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Tesla’s Elon Musk and Rivian CEO join legacy auto execs in Motortrend’s Person of the Year list
Tesla CEO Elon Musk ranks on Motortrend’s 2020 list of most crucial players in the automotive industry. Musk has been on the list since 2013 and gained recognition as Person of the Year in 2017.
Motortrend released its list 2020 Person of the Year on November 19, which recognized Hyundai President and Head of Design Management Peter Schreyer as its Person of the Year for 2020. Elon Musk came in the 24th spot in this year’s power rankings, improving from his recognition as the 42nd most influential figure in the auto industry from a year ago.
While Motortrend recognizes Musk as an influential figure for another year, the website’s description of his accomplishments this year takes an interesting approach, leading with a highlight of his lawsuits, conflicts with the SEC, and the successful release of the Model 3. “Another year of drama for Musk with lawsuits and SEC concerns over tweets. But sales continue to grow, affordable Model 3s are on the road, there’s a new plant in China, and promises of a pickup, compact crossover, roadster, and a big rig continue. Ever the boy at heart, his cars can now fart,” Motortrend said about the South African born CEO.
In 2019, Tesla and Musk have unveiled its first crossover, broke ground on Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai, and improved its Full Self-Driving software with the company’s V10 update. A monumental year for the Silicon Valley-based automaker in many regards, Musk’s vision for an environmentally-sustainable future by supplying people with affordable electric cars is becoming more of a reality. Tesla will unveil its Cybertruck on November 21, adding an all-electric pickup truck to its lineup of vehicles.
Musk was not the only Tesla member to make the list. Co-founder and Senior Adviser to the company J.B. Straubel came in at #13. “Straubel, the former chief technical officer at Tesla, has stepped back from day-to-day authority but will continue to apply his genius toward core technologies—especially around batteries, power electronics, and an expanding network of superchargers. He is essential to Tesla’s drive to retain EV tech leadership,” Motortrend said.
Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe was #3 on Motortrend’s 2020 power rankings. It has been a big year for Scaringe’s Rivian. The company gained notable financial backing from e-commerce giant Amazon, who invested $700 million and purchased 100,000 vans from the Plymouth, Michigan-based automaker to begin a more environmentally-conscious delivery process. Rivian also gained help from Ford Motor Company and Cox Automotive, who invested $500 million and $350 million, respectively. Rivian will begin production of the R1T pickup and R1S sport utility vehicle in late-2020.
Motortrend has recognized these three pioneers of the electric vehicle movement on its list of the 50 most crucial players in the industry today. The three sit among executives of legacy automotive groups, like Ford, GM, and Toyota, whose board members have made up Motortrend’s lists since the auto journal wrote its first power rankings in 2005. While those companies are working on electric cars to release as their own, Musk, Straubel, and Scaringe have all contributed toward the transition to make the automotive market geared more toward electric and battery-powered modes of transportation and away from the traditional petrol-powered machines that have dominated the U.S. car industry since its introduction in the 1890s, and they are gaining recognition for their efforts. Tesla and Rivian alike have a vision for the future, and it includes clean transportation for everyone, aimed at saving the Earth from the carbon-emissions that negatively affect the atmosphere and our general well-being.
The Top 10 of Motortrend’s Person of the Year 2020 list is as follows:
- 10. Alan Bethke, Senior VP of Marketing, Subaru of America. 2019: Unranked
- 9. Mate Rimac, Founder, Rimac Automobili. 2019: Unranked
- 8. Charles Gordon-Lennox, Founder, Goodwood Festival of Speed and Goodwood Revival. 2019: Unranked
- 7. Roger Penske, Founder and Chairman, Penske Corporation. 2019: Unranked
- 6. Mary Barra, Chairwoman and CEO, General Motors. 2019: 11
- 5. David Woodhouse, VP Of Nissan Design America, Nissan. 2019: 22
- 4. Tadge Juechter, Corvette Chief Engineer, General Motors. 2019: Unranked
- 3. RJ Scaringe, Founder and CEO, Rivian Automotive. 2019: Unranked
- 2.Kumar Galhotra, President, Ford North America. 2019: Unranked
- 1. Peter Schreyer, President, Head of Design Management, Hyundai Motor Group. 2019: 33
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Armored Tesla Cybertruck “War Machine” debuts at Defense Expo 2025
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Tesla Megapacks chosen for 548 MWh energy storage project in Japan
Tesla plans to supply over 100 Megapack units to support a large stationary storage project in Japan, making it one of the country’s largest energy storage facilities.
