Fourth Quarter 2013 Financial Results Q&A Conference Call - LIVE BLOG

[Cosmacelf]

I agree with a poster above: please someone ask about warranty repair costs versus expectations. Tesla does deliver great service, but it has got to be expensive...

 

[AudubonB]

There's a fine thread regarding the Gigafatory elsewhere; I brought up "wind & sun" here because of breadcrumbs Mr Musk dropped during the conference call.

 

[772]

I always thought Reno would be perfect.

Cheap land, good business climate, near new lithium mines( I know only 3% lithium in lithium ion batteries but still) and near Freemont.

Those are good reasons... IIRC, Elon said he could see them doing up to 500k/yr at Fremont, so Model E wouldn't necessarily need a new manufacturing plant.

 

[SFOTurtle]

Depends a lot also on what state gives them the sweetest deal. No money to wager but...don't laugh too hard....Delaware has an empty GM plant (Fisker was to use) and an empty Chrysler plant. Far from California but low taxes/state gives great tax breaks to manufacturing and..maybe not a big deal but the best place to adjudicate for businesses in the US. This is why many large company's corporate headquarters are in Delaware.

Actually, the generally pro-business Delaware corporate code and Chancery Courts that has considerable expertise in handling a myriad of corporate and shareholder lawsuits are why such a large number of companies are incorporated in Delaware and are therefore Delaware corporations in the legal sense, but relatively few actually have their actual headquarters in Delaware (Dupont being one notable exception).

 

[DaveT]

I'm willing to put good money on Arizona or New Mexico. Any takers?

I don't bet against bonnie. I'm smarter than that.

 

[SFOTurtle]

The gigafactory is gonna need to be:

• located right next to or very near a major freight railroad
• near a large enough city that there's available workforce / infrastructure
• lots of sun for solar power, perhaps wind a factor as well

Albuquerque would be a good spot. As would Amarillo. Maybe somewhere in AZ too.

I kinda hope it's Albuquerque. But I wouldn't be surprised if it's in Texas if a quid pro quo can be reached regarding the anti-Tesla auto dealership association.

Reno or Las Vegas also fit all of your criteria nicely.

 

[brianman]

I don't bet against bonnie. I'm smarter than that.

Indeed.

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Fourth Quarter 2013 Financial Results Q&A Conference Call - LIVE BLOG
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Nice work, sir!

 

[CapitalistOppressor]

Amarillo, Texas (pop. 190,000). Among US cities with a population of at least 50,000 it is the third windiest with an average of 13.3 mph. The two with faster wind speeds are both in Massachusetts. "Windy City" Chicago is not in top 100. It was actually a term used by 19th century New York politicians to describe the speeches of Chicago politicians.

Of course if Texas wants the factory, they're going to have to stop blocking Tesla's business models for sales and service.

With the Texas Legislature out of session until next year I am skeptical that Texas is in a position to offer the kinds of policy and economic inducements that would be required to bring Tesla in. They had the opportunity in 2013 to play nice with Tesla and they booted it.

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I'm willing to put good money on Arizona or New Mexico. Any takers?

No. Any of the four corners states make sense, with the possible exception of Utah. My money is on New Mexico.

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So are you saying you're willing to place a side bet with me?

For betting types who like to be informed: Nevada is the main source of Lithium in the U.S.

 

[AlMc]

So are you saying you're willing to place a side bet with me?

One beer. Lost my last bet so not a good track record. I already owe Nigel one.

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For betting types who like to be informed: Nevada is the main source of Lithium in the U.S.

I bought 10,000 shares of Western Lithium Mining yesterday because of this.......for the huge sum of $3,400 ( 34 cents per share)

 

[Causalien]

One beer. Lost my last bet so not a good track record. I already owe Nigel one.

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I bought 10,000 shares of Western Lithium Mining yesterday because of this.......for the huge sum of $3,400 ( 34 cents per share)

Awesome. A CDN company that I can benefit from.

 

[NigelM]

One beer. Lost my last bet so not a good track record. I already owe Nigel one.

I have another bet for you.

Sony.....

 

[AudubonB]

Ouch. Good luck on W. Lithium, but I'm going to let you find the post where I showed why I'd never place my money there. On the other hand, I used to own Soquimich, and might again...

 

[AlMc]

I have another bet for you.

Sony.....

What is the bet? :biggrin:

Ouch. Good luck on W. Lithium, but I'm going to let you find the post where I showed why I'd never place my money there. On the other hand, I used to own Soquimich, and might again...

I remember that and thank you for the warning. I took some of my TSLA option gains and just thought I would have some 'fun' with them. I expect nothing. Just wanted to own 10K shares and I can't afford 10K shares of TSLA!