Tesla's gives an update on its upcoming more affordable vehicle
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The third-quarter earnings call for Tesla offered intriguing insights into the direction and focus of the company's upcoming next-gen vehicle, dubbed the Model 2 or the $25,000 car.
While drawing on a comparison to Cybertruck's production challenges, Elon Musk declared this vehicle will be more conventional for production with the overarching goal of achieving an unmatched level of manufacturing efficiency.
Functional Beauty: The Aesthetic Vision
The next-gen car is predicted to be the most produced car in Tesla's lineup, with the potential scale and reach of the Model 2, with implications suggesting it could match the combined volume of other Tesla models. The "high-volume, low-cost" will be simpler in design and technological features to achieve a production speed unprecedented in the auto industry. The mention of achieving "units per minute level that is unheard of" paints a picture of Tesla's commitment to scale and affordability.
Breaking away from the enchantment often associated with Tesla vehicles, Musk set the stage for a different kind of vehicle in the Model 2. Described as "utilitarian," this new vehicle won't be about enchanting consumers but serving a functional purpose. Despite this, Musk reassured that the car will still bear Tesla's signature beauty.
The Quest for Affordability
A dominant theme throughout the call was the relentless push towards reducing costs and improving operational efficiencies. Vaibhav Taneja, Tesla's Chief Accounting Officer, pointed out the myriad challenges and variables in managing product margins, especially given the ongoing factory upgrades.
Nevertheless, company representatives remain unwavering in their dedication to cost reductions for 2024, showcasing Tesla's commitment to affordability. As Taneja describes, this "cost attack" strategy involves meticulous examination and improvement of every line item, highlighting Tesla's dedication to affordability at every turn.
Musk equated their cost-reduction strategy to a "Game of Thrones" where even saving pennies mattered. Musk highlighted the importance of such savings, highlighting how even small elements, like unnecessary internal stickers or QR codes, are being scrutinized for their contribution to the vehicle's cost.
Driving down the costs for the Model 2 isn't just about large-scale production adjustments; it's about scrutinizing every tiny detail. Musk illustrated the cost anatomy of a vehicle, emphasizing the challenge of saving even $0.40 on each of the approximately 10,000 parts in a car.
What This Means for Model 2
All these cost-saving strategies are directly tied to Tesla's aspiration to introduce the Model 2 at an unprecedented price point. By focusing on "pennies" and being "ruthless" in their cost-cutting measures, Tesla is gearing up to deliver a vehicle that doesn't just promise efficiency and sustainability but also unparalleled affordability.
The road to the Model 2 is evidently layered with challenges. Still, if there's one takeaway from the earnings call, it's that Tesla is more committed than ever to making the dream of an affordable electric vehicle a reality for the masses.
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After several years of allowing third-party developers and tinkerers free access to the Tesla API, Tesla has finally announced a pricing for their API. Back in 2023, Tesla introduced their new API system, along with them being “temporarily free.”
Back then, Tesla announced their Discovery tier, which had some limitations but set the groundwork for what was to come. For the first time, developers had official documentation and support, but pricing still was to be determined.
Tesla recently announced pricing for its APIs, which, unfortunately, is much higher than many were expecting. We’ll start by reviewing everything that’s been announced and then explore what could happen for both home users and larger third-party apps.
Fleet API - Usage Based Pricing
Tesla is implementing a pay-per-use pricing model that charges users based on overall usage. Some items, such as Streaming Signals and Commands, are at a lower cost, which helps to incentivize developers to be smart with the data they’re pulling from vehicles. Meanwhile, vehicle data via REST APIs and waking up vehicles is much more expensive.
Here’s the pricing chart:
Data Type
Signals/Requests
Cost
Streaming Signals
150,000
$1
Commands
1,000
$1
Data
500
$1
Wakes
50
$1
Tesla seems like they want developers to focus on what’s happening in the now - rather than being able to track a long driving session or pull charging history from the vehicle. While some things seem cheap and some seem expensive, the overall cost is still fairly high, even for limited personal use.
Additionally, the new Fleet Telemetry doesn’t offer all the data points that are available from the older vehicle data API. That means that you won’t always be able to take advantage of the cheaper “Streaming Signals” data type - but have to fall back to the data package - which is far more expensive.
Many services use REST APIs for vehicle data at about a one-minute interval, which means that each hour of driving or charging could cost about $0.12. Since the average vehicle drives for about an hour a day and charges for an hour or two, that could cost about $0.36 cents per day — per vehicle.
Looking at a month’s worth, that’s about $10/month per vehicle. While the streaming signal API is much cheaper, the total cost would vary depending on the interval and data being collected. Each signal is a piece of data, so if you’re tracking the vehicle’s speed, location, odometer, state and battery level, that’s five signals.
Fleet API - Personal Use
Tesla’s Fleet API provides each Tesla account with a $10 monthly discount - which Tesla says can cover data streaming, 100 commands, and two wakes per day for two vehicles per month. There isn’t a discount per vehicle - it's per account, so if you have more vehicles, it’s less beneficial to you. This should allow home tinkerers to create some automations and track some data without having to pay for access.
