TSLA Market Action: 2018 Investor Roundtable

[derhelddestages]

This bear's repeatin':

LOL!

Couldn't he at least say *something*? Like she is a nice person, good at heart, bla bla. They way Kimbal handled this is painful to watch. Holy *sugar*, a potato would be better qualified to give an interview.

 

[JRP3]

This is too good, to be overlooked.

Unfortunately Kimbal overlooked the fact that March 20 isn't a good time to try planting seeds in much of the country. Ground will still be well frozen around here into April, unless we have an unusually warm winter.

 

[RobStark]

One does not simply troll into Mordor.

 

[JRP3]

Tesla acquires trucking companies to avoid shortages:

Elon Musk on Twitter

I found this to be informative for people who question why they don't use rail:

Skipping rail saves over a month for East Coast deliveries. All things considered, it’s better to use trucks. Single load/unload & direct to owner location.

Elon Musk on Twitter

 

[MP3Mike]

Frozen lock pin, you say?? There's already a Tesla product for that.

Nope, that is a Boring Company product.

 

[Nocturnal]

Unfortunately Kimbal overlooked the fact that March 20 isn't a good time to try planting seeds in much of the country. Ground will still be well frozen around here into April, unless we have an unusually warm winter.

Even if it's warm you should still start them indoors to get them going.

 

[scaesare]

I found this to be informative for people who question why they don't use rail:


Elon Musk on Twitter

And the reason why folks miss that points is that traditional automakers aren't typically building to order... rather just build to spec for dealer lots... once the rail pipeline is full, that lead time doesn't really matter much from a customer point of view.

Now if you are waiting for your car that you ordered, that month is a long time... for you and Tesla.

 

[Jkam]

This is a back page news event that could possibly have some massive implications down the road. I've thought since the Semi reveal that eventually Tesla would do something like this.

How do you possibly see it playing out?

 

[Nocturnal]

Batteries are fairly small part of their business I think. Batteries are also on their way to being commoditised - especially the manufacture of them.

That makes sense, I'm thinking just in terms of raw production volumes though.

 

[Lycanthrope]

Plant a seed, see it sprout on 420 day!!!

I signed up for it, but the question is, can we plant some cannabis seeds?

 

[Cherry Wine]

Some China news:

Tesla to speed up Model 3 deliveries in the U.S., start sedan's delivery in China

 

[dc_h]

https://electrek.co/2018/11/14/tesla-model-3-cold-weather-flaws/

Strange that this was missed during cold weather testing. It should be fixed soon, otherwise it may impact Model 3 sales in cold countries (Norway, Canada).

somebody should come up with a way to start your car remotely, warm it up and thaw it out, before you go outside!?

that would be amazing! somebody should have thought of that. I can't believe no one thought of that. I shall call it "remote start". Please send all royalties to "idiots without iphones", a charitable and sarcastic organization for solving non-issues.

*sorry to pick on any individual poster, but this seems like an issue that was solved before it started.

 

[SteveG3]

LOL. See that's EXACTLY what I'm talking about. You guys just have no clue... Ice on the door handle is literally the tip of an iceberg.

Also Model 3 door handles don't get warm. There was another user who said he preheated for 2 hours, and Tesla support told him to preheat longer. There are also IR images of the car while preheating. Door handles are well sealed from the cabin, unlike on S which gets some coincidental warm air from the cabin.

People get the door open through enough force, then the window fails. No it's not just stuck to the seals, the software fails to drop the window even after it's unstuck. It's a comedy of errors.

I could drop 1-2 dozen purely software flaws in cold weather with my S off the top of my heat right now. But I'll spare this thread.

I saw someone mention they pre-heated for something like 30 minutes, and Tesla told him to preheat for 2 hours. Are you sure someone who did preheat for 2 hours was told to do so longer? That's quite a different scenario if so.

 

[Nocturnal]

somebody should come up with a way to start your car remotely, warm it up and thaw it out, before you go outside!?

that would be amazing! somebody should have thought of that. I can't believe no one thought of that. I shall call it "remote start". Please send all royalties to "idiots without iphones", a charitable and sarcastic organization for solving non-issues.

*sorry to pick on any individual poster, but this seems like an issue that was solved before it started.

Particularly as the Telsa capability is far better than any ICE car I've owned. It is possible to schedule the warm up time and I don't have to open my garage in order to let out the carbon monoxide.

 

[Lessmog]

Even if it's warm you should still start them indoors to get them going.

It seems Kimbal's Squareoot grows stuff in containers. Or maybe I'm wrong. https://www.meetup.com/squarerootsg....meetup.com/squarerootsgrow/events/256209960/

 

[SteveG3]

I'm not sure that interview was productive. Sure, he could have talked about plant a seed day but at the same time provide some color on Tesla.

FWIW: Unlike CNBC's moderators, Varney is a big fan of Tesla and often is very complimentary. I wish Kimbal could have been more forthcoming.

I've seen instances of Blarney making somewhat complimentary remarks about Tesla.

I've also seen stuff like this from two weeks ago,

 

[Mkorpal]

How do you possibly see it playing out?

Tesla eventually bringing all their shipping in-house with it's own fleet of trucks they built, drastically reducing shipping costs. As a bonus, during the testing phase of the Semi, they will be getting value out of the prototypes.

 

[Joe F]

I've seen instances of Blarney making somewhat complimentary remarks about Tesla.

I've also seen stuff like this from two weeks ago,

If we click on it will you stop posting it? Asking for a lot of friends.

 

[RobStark]

Vladimir Grinshpun on Twitter

ARK is no longer a small fry at #20

 

[SteveG3]

Batteries are fairly small part of their business I think. Batteries are also on their way to being commoditised - especially the manufacture of them.

Yep, battery cells are becoming similar to solar panels. High volume/low margins with real but small differences between successful manufacturers.

I think it's almost a certainly that we are on the cusp of a battery shortage, quite likely for at least the next decade.

Most automakers are currently largely blowing off transition to EVs and acquiring a battery supply for that. At some point, it seems near certain that their hands will be forced and they will be vying for supply from a small number of global players.

Yes, I'd expect existing Chinese companies and new startups in China to somewhat offset this with increasing volumes and improving quality... but, I still think we are on the verge of demand heavily outstripping supply for a decade plus. It's going to take something like $500 billion in new manufacturing capacity buildup to supply the auto industry... and energy storage might take off and add similar scale of demand for these cells.

I wouldn't expect the thin margins of a commoditized business anytime soon. One of my only concerns about Tesla is actually how reliant they are on Panasonic vs. being able to go forward without them if need be. It's not a major concern for me... but by the mid-late 2020s, perhaps Tesla will be competing with the likes of Toyota for Panasonic's next battery plant investments.

I can see why someone would take some time to explore Panasonic as a potential investment.