Tesla, TSLA & the Investment World: the Perpetual Investors' Roundtable

[SOULPEDL]

Something to cheer everyone up and it is even on topic .
Yesterday three MY exited Giga Berlin and used the test track. Anyone´s guess where they were produced but after what I saw at Giga fest and recent pictures with lots of scrap from giga casting machine mine would be they´ve been made locally !

https://twitter.com/x/status/1461281508233207809

OT, (in response to how good news keeps coming, like every 3 hrs or something.)

Spoiler: Texas Institute?

I am reminded of why this thread is so addicting. The frequency and volume of innovation and quality information means that not only within the next "3 hours" all Tesla models improve slightly, but we get some extraordinary Tesla news about as often, on parallel innovation tracks. It's hitting all my brain cells that were programmed to hate the status quo, not to mention the financial gain from learning so much, and likely better than any college if you wanted to dig in, take your pick which "degree" you want.

If Elon is going to do something with a college (TITS), I might get interested in that track on another thread of course). I'm all over tight relationships with educational institutions, hybrid learning. Heck, my degree was a BS in Electrical Engineering Technology because it had more labs and hands-on. Throughout most of my career, that degree didn't have the prefered "Engineering" stamp of approval (or pay), but my guess is it will be the preferred soon.

Applied sciences with on-the-job training is a win/win and can accelerate Tesla growth and human capital pipeline. Innovation at Tesla would become a part of their certification system, free entry for the right candidates with the right aptitudes, but free exit too. Automate the heck out of any "lectures", go back to work for some serious "Lab" and rotate them steadily in/out of he Factory. There is no summer break, it doesn't take four years, and it doesn't cost a dime, IMO.

 

[woodisgood]

Foxcon has already stated that they're going into the business of contract-building electric cars, and have even shown their design for a base vehicle chassis. So if Apple were to do this, I suspect it would be via Foxcon.

But given that neither one of them has ever manufactured or supported a car, I would expect a long ramp-up rather than the instant success that the media keeps wanting to hand them.

This is why Elon keeps repeating it, because nobody seems to frickin' get it. MANUFACTURING LARGE OBJECTS AT SCALE IS REALLY, REALLY HARD.

 

[Paul_SF]

This is why Elon keeps repeating it, because nobody seems to frickin' get it. MANUFACTURING LARGE OBJECTS AT SCALE IS REALLY, REALLY HARD.

And that’s why Elon said their goal is to be the best at manufacturing.

Like Drew said at Battery Day: “ hard problems are FUN!”

 

[H Mak]

This is why Elon keeps repeating it, because nobody seems to frickin' get it. MANUFACTURING LARGE OBJECTS AT SCALE IS REALLY, REALLY HARD.

He kept that quiet

 

[mltv]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1461372333537607696

 

[AudubonB]

Do we have a well-sourced timetable for the "question/comments period" and so forth that has continued to stymie the operation at Grünheide?

Shout-out to @avoigt and others on the ground there.

 

[StarFoxisDown!]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1461372333537607696

Given the fact that there was scrap from the Gigapress being operational a week or so ago at GigaBerlin, odds are these are made in Berlin

 

[StarFoxisDown!]

Do we have a well-sourced timetable for the "question period" and so forth that has continued to stymie the operation at Grünheide?

Nov 22nd, next Monday. Tesla can literally start production the second it ends if there are no outstanding objections that government thinks is worthy of looking into

 

[Nocturnal]

Tesla very obviously negotiates with each of its SpC landlords the rights to emplace the charging site. That may be on a full-site basis, it may be on a per-stall basis, and so on. The one site in which I played a role - and this is very early on (2013) - the rate was $50 per month per stall. I have no knowledge of any current transactions, although I can find out what the Soldotna, AK one is, were it to be important.

At any rate, if we make the assumption that Buc-ees management and by extension their franchisees are competent in business, which their success suggests is the case, it is likely they are extracting from Tesla some rent, rather than, for example, paying Tesla for the ephemeral possibility that SpC users will be filling their tills with enough purchases to make that sensible. BUT - were my logic to be the case, then one would think (this is: were I Tesla this would be one of my negotiating demands) that patrons of the site be treated equally, whether they were buying gas or buying electrons...i.e., be able to use the squeegees and cleaning fluid.

I'd be curious to see what arrangement they have with Wawa on the East Coast. I have to imagine they did the math and realized that people stopping to charge for 20-40 minutes will definitely be spending money on the high profit food items. Plus it's Wawa so how could you not? (I understand that Buccees has a similar cult following in TX)

 

[SmokyPeat]

With the union clause, GM could get $ 8500 ($4000 base plus $4500 union bux) for a union built PHEV while Tesla would only qualify for $8000 in incentive bucks.

If the union clause doesn’t happen (it’s on the cutting floor or near it now isn’t it?) then it’s $4k for the PHEV and $8k for the Tesla. While thing is quite the mess at this point.

I'm 99% confident the UAW portion isn't happening. Manchin holds all the cards in regards to the BBB bill, and he is very much opposed to the UAW clause. I get the sense that it was always there as a sacrificial element to satisfy those on the fence, like Manchin.

 

[StarFoxisDown!]

Maybe it's just me, but I find the details in new Apple car rumor to be bullish for Tesla. Despite ya know Apple being so far behind Tesla when it comes to autonomy and data collection, it seems based on these new details that Apple has given up on actually competing with Tesla with a EV car. Now it seems like they're just looking to make a autonomous shuttle car. That severely limits the scope of the ambitions. They've practically conceded they can't compete with Tesla in the individual consumer segment.

