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

[hobbes]

The top adapter that the BMW is using in the picture appears to be a CCS2 connection, I live in the USA so I dont know for sure though but this picture makes me believe that it isn't using the NACS tesla plug:

This is from Europe as can be seen from the German license plate in the original picture. Here Tesla used to have Type 2 charging plugs for supercharging instead of their proprietary smaller plug used in US, and added CCS-2 after EU required it for public charging. Now many superchargers allow third party EVs, not news any more.

 

[Featsbeyond50]

Maybe Tesla's new hotshot lawyer has his first case.

One of Tesla’s biggest critics is funding a Super Bowl ad against it

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/02/11/tesla-super-bowl-ad/

California tech entrepreneur Dan O’Dowd, who has already poured millions of his own money into a campaign to get Tesla’s Full Self-Driving tech banned from public roads, is funding a Super Bowl commercial that will play in D.C. and a handful of state capitals, including Austin, Tallahassee, Albany, Atlanta and Sacramento.


The ad shows a Tesla Model 3 that O’Dowd says has Full Self-Driving turned on running into a child-sized mannequin, crossing over the centerline into oncoming traffic, driving past “do not enter” signs, passing a school bus with its flashing stop lights on and hitting a stroller in the road.

What a cheap skate. Not even willing to pay for a national broadcast.

 

[Tronguy]

That's what 80% of trucks are used for now. I don't see that changing. The 3 and Y are great, but they don't have the same utility--even if it's only used a few times a year.

For what it's worth:

This past Thanksgiving, family from everywhere showed up and worked on that tryptophan glut. A relative and I were sleepily discussing EVs back and forth; I was making my rough pitch that One Of These Days it would be hard to find an ICE vehicle, they'd be too expensive vs. BEVs, when another relative chimed in.

This relative lives in Colorado along the population line short of the Rocky Mountain Rise, but not in Denver. And expressed doubts whether BEVs would make any inroads in that area, amongst the people who lived near the relative.

This relative lived in what any of us would call a suburb. But, along with another, large contingent, owned a pick-up truck, as did many of the relative's neighbors. And it wasn't just runs to the supermarket: These people, and especially the farmers who lived in the surrounding countryside, had Reasons why they had these trucks, and it mostly involved hauling serious weight around and/or towing various trailers. Those trailers (in no particular order) carrying horses, feed, boats, snowmobiles, off-road motorcycles, and other such accoutrements of outdoor living. Not all the time, mind you, but often enough to drive the selection of vehicle. I mean, that's part of the attraction of living in a state like Colorado: Getting to muck with the Great Outdoors. For these types, an F150 is simply an entry point: there's probably more F250 types than F150 types, and the occasional F350. And, again, not for show, but for actual need. (Yeah, one can rent a pick-up trick for the rare times one would use one.. But if one has a boat in the back yard and it's a hundred miles to the lake, that seems kind of silly, doesn't it?)

Relative 1 and I agreed that, right then, the BEV that would fit the bill wasn't around yet. But was probably coming one of these days. With which Relative 2 agreed, although Relative 1 and I were given the fishy eye.

But that was also when I had the misapprehension that the CT was a 300-mile vehicle. With no load. With a load, that could easily drop to 200 miles or less. However, over the past couple of weeks with all the chatter around here, it's been mentioned several times that there's going to be a CT with a 500 mile range. Now, THAT would be doable, and would fit Relative 2's requirements. And, if so, will probably mean that a heck of a lot of people in the non-city areas may start giving BEVs, and Tesla in particular, a second look.

 

[wipster]

OT, kinda, but pretty cool! Wonder if the Boring Co. will make tunnels to GigaTexas too?

Elon Musk Is Building a Neighborhood

Project Amazing is the company town reimagined!

www.curbed.com

Edit: Are carpenters soon to be an endangering species?

 

[jw934]

John McElroy has really turned around. In his new video, he starts by explaining how he turned from a Tesla doubter to a believer. For most of the video he runs down the 2022 financial comparison between Tesla, Ford and GM. Throughout, I did not hear one single utterance that could be considered negative towards Tesla.

Since Autoline is widely viewed by the ICE crowd, this video should be impactful to change some of their views towards Tesla.

 

[jerry33]

For what it's worth:

This past Thanksgiving, family from everywhere showed up and worked on that tryptophan glut. A relative and I were sleepily discussing EVs back and forth; I was making my rough pitch that One Of These Days it would be hard to find an ICE vehicle, they'd be too expensive vs. BEVs, when another relative chimed in.

