THIS IS TOSV: LEO NGUYEN

Welcome to “This is TOSV,” a series of interviews with our members. In this first interview, TOSV talks to Leo Nguyen, the proud owner of an early rear-wheel-drive Model 3. Leo isn’t just a Tesla owner—he happens to be one of the engineers who worked on Tesla’s battery cell technology, specifically the battery for the Model 3. 

By Birgitte Rasine

Name: Leo Nguyen

Home City: San Jose, CA

Tesla Model: 2017 Model 3 LR RWD (white) 

Name: MY TM3

TOSV: Hi Leo! We’re excited to talk to you. Tell us about your baby.
Leo: My car is a Model 3 Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive, which has only one motor in the back. They don’t make those anymore. I got one of the first thousand cars made, and it’s special to me because it has my sweat and tears in it.

TOSV: As long as there’s no blood, that’s great! Have you named your Tesla?
Leo: It’s “MY TM3,” which stands for My Tesla Model Three. When I got the car, it was my first electric vehicle, and the first Tesla, and I didn't know what to call it. People said, you should just call it Tesla Model Three, and I said okay. I made it “My TM3” and I put it on my license plate as well.

TOSV: Did you do any customizations?
Leo: I did. I have carbon fiber for the cupholders. I have some modified carbon fiber on the mirror covers. I did paint protection film on the front, clear bra protection; I have an aftermarket spoiler; and I have some lights on, you know, the [puddle] light on the door, when you open it the Tesla logo lights up. And I have a SpaceX logo on the back of the Tesla.

TOSV: And are you planning on doing anything more?
Leo: No, I think I'm over that stage after four years of driving it, I think! (laughs) I'm planning to buy the Model Y, because maybe we’re expecting a bigger family next year. I’m [keeping the] Model 3 because as I said it has my sweat and tears in it. We did a lot of work on the battery, so I will try to drive it until it breaks down. I want to see how long this battery pack lasts. So far it’s lasted pretty well. We'll see if I can drive it to 200 or 300,000 miles. Maybe I'll pass it on to my kids and say this is the car that I worked on!

TOSV: What’s your driving style like?
Leo: Driving style...Oh, I think I drive a bit aggressively. A lot of times I accelerate fast because it's definitely a fast car. I still use the autopilot on the freeway, but only for work. I commute from San Jose to Palo Alto, which is the [former] headquarters of Tesla. I use autopilot regularly in the carpool lane. I don't think I'd use Full Self Driving enough to upgrade.

TOSV: How’s it been driving the M3?
Leo: Pretty good! I'm surprised about the [low] degradation because I currently have 111,000 miles, after four years. I picked it up in November 2017, and now it's November 2021. 

TOSV: Wow, 111,000 miles in four years!
Leo: Well, I Turo’d the car too. So I got really meaningful range out of the battery. When I first picked it up, the range was 316 miles. And now when it's fully charged it’s got 295, almost 300. So that's only like a 5% loss. I'm pretty happy with it.

I’m also amazed at the brakes on the Model 3. I recently rotated the tires in my friend’s body shop and he said my brakes have 80% left. With the regen, you know, you don’t need to brake anymore. The momentum of the car slows it down and recharges the battery. I don’t think I’m gonna replace the brakes until the car dies. 

TOSV: What’s your favorite way to pass the time when you’re charging your car? Do you play any games for example?
Leo: I rarely play games on the Tesla. When I charge I usually walk out, like to a restaurant. At Kettleman [Supercharger station] I would walk to the lounge, get some coffee. Or if I supercharge at the mall, I just walk around. But now they’ve come out with the V3 supercharger, 250kW. It's so fast, you don't have any time to do anything else. So if you charge on a V3, you’re done in like 10-15 minutes.

TOSV: That’s crazy fast. What about at home, or routine charging, what’s your practice?
Leo: I just do a normal charge, like up to 90%, at a Level 2 charge. And I charge once in a while and I don't go on that many long trips now, maybe 2-3 per year. But just one thing, don't supercharge a lot because it'll degrade the battery pack. I mean once in a while, once a week, you know, it's fine but don’t do it every day. 

