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

[Artful Dodger]

Excellent point. I wonder if anybody working in long haul air travel caught a glimpse of the future today. Totally crazy, till it happens. Freight, rather than passengers, is probably the right proving ground. Methane too, suggests a sustainable way forward. Make the stuff. An historic day.

OT:

Good points. Also, RP-1 rocket propellant costs about $4.40 per liter ($16.75/gal), whereas the equivalent amount of energy (in Gigajoules) from Natural Gas (CH4) costs about 30x less, at retail consumer prices.

Except in West Texas, where Natural Gas producers were PAYING pipeline owners to remove their 'flare gas' (CH4) back in April:

Explainer: Why are U.S. natural gas prices in Texas below zero? - Reuters

And Boca China is in Texas. They may be near one of these 3 planned pipelines. Or at least operate a fleet of Tesla Semi's making dedicated runs to the terminal. I bet they start making their own LOX with renewable electricity generated with Tesla solar panels, too.

"In the Permian, the natural gas produced with oil is so abundant and pipeline capacity so constrained that most of it is burned off, or flared. Kinder Morgan has three pipeline projects that will move it from the West Texas shale play to customers along the Gulf Coast and in Mexico."

-- Jul 18, 2019​

Please note the obvious here: Boca Chica is along the Gulf Coast on the border with Mexico.

Fuel costs for Starship+SuperHeavy may turn out to be basically FREE (or at least, cheaper than walking)

Musk is a bloddy genius.

Cheers!

 

[StealthP3D]

Is there a good source to understand the Self driving competitive landscape?

Who is ahead? I have seen impressive demonstrations from Nvidia and zoox, and I was amazed at George Hotz' smartphone implementation, although I would prefer a more robust (more camera's, radar etc) system.

According to George Hotz, Tesla is leading the race and is going to get to full level 5 first. You might want to watch the recent interview of him by Lex Fridman:

At around 39 minutes he appears confident that Tesla has it in the bag.

 

[30seconds]

What's interesting from this is Tesla was the top brand for Interior Layout and Exterior Styling. Shows you how new people really like the current offerings.

Can't wait to see this list once the Model Y is out.

What was interesting to me was that the Model 3 was #1 most considered car, followed by the BMW 3-Series, followed by five SUVs, followed by the Model S.

Umm, when the Y comes out they are going to have spots #1 and #2 and it won’t be close for any other luxury manufacture.

 

[skivi]

Apparently the 6th EU bound ship docked at Pier 80 this quarter, while last quarter we only had 5 EU bound ships.
4 ships in august alone. And the first ship of the quarter arrived a couple of days earlier than previous quarter.
Next quarter will be an absolute delivery madness in The Netherlands due to the next Dutch tax cliff.

That sounds promising.
Anybody knows why the ships to UK are not in the Tesla Carriers-Spreadsheet?

 

[Buckminster]

That sounds promising.
Anybody knows why the ships to UK are not in the Tesla Carriers-Spreadsheet?

The ships were last seen entering the Brexit triangle...

 

[Artful Dodger]

Oh yeah, Elon reads TMC...

Elon Musk‏Verified account @elonmusk 10 minutes ago
"R2D2’s Dad"​

Because not everyone gets to be a Bounty Hunter when they grow up...
View attachment 447286

"R2, I am your father"​

Cheers!

 

[SPadival]

As per @tinm 's request, I have been very polite to "journalists"

S Padival on Twitter

Yo @danahull Do you cover @SpaceX for @business?

Anything interesting happening?
$TSLA

Her response:

 

[LN1_Casey]

Oh yeah, Elon reads TMC...

Elon Musk‏Verified account @elonmusk 10 minutes ago
"R2D2’s Dad"​

God, I'd LMAO if he painted the thing to look like R2D2 for the next (test) flight. I'd believe he'd do it, too, for the lulz.

Or if Disney was finicky about their toy, just a similar white/blue color scheme.

 

[Artful Dodger]

God, I'd LMAO if he painted the thing to look like R2D2 for the next (test) flight. I'd believe he'd do it, too, for the lulz.

Or if Disney was finicky about their toy, just a similar white/blue color scheme.

Hmm, the Raptor static test stand will need to be painted... Maybe Tesla could offer to run some FSD Model X taxi's at DisneyWorld Florida in compensation.

And now we know what 'warning noises' the low-speed EV will beep. Personally, I had my heart set on this warning:

 

[Fact Checking]

When China outright denied any phone call took place, it was actually a pretty big event. And I am guessing many missed its significance. In China it is called tearing apart the face. When you don't let someone make a little white lie in public to save his dignity and make the failure appear less bad.

I would like to reiterate the importance of Causalien’s observation. Not one single FacePalmTweet from 45 has been more of a Holy Smokes! moment for me than was that absolute denial from China. AND a moment that is not immediately apparent to non-Asian watchers (my forte is Japan, not China, but the cultures are similar enough in this regard to make no difference).

So what? Are there important consequences? I believe so. We can take this as a watershed; looking back in two or five years I will say we can point to this moment when the Chinese stopped even pretending to be negotiating with the current DC Administration. Anything from their side between now and next November is going to be the equivalent of a holding pattern.

This by no means is to say that Beijing is going to join the ABT crowd. A Sanders or a Warren most definitely is not hugely more palatable to China than is 45, in any way other than the admittedly important one that at least even those two moderately xenophobic candidates are not off their rockers.

I was going to place this post, and move Causalien’s, to “Political” but I think it is apposite to the market, thus here it is.

