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I fully divested from Tesla (TSLA), selling all my shares. I’m going to try to explain why. At Electrek, we like to be clear about our biases rather than claim we have none.

I’ve followed Tesla since 2008 and invested in the company after it went public in 2010. I started writing about EVs, and especially Tesla, full-time in 2015.

I invested in the stock mainly because I fully supported Tesla’s mission to accelerate the advent of electric transportation. I thought then, and still do today, that a combination of battery-powered vehicles, with the ethical sourcing of raw battery materials, battery recycling, and renewable electricity production to power electric vehicles, is the only solution to making the transportation sector long-term sustainable while decarbonizing it.

Over the years, I had become a fan of electric vehicles, but I was clueless about how they could become mainstream until I read Elon Musk’s 2006 ‘Tesla secret master plan’. The plan made sense to me: make a high-end electric vehicle that is uncompromising against its gas-powered counterparts. Once you prove that it can be done, make increasingly cheaper and higher-volume EV models with the same approach.

That sounds simple, but it was a difficult task from an engineering perspective. Either way, it seemed to be the only way to meaningfully move the industry toward battery-electric vehicles.

On top of Musk’s blog post, which Tesla has recently removed from its website, I was also convinced by lectures given by Tesla’s original two co-founders, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.

While these guys have been forgotten by many as part of Tesla’s history, partly due to Musk’s own effort, I credit them as early pioneers of the electric revolution. They were great early communicators of the feasibility of electrifying the auto industry and the necessity to do it.

Not without hurdles, Tesla did it. I am not going to recap Tesla’s entire incredible history, but the company was successful in convincing the world and the auto industry that electric vehicles are here, here to stay, and the future of the industry — something that most were denying less than a decade ago.

Tesla engineered and designed several highly competitive and attractive EV products, managed to ramp them up to millions of units, and forced the rest of the industry to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in electric vehicles.

This was possible due to a lot of different factors. A lot:

  • The vision of Tesla’s early leadership
  • Elon Musk’s early funding and leadership
  • The incredible talent that the mission attracted, including many early employees that became critical to Tesla, like JB Straubel, Drew Baglino, Deepak Ahuja, Franz von Holzhausen, and many more
  • The support of early investors like Antonio Gracias, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Jeff Skoll, and Steve Jurvetson, among others
  • The support from other automakers, like Daimler and Toyota, who both invested in Tesla at a critical time
  • Government support was a big one, especially California’s support. California regulations, which spread to other states in the US known as ‘CARB states’, were critical in Tesla’s early success and were also factors in Daimler and Toyota’s investments as the automakers made deals with Tesla to help them produce EVs to comply with the state regulations. Later, the federal EV tax credit helped, the IRA helped, the solar tax credit, and more also helped.
  • The support from passionate owners
  • The support from passionate retail investors

I’m most likely forgetting some factors, but these are some of the most important ones, in my opinion.

Many will say that they weren’t equally important, and that might be true, but I seriously doubt that Tesla would have survived if you removed any of these factors.

If you contributed to any of these factors, it’s my personal opinion that you should be proud to have contributed to the electrification of the auto industry.

The Shift

In the last few years, Tesla has become a widely different company. My main issue with this shift is that I no longer feel like the original mission to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport or renewable energy is a priority.

Now, it’s all about AI, self-driving, and robots.

I’m not saying that those things are wrong or that they will not happen. I think all these technologies are important and will transform the world, but it’s simply not what I invested in.

I would also argue that Tesla is not the same company, which makes sense since the company is no longer about its mission.

That’s my main issue. It can’t be more evident than Tesla’s EV deliveries tracking down year-over-year for the first time in a decade, Musk canceling EV programs in favor of Robotaxi, and even the CEO going as far as saying that “Tesla is worth nothing without self-driving.”

My other issue is the leadership. I don’t trust Elon Musk anymore. I think a combination of social media addiction and the cult of personality around him has broken his feedback loop and set him on the wrong path.

I think he disqualified himself from running Tesla or any public company when he started threatening to breach his fiduciary duty to shareholders if he didn’t get 25% control over Tesla.

