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| 1 | | Tesla is planning to open a new store in Oneida Indian Nation land near Canastota, Upstate New York. While the showroom is scheduled to open in 2025, Tesla will begin delivering vehicles at Oneida's Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona in the next week. Establishing a location under Native American jurisdiction bypasses a New York state law from requiring sales through dealerships, enabling Tesla to go direct-to-consumer with physical stores. This will be the first direct sales location outside of the New York City area in the state besides the four stores launched before the law was enacted in 2014. From the vault: 
This is not the first time Tesla has announced a location in Native American jurisdiction, as it launched sales in Nambé and Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico. That state, along with Alabama and South Carolina, not only prohibits direct sales but also automaker-owned service centers. In states such as Virginia, automakers can sell directly if there are no dealerships available to offer the company's vehicles, and thus, Tesla is able to establish a direct presence in the state. Last month, Tesla won the right to sell directly after the Delaware Supreme Court ruled in its favor. Prior to the ban reversal in Delaware, customers could only purchase the vehicle online, with its location being used for display purposes. 
In September, Ford CEO Jim Farley said OEMs that have a direct-to-consumer sales model have a $2,000 advantage per vehicle versus Ford's dealership model. Ford has been taking a page out of Tesla's book, requiring that dealerships have Level 2 and DC fast charging for the Mach-E, with at least one DC fast charger available to the public. Ford is also requiring transparent, non-negotiable pricing available online. "We have been studying Tesla closely, especially with how their brand has scaled with units and operations in Norway, and what we have noticed is that they have almost 1,200 employees now and they have very much dealer-like facilities and we think that is the direction they will go as they scale their operations in the United States," said Farley in 2022. Tesla is not the only EV manufacturer being blocked from direct sales in many states; in November, Lucid Motors filed a lawsuit in federal court against DMV officials to obtain the right to establish its own dealerships in Texas. "This prohibition is pure economic protectionism for the benefit of Texas' existing auto dealers," said Lucid's lawyers during the court briefing. Tesla, despite moving its headquarters to Austin, is not allowed to provide direct sales, with sales occurring online as out-of-state transactions. In 2015, Gov. Greg Abbott denied Tesla a change to the state's auto franchise law, while the lobbyist group, Texas Automobile Dealership Association, advocated for the status quo. Eight years later, however, the Governor broke ground with Elon Musk for Tesla's $1B lithium refinery in the Corpus Christi area, which according to its plans, would employ 250 full-time employees and create 1,000 construction jobs. |     | |
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| 2 | | FreightTech company CloudTrucks reportedly laid off 40% of its staff (the company had 112 employees in 2022). "In this tough freight market, we must focus on operating efficiently so we can best serve our customers and maintain competitive rates," said CloudTruck's CEO and co-founder Tobenna Arodiogbu. The startup, which connects businesses with small fleet operators through an app, has been impacted by two interconnected macroeconomic trends: technology companies focusing on lowering costs to extend runways and the decline in cargo shipments. 
California-based CloudTrucks raised a $115M Series B led by Tiger Global in November 2021 after increasing its revenue 9.5x since its $20.5M Series A in December 2020. The Series B included participation from Flexport and angel investors Michael Ovitz and Opendoor CEO Eric Wu. In November 2021, the company was valued at $850M post-money versus its valuation of $90.5M a year earlier. Similarly, Chicago-based logistics solutions provider Loadsmart's valuation jumped from $330M to $1.4B between November 2020 and January 2022, with the backing of Class I freight railroad company CSX Transportation. CloudTrucks is one of more than 730 tech companies that experienced layoffs affecting ~201,000 employees since the start of the year, per Layoffs.fyi. The has also been affected by the decline in truckload demand, impacting freight companies such as DHL Supply Chain, which laid off 80 employees, and GXO Logistics, parting ways with 105 workers in May. In February, digital freight platform Convoy announced it would go through a restructuring process after closing its Atlanta office and laying off an undisclosed amount of employees. U.S. Xpress conducted its third round of layoffs within 12 months in mid-May, laying off more than 360 employees in total. USX had reported an operating loss of $210M in the first quarter, down from an operating income of $7.9B during the same period the previous year. U.S. Xpress said it did not expect a favorable Q2 compared to previous quarters; however, its stock is up 243.54% year-to-date, primarily drawing interest from the public markets amid the surfacing of the news of its acquisition by Knight-Swift for $808M. Yet, FreightWave's National Truckload seven-day average index indicates a decline to late 2019/early 2020 levels at 2.25, from its peak surpassing 3.50 in late 2021/early 2022. The decline is present across modes, as the International Air Transport Association said this week that air cargo would decline by 3.8% in 2023, projecting a 33% decline in cargo revenue to $142.3B. The year-to-date average composite index per container reached $1,851 per 40 ft. container for sea cargo, $837 lower than the 10-year average. Yet, companies that depend on truck freight may get respite as a slowdown in International Longshore and Warehouse Union work has created congestion along West Coast ports, which is spreading along railroads. 
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- The EPA is reportedly giving Rivian's R1S a certified range of 305.79 miles, up from the 300 miles the company had estimated.
- Daimler Bus began production of fuel-cell capabilities for the eCitaro in combination with Mercedes-Benz lithium-ion batteries.
- Budget carrier Ryanair canceled 400 flights (12.5% of its operations) due to a workers' strike in France.
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INSIDE TRANSPORTATION LEADERBOARD (ALL-TIME) |
 | Sr. Analyst | | Nicolas S. is a Sr. Analyst at Inside, covering transportation and startup trends. He is an avid map maker and data nerd. Nicolas has worked in the shared-scooter space, as well as advised e-bike and moped startups. Follow him at @MobilityNerd. | | This newsletter was edited by Aaron Crutchfield | |
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