Tesla’s cheaper-priced $25,000 new electric vehicle is scrapped days after Elon Musk slammed ‘lying’ reports
DAYS after Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, dismissed reports that the company killed plans to develop a low-cost EV, sources inside Tesla confirmed the car had been delayed.
Musk has pivoted focus toward the company’s development of the Robotaxi – recent cost-cutting measures inside the company have put the $25,000 EV on the back burner.
Reports emerged that Tesla’s long-awaited $25,000 EV was killed from factory production floors in early April, with Reuters first breaking the story.
However, Musk hit back at the reports on his social media app, X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Reuters is lying (again),” the CEO wrote in a post.
Musk didn’t specify which part of the Reuters article he thought was inaccurate.
However, new reports suggest the low-cost EV development has been postponed for the foreseeable future, according to Electrek.
The lower-than-average-price EV project, codenamed NV9, will hit pause during the company’s 10% staff layoffs, the publication reported.
NV9 is currently defunded, Electrek said.
Tesla did not respond to The U.S. Sun’s request for comment.
Instead, the company is focusing on its Robotaxi release.
The Robotaxi is another long-promised project that would revolutionize cars if successful.
Tesla has developed autonomous driving features in its vehicles, including its Autopilot program.
Musk’s promise of Robotaxi service would significantly advance driverless features beyond their current state.
The CEO has promised that Tesla owners could eventually drive their cars to work and set the vehicles on autonomous driving modes for ride-hailing activities.
Robotaxis would allow Tesla drivers to make passive income through their vehicles while they didn’t use the car.
Individual Tesla vehicles would be able to compete with ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft.
Electric vehicles vs gas
Pros and cons of EVs vs gasoline-powered vehicles
EV PROS:
- Convenient (when charging at home)
- Cheaper (depending on state or city)
- Cheaper maintenance, due to lack of mechanical parts
- Great for commuting
- Reduced CO2 emissions
- Federal and state tax incentives
- More performance (speed, handling – depending on the make and model)
EV CONS:
- Higher initial cost
- Higher insurance rates
- More frequent tire and brake replacement intervals
- Higher curb weight (thus causing more rapid wear on crucial parts)
- Low resale value
- High depreciation rates
- Lack of charging infrastructure
- Unreliable public charging (related: slow charging times)
- Poor winter and summer performance
- Lack of clean energy alternatives means more “dirty energy” from coal and nuclear sources
- Range anxiety
GAS PROS:
- Highly developed refueling infrastructure
- Fast refueling
- Cheaper insurance rates, depending on make, model, and configuration
- Established repair industry
- Lower initial cost
- Higher range before refueling, especially with hybrids
- Many manufacturers produce nearly emission-less engines
- Cheaper refueling, depending on the location
GAS PROS:
- Finite resource (related: heavy dependence on petroleum)
- Carbon emissions/greenhouse gases
- Higher repair costs
- Higher insurance rates, depending on make, model, and configuration
- Varying costs at the pump, depending on state, city, and county
Source: Car & Driver, Perch Energy, AutoWeek
“It’s fundamentally optimized for trying to achieve the lowest fully considered cost per mile, cost per kilometer, accounting for everything,” Musk said during the company’s first-quarter earnings call.
“I think that that really will be a massive driver of Tesla’s growth.”
However, the program has fallen short of several early promises from the CEO.
In 2019, Musk even told investors that he expected to have over a million robotaxis dotting US roads by 2020, according to CNBC.
Tesla’s autonomous driving tech uses a spate of cameras mounted throughout the vehicle.
The most prominent players in the current driverless ride-hailing market, Cruise and Waymo, both use advanced Light Detection and Ranging sensors, or lidar, technology.
Experts have grappled with which technology is safer, according to The Verge.
WATTS UP?
Tesla is coming off a blistering quarter after reporting 387,000 global vehicle deliveries in the first part of 2024.
The company sold 423,000 in the same quarter in 2023.
Several EV companies reported sales boosts in the same period of time.
In the US, Rivian and Lucid both beat sales expectations for the time period.
South Korean manufacturers Hyundai and Kia also beat EV expectations.
China’s BYD – a startup electric vehicle company that doesn’t currently sell vehicles in the US – also reported record sales as it sent low-cost vehicles to European markets.
