Ep06: Trending in Tesla: How Much Did We Pay for Cybertruck Delivery Tickets?
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- Where you do think it's fair, influencers or content creators are able to go to these events. - This is the kind of stuff that really separates Tesla. - And I thought Tesla could do better. They're not exciting to me. They added a no resale policy and then they took it back. Honestly, that is a happy meal.

I would have been happy to get. This week on our Trending in Tesla podcast, Cybertruck delivery invites are out. - Tesla starts advertising on YouTube and other interesting ways that even Elon thinks is odd. - And there's a new update that should make holiday travel a lot easier. All that and more starts right now.

So I'm joined here again this week with my husband PJ and I am proud to announce that the podcast is available on all major podcast platforms. You can just search Kim Java Trending and Tesla and you should be able to find it but let's go

Go ahead and get right into it because Tesla's going to start some traditional advertising now, which is new because in the past they have said that they weren't going to do that. They've resisted it. They've got people like you that do it for them. But they've resisted it. And it was, I believe it was the Cyber Rodeo event back in April or so where somebody asked some of the executives if they're going to be doing any sort of advertising. And Elon for the first time considered it.

Well, consider it done. It's on YouTube now and it's maybe before the video you just clicked on. It really is focused on safety. Do you want to go ahead and play it and give us your thoughts? We're the only car maker in the world that has a fleet of well over a million cars on the road fully instrumented from a sensing perspective. We can know exactly where the seat is. We can know where the steering wheel is. We know when the airbag deployed exactly to the millisecond. We have more data now than we've ever had before.

All right. All right. My goodness. So my initial thought is we've all waited to see some cool Tesla advertising because we know that there's so much great stuff that you can say about the vehicles. Safety is definitely one of them. I wasn't a fan of that approach to safety. I think them talking about the telemetry and the data and how they have access to your seat moving and all this stuff, I think for the outsider's perspective, it's a great thing.

This is kind of what they are really hesitant on with coming into Tesla that you've got too much access to information. So for me when I see that I'm like, oh, there's so much other stuff you can do for your first go around. Yeah, they do show some of the crash testing. That's fantastic. And I think that's really good to show that. I will say that some of the naysayers, that's one of the things that some people think is that the cars still are not safe and that they catch fire and things like that. That's true.

They definitely need to kind of get rid of all that FUD out there, which is what I think they're trying to do with these. But I don't, I don't, I agree with you. They don't like, they're not exciting to me. Yeah. And I thought Tesla could do better. I think this is supposed to be more in line with, you know, the very natural approach to commercials. It's almost like a real commercial versus the,

the scripted ads you see from Mercedes or Audi or anything like that. So just felt a little different having an engineer show you some of the behind the scenes stuff with the crash testing, but I don't know. - So how would you do it? If you were the advertising executive, you know, we've been doing the channel now for eight years. So we've been talking about Tesla a lot on here. - Yeah, I think efficiency, the amount of money you save on fuel, the affordability, those are huge and absolutely the safety's right there with them, but you can do all that in 30 seconds. - So do you think Kim

It should be driving the Tesla on Highway 1, going around Big Sur on the Bixby Bridge. I wouldn't mind being your drone operator out there. You know, I see what they're trying to do. It could be a little more engaging. They're also, you know, talking about the federal tax credit in the U.S.

and there is a link for people to go test drive these with their YouTube videos. So it feeds right into a link. So I think those things are good. And remember, YouTube has over 2.7 billion monthly active users. That accounts to, I believe the stats say 52%.

of the world's population goes on YouTube at least once a month. So the reach is absolutely there. - Maybe they don't necessarily need to be advertising on YouTube because they already have advertising just kind of naturally with channels like ours. So maybe they should look into other ways of advertising, but they are, it looks like advertising a little bit. Tesla is actually starting to list their cars on a third party website and Elon doesn't even know about it.

