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

[skivi]

What got me the most is that it's from Mark Matousek. That guy has been a hardcore FUDster for years, and he's never before gone so far as to even try a Supercharger? And they've let him write article after article about Tesla?

Has the narrative surprisungly changed on Tesla? Is there something big coming?

 

[Carl Raymond]

Surely in the vastness of GF1 there's room to install some new cell lines, especially with the Maxwell DBE technology. Given the demand I see no reason why both can't continue in parallel, especially while there's a field-validation of the new cells via R2 or Semi.

I see no further reason why Tesla wouldn't licence their technology to Panasonic, for a tidy fee. After all, it's all about accelerating the adoption of EV's.

To create space in GF1, they just need to switch to dry battery electrodes and obviate those ovens.

To switch to dry battery electrodes, they just need some space in GF1.

 

[mrdoubleb]

Interesting positive article on Business Insider:
I used one of Tesla's Supercharger stations for the first time, and it solved the biggest problem I had when driving the Chevy Bolt and Nissan Leaf

I wonder if Tesla and in general EV manufacturers should prepare an "EV basics" info package for journalists to read before a review. This tone and review is a much improved variant, especially considering the source, but he still made the rookie mistake of "charging to full" and spending 40 minutes at the charger. Unless he was driving 300 miles that day, he should have charged to like 60-70% in 20 minutes. I don`t think there was any "bordering" (i.e. malicious intent) he just didn`t know any better.

 

[Pezpunk]

I wonder if Tesla and in general EV manufacturers should prepare an "EV basics" info package for journalists to read before a review. This tone and review is a much improved variant, especially considering the source, but he still made the rookie mistake of "charging to full" and spending 40 minutes at the charger. Unless he was driving 300 miles that day, he should have charged to like 60-70% in 20 minutes. I don`t think there was any "bordering" (i.e. malicious intent) he just didn`t know any better.

which is especially annoying for someone whose job is to literally inform the public about Tesla. Dude has written dozens if not hundreds of articles about Tesla. It'd be nice if he knew something about the product.

 

[replicant]

I wonder if Tesla and in general EV manufacturers should prepare an "EV basics" info package for journalists to read before a review. This tone and review is a much improved variant, especially considering the source, but he still made the rookie mistake of "charging to full" and spending 40 minutes at the charger. Unless he was driving 300 miles that day, he should have charged to like 60-70% in 20 minutes. I don`t think there was any "bordering" (i.e. malicious intent) he just didn`t know any better.

I've emailed Tesla PR team mutiples times (to no avail) to alert them about that issue. Most auto media (including EV-focused ones, like the French automobile-propre.com) will always plug the car and set it to charge for more than an hour. Even after multiple review of the Model 3 (see this cross-country trip

). It's absurd.

 

[AlexS]

Has the narrative surprisungly changed on Tesla? Is there something big coming?

I don't think so. In the end of the article you see this:

Are you a current or former Tesla employee? Do you have an opinion about what it's like to work there? Contact this reporter

Maybe just fishing for dissatisfied employees to make a big story out of nothing.

 

[jeewee3000]

I wonder if Tesla and in general EV manufacturers should prepare an "EV basics" info package for journalists to read before a review. This tone and review is a much improved variant, especially considering the source, but he still made the rookie mistake of "charging to full" and spending 40 minutes at the charger. Unless he was driving 300 miles that day, he should have charged to like 60-70% in 20 minutes. I don`t think there was any "bordering" (i.e. malicious intent) he just didn`t know any better.

Fully agree.

But you can't blame the reviewers for not knowing. I don't own a Tesla (yet, *cough Model Y cough*) and wouldn't know about any of this stuff (proper charging routines for maximum longevity) if I wasn't a Tesla investor/enthusiast.

So I do in fact blame Tesla on this. Even their website doesn't have a simple FAQ about these basics.

 

[KarenRei]

I don't think so. In the end of the article you see this:

Are you a current or former Tesla employee? Do you have an opinion about what it's like to work there? Contact this reporter

Maybe just fishing for dissatisfied employees to make a big story out of nothing.

Yeah, he's gone through periods where he'll scour Twitter for potentially disgruntled employees or upset customers, sending out dozens or even hundreds of nearly-identical inquiries to get them to talk to him. Making it really obvious what sort of story he's planning to write with them.

 

[EVMeister]

There were 40 Model 3s listed in inventory in the UK this morning (as of 3-4 hours ago). Now down to 19. No demand!

 

[Pezpunk]

But you can't blame the reviewers for not knowing. I don't own a Tesla (yet, *cough Model Y cough*) and wouldn't know about any of this stuff (proper charging routines for maximum longevity) if I wasn't a Tesla investor/enthusiast.

it's not for (battery) longevity. it actually saves time. the last 20% takes much longer to charge than the first 80%. Your trip ends up being faster if you stop an additional time rather than topping off to 100% at each stop.

