This is the FAQ for TMC's TSLA Investor Discussions threads.
The purpose of this set of forums is to discuss items and issues relevant to investment of TSLA stock, factors affecting the stock price and personal forecasts of quarterly earnings report results. The main thread is Tesla, TSLA & the Investment World: the Perpetual Investors' Roundtable.
Posting Behavior
Any TMC member in good standing can post a message to any forum without review. Each forum is moderated, with varying moderation standards applied to each subforum. It is expected that messages posted are in good taste, not offensive to others and relevant to the forum in some way. Personal attacks and innuendo (whether intended or not) will be dealt with swiftly. Language and images used should be safe for viewers to see in the work environment. Since this is an international forum, it is not uncommon for messages to contain English spelling or grammatical errors, and it is considered to be a personal attack to ridicule or correct them, so long as their meaning is clear.
The Main Thread
The main thread is a high volume thread, with up to hundreds of postings per day. Expectations are that anything posted there has direct relevance to investors and the investing process. If you have something to post there, it is expected that you review recent unread posts to make sure that someone else has not already posted the information. When posting an offsite link, always provide a description of what is at the link and justify why you are posting it. Don't just post an isolated link without your own comment or description. If multi-message argument or debate occurs on some tangential subject, the messages will likely be moved to another subforum. Some tolerance to off topic subjects is shown outside of US trading hours (evenings and weekends), but respect, dignity and good taste are still the standard. It is considered good practice to mark off topic postings with a line containing "OT" at or near the beginning of the message.
This is not a chat room. It is expected that each message should have content of interest and somehow contributes some value to an observing user, who is typically a TSLA investor. A "me too" message is of low interest. Posting your personal buy/sell strategy might be of interest (as long as it does not duplicate someone else's), but providing personal details including actual stock purchases, stock sales, how much you made, net worth and where you live is probably not a good idea.
Copyright
Do not copy substantial portions of an external article to your message. If you find an external item of interest, provide your version of a summary and link to the information. Don't just copy it.
Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt ("FUD")
FUD is high volume on some external sites. Posting your own "original" FUD here, especially on the main thread, is a quick way to be sidelined, put on probation and/or see your message(s) deleted. Just posting a link to Seeking Alpha with no justification is a recipe for an immediate ban. It is somewhat acceptable to describe a "new" FUD issue at an external site as long as it is clearly labelled for information and/or discussion, but this is still a place where angels fear to tread. Please don't tell us that a Tesla pollutes more than an ICE car or that Tesla is going bankrupt or that there is a lack of demand for one or more Tesla Models. We've all heard it before. Yes we have. There is a special thread dedicated to discussion of rumors and FUD: Articles re Tesla—Fact or Fiction?
Moderation
Moderators potentially take action after an irrelevant or offensive message is posted.
A moderator can move, reassign or delete posts, and can put a posting user on probation, suspend posting activities ("ban") a user from posting for a short period of time or execute a permanent ban after one or more warnings. A person on probation will have each of their postings reviewed before being accepted to the forum. If you are new to the forum and want a quick start, the moderators (who have to read every post) have a special thread for copies of Moderators' Choice: Posts of Particular Merit
Glossary of Acronyms, Terms and Abbreviations
General
Batteries, Battery Chemistries
The purpose of this set of forums is to discuss items and issues relevant to investment of TSLA stock, factors affecting the stock price and personal forecasts of quarterly earnings report results. The main thread is Tesla, TSLA & the Investment World: the Perpetual Investors' Roundtable.
Posting Behavior
Any TMC member in good standing can post a message to any forum without review. Each forum is moderated, with varying moderation standards applied to each subforum. It is expected that messages posted are in good taste, not offensive to others and relevant to the forum in some way. Personal attacks and innuendo (whether intended or not) will be dealt with swiftly. Language and images used should be safe for viewers to see in the work environment. Since this is an international forum, it is not uncommon for messages to contain English spelling or grammatical errors, and it is considered to be a personal attack to ridicule or correct them, so long as their meaning is clear.
The Main Thread
The main thread is a high volume thread, with up to hundreds of postings per day. Expectations are that anything posted there has direct relevance to investors and the investing process. If you have something to post there, it is expected that you review recent unread posts to make sure that someone else has not already posted the information. When posting an offsite link, always provide a description of what is at the link and justify why you are posting it. Don't just post an isolated link without your own comment or description. If multi-message argument or debate occurs on some tangential subject, the messages will likely be moved to another subforum. Some tolerance to off topic subjects is shown outside of US trading hours (evenings and weekends), but respect, dignity and good taste are still the standard. It is considered good practice to mark off topic postings with a line containing "OT" at or near the beginning of the message.