Yeah, he said this is a first I've heard of it. It seems odd. And the website that we're referring to is cars.com. Of course, one of the top websites for people purchasing cars. But it's important to note when you see these Tesla listings, which has their vehicles, their brand new vehicles listed on there, when you click on them, it redirects you to Tesla's website. So it's not exactly on cars.com. Cars.com is not selling it, but it's linking to Tesla.

And Tesla obviously had to pay a fee. So it is, again, advertising in a sense, but it is bringing people from cars.com to Tesla's website. Yeah. And again, Elon said that it seemed odd that they were doing this. He was not aware of it. But and it kind of like brings me back to this whole like cyber spoon thing.

thing where he had no clue about it. Yeah, that was in China a couple of months ago where the Weibo account for Tesla, the official Weibo account, which is the Twitter equivalent in China, sent out a post saying, we've got a partnership with McDonald's and same thing happened. Yeah, same thing happened. They were giving them out with McFlurries. Elon thought the whole thing was fake, but it actually turned out to be real. Honestly, that is a happy meal I would have been happy to get. I would have liked that. I feel like our kids would have liked that. They should actually do that here. I actually like that form

of advertising, maybe even more than the YouTube videos that they're doing. And the whole disconnected thing, I will say this, people really expect Elon Musk, the ins and outs of the company. I would imagine with the number of companies he runs, the number of responsibilities he has, not knowing about cars.com redirecting to Tesla's website or the Cyberspoon being a product available in China is that big of a deal. But, you know. Yeah. I mean, that's not the advertising part of it. Maybe it's not his top priority. Yeah.

He's been able to give those to other people too. What's the word I'm looking for? Delegate. Yes.

He's been able to delegate some of the responsibilities, which is how you run a company. And speaking of advertising, we definitely do some advertising on our channel. You guys see it all the time. But one of the ways that we're able to support the channel and keep it going, because it does cost a lot, we have a lot of equipment, it takes a lot of time, a lot of energy. And another way that we are able to do all this is through Patreon. So

So we've recently revamped our Patreon. We have a lot of different things on there. Exclusive content. We've got footage there that you've never seen before. Pre-release of shows, including this podcast. Behind the scenes footage we're going to be adding very soon. And we're going to read some of our Patreon's names at the end of this podcast. So definitely take a look. It all goes back to just like getting you guys the best content out there. And we really appreciate it all. And I'll link it down below if you want to become a Patreons.

And moving on, the Elon Musk biopic is in the works, based on the book by Walter Isaacson. Yeah, there's been a lot of talk about a movie like this coming out over the last few years. And it's actually directed by a very famed director. This is by Darren Aronofsky. And he worked back in 2015 on a biopic that was on Steve Jobs' life. I think a lot of people will go watch this. But I'm curious who you think will play Elon. Yeah.

Gosh, I mean, you've got to have multiple Elons, right? From the younger Elon to the current one. I guess that's true. You start out in South Africa as he gets older, comes to the US. I always said I thought like Brad Pitt would make an interesting Elon. I felt like he could, you know, if he could pull off the accent, he could do it. Leo DiCaprio could possibly do it too. I feel like Leo's going to try to get the role. For sure, this is like a type of role he would want. He would be great at it. Like Wolf of Wall Street, the way he would...

You get emotional. What do you guys think out there? Who do you guys think will play the top family members of this one? I'm really curious what you guys think. Also, do you think Ashley Vance is jealous? Yeah, maybe. I mean, he had the first go and he did a great job with that previous book, even though Elon himself, I think, didn't like some parts of the book.

