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10/21 Munich Tesla Event with Elon Musk

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Unsurprised.

If you're a board member of Tesla Motors and didn't see this coming as "non-news" (from an insider executive perspective) then you need to improve your attendance. ;)

And why not let Tesla do the test marketing. If it goes well enough, MB can join in using their branding and Tesla's drive train. Potentially a win-win for both companies.

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He's quoted in he talk as saying
"Oh god, fuel cell is so bullsh*t. Hydrogen is suitable for the upper stage of rockets, but not for cars."

That ought to get some folks stirred up

He's just saying what's true. Fuel cell vehicles are just a delaying tactic by the fossil fuel industry. If it ever works, they'll still be selling fossil fuel in the form of hydrogen. If it doesn't, it just preventing the more practical solution (BEVs) from taking off as soon as it should/must.

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Yes, yes...that came after I graduated. I was talking about the bottles of whiteout that you painted on like nail polish, blew on for 5 minutes to dry it, then retyped over it.
.

Well, liquid paper or Whiteout didn't become available until '56. My mother told me I needed to learn to type and I took a typing class around '54 or '55. I was still in junior high Even in high school, we used "onion skin" paper and erased the mistakes.
 
He's quoted in he talk as saying
"Oh god, fuel cell is so bullsh*t. Hydrogen is suitable for the upper stage of rockets, but not for cars."

That ought to get some folks stirred up

He's being totally consistent. From an old interview: PandoMonthly Presents A Fireside Chat With Elon Musk - YouTube

(Hydrogen cars are obvious nonsense. The gas from them leaks into its surroundings faster than a 4.0 Model S vampire load can empty the battery. And once hydrogen collects in a relatively closed environment, a little arc from your light switch is enough to make it explode violently. BMW actually told users of its 7 class hydrogen test fleet they can not park the thing in a garage, but you won't find that in the marketing materials..)
 
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And gone again?

Text from Press release is:

Elon Musk, co-founder and
CEOicon1.png
of Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA), visited Munich and Berlin this week to announce three major developments for Model S customers in Germany as Tesla increases European deliveries throughout the fourth quarter and ramps up further in 2014.
(Photo: Tesla Motors Announces Major Developments for Germany - PR Newswire Photos )
"Tesla is going to make a significant investment in Germany," said Musk. "This is a country that appreciates automotive engineering, which makes it extremely important to us. To have the Model S be well received as it enters the German market is a key step for Tesla."The first major investment is the accelerated deployment of Superchargers in Germany. Within the next month, ground will be broken in locations to energize the corridors between Munich and Stuttgart, Munichand Zurich, Switzerland, and Cologne and Frankfurt. The network in Germany will quickly expand to include routes between Frankfurt and Stuttgart and Stuttgart and Zurich. By the end of March 2014, more than 50 percent of Germany will be covered by Tesla's Supercharger network, with 100 percent of the country covered by the middle of the year. In fact, by the end of 2014, Germany will have more Superchargers per capita than any other country. In addition, all Supercharger stations installed in Germany will be power upgraded to 135 kW to facilitate even faster free charging for long distance travel. Tesla wants to be very clear that this network will be open to German and
other auto manufacturers that design cars able to be charged at 135 kW.
Second is that Tesla will rapidly expand the number of service centres in Germany to ensure superior vehicle service and customer support to Model S owners. Five more service centres are planned to open in Germanyby the end of this year, and 80 percent of Germans will live within 100 km of a Tesla service centre by the end of 2014. This proximity and
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will facilitate exceptional responsiveness to Tesla customers throughout Germany.
Model S was built to be the best car in any country in the world, and in Germany this requires the highest caliber performance on the Autobahn. So Tesla's third announcement is that there will be free optional high speed tuning for Model S in Germany to optimize it for driving on the Autobahn. This custom tuning will be available to all customers in Germany, including retrofitting Model S that have already been delivered and are on the road.
 
Excerpt on an article sept 10th by "Sueddeutsche Zeitung" fair extravaganza by DB on the eve of the Frankfurt Motor Show titled "the auto industry is missing orientation".

Messe-Spektakel am Vorabend der IAA - Viel Blingbling, wenig Zukunftstechnik - Auto ddeutsche.de

Instead Dieter Zetsche conjures the ingenuity of Tesla CEO and cooperating partner Elon Musk. There have been times when Daimler was proud of his own ingenuity.

Back to the evening at the Tesla service center in munich.

Eventually someone in the audience asked Mr. Musk questions on production constraints, additional measures to ramp up production or even building another factory on another continent eventually china.
Mr. Musk replied panasonic will ramp up battery cell production by another 200 per cent until the end of 2014, which will enable Tesla to produce 1200 to 1500 a week, as well LG and samsung stepping in as additional producers of battery cells.

i know this is of no news to the forum members but i'am eager to mention this once again due to some posts about the outcome of this wonderful event.

their have been almost no questions by the audience on the company itself, but some questions on the roadster and a lot of questions on the Model S.
 
Added this little bit of info to the PR:
"Tesla wants to be very clear that this network will be open to German and other auto manufacturers that design cars able to be charged at 135 kW."
Considering Tesla charges to add the ability to charge at the Superchargers in its own cars, what sort of income could they derive from allowing other auto manufacturers to charge at the Superchargers?
Would an option on a BMW i8 be "Super Charger Enabled" cost $2000 like for the 65kwh Model S?
 