This relative lives in Colorado along the population line short of the Rocky Mountain Rise, but not in Denver. And expressed doubts whether BEVs would make any inroads in that area, amongst the people who lived near the relative.

This relative lived in what any of us would call a suburb. But, along with another, large contingent, owned a pick-up truck, as did many of the relative's neighbors. And it wasn't just runs to the supermarket: These people, and especially the farmers who lived in the surrounding countryside, had Reasons why they had these trucks, and it mostly involved hauling serious weight around and/or towing various trailers. Those trailers (in no particular order) carrying horses, feed, boats, snowmobiles, off-road motorcycles, and other such accoutrements of outdoor living. Not all the time, mind you, but often enough to drive the selection of vehicle. I mean, that's part of the attraction of living in a state like Colorado: Getting to muck with the Great Outdoors. For these types, an F150 is simply an entry point: there's probably more F250 types than F150 types, and the occasional F350. And, again, not for show, but for actual need. (Yeah, one can rent a pick-up trick for the rare times one would use one.. But if one has a boat in the back yard and it's a hundred miles to the lake, that seems kind of silly, doesn't it?)

Relative 1 and I agreed that, right then, the BEV that would fit the bill wasn't around yet. But was probably coming one of these days. With which Relative 2 agreed, although Relative 1 and I were given the fishy eye.

But that was also when I had the misapprehension that the CT was a 300-mile vehicle. With no load. With a load, that could easily drop to 200 miles or less. However, over the past couple of weeks with all the chatter around here, it's been mentioned several times that there's going to be a CT with a 500 mile range. Now, THAT would be doable, and would fit Relative 2's requirements. And, if so, will probably mean that a heck of a lot of people in the non-city areas may start giving BEVs, and Tesla in particular, a second look.

In the original CT reveal, one of the configurations was 500 mile range and 14,000 lbs towing capacity.

 

[wipster]

For what it's worth:

This past Thanksgiving, family from everywhere showed up and worked on that tryptophan glut. A relative and I were sleepily discussing EVs back and forth; I was making my rough pitch that One Of These Days it would be hard to find an ICE vehicle, they'd be too expensive vs. BEVs, when another relative chimed in.

This relative lives in Colorado along the population line short of the Rocky Mountain Rise, but not in Denver. And expressed doubts whether BEVs would make any inroads in that area, amongst the people who lived near the relative.

This relative lived in what any of us would call a suburb. But, along with another, large contingent, owned a pick-up truck, as did many of the relative's neighbors. And it wasn't just runs to the supermarket: These people, and especially the farmers who lived in the surrounding countryside, had Reasons why they had these trucks, and it mostly involved hauling serious weight around and/or towing various trailers. Those trailers (in no particular order) carrying horses, feed, boats, snowmobiles, off-road motorcycles, and other such accoutrements of outdoor living. Not all the time, mind you, but often enough to drive the selection of vehicle. I mean, that's part of the attraction of living in a state like Colorado: Getting to muck with the Great Outdoors. For these types, an F150 is simply an entry point: there's probably more F250 types than F150 types, and the occasional F350. And, again, not for show, but for actual need. (Yeah, one can rent a pick-up trick for the rare times one would use one.. But if one has a boat in the back yard and it's a hundred miles to the lake, that seems kind of silly, doesn't it?)

Relative 1 and I agreed that, right then, the BEV that would fit the bill wasn't around yet. But was probably coming one of these days. With which Relative 2 agreed, although Relative 1 and I were given the fishy eye.

But that was also when I had the misapprehension that the CT was a 300-mile vehicle. With no load. With a load, that could easily drop to 200 miles or less. However, over the past couple of weeks with all the chatter around here, it's been mentioned several times that there's going to be a CT with a 500 mile range. Now, THAT would be doable, and would fit Relative 2's requirements. And, if so, will probably mean that a heck of a lot of people in the non-city areas may start giving BEVs, and Tesla in particular, a second look.

Nice post, glad to hear what the suburbs are thinking. And that's one of the reasons, perhaps primary, why Tesla will probably bring the 500 mile CT to production first. As you state, many pickups are used for towing and being able to have a BEV that has great towing capability AND range will be huge for Tesla! The 300 mile version is for use by folks that use their trucks primarily for trips to the hardware store or to pickup groceries (if they even pickup anymore... I have mine delivered!).

Preaching to the choir, but I think the CyberTruck is going to really change the competitive landscape in Tesla's favor! Can't wait!

