2017 Investor Roundtable:General Discussion

[EarlyAdopter]

So we should expect the government to break Tesla up when, exactly? Well, probably not the next administration, but...

I think we probably a ways off from that. I give it a good 10-15 years before the reality of this dawns on regulators. More to the point, natural monopolies are fine, so long as the position isn't used to harm consumers or new entrants. I don't see that happening with Tesla under Musk.

 

[generalenthu]

Dont know about Model Y, but I think something is definitely up with Tunnels. It make absolutely no sense for Elon to stretch a joke for so long and keep Tunnels in his Twitter bio along with SpaceX, Tesla & OpenAI.

I don't remember but can someone confirm if he had SCTY in his Twitter bio before the merger? If it was there before, it means he is keeping his bio accurately updated. In that case the question is, wth is this Tunnel company!

Edit: Ok just checked Wayback machine. Elon had SCTY in his bio till Dec. 18th (a month after the merger finalization), after which he updated his bio to include Tunnels. I guess it was just a joke and Elon forgot to update his bio since then.

It is not a joke. Mars habitats are going to be underground and need prodigious amounts of tunnel digging. How better to perfect that than by creating a boring company on earth.

 

[MitchJi]

So... there's a lot of good info in the Gigafactory tour video posted here (Aug 2016):

This tour guide gave far more information than the tour guide I had who unfortunately was too tired to really say all that much by the time I was going through. This guy talks about section and section sizes, 75 cells per second going from the south to the north, and number of cells per tray, and stuff like that. There are two cathode ovens in Section B, btw, of which we saw one during the tour. 80% energy reduction for one of the major energy consumers in the factory.

If you haven't taken the tour, this is a great video that runs you through what we saw. My tour included a few Panasonic employees that provided some information on the parts that are Tesla and the parts that are Panasonic.

Good video. Thanks! Three observations:
1. Steel cell cans.

2. Output from the sections containing six ovens will be 75 cells per second.

3. Two trays (?) per modules, one module per Powerwall, sixteen modules per powerpack and per MS.

 

[Papafox]

More video of the 2170 lines.

Psychologist: "Just when did the nightmares begin?"
TSLA Short: "Early January. I keep seeing these 2170 cells, thousands of them marching my way and there's nothing I can do to stop them!"
Psychologist: "Ah, I see. The solution is really quite simple. Put your name on the Model 3 reservation list and go long in your TSLA trading. You'll sleep much better at night."

 

[LargeHamCollider]

...

3. Two trays (?) per modules, one module per Powerwall, sixteen modules per powerpack and per MS.

Two modules per pod, one pod per Powerwall, sixteen pods per Powerpack, sixteen *modules* per MS.

 

[tander]

Can you imagine what it would have looked like if Standard Oil and Ford Motor merged.

We're looking at that right here, right now.

It's hard to believe how few people see it that way. Sometimes I wonder if that's why he originally split tsla and scty up, because if he'd gone around saying he was going to do both at the same time he would have been seen as either too bold or a competitor and squashed before having a solid foothold.

So we should expect the government to break Tesla up when, exactly? Well, probably not the next administration, but...

Oh noTesla was just bailing out a company that was about to go under right?

 

[dennis]

An article in Forbes yesterday with some detail on the Google/Waymo self-driving Pacifica's. Apparently Waymo has built their own hardware sensor suite that is optimized for autonomous driving. Based on Waymo's pitch it sounds a lot more sophisticated than AP2. They also have their own software stack so it is a turnkey system. Interesting speculation at the end of the article on how they might deploy it.

Google Spin-off Waymo Set To Become Full-Fledged Automated Driving Provider

 

[graphix25]

Gigafactory Jan 4th Handout published on Tesla IR. An interesting read.

http://ir.tesla.com/eventdetail.cfm?EventID=179079

 

[Ovulation]

An article in Forbes yesterday with some detail on the Google/Waymo self-driving Pacifica's. Apparently Waymo has built their own hardware sensor suite that is optimized for autonomous driving. Based on Waymo's pitch it sounds a lot more sophisticated than AP2. They also have their own software stack so it is a turnkey system. Interesting speculation at the end of the article on how they might deploy it.

