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

[AlexS]

interesting

Germany's Bafin bans Wirecard short positions after negative reports

 

[NicoV]

I picked up my Model 3 Performance on Friday from Madrid, one of the first 10 Model 3 deliveries here in Spain!

Here are my initial impressions:
- This thing is way better looking in real life that in the photos or videos. I was not expecting such a stunning car!
- Quality of the interior is excellent, again way better than I was expecting, seats are very comfortable and everything well thought out
- I love the minimal interior and the central tablet, doesn't need any more instruments in my opinion, works brilliantly as it is
- We get spotify here in Europe. Any music I want whenever I want, amazing! The Model 3 feels like a mobile theatre or the best way ever on which to enjoy a tablet multimedia experience, it barely feels like a car at all
- Maps and navigation were great
- Battery usage drained faster than I was expecting, You really have to drive very carefully to get close to the expected range and I loved testing out the insane acceleration, and couple that to going at 130kmh over the mountains up to Asturias, the 500km range was more like 350. Still, the supercharger experience was great, and once there are more of these around then there is really no problem
- I don't have the wall charger yet so just charged it overnight in a regular plug socket. Got 11km range per hour which was a great bonus, was not expecting so much
- My petrolhead brother in-law took it for a spin yesterday and said it was up there with Porsches with the way it drives. I love technology and great looking cars, but I don't really care about performance actually. What is great is being able to accelerate at any speed you want, it gives you amazing freedom!
- I haven't got to grips with autopilot yet. I tried it on the motorway on the way home and it freaked me out. I will try and figure this out next weekend

This is an amazing car for EUR78,000. Once someone can get a short range non-performance version for EUR45k, goodness me, its game over for the Germans! I cant imagine why anyone would choose a BMW, Audi or Mercedes over this. The only (big) negative now is that not many people here in Spain can afford EU60k+ for a car, and in fact, the Tesla sales person mentioned that sales in Spain are a little disappointing. That's why it is essential that the price comes down. Actually I think this is way too much car for the price, maybe Elon should have been slightly less ambitious, this thing is incredible!

Congrats!
There were some doubts about the availability of Autopilot on the Model 3 in Europe, so you confirm that Autopilot is indeed enabled now?

 

[KarenRei]

For Spain one problem is that the electricity producers have subverted the legislation so to have residential PV one has to pay an "infrastructure tax" that makes PV uneconomical. (Well, you can have PV if you are not connected to the grid).

Honestly, that's not unreasonable... so long as it actually is proportional to the cost of the infrastructure. I mean, if you're using the grid as a backup to your solar system, you should be expected to pay for it; the grid wasn't built for free, and nor does it maintain itself. Same with those power plants that you rely on when the sun isn't shining.

Picture a system where everyone was on rooftop PV. Who would pay for the grid and backup / peaking plants - nobody?

If you want a service (aka, a grid connection), you should be expected to pay for it. Here in Iceland our power bills are broken up into grid costs and generation costs; each portion is roughly half of one's total bill.

 

[lascavarian]

This is quite a long summary - anyone volunteering to take one for the team and create a short textual EXECUTIVE summary of notable key points found?

Ugh, 2 hrs of my life gone. 2170 cells are 46 % greater in volume and that increase follows pretty straight line across other specs. 4.48 Ah (not 5) and not more unless getting awfully close to the line. Good info on supercharging and how 800 V can work but requires contacted gear that is not readily available. SC at 150 kw is probably a pretty good practical choice. 71 kWh is the practical capacity of the model 3 pack. Battery heating during charging is not really a gating factor. There is little evidence that the 2170 is hiding some magical super sauce just a great, well integrated pack design by folks who really know batteries.

If your an intern, polarity matters!

 

[shlokavica22]

I like the general idea, but it might take (much) longer than that to make money from puts.

How about being long TSLA? I find the result more predictable.

Puts on the legacy automakers are good hedge in case of recession.

 

[shlokavica22]

I more thing I should mention.

People go after "big oil" all the time. But rarely mention that they themselves drive gas cars, sending weekly donation to "big oil" !

People also buy sh** produced in the other part of the word all the time. Impact?

It has been estimated that just one of these container ships, the length of around six football pitches, can produce the same amount of pollution as 50 million cars. The emissions from 15 of these mega-ships match those from all the cars in the world. And if the shipping industry were a country, it would be ranked between Germany and Japan as the sixth-largest contributor to global CO2 emissions.

Whether the numbers are exact, or vary +/- 50% is not important. The point is- to try and force people buy Tesla because of "guilt" is counterproductive at best. Tesla is Tesla, because they do a product that is better than the ICE cars, that happens to be also good for the environment.

 

[cricketman]

Congrats!
There were some doubts about the availability of Autopilot on the Model 3 in Europe, so you confirm that Autopilot is indeed enabled now?

Yes indeed it is. It calibrated after about 30km!

 

[shlokavica22]

I apologize if someone already posted this but I “took one for the team” and watched the more recent episode of “autoline, after hours”, and I found it fascinating. They talked about electric car industry for quite a while, it was almost as if they didn’t want to say Tesla’s name, then caller questions opened up and they loosened up and there was some good discussion. These guys are deep into Detroit auto industry. Not dumb, but I think it does appear they are asking more critical questions and seem to be understanding that Tesla has no competition for a while. Disruption is hard. I think we are in progress though. They all seemed to like Tesla and even understand more about what they actually have done here, but still, I feel like sandy Munro warned on his last visit with them, essentially along the lines of “auto industry needs to wake up and see the freight train bearing down on them....”

Opening of the show- ICE's are here to stay (at least 20 more years). EVs are bad in cold weather, etc.
Stopped watching right there, but I hope Karen watches it, before making the huge mistake buying EV in the climate she lives in.

