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Model X in Q2 Shareholder Letter

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One possible plus to the delay to summer 2015 is that Tesla may have developed some new options by then, e.g. ACC and a larger battery as well as really fixing more of the design issues such as the HV pack and drivetrain failures. Having the Model S as a very widespread test bed for any new features and fixes should make the Model X a better vehicle.
 
Conference call transcript "And you can expect to see production cost, not in customer hands but kind of on the road, doing test and validation in Q1 next year. We'll have quite a few of those."

So no deliveries in Q1 2015. Besides winter 2013 is not yet over, according to chademo-adapter delivery timeline. And they have been designing center console two years and expect, that versions other than piano can be delivered 2015. So if it takes three years to make center console I wouldn't be surprised to see, that beta testing model x takes longer than 3 months. :biggrin:
 
Conference call transcript "And you can expect to see production cost, not in customer hands but kind of on the road, doing test and validation in Q1 next year. We'll have quite a few of those."

I have reservation 3600 something, and I'm thinking roughly August 2015 now. There was more from the call yesterday that I used for that estimate.

At one point, Elon compared what he expects the ramp up to be on X production vs. the S production ramp in 2012. He projected the 6-month timeframe from June 2012 to December 2012 it took to reach 400 vehicles per week will happen in 3 months for the X.

He said Tesla will be able to do that ramp up more quickly because Tesla will be doing a more extensive testing of some early production cars... basically the cars he was referring to Tesla producing to put on the road in Q1 for their internal testing. He sounded pretty serious about putting those cars through a lot in 3 months to find and fix issues in the production process. So it sounds like basically 3 months of testing followed by three months to ramp to ~400/week. So, likely still a 6 month process, but this time (as opposed to S), building cars that they keep in house to get much more bugs out before customer delivery. So, even if we're not necessarily doing better with the timeframe to get cars into our hands as consumers, but we will benefit from a few months of dedicated testing designed to deliver a more tested/polished product right from the start than what Tesla was able to do with the S (beyond the fact that the X already is benefitting in testing/polish from Tesla already having gone through 2+ years making the S).

This is going off memory from the call, but I'm pretty sure this is the essence of what he said. Even if you are not an investor, you may want to listen to the call... it's hard to describe why, but the way Elon fields the financial analyst's questions is as interesting as any interview I've ever seen with him (particularly this call). The call also had some exciting nuggets about the future of what will be possible for these cars... for example, Elon quite confidently said he'd be surprised if the cost for these battery's didn't break below $100/kWh in less than 10 years. For context, the battery currently in the S is thought to be costing Tesla in the $200-200+ range. This suggests to me 400-500 mile Teslas at pricing that makes sense within 10 years.
 
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Even if you are not an investor, you may want to listen to the call... it's hard to describe why, but the way Elon fields the financial analyst's questions is as interesting as any interview I've ever seen with him (particularly this call). The call also had some exciting nuggets about the future of what will be possible for these cars... for example, Elon quite confidently said he'd be surprised if the cost for these battery's didn't break below $100/kWh in less than 10 years. For context, the battery currently in the S is thought to be costing Tesla in the $200-200+ range. This suggests to me 400-500 mile Teslas at pricing that makes sense within 10 years.

I agree fully with this. The comment I heard him make that was most interesting was when asked about capital and R&D expenditures. He said roughly that the R&D and Capital expenses were higher than normal due to things we haven't told you about. Obviously, that's the case for lots of companies, but coming from Tesla, and with the Model X in final design, that's exciting to me.
 
OMG thank you!! I just watched that whole clip and i still can't stop laughing ... haven't laughed this much in a while, just ridiculous

Your comment made me watch the whole thing and it was F-U-N. I laughed. A lot.

My goal for a MX in my driveway is "before first snow in 2015" (could mean for me Oct/Nov) - we are dying over here for winter AWD. With these statements I'm thinking first Sigs in US in June, first Sigs in EU Sept and first Production cars in EU November. Hey look I'm P #5. So my only concern now is how far will they split the first Sig. from Prod. delivery for exclusiveness? And hence should I upgrade to Signature? (I wasn't impressed with the way they did Signature for the S)
 
In the webcast, Elon said something like "they [Model X reservation holders] are probably right. They don't have the information they need to be right, but they're probably right" (about reserving and waiting for the Model X). About the 25 minute mark of the webcast.

Outside of the physically large size of the car, I think the Model X is going to be about as close to the perfect, most multi-purpose vehicle, on the road. One of the 5-10 most efficient vehicles on the road, electric drive train, performance model will be faster than plenty of sports cars, ridiculously large amounts of carrying capacity, and AWD for good winter driving performance.

But of course I think that - I'm on the reservation list.
 
I wonder when Tesla will reveal the design of the X. Does anyone recall when the S Alphas were made public?
I was just looking that up since I was curious too. It looks like the first alphas were shown in January 2011. The first photos that match what the production version looks like appeared in June 2011. The first six months worth of alpha testing included many specialized test vehicles for the various underlying systems. I'd expect Model X will skip this phase since the basic systems are shared with Model S. So, it was essentially 12 months from final alpha until first delivery.
 
I wonder when Tesla will reveal the design of the X. Does anyone recall when the S Alphas were made public?
It's unclear. Elon dodged the question in the conference call. The shareholder letter says the Alpha will be done next week, but there's no guarantee we'll see it. That said, if it's a street-legal alpha, we may catch a spy shot of it sometime this month. We can hope, certainly.
 
Less than 80 EU-Sigs are left, a few days ago #417 of 500 was mentioned in german board. If you would like to be safe for winter 2015 you have to place a signature reservation.

Guess I'll consider upgrading. It's just a lot of money to tie up espescially if there is just 1-2 months between Sigs/Prods and they limit colour choices etc. again...
 
Every time I hear new info about the X, I get excited. I'm afraid that by the time delivery rolls around, I'll be like a contestant on the Price is Right. #ApologiesInAdvance


LOL..

'what is the first thing you will do if you win the car?'
Laura: Drive it to the gas station.

Well in your case - it will be drive it to the supercharger! LOL

PS oops just noticed Dutchie beat me to that observation :tongue:
 
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