TOSV: Good advice. Speaking of charging… I understand you were a battery engineer for Tesla. Tell us about that.
Leo: I started at Tesla right at the beginning of the Model 3. We had to decide which battery cell should go into the Model 3. And if you remember, back then it was a dark time for Tesla, it almost went bankrupt. We had a bottleneck at the new Giga factory with the new [battery] cell, the 2170. We had only a couple hundred million dollars left. But then we survived and we figured out the bottleneck and then we wrapped up the Model 3. 

TOSV: Inspiring to hear this. When would you say was the moment when you guys realized, “Hey, we're going to make it”?
Leo: We had two big layoffs when they laid off like a thousand people, but luckily our team was cell engineering, and [we were] responsible for the battery so it was kind of important. So we only got a few people laid off. 

I was not on the production team, but from what I heard it was the way they had put the battery pack together that caused the module to fail early on—the failure rate was very high. They investigated and changed the way they packaged the battery to keep the failure rate lower, only 5% instead of the 30-40% initially.

So when we lowered the failure rate and increased the efficiency [of the battery], that's the moment we said, “Okay, we should be successful.” But then there was that bottleneck with production at the factory, so we moved from one problem to a different problem. And then we had other problems. So we just kept solving one problem after the other. At that time, Elon decided to build a tent outside as you remember, in order for us to speed up the process. And we did, but we got to the point that we produced so many cars we didn't have space to store them.

At that time, we had many empty parking lots across the Bay Area. I know that because I helped out with the delivery. Every quarter, we got called in, all hands on deck, to help with delivery. So we had too many cars and we didn't have enough people to move the cars between the lots. So what we did to solve that problem was, we used cargo vans to take us to the parking lots and we’d write the delivery dates on the windows of the cars. And then we’d drive that car [that was due] to the delivery center the day before or maybe like half a day before, so they could do the detail and clean it up. 

So we solved the problem of delivering the cars to the delivery center, but now we didn’t have enough people to greet the customer. You know, you have to check the car and do a visual inspection. And if there's something wrong with the car, we’d have to bring it into the back and clean it up. Now we do home deliveries because many delivery centers cannot handle that many customers. I had to drive a car to the customer's house many times. The farthest I would go from Fremont was all the way to Vallejo—and then took an Uber back.

TOSV: So what does it mean to you personally to own a Tesla, having been a part of the team that made the Model 3 happen?
Leo: When I first picked up the car I thought it’s pretty cool. I got to own the newest technology. I think Tesla is like a computer on wheels. I still remember when I first picked up the car I drove right away from San Jose to Orange County on the I-5 and people would take out a camera and record my car. Many cars would pass by and people were like, Hey man! oh, that’s the Tesla Model 3? And I still remember when I stopped at the Kettleman station, many Tesla owners would come up to me and say “Hey, that's a new Tesla Model 3, right? How do you like it?” Because most of them didn't get the model yet. 

You would not believe in 2017 how curious people were about the Model 3. When the Model 3 was [in production], I saw people standing with their cameras across the street from the headquarters the whole day just to see if any Tesla Model 3 would come out. And now, after four years, I see Teslas everywhere, on every corner in the Bay Area.

TOSV: How would you describe to someone what it's like to drive a Tesla compared to either gas-powered cars or even other EVs?
Leo: So I also Turo my Tesla car. I’ve met 89 renters. A lot of them were first-time [Model 3 drivers]. They loved it! They said that it’s beautiful, it’s more aggressive, it’s more responsive than the Model X. And some people, first-time driving a Tesla, were amazed how it accelerates... It’s different from a regular gas car with the regen braking. A lot of them became [new] owners after they returned the car. I also met the president of the UK Tesla Owners club because he rented my car. I met a lot of Tesla enthusiasts around the world—they come from Germany, China, Canada. They all love Tesla.