This is not a chat room. It is expected that each message should have content of interest and somehow contributes some value to an observing user, who is typically a TSLA investor. A "me too" message is of low interest. Posting your personal buy/sell strategy might be of interest (as long as it does not duplicate someone else's), but providing personal details including actual stock purchases, stock sales, how much you made, net worth and where you live is probably not a good idea.
Copyright
Do not copy substantial portions of an external article to your message. If you find an external item of interest, provide your version of a summary and link to the information. Don't just copy it.
Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt ("FUD")
FUD is high volume on some external sites. Posting your own "original" FUD here, especially on the main thread, is a quick way to be sidelined, put on probation and/or see your message(s) deleted. Just posting a link to Seeking Alpha with no justification is a recipe for an immediate ban. It is somewhat acceptable to describe a "new" FUD issue at an external site as long as it is clearly labelled for information and/or discussion, but this is still a place where angels fear to tread. Please don't tell us that a Tesla pollutes more than an ICE car or that Tesla is going bankrupt or that there is a lack of demand for one or more Tesla Models. We've all heard it before. Yes we have. There is a special thread dedicated to discussion of rumors and FUD: Articles re Tesla—Fact or Fiction?
Moderation
Moderators potentially take action after an irrelevant or offensive message is posted.
A moderator can move, reassign or delete posts, and can put a posting user on probation, suspend posting activities ("ban") a user from posting for a short period of time or execute a permanent ban after one or more warnings. A person on probation will have each of their postings reviewed before being accepted to the forum. If you are new to the forum and want a quick start, the moderators (who have to read every post) have a special thread for copies of Moderators' Choice: Posts of Particular Merit
Glossary of Acronyms, Terms and Abbreviations
General
- AP - AutoPilot
- ASP - Average Sales Price
- AWD - All Wheel Drive
- BEV - Battery Electric Vehicle
- CT - Cybertruck - see https://www.tesla.com/cybertruck
- Dojo - Tesla's Neural Network Training supercomputer (used for FSD, to be released for general AI/NN training aps to the public)
- EAP - Enhanced Auto Pilot
- EM / EMSK - Elon Musk
- FSD - Full Self Driving
- FUD - Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt
- GF0 - Original Fremont Factory
- GF1 - Gigafactory Nevada
- GF2 - Gigafactory New York
- GF3 - Gigafactory Shanghai
- GF4 - Gigafactory Berlin
- GF5 - Gigafactory Texas
- HW3 - FSD Hardware version 3.
- HW4 - FSD Hardware version 4 - expected to be 4X faster, to be intro first for the CT, produced by Samsung in their new factory near Austin
- ICE - Internal Combustion Engine (or a vehicle that has one)
- IDRA - Giga Press producer- (world's largest) die casting press for Tesla's single part front and rear underbodies
- LR - Long Range
- Ludicrous mode - on-demand driving mode for Performance models enabling faster acceleration (60 mph /2.4 sec on MS)
- M3 - Model 3
- MCU - Media Control Unit
- MIB - Made in Berlin/Brandenburg Gigafactory
- MIC - Made in China (Shanghai) Gigafactory
- MIF - Made in Fremont
- MIT - Made in Texas (Austin) Gigafactory
- MR - Medium Range
- MS - Model S
- MX - Model X
- MY - Model Y
- Octovalve - integrated valve /heat pump system introduced May 2020 for the MY HVAC system utilizing the concept of printed circuit boards - also solves previously impossible adequate cold air temperature functioning
- OT - Off Topic
- Performance (higher performance classification vs SR+, LR)
- Plaid (highest performance classification, available for MS/ MX ( 6/11/2021: Plaid Model S first production sedan reached 60 mph under 2 sec)
- PHEV - Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle
- PUP - Performance Upgrade Package (discontinued)
- Roadster - supercar series - see https://www.tesla.com/roadster
- Robotaxi - Tesla car used full or part-time as FSD Taxi (planned)
- RORO - Roll On/Roll Off vehicle transportation vessel
- RWD - Rear Wheel Drive
- SC - See SvC, SpC
- Semi - Tesla's truck for cargo transportation - see https://www.tesla.com/semi
- SpC - Supercharger
- SR - Standard Range (discontinued Oct 2019; used to be 200-240 miles)
- SR Plus - 250 + miles (replacing SR as lowest range available on Tesla's car configurator)
- SvC - Service Center
- TBM - The Boring Company - independently owned (SpaceX, EM, early VC) private company deploying cost efficient tunnels EV's made relevant - currently using MX, MY at Las Vegas, with a 12 passenger Tesla van in planning stage (held re COVID situation)
- Tesla Vision - AI/ NN technology (Dojo) developed for FSD without the use of radar. Will be more generally applicable for vision recognition, similar to how Google pioneered language recognition.
