Tesla’s stock skids 6% as promised ‘Battery Day’ innovations remain off in the future (8½%@12:30)

Tesla Inc. unveiled battery innovations and increased efficiencies that appeared to underwhelm investors late Tuesday at its much anticipated “Battery Day.”

Tesla stock’s TSLA, -8.89%, which had gained more than 4% after an upbeat post-shareholder-meeting presentation, turned south as soon as Chief Executive Elon Musk said that some of the innovations showcased at the event were “close to working” and some three years away from fruition.

Shares fell as much as 7.6% in Tuesday’s after-hours session, but have pared some gains to trade down 6.0% in Wednesday’s premarket session.

“It does work but not [yet] with a high yield,” Musk said, adding that Tesla has set up a pilot battery plant in Fremont, Calif., to work through the challenges, with production “ramping up.”

There’s a “clear path to success but a ton of work from here to there,” Musk said.

Long-term investors make their plans for a year away, and a three-year horizon is “just a long time,” said Gene Munster with Loup Ventures. “Everything they talked about had substance,” Munster said. “But investors wanted immediately.”

The day’s “real takeaway” was that Tesla is aiming for full vertical integration, which would position it one step ahead of the rest of the industry, Munster said.

Keeping it all in house, from mining interests to battery design and manufacturing, is “a flywheel that is difficult to catch,” he said. It would lead to cost reductions, lower prices and ultimately more demand for Tesla cars, Munster said.

Musk on Monday had already sought to tamp down Wall Street’s high expectations for the event, tweeting that some of the technologies to be revealed “will not reach serious high-volume production until 2022.”

Jason of Engineering Explained:

Why are car manufacturers still improving and spending money on combustion engines in the year 2020? Should all development research be going into electric cars and electric vehicle technology? Unfortunate news if you think ICE transportation is going away in the near future to be solely replaced by electric vehicles (EVs).

The internal combustion engine is still incredibly relevant today, and can still use further improvements in order to reduce global emissions. In this video we'll discuss scientific issues facing electric cars, environmental problems with ditching combustion engine research, how cost impacts customer decisions and manufacturer profits, and ultimately how consumer choice plays a large role in this industry. If you've ever wondered why combustion engines are still being developed, this video breaks down all the details.
Why Gas Engines Are Far From Dead - Biggest EV Problems

Living with an electric car for six months changed my mind about how I feel about them. I have range anxiety. When you're driving a Nissan Leaf, it has the equivalent energy in the battery pack of less than two gallons of gasoline. That not only tells you how energy dense gasoline is, but also how wildly efficient electric cars are, as the Leaf gets 150 miles on the equivalent of 1.2 gallons of gas.

And while the benefits of electric cars are clear, for example instant torque, quiet ride, low CG, and much more emissions friendly, they do come with lower range and longer recharging times versus filling a gasoline tank. So after living with a 151 mile range Nissan Leaf for 6 months, how do I now feel about EVs? Quite different, actually.
Living With An Electric Car Changed My Mind [2018]

more from Jason of Engineering Explained:

The Maserati MC20 Nettuno Engine uses dual combustion chambers, dual spark plugs per cylinder, and dual injectors per cylinder. It's packed with innovative tech, sharing commonalities with F1 pre-chamber engine technology. It's a 3.0L, twin-turbo V6 engine making 620 horsepower and 538 lb-ft of torque. The prechamber technology allows for greater power output by reducing engine knock. Watch the video to learn all about it!

Maserati Nettuno Press Release: "The new power unit has a V90° architecture, with a 3-litre, 6-cylinder twin-turbo, and features a dry sump (a classic solution on super sportscars). It delivers 630CV at 7500rpm and 730 Nm of torque from 3000rpm with a specific power output of 210CV/litre. The compression ratio is 11:1, the stroke is 82 mm and the bore 88 mm.

The soul of the engine is the innovative pre-chamber combustion system featuring twin-spark plugs. This technology is derived from Formula 1 and is now available, for the first time, on an engine destined for the road.

The engine has three main features:
The pre-chamber: a combustion chamber is set between the central electrode and the traditional combustion chamber and connected by a series of specially-designed holes.
Lateral sparkplug: a traditional sparkplug acts as a support to ensure constant combustion when the engine is operating at a level that doesn't need the pre-chamber to kick in.
Twin injection system -- direct and indirect: linked to the fuel supply pressure at 350bar, the system reduces noise low down on the rev range, lowering emissions and improving consumption.
How Maserati's Brilliant MC20 Engine Works - F1 Tech In A Road Car!

still more from Jason of Engineering Explained:

Can you use synthetic oil in old cars? Can synthetic oil cause leaks? Sponsored by Mobil 1 motor oil -- You can find Mobil 1 synthetic at a wide variety of retailers and service stations near you. We're tackling many heavily debated subjects about motor oil in this video and learning how specially formulated motor oil can help new and old engines add more miles to the odometer! Can you use synthetic motor oil in old cars? Can synthetic oils cause leaks in old cars and engines? Where did the idea originate that synthetic oils are not compatible with old engines? If your car is consuming a lot of oil, should you use a thicker oil grade? Finally, when should you use a high mileage oil? I spent time discussing these questions and more with Mobil 1 engineers.
Is Synthetic Motor Oil Bad For Old Cars?

