what Boston Dynamics has shown so far.
I have seen dozens of comments similar to this one over the last few days:
But Tesla is not trying to make a robot as agile as Boston Dynamics’s products. The company is trying to make a robot that can be useful and manufacturable on a large scale in order to keep the costs down.
We don’t know how much Boston Dynamics’s bipedal robot costs, but we know they’re selling the much smaller dog robot for $75,000, so it’s fair to say that it would be much more expensive than Tesla Bot, which is supposedly going to be “less than $20,000.”
But it’s a fair question to ask about how useful the Tesla Bot could be. I think it’s clear that Tesla is focusing on a fairly high level of dexterity in the hands, the ability to move from one location to the next, and a high level of ability to understand and navigate its environment through Tesla’s computer vision capability.
I do think that there are many use cases for a robot being able to do that.
However, I just don’t understand Musk’s claims that “only a few people understand the value of Tesla Bot,” and I think it comes with a fundamental problem with Musk’s feedback loop.
Anyone who has spent any amount of time thinking about the value of a cheap, useful bipedal humanoid robot understands just how much value it would bring to the economy.
If there’s doubt about the project, there are mainly doubts about Tesla’s ability to deliver such a product, especially because of how behind the automaker is on its self-driving program.
Some skepticism on that front is healthy, but if Tesla can deliver on the product, then yes, the impact is going to be tremendous.
But it looks like Musk needs to reevaluate his own credibility when it comes to that stuff with anyone who is not a superfan. Tesla fans on Twitter telling him how great FSD Beta is and taking everything he says as the gospel is taking a toll.
It results in him thinking that people can’t see his vision just because they have doubts regarding whether or not he can deliver the vision.
Now he has this habit of retweeting people directly quoting him word for word and commenting something like “that’s true” or “exactly,” which is just bizarre.
Musk can deliver on his vision as he has done many times in the past, but he needs to better manage expectations because he has obviously done a terrible job at that with the Tesla Full Self-Driving program.
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Leading electric vehicle analyst, author, and industry thought leaders Loren McDonald and Bill Ferro stop by Quick Charge to discuss EV Adoption’s acquisition by Paren, the “crisis” of EV charging reliability, and the real state of the EV market.
Depending on who you listen, EVs are either driving brands to record growth and are about cross that critical 10% of the overall market nationwide, or the future is bleak, the market is down, and EVs just aren’t selling. What’s really going on? Loren and Bill (probably) have some answers.
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Chevy EV owners in Texas who have Reliant as their electric utility can now charge for free at night with renewable energy.
Over 150 Chevrolet dealerships across Texas are now offering the Reliant Free Charge Nights plan to new EV buyers. With Free Charge Nights, customers can offset their charging costs by receiving credits for electricity used between 11 pm and 6 am. The plan is powered entirely by renewable energy, thanks to the purchase of renewable energy certificates (RECs).
Rasesh Patel, president of NRG Consumer, says the plan is about making power personal: “We’re excited to help Chevrolet EV drivers offset the cost of charging their vehicle all while having access to a renewable electricity plan.”
This collaboration aims to make EV adoption more appealing by making charging cheaper and greener. GM Energy’s chief revenue officer, Aseem Kapur, emphasized that partnerships like this help build the ecosystem needed to support an all-electric future: “The Reliant Free Charge Nights plan is a great example of how an automaker and an energy company can work together to make EV adoption an easy decision.”
Existing Reliant customers can also sign up for the Free Charge Nights plan. To get started, Chevrolet EV owners need to designate their vehicle on the GM Energy Smart Charging Portal before enrolling in the plan.
Reliant Energy, a subsidiary of NRG Energy, serves over 1.5 million customers in Texas, making it one of the largest electricity providers in the state.
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Texas is about to get a major power boost – a new AI-powered virtual power plant (VPP) delivering capacity equivalent to 200,000 homes during peak demand.
NRG Energy is teaming up with Renew Home to bring nearly 1 gigawatt (GW) of capacity to the Texas grid by 2035, aiming to make it more resilient while helping residents save on energy costs.
The new VPP will rely on hundreds of thousands of smart thermostats and other connected home devices, making use of AI technology provided by Google Cloud. These devices, like Vivint and Nest smart thermostats, will be offered to eligible customers at no cost. By automating HVAC adjustments, they help shift energy use to when electricity is cheaper, cleaner, and less strained.
NRG and Renew Home have big plans for the VPP. Starting in spring 2025, the companies plan to roll out the program across Texas, installing these smart thermostats in homes served by NRG’s retail electricity providers. Eventually, they plan to add home battery storage and EVs to expand the power plant’s capabilities.
Texas has faced record-breaking energy demands, with peak usage hitting 85 GW in 2023. As the state’s population grows and extreme weather becomes more frequent, VPPs like this one could play a key role in stabilizing the grid. VPPs aggregate a lot of small-scale energy resources, from smart thermostats to home batteries, and use them to help balance supply and demand during times of high stress on the grid.
This nearly 1 GW VPP will be one of the largest of its kind in Texas. NRG’s president of consumer operations, Rasesh Patel, calls it a “pivotal step” for improving customer experience while making Texas’ energy infrastructure more sustainable and resilient.
In addition to Renew Home, NRG is working with Google Cloud to maximize the power plant’s effectiveness. Google Cloud’s AI and analytics tools will help predict weather conditions, forecast renewable generation, and optimize energy usage, all of which will help make energy management smoother for both customers and the grid.
Ben Brown, CEO of Renew Home, said:
NRG’s commitment to creating a more resilient and sustainable energy future while also making electricity bills more affordable makes them an ideal partner for co-developing this unique VPP program.
This initiative raises the bar for future-proofing our electricity infrastructure and delivering cost savings to customers.
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