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Tesla to raise $1B

ir.tesla.com

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Re: Tesla to raise $1B

#121

Post by blhack »

freehunter wrote: post #109
blhack wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What vehicle that Tesla produces is most similar to the bolt? Tesla produces high end luxury cars. The Chevrolet bolt is not that.

Arguably the Model 3 is not a high end luxury car either, not priced at $35k. The Bolt is a direct competitor to the Model 3 with first-mover advantage. The only argument against that is one has a badge that says "Chevrolet" and the other says "Tesla". If the Model 3 didn't have the Tesla name, no one would think anything of it. It'd just be yet another compact electric car, yawn, who cares, and then they'd buy the C…

I'd say that the model 3 is comparable (in price also) to the BMW 320i.

The Chevrolet Bolt is similar in price, but I think somebody making a comparison between a BMW and a Chevy would be similarly mistaken. BMW and Tesla are luxury car manufacturer. Chevrolet isn't.

IMHO, the bolt is overpriced. It's a crossover SUV from a manufacturer that is known for making low cost, high-volume cars. It looks like it is most similar to the Chevy Trax, which starts at $21,000.

Re: Tesla to raise $1B

#122

Post by bischofs »

radiorental wrote: post #118
bischofs wrote: post #104

Tesla looks like they will lose that cool new thing vibe soon, the novelty of an electric car will wear off - especially when porsche or benz come out with an electric sedan or coupe. These companies will offer a much more compelling product with the ownership value that people expect from a luxury car company. I have shopped a model S and besides the electric drivetrain it is not really that nice of a car compared t…

Curious, where is everyone going to get their batteries?

Tesla doesnt make batteries they just package the cells, anyone can do this if the market demands it. Automotive companies are quite good at supply chains.

Re: Tesla to raise $1B

#123

Post by [deleted] »

bischofs wrote: post #122
radiorental wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious, where is everyone going to get their batteries?

Tesla doesnt make batteries they just package the cells, anyone can do this if the market demands it. Automotive companies are quite good at supply chains.

[deleted]

Re: Tesla to raise $1B

#124

Post by robotresearcher »

dmode wrote: post #65
ClassyJacket wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It will, but it doesn't yet. Cars with the second generation autopilot hardware were sold without any autopilot at all. It also had no auto park, no automatic headlights, no automatic wipers, no automatic emergency braking, no side collision warning, no lane departure warning, no automatic lane change, or summon. A 45Mph speed limited version of autosteer was enabled in an update, and maybe some of those other featur…

This is simply not true. AP2 has auto park, side collision warning, auto headlights, emergency braking, forward collision warning, 55 mph speed limit, with TACC at 80 mph.

Look at the past-tense of the statement.

Re: Tesla to raise $1B

#125

Post by 4SomeReason »

Cookingboy wrote: post #6

As an investor of Tesla who bought into Elon's vision I've been getting more and more nervous about how the company is actually run at this point. A modern car company is as much of a production and supply chain company as it's a product and tech company. I get the feeling that due to Tesla being cutting edge in the tech department it led to all the supply chain/production problems being treated as if they are speed…

The point at which Tesla will become not a pie-in-the-sky wet dream is when the price point matches a run-of-the-mill Honda.

Right now, having a Tesla is like having a Maserati.

I know zero people who have one, my wife (a structural integrationist) _works_ on people who have them, so I am like two social tiers away from thinking of affording one, which, for me, is like dreaming of that Kawasaki Ninja I had postered on my wall as a ten year old boy.

He, and his team, need to dramatically scale down costs somehow. I read something cool today about Chinese charging stations that swap batteies instead of sitting and waiting to recharge. I wonder if something like that with an attendant would work to extend the battery "life" ad infinitum for grids in other nations.

Seems like his head is on straight though. He took profits and looked up. He said, yeah, I could drive down prices on my car by saturating more, but I'll build rockets that don't waste as much on reentry costs instead. That's smart innovation, that's passing the baton in the 400m instead of sprinting 10m and saying "I win!".

I do think there is stigma (even in my own mind, and I really am a fan of Elon) surrounding borrowing money over and over, but the reality is: almost EVERYONE does this. If you aren't Dow, or Ford, or some huge ass fucking company that has a war chest the size of Dubai, you aren't going to weather the stormy market conditions we are facing as a result of globalization (see Brexit et al for moreon that topic of discussion).

Businesses need floating because they don't exist in a vacuum, they exist because they aren't welcomed by their competitors, in fact, they are actively "sabotaged" by those that stand to lose market share, and that, my friends, is a HUGE problems with mercantilism. Unless we decide to get along, it's not going to get better, and corporate espionage has not lessened in my lifetime, not by a moonshot.