TOSV: Would you say Tesla is a changemaker? 
Leo: Yeah. I think Tesla changed the whole ecosystem for sure. Back in 2017, nobody imagined the Model 3 would be the best-selling sedan in the world. Just like the Ford Model T was a revolution. And now so many automakers are trying to catch up with Tesla. I think Tesla changed everything. No one expected it to happen so quickly, just four years. Now Ford, Toyota, Honda, you know, even Audi, Mercedes, every other carmaker now wants to become Tesla. I think, on the whole, Tesla changed people’s perspective about electric cars. Before, people would think electric cars are slow, ugly, don’t have the performance. But after they test drive a Model 3, Model Y, or other Tesla cars, they’re amazed at the technology, the performance. The whole Tesla direct-to-buyer [experience] would change the whole dealership ecosystem to where now people love the convenience of buying online, with no pressure.

TOSV: Has Tesla changed your life, personally?
Leo: It helped to get the house (laughs). I feel like I contributed to the mission to help the world accelerate faster to sustainable energy. I love to see a lot of Teslas on the road now. The more electric cars Tesla sells, the better for the environment.

TOSV: What about EVs in general? What do you think their role is in shaping the future of transportation and energy?
Leo: I think they’re all important and they’re all playing a role in helping the whole world. There will be real competition for Tesla on many levels. Lucid just came out, I love their look. And Rivian is coming out soon. I love the look of the SUV and pickup truck. And the Ford pickup truck’s gonna come out soon. A lot of players need to get into the mainstream and build their name. You know, China’s coming out. And also with Europe’s ban on [new] gasoline cars in 2035 and California’s ban on [new] gasoline cars [starting in] 2035, this will help EVs accelerate to mass adoption. Also with the gas price going up so high, four or five dollars per gallon. My wife drives a hybrid, so sometimes I help her pump gas, and it’s like, wow. It used to be like $20 for a full tank and now it’s $40. So I cannot wait to replace the car with a Model Y. 

TOSV: Why did you decide to join the club?
Leo: I’ve been a member for a while. I did the drive from San Jose to Santa Cruz 2-3 years ago. I feel that I can share my knowledge and I can learn from other people about their cars. I love how people share tips and problems with the car. It’s a place for people to help each other, to share their stories and how to get [familiar] with their Tesla. I love how Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley was created to connect all Tesla owners together and share experiences and tips. I wish the club will be more successful and get bigger.

TOSV: Had you ever been part of a club like this?
Leo: No, never! I think Tesla has really unique and awesome fans. They’re powerful. I believe Tesla owners are proud because they do something better for the environment. And then the power of the Tesla owners, I have never seen that before. TOSV actually came out to the delivery centers to help with the delivery push. That was, you know, really amazing. They brought pizza, they had food delivered to the centers. Even though they are not allowed to deliver a car [officially], they share tips with new owners and teach them about the car. We really appreciate that, because sometimes we don't have time. Sometimes we only have 15 minutes with the customer: five minutes to sign the paperwork, five minutes to walk around the car, and five minutes to [finalize] delivery, and that’s it. 15 minutes. It’s a really high-tech car and a lot of times the new owner doesn’t know anything about the car. So the TOSV club would hang around and teach them about the car. Tesla really appreciates that.

TOSV: Leo, thank you. We appreciate all the time you’ve spent with us today.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

What's Next for Tesla?

Many would argue that Tesla has won the battle of electric cars, while others would maintain that there is still much work to be done. Regardless of this point, there is another sector outside of the consumer space that Tesla should be focused on to deliver their mission of accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable energy. 

If Tesla is trying to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy...where can they have the most impact or biggest bang for their buck? Taxis? Post office trucks? Law enforcement? Buses? Think about the numerous markets that could be impacted by a zero-emission vehicle. These are just a few examples of industries that have large mobile fleets with tons of yearly miles. Now that Tesla has a healthy lineup of vehicles covering all sizes and needs for consumers it’s time for Tesla to think bigger and look into creating custom solutions. This will hugely help accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.

