Tesla Joins New Coalition Effort to Change How the Power Grid is Managed; Tesla Stock (NASDAQ:TSLA) Jumps

It is little surprise that electric vehicle giant Tesla TSLA +1.98% ▲ would have an active interest in how the power grid is managed. Between the fact that Tesla cars consume electricity from said grid, Tesla’s AI ambitions will depend on regular power flow, and several elements of Tesla work to augment or even replace the grid, the grid has a deep meaning to Tesla. Thus it joined a coalition of businesses eager to change how the grid is regulated. The news was apparently welcome to investors, as Tesla shares were up over 2% in Wednesday afternoon’s trading.

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Tesla, together with Alphabet GOOGL +0.76% ▲ , data center developer Verrus, and several others got together to express the idea that the power grid is actually being underutilized. This is an unexpected departure from the norm, as most believe the power grid should be used less due to its aging, fractured nature. But that is the idea that the new coalition known as Utilize is addressing.

Utilize noted that the power grid is designed for “brief bursts of high demand,” and most of the time, is actually running at a bare fraction of its capacity. This is true, for the most part. But Utilize believes that the grid can be delivering power on a regular basis, and routing that power into functions like battery storage, so-called virtual power plants, and demand response mechanisms. And so, it is petitioning the government to change the power grid accordingly.

Another Blow to Tesla

Meanwhile, Tesla competitor Lucid LCID +1.17% ▲ delivered another blow to Tesla. The blow is comparatively minor, but may well knock a couple fence-sitting customers into Lucid’s camp over Tesla’s. Specifically, Lucid will have Apple AAPL -0.10% ▼ CarPlay support in the Gravity SUV, even as Tesla itself works to add such support to any model.

Lucid noted that CarPlay support was standard on all Lucid Gravity SUVs, and current owners would get a free over-the-air update that added CarPlay functionality to current systems starting March 12. Lucid’s senior vice president of engineering and software Emad Dlala noted, “We are now providing a seamless connection between mobile devices and the Lucid Gravity. We’re excited to introduce these features to Lucid Gravity, which now offers even greater comfort and convenience for owners.”

Is Tesla a Buy, Hold or Sell?

Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on TSLA stock based on 13 Buys, 11 Holds, and seven Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 60.92% rally in its share price over the past year, the average TSLA price target of $399.25 per share implies 1.98% upside potential.

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