On top of my distrust of the CEO, I think that his own changes in the last few years, combined with the shift away from the mission, have driven a lot of the rest of the leadership away:

As part of my job, I track the comings and goings of top talent at Tesla very closely, and in the last few years, I’ve seen tons of high-level departures and very few new top hires.

There’s still a lot of great talent at Tesla, I’m not denying that, but I think it’s also clear that there has been a significant talent exodus at Tesla, especially over the last year.

Despite these issues becoming clear to me over the last few years, I remained a shareholder because I naively thought things could go back to normal. I thought maybe Musk would wake up from his social media-fueled madness, or shareholders would give him the boot.

This brings me to my next issue: I am becoming unaligned with the majority of Tesla shareholders.

It couldn’t have been clearer when 73% of them voted to reinstate Musk’s ~$50 billion compensation package without any change after a legal discovery process showed that the board and the CEO didn’t follow due process in getting the original shareholder vote.

Some greedy lawyers and a courageous judge gave Tesla shareholders an opportunity to tell Musk and Tesla’s board that the company deserves proper governance and not be “run like a family business,” as Tesla’s largest independent investor said.

The timing was incredible. The opportunity came right after:

  • Musk threatened shareholders to not build products he himself claimed were critical to Tesla if he didn’t get 25% of the company
  • He sold tens of billions of dollars worth of Tesla shares to buy Twitter, said he would stop selling and yet kept going
  • He entirely lost his mind for a while and challenged Mark Zuckerberg to an MMA fight, then chickened out (I thought this was all a joke at first, and it might have been at first, but it undoubtedly became not a joke)
  • Musk seemed completely uninterested in Tesla for about a year, when he was running Twitter, SpaceX, Neurallink, the Boring Company, and xAI – with many of those companies recruiting from Tesla. Then, he returned and fired 15-20% of the company, including the entire charging team for no good reason.
  • Finally, he canceled the stock options of Tesla employees

The last one was a big one for me. Musk had just canceled the stock options for Tesla employees just a month before the judge’s decision to rescind his own stock option package. Right after the judge’s decision, Musk got interested in Tesla again, started talking about the company more, and, of course, started to fight to get his own stock options back.

In his view, his stock options are essential, but those of Tesla employees? Less so.

I thought that Tesla shareholders would see the hypocrisy in this. They would see that Musk has become a burden at Tesla more than an asset.

Instead, despite all those factors, Tesla shareholders convinced themselves that it was “the right thing to do” to give more money to the wealthiest man in the world. Not only that, they made “lists” of shareholders who said they were voting against the package and told them to go ‘f*ck’ themselves and that they wouldn’t be part of the Tesla community anymore.

I don’t want to be a part of that anymore. I still love many of Tesla’s products and I will keep reporting on them, but I am completely unaligned with the investor base, so I don’t think it makes sense for me to be a shareholder anymore.

Finally, and for full disclosure, the last reason why I sold has nothing to do with Tesla. I see a lot of signs that we are entering a recession. I prefer to be more liquid in those situations, and Tesla is up 10% in two days for seemingly no reason, so it felt like a good time to get out since I don’t feel aligned with shareholders.

I sincerely hope the best for them, though. I know that many of them are well-intentioned people. That said, I recommend caution as I think you are also in the company of low-moral individuals who are poisoning the TSLA community.

FSD side note: what if Tesla does solve self-driving? I am mentioning it because I know this is something that keeps a lot of people in, but there’s no FOMO for this MOFO. If it happens, it happens. I’ll celebrate it and shed a tear for my wallet.

I’m the first to admit that if Tesla can solve self-driving with its approach, it would result in unprecedented value creation, but I am simply not convinced that this will happen anytime soon or before others can solve it.

Why? As a Tesla shareholder, you have two options: take Elon at his word or trust the data.

For the reasons mentioned above, I don’t trust what Elon says, so we can forget about the former.

As for the latter, despite Tesla now openly using miles between interventions as a metric to track FSD progress, the automaker has never released this data. This is a giant red flag.

For the data, we have to rely on our own experience with the system and the experience of others. I’ve had Tesla FSD for years and I’ve been impressed at times and unimpressed other times. The only thing I’m certain of based on my experience is that it is currently nothing close to an unsupervised self-driving system.