Tesla will need to focus on other areas that help to further back the mission. This was the purpose of the Semi. The Semi is the answer to 130,000 miles driven by semi-truck drivers annually. With over 3.5 million truck drivers driving over 130,000 miles annually, you can see a big opportunity for Tesla to transition to sustainable energy with the Semi. So, this got me thinking...what could be next? What other big market could Tesla make a difference in? After a recent visit to NYC, I started to think about taxi cabs. There are about 240,000 taxis across the United States and 50,000 in just NYC alone. NYC taxi cabs alone travel about 70,000 miles a year. The American Lung Association says the NYC metropolitan area ranks 16th for ozone pollution when compared to 25 other American cities. Fine particulate matter is another culprit and it is caused by ash, soot, diesel fumes, and chemical emissions. Particulates burrow their way deep into the lungs and cause asthma, chest pain, wheezing, and cancer. According to the American Lung Association, stricter soot controls could potentially save more than 3,000 lives every year in the greater New York metropolitan area. If Tesla created a cheaper, stripped-down version of their vehicle to satisfy the taxi cab market, they could make a huge impact and solve a large issue in NYC all while saving thousands of lives yearly!

Imagine low-cost mail trucks that emit zero emissions or law enforcement being able to leverage the instant torque and zero emissions when they drive their patrol cars. Imagine a grid system with solar being able to be leveraged at these departments to charge the fleet. Imagine a team of Tesla employees whose responsibility is to manage government departments by state or counties...the possibilities are endless. 

Tesla consumer sales have been great with consumers but in the grand scheme of things, it is a drop in the bucket to what they could be doing. A sale of 50,000 vehicles to the city of NYC would be a huge win for Tesla financially, but at the same time would have a much bigger impact on the people, the city, and the environment in one shot. It's time for Tesla to start increasing their mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy by thinking bigger as to what’s next for Tesla.

Tesla Raj

The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan (just between you and me)

BY ELON MUSK — Co-founder of Tesla Motors — August 2006

Background: My day job is running a space transportation company called SpaceX, but on the side I am the chairman of Tesla Motors and help formulate the business and product strategy with Martin and the rest of the team. I have also been Tesla Motor's primary funding source from when the company was just three people and a business plan.

As you know, the initial product of Tesla Motors is a high performance electric sports car called the Tesla Roadster. However, some readers may not be aware of the fact that our long term plan is to build a wide range of models, including affordably priced family cars. This is because the overarching purpose of Tesla Motors (and the reason I am funding the company) is to help expedite the move from a mine-and-burn hydrocarbon economy towards a solar electric economy, which I believe to be the primary, but not exclusive, sustainable solution.

Critical to making that happen is an electric car without compromises, which is why the Tesla Roadster is designed to beat a gasoline sports car like a Porsche or Ferrari in a head to head showdown. Then, over and above that fact, it has twice the energy efficiency of a Prius. Even so, some may question whether this actually does any good for the world. Are we really in need of another high performance sports car? Will it actually make a difference to global carbon emissions?

Well, the answers are no and not much. However, that misses the point, unless you understand the secret master plan alluded to above. Almost any new technology initially has high unit cost before it can be optimized and this is no less true for electric cars. The strategy of Tesla is to enter at the high end of the market, where customers are prepared to pay a premium, and then drive down market as fast as possible to higher unit volume and lower prices with each successive model.

Without giving away too much, I can say that the second model will be a sporty four door family car at roughly half the $89k price point of the Tesla Roadster and the third model will be even more affordable. In keeping with a fast growing technology company, all free cash flow is plowed back into R&D to drive down the costs and bring the follow on products to market as fast as possible. When someone buys the Tesla Roadster sports car, they are actually helping pay for development of the low cost family car.

