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

[Artful Dodger]

My workplace/whse has a 1 megawatt solar system (on it's roof of course). I'm meeting with the CEO Monday morning, will (again) talk up Tesla semi and battery storage. So far have been unsuccessful in those efforts. We've acquired a majority of a much larger company, probably to make ourselves more attractive so a private equity company can buy out the business, or not. Combined companies have over 200 semi trucks, and dozens of warehouses and stores. I don't know how many have solar systems though. I'm the only one at work who owns a tesla and there's a Supercharger 6200 ft away from my workplace/whse

Well, how Patriotic of you. Thank ye!

Let us know how it goes on Monday. Good luck!

Cheers!

 

[sundaymorning]

Taycan interior is smaller than Model S

Porsche Taycan interior space seems closer to a Tesla Model 3 than a Model S

 

[gene]

Me "I can't charge both Tesla's if I buy a second one."
Unbelievable.

We have two of our Model 3's in the garage. In over a year it has never been an issue. We simply take turns charging from the one connector. Unless both your cars are driving 250 to 300 miles per day, it's a non-issue.

 

[TNEVol]

That map is a bit deceiving at least with Washington State. In 2014 a law was passed which outlawed direct sales but grandfathered in Tesla so there are a number of Tesla stores and service centers throughout Washington State, mainly on the west side.

Also I think TN is incorrect. We had a big confrontation with the dealers in 2014 and a settlement was reached which I understand restricts the number of stores. There were many owners involved but we were not informed of the terms. I'd bet 3 or less stores. The map is likely incorrect

 

[carterm2]

We have two of our Model 3's in the garage. In over a year it has never been an issue. We simply take turns charging from the one connector. Unless both your cars are driving 250 to 300 miles per day, it's a non-issue.

I can't charge my cars until after 11pm PGE rate plan prohibits it. I was waking up and switching the cars, since I have a one car garage. But after the second 60-90 day wait period started, I stopped because I wasn't able to get enough sleep. It was part of why I thought I could own two electric cars. It is not a "non issue". I should be able to have both cars fully charged every day. Its how I "sell" Tesla to people I know.

Please lets drop it... God help anyone who says a bad word about Tesla on this forum.

Bottom line. The referral program is broken if it can't resolve a simple reward in a years time.

 

[BornToFly]

I’m at Santa Barbara Tesla helping with deliveries today. Greatest entertainment is the BMW dealer across the street without a single customer.

I've been wondering how many BMW dealerships are going to close in California in the near future. I guess they have service to keep them afloat for a little while...?

 

[S3XY]

I can't charge my cars until after 11pm PGE rate plan prohibits it. I was waking up and switching the cars, since I have a one car garage. But after the second 60-90 day wait period started, I stopped because I wasn't able to get enough sleep. It was part of why I thought I could own two electric cars. It is not a "non issue". I should be able to have both cars fully charged every day. Its how I "sell" Tesla to people I know.

Please lets drop it... God help anyone who says a bad word about Tesla on this forum.

Bottom line. The referral program is broken if it can't resolve a simple reward in a years time.

I'm in the same boat as you but it hasn't been as long of a wait. I earned the same signed black wall connector during the previous reward program that ended in February. I ordered it prior to the deadline but have heard nothing since then. I sent an email inquiring about the status a couple weeks ago and nothing but crickets so far. At least I'm not waiting for an R2 reward that may never come. Hopefully I get it before my MY arrives.

 

[Rande]

Reddit user Peel7 has a thorough analysis of his bull thesis for TSLA on his blog:

My Tesla Investment Thesis: Why Tesla is the most exciting thing going on in the world today

Definitely a good point of reference that put a lot of information into a single place.

If you enjoyed reading that thesis, I'm just pointing out that the author is also on TMC ( @FrankSG ).
My Tesla Investment Thesis

He deserves our support.

 

[Mobius484]

I can't charge my cars until after 11pm PGE rate plan prohibits it. I was waking up and switching the cars, since I have a one car garage. But after the second 60-90 day wait period started, I stopped because I wasn't able to get enough sleep. It was part of why I thought I could own two electric cars. It is not a "non issue". I should be able to have both cars fully charged every day. Its how I "sell" Tesla to people I know.

Please lets drop it... God help anyone who says a bad word about Tesla on this forum.

Bottom line. The referral program is broken if it can't resolve a simple reward in a years time.

You should just buy one from the webpage, then when you get your signed one, you can sell it. I had a 50 amp rv outlet installed for 190 bucks and has served our model S well for 2+ yrs. hope this helps!

 

[StealthP3D]

Delusionment moment...

I am a true believer... but. The referral group has told me multiple times that the wall charger I was offered when I bought my second Tesla is out of stock for 60 to 90 days. It has been a year now. I don’t think they understand that if they don’t want to follow through, I don’t want to buy their product. I won’t be spending my time telling people to buy the car. I have an order for a Y that I want to cancel. I don’t like dealing with dishonest companies.

My wife didn't have to do anything to get the Signature Wall Connector she earned by referring me when I bought my Stealth P3D. Yes, it took about 4 months but one day it just showed up on our porch in perfect condition. Magic!

 

[RobStark]

This isn't that complicated. They can't deliver vehicles in Grand Junction. Or Pueblo. Or Colorado Springs. Or Ft Collins. Etc. Only in the Denver metro area.

