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And I'm not so with you on that analogy. A Beta player is worthless if nobody releases movies on it. Outside of charging stations, Tesla isn't as dependent on third parties to make Teslas a success. But I have read that in large parts of the US, potential customers are steered away from EV vehicles. Even when it is their own company's vehicles (Toyota/Leaf for example). Having more EVs could change that. |
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VW paid lip service back in 2010 but they were too busy making fistfuls of cash selling diesels and didn't put real money into EVs. Their diesel market has since imploded. China and some major European countries are pushing electric vehicles as a way to combat urban smog and other urban air pollution issues. This time around, VW is backing up their talk with billions in investment. I don't see any reason to doubt that VW will be a major producer of electric cars in 8~10 years time. The Tesla doubters may be proved wrong, but I think they have a pretty strong case. |
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The hype around Tesla annoyed me. I appreciated Musk as a visionary but never really took Tesla seriously.
My wife had an important birthday. She wanted an SUV. Had some ideas that I easily picked apart. She then mentioned Tesla in the same way that she had Bitcoin as a Christmas gift at the highs months before. I sighed heavily and went along for a test drive. Loved the Model X experience. Loved the technology. Loved how it felt different. We took delivery two weeks ago. Could not be more pleased or impressed. (The wife likes it!/end thread.) Not sure about the sustainability of it as a business model and not quite ready to provide Tesla with a multi-year 0% loan in the form of a Roadster deposit, but I’m beyond intrigued. I think Tesla is pretty cool and that’s probably pretty representative. |
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For sure potential customers are being steered away from EVs. Big oil has lobbied for years against it. Big auto set up skunk work operations for years because they know EVs are cheaper to service. There will be more EVs on the road, because of Uber/Lyft, public transportation (eBuses, etc.), and eventually driverless. As more EVs hit the road, you'll see batteries innovate rapidly. |
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I don't see what Musk has done that is so visionary. He is a charismatic salesman and I'm sure he is smart and a hard worker. Reminds me of Steve Jobs for getting credit for a bunch of products and ideas that a bunch of other people had already tried. Putting satellites into orbit dates to the 60's. London had electric buses in 1907 (that is not a typo). Colonies on Mars and hyper loops is a bunch of BS he does to get media attention (and aren't original ideas anyway). People have been digging tunnels underground for hundreds of years. I don't know much about his time at PayPal but an online payment service seems rather obvious. Kudos to him for starting the right business at the right time. On the other hand, starting a car company is hard. The US hasn't had a new, successful car company in something like 80 years. He made electric cars sexy the same way that Jobs made music players and smart phones sexy. He appears to have the same type of fanatical following that Apple has. Credit for a well-engineered product and a fabulous job of branding. I hope Tesla succeeds. I think the odds of it succeeding as an independent company are probably less than 50-50. |
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The United States wasn't visionary and groundbreaking because they invented democracy. It was forcing it upon the world and making it work that cemented it's(our) legacy. |
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Elon must be getting tired of answering to public investors.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.</p>— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1026872652290379776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 7, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> |
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Big part of the reason why I think this credit is stupid. |
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