Now I’d like to address two repeated arguments against electric vehicles — battery disposal and power plant emissions. The answer to the first is short and simple, the second requires a bit of math:

Batteries that are not toxic to the environment!
I wouldn’t recommend them as a dessert topping, but the Tesla Motors Lithium-Ion cells are not classified as hazardous and are landfill safe. However, dumping them in the trash would be throwing money away, since the battery pack can be sold to recycling companies (unsubsidized) at the end of its greater than 100,000-mile design life. Moreover, the battery isn’t dead at that point, it just has less range.

Power Plant Emissions aka “The Long Tailpipe”
(For a more detailed version of this argument, please see the white paper written by Martin and Marc.)

A common rebuttal to electric vehicles as a solution to carbon emissions is that they simply transfer the CO2 emissions to the power plant. The obvious counter is that one can develop grid electric power from a variety of means, many of which, like hydro, wind, geothermal, nuclear, solar, etc. involve no CO2 emissions. However, let’s assume for the moment that the electricity is generated from a hydrocarbon source like natural gas, the most popular fuel for new US power plants in recent years.

The H-System Combined Cycle Generator from General Electric is 60% efficient in turning natural gas into electricity. "Combined Cycle" is where the natural gas is burned to generate electricity and then the waste heat is used to create steam that powers a second generator. Natural gas recovery is 97.5% efficient, processing is also 97.5% efficient and then transmission efficiency over the electric grid is 92% on average. This gives us a well-to-electric-outlet efficiency of 97.5% x 97.5% x 60% x 92% = 52.5%.

Despite a body shape, tires and gearing aimed at high performance rather than peak efficiency, the Tesla Roadster requires 0.4 MJ per kilometer or, stated another way, will travel 2.53 km per mega-joule of electricity. The full cycle charge and discharge efficiency of the Tesla Roadster is 86%, which means that for every 100 MJ of electricity used to charge the battery, about 86 MJ reaches the motor.

Bringing the math together, we get the final figure of merit of 2.53 km/MJ x 86% x 52.5% = 1.14 km/MJ. Let’s compare that to the Prius and a few other options normally considered energy efficient.

The fully considered well-to-wheel efficiency of a gasoline powered car is equal to the energy content of gasoline (34.3 MJ/liter) minus the refinement & transportation losses (18.3%), multiplied by the miles per gallon or km per liter. The Prius at an EPA rated 55 mpg therefore has an energy efficiency of 0.56 km/MJ. This is actually an excellent number compared with a “normal” car like the Toyota Camry at 0.28 km/MJ.

Note the term hybrid as applied to cars currently on the road is a misnomer. They are really just gasoline powered cars with a little battery assistance and, unless you are one of the handful who have an aftermarket hack, the little battery has to be charged from the gasoline engine. Therefore, they can be considered simply as slightly more efficient gasoline powered cars. If the EPA certified mileage is 55 mpg, then it is indistinguishable from a non-hybrid that achieves 55 mpg. As a friend of mine says, a world 100% full of Prius drivers is still 100% addicted to oil.

The CO2 content of any given source fuel is well understood. Natural gas is 14.4 grams of carbon per mega-joule and oil is 19.9 grams of carbon per mega-joule. Applying those carbon content levels to the vehicle efficiencies, including as a reference the Honda combusted natural gas and Honda fuel cell natural gas vehicles, the hands down winner is pure electric:

CarEnergy SourceCO2 ContentEfficiencyCO2 EmissionsHonda CNGNatural Gas14.4 g/MJ0.32 km/MJ45.0 g/kmHonda FCXNat Gas-Fuel Cell14.4 g/MJ0.35 km/MJ41.1 g/kmToyota PriusOil19.9 g/MJ0.56 km/MJ35.8 g/kmTesla RoadsterNat Gas-Electric14.4 g/MJ1.14 km/MJ12.6 g/km

The Tesla Roadster still wins by a hefty margin if you assume the average CO2 per joule of US power production. The higher CO2 content of coal compared to natural gas is offset by the negligible CO2 content of hydro, nuclear, geothermal, wind, solar, etc. The exact power production mixture varies from one part of the country to another and is changing over time, so natural gas is used here as a fixed yardstick.