 

[Eugene Ash]

John McElroy has really turned around. In his new video, he starts by explaining how he turned from a Tesla doubter to a believer. For most of the video he runs down the 2022 financial comparison between Tesla, Ford and GM. Throughout, I did not hear one single utterance that could be considered negative towards Tesla.

Since Autoline is widely viewed by the ICE crowd, this video should be impactful to change some of their views towards Tesla.

This is a very well thought out and succinct video with key metrics compared. Great use of 10 minutes. Also what stood out is GM massaging of key metrics, like cars per employee. If management is compensated on that metric, it will create organizational structures and business processes that go against first principals. Incentives trump common sense

 

[Artful Dodger]

"the bombastic billionaire"

Why is this in the article? Man, I hate what passes for journalism today.

Haha, yeah I laff at what passes for rhetoric at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (Herbie Husker would be so amused).

But Ffuny Faiz will get his chance at redemption in about 5 years:

"The Technoking Trillionaire"​

Has a nice ring to it, don't it Faiz?

 

[DragonWatch]

Forward Observing ~ Full Self Driving (FSD)

Last Oct/Nov while enjoying a cruise around Spain and Portugal on a TSLA high; I had an opportunity for a brief encounter/conversation with a FSD programming manager competing for government war machine contracts. The conversation was not long as he showed more interest on my take on Artillery and Ukraine. He lost interest when I commented on the loss of jobs due to AI on the battlefield; knowing and having reduced thirty battalions back in the day.

His take was FSD combat vehicles is a game changer for whichever side achieves it first. Followed by anti-Elon/Tesla because you have to hold the steering wheel and all the other MajorBS49.

I am pretty laid back, yeah right, because I like to look over the battlefield. FSD egos aside, FSD is a game changer ~ not just on the battlefield field. And worth a ton of money.

Therefore, my retired casual approach to football halftime commercials on FSD costing half a ton of money; I think we are getting close to real FSD. Please do not split hairs with me. I have no definition of close. Also, FSD is real on our Model X.

Tactical Observations ~
First, on the real-time battlefield; sad, but true, children/human life run over will be of little consequence. Case in point, during our own Civil War, children carried battle flags during ~ you guessed it, battle.
Second, not all legacy automakers are geared up to transition immediately from manual to camera, radar or combination thereof. How many are waiting for a farmed out programming company? How many are in house?

One thought lingers as to how do we transition from all manual driving? Some cannot afford it, at least for now. Some do not trust it. The issues are huge. One advantage would be for those whom are visually impaired.

Oh yeah, football gaming. First, I saved my money by not paying to watch someone else play games. Second, if you consider the FSD commercial target areas ~ please note that the lights are really dim in those areas, on the family chandelier.

Cheers

 

[Thekiwi]

Tesla lowers entry level Model 3 & Y pricing in New Zealand by $2000 NZD (~$1300 USD)

Looks like Tesla is going more targeted with country by country adjustments up and down being done recently.

 

[Nocturnal]

This thing is an obscenity, an abomination. I'm already concerned that 80% of Cybertrucks will be used primarily for grocery runs and soccer kid transport, when a much more efficient M3 or MY would suffice. But this is off the charts, and subverts the mission.

Let's keep our eyes on the prize, people.

You live in America and don't know that pick up trucks are mostly lifestyle vehicles? The vast majority are never used to tow or go off road in. The category that is somewhat of an except are the F250+ sized trucks, true med/heavy duty. Not as many people buy those for vanity reasons.

So we are replacing massive gas guzzling trucks with something that will get around 100mpge. That about as mission focused as possible.

 

[Stretch2727]

John McElroy has really turned around. In his new video, he starts by explaining how he turned from a Tesla doubter to a believer. For most of the video he runs down the 2022 financial comparison between Tesla, Ford and GM. Throughout, I did not hear one single utterance that could be considered negative towards Tesla.

Since Autoline is widely viewed by the ICE crowd, this video should be impactful to change some of their views towards Tesla.

I especially like John's video on GM EV's. He really calls out GM low production numbers in 2022. No one else seems to have noticed but he calls it a disaster.

Maybe someone should give leading Mary a call.

He has a funny quip at the end that the Zero, Zero, Zero GM strategy may start to mean something totally different.

 

[SmokyPeat]

Case in point, during our own Civil War, children carried battle flags during ~ you guessed it, battle.

I've never heard of child flag bearers during the Civil War. Drummers, buglers, powder monkeys, couriers, yes.