But maybe that meant that it was partially true if that was the case, but who knows? All right, next up, let's get into the Cybertruck. There's always a lot. Yeah, and we've got the invites that have been sent out. We were fortunate enough to get the invites. Thanks to you guys out there because we did it with our referral, with our referral points, which you said we were talking about that with the referrals. And I was like, well, you know, we traded in and you said that they're actually equal to about how much? I think it

Someone had calculated $3,000 worth of credits. So yeah, I mean, it's not a cheap amount of credits. You can convert that to other Tesla accessories or charging or whatever. But yeah, it was a few thousand dollars worth of Tesla credits. But whatever it takes to get out there, I think it'll be fun. Another question for you. Do you think it's fair that influencers or content creators...

are able to go to these events and get invited or use their referral credits? I mean, fair is a tough one to answer because, you know, we're usually the influencers that are out there. They're not there on vacation having fun. They're working their butts off. I know we are going to be doing that immediately after the event. We're going to stay up all night in the hotel editing and trying to publish that video. So we're putting in a lot of work in that sense. They did allow shareholders to get access to go in a kind of a raffle. And again, like...

we've been doing this channel now for eight years. So if we go to these events, we're gonna be putting out a video for Tesla free, you know, just because that's what we're interested in and we love going to these things and we want to be able to provide you guys all the information. And speaking of that, let us know what you guys want when we're there. Do you want a live stream? Do you want like a vlog of the event so you can feel the experience? Let us know in the comments below what you want

what you want because we're really there for you guys and because of you guys. And with Cybertruck being delivered, there's been a lot of talk this week because they added a no resale policy and then they took it back. It had a lot of people. It was a little bit of an uproar about having this no resale policy. But of course, it's not too uncommon in very high end cars. Before we get into it, though, what exactly was it? For those that don't know, it was basically they were saying that you could not

resell the car within one year of ownership, or they could potentially sue you for $50,000 if you tried to resell the Cybertruck. Yes. And you know, that's typically not super uncommon, at least not with very high-end cars. We know that some vehicles within Ford's lineup, Porsche, and also Ferrari have the same clause. But of course, for a mass market EV that initially was stated to be $40,000, obviously it's not going to be anywhere near that.

It caught some people off guard. But at the same time, this vehicle still probably has the most interest and maybe hype around it of any vehicle in automotive history. So some of it makes sense why Tesla would want to do this. And I don't know if their decision to pull it away and be like, no, we're not going to do it anymore is because of some of the response that people are like, hey, don't don't take away my car. I can do with it what I want. What I found interesting is on the Cybertruck owners forum on Facebook,

they were actually for this clause. Yes, the people that know for a fact they've waited years for it are for this clause. But then you can also imagine there's people that are getting this just to flip it maybe or ordered it years ago, realize what a big deal it's going to be and now know they can flip it pretty easily. And honestly, people in our comment section tell us, hey, you know, because I personally don't want to go through with keeping the vehicle.

And they're all saying get it and make your videos and flip it. Yeah. Personally, and this might not be popular opinion, but I feel like once you buy something, it should be yours and it's up to you what you want to do with it. Otherwise, during that one-year period, you buy it. It's not technically yours if you can't do what you want with it. And then the other thing I think about is that

you know, when we, we've bought a Model X now like three times and the price has always varied. And this last year, the price went way down. And like you lost like $20,000, $30,000 for some people overnight with their car. So what is the difference if Tesla is able to do that with the prices versus other people? Yeah. So I'm like, it's just part of like capitalism. And I don't think it's fair for somebody to tell you

what to do with their car. I think that a lot of people have side hustles. So, you know, who's to say what's right or wrong, you know? Yeah. And also there's ways around it. Like, what about like a lease to own option with people? Like, okay, let's lease the car out for a year at whatever price. You can do that kind of stuff and get around this type of no resale policy. So...

I don't know. It seems silly to me. I'm glad that they took it away. But, you know, they could put it back. So we don't really know. I'm curious what you guys think about it. Let us know in the comments below. There has been a lot of discussion about it. It was definitely quite

the uproar this last week, which I think is why they took it away, but we'll see what happens. Next up, we have to talk about the charging news. There's a lot going on with charging. Now, Tesla is amping up their game. I like the word amp. It is amping up their game. They've got 22 new superchargers in 255 new locations.

just in the past week. A few of these are V4 superchargers, which we actually went to and filmed a video that will probably get out next week, I'm thinking. Yeah, pretty soon actually. I think even sooner than that. So we're on pace to get that one out. I can't wait to share this video. What a cool spot. What a cool supercharger. What's interesting about the V4 chargers that are coming out is they have the ability to charge up to

350 kilowatts. Yes. But your car can't even go that high. Not yet. And right now, these V4 superchargers, which last check was like four or five in the country, they're only able to accept 250 kilowatts because they're using the V3 cabinets. So there's still some changes to be made. Cybertruck probably will be able to take higher state of... Okay, we're not going to say too much about this because we do have a video coming out that you guys will have to watch.