Becoming Energy Positive
I should mention that Tesla Motors will be co-marketing sustainable energy products from other companies along with the car. For example, among other choices, we will be offering a modestly sized and priced solar panel from SolarCity, a photovoltaics company (where I am also the principal financier). This system can be installed on your roof in an out of the way location, because of its small size, or set up as a carport and will generate about 50 miles per day of electricity.

If you travel less than 350 miles per week, you will therefore be “energy positive” with respect to your personal transportation. This is a step beyond conserving or even nullifying your use of energy for transport – you will actually be putting more energy back into the system than you consume in transportation! So, in short, the master plan is:

Build sports car

Use that money to build an affordable car

Use that money to build an even more affordable car

While doing above, also provide zero emission electric power generation options

Don't tell anyone.

Master Plan, Part Deux - Elon Musk July 20, 2016

The first master plan that I wrote 10 years ago is now in the final stages of completion. It wasn't all that complicated and basically consisted of:

1. Create a low volume car, which would necessarily be expensive

2. Use that money to develop a medium volume car at a lower price

3. Use that money to create an affordable, high volume car
   And...

4. Provide solar power. No kidding, this has literally been on our website for 10 years.

The reason we had to start off with step 1 was that it was all I could afford to do with what I made from PayPal. I thought our chances of success were so low that I didn't want to risk anyone's funds in the beginning but my own. The list of successful car company startups is short. As of 2016, the number of American car companies that haven't gone bankrupt is a grand total of two: Ford and Tesla. Starting a car company is idiotic and an electric car company is idiocy squared.

Also, a low volume car means a much smaller, simpler factory, albeit with most things done by hand. Without economies of scale, anything we built would be expensive, whether it was an economy sedan or a sports car. While at least some people would be prepared to pay a high price for a sports car, no one was going to pay $100k for an electric Honda Civic, no matter how cool it looked.

Part of the reason I wrote the first master plan was to defend against the inevitable attacks Tesla would face accusing us of just caring about making cars for rich people, implying that we felt there was a shortage of sports car companies or some other bizarre rationale. Unfortunately, the blog didn't stop countless attack articles on exactly these grounds, so it pretty much completely failed that objective.

However, the main reason was to explain how our actions fit into a larger picture, so that they would seem less random. The point of all this was, and remains, accelerating the advent of sustainable energy, so that we can imagine far into the future and life is still good. That's what "sustainable" means. It's not some silly, hippy thing -- it matters for everyone.

By definition, we must at some point achieve a sustainable energy economy or we will run out of fossil fuels to burn and civilization will collapse. Given that we must get off fossil fuels anyway and that virtually all scientists agree that dramatically increasing atmospheric and oceanic carbon levels is insane, the faster we achieve sustainability, the better.

Here is what we plan to do to make that day come sooner:

Integrate Energy Generation and Storage
Create a smoothly integrated and beautiful solar-roof-with-battery product that just works, empowering the individual as their own utility, and then scale that throughout the world. One ordering experience, one installation, one service contact, one phone app.

We can't do this well if Tesla and SolarCity are different companies, which is why we need to combine and break down the barriers inherent to being separate companies. That they are separate at all, despite similar origins and pursuit of the same overarching goal of sustainable energy, is largely an accident of history. Now that Tesla is ready to scale Powerwall and SolarCity is ready to provide highly differentiated solar, the time has come to bring them together.

Expand to Cover the Major Forms of Terrestrial Transport
Today, Tesla addresses two relatively small segments of premium sedans and SUVs. With the Model 3, a future compact SUV and a new kind of pickup truck, we plan to address most of the consumer market. A lower cost vehicle than the Model 3 is unlikely to be necessary, because of the third part of the plan described below.

