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

[NicoV]

Good move from Tesla. Will increase customer retention further and has a feel good factor as a 'member'. View attachment 1037948

I also got that email, but I’ m not sure if anything has changed. We were members in the past too.

 

[UkNorthampton]

As well, I don't think many people understand the real maintenance saving of EV's as well. Tesla could include (excluding tires/wipers) maintenance for the 4 year warranty period and I don't think it would cost that much.

Besides the great driving experience, I always thought low maintenance and reliability would be one of the biggest things to draw people to EV's. It seems this has gotten lost in the noise with the Hertz disaster and all the OTA "recalls".

Free oil changes for life...

 

[Drax7]

I don’t know how it would unfold, but I wouldn’t count on that angle being a big profit centre.

Have you heard Elon talk about an accident in 2018 with Barrett Riley and how it spurred him to improve safety?

The company won’t care about profiteering, they’ll care about saving lives — that I believe.

They are basically running a non profit , if so why invest in the stock.

 

[Usain]

Free oil changes for life...

Seriously. Every Tesla ad campaign should say "Free oil changes for life". It would cause a stir in the public consciousness.

 

[Ellec]

Monthly buy of another 54 shares at $172.30, the accumulation continues, such low low prices!

 

[SO16]

I know many posters here claim this often, but I don't feel the majority of people feel this way. Most people I know, and I'm talking about average or below average wealth people, they value money over safety because they are strapped financially. Most people would never consider paying for a software to drive them around when they can do it themselves for free, even if it is less safe.

I often see Tesla bulls claiming once FSD is solved the take rate will skyrocket and the price will go up, but personally I do not see it playing out that way. Most people can't afford FSD today at $12K so they certainly won't be able to afford it at a higher price, no matter how good it is.

My personal opinion is Tesla will LOWER the price once FSD is solved in order to increase adoption. Bulls like to forecast tens of billions of dollars of FSD profit, but it's important to remember Tesla's mission is NOT to produce huge profits, it's to create a better world. Look at how Tesla is willing to drop margins on the cars in order to increase sales, FSD will likely play out the same way in my opinion.

People like Gary Black get blasted for looking at TSLA's future conservatively, but to me many TSLA bulls go too far in the optimistic direction. Remember Tesla's mission and don't let emotions get in the way of being realistic or practical. And just because many of us here can easily afford to pay $12K+ for FSD does not mean most other people ever would.

IMHO of course, just my two cents.

L2 FSD, I agree.

L4 FSD gives time back to people. That will be worth more.

 

[2daMoon]

Free oil changes for life...

As funny as this is, as an actual "benefit" to be promoted it might be just the thing to raise awareness, and for Tesla to have a little fun with in their paid promotions.

 

[Usain]

In other words, someone spends billions of dollars developing a system and now is forced to give it away. That's a real incentive to develop new products.

Tesla will not be forced to give it away. At least not in the US. Nobody was forced to give airbags away for free.

It is possible that NHTSA eventually requires that all cars have a system like FSD that avoids these deadly accidents. I could totally see that as it exactly fits within NHTSA's mission.

Tesla could create a version of FSD that only does accident avoidance that it would sell to all the other automakers for a reasonable price. Then everybody wins. (And of course, all those customers would have the option to upgrade to full-Full Self Driving)

 

[Krugerrand]

My number two recommendation would be for Tesla to raise its battery warranty to at least 200,000 miles. I think Tesla could easily afford to replace the few battery packs that fail before 200,000 miles. Then the other automakers would have to raise their warranties as well.

Why should Tesla give a battery warranty beyond any warranty given for an ICE in the history of ICE!? So that OEMs raise their warranties on what exactly? ICE or their EV batteries that aren’t, at the very least, managed as good as Teslas? On vehicles they’ve given up on!?

How about people just engage their brains? How about they simply recognize their fears, and then systematically work through them in the numerous ways that current brave-souled EV owners have done?

I’ve heard for over a decade how Tesla should hold hands and yet in the next breath how Tesla can’t do it alone. When will GM and Ford (since we’re talking US specifics) do their hand holding vs the stance they’ve taken all along, which is to bash Tesla, lie, drag their feet, lie, deploy inferior products, lie, and then give up?

Factually, the US (and Canada) are different in many ways than Europe and Asia. On top of that, we’ve got a propaganda campaign going on here the likes of which most people are unaware.

People fear the inability to charge their EVs because they’re being told non-stop how EVs have no range, you can’t drive them in the cold etc., etc., They’re being told they catch on fire and then can’t be extinguished. They’re being told a new battery is going to cost tens of thousands of dollar as if it’s a certainty they’ll have to buy one, when factually they’re much more likely to go buy a new car at that point, just as people buy new ICE vehicles when their engine is done. They’re being told the CEO is the most despicable, non-tax paying billionaire on the planet. Now people are being told Hybrids are the way to go because nobody over here can make a profitable EV except Tesla.

It’s not Tesla’s responsibility to fix everything that is wrong with this world and the people in it. But have a little patience while they attempt it.

In summary, I disagree with both your recommendations.

 

[AndrewZ]

They are basically running a non profit , if so why invest in the stock.

The economic benefits of actual robotaxis could be split off from things that just improve public safety, it’s not binary.

 

[Usain]

Monthly buy of another 54 shares at $172.30, the accumulation continues, such low low prices!

I'm also dollar-cost averaging, but every two weeks. Glad to meet a fellow averager.

I've heard that Omar buys 1 share every trading day. Also an interesting strategy.

 

[FreqFlyer]

I have similar issues. While it is cool tech I still need to disengage multiple times on my 7 mile commute. Especially on the way home out of the city, I don’t even try using it anymore in this situation as it is useless and causes to many problems.

