Tesla

[Submariner]

Musk is a hype man and it will be his undoing.  People have limited tolerance for big talkers who can't back it up.  Especially when they keep failing to live up to the hype and don't ever seem to learn some humility or to tone down their claims to something more achievable.

Musk made Pay Pal and self funded an entire family of revolutionary launch vehicles.  The Falcon IX heavy has a significantly higher payload to LEO than the comparable Delta IV heavy and costs 1/4th as much to purchase.  That alone makes the Falcon one of the greatest achievements in space flight since the Saturn V launched.

He is hardly a hype man.   

[GoCougs]

If they are smart, which I imagine they would be as they've left, I imagine they would be.

It's a shame, because Tesla should represent a new way of starting and running a car company.

The auto industry is a tough go for all sorts of reasons; namely, unions, long product development cycles, razor thin margins, and trying to guess (or force) regulation du jour.

Tesla has all those issues, plus the fact that no automaker makes money hybrids and EVs...

[MX793]

Musk made Pay Pal and self funded an entire family of revolutionary launch vehicles.  The Falcon IX heavy has a significantly higher payload to LEO than the comparable Delta IV heavy and costs 1/4th as much to purchase.  That alone makes the Falcon one of the greatest achievements in space flight since the Saturn V launched.

He is hardly a hype man.   

As far as Tesla, and the Model 3 especially, is concerned, it's a lot of hype and a lot of unmet expectations.  Mass marketing and manufacture of durable goods is an entirely different animal from web-based services or making rockets.

[Galaxy]

As far as Tesla, and the Model 3 especially, is concerned, it's a lot of hype and a lot of unmet expectations.  Mass marketing and manufacture of durable goods is an entirely different animal from web-based services or making rockets.

That may be true. But the whole Tesla infrastructure did send a shock wave through the car industry. I think hype is a bit strongly worded.

[12,000 RPM]

Ruh roh. Looks like that ex Tesla employee had an ad to grind. He supposedly sent a nasty email to Musk and admitted to hacking the system to steal files. Probably doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Actually might exacerbate Musk's paranoia

[MrH]

Tesla is suing him.  This discovery is going to be fun.

[GoCougs]

That may be true. But the whole Tesla infrastructure did send a shock wave through the car industry. I think hype is a bit strongly worded.

SpaceX's finances are secret since it's not a public company, but I suspect it's a train wreck there too. Many launches have major losses and the economics of reusable (rebuildible) rockets have not been proven.

[GoCougs]

Tesla is suing him.  This discovery is going to be fun.

LOL at companies publicly announcing personnel issues. What narcissism and lack of awareness. Jesus.

[MX793]

SpaceX's finances are secret since it's not a public company, but I suspect it's a train wreck there too. Many launches have major losses and the economics of reusable (rebuildible) rockets have not been proven.

This.  Wasn't there a string of explosions at launch a year or two ago that suspended operations for months?

[MrH]

LOL at companies publicly announcing personnel issues. What narcissism and lack of awareness. Jesus.

Did you see the emails back and forth?  Elon is running 5 companies, one of which is burning to the ground, and he's calling this dude a terrible person and getting in an email match with him

I'm guessing some serious cash flow issues become apparent at this next quarterly call.

[12,000 RPM]

Damn when the big homie Scott Galloway speaks sporty listens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qZelBNCwr8

When your investor calls sound like Enron's...........................................................

Tave where you at brodie. Bring some levity and balance, tell us it's going to be fine

[Submariner]

This.  Wasn't there a string of explosions at launch a year or two ago that suspended operations for months?

The Falcon 9 has had 56 launches, 54 successful flights, one failure, and one partial failure.  On that particular flight, a single engine suffered a structural failure and was shut down.  The remaining engines burned longer to compensate, and injected the cargo (a Dragon capsule) into orbit as planned. 

The success/failure rate is roughly in line with the Atlas V (78 launches, 77 successes, one partial failure) and the Delta IV (36 launches, 35 successes, one partial failure which still placed the cargo in a useful orbit).