So, yeah, play nice and he and those like him will stop having to borrow money, and maybe he will throw us a bone and make a car that doesn't cost as much as my entire post-secondary education (including grad school).

Peace y'all.

Re: Tesla to raise $1B

#126

Post by dilemma »

grizzles wrote: post #82
kilroy123 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm very curious how you were able to save the company millions of dollars.

It was an exercise in creative problem solving. I'd query the data to find out where on the line the most (costly x incidence) problems were occurring and then devise a solution. If a worker was scratching the paint every time he put his tool down the secure a fastener, we'd get a heavy rubber guard fabricated, change his man assignment and have him put down the guard before he did his little peice, or even better ch…

>Don't even get me started on labor. :)

Wow.

Re: Tesla to raise $1B

#127

Post by Cookingboy »

grizzles wrote: post #102
Cookingboy wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Supply Chain is not that big a deal to fix. They will sort out there problems there, they just imo need a few vets from a traditional car company. Tesla have been trying to and they are still running into many problems, many industry veteran hires and tens of thousands of cars sold later. I have talked to many people who have worked/work in production as well, and unfortunately they don't share with you the same opt…

It's because of the fast pace of the company. I doubt they are any worse than any other company introducing a new model. As a new model recedes into the past quality issues should decrease linearly, and maybe faster. Alot of the BSR issues (often caused by worker inaccuracy) that Tesla faces today are probably catchable nowadays with a convnet before they even go down the line. If I had to guess right now, many years…

"I doubt they are any worse than any other company introducing a new model."

Except they are. The Model S is 5 years old (even the refresh model is a year old) and they are still running into parts and build issues. It has improved a long way but during the whole process they had to cut the number of interior and exterior colors/trims just to streamline the production. Other manufacturers introduces new fit/finish and trim options along a model's life span and Tesla does the opposite.

Case in point, the original P85+ came with sports trims inside (such as the red piping on the leather seats) and some unique fit and finishes, with unique sports suspensions and chassis tuning. But later on they eliminated all of those and now a top of the line P100D have the exact interior trim and chassis tuning as the cheapest S60 that cost less than half as much, all for the sake of streamlined production.

And even then they can't find parts for when cars need service or are in an accident.

Re: Tesla to raise $1B

#128

Post by Cookingboy »

M_Grey wrote: post #94
Cookingboy wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm really not sure, and I have to admit that the reason I'm concerned for my investment is that part of me don't think they can.

I don't know the answer either. Obviously whoever can figure it out though, stands to make a killing either way. If you invested this money with the knowledge that it was a risk, that you could lose it all, then you should probably stick with that; nothing has really changed. If this was something you felt was a sure bet, or if circumstances have changed then maybe it's worth re-thinking your position.

"If you invested this money with the knowledge that it was a risk, that you could lose it all, then you should probably stick with that"

Yes to all of those. Rationally I can no longer justify this investment to be honest, but I like the Koolaid they are selling too much :/

Re: Tesla to raise $1B

#129

Post by skygnite »

Cookingboy wrote: post #77
grizzles wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although I applaud your skepticism, I think it's misplaced. My first job out of University was working for Daimler-Benz when they owned Chrysler. I was a front line eng supervisor at the plant level focusing on In System Damage, Federal Torque and a host of other quality issues that were plaguing the company at the time. I dealt directly with it so I can tell you, Supply Chain is not that big a deal to fix. They will…

>Supply Chain is not that big a deal to fix. They will sort out there problems there, they just imo need a few vets from a traditional car company. Tesla have been trying to and they are still running into many problems, many industry veteran hires and tens of thousands of cars sold later. I have talked to many people who have worked/work in production as well, and unfortunately they don't share with you the same opt…

Isn't Elon a sort of supply chain pariah at this point though? His learnings from SpaceX and Tesla so far probably make him one of the most experienced people in modern supply chains.

Re: Tesla to raise $1B

#130

Post by revelation »

wwalser wrote: post #73
revelation wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AP2 is truly dangerous. It's incomprehensible they would release something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ1XLqc5IUg I guess it's a good reality check for autonomous cars when you take away the LIDAR toys. One rather important point is that the car often doesn't realize it is screwing up, because quelle surprise, realizing you don't have a correctly detected lane can be just as difficult as detecting one…

I was under the impression that AP* was for keeping the car in a lane on the interstate. Is it suppose to be capable of navigating rural roads like the video shows?

I'm not fully up to date with that, but I think it was meant to be enabled for more residential streets recently? And the AP2 is also still speed limited making it somewhat useless on interstates?

In any case, I'm pretty sure there shouldn't be a button that instantly makes your car swerve into the ongoing lane..

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