I am not sure how they would even fix the issues I have on my commute home. To describe it, it’s almost like someone that is a decent driver but has never driven in my city, therefore, it doesn’t anticipate which lane it needs to be in to not get stuck in the wrong lane during rush hour traffic. I could totally see a human new to my city driving during rush hour doing the exact same thing.


However, I did drive through a school zone yesterday that had a flashing light indicating a lower speed and it slowed down as I would have. I will drive through there again not during school hours to see if it slows down or maintains speed.

The real question is would one be willing to get into a vehicle controlled by the present software to take you to your destination safely, and accept the liability?

 

[Ipcress]

6. Neither of the two vehicles priced under $50,000 fits their needs
7. No home charger & range on 3 or Y isn't sufficient for their weekly total commute (e.g., need 3 supercharger visits of 20min or more)
8. Don't want to support Elon based on his words and actions
9. Belief that EVs are inferior / expensive / need battery replacements from media and politicians

Mostly I think that Tesla is struggling to go from Early Adopters to Late Adopters. It's a pretty classic stage in technology adoption where the next group of buyers have different decision making criteria from the Early Adopters. Instead of being motivated by the potential benefits and accepting the trade offs, the Late Adopters tend to want to make the "right" decision and are less willing to accept unknown or unfamiliar risks.

Tesla has plenty of ways to address late adopters. For example they could explain the almost zero routine maintenance, low battery degradation after 100k miles, long powertrain warranty, etc.

Yes. It would be nice if they would get on with it.

 

[2daMoon]

How about people just engage their brains? How about they simply recognize their fears, and then systematically work through them in the numerous ways that current brave-souled EV owners have done?

Okay, what have you done with @Krugerrand and how did you penetrate the mountain fortress?

This sort of expectation for "people" is completely outside the realm of the basic tenets regarding people in general we have come to expect from our favorite kitty.

 

[Usain]

Why should Tesla give a battery warranty beyond any warranty given for an ICE in the history of ICE!? So that OEMs raise their warranties on what exactly? ICE or their EV batteries that aren’t, at the very least, managed as good as Teslas? On vehicles they’ve given up on!?

How about people just engage their brains? How about they simply recognize their fears, and then systematically work through them in the numerous ways that current brave-souled EV owners have done?

Do you really think people are going to engage their brains? Have you met people?

I'm not saying that Tesla should raise their battery warranty to 200,000 miles out of the goodness of their hearts. I'm saying they should do it because they can. They should do it because it will sell more cars and put the competition in a very tough spot.

 

[Krugerrand]

School zones are definitely one of my biggest problems with it currently. In New Orleans, all school zones have speed-based traffic ticket cameras, so making a mistake there is expensive. It doesn't seem to understand them at all and just ignores them.

In v11, I could manually set the speed slower as I approach one, and it would quickly adjust to my manually set speed. In v12 it very slowly drifts toward what I manually set -- not nearly quickly enough to avoid a ticket, so I end up disengaging at that point. So they basically took away my work-around. ... which I wouldn't care that much about if they solved the initial problem.

Oddly enough, they know where the school zone traffic cameras are -- they do now mark them correctly on the map. They just don't do anything about them.

Why don’t you just start dialing down your speed sooner so the car arrives at the school zone at the appropriate speed!? That’s all I do now. It’s easy to just give the car more runway so you arrive at the sign at the correct speed. The car slows down so gently that anyone behind you isn’t going to notice.

The issue is that the car doesn’t yet recognize the warning speed change signs.

There’s zero reason you can’t use FSD. You simply need to alter the timing of your actions at this point. One day you won’t.

 

[Ellec]

I'm also dollar-cost averaging, but every two weeks. Glad to meet a fellow averager.

I've heard that Omar buys 1 share every trading day. Also an interesting strategy.

Nice to have a fellow DCAer here, My broker has fairly high transaction fees due to exchange rate (GBPUSD) so monthly is better for me. However it gives me access to an ISA to hold some of my shares tax free, a UK thing. 1 share a day is interesting he must pay almost no fees.

 

[Krugerrand]

Things that significantly improve public safety really shouldn’t be locked behind a subscription pay gate especially when all cars have the hardware and it’s merely a software toggle.

If FSD prevents accidents at high speed, can detect pedestrians and avoid hitting them, etc then doesn’t it seem a bit immoral to not make those features standard across the fleet? Not even for the driver’s sake, for the sake of other users on public roads.

Maybe you’ll want to start by talking to government at all levels and organizations and companies and financial institutions and media that already put people’s lives at risk every single day, not to mention all that have at least tried to slow Tesla, if not outright end Tesla.

After they all step forward and stop their shenanigans, do what’s best for people, then we can talk about out how Tesla should simply give away billions of dollars of investment into FSD for free. Next you’ll be suggesting they give the cars away for free too because they have the highest safety ratings and people tend not to die in them.

 

[DarkandStormy]

First chapter of book exonerating Elon from the Thai rescue saga:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1778481541154222261

I know there is much support for Elon here regarding some of his more out there demeanours. I implore those who do not to take another look. This man is truly saving us from things that we cannot yet comprehend. He is trying to be a centrist on all things. I'm not talking politics. This is how we live, how we breathe, how we get around, how we help our neighbours, how we are entertained so that we don't fall into despair and most importantly how we exist in 50 years.

You think without Elon humanity wouldn't exist in 50 years?

 

[Stretch2727]

Seriously. Every Tesla ad campaign should say "Free oil changes for life". It would cause a stir in the public consciousness.

Add in free brake pads as this one is even less understood.