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

[AudubonB]

This is one prospect who will not be sending Mr. Isaacson or his publishers any money (of course, I’m certain I’ll find a way to read it, eventually, though).

Within the tsunami of pre-publication releases etc. was an interview with him on some NPR or similar output - it might have been “Fresh Air”, but I’ve not gone back to search it out. It was easily two weeks ago.

There, the author revealed himself to be an irredeemably virulent anti-capitalist of the worst Ivory Tower fashion. To Mr I, it is inconceivable that anyone associated with an organization that might possibly turn a profit ever could solve any of the world’s problems; only those in benign government have the purity of heart and mind to do so.

I pad, but I do not exaggerate.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Munro has a good heart, but he might stop with this clown college stuff. He is not a metallurgy expert AFAIK and hammering stuff causes more changes than one can see.

Internal changes (damage) does occur especially in a cast when hit/deformed. For those who have used cast and forged vise you might get the idea.

I admire he wants to stop the FUD, but this is not the way to do it.

He wasn’t comparing forged vs cast. Obviously forged is strong too. He was comparing welded sheet steel vs forged.

The problem was that the cast parts weren’t part of a structure and they moved a lot when hit, dissipating much of the force. Anyways, whatever, not important.

 

[MP3Mike]

This is one prospect who will not be sending Mr. Isaacson or his publishers any money (of course, I’m certain I’ll find a way to read it, eventually, though).

I cancelled my pre-order for it because I can't support someone that is so sloppy and puts so much bad information in. (Pretty much every pre-release quote has had bad information, how much of the rest is wrong as well?)

However, I might try to check a copy out from the local library.

 

[Cosmacelf]

I cancelled my pre-order for it because I can't support someone that is so sloppy and puts so much bad information in. (Pretty much every pre-release quote has had bad information, how much of the rest is wrong as well?)

However, I might try to check a copy out from the local library.

Eh, it’ll be like every single other news source. Gotta separate the wheat from the chaff.

 

[Mengy]

Eh, it’ll be like every single other news source. Gotta separate the wheat from the chaff.

Yep. I'm going to read the book because as an all-in Tesla investor I feel I need to read it. I do research on Tesla every day and sift through the crap to find the factual, this is just one more bit of research in my opinion.

 

[jkirkwood001]

Yep. There has been some confusion by assorted folks taking a quick look at the pictures, but I think both have 4 wheels. I think the cardboard mock-up with Franz shows the back wheel inset a few inches compared to thh front wheel -- you can compare where each touches the ground. I think the more complete design image shows the same geometry, but adds fender skirts on the back to reduce drag. I believe the original 2-door Honda Insight had a similar geometry -- narrower track width and fender skirts at the rear.

I don't think drag is going to be high on the features list for the robotaxi. Consider it'll be mostly an urban vehicle. Many will take the train for inter-city travel [esp. outside US], or a rental for road trips where you won't return it same day, want to drive off-road, etc. The Tesla robotaxi will look as sleek as this mock-up because, well... it's a Franz Tesla! But no sub .21 Cd needed at the cost of comfort and storage IMHO.

 

[jkirkwood001]

Whoops! Still a few bugs to work out, CyberTruck...

Tesla Cybertruck wheel cover flies off in traffic as production looms

Tesla’s Cybertruck is just about ready to enter production, but a test vehicle was caught on video causing a potentially...

electrek.co

From the clear video taken near San Francisco, on a Tesla dashcam no less.

 

[2daMoon]

Whoops! Still a few bugs to work out, CyberTruck...

Tesla Cybertruck wheel cover flies off in traffic as production looms

Tesla’s Cybertruck is just about ready to enter production, but a test vehicle was caught on video causing a potentially...

electrek.co

From the clear video taken near San Francisco, on a Tesla dashcam no less.

View attachment 973019

The Cybertruck AI is learning how to play Frisbee!

 

[AnbaricBike]

"some room for improvement"

 

[Artful Dodger]

Yep. There has been some confusion by assorted folks taking a quick look at the pictures, but I think both have 4 wheels. I think the cardboard mock-up with Franz shows the back wheel inset a few inches compared to thh front wheel -- you can compare where each touches the ground. I think the more complete design image shows the same geometry, but adds fender skirts on the back to reduce drag. I believe the original 2-door Honda Insight had a similar geometry -- narrower track width and fender skirts at the rear.

Yup, this is like an electric Volkswagen XL1, the car that VW should have build 10 years ago (their loss, soon their demise):

Volkswagen 1-litre car - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Doug DeMuro knows about the XL1:

Cheers!

 

[MountainRatMat]

Today's $25.08 gain was the second largest single-day gain in TSLA history in absolute terms. Barely edging out October 25th, 2021 ($24.78 split adjusted) and behind the all time best day on February 24th, 2022 ($33.46 split adjusted).

That's $376.20 gain in one day in pre-pre-split dollars. I know I've got shares I paid a lot less than that for

 

[Opus BC fan]

I will start getting excited when Curt starts cueing up the polka band...

 

[MP3Mike]

If you want to see some real usage data on three of the Tesla Semis Pepsi is using I created a thread over here: Data from Run On Less event (It would have been nice if they included estimated cargo weight in the data.)

Day 1 data is available now, there will be more data over the next 17 days.

 

[kbeckley]

After trading hours notes from a 'Go Electric Event' held on the weekend (3rd year running)

A local group I belong to hosted a 'Go Electric' event this weekend. While EVs were a focus we also had select manufacturers representing e-bikes, roof-top solar with backup power, battery construction tools and garden tools, heat pumps (HVAC), and induction cooktops. The idea is to get hydrocarbons out of your personal life with better alternatives available in each category.