 

[Opus BC fan]

For what it's worth:

This past Thanksgiving, family from everywhere showed up and worked on that tryptophan glut. A relative and I were sleepily discussing EVs back and forth; I was making my rough pitch that One Of These Days it would be hard to find an ICE vehicle, they'd be too expensive vs. BEVs, when another relative chimed in.

This relative lives in Colorado along the population line short of the Rocky Mountain Rise, but not in Denver. And expressed doubts whether BEVs would make any inroads in that area, amongst the people who lived near the relative.

This relative lived in what any of us would call a suburb. But, along with another, large contingent, owned a pick-up truck, as did many of the relative's neighbors. And it wasn't just runs to the supermarket: These people, and especially the farmers who lived in the surrounding countryside, had Reasons why they had these trucks, and it mostly involved hauling serious weight around and/or towing various trailers. Those trailers (in no particular order) carrying horses, feed, boats, snowmobiles, off-road motorcycles, and other such accoutrements of outdoor living. Not all the time, mind you, but often enough to drive the selection of vehicle. I mean, that's part of the attraction of living in a state like Colorado: Getting to muck with the Great Outdoors. For these types, an F150 is simply an entry point: there's probably more F250 types than F150 types, and the occasional F350. And, again, not for show, but for actual need. (Yeah, one can rent a pick-up trick for the rare times one would use one.. But if one has a boat in the back yard and it's a hundred miles to the lake, that seems kind of silly, doesn't it?)

Relative 1 and I agreed that, right then, the BEV that would fit the bill wasn't around yet. But was probably coming one of these days. With which Relative 2 agreed, although Relative 1 and I were given the fishy eye.

But that was also when I had the misapprehension that the CT was a 300-mile vehicle. With no load. With a load, that could easily drop to 200 miles or less. However, over the past couple of weeks with all the chatter around here, it's been mentioned several times that there's going to be a CT with a 500 mile range. Now, THAT would be doable, and would fit Relative 2's requirements. And, if so, will probably mean that a heck of a lot of people in the non-city areas may start giving BEVs, and Tesla in particular, a second look.

I live in Colorado and outside Denver. In 2013 I saw another Tesla about once every three months, now I see at least one Tesla at every traffic light (sometimes 3-4). I have had very pleasant conversations with truck owners wanting to switch to a BEV. Some of those truck owners also own a Tesla. Adoption is in full swing (and accelerating) in Colorado.

Of course, there is still the occasional coal roll (usually Douglas or Weld counties)

 

[Webeevdrivers]

Just catching up on the various publications re energy, EV’s etc. One re-occurring theme that seemed to pop up is the feeling that tesla is about to open the tesla supercharger network and the various meetings that seem to be taking place. I’ll link one in clean technical below for context.

But my question is, is there even a single supercharger site with all of the requirements needed to get this US federal money?

Canada and Mexico have no comparable movements other than the NRCAN program which add FLO CCS/Chademo chargers to supercharger locations. It will be interesting to see if somehow Canada and Mexico get involved in whatever the US does.

 

[lascavarian]

One thought lingers as to how do we transition from all manual driving?

I will just comment that there are several possibilities. One would be start with a time window at night like 10 pm to 6 am. FSD works well at night and there is a cohort of older influential folks who would appreciate it. Lighter traffic and fewer school buses what’s not to like…

 

[Mengy]

John McElroy has really turned around. In his new video, he starts by explaining how he turned from a Tesla doubter to a believer. For most of the video he runs down the 2022 financial comparison between Tesla, Ford and GM. Throughout, I did not hear one single utterance that could be considered negative towards Tesla.

Since Autoline is widely viewed by the ICE crowd, this video should be impactful to change some of their views towards Tesla.

Woah, John's really changed his tune on Tesla for the positive. I'm legit surprised to see him make a video like this!

 

[MP3Mike]

But my question is, is there even a single supercharger site with all of the requirements needed to get this US federal money?

Well, the requirements haven't been released yet. The Federal government are supposed to release the NEVI requirements next week. Then give it some time for the states/territories to digest that and add their own requirements on top, after which point they will release RFPs.

Tesla could likely apply for funding to upgrade their sites to be NEVI compliant. Or they could apply to add NEVI compliant sites. Or they could just say it isn't worth the hassle and just continue on their own. (Which is what they appear to be doing, since they have declined the ~$6M of funding from California that they had been awarded for charger installations.)

 

[CHGolferJim]

Am I mistaken, or did Rob Lowe just say “supercharge” when talking about his EV (some random brand) in U.S. TV ads running during athletics.