 

[EVDRVN]

I'm 99% confident the UAW portion isn't happening. Manchin holds all the cards in regards to the BBB bill, and he is very much opposed to the UAW clause. I get the sense that it was always there as a sacrificial element to satisfy those on the fence, like Manchin.

So if they remove I assume they will not add any additional incentive past the $8000. Perhaps the added incentive should be for non-union, that would be funny.

 

[obie_fl]

I'm 99% confident the UAW portion isn't happening. Manchin holds all the cards in regards to the BBB bill, and he is very much opposed to the UAW clause. I get the sense that it was always there as a sacrificial element to satisfy those on the fence, like Manchin.

I think you are right but it was done so they could say look we really really tried to help but just couldn't get it pushed through.

 

[Sofie]

Maybe it's just me, but I find the details in new Apple car rumor to be bullish for Tesla. Despite ya know Apple being so far behind Tesla when it comes to autonomy and data collection, it seems based on these new details that Apple has given up on actually competing with Tesla with a EV car. Now it seems like they're just looking to make a autonomous shuttle car. That severely limits the scope of the ambitions. They've practically conceded they can't compete with Tesla in the individual consumer segment.

Maybe one day Tesla will take on the iPhone.

 

[Prunesquallor]

I'd be curious to see what arrangement they have with Wawa on the East Coast. I have to imagine they did the math and realized that people stopping to charge for 20-40 minutes will definitely be spending money on the high profit food items. Plus it's Wawa so how could you not? (I understand that Buccees has a similar cult following in TX)

Buc-ee's. Just for a sense of scale:

 

[adiggs]

This is why Elon keeps repeating it, because nobody seems to frickin' get it. MANUFACTURING LARGE OBJECTS AT SCALE IS REALLY, REALLY HARD.

I'm beginning to hear this from Elon as well in the context of SpaceX and Starship. That the real limit on progress is the rate at which engines (primarily) and vehicles can be built. Designing and building 1 is hard, and a milestone worth celebrating. THEN the really hard part starts.

 

[dww12]

Bucc-ee's. Just for a sense of scale:

View attachment 734412View attachment 734413

That’s a small one. Is that on I10? The I35 one is like a Walmart.

 

[woodisgood]

I was waiting for this video - part 2 of an in-depth discussion with the Youtuber's friend, who is an AI CTO. It is almost an hour long (I'm halfway through and enjoying it) but absolutely worth a listen when you have some time, as is part 1 of the series.

Also recommend making sure to watch Part 1 before this one, as without proper context this part will seem overly negative since a great deal of it focuses on risks.

 

[jkirkwood001]

Whenever I see this I wish these outlets would point out that they do not know how/where Apple will get the batteries to mass manufacture a vehicle ?

Millions and millions of used iPhones!
:S

 

[Webeevdrivers]

Lip service and press events barely mean anything, insulting though they may be.

If the US Govt and current executive branch actually hated Tesla, then the BBB bill would have a cap on the number of credits that can be applied to vehicles from each manufacturer, like the last EV tax credit that was capped at 200k. It is obvious to everyone that Tesla will be responsible for the majority of EV volume in America for the foreseeable future, if not forever. In its current form even the biased tax credit proposal would funnel the majority of the money to Tesla -- probably more than everyone else combined.

Furthermore, the UAW donated a grand total of $9 million to political campaigns, lobbying and PACs in 2020. This is a tiny drop in the bucket in American politics. The winner of the 2020 presidential election alone had raised $1 billion in direct campaign contributions; I think it's safe to say he could lose UAW's donations without blinking.

What no US politician can afford, especially a 1st-term President seeking reelection, is losing Michigan, Ohio and Georgia, which are three populous swing States with a heavy concentration of automotive manufacturing jobs. Moreover, no Democratic politician can afford to give the image of not being supportive of unions even when they know that proposed Union benefits are unlikely to actually pass Congress.

Ultimately, this circus is rooted in this country's long history of slavery and the first-mover disadvantages of being the world's earliest modern democracy. (France formed a similar democracy just a few years later, but they were different in the sense of having a long national identity, rather than being a loose collection of former English colonies trying to figure out what they wanted to be when they grew up.) In the Constitutional Convention held in the 1787 there was lengthy debate about how to elect the President. They also struggled to agree over how many slaves to count in population determinations, because the Southern States with slaves did not want them to be allowed to vote but did want them to be counted to increase their power, so they opposed a national popular vote. Also, the fledgling nation had recently fought off a tyrannical monarch and had to guess about the best way to prevent that from happening again. They did not have the advantage of modern game theory and political science to tell them that their Electoral College compromise was a terrible plan. Two and a half centuries later we are still stuck with this crap, and it leads to all sorts of silly nationally (and internationally) unpopular support for swing States.

The only thing that is surprising to me about this situation is that there is not more support for what is soon to be the largest and best paying manufacturing employer in Texas, considering that Texas is trending to become a swing State right around the same time Tesla begins producing at a annual rate of 10 million cars and a couple hundred gigawatt-hours of batteries.

United Auto Workers Profile: Summary

United Auto Workers organization profile. Contributions in the 2022 cycle: $5,892,004. Lobbying in 2021: $762,000. Outside Spending in the 2022 cycle: $0.

www.opensecrets.org

2020 Presidential Race

As we inch closer to the 2020 election, we begin to see groups working on behalf of each of the most serious White House hopefuls – leadership PACs, super PACs, 501(c)(4) dark money outlets and more – crop up and start spending in support of their favored candidates.

www.opensecrets.org

Why Was the Electoral College Created? | HISTORY

The Founding Fathers had to compromise when it came to devising a system to elect the president.

www.history.com

Educational read for a non American like me. Thanks.