We can also use the crowdsourced data, which is limited, but the best we have since Tesla refuses to release its own:

The average of the v12.5.1 versions, the latest to be released, is 32 miles between disengagement and 128 miles between critical disengagement.

This compares to 30 miles between disengagement and 189 miles between critical disengagement for v12.3.6, which is the last FSD version that went into a wide release earlier this year.

Elon is talking about 3x that this month and maybe 6x that next month. He has been consistently wrong about these predictions, but even if he was right, most experts are talking about 400x to 1,000x needed to achieve an unsupervised robotaxi service.

Even with exponential growth, this will take way longer than what Elon is claiming right now. Then, it needs to make that work on the current hardware and the HW3, which is already running a smaller model than HW4.

If the Tesla investment thesis relies on this program to work, which is what Elon himself is saying, it’s a pass for me.

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Mercedes-Benz offers an exclusive first look at the new electric GLC

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Mercedes-Benz offers an exclusive first look at the new electric GLC

Mercedes-Benz is gearing up to unveil the electric version of its best-selling SUV, the GLC, later this year. With its official debut just around the corner, Mercedes revealed a few new details, offering an exclusive first look at the new EV.

Mercedes offers an exclusive look at the new electric GLC

Although we got a sneak peek of the electric SUV in March during winter testing in Northern Sweden, Mercedes is giving us a better idea of what to expect.

“We’re not just introducing a new model – we’re electrifying our top seller,” Mercedes-Benz Group CEO, Ola Källenius, said on Thursday.

Mercedes promises the electric GLC “sets new standards” with a sleek new design, advanced tech, and its new MB.OS operating system.

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The new GLC EV is an upgrade over the current model, offering significantly more space and improved ride quality. Since the wheelbase is 3.1″ longer than the current gas-powered SUV, the electric version has more legroom and headroom for front and rear passengers.

With all the seats folded, the electric SUV offers 61.4 cubic feet of space. The gas-powered model features up to 56.3 cubic feet of cargo space. Plus, you get an extra 4.5 cu ft of space in the trunk (front trunk).

Mercedes-electric-GLC
Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius with the new GLC EV (Source: Mercedes-Benz)

Källenius said that with Mercedes’ new 800V electric architecture and latest batteries, the electric GLC can regain around 260 km (161 miles) WLTP range in just ten minutes. He added that DC fast charging at over 320 kW is possible.

The GLC 400 4MATIC with EQ Technology will arrive with impressive towing capability of up to 5,291 lbs. In comparison, the Tesla Model Y can only tow up to 3,500 lbs.

Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius tests a prototype of the new electric GLC (Source: Mercedes-Benz)

Added features, such as ESP trailer stabilization and trailer maneuvering assistant, make it even easier to tow with optimized stability and control.

Källenius also teased the new electric GLC design, calling it the start of a “new era” and “a new face of the brand as the first in a family of upcoming vehicles.”

Mercedes-GLC-EV-first-look
Mercedes GLC EV prototype with EQ Technology testing in Sweden (Source: Mercedes-Benz

The inside is just as impressive, providing a holistic experience. A “majestically floating next generation MBUX Hyperscreen” is optional, providing a spatial experience powered by the new MB.OS supercomputer.

Mercedes will unveil the new electric GLC at the 2025 International Motor Show in Munich on September 7, 2025.

Mercedes-CLA-EV-interior
The new electric Mercedes CLA interior (Source: Mercedes-Benz)

Although official range figures will be revealed at the event, according to Car and Driver, which tested a prototype model, Mercedes said it expects the new GLC to provide a WLTP range of just over 400 miles, or slightly more than 300 miles on the EPA scale, from a 94.5 kWh battery.

Prices will also be announced in due time, but given that the current GLC 350e 4MATIC PHEV starts at $59,900 in the US, you can expect the electric model to be priced slightly higher, at around $65,000.

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Tesla (TSLA) pushes its shareholders annual meeting all the way to November, but why?