As for the Falcon Heavy; a fully expendable 9 Heavy costs $150m, and has a 70t to LEO capacity.  The Delta IV, costs $400m with a 30t to LEO capacity.  A fully recoverable 9 Heavy has a 50t to LEO capacity and costs $90m.  The difference is enormous. 

[Morris Minor]

There is also a multi-billion dollar industry whose payday is predicated solely on sabotaging Tesla.

I take it all with a grain of salt. I'm sure we'd see some real shit if we saw the pharma industry's dirty laundry.

This would not be unprecedented: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy

[12,000 RPM]

Are they shuttering SolarCity????

https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2018/06/tesla-closing-dozen-solar-facilities-dark-times-ahead

[Galaxy]

Apparently Germany has been selected for the european Gigafactory.

[Morris Minor]

Read an interesting opinion piece today, excerpt:
"In fact, the real news is that governments everywhere have decided, perversely, that electric cars will not be profitable. In every major market—the U.S., Europe, China—the same political dispensation now applies: Established auto makers effectively will be required to make and sell electric cars at a loss in order to continue profiting from gas-powered vehicles.

This has rapidly become the institutional structure of the electric-car industry world-wide, for the benefit of the incumbents, whether GM in the U.S. or Daimler in Germany. Let's face it, the political class always had a bigger investment in these incumbents than it ever did in Tesla."
More (paywalled): https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-tesla-crackup-foretold-1529706954?mod=hp_opin_pos3

Bottom line is Tesla needs a profitable ICE vehicle (WSJ suggested a pickup truck) to subsidize its EVs.

[giant_mtb]

Tesla pickup? lawl.

[MrH]

Apparently Germany has been selected for the european Gigafactory.

Lol with what money? They can't even finish the one they started.

[Soup DeVille]

Lol with what money? They can't even finish the one they started.

Just wait until EU-OSHA, and the myriad German health and safety organizations and unions start getting ahold
of them.

[MrH]

The guy can't figure out how to manufacture a car, hit a timeline or launch, and is relegated to hand assembling in a tent, bringing vehicles in via tugger carts. There's no way they're going to be able to manufacture in Germany.

[AutobahnSHO]

It's all a political game, not a logical, common-sense, or financial game.

[Morris Minor]

Tesla pickup? lawl.

WSJ & Musk have been at loggerheads for a long time. They're getting in a dig.

[Laconian]

WSJ & Musk have been at loggerheads for a long time. They're getting in a dig.

It's quite transparent. Want to know who's on Rupert Murdoch's shitlist? Skim the WSJ.

[12,000 RPM]

The Onion comes to life

https://electrek.co/2018/06/22/elon-musk-considers-crowdsourcing-tesla-manufacturing-owners-build-parts-of-cars/amp/

Elon Musk is actually thinking of having owners build parts of Tesla vehicles, but it's for the experience – not to actually ramp up production.

[CaminoRacer]

You can help build your Corvette engine (or at least you used to be able to), so this isn't completely out of nowhere.

[Laconian]

You can help build your Corvette engine (or at least you used to be able to), so this isn't completely out of nowhere.

What's there to do with an electric car? Plugging in fat DIN connectors?

[Galaxy]

You can help build your Corvette engine (or at least you used to be able to), so this isn't completely out of nowhere.

VW did something similar with the Phaeton.

[Laconian]

VW did something similar with the Phaeton.

Warranty claim reduction. It makes the driver feel partially responsible for their cars' inevitable failings.

[Tave]

Damn when the big homie Scott Galloway speaks sporty listens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qZelBNCwr8

When your investor calls sound like Enron's...........................................................

Tave where you at brodie. Bring some levity and balance, tell us it's going to be fine

I'm enjoying the hysterics but I've been too busy moving to do much more than check in every once in awhile. Currently crushing some flautas and brews in San Francisco and trying to decide how many of these recreational chocolate squares I want for desert.

[Laconian]

I'm enjoying the hysterics but I've been too busy moving to do much more than check in every once in awhile. Currently crushing some flautas and brews in San Francisco and trying to decide how many of these recreational chocolate squares I want for desert.

How many mg per square? What's your tolerance; do you partake in recreational chocolate often?