Thank you to Pennzoil for bringing me out to the 2016 Canadian GP and sponsoring this video! This video has been compensated by GarageMonkey and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. The viscosity of an oil is its resistance to flow. A greater viscosity means more resistance to flow, or a thicker oil. A lower viscosity means a thinner oil.

Before understanding the benefits of synthetic motor oils, like this Pennzoil Platinum derived from natural gas, we first need to understand the rating system used for motor oils. You'll often hear 5W-30, or 0W-20 as ratings used in cars today. These are multi-grade viscosity oils, meaning their viscosity grade changes with temperature. The first number, followed by a W, is the cold rating (W stands for Winter), and this means the oil behaves like an SAE 5 grade motor oil (using 5W-30 as the example) while cold, but at operating temperature, at about 100 degrees C, it operates like an SAE 30 grade motor oil.

Now 30 is higher than 5, so initially it may seem that the oil would get thicker at higher temperatures, which is obviously not the case. A straight SAE 30 grade oil will be thicker at lower temperatures, as will a 5 grade oil. Even though a 30 weight oil is thicker than a 5 weight oil, at 100C the 30 weight will be thinner than a cold 5 grade oil.

Low viscosity at low temperatures is important, because this is where a significant amount of engine wear occurs, so it's critical to maximize oil flow to protect the engine. At colder temperatures, thinner oils will flow better and thus offer better protection.

For a conventional oil, for example while creating a 5W-30 oil, you'll start with a base oil similar to an SAE grade 5 motor oil, and include additives to alter the viscosity rating. To improve low temperature flow, pour point depressants (PPDs) are added. To increase the viscosity at high temperatures, viscosity index improvers (VIIs) are added. VI improvers are polymers which expand in heat, making it more difficult for flow, thus increasing the viscosity.

Synthetic oils, however, can have base oils which are already formulated as a multi-grade oil, meaning you don't necessarily need additives, or as much additives, to alter the viscosity at different temperatures. The major benefit here is that additives tend to break down over time, so synthetic oils will maintain their original viscosity properties much better throughout the engine oil drain interval versus conventional oils. (Diagram illustrating viscosity vs temperature)
If you were to plot two 5W-30 motor oils, one conventional and one synthetic, at the beginning of the oil change interval, they would have similar viscosity properties. At the end of the interval, however, the synthetic would act nearly identical to the original oil, while the conventional oil would be thicker at low temps, and thinner at high temps.

Now does this mean that with synthetic motor oils you can extend your engine oil drain interval? No! It just means your engine is better protected throughout the engine oil drain interval. There are still additives (anti-wear, dispersants, anti-foam, detergents, rust inhibitors, corrosion inhibitors) which wear out over time, so you should always change at whatever interval your owners manual suggests.
Is Synthetic Motor Oil Better For Your Car?

for some reason I had quite a time finding this vid again, so I took the liberty of pingin' ya again.

Can Towing A Tesla Model 3 With A Ford Raptor Recharge It?

The Straight Pipes high mileage Ford Raptor is used to tow the Tesla Model 3 Performance while driving around Toronto Motorsports Park.

Can you recharge a Tesla Model 3 by towing it? That's a great question, and we're going to to use a Ford Raptor to find out. We'll also need to determine how quickly a Tesla can be recharged by towing it, and how far you'd need to travel to fully recharge the battery. The Tesla Model 3 can charge its battery through regenerative braking, where the wheels of the car force the electric motor to spin, which forces a charge into the battery. This is used to slow the car down, and improve its efficiency. However, if you tow the car, you might be able to use that regenerative braking to charge the battery, that is what this video seeks to find out.

On top of this, we'll determine what's more efficient - Option 1: traveling with a Ford Raptor from A to B, or Option 2: Using a Raptor to tow a Tesla, then driving the Tesla from A to B. To do this, we'll need to determine the Tesla's efficiency, the Ford's efficiency, and the Ford's efficiency while towing. Then, using the regen rate of the Tesla, we can find out what the Tesla's true fuel economy is while using a Ford Raptor to tow it. It's a super fun video with a fascinating conclusion; have a watch!
Can You Charge A Tesla By Towing It? (With Ford Raptor) | Engineering Explained

TheStraightPipes - YouTube

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