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$50M worth of Tesla equipment sits unused in a Wheatfield warehouse

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Re: $50M worth of Tesla equipment sits unused in a Wheatfield warehouse

#151

Post by ajross »

gowld wrote: post #101
jiofih wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would have Elon Musk been