Wiki Questions for Tesla

[brianman]

Whenever Elon, JB, etc. show up at an event (shareholder's meeting or otherwise) and have a Q&A session there's often angst before, during, after that "good questions" weren't asked. We tend to create new threads around the event to try to address the problem but I think it might be worth keeping a running wiki to store these questions.

My thinking is that we gradually collect these questions and then present them "on behalf of TMC" prior to the event in e-mail form (or perhaps in person with a TMC representative that has connections...). It would be nice for Tesla to see these questions in advance, curate them, and answer whichever ones they feel ready and comfortable to address. Perhaps as part of Elon's presentation, or perhaps as a "first round" of Q&A with "lightning questions" that don't all begin with "My name is Joe, <babble babble> seven sentence question <ramble>".

Or maybe it's just a crazy idea.
-brianman


TSLA
- @Elon, I appreciate that lately you haven't been commenting publicly on the stock price. I think this is generally prudent as any commentary from the CEO tends to make the stock go crazy (in one or both directions) adding unnecessary volatility. Not really a question. Just some feedback from a private investor. {-brianman}

EVs
- Setting aside for a moment Tesla's offerings, who has the most compelling EV products and the best vision/direction? How do we help/support them (other than buying their vehicles instead of Teslas, of course)? Context: the larger mission of Tesla. {-brianman}

Gigafactory
- Panasonic sending hundreds of employees to Nevada this fall. Any comment on the vision of how the breakdown of Tesla employees vs partner employees at the Gigafactory during the various phases and in the long term? {http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/47788-Your-help-needed-FOR-Votes-for-2015-TSLA-Prop-3-and-4?p=1036371&viewfull=1#post1036371}

Energy Storage
- What kind of price points are expected for grid storage by 2020 {What Question Would You Like to Hear at the Shareholder Meeting?}
- The initial specs of the PowerWall were lame by any standard: commercial temperature range and 2kW output. Please explain how these specs, which were quickly corrected, were published at all? {Woof!}

Charging
- You've suggested we'll see a 400 mile range Tesla around 2020. If this were paired with SuperCharging dropping to 15 minutes or less, I think the appeal of such an EV over an ICE vehicle would be obvious to the vast majority of the public. What do you see as the prospects for such SuperCharging in the next 5 years, or 10 years? {What Question Would You Like to Hear at the Shareholder Meeting?}
- Ask Elon how he sees the prospects and potential timeline for substantial improvements in SuperCharging speed. How probable does he see 15 minute SuperCharging, and by roughly what year? What's the fastest he sees SuperCharging getting, how probable, by when? {What Question Would You Like to Hear at the Shareholder Meeting? - Page 2}
- Tesla's mentioned the power for SuperCharging eventually be from Solar Panels or "green" purchased energy. Yet a quick back of the envelope calculation shows the solar panels at the sites cannot generate enough power to cover that site for more than a few charge sessions. What are we missing? {Woof!}
- What's the vision for "future faster supercharging" with the new liquid cooled cables? {http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/47788-Your-help-needed-FOR-Votes-for-2015-TSLA-Prop-3-and-4?p=1036371&viewfull=1#post1036371}

Swapping
- Have you offered invitations to long-distance travelers? As an example, some of us are travelling across multiple states to attend July events in California. Those trips sometimes involve a dozen supercharger stops. If those could be swaps, travel time could be cut dramatically. Of course, the cost of doing those swaps to the driver might get pretty price so a "multi swap road trip pricing plan" might be worth considering. {-brianman}
- Can a 60 pack swap for an 85? "Renting" a long distance pack was mentioned as part of the Model S design very early on, but has long been removed from the web site. {Woof!}

Roadster
- How many roadsters have had the battery upgrade installed so far? {-brianman}

Model S
- Can we see a blog post (or at least some official comment) from Tesla regarding the P85D? As you might have seen, there's a bit of "angst" among some of the P85D owners and enthusiasts w/r/t the advertised power rating and the vehicle's performance. Especially of interest is the performance above 60mph. {brianman}

Model X
- What's the latest ETA for the Design Studio for Model X?
- Anything new to share on the falcon-wing doors? Or the 3rd row of seats?

Model 3
- "When will the Model 3 deposits open and what will they be?" {What Question Would You Like to Hear at the Shareholder Meeting?}
- Any updates on architectural design decisions on Model 3? Steel? Carbon fibre? {http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/47788-Your-help-needed-FOR-Votes-for-2015-TSLA-Prop-3-and-4?p=1036371&viewfull=1#post1036371}

Unannounced models
- Roadster next-gen?
- Truck?

 

[SteveG3]

Brianman, I don't think it's a crazy idea. I'd actually like to see if we could reach out to IR and see if they would consider a regular process of us submitting a few questions before each earnings call, of which Elon could choose one. It seems like the kind of idea Elon would be open to (though, I don't know if the IR people would be as open to it). That said, if this were to be done in the name of TMC, we'd of course need to get TMC's okay from whoever is in a position to give such an okay.

If we go in this direction, maybe we could have a poll re which questions to ask. I realize this might be a bit hairy, but perhaps first have a poll re which general topics people are most interested in, then a vote among the questions in each of the highest polling topics.

Fwiw, you may remember the first question at last week's shareholder meeting, "Elon, what questions do you have for us?" Though it sounded like a question going no where to me, Elon thought for a moment, then had what looked to me like a very earnest and engaged look on his face when he said, ~"I'd like to hear what direction you want to see the company go." I think Tesla has so many openings to grow the business, Elon genuinely wants to hear feedback from us as to how to prioritize those opportunities. I'll add that on this topic, I'd put faster SuperCharging ahead of what seems a current priority at Tesla of trying to be ahead of the pack with autonomous driving (I think the former will have a bigger impact on accelerating sales of Teslas and EVs generally, and the latter would mean Tesla sticking its neck out in an area where the pioneer could be in for some messy lawsuits in a context where there's a lot of entrenched interests that want to see Tesla's head roll).