Tesla’s Megapack grid-scale batteries have been selected to back an energy storage project in Japan, coming as the latest of the company’s continued deployment of the hardware.
As detailed in a report from Nikkei this week, Tesla plans to supply 142 Megapack units to support a 548 MWh storage project in Japan, set to become one of the country’s largest energy storage facilities. The project is being overseen by financial firm Orix, and it will be located at a facility Maibara in central Japan’s Shiga prefecture, and it aims to come online in early 2027.
The deal is just the latest of several Megapack deployments over the past few years, as the company continues to ramp production of the units. Tesla currently produces the Megapack at a facility in Lathrop, California, though the company also recently completed construction on its second so-called “Megafactory” in Shanghai China and is expected to begin production in the coming weeks.
READ MORE ON TESLA MEGAPACKS: Tesla Megapacks help power battery supplier Panasonic’s Kyoto test site
Tesla’s production of the Megapack has been ramping up at the Lathrop facility since initially opening in 2022, and both this site and the Shanghai Megafactory are aiming to eventually reach a volume production of 10,000 Megapack units per year. The company surpassed its 10,000th Megapack unit produced at Lathrop in November.
During Tesla’s Q4 earnings call last week, CEO Elon Musk also said that the company is looking to construct a third Megafactory, though he did not disclose where.
Last year, Tesla Energy also had record deployments of its Megapack and Powerwall home batteries with a total of 31.4 GWh of energy products deployed for a 114-percent increase from 2023.
Other recently deployed or announced Megapack projects include a massive 600 MW/1,600 MWh facility in Melbourne, a 75 MW/300 MWh energy storage site in Belgium, and a 228 MW/912 MWh storage project in Chile, along with many others still.
What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.
Tesla highlights the Megapack site replacing Hawaii’s last coal plant
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Elon Musk responds to Ontario canceling $100M Starlink deal amid tariff drama
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said, opens new tab on February 3 that he was “ripping up” his province’s CA$100 million agreement with Starlink in response to the U.S. imposing tariffs on Canadian goods.
Elon Musk company SpaceX is set to lose a $100 million deal with the Canadian province of Ontario following a response to the Trump administration’s decision to apply 25 percent tariffs to the country.
Starlink, a satellite-based internet service launched by the Musk entity SpaceX, will lose a $100 million deal it had with Ontario, Premier Doug Ford announced today.
Starting today and until U.S. tariffs are removed, Ontario is banning American companies from provincial contracts.
Every year, the Ontario government and its agencies spend $30 billion on procurement, alongside our $200 billion plan to build Ontario. U.S.-based businesses will…
— Doug Ford (@fordnation) February 3, 2025
Ford said on X today that Ontario is banning American companies from provincial contracts:
“We’ll be ripping up the province’s contract with Starlink. Ontario won’t do business with people hellbent on destroying our economy. Canada didn’t start this fight with the U.S., but you better believe we’re ready to win it.”
It is a blow to the citizens of the province more than anything, as the Starlink internet constellation has provided people in rural areas across the globe stable and reliable access for several years.
Musk responded in simple terms, stating, “Oh well.”
Oh well https://t.co/1jpMu55T6s
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2025
It seems Musk is less than enthused about the fact that Starlink is being eliminated from the province, but it does not seem like all that big of a blow either.
As previously mentioned, this impacts citizens more than Starlink itself, which has established itself as a main player in reliable internet access. Starlink has signed several contracts with various airlines and maritime companies.
It is also expanding to new territories across the globe on an almost daily basis.
With Mexico already working to avoid the tariff situation with the United States, it will be interesting to see if Canada does the same.
The two have shared a pleasant relationship, but President Trump is putting his foot down in terms of what comes across the border, which could impact Americans in the short term.
Armored Tesla Cybertruck “War Machine” debuts at Defense Expo 2025
Tesla Megapacks chosen for 548 MWh energy storage project in Japan
