Tesla's Model 3 is Outselling All Other EVs. Analysts Should be Eating Their Hats Over Last Week Assumptions.

Tesla's Model 3 Is Now America's Best-Selling Electric Car

It's official: Tesla's new Model 3 is now the best-selling electric car in the U.S. Tesla Inc. released its production numbers for the first quarter 2018 on Tuesday. The company delivered 8,180 Model 3s in the first three months of the year.

Me, "It's amazing what a difference a week makes. A week ago I was lamenting the Auto Driving feature of Tesla Cars. Then everybody started going negative on Tesla, saying, they need to raise more money, that they are putting out an inferior product, that they were going to go out of business. Yet, this week everybody is okay with Tesla. Analysts really need to chill and not go with the flow, when it seems an electric car company is struggling when it is not.  

With Tesla's Model 3 out selling the EV competition, I ask you, how is it that Tesla is going out of business?  There seems to be a pot of gold at the end of the affordable Model 3, Tesla, electric car market. And Tesla is stepping up."  

From article, (It’s official: Tesla’s new Model 3 is now the best-selling electric car in the U.S. 

Tesla Inc. released its production numbers for the first quarter 2018 on Tuesday. The company delivered 8,180 Model 3s in the first three months of the year. That compares with 6,468 deliveries for Toyota Motor Corp.’s Prius Prime plug-in hybrid and 4,375 for General Motors Co.’s Chevy Bolt.

Coming out on top is no small feat for a company that’s been manufacturing vehicles for barely a decade. However, huge hurdles remain as Palo Alto, California-based Tesla tries to turn the page on one of the most difficult chapters in its short history.

Earlier this year, Bloomberg launched an experimental model to track Model 3 production using vehicle identification numbers (VINs). Our final estimate came in just 5 percent less than Tesla’s reported numbers, arguably validating the methodology. That’s not great news for Tesla fans, because our model suggests the company may have exaggerated its production capabilities at the end of last year. In the coming weeks, Tesla will need to prove that it can sustain and build upon the peak weekly production rates it just announced.

Wall Street was pleased with the production numbers but hardly elated: “Good enough,” wrote Robert W. Baird & Co. analyst Ben Kallo. KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc.’s Brad Erickson said the numbers were “better than feared.” Consumer Edge Research LLC analyst James Albertine, who remains bullish even after Model 3 production missed his estimates, said, “Our hope is that subsequent ramps in production may be easier.”

Tesla’s second-quarter forecast eases cash concerns. Tesla said it “won’t require an equity or debt raise this year, apart from standard credit lines.” Investors were anticipating a need for as much as $3 billion in additional capital for the production ramp.

Investors are pleased. Shares rose in early trading as much as 6.9 percent.

Total Model 3 production for the quarter was 9,766, compared with a final estimate of 9,285 made by the Bloomberg production tracker. 

Tesla maintained its targets. Model 3: 5,000 cars produced each week by the end of the second quarter. Model S and X: 100,000 deliveries in 2018. Tesla foresees a rapid increase in production this quarter.)

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In Japan, Nissan is Replacing Used EV Leaf Batteries for $2,830 dollars. Its An Attempt to Show the Value of Keeping Older Leafs on the Road. The Program May Eventually Spread to Other Countries.

Nissan Leaf refurbished batteries offered for older electric cars, in Japan

With more than 300,000 Nissan Leaf electric cars on the road, some more than six years old, battery degradation is becoming more and more of an issue. The different rates of capacity loss are a topic of much discussion among Leaf owners, but it now seems likely that Nissan's choice of passive air cooling rather than active liquid cooling has contributed to...

From article, (Nissan has announced a new option for Leaf owners, one that's considerably less expensive than buying a new battery pack off the shelf for an aging Leaf.

Last Monday, Nissan Japan announced that owners of the Leaf electric car in that country could trade in their old, reduced-capacity battery packs for refurbished replacement batteries.

The program isn't free: exchange costs will start at 300,000 yen ($2,830) for remanufactured 24-kilowatt-hour batteries used in 2011-2015 Leafs, and some 2016 models as well.

Nissan says it hopes to expand its lineup of refurbished packs, presumably meaning to the larger 30-kilowatt-hour packs used in 2016 and 2017 Leafs.

That's substantially lower than the costs of new replacement batteries: 650,000 yen ($6,130) for 24-kilowatt-hour packs; 800,000 yen ($7,540) for 30-kwh packs; and 820,000 yen ($7,730) for the latest 40-kwh packs used in the 2018 Nissan Leaf.

The trade-in program will start in May, and thus far it's limited to Leaf owners within Japan.

The old Leaf battery packs will be inspected and refurbished as required to replace defective cells and modules by 4R Energy Corp, a joint venture between the carmaker and giant Japanese trading company Sumitomo.

While used electric-car batteries are expected to hold value on the secondary market for energy storage and other uses, Nissan has a different goal in mind.

In a statement, the company said that by reclaiming and refurbishing used battery packs, it can not only lower the cost of battery replacements but also "heighten the used-car value of electric vehicles."

That will, the company said, make owning electric cars more appealing and lead to greater sales for the zero-emission vehicles that will reduce carbon-dioxide emissions associated with personal transportation.)

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Me, "Its, like I have been saying. You can pick up a used Leaf for 5,000- 6,000 dollars on the used car market and then replace the battery for an around town car. As electric cars continue to be sold there will be newer used cars added to the EV market, allowing more people to own, cheaper, used electric cars."