Google Spin-off Waymo Set To Become Full-Fledged Automated Driving Provider

Hard to say, there is a chance that Google did a overkill with all the sensors, they are a software and datamining company so they want all the data that they can get (sensors, sensors, sensors). Tesla on the other has a hardware 1 experience and (maybe) learned what is missing and what they have to add. I just don't think Tesla would advertise with "Full Self-Driving Hardware on All Cars" when they don't have working full autonomy test cars.

 

[Yggdrasill]

Gigafactory Jan 4th Handout published on Tesla IR. An interesting read.

Tesla Gigafactory 1 Investor Event | Tesla Motors

Definitely an interesting read.

This is the first time I've seen a MW figure for the solar array, so I would guess they are getting closer to starting to install solar. They may wait for the SCTY/Panasonic cells, though.

The Gigafactory is really starting to gain momentum. I would recommend going to youtube and watching the 4K Gigafactory drone video from easter, then watching the 4k drone video from December. Huge difference in a mere 9 months. (Though the easter-video seems to have been filmed outside working hours and the December video in working hours, which certainly adds to the impact.)

 

[SwTslaGrl]

^It's interesting, perhaps it's my non-native English but I would have preferred the wording "The factory will produce.." to be "The factory is producing.."

 

[MitchJi]

My 3 Biggest Stock Holdings in 2017 -- The Motley Fool


Tesla Motors: A big opportunity
My investment thesis: After garnering about 400,000 deposit-backed reservations for its Model 3, Tesla has previewed a large market for electric vehicles. And the company's consistent 50% annualized growth in vehicle deliveries paired with its big investments for even more growth in the years to come set the automaker up to maintain its leadership position in a fast-growing market.

The biggest risk: Tesla's $38 billion market capitalization already prices in significant growth. Therefore, if the company has trouble executing on its growth plans, it may miss an opportunity to reinforce its leadership position and subsequently fail to live up to the market's optimistic expectations.

 

[Gerardf]

Gigafactory Jan 4th Handout published on Tesla IR. An interesting read.
Tesla Gigafactory 1 Investor Event | Tesla Motors

Drawing shows : "Model-3 Battery pack" manufacturing area, that was part of the tour route (stop-1). WOW !

Hope our moderator does not make us wait very much longer on his description what there was to see there !
Was there a prototype pack ?

 

[Hogfighter]

Did anyone else notice at the bottom of the brochure.....that an 'Andrea James' is in Tesla's investor relations division?

 

[graphix25]

Drawing shows : "Model-3 Battery pack" manufacturing area, that was part of the tour route (stop-1). WOW !

Hope our moderator does not make us wait very much longer on his description what there was to see there !
Was there a prototype pack ?

After my head exploded reading through the document. My next thought was to share with my Tesla Motor Club friends. Then like you my thoughts turned to our moderator has been holding out on us.

I'm so enjoying watching the birth of a electric revolution unfold. Tesla is going to become a giant.

 

[AlMc]

More info from Fred L. learned from the GF get together and subsequent document release;

Tesla reveals more details about ‘Gigafactory 1’: Model 3 battery pack, largest rooftop solar array in the world (70MW), & more

 

[bonaire]

Did anyone else notice at the bottom of the brochure.....that an 'Andrea James' is in Tesla's investor relations division?

discussed in other threads and elsewhere that Andrea James started working in Tesla IR sometime in the fall of 2016.

Inside Tesla investor relations with Andrea James - Skogrand PR

And Dougherty offering Tesla Test drives at their conference.
Conference | Dougherty & Company LLC

 

[JRP3]

TSLA Short: "Early January. I keep seeing these 2170 cells, thousands of them marching my way and there's nothing I can do to stop them!"

Like bullets from a machine gun, aimed right at the shorts

 

[kenliles]

Like bullets from a machine gun, aimed right at the shorts

2170 Dreadnought brain cells
aiming to shortout the shorter's brain cells

"It’s a bit like a battery being charged by a solar cell."
Firing up brain cells with light

 

[Krugerrand]

It's hard to believe how few people see it that way. Sometimes I wonder if that's why he originally split tsla and scty up, because if he'd gone around saying he was going to do both at the same time he would have been seen as either too bold or a competitor and squashed before having a solid foothold.

You need to reread what you wrote and then consider who you are talking about.