Tesla, Inc., the American electric vehicle and clean energy company based in Palo Alto, California, is one of the most companies in the world with the most advanced tech. And you can bet that just like the reputation they’ve made for themselves as a leading EV tech company, their marketing strategies are not lagging behind, either.
For context, what might be unthinkable for many happened. Audi CEO Markus Duesmann admitted in his recently released statement that Audi is about two years late when compared to Tesla’s computing power in the electric vehicles industry and self-driving car technology. For a company as massive as Audi, a high-end car make, this press release is a big deal in many ways.
One would think that it would cause uncertainties for Audi’s business moving forward, but the company has found a new ally in its competitor, Tesla.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has decided to offer some level of support to other companies that are quite dragging behind the EV technology race. On July 29th, Musk posted a tweet on his Twitter account saying that Tesla would be willing to license its software and provide batteries and powertrains to other manufacturers. It may seem too kind from the perspective of the average person, but this seemingly noble and incredible gesture gives Tesla an advantage in the engineering space. Virtually, there may not be a need to employ more people to build its cars, and it’s an opportunity for the company to gain more profit as well.
It is widely known that Tesla has done something like this before. It previously made its Supercharger network accessible to other manufacturers with a licensing fee. Nobody actually wanted to grab this opportunity, however, and it has been speculated that the fee might not exactly be the most affordable.
It’s awesome to imagine that companies like Audi and Tesla are collaborating and coming up with highly engineered futuristic machines that solidify the thought of us living in the future, but chances are it’s probably unlikely. Well, at least at this point. Smaller EV startups will need a whole lot of capital to take Tesla’s offer, making Tesla even more secure in its spot in the market as a brand that’s competitive and unparalleled.
And on another note, Tesla made another major move last week. It broke ground at a lithium-ion battery energy storage system at a PG&E electric substation on the central coast of California. Working with PG&E, they will design, construct, and maintain the facility. Construction will carry over to early next year, and the companies aim to have it up and running and fully operational in the second quarter of 2021. It is believed that the Moss Landing substation system will be one of the largest utility-owned, lithium-ion battery energy storage systems in the world, according to a released statement signed off by both companies.
