I have been a Tesla owner for over 14 years and an investor for over 11. Mostly a hold investor and growing my little stake over the years. I lead or helped lead, over 20 EV ride and drive events. Always promoting Tesla in the process. But I am sad to say it seems to be time for me to get out.
I fully believed in Tesla’s and Elon’s vision for sustainable transportation and a sustainable future. Unfortunately, I am no longer sure that is Elon’s current focus. And if it is not Elon’s focus it will not be Tesla’s focus. I am fine with Elon pursuing FSD and Optimus, but not at the expense of the sustainable vision. Please let me know if I am wrong.
But seeing:
- The Semi being very SLOOWLY introduced, a good 3 years late.
- The Tesla Roadster 2 being some 4 years late (likely good halo car).
- The SuperCharger team being sacked with no explanation given. Especially after NAS became the standard, and has been Tesla’s crown jewels. But focus is gone before the other manufacturers have modified their cars to use it.
- EV growth being walked back, significantly, way back.
- Model 3 losing the tax credit, resulting in a 20% price increase, and likely a good part of the sales drop.
- Dropped plans for a smaller value model.
- Strong walk back on Tesla Solar.
- Mexico being slow walked
While at the same time:
- Huge build up for FSD and while it is much better, for me it still falls well short of Level 4. And with clear promises for 7 years that it is just around the corner I can’t see betting the company on it. Even when my hand is clearly on the wheel I get frequent nags.
- Twitter diversion, at a minimum a loss of focus.
- Optimus build up, again it could be a cool future product but does not promote sustainability.
Maybe my mind is too small to understand, and the new growth platforms may truly be the future. But they are not the sustainable future that I had bought into, hook, line and sinker. But so many changes from the vision I thought Elon had has me second guessing my strong support.
I am surprised to hear this from a long-term Tesla supporter.
FSD is a high priority because each EV with FSD would be capable of replacing 10 gasoline vehicles.
FSD can help increase demand for EVs.
Optimus is a high priority because it could reduce manufacturing costs and help scale car production down the road.
Every project's delay had valid reasons behind it.
Tesla said they will not stop until every gasoline car on the street is gone. I trust them.
Edit:
I will add my two cents to address your other points:
"The Semi being very SLOWLY introduced, a good 3 years late."
- If Tesla engineers have been sitting around doing nothing, then you have a valid point. You should know how hard Tesla engineers pushed themselves on all these projects. The Semi is a product that requires extreme reliability. They produced some, tested them in the real world, and are now redesigning some parts, including changing from a 2-axle drive to a 3-axle drive. If you think it took too long, try working on these projects and see how easy it is.
- Meanwhile, Tesla put in a crazy amount of effort to get the Cybertruck out. This will be a high-impact product.
"The Tesla Roadster 2 being some 4 years late (likely a good halo car)."
- This is a low-impact project but can take a lot of resources to make it perfect.
"The SuperCharger team being sacked with no explanation given. Especially after NACS became the standard, and has been Tesla’s crown jewel. But focus is gone before other manufacturers have modified their cars to use it."
- We don't know what Elon is planning. He did say they will continue to grow the Supercharger network and focus on 100% availability. Have Superchargers been a bottleneck? Someone who traveled 100k miles using Superchargers said he had never waited at a station. I never had to wait in line either.
"EV growth being walked back, significantly, way back."
- No, Elon said we are between two major growth waves. They are preparing for the next big wave.
"Model 3 losing the tax credit, resulting in a 20% price increase and likely a good part of the sales drop."
- Supply chains take a long time to plan. You should blame the government, not Tesla, for this.
"Dropped plans for a smaller value model."
- A cheaper model is coming earlier than planned.
- The Robotaxi could still be two models, one being a cheaper model.
"Strong walk-back on Tesla Solar."
- Running a business is like fighting a war; you have to deal with everything with limited resources. Solar industry itself is progressing well, even if Tesla completely pulled out of it, solar industry would continue to grow. On the other hand, Tesla put in a lot of effort to grow energy storage business.
"Mexico being slow-walked."
- At the moment, even the current lines are not fully utilized. Do you want them to add more production capacity right away?
"Twitter diversion, at a minimum a loss of focus."
- Elon said if we lose to the woke mind virus, we would lose everything—the Tesla mission, the SpaceX mission, the business, shareholder value—everything would be gone. I agree with him on this view. We are still not out of the woods yet.