 

[cricketman]

Any clue what the bitrate is?

Sorry I cant check now as I am at the office. I did notice that the bass sound wasn't as deep as I would like which can happen with low bit rates, but really it was more than good enough, I will try and remember to check later

 

[samppa]

I like the general idea, but it might take (much) longer than that to make money from puts.

How about being long TSLA? I find the result more predictable.

Already am long TSLA, just had a thought about what to do with some play money.

 

[Tslynk67]

I "love" May's no-deal BRExit like I love radioactive rain after a nuclear strike, and UK automotive demand will possibly crash after a no-deal BRExit:

• The pound will further crash in value, making U.S. produced Tesla's more expensive to UK customers.
• European car parts and components going into US made cars will make US cars more expensive, even if they are sold in the UK.
• The UK will likely enter a recession (economic contraction) as EU related service and manufacturing jobs move to France, Germany and Ireland.
• Hundreds of thousands of Europeans will flee the UK, as the purchasing power of wages there adjusts downward and as unemployment and xenophobia rises - further contracting the UK economy.
• I'd not be surprised to see a 10%+ drop in U.K. new car purchases.

There's very little upside to anyone from a Brexit, and that includes Tesla sales. It's a lose-lose act of increased trade inefficiencies.

(The Murdochs will escape the pesky European media ownership anti-monopoly regulations, so the UK tabloid and TV industry might see a boom and further concentration of power and increase in political influence, so it's not all gloom and doom.)



The problem for Tesla is:

U.S. agency submits auto tariff probe report to White House | Reuters

"Automakers and parts suppliers are anticipating its recommendation options will include broad tariffs of up to 20 percent to 25 percent on assembled cars and parts, or narrower tariffs targeting components and technologies related to new energy cars, autonomous, internet-connected and shared vehicles."​

So even if Trump starts with "narrower" tariffs, it's already bad for Tesla - as @KarenRei suspected.

It's like it was written specifically to attack Tesla??!! What's the point of that?

 

[Unpilot]

Theoretically, at least

Were is the "scary' button?

 

[Tslynk67]

Sorry I cant check now as I am at the office. I did notice that the bass sound wasn't as deep as I would like which can happen with low bit rates, but really it was more than good enough, I will try and remember to check later

I'm sure I read somewhere it was 256VBR, but I may have dreamt it...

For into, the BlueTooth connectivity is 256AAC

 

[Right_Said_Fred]

People also buy sh** produced in the other part of the word all the time. Impact?

It has been estimated that just one of these container ships, the length of around six football pitches, can produce the same amount of pollution as 50 million cars. The emissions from 15 of these mega-ships match those from all the cars in the world. And if the shipping industry were a country, it would be ranked between Germany and Japan as the sixth-largest contributor to global CO2 emissions.

Whether the numbers are exact, or vary +/- 50% is not important. The point is- to try and force people buy Tesla because of "guilt" is counterproductive at best. Tesla is Tesla, because they do a product that is better than the ICE cars, that happens to be also good for the environment.

15 ships producing as much emission as all the cars in the world? Come on, recognize the fake news. It’s so obvious. If this were true it would cost millions per minute in fuel to keep just one of these ships running. Maybe there is an emission of a special pollutant from dirty crude shipping fuel that matches the emissions of the same pollutant by millions of much cleaner cars. But the notion that this is about CO2 emissions is utter nonsense.

 

[RiverCard]

I don't think Bezos will support them to the degree that is required, as it would put him up against Elon again. He is already losing on rockets...

Bezos/Amazon is interested in reducing the time and cost of delivering to the last few miles--Rivian and whoever perfects a cost-effective EV "Sprinter" gets a look-over by Amazon.

 

[KarenRei]

15 ships producing as much emission as all the cars in the world? Come on, recognize the fake news. It’s so obvious. If this were true it would cost millions per minute in fuel to keep just one of these ships running. Maybe there is an emission of a special pollutant from dirty crude shipping fuel that matches the emissions of the same pollutant by millions of much cleaner cars. But the notion that this is about CO2 emissions is utter nonsense.

Indeed, ship transport is actually the most energy-efficient way to move goods on Earth. Even more efficient than rail. More than an order of magnitude more than trucks. I estimated a while back that shipping Teslas from Pier 80, all the way down the coast, across the Panama Canal, across the Atlantic, to Zeebrugge - should take about the same amount of energy as shipping them from Zeebrugge to delivery centres across Europe by truck.

 

[AudubonB]

Moderator Warning:
Do NOT use this thread to spread extraordinary claims.

If you care to post any extraordinary material, present references and demonstrate your reasoning as to why they are credible.

This goes for effectively everything: pollution claims, results of political shenanigans, rises and falls on the fortunes of old OR new auto companies.

 

[KarenRei]

 

[Reciprocity]

Electricity gets cleaner every year. Nat gas was up a lot this year, but so was wind and solar. Wind and solar globally was over 150GW of electfixity. The next three years wind and solar in. The USA will be almost 200GW and the TVA and big coal Indiana are speeding up the closure of coal plants. Coal could hit 20% by the end of trumps 1st term and close to zero by his third or fourth term

If you own an electric car, you can always buy green electricity. Even in the Midwest. It's a bit more expensive, but not that much. Everyone obviously can't because there isn't enough yet, but it's a simple way to make sure your clean Ev stays clean.

 

[KarenRei]

The main Brexit question right now seems to be: which party is going to fall apart faster: the Tories or Labour?

Labour Party split: Seven MPs form 'Independent Group' and warn Jeremy Corbyn 'must not become Prime Minister'

The new anti-Brexit "Independent Group" is also trying to recruit rebellious Tories to their ranks.