However, this is a fairly restrictive amount of signals/requests for personal use - let’s look at the author’s Home Assistant integration for a fairly simple example.
On average, with a Home Assistant tablet at home to start/stop charging, check charge states, precondition vehicles, send Google Map targets, and a few more simple commands for just two vehicles - we make, on average, about 200 requests a week per vehicle. That comes out to 1,600 requests a month and 400 wake-ups a month.
We’re also requesting data from the Data portion of the API - not the Streaming Signals portion of the API - and that’s about every five minutes while charging - so a wake isn’t needed. With 480 data requests per vehicle per month, we’re already starting to flex the basic $10. Of course, you also want to track your trip data and output that - so add in another 500-ish requests per vehicle based on the amount of driving and interval levels.
We’re looking at $8 in wake-ups, $4 for commands, $8 for data, and at least $1 in Streaming Signals. Just for two vehicles with a fairly basic set of data tracking and usage of commands, we’re already past the $10 mark.
If you’re keeping track, that’s a total of $21 per month—minus the $10 discount Tesla provides per account. At its current usage, our Home Assistant integration would require us to pay $11 for API access a month—as much as Premium Connectivity.
While switching to the streaming API is the answer here, it’ll take time for tools and services to transition to the new way of gathering data. Unfortunately, Tesla isn’t giving developers and home users a lot of time, with pricing taking effect on January 1st, 2025.
Third-Party Developers
Take all those fairly conservative numbers I’ve provided - and scale those up 3-4x. That’s how much data is requested by popular third-party apps. They’re looking at monthly costs well beyond $50 per vehicle, with current data draws. Again, they’ll need to transition to streaming APIs where possible and optimize the data they gather, but Tesla isn’t giving developers a lot of time to do so.
Third-party developers will need to find ways to optimize their workflows, potentially raise prices, and work within and around Tesla’s new strict rules on pulling data from vehicles.
Vehicle Support
Unfortunately, 2020 and older Model S and Model X vehicles don’t support the streaming API, which means that they may not be supported by most third-party services going forward.
We’re hoping Tesla takes some steps to make its API more flexible and affordable, as even simple home use can get quite expensive.
SiriusXM is launching its streaming app for the Model 3, Model Y and the Cyberetruck as part of the 2024 Tesla Holiday Update.
SiriusXM is a satellite and internet radio streaming service that’s been available in the Model S and Model X with the SiriusXM satellite receiver for many years. However, it has never been available in the Model 3, Model Y, or the Cybertruck - all of which do not have the receiver.
SiriusXM is one of the most popular satellite streaming services globally - Sirius offers bundled packages with other auto manufacturers (like the Model S and Model X) and standalone receivers. Now, they’re offering a different package for Tesla’s other vehicles.
SiriusXM subscribers will get a Tesla-tailored experience with a fully functional app that has a layout similar to Tesla’s other streaming services. Alongside all of SiriusXM’s regular services offered in their 360L package, customers will also receive Sirius’ full podcast offering.
The Tesla package includes the following services:
Ad-free, live-curated music channels across all genres.
Custom stations that users can generate from their favorite bands or artists.
A massive podcast library - including news, comedy, entertainment - and more.
Live sports coverage and analysis from over 20 live sports channels, with industry experts and hosts.
News, Politics, Entertainment, Comedy, Celebrity Interviews, and more on live and recorded channels.
A personalized for-you page in your Tesla (and in the SiriusXM app) that delivers recommended content based on your listening preferences - and it adapts based on your listening and time of day.
A content-discovery system that uses listening preferences to help guide you to new music, channels, and podcasts.
Integrated voice search
Live Sports is an awesome use-case for SiriusXM!
Not a Tesla App
Cost
SiriusXM for your Tesla will cost $9.99 USD a month for the first two years if you sign up using their special starter offer. Once that two-year period is over, you’ll pay $24.98 USD a month to keep your subscription at the same tier. However, SiriusXM offers multiple plans and multiple tiers that you can switch to to match your preferences after the two years.
Requirements
Like Tesla’s other music services, you’ll need Tesla’s Premium Connectivity to listen to SiriusXM or an active WiFi/Hotspot connection. You can open up the SiriusXM app on your Tesla and then log in or create an account.
If you’re already a SiriusXM user, you can either log in to your existing account and take advantage of your services or create a new one. Go ahead and scan the QR code with your mobile device - it’ll take you to the sign-up page to get your new account started.
When you see this UI, go ahead and press the big blue button!
Not a Tesla App
Free Trial
If you want to take advantage of the three-month free trial, you’ll need to create a new SiriusXM account - even if you already had one previously. A new e-mail address will be required.
There’s no payment required for the free trial, and you’re not required to submit payment information to SiriusXM - so it’s really a risk-free trial. Once the trial ends, you’ll be prompted to use the mobile app or website to enter payment information and select a paid plan to continue listening.
Model S and Model X
The Model S and Model X will retain their SiriusXM capability through their satellite receivers, and it seems that Tesla will continue shipping them with satellite receivers for the time being.
While no part is the best part, Tesla likely has a long-term contract with SiriusXM to continue providing the radios in these two vehicles. Once that’s over, or maybe in a potential future refresh, Tesla may also pivot to using the streaming app.
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