We had 28EVs (the usual subjects with some duplicates).

Takeaways:
- Ignorance remains high. We are still at the early stages.
- However, the attendees have moved somewhat from early tech adopters and tree huggers to $ savers (with a hint of green cred).
- Tesla's reputation is tremendous. Elon's reputation is terrible (amongst this crowd anyway) with 4 people telling me that a Tesla was off their EV list due to him. Not starting a debate here just reporting the the endless hits are having a real affect.
- For the first time ever 2 people told me directly that they would only get Tesla because 'they have been doing EVs the longest'. Loved that. Puts paid to the '100 years of manufacturing cars' legacy auto argument that was going to bury Tesla.
- With most of the other EVs in front of me and interacting with most of them yesterday the Teslas are just so much further ahead on tech (and, subjectively, design).

 

[Usain]

This is one prospect who will not be sending Mr. Isaacson or his publishers any money (of course, I’m certain I’ll find a way to read it, eventually, though).

Among the tsunami of pre-publication releases etc. was an interview with him on some NPR or similar output - it might have been “Fresh Air”, but I’ve not gone back to search it out. It was easily two weeks ago.

There, the author revealed himself to be an irredeemably virulent anti-capitalist of the worst Ivory Tower fashion. To Mr I, it is inconceivable that anyone associated with an organization that might possibly turn a profit ever could solve any of the world’s problems; only those in benign government have the purity of heart and mind to do so.

I pad, but I do not exaggerate.

You should be able to find a transcript from NPR and share exactly what you found objectionable. I've already listened to Lex's two hour interview and some other shorter ones. I haven't heard anything like you describe.

I do plan to read the book. From what I gather, Isaacson had two years of unfettered access to Elon. There is bound to be some good information in there from Isaacson's reporting. I don't expect perfect accuracy, but I'm sure it will be good enough to learn a few things.

 

[AudubonB]

Referring to my Isaacson interview post:

A search of NPR suggests no interview with him for a few years.
The following MIGHT be it; I’m on the road now and it’s behind a NYTimes paywall.

A Q&A With Elon Musk’s Biographer

Walter Isaacson said he wrestled with the competing identities of a brilliant but “mercurial” entrepreneur.

www.nytimes.com

 

[winfield100]

My beef is that should have been in the title, not buried. "EVs that aren't Teslas have a road trip problem".

Tell me they don't have an agenda . . . without telling me they don't have an agenda.

2 quotes from the article
Reading the article, the agenda seems, Tesla's are way better road tripping for one, otherwise, no agenda eye sea

(me 15 months, 28,000 miles) (~45,000km)

----------------snip-------------------
Riding along with Granholm, I came away with a major takeaway: EVs that aren't Teslas have a road trip problem, and the White House knows it's urgent to solve this issue.

------------snip--------------​

Tesla chargers are significantly better than the competition, and most of the electric vehicles in the U.S. are Teslas.

Tesla is opening up its exclusive network to more vehicles, which could transform the charging experience as soon as next year, but not all automakers have embraced Tesla's technology. And although Tesla dominates the EV market, the Biden administration wants every automaker to go electric quickly and every driver to have access to fast, reliable charging.
----------------snip-------------------

The article actually showed how bad the charging infrastructure in the US is, ___except___ Tesla's from my jaundiced eye reading it and how the rest better shape up or go BK

 

[betstarship]

You've got to hand it to Elon, to think he even can get Isaacson to be in on making him look like he's insane LOL.

THE MOB DEMANDS INSANE GENIUS ENTREPRENEUR. NEVAR BOW TO THE RATIONALLY LOGICAL GENIUS ENTREPRENEUR THAT LOVES HIS KIDS AND VIDEO GAMES.

Let's all start the petition of "GET ELON OUT OF TESLA, ONLY SPACEX".

 

[wipster]

Besides Jonas, I think the Walter Isaacson book on Elon is helping the stock. Isaacson is being seen everywhere right now promoting the book and putting a better face on Elon and on Tesla.

It's looking to me like the book is going to give a nice boost to Elon's image.

After all the Elon-bashing for the last couple of years, Isaacson paints a picture of the complex person Elon really is. He's been demonized but now he is being humanized. A lot of people are just now finding out about his difficult childhood and his Asperger's. It's a lot easier to root for the underdog Elon than the "richest man in the world" Elon.

The hardback will be delivered on Wednesday. Thanks to Amazon points, $10 delivered!

 

[Singuy]

You should be able to find a transcript from NPR and share exactly what you found objectionable. I've already listened to Lex's two hour interview and some other shorter ones. I haven't heard anything like you describe.

I do plan to read the book. From what I gather, Isaacson had two years of unfettered access to Elon. There is bound to be some good information in there from Isaacson's reporting. I don't expect perfect accuracy, but I'm sure it will be good enough to learn a few things.

Honestly after listening to James Douma's FSD V12 explanation and the narrative Isaacson wrote in the book about V12 end to end, a lack of accuracy is a understatement. Maybe he wanted it to frame it as a surprise or something but it definitely made it sound like some rouge team decided to try end to end while Musk was skeptical, but was then convinced by the team.

vs

James Douma's explanation of the transition from V10->V12 tells an entirely different story. Karpathy wanted to do end to end since the beginning, but the signal is too weak using the training software they had at the time. So they developed in multiple steps, adding bits and pieces of NN to every version from 10->11 trying to boost the signal so eventually they can do end to end. So V12 is not only an additional attachment to but also came from the backs of V10 and V11. It was not some rouge team who wanted to try a different method that is not on the same path as FSD trajectory.