More detail on the recent attempted change to the law, intended to un-cripple Tesla and allow Rivian to include Colorado in its first run of upcoming stores:

Should Coloradoans be allowed to buy electric vehicles straight from the manufacturer?

Tesla doesn't have stores in Ft Collins,Grand Junction,Pueblo, or Colorado Springs.

Are you saying they can open as many stores as they like within Metro Denver but not outside it ?

Tesla is allowed 5 stores in Georgia but has decided to put 3 in Greater Atlanta and zero outside Greater Atlanta.

Is Tesla choosing not to open stores outside Greater Denver?

 

[Right_Said_Fred]

And this is the end station for complaining in this thread about the long wait for a referral wall charger (by the way, I recently got mine after a year).

 

[pyromatter]

 

[Fact Checking]

Wow:

Gigafactory 3 began installation of equipment including punching machine, paint shops and battery module production lines
03:56 Punch workshop details
04:40 Gigafactory 3 interior photo​

I suspect 'punching machine' are hydraulic press lines?

I checked the timestamps and I didn't see much of a production line tooling being installed yet, but a lot of preparatory work. I also doubt they'll install any of the finer machinery before the building is properly powered, water proofed and the interior air is temperature and humidity controlled. The last thing you'd want to do is to expose precision machinery to hot, humid air.

 

[CorneliusXX]

Wow:

Gigafactory 3 began installation of equipment including punching machine, paint shops and battery module production lines
03:56 Punch workshop details
04:40 Gigafactory 3 interior photo​

I suspect 'punching machine' are hydraulic press lines?

I checked the timestamps and I didn't see much of a production line tooling being installed yet, but a lot of preparatory work. I also doubt they'll install any of the finer machinery before the building is properly powered, water proofed and the interior air is temperature and humidity controlled. The last thing you'd want to do is to expose precision machinery to hot, humid air.

I only see an empty shell where you reference the punch workshop. Can you explain what it is and how you can infer it from that section of video?

 

[Chocochip]

I think I never fully appreciated the scale of this building until now. It's absolutely massive! Those shots close up from the side of the building are really good at imparting a sense of its height. Previously the majority of GF3 footage was from very high up or from far away, outside the property boundaries, and it made it difficult to get a good sense of its scale from that. But seeing the workers look so tiny as they walk around inside the building... wow! I wonder how the height and total footprint compares to the Nevada GF in its current state.

For the construction crew to have achieved that in less than half a year is mind-blowing! It's one thing to prove it's possible on paper, and it's quite another to actually get it done! And it could only have been accomplished with a lot of support from the local authorities, which makes me even more hopeful and confident that, whatever technical hurdles they will meet on the way to reaching initial production and then scaling up to capacity, Tesla will be able to rely on a supportive environment in Shanghai. I hope they start production towards the end of this year, but at this point the exact date is almost inconsequential. Two years from now nobody will care.

I think I get now why all those investors and analysts that get invited for tours of GF1 or even the Fremont factory instantly turn into mega-bulls. It's hard to ignore the scale of this operation when it's literally towering over you. Can't wait for Tesla to start organising some tours of GF3 for analysts / press once they bring some of the equipment inside and they turn on the lights.

This little startup company is not so little anymore...

 

[pyromatter]

It’s Elon Musk’s Birthday Here Are a Bunch of Goofy Photos We Took - MotorTrend

"Happy 48th Elon! It's Tesla CEO Elon Musk's birthday today, and what better way to celebrate than with a gallery of photos of the man himself hamming it up for us during a recent interview we conducted with him."

Seems like there’s an interview with Franz (maybe) & Elon (definitely) coming up!

 

[Skryll]

I doubt it.

So, you’re saying the clients of these trucking companies are going to pay to have Superchargers installed (and foot the cost of electricity) right next to their roll-up doors for the benefit of the truckers?
Me thinks you don’t understand the logistics business.

This is actually the brilliance of the semi truck for large energy consuming businesses, its teslas energy-business trojan-horse.

The superchargers with peak shaving powerpacks are installed at say coca cola, by tesla. The trucks get to charge while loading/unloading. This all makes business sense for both parties for the task at hand.

The next step is showing the company how much cheaper their energy can be with some local solar production and peak shaving power packs, substantiated with hard numbers from a few months worth of use of their semi charger installation on their property and grid. You can guess what comes next.

 

[kengchang]

To continue, we were quite hectic today, I do not know the numbers. It seemed less hectic that end of Q4, 2018. I asked a couple of the salesmen about this and they told me that Q4 of last year all the deliveries seem to be at the end of the month whereas this time, they had been very busy with deliveries all month. So that is why today was not as crazy as usual. About 50% of the people coming in were new shoppers, 50% were picking up already ordered cars.

Notable was that several families that came in with kids in the 10 to 15 years of age, told me they were considering other cars as well but their children insisted that they must buy a Tesla!

How was it toward the end of day?

 

[AndyH]

I think I never fully appreciated the scale of this building until now. It's absolutely massive!

The site is 856000m2. That's bigger than the small town where I live which has a population of 2500. It literally takes an hour to walk around it. Size of current phase 1 construction is shown in this map:

To grasp the scale better one can use this page to draw the factory over a familiar area.

Ps. Central Park, NY can house several gigafactories. Tesla should get on that.