Official: TSLA Shareholder Meeting 2016 Questions

[Haxster]

Of all the suggested questions from this thread, none were presented at the shareholders meeting.

It was a lengthy (but engaging) presentation covering the history of the company followed by a few financials and Q&A from only the local attendees. Some of the questions addressed topics on this thread...but not many.

 

[DaveT]

Of all the suggested questions from this thread, none were presented at the shareholders meeting.

It was a lengthy (but engaging) presentation covering the history of the company followed by a few financials and Q&A from only the local attendees. Some of the questions addressed topics on this thread...but not many.

Tesla IR let me know that they reviewed the most popular questions from this thread with Elon before the meeting and that he addressed many of the questions in his prepared remarks.

 

[dennis]

Tesla IR let me know that they reviewed the most popular questions from this thread with Elon before the meeting and that he addressed many of the questions in his prepared remarks.

Well I guess 1 out of the top 5 reported by Electrek ain't bad... Musk said there was the potential to triple the output of the Gigafactory vs. what was initially planned, although it was unclear if that was the 35gW of cells or the 50gW of packs that could be tripled. None of the other 4 top questions were addressed at all in the prepared remarks. I left early in the Q&A because I found the questioners soap boxes way too big.

 

[Electroman]

Questions have to be screened going forward. This need not be a love fest for Elon.

And some of the questions were outright juvenile and silly. Except one general question and a vague answer, we did not learn any details about Tesla Energy current orders and revenue.

 

[ecarfan]

They may not post the video until tomorrow.

 

[ecarfan]

As a Tesla car owner and Powerwall owner (next month), over the past few years I have come to view Tesla as a company whose first products were EVs but whose core business is in energy storage and management systems, whether that means vehicle drivetrains or batteries to power businesses, homes, and potentially off-earth human colonies. Do you see the company that way, and if so how does that influence your long term strategic planning?

I was at the shareholder's meeting, seated right next to a microphone, but decided not to ask my question because Elon essentially answered it during his presentation, when he revealed that the Gigafactory output when completed may be up to triple his initially stated estimate, and that the production mix of car batters vs. stationary storage batteries would likely be more like 50/59 instead of 70/30. I was impressed to hear that.

 

[EinSV]

Well I guess 1 out of the top 5 reported by Electrek ain't bad... Musk said there was the potential to triple the output of the Gigafactory vs. what was initially planned, although it was unclear if that was the 35gW of cells or the 50gW of packs that could be tripled. None of the other 4 top questions were addressed at all in the prepared remarks. I left early in the Q&A because I found the questioners soap boxes way too big.

Elon's 50/50 estimate for future Tesla Energy/Tesla Automotive revenue provided a more than satisfactory answer to my question:

It appears that Tesla Energy will be an important part of the Company's future but the magnitude of the opportunity is not clear at this stage to many shareholders. Can you provide a rough estimate of how large a contribution you project Tesla Energy will make to Tesla by 2020 in terms of revenue, either in absolute terms or compared to vehicle sales?

I think several other questions were also answered at a level Tesla was comfortable with and would not reveal competitively sensitive info.

 

[Yggdrasill]

It's been said that you're planning on moving to a slighly larger battery cell format, something like 20700-cells. Will you be producing this next-gen format at the Gigafactory when cell production starts up, or is this further out in time?

My question was answered in the 2.5 hour long speech. Initial cell production will be the new 20700-format.

I think that's good news, it pretty much confirms that the 20700-format cell production at the Gigafactory will ramp up well ahead of Model 3 launch, so the new and improved Model 3 battery pack should be ready. The battery format gives Tesla an additional advantage over the other car makers who are currently using, or intend to use 18650-cells.

It also indicates that Tesla is probably going to incorporate the 20700-format into other products fairly quickly. Even assuming cell production starts December 31st, that's 2-3 quarters of 20700-format production that needs to be put to use in products other than the Model 3. Maybe the 100 kWh S/X pack might use them.

 

[neroden]

OK, so I haven't gone through the whole three-hour presentation, but it seems they didn't say anything about service center expansion?

 

[Benz]

Well, Elon clarified that a package will be required for having Supercharger capability with the Tesla Model 3.

 

[davecolene0606]

Very low servicing requirements are a key value component of an EV. Tesla's stated principle of service not being a "profit center" reconciles with this value component. Is Model III being designed with this specifically in mind to reduce the need for servicing requirements and thus the capital and operational expenditures for additional service centers?