- Tri motor - for Performance versions of MS /MX
- 10Q, 10K - Quarterly or Annual (resp.) financial filings
- CAGR - Compounded Annual Growth Rate
- CAPEX - Capital Expenditures
- COGS - Cost of Goods and Services/Cost of Goods Sold
- DTA - Deferred Tax Asset
- EBIT - Earnings before Interest and Taxes
- EBITDA - Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization
- EPS - Earnings per share
- GAAP - Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
- GM - Gross Margin (see Gen'l Motors below)
- OPEX - Operations Expenditures
- SBC - Stock Based Compensation
- SGA - Sales, General & Administrative Expenses
- AH - After Hours
- ASP - Average Stock Price
- ATH - All Time High
- BMWYY, $BMWYY - Stock symbol for BMW
- CATL - Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (battery supplier)
- DDAIF, $DDAIF - Stock symbol for Daimler
- ER - Earnings Report, usually comes out after market hours on 3rd or 4th Wednesday of the quarter
- F, $F - Stock symbol for Ford
- FCAU, $FCAU - Stock symbol for Fiat Chrysler
- FOMO - Fear of Missing Out. Strategy of buying in late, after a recent increase in stock price
- GM, $GM - Stock symbol for General Motors. Take care reader won't be confused with "GM" above
- GS - Goldman Sachs
- HMC, $HMC - Stock symbol for Honda Motor Company
- HODL - Hold On for Dear Life, as in "Buy and HODL"
- IV - Implied Volatility
- LG, LG Chem - S. Korean battery manufacturer
- MM - Market Makers. Large players in the stock market, sometimes involved in price manipulation
- MMD - Mandatory Morning Dip. Dip in TSLA price most mornings due to manipulation
- MS - Morgan Stanley
- NSANY, $NSANY - Stock symbol for Nissan
- SP - Stock Price
- TM, $TM - Stock symbol for Toyota - (note: TMC is Toyota's self attributed abbreviation)
- TSLA, $TSLA - Stock symbol for Tesla
- TSLAQ, $TSLAQ - Stock symbol used (derisively) by shorts and FUD generators, describing TSLA in the format used for a bankrupt company
- VIX - Volatility Index
- VWAGY, $VWAGY - Stock symbol for Volkswagen
Batteries, Battery Chemistries
- CTP - Cell To Pack
- DBE - Dry Battery Electrode
- LFP, LiFePO4 - Lithium Iron Phosphate
- NCA - Nickel Cobalt Aluminum (short for LiNiCoAIO2 cathode, graphite anode)
- NMC - Nickel Manganese Cobalt
- 18650 - first battery type - used in Model S and X - from size 18 x 65 mm
- 2170 - second battery type developed for Model 3, also used in MY - size 21 x 70 mm
- 4680 - third battery format introduced at Battery Day - size 46 x 80 mm, tabless design, dry electrode, pilot production at Kato Road/GF0, upcoming GF5 Texas, GF4 Berlin - also Panasonic, LG, and Samsung (sampling as of 7/2021), CATL (planned)
- DBE - Dry Battery Electrode introduced at Battery Day for Tesla new 4680, see above
- NCA 18650 Panasonic (Japan) Fremont
- NCA 2170 Panasonic (Nevada) Fremont
- LFP Prismatic CATL Shanghai
- NCM 2170 LG Chem Shanghai
- Tesla 4680 (Roadrunner project @ Kato Road) for GF4 Berlin and GF5 Texas - limited production 4Q 2021 (planned)
- Panasonic/LG/ Samsung 4680 (sampling), CATL (planned) - w/chemistries probably different from Tesla's
- Fremont S LR+/P 18650 NCA
- Fremont X LR+/P 18650 NCA
- Fremont 3SR/LR/P 2170 NCA
- Fremont Y LR/P 2170 NCA
- Fremont S Plaid 18650 NCA (new chemistry)
- Shanghai 3 SR+ Prismatic CATL LFP
- Shanghai 3 LR/P LG Chem 2170 NCM
- Shanghai Y LR/P LG Chem 2170 NCM
- Shanghai Y SR Prismatic CATL LFP
- Berlin Y LR/P 4680 (limited runs 4Q 2021/ Prod 2022)
- Austin Y LR/P 4680 (limited runs 4Q 2021/ Prod 2022)
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