I want to talk a little bit about Mercedes-Benz because they are trying to amp it up a little bit here. They're trying to maybe be the leader with fast charging stations. Yeah, they're taking it up to 400 kilowatts and their first major charging hub is here in the Atlanta metro area. Yes, we're going to go check that out for you and definitely do a video on that one as well. But they say that they could potentially go up to 500 kilowatts.

Yeah, their potentials for 500, even their vehicles they currently have, won't be able to accept that quite yet. But kind of future proofs these charging stations. But 400 kilowatt capability right now. And these chargers, the first of which, again, that's here in Atlanta, is open to all EV drivers. So you'll be able to use an adapter as a Tesla owner and tap into their CCS. I don't know if they've got the NACS on there yet. Yeah. But we'll go check it out. It's got a solar canopy, apparently, and charging off grid for some of it. It looks pretty nice. It's all about the experience.

Yes, it has an experience. The Mercedes experience with these. And there are going to be some perks for people that have the Mercedes as opposed to other cars. Like if we pull up at our Tesla, we won't get the priority to the Chargers. Yes.

and whatnot. And then they also said that people who buy 2024 Mercedes EQS or whatnot will get two years of free charging. And it's important to note that their North America headquarters is here in Atlanta. This location is directly next to that, which is the reason why it ended up being the first spot in the country to have this Mercedes experience sort of supercharging a

I'm kind of excited. I feel like everything has always been on the West Coast and we're finally starting to get some things over here. So we're definitely going to check that out. Let us know in the comments if there's anything specific that you want us to show you. Yeah, always trying to get you guys what you want to see. Also Mercedes with Buc-ee's. Yes, partnership with Buc-ee's.

yeah i mean they're they're really they're really trying to what's the word i can't say amp it up stepping up their game they're really stepping up their game and trying to go the tesla route so they have a big partnership with bucky's now too yeah they've got about 30 stations across 12 states texas and georgia are some of those states we've been to one of those before with a supercharger that's currently in place there but they're going to expand to i think 24 more stations by the end of next year and if you don't know what bucky's is it's kind of

like a big grocery store but it has a lot of like food options inside of it too it's pretty entertaining it's it's big it's an experience of its own it is it is definitely um an experience of its own nate and kara did a video on it i don't know if you guys watch them on youtube but they they did a whole bucky's experience buck wild they did

Okay, so I am mostly excited about this new software update that's going to be coming out because it's something that I have asked for so many times. With our Model X, we have a screen back there. But whenever the kids listen to it, I have to listen to it as well. And it drives me crazy. And I've talked about it so many times. So they're doing a new software update where they can connect to Bluetooth in the back. So the kids...

can listen to something and I don't have to listen to it as well. And what's fascinating is on the front speakers, you can choose to listen to whatever media you want to listen to. On the back speakers, they get the access on the screen to choose up to two Bluetooth headphones. That connects them to have their own headphones so two kids can watch a movie in the back. And you know, a lot of people say, oh, the screen is too low. iPad is easier. I can tell you from our experience with three small kids, there's always a fight on who sits there, who sits the

closest to be able to have access to the screen. That's true. The kids love that screen and don't care about the position of your head or your neck or looking down or the tablet being more ideal. It's a screen. That's all they care about. Exactly. Also with that update, they're making supercharger visits more predictable. Yeah. And what they mean by that is right now, when you try to go to a supercharger, you're en route on a destination and it maps to a supercharger, you see how many stalls are currently available at that station.

