Tesla loses General Counsel to company hounded for East Palestine chemical spill

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Tesla has lost General Counsel F. Nathaniel Smith III to Norfolk Southern Corp., the company that has been hounded by lawsuits related to the toxic chemical spill after a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

Norfolk Southern landed Smith III about a month ago, according to his LinkedIn profile, which states he started at Tesla just two years and five months ago as a Managing Counsel.

Tesla’s “hardcore litigation department” is already taking shape

He was promoted to Associate General Counsel and the Head of General Litigation in May 2022, handling Tesla’s “Securities, Consumer, Energy & Vehicle Class Action, Antitrust, Privacy, Supply Chain Disputes, Commercial, Board Matters, Affirmative Litigation and Intellectual Property Litigation, along with Government Investigations.”

Tesla is replacing Smith III with Nabanita Nag. Bloomberg Law first reported Smith III’s departure from Tesla.

Handling Tesla’s litigation was likely a demanding task, but Smith III will have his hands full with the new role, which is Norfolk Souther, which is facing major lawsuits from shareholders, Ohio’s Attorney General Dave Yost, and the U.S. Department of Justice.

In February, a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, spilling hazardous materials, including vinyl chloride, ethylene glycol, ethylhexyl acrylate, butyl acrylate, and isobutylene.

The spill caused cars to catch fire, but the major damage was done as the chemicals spilled into a ditch that feeds Sulphur Run, a stream that joins another and eventually empties into the Ohio River.

This caused residents to seek shelter as clean water was not available. The County Government continues to test water wells.

The EPA issued legal orders to Norfolk Southern, instructing them to clean the spill.

Tesla has been shaping up a “hardcore legal team” to handle litigation for some time. Earlier this year, it hired a new General Counsel, Brandon Ehrhart, who was with Dish Network for over 20 years.

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

Tesla loses General Counsel to company hounded for East Palestine chemical spill

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Tesla adds nifty climate control feature to complement phone calls

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Tesla is adding a nifty new climate control feature to complement a driver’s ability to hear who is on the other side of a phone call.

It is not groundbreaking as many other automakers have already made use of it, but Tesla drivers will now get what they are calling “Lower HVAC Fan Speed While on a Call.”

The feature is pretty self-explanatory: the HVAC system will automatically lower the speed of climate fans to reduce ambient noise while a phone call is in progress.

Loud air conditioning or heat fans can drown out noise on both ends of a call. While it only takes a second to do it manually, the car will now do it automatically to make for a higher-quality call between people.

Tesla’s Smartphone App set to improve as new features are on the horizon

Many other automakers have a similar feature in their vehicles, including Ford and General Motors.

Tesla writes in its updated Owner’s Manual (via Not a Tesla App):

“When in Auto, the fan speed may automatically lower to reduce the sound of ambient noise while on a call.”

The feature was added to vehicles in the 2023.26 update, which also includes Backup Camera Repositioning and Pedestrian Warning System pause.

Backup Camera Repositioning allows drivers to draft the camera feed to different positions using the touchscreen. And while Tesla added it to the Owner’s Manual, it is not available in the 2023.26 update.

Finally, the Pedestrian Warning System Pause allows drives to halt the activation of the warning noise that plays when the vehicle is traveling at less than 19 MPH or in reverse, which is useful for dense traffic situations.

The noisemaker was required on all EVs as a part of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 141, which was passed in 2018.

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

Tesla adds nifty climate control feature to complement phone calls

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Tesla China sees 10,600 insurance registrations in July’s 4th week

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Despite Tesla China likely focusing its efforts on vehicle exports for now, the electric vehicle maker appears to be selling its cars in the domestic market at a steady pace. Estimates from industry watchers suggest that Tesla saw a 37% improvement in its domestic sales figures last week compared to the week prior. 

Tesla China’s weekly sales figures are not released by the company, though the general trends in the country’s vehicle sales per week could be inferred through insurance registrations. These insurance registrations are thus tracked by industry watchers online. Even automakers such as Li Auto have taken it upon themselves to share insurance registration data on a regular basis. 

As per Li Auto’s recent report, which was posted by the automaker on Weibo, Tesla China saw 10,600 registrations in the week ending July 30. Such numbers represent a 37.66% improvement from the 7,700 units that were registered in the previous week. With its most recent estimates, Tesla China appears to have sold about 31,300 vehicles domestically from July 1 to July 30, as tracked by CNEV Post. 

That’s not a bad number at all considering that Tesla China typically allots the majority of its resources to exports during the first half of a quarter. Considering that July is the first month of Q3, expectations were high that Gigafactory Shanghai would be producing vehicles that are mostly for exports. And when Giga Shanghai is focused on exports, domestic sales typically drop by a notable degree. 

This does not seem to be happening as much this quarter, as Tesla China still seems to be seeing a pretty healthy number of insurance registrations per week. This bodes well for the electric vehicle maker, especially considering that some buyers of the Model 3 sedan, which is produced locally, are probably holding off on their vehicle purchase due to the impending rollout of the vehicle’s “Project Highland” update. 

The Teslarati team would appreciate hearing from you. If you have any tips, contact me at maria@teslarati.com or via Twitter @Writer_01001101.

Tesla China sees 10,600 insurance registrations in July’s 4th week

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