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I sold all my Tesla shares (TSLA), here's why

Tesla (TSLA) announced its 2025 annual shareholders meeting at the very last minute, and it pushed it all the way to November, the latest it has ever held the meeting.

Tesla generally holds its annual meeting in the summer and announces it way ahead of time.

Today, the automaker announced that the meeting will be held on November 6:

The board of directors (the “Board”) of Tesla, Inc. (“Tesla”) has designated November 6, 2025 as the date of Tesla’s 2025 annual meeting of shareholders (the “2025 Annual Meeting”).

This is highly unusual for Tesla. Here are the dates of Tesla’s last 5 annual meetings:

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  • 2020: September 22, 2020
  • 2021: October 7, 2021
  • 2022: August 4, 2022
  • 2023: May 16, 2023
  • 2024: June 13, 2024

At those meetings, shareholders vote on several matters, including the reelection of directors and shareholders’ proposals.

Tesla has not released any yet, but they are expected to be in the upcoming proxy statement, which Tesla should release in the coming weeks.

Why does Tesla need more time?

Electrek’s Take

I think Tesla is working on some proposals that are going to take time to put together and then to sell to shareholders – hence why the meeting is set for November.

There are two suspects: a new CEO compensation package for Musk or a merger/acquisition of xAI.

It could also be both, but I think that would be harder to swallow for some shareholders as both initiatives have a clear aim of giving Musk a bigger stake in Tesla.

I think sane investors should not want that, but Tesla shareholders don’t fit in that category. Much of Tesla’s value is attached to Musk’s lies and ridiculous predictions. The value will have to come down to reality at some point, but they are a bunch of gamblers who are enjoying the ride in the meantime.

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NIO (NIO) opens orders for the new three-row Onvo L90, starting at under $30,000

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NIO (NIO) opens orders for the new three-row Onvo L90, starting at under ,000

A three-row electric SUV for less than $30,000? Sign me up. NIO (NYSE: NIO) opened pre-orders for the new Onvo L90 on Thursday, starting from 193,900 yuan, or about $27,000.

NIO kicks off Onvo L90 pre-orders in China

NIO claims the Onvo L90 is the lightest full-size three-row SUV in its class, with a curb weight just under 5,000 lbs (2,250 kg). In comparison, the Lucid Gravity has a curb weight of 5,966 lbs (2,712 kg).

The new flagship model is designed as a family-friendly SUV, offering ample interior space and advanced technology.

At 5,145 mm long, 1,998 mm wide, and 1,766 mm tall, the Onvo L90 is slightly bigger than the Lucid Gravity. In China, it will go head-to-head with higher-end electric SUVs like Li Auto’s L9.

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However, the L9 is an extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) and starts at around 409,800 yuan ($57,000), more than double the price of the Onvo L90.

The low price of 193,900 yuan ($27,000) applies only to those who rent the battery. Nio’s Battery as a Service (BaaS) costs 899 yuan ($125) a month. With the battery included, the Onvo L90 still starts at just 279,900 yuan ($39,000).

Nio’s new electric SUV is offered in six and seven-seat configurations. The interior features a massive 17.2″ floating infotainment screen at the center.

Other interior highlights include a three-zone climate control system, massage, heating, and ventilation for every seat, as well as an additional entertainment screen for rear passengers. And like many new vehicles in China nowadays, it even comes with a built-in refrigerator.

Powered by an 85 kWh battery, the Onvo L90 offers a CLTC range of 605 km (367 miles). It’s also based on NIO’s next-gen 900V platform, unlocking class-leading energy consumption of just 14.5 kWh per 100 km.

Buyers can choose from single and all-wheel-drive powertrains. The AWD version boasts up to 590 hp (440 kW), good for a 0 to 100 km/h (0 to 62 mph) sprint in just 4.7 seconds.

NIO is offering an incentive for early pre-order holders. Those who place an order with a 2,000 yuan deposit will receive a 5,000 yuan credit off the vehicle and an extra 5,000 yuan for optional features and more. Nio plans to begin delivering Onvo L90 to customers, starting on August 1.

The L90 is the second Onvo-branded EV to arrive in China, following the smaller L60, launched last September.

Source: CarNewsChina, NIO Onvo

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