Recently, the State Administration for Market Regulation released the news that Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. has filed a recall plan with the State Administration for Market Regulation. As of February 18, 2020, the recall will be made of some domestically produced Model 3 (12,003 units) and Model Y (14,044 units) produced between December 28, 2020 and January 15, 2022, for a total of 26,047 vehicles.
On February 18, Tesla (TSLA. O) the stock price fell by 2.21%, closing at $856.98 per share; as of the close of trading on February 24, Tesla fell to $764.04 per share, down 7%, and Tesla's stock price has fallen for four consecutive trading days.
This is an online recall
The reason for Tesla's recall is that there will be slight movement when the vehicle's heat pump electronic expansion valve is positioned, because the software (version 2021.44 to 2021.44.30.6) has no corrective function, which may cause the valve to be partially opened in the long run, the heat pump compressor to stop working, and the heating function in the car to fail.
At low temperatures, especially when the temperature outside the car is lower than minus 10 degrees Celsius, the windshield defrosting system cannot achieve the defrosting effect stipulated in the relevant national laws and regulations, and the decline of the defrosting function will adversely affect the driver's vision, thereby increasing the possibility of collisions when the vehicle is driving in cold weather, and there are safety hazards.
It is worth noting that this recall is an online recall, Tesla will carry out remote software upgrades for vehicles within the scope of the recall through the OTA function, and users can complete the recall without going to the store.
After Tesla submitted the recall plan, it was reported that there may be problems with the electronic expansion valve of the heat pump provided by the A-share listed company Sanhua Zhikong (002050) as a supplier. In this regard, on the evening of February 20, Sanhua Intelligent Control issued a clarification announcement, which confirmed that the problem was caused by the interruption of controller communication. As of now, Sanhua Intelligent Control has not received tesla complaints about the quality of the electronic expansion valve itself related to the problem, and the recall has nothing to do with the electronic expansion valve provided by the company.
In addition, according to Xinhua News Agency, in January this year, the State Administration for Market Regulation, together with relevant departments, stepped up the formulation of trial opinions on the "sandbox supervision" system of automobile safety, conducted in-depth safety tests on cutting-edge technologies for vehicle applications, and guided enterprises to find problems at a deeper level, improve design, and reduce risks.
There are many problems abroad
On February 3, Transport Canada said that some Tesla vehicles may lose cabin heating at low temperatures, causing the windshield defrost and defogging systems to not work properly, which will increase the risk of crashes. As a result, Transport Canada has issued a recall notice for the Tesla Model 3, Model Y and Model S, with a recall size of 2,084 units.
In the United States, Tesla has recently added hundreds of complaints about "ghost brakes", which means that when users turn on the autopilot assistance system of Tesla vehicles, the vehicle will suddenly and without warning brakes without braking.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it had received 354 Tesla complaints related to "ghost brakes" in the past nine months. In the three months before Feb. 2 alone, there were already 107 complaints related to "ghost brakes."
It is reported that this situation is related to Tesla's cancellation of vehicle radar. Recently, NHTSA has announced that it will launch a formal investigation into 416,000 Tesla vehicles to understand the reasons for the accidental activation of tesla's autopilot assist system, Autopilot.
Statistics show that since late January, Tesla has launched four recalls in the United States, involving more than 1.47 million units, of which the largest recall involves 817,000 of its vehicles, equivalent to 87% of its annual sales.
Safety hazards are frequently complained about
It is understood that Tesla has been questioned the most in China, which has always been the safety of the brake system and automatic driving assistance. Last year, drivers of the Shenzhou dai-driving and micro-driving platform posted advertisements saying, "Because of Tesla's brake quality problems!" In order to maintain the safety of the life of the substitute driver! Refuse to provide a substitute driving service for Tesla brand cars. ”
Tesla sued the above-mentioned drivers on the grounds of reputation infringement, and the recent judgment showed that Tesla won the lawsuit. The Yuelu District People's Court of Changsha City, Hunan Province, ruled that the defendant apologized to the plaintiff Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. on behalf of the driver on behalf of the driver on the Douyin platform and its WeChat circle of friends for not less than 30 days, and compensated the plaintiff for economic losses and reasonable expenses for rights protection totaling 20,000 yuan.
Although the above dispute ended with Tesla winning the lawsuit, on the black cat complaint platform, the problems recently reflected by Tesla owners were mainly focused on safety hazards, including Tesla FSD (full automatic driving function) crashing into the highway guardrail, airbags did not pop up normally when the vehicle was involved in an accident, and the automatic recording function of the dashcam failed.
It is understood that in 2021, Tesla launched six recalls in the Chinese market, involving a total of 543,800 electric vehicles, while the statistics of the Association show that Tesla's delivery volume in China in 2021 was 484,100 vehicles, and in the past year, Tesla's total sales in China were even less than the recalled vehicles.
The Shanghai plant will be expanded in April
According to the financial report, in 2021, Tesla recorded revenue of $53.823 billion, an increase of 71% year-on-year, and net profit of $5.519 billion. Among them, the company achieved revenue of $17.719 billion in the fourth quarter, an increase of 65% year-on-year; net profit was $2.321 billion, an increase of 43% sequentially and 760% year-on-year.
Last year, Tesla delivered 936,000 new vehicles worldwide, an increase of 87% year-on-year, of which Tesla's Shanghai factory contributed 484,000 units, accounting for 51.7% of the total deliveries. In January this year, statistics from the Association showed that Tesla's wholesale sales in China reached 59,845 units, exporting 40,499 vehicles, accounting for nearly 80% of new energy vehicle exports in January.
It is understood that at present, Tesla has two production bases that have been put into production, namely the Fremont factory and the Shanghai gigafactory. In addition, there are Austin Gigafactories and Berlin Gigafactories awaiting production. On a Tesla earnings call in January, CEO Musk publicly stated that the company was selecting a site for a new factory, and that relevant information may be announced by the end of this year.
Tesla often reported the news of building a second factory in China, after Chongqing, Qingdao, Xi'an, Shenzhen, Hefei, Wuhan, Shenzhen, etc., have been speculated to become the settlement address of Tesla's second factory.
Recently, on February 14, an article on the "Liaoning Release" public account mentioned: "Combined with the urban renewal of the Civil Officials Area, it will open up the industrial development space and lay the foundation for the landing of major new energy vehicle projects such as Tesla." "There is speculation that Sisla's second factory in China will be located in Shenyang. But Tesla denied settling in Shenyang, saying that the location has not yet been determined. After that, the above article related content was also deleted.
Although the construction of the "second factory" is confusing, the expansion of the Shanghai factory has been foregone conclusion, according to tesla's financial report disclosed figures, the existing annual production capacity of the Shanghai factory is more than 450,000 vehicles, and the sales volume in January this year has reached nearly 60,000, and the expansion of production capacity is imminent.
According to the environmental impact assessment of the second phase of the production line optimization project of Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory (Phase I), the total investment of the production line optimization project reached 1.2 billion yuan, of which the environmental protection investment was 85 million yuan, accounting for 7.08%; mainly involving the expansion of the stamping workshop, body workshop, painting workshop, assembly workshop and logistics operation center, which began construction in December 2021 and is expected to be completed in April this year.
It is reported that after the completion of the expansion project, the production model will not change, and Tesla's Shanghai factory will still mainly produce two models, the Model 3 and model Y.
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Written by Xie Dongdong
Edit Qian Yin
Typography Zeng Qian
Some of the illustrations in the article come from the network