Tesla Posts Big Quarterly Loss as Its Electric-Car Sales Lag • Hacker News Board

Re: Tesla Posts Big Quarterly Loss as Its Electric-Car Sales Lag

#151

Post by jwr » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 2:04 AM UTC

gwright wrote: post #76

jwr wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course ICEs get subsidies. The subsidy is in the form of a carbon tax that we do not collect, even though we should. Every ICE produces emissions which will soon make most of our planet uninhabitable. There should be a carbon tax, so that we can offset this destruction: by building nuclear plants, or figuring out how to re-capture the carbon emitted into the atmosphere. And yet we do not collect that tax, hence he…

You have a point about the negative externalities, but insisting on using the word "subsidy" for that concept is just going to confuse people. That isn't the accepted meaning of "subsidy", in casual conversation at least.

Hmm — how else would you call it? As I understand it, future generations are subsidizing the price of our fossil fuels and internal combustion engines, making ICEs artificially cheap by not considering their environmental impact.

Subsidies do not have to be in the form of cash: many come in the form of tax breaks and I would consider this to be one such case.

Re: Tesla Posts Big Quarterly Loss as Its Electric-Car Sales Lag

#152

Post by goshx » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 2:05 AM UTC

Allvitende wrote: post #148

Just want to say that the amount of hate Elon gets on HN is really interesting.

Yes, you would expect that someone from tech revolutionizing an entire industry at global scale would get a little bit more respect and appreciation here.

Re: Tesla Posts Big Quarterly Loss as Its Electric-Car Sales Lag

#153

Post by ericd » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 2:05 AM UTC

jedberg wrote: post #12

ericd wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weird, they gave me back mine faster than I thought ACH would normally hit (this was maybe a month ago).

I've been waiting four years and counting... Model X reservation. Every time I call, I get a new person (Because the last person I talked to doesn't work there anymore) and they swear that they will certainly solve this for me! And then I never hear from them again.

Damn, that sounds terrible, sorry to hear. Maybe your reservation is old enough that it got borked in a schema migration or something. Good luck getting it fixed, maybe it's time to threaten legal action.

Re: Tesla Posts Big Quarterly Loss as Its Electric-Car Sales Lag

#154

Post by aaomidi » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 2:06 AM UTC

sorenjan wrote: post #115

redindian75 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Had 2 BMWs before my Model3 LR. Never going back. Briefly thought of BMW i3, but once I tested Model3 & played with its Autopilot on stop/go commute - Teslas are years ahead of the game. Best part is, they can only get better. - The very thought of dealership, auto repair shops feels very old now. I had a problem with my left indicator stalk, booked an appointment in the same Tesla app, a mobile mech pulled up, took…

The problem with software updates in cars is that they change the car's behavior, and you end up with a car that did one thing yesterday, and a different thing today. Like steering into a barrier. https://www.reddit.com/r/teslamotors/comments/8a0jfh/autopil...

These videos are getting old, boring, and annoying.

Everyone who drives a tesla knows how their car behaves. I don't expect it to see that barrier when I'm driving my model 3.

Listen - it's hard to imagine what it's actually like to drive a Tesla and learning what it can or can't do. Everyone driving a tesla right now knows that the autopilot is more like a rookie co-pilot that needs monitoring and checking all along the way. Despite its limitations its still the best car out there from what I've personally experienced.

Re: Tesla Posts Big Quarterly Loss as Its Electric-Car Sales Lag

#155

Post by sliken » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 2:08 AM UTC

ProfessorLayton wrote: post #81

Tesla's 1.5B reduction of cash on hand was largely due to the 920M convertible bond payment — but that only happened because TSLA didn't perform to the level necessary for conversion (~$360 IIRC). I wonder what changes in terms this'll warrant for future capital raises. Then they mention that they missed a lot of revenue due to missing half their shipments overseas, and onto Q2 (But also expecting a loss in Q2). Sale…

I find the Panasonic thing very weird. Tesla claims to be battery limited, and also mentioned that their popular and in demand power walls are being throttled by lack of batteries.

Does make me wonder. Is Panasonic blackmailing Tesla with limited supply to influence Tesla's battery supply in China? Is Panasonic and/or Tesla lying about the situation?

Re: Tesla Posts Big Quarterly Loss as Its Electric-Car Sales Lag

#156

Post by krapp » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 2:08 AM UTC

goshx wrote: post #152

Allvitende wrote: post #148

Just want to say that the amount of hate Elon gets on HN is really interesting.

Yes, you would expect that someone from tech revolutionizing an entire industry at global scale would get a little bit more respect and appreciation here.

I respect the engineers and workers actually doing the revolutionizing, not the man taking all the credit and the money.

Re: Tesla Posts Big Quarterly Loss as Its Electric-Car Sales Lag

#157

Post by empath75 » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 2:09 AM UTC

agumonkey wrote: post #112

bduerst wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Making Tesla criticism about criticizing alternative energy is a false equivocation. There are strong arguments that Tesla is being ran very poorly by Musk (solar city acq, VW cash denied, SEC fines, etc.) despite the company being one of the champions for electric vehicles.

I fail to see what Tesla can do to be a more solid company, care to give hints ?

Give up on self driving cars for one thing.

Re: Tesla Posts Big Quarterly Loss as Its Electric-Car Sales Lag

#158

Post by aaomidi » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 2:09 AM UTC

treis wrote: post #135

freerobby wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Tesla is [...] innovating faster This is the point that so many people miss when arguing that an EV revolution is coming and others will catch Tesla. It's not that Tesla's lead is insurmountable; it's that Tesla's lead is growing, not shrinking, with each passing day. No single feature or technology tells this story adequately but the compound effect of all of them does: it's 2019, and not a single manufacturer can…

>This is the point that so many people miss when arguing that an EV revolution is coming and others will catch Tesla. It's not that Tesla's lead is insurmountable; it's that Tesla's lead is growing, not shrinking, with each passing day. Eventually you reach a point where everything is good enough so being better isn't much of an advantage. Like if Tesla gives you 700 mi range but Audi does 500mi, does anyone really c…

That eventually is a long time away. For now though, Tesla is ahead of the game.

It's like the only car that actually gives you new features after buying it. Listens to their consumers, and provides them with what they want (most of the time)

Re: Tesla Posts Big Quarterly Loss as Its Electric-Car Sales Lag

#159

Post by sliken » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 2:10 AM UTC

philwelch wrote: post #94

nostrademons wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The irony is that Tesla was supposed to bankroll SpaceX, but SpaceX is killing it on profits and Tesla is floundering. If anything it looks like SpaceX will end up bankrolling Tesla. Musk should forget about trying to save this planet and focus on getting to the red one.

I used to think the same, but I’m increasingly of the opinion that he needs Tesla to distract him from unduly interfering in SpaceX.

Tesla has no strong 2nd in command to delegate things to. SpaceX does and Elon seems to trust her enough to avoid micro-managing.

Re: Tesla Posts Big Quarterly Loss as Its Electric-Car Sales Lag

#160

Post by yreg » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 2:10 AM UTC

stonogo wrote: post #51

itslennysfault wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More importantly, who cares if he did get stoned?

The people who issued him a United States Department of Defense security clearance, to start with. At least they should. I guess Musk plays by different rules than us plebians.

So people with security clearance can't do legal drugs? Can they drink alcohol?