Also note this incident by Team Trump:

[Trump's] new tariffs also included a veiled insult:

"[Trump] said the United States would raise its existing tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports to 30% from the current 25% beginning on Oct. 1, the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China."
​

It's as if the Chinese had timed U.S. tariffs to start on July 4th, as an insult against the U.S....

China will almost certainly reply to these latest rounds of Trump tariffs with matching tariffs.

Trump's tariff war will likely become uglier before it gets better.

Increasing China's tariffs on the day of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China was IMO an insult of such a magnitude in an Asian cultural context, that I hope that Chinese leadership is going to keep their cool and doesn't escalate the trade war to really hurt the U.S.

 

[Xenius]

I normally don't troll online, but I did once get blocked by Stuart Meissner (at the time, Marty Tripp's ambulance-chaser attorney) for posting responses to his posts with images of "Better Call Saul" billboards.

I don't consider what I do on twitter here "trolling" but if calling a lie a lie is trolling,then I'm the troll-iest of trolls.

Chanos blocking me is just icing on the cake.

 

[Christine69420]

Apparently the 6th EU bound ship docked at Pier 80 this quarter, while last quarter we only had 5 EU bound ships.
4 ships in august alone. And the first ship of the quarter arrived a couple of days earlier than previous quarter.
Next quarter will be an absolute delivery madness in The Netherlands due to the next Dutch tax cliff.

Anyone know if Teslas imported to the UK are tax and tariff wise going trough Tesla Europe/The Netherlands? In 64 days we will probably have the Great British Back Off.

 

[dgodfrey]

Elon just tweeted this pic of Starhopper landing like its 2024:

Hope those "Mach diamonds" turn into other precious gems...

Cheers!

I have to admit I haven't been following this enough to comment on what it's purpose is and at first glance thinking it looks like something put together by a crackpot with a welder and a wrecked milk truck but the more I look at it, the more I'm appreciating the design. It's got a kind of steampunk flavor. I think I'll call it "spacepunk".™

 

[willw64]

CNBC Alert - going to be a Musk/Solar City piece on CNBC soon. Vanity Fair reporter.

 

[Fact Checking]

CNBC Alert - going to be a Musk/Solar City piece on CNBC soon. Vanity Fair reporter.

I'm wondering whether Vanity Fair reporter Bethany McLean is going to disclose her close ties to Jim Chanos, notorious Tesla short seller who falsely accused Fairfax Financial of fraud as well:

The Catastrophe Capitalist

"Reporters, too, have a vested interest in cultivating short-selling sources. When a short-seller uncovers fraud, it often translates into the sort of epic story that can make a business reporter’s career. After Chanos tipped Bethany McLean, then at Fortune, to the problems at Enron, she landed a $1.4 million book deal and an Oscar-nominated documentary, and she recently was hired as a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. McLean and Nocera recently nabbed a reported seven-figure book deal chronicling the fall of Wall Street."

"Some believe these symbiotic interests can steer reporters to favor Chanos’s point of view over the defense of a CEO or a company’s PR department. “Everyone wants to be the next Bethany McLean,” says one anti-short corporate lawyer."

"Of all the journalists whom Chanos deals with, McLean—a former Goldman analyst turned financial writer—maintains a special relationship with Chanos that is the subject of lore and jealousy among rival business writers. At Fortune, McLean wrote features about the Australian bank Macquarie and Fairfax Financial—both companies on which Chanos had significant short positions. Through McLean, Chanos had access into the pages of Fortune."​

Maybe CNBC anchors and panelists are going to probe her on those ties and the fact that her Fairfax Financials accusations were proven to be false?

Just kidding, this was a rhetorical question only.

Tomorrow is options expiry day so today is obviously stock bashing day at CNBC. They were waiting for whether Starhopper would fail - it didn't, but the CThanos show must go on, so they'll make up new lies about Tesla.

 

[Antares Nebula]

People, whether bulls or bears, write some of the most hilarious stuff on stocktwits:

"Remember, $amzn is just a stupid online bookseller, it's stock will NEVER break $10. A friend shorted it at $870. He was hospitalized at $1200. Sadly we laid him to rest at $1500. $tsla is just a toy car company by an unproven tech guy who's like maybe sorta only saving the world and like global energy stuff. Stupid car outsells all other cars produced by human kind by revenue up to this point. Stock will never break $50. GL w that strategy. Cremation or casket? Bullish"

 

[KarenRei]

CNBC Alert - going to be a Musk/Solar City piece on CNBC soon. Vanity Fair reporter.

How soon? Anyone know the interviewer?

 

[Lessmog]

Anyone know if Teslas imported to the UK are tax and tariff wise going trough Tesla Europe/The Netherlands? In 64 days we will probably have the Great British Back Off.

Maybe via Norway, or vice versa? Just another guess.

 

[Rohan]

While that is true, for China next November is not far away, for Trump next November is coming like a speeding train..

Sooner or later there has to be a deal... but it might be later.

Ugh, whilst being British I don't really care but, presumably, the closer it gets to November the worse any deal for the USA. Possibly no deal would suit China better? Rhetorical. OT

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Ugh, whilst being British I don't really care but, presumably, the closer it gets to November the worse any deal for the USA. Possibly no deal would suit China better? Rhetorical. OT

China might try to hang on until the presidential election, when a Democrat president would likely cave, or at the very least dial things back. But it gives the Trump administration more reason to ratchet things up now to try to get a deal made. China is really hurting. It's not just the direct impact, it's the overall impact. The global economy is slowing, the US economic growth had been helpful to offset that and the trade war scares the world.