 

[GaryW]

I wonder if Tesla and in general EV manufacturers should prepare an "EV basics" info package for journalists to read before a review. This tone and review is a much improved variant, especially considering the source, but he still made the rookie mistake of "charging to full" and spending 40 minutes at the charger. Unless he was driving 300 miles that day, he should have charged to like 60-70% in 20 minutes. I don`t think there was any "bordering" (i.e. malicious intent) he just didn`t know any better.

In the article, doesn’t he say charging was limited to 90%? Still, to your point, he probably had enough charge after ~20 min.

Also, he shows how to open the charge port, using the screen in the car. So he probably didn’t see the button on the cable?

 

[anthonyj]

Well, shorts covering = buying, right?

My brain isn’t working lately

 

[mrdoubleb]

In the article, doesn’t he say charging was limited to 90%? Still, to your point, he probably had enough charge after ~20 min.

Also, he shows how to open the charge port, using the screen in the car. So he probably didn’t see the button on the cable?

That`s correct, it was set to 90. I meant "charging to full" as in charging to the maximum possible vs staying in the 10-70 zone where it`s really fast.

 

[Prunesquallor]

Cleaning utilities solar panels.

Looks like a good answer for Mars (replace worker with robot).

 

[mrdoubleb]

Another FUD piece on Yahoo finance. It is refreshing that there are like 90 comments and almost all are complaining about the author`s ignorance on GF3.

To be fair though, an all out trade war could still hurt S, X and the LR/P variants of Model 3 & Y, which arguably have more profit than SR+. But regardless, the commenters` point is still valid.

Trump's trade war casts black cloud over Elon Musk's Tesla

 

[jeewee3000]

it's not for (battery) longevity. it actually saves time. the last 20% takes much longer to charge than the first 80%. Your trip ends up being faster if you stop an additional time rather than topping off to 100% at each stop.

That's another advantage, yes. But it's also known that charging to 100% every time (i.e. night) has a negative effect on battery longevity. You're supposed to charge to 75%-85% unless you're planning a long trip. (That's what I've read on TMC, no actual experience with this. That was my point).

 

[Rohan]

Rivian and Ford are going conventional on design and compensating for the aero hit by putting in large batteries, with the hope that battery costs will come down as their federal incentive runs out and they need to price more competitively.

Tesla will [of course] take the opposite approach and make as aerodynamic a pickup as you could imagine, allowing them to squeeze maximum range out of currently affordable battery sizes. An aerodynamic pickup truck will undoubtedly be on the odd side given what we're used to. If the range, power, price, and features clobber the competition, maybe enough people can get past the non-traditional looks. Agree that the pickup truck could basically flop and it wouldn't be end of the world (especially since pickups are mainly an American affection), but missing the mark would be a huge missed opportunity. We'll see!

Just a couple of years ago I would have agreed that pickups are an American thing. I would have been adamant that they would never be popular in the UK. But I'm sad to say you can't move for them now! They're everywhere

 

[KarenRei]

To be fair though, an all out trade war could still hur S, X and the LR/P variants of Model 3 & Y, which arguably have more profit than SR+. But regardless, the commenters` point is still valid.

In terms of dollars per vehicle maybe. Margins (%), however, on Chinese-made SRs should be excellent.

 

[Zaxxon]

it's not for (battery) longevity. it actually saves time. the last 20% takes much longer to charge than the first 80%. Your trip ends up being faster if you stop an additional time rather than topping off to 100% at each stop.

That's another advantage, yes. But it's also known that charging to 100% every time (i.e. night) has a negative effect on battery longevity. You're supposed to charge to 75%-85% unless you're planning a long trip. (That's what I've read on TMC, no actual experience with this. That was my point).

Indeed. Just to provide an updated largely-representative data point: I leave tomorrow for a 3,000+ mile road trip in my LR RWD 3. I've mapped out the route using abetterrouteplanner.com This trip will include 26 Supercharging stops. The average estimated stop time at each station is under 17 minutes. If I take out the two stops where I've manually selected a longer charge time because I'll be in a particular area sightseeing for awhile before getting back on the road, the remaining stops drop to under 16 minutes on average. The Model 3 with the updated 150 kW v2 Superchargers is just an insanely time-efficient road-tripping vehicle. I agree that Tesla could and should do a better job making this known to media. The Supercharger information page still references 'about 30 minutes.' That's probably about right for the shorter-range models, but even the LR S/X are probably more like 20 minutes on average.

 

[EVMeister]

There were 40 Model 3s listed in inventory in the UK this morning (as of 3-4 hours ago). Now down to 19. No demand!

People are suggesting the listings were an error. They were apparently showing cars that were being shipped to customers and should be allocated by Tesla. Somebody phoned up and was essentially told this. There are 15 currently showing (down from 40).