What really matters to accelerate a sustainable future is being able to scale up production volume as quickly as possible. That is why Tesla engineering has transitioned to focus heavily on designing the machine that makes the machine -- turning the factory itself into a product. A first principles physics analysis of automotive production suggests that somewhere between a 5 to 10 fold improvement is achievable by version 3 on a roughly 2 year iteration cycle. The first Model 3 factory machine should be thought of as version 0.5, with version 1.0 probably in 2018.

In addition to consumer vehicles, there are two other types of electric vehicle needed: heavy-duty trucks and high passenger-density urban transport. Both are in the early stages of development at Tesla and should be ready for unveiling next year. We believe the Tesla Semi will deliver a substantial reduction in the cost of cargo transport, while increasing safety and making it really fun to operate.

With the advent of autonomy, it will probably make sense to shrink the size of buses and transition the role of bus driver to that of fleet manager. Traffic congestion would improve due to increased passenger areal density by eliminating the center aisle and putting seats where there are currently entryways, and matching acceleration and braking to other vehicles, thus avoiding the inertial impedance to smooth traffic flow of traditional heavy buses. It would also take people all the way to their destination. Fixed summon buttons at existing bus stops would serve those who don't have a phone. Design accommodates wheelchairs, strollers and bikes.

Autonomy
As the technology matures, all Tesla vehicles will have the hardware necessary to be fully self-driving with fail-operational capability, meaning that any given system in the car could break and your car will still drive itself safely. It is important to emphasize that refinement and validation of the software will take much longer than putting in place the cameras, radar, sonar and computing hardware.

Even once the software is highly refined and far better than the average human driver, there will still be a significant time gap, varying widely by jurisdiction, before true self-driving is approved by regulators. We expect that worldwide regulatory approval will require something on the order of 6 billion miles (10 billion km). Current fleet learning is happening at just over 3 million miles (5 million km) per day.

I should add a note here to explain why Tesla is deploying partial autonomy now, rather than waiting until some point in the future. The most important reason is that, when used correctly, it is already significantly safer than a person driving by themselves and it would therefore be morally reprehensible to delay release simply for fear of bad press or some mercantile calculation of legal liability.

According to the recently released 2015 NHTSA report, automotive fatalities increased by 8% to one death every 89 million miles. Autopilot miles will soon exceed twice that number and the system gets better every day. It would no more make sense to disable Tesla's Autopilot, as some have called for, than it would to disable autopilot in aircraft, after which our system is named.

It is also important to explain why we refer to Autopilot as "beta". This is not beta software in any normal sense of the word. Every release goes through extensive internal validation before it reaches any customers. It is called beta in order to decrease complacency and indicate that it will continue to improve (Autopilot is always off by default). Once we get to the point where Autopilot is approximately 10 times safer than the US vehicle average, the beta label will be removed.

Sharing
When true self-driving is approved by regulators, it will mean that you will be able to summon your Tesla from pretty much anywhere. Once it picks you up, you will be able to sleep, read or do anything else enroute to your destination.

You will also be able to add your car to the Tesla shared fleet just by tapping a button on the Tesla phone app and have it generate income for you while you're at work or on vacation, significantly offsetting and at times potentially exceeding the monthly loan or lease cost. This dramatically lowers the true cost of ownership to the point where almost anyone could own a Tesla. Since most cars are only in use by their owner for 5% to 10% of the day, the fundamental economic utility of a true self-driving car is likely to be several times that of a car which is not.

In cities where demand exceeds the supply of customer-owned cars, Tesla will operate its own fleet, ensuring you can always hail a ride from us no matter where you are.

So, in short, Master Plan, Part Deux is:

Create stunning solar roofs with seamlessly integrated battery storage
Expand the electric vehicle product line to address all major segments
Develop a self-driving capability that is 10X safer than manual via massive fleet learning
Enable your car to make money for you when you aren't using it

Innovating & Disrupting an Industry

Companies come and go every day. Very few companies last and do exceptionally well. Of those companies many fight the battle of disruption and innovation. What is the difference between the two? 