But what they're going to do is tapping into data, be able to tell you how many they think will be available when you get there. So I guess they can see what the state of charge is, maybe even what the tab that's been pulled for each car that's plugged in. So they expect that this person is going to stop at 80%. And then they'll feed that data back to you saying you get there at 1224 and at 1226, this stall will be available for you.

yeah it's pretty fascinating and it makes sense too because the stations are going to get a lot busier now that so many cars are going to nacs especially by 2025 so being able to know this information is going to be imperative when you're on a road trip this is the kind of stuff that really separates tesla this is the kind of stuff that in the broad scheme of things when you look at the ev experience even with fantastic evs like rivians or even you know the mercedes or lucid or whatever

This is what's going to separate them because a lot of those other brands, especially if they're third party, haven't thought about the intricacies of getting you that data. And once you experience it with Tesla, you go into another one, whether it be a rental or a friend's car, it's like, oh my gosh, Tesla's ahead of it with this one. And your favorite story of the week is kind of along those lines, it has to do with the

the SOC or the state of charge and how Tesla calculates all that information. They release some information telling you exactly how they're able to give you the state of charge on arrival at various destinations. And initially we knew there was some calculation involved based on your speed and, you know,

conditions outside, but now the specifics are provided. Wind speed and direction, elevation and grade, traffic speed, average acceleration, deceleration, ambient temperature, humidity, pressure, solar load and cloud cover, your initial battery percentage, battery temperature, these are all taken into account.

In addition to that, rolling resistance, and inside the tweet they say hello to everyone who's still reading this list, and aerodynamic drag coefficient, HVAC consumption, battery preconditioning, and vehicle-specific energy consumption, so your bike racks they specify, that's taken into account.

that the vehicle is able to calculate this and give you the most accurate range assumption on arrival. We found it to be pretty accurate on arrival, very accurate. Now, the one thing that's not accurate is the displayed percentage when you first start your drive. But once you put in a destination, that number, the smaller number down on the bottom is actually the number that you should count on. I wish that the percentage or the mileage you had was as accurate as

but the calculated on arrival seems to be the way to go. Yeah, definitely. A lot of information that you can really nerd out on. Yeah. And somebody already has. I've already done that, yes. But it's like these giant supercomputers and the AI now is so good that it's able to calculate. Take all those into account. Take it all in and take it into account. And I can't even imagine these like algorithms that it's calculating. Yeah, the variability is in elevation, grade, wind direction, and you know, the

It's unbelievable to me. - I mean, it's gonna put people out of their job. All right, that is all that we have for you guys today. Hope you enjoyed watching this video and we wanna thank our Patreon members. - Yes, we've got some that have been with us since 2017. I can't stress to you how much these Patreon members mean to this channel, to the content we bring you. Without them, a lot of this stuff would not be possible.

And we are really eternally grateful for you guys. And especially the members, again, that have been there for a long time. Victor Andrade, Christian, Brent Darley, June Wells. And then we have our top tier members, Mark Larson, Matthew Brahms, Raymond Kan, Alan Anderson, Nick Manning, S.R.,

MNICT specialists. And special thanks to our newest Patreon members. Those are Richard Rutten, Gage Hanks, and Mike Topkatz. Thank you again so much. And thank you to all of you guys for watching, especially if you've watched all the way to the end. And we will catch you guys next time. Take care. For all you watching out there, you probably have noticed that I don't say my T's on the end of words. I don't know why I do this.

The company that you love so much is Tesla and not... Tesla is a tease in the front there. And I never noticed that I did this until my lovely husband who also produces this channel. Editing definitely gets me very much in tune with everything. I need to do some tongue exercises and get your mind out of the gutter with that. We can't use that. That's for me only.

That's nice. You're the top tier Patreon. Exactly. The only fan. That's deleted scenes. Those are for Patreon. It was my turn. Okay. And with Cybertruck being delivered, there's been a little...