Well, liquid paper or Whiteout didn't become available until '56. My mother told me I needed to learn to type and I took a typing class around '54 or '55. I was still in junior high Even in high school, we used "onion skin" paper and erased the mistakes.

Just for the record, I want to put it out there that I'm not 'that' old. :smile: We weren't actually allowed to fix our typing errors in high school. Words per minute was tested by typing for 5 minutes straight with mistakes counting against the final rate. So, you either learned to be real accurate with your typing or you failed to reach the required words per minute rate to pass the course. Lots of people failed typing and it's not like I had nuns for teachers either. :wink:
 
- Germany is Top Focus for Tesla right now, planning big investments
- First 6 SuperCharger locations for Germany will be announced in a press release on Thursday
- SuperChargers will have 135kW
- there will be a free High Speed Performance Upgrade for the German Autobahn (also available as retrofit)
- until end of 2014 there will be 30 - 40 SuperCharger in Germany
- power folding mirrors can be retrofit
- the plan is to sell more Model S per person in Germany than in the US

With all due respect to Mr. Musk. That’s pushing it a bit.

Obviously he’s disappointed by the demand for the Model S in germany so far. But a “high speed package” and more superchargers are not going to change that. He is not going to get mass acceptance anytime soon. Anything above 100 cars a month would be a big surprise.

I believe Tesla could achieve much more in China with the same kind of investment. The germans don’t buy foreign cars in big quantities. They never have and they never will.

Even the Toyota Prius, a landmark car, failed here.
 
Even the Toyota Prius, a landmark car, failed here.

Well, at least to me the Prius is the anti-thesis of a car. I'm no surprised that it didn't sell in Germany. (And the hybrid version wasn't available for a long time)
Speaking of car brands in Germany. I see lots of foreign cars here from Italy, France, Japan and other countries. I don't see many US cars here as they have a bad reputation of being gas guzzlers and generally suck on the Autobahn.
So I think Elon addresses the right obstacles for being successful in Germany. It's a risk for sure, but the investment is still not that big as building out a super charger network in China, which would be a huge undertaking and might not lead to anything...
 
With all due respect to Mr. Musk. That’s pushing it a bit.

Obviously he’s disappointed by the demand for the Model S in germany so far. But a “high speed package” and more superchargers are not going to change that. He is not going to get mass acceptance anytime soon. Anything above 100 cars a month would be a big surprise.

I believe Tesla could achieve much more in China with the same kind of investment. The germans don’t buy foreign cars in big quantities. They never have and they never will.

Even the Toyota Prius, a landmark car, failed here.

I completely disagree. I think that Germany is a market where people are very particular about what they drive. Therefore, as a great car, the Model S has a potentially huge demand there. It is also a market that is looked to by other markets, so winning it gives a halo effect. Finally, Germany is sort of in the middle of Europe, so to be relevant the SC network needs to be strong there anyway - it is an investment they won't get around if they want to be strong in Europe.

I cannot see that there is a contradiction between focusing on Germany and focusing on China. I think investing heavily into SC in China would be premature now anyway, and they don't have capital constraints that would prevent them from doing both if need be. Neither do I think that the speed upgrade will be a big investment that somehow takes resources away from their China strategy.

What is fun is that you are making so specific predictions that we can come back later and discuss whether you were right or wrong. Many people are not brave enough to stick their necks out. I will stick my neck out and go on the record that anything below 100 cars/month in Germany would be a big surprise one year from now. (If I knew you better I would propose a bet ;-)).
 
With all due respect to Mr. Musk. That’s pushing it a bit.

Obviously he’s disappointed by the demand for the Model S in germany so far.
Even the Toyota Prius, a landmark car, failed here.
your post starts with a postulate that you have no clue about. Is it the 40 something registrations in Germany during the first month that leads you to that conclusion? If so registration data has been routinely wrong. Remember autodata routinely under reporting in USA by 2/3. Registrations delayed from delivery for weeks not remarkable for established car company at steady state but very remarkable for a company just showing up that month

if it's because he is there committing recourses to a large market that could be to drive it even further

your post is based on this assumption so the rest really doesn't mean much. Your track record also not very good here
 
The german market is dominated by the local brands, the Model S is not going to change that.

Most people who want to buy an electric car will take the i3. It comes from a local trusted brand. And you get 2 i3 for one Model S.

Lexus market share in germany is at about 0,2%.

Tesla will hardly surpass that even with the undeniable qualitites of the Model S.
 
The german market is dominated by the local brands, the Model S is not going to change that.

Most people who want to buy an electric car will take the i3. It comes from a local trusted brand. And you get 2 i3 for one Model S.
But less than half the range, a little over half the amount of seats, almost twice the 0-100 km/h time, etc. The Model S is a lot more car, of course it will cost more.

Lexus market share in germany is at about 0,2%.

Tesla will hardly surpass that even with the undeniable qualitites of the Model S.
0.2% of the German car market translates to 500 cars a month. Tesla doesn't need to surpass that by very much when it comes to the Model S.