Let's talk about Solar City. Their product is intended to be a solar roof, indistinguishable from a typical roof from street level. Costs look to be in the $50,000+ range. The marketing is that homeowners will not only drive electric vehicles, but go completely off grid by storing the energy collected into Tesla batteries. In order for this to make financial sense, there needs to be an ROI for the homeowner. So... ho…
Tesla raises $1.8B
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Re: Tesla raises $1.8B
#202Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually the solar roofs are made to be about the same cost or cheaper than conventional rooftops WITHOUT factoring in the money saved from the electrcity. So anyone that needs a roof replacement (5 million households/yr is the market size iir) might as well get solar roofs. In that sense their ROI is immediate and they have nothing to lose. It only doesn't make sense financially if they weren't planning on roof repl…
Only true if you look at designer roofs. I got 30 year shingles on my roof last year. About 2000 square feet (I know roofs are measured in squares but I forgot the square number). Cost like $6500 installed. Solar city roof is like 45k. Sure it looks better. And if you compare it to a 25k nice looking roof, the math is way better. But tons of us do not have 25k roofs, we have 5-10k roofs..
Also, I think math for new houses should include the fact that property is usually mortgaged. So, you take part of the cost that's over 25k and it's mortgaged for 25-30 years. You don't pay $30k at once, you pay $100 a month for it, and it saves you $150 in electricity. So it works right from the start. Now there's plenty of roof space for the beginning and let's see where tech will be in 10 years.
Re: Tesla raises $1.8B
#203Re: Tesla raises $1.8B
#204So much for their running out of money. Impressive that they can get it from the bond markets. Highlights maturity as a company.
More likely it suggests they would have trouble selling that many new shares. Even Musk has said their share price is higher than they deserve, so selling shares makes more economic sense. But this amount will only cover their loses for a few months and they probably want to demonstrate their ability to make future profits before diluting their stock significantly. If they sell equity too quickly, it'll look like the…
I'm the first to admit that I don't follow their specific financials to know how much runway they need to be profitable.
Re: Tesla raises $1.8B
#205Earlier quoted context omitted.
More likely it suggests they would have trouble selling that many new shares. Even Musk has said their share price is higher than they deserve, so selling shares makes more economic sense. But this amount will only cover their loses for a few months and they probably want to demonstrate their ability to make future profits before diluting their stock significantly. If they sell equity too quickly, it'll look like the…
Isn't debt harder to raise than equity? My impression is that the risk tolerance for junk bond buyers is somewhere between high grade credit and equity, perhaps closer to equity. Certainly more conservative than growth or venture equity. I'm the first to admit that I don't follow their specific financials to know how much runway they need to be profitable.
Debt has one big advantage over equity too, which is that if the company goes under, bond holders are repaid if possible. Equity holders only own whatever is leftover.
Re: Tesla raises $1.8B
#206Re: Tesla raises $1.8B
#207Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not much of an illusion. Tesla was still working on hybrids when Musk joined on. For better or for worse, Tesla as it is now is Musk's baby. Not untruthful to say he was a cofounder, though with a heavy caveat.
I bought a baby, sure, still my baby. But please not say I gave birth to the baby. Fact is fact, period.