Disruptors are innovators, but not all innovators are disruptors! Innovators find a problem and create an amazing solution and stop there. A disrupter displaces existing markets, industries, and technologies. A disrupter creates something worthwhile, new, and efficient.

Are you still with me? 

Now let’s apply what I have defined and size it up against Tesla.

Tesla is the ultimate definition of innovation. They are creating outstanding products that are better and far exceed their competitors. You may wonder, are traditional car manufacturers going away anytime soon? Absolutely not. And for this reason, this is why I wouldn’t say Tesla is disrupting the industry with its vehicles. However, they are creating a car that is extremely innovative and the best in class. Remember what I stated about disruptors: displacing existing markets. Now many Tesla enthusiasts would argue this point and say they are displacing gas cars. This may be the truth in a couple of years, but at this time they are not displacing car manufacturers and thus the product is not disruptive.

Elon has verbally stated they openly welcome competition and has made their technology available allowing companies to copy and create better vehicles in the electric space. This goes back to Tesla’s Mission Statement: to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy. Tesla may not be able to do this alone. However, if they can encourage other manufacturers to create similar products then they are in line with their mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. 

Because of this, the products Tesla is creating are innovative. However, the experience they are delivering is disruptive. Tesla has figured out how to remove the pain and angst in buying a vehicle in a new, more efficient, and worthwhile form.  

I have bought three cars prior to my Tesla and I remember each experience being absolutely horrible. From the dreadful, soul-crushing (as Elon would say) experience of walking onto the lot of a dealer to the high-pressure sales tactics to negotiations, the up-sell, the post-sale communication, and lastly the service center. Tesla is taking all of these experiences and disrupting the car buying/servicing experience across the industry by doing things differently than how it’s been done for years.  

Buying a Tesla is an easy experience online, just like buying an item on Amazon. There is no negotiation and the prices are all set. There isn’t a dealership. You can buy a vehicle while sipping your morning coffee and walking the dog. Now don't get me wrong there are “showrooms” but that is exactly what they are; a room to show you the car so that you can physically see and touch it.

Then there is the delivery experience. Can you remember the delivery experience of your gas car? Did a current vehicle owner volunteer their time to show up to help you walk you through your car? Negative. Tesla owners across the globe are graciously taking time out of their day to help other owners understand and learn their car. Not because of any incentives, but because they believe in the mission of Tesla and are excited to educate others about the vehicles and create the best delivery experience. Now when I owned my VW we had forums and there were fans. But the Tesla owners are more loyal than fans. Some may call it a cult following, but I like to refer to them as a team of in-field advocates.  

Think about the last time you made a service appointment for your non-Tesla car. What are your concerns? Inconvenience is the biggest factor many are affected with when car service is involved. I wanted to highlight what Tesla is doing differently than any other manufacturer today. Tesla has deployed a fleet of mobile rangers that will come to your residence or place of business to fix or service a majority of issues with your vehicle. Not only taking the stress out of scheduling but also the stress out of inconvenience by providing loaners to any fleet owner. That is correct; while your car is in service Tesla has partnered with Enterprise to offer Teslas or other non-EV vehicles as loaners while your car is being worked on. Hence the stress and inconvenience that’s associated with servicing any other car are gone when you own a Tesla.  

These examples with Tesla vehicle buying and servicing is where Tesla is being disruptive by being new, more efficient, and worthwhile. Today no other manufacturer is able to offer the same experience. And while Tesla dominates in innovation with their vehicles and disruption with their buying/servicing experiences they are still able to retain the top in owner satisfaction in the auto industry. Owners have a lot to be happy about.  

If you are interested in learning more about the Tesla world, subscribe to my YouTube channel: http://geni.us/teslarajsubscribe

Also find your local Tesla Owners Club here: 
https://www.tesla.com/support/tesla-owners-club-directory

TeslaRaj