Follow up:
Are design improvements of the S & X also targeting reduced service requirements for this same reason?

 

[davecolene0606]

Rats, out of the county, maybe next year.... Sigh

 

[HiTech]

I ended up spending the 3.5 hrs on the event and made notes on the following Tesla Forum. Feel free to jump on there and add anything I may have missed.

2016 Share Holder Meeting | Tesla Motors

 

[Haxster]

Rats, out of the county, maybe next year.... Sigh

So, what county did you send your rats to...and did they have a good time?

 

[tinm]

Yesterday's meeting had a clear message: we're chumps. This whole exercise was for naught.

If we want our questions answered, we have to ask them. If we want to make sure we get a chance to ask them, we go to the shareholders meeting, in person, in sufficient numbers such that the majority of our questions get through all the filters in place that otherwise, as was abundantly evident yesterday, do a fine job blocking them from getting through.

Otherwise, chumps.

 

[ecarfan]

No, we're not "chumps". I think it very likely that the person that DaveT was in contact with at Tesla genuinely wanted to help and planned to try to get some of the questions posted here asked at the meeting. It didn't happen for reasons that were outside that person's control, of course.

When you have a Q&A format where anyone at the meeting has the opportunity to ask a question, or at least get in line to ask a question, many of the questions are going to personal to that individuals wants and needs and will be poorly thought out and inadequately researched.

Many of the questions were on subjects that have been asked and answered before ("what are the next car models?", answer "sorry we don't discuss future products until we are ready") or questions that a basic Google search would answer ("when will Tesla provide emergency responder info?", answer "we have done that already but here's the most important thing to keep in mind...").

My favorite ridiculous question category is "it was just announced that a major battery breakthrough has occurred that radically increases battery capacity..." and Elon says "that's not true and less than 1% of what you read about new battery breakthroughs is true" (paraphrasing). He's been saying that for a decade and so far he's been correct.

Elon seems to want to keep the open mic format at the shareholder meeting. He remains courteous even in the face of absurd questions or in cases where the person is really just reading a statement to try to make a point and doesn't actually want an answer.

The alternative is for Telsa to only accept questions in advance and select those the wish to answer. Sometimes I think that might be preferable to the current situation, which has a very low signal-to-noise ration.

 

[techmaven]

Yesterday's meeting had a clear message: we're chumps. This whole exercise was for naught.

If we want our questions answered, we have to ask them. If we want to make sure we get a chance to ask them, we go to the shareholders meeting, in person, in sufficient numbers such that the majority of our questions get through all the filters in place that otherwise, as was abundantly evident yesterday, do a fine job blocking them from getting through.

Otherwise, chumps.

No, not at all. Of course, my main question was answered, so I'm biased.

However, just because you ask a question doesn't mean they answer it. They reviewed questions and answered what they wanted to answer in the way they wanted to answer. But in essence, we did ask the questions. Much kudos to @DaveT for making this happen.

 

[Flight Risk]

In this future autonomous scenario, it almost sounds like you don't need to actually OWN a car. There would likely be car sharing and delivery services that should meet these needs... and more.

No, I'll still own "my car on the side" a subie BRZ for naughty weekends....

 

[Johan]

Previously I have half in jest but also half seriously suggested the TMC Investors subforum should get together and try to get to ask questions on the conference call. Yes I know it would be sitting at the grownup table but honestly we can come up would just as good, relevant and important questions as some of the analysts. On some calls they've also had questions from financial news reporters from Bloomberg for example, so I'm not sure it's a strict "analysts only" policy. Besides, together we are analysts right?

 

[msnow]

Previously I have half in jest but also half seriously suggested the TMC Investors subforum should get together and try to get to ask questions on the conference call. Yes I know it would be sitting at the grownup table but honestly we can come up would just as good, relevant and important questions as some of the analysts. On some calls they've also had questions from financial news reporters from Bloomberg for example, so I'm not sure it's a strict "analysts only" policy. Besides, together we are analysts right?

I'm not sure how Tesla does it but most companies quarterly earnings calls are strictly to present financial results and attended by financial analysts only. They usually take place on a conference call. Many take a few questions but they are financially focused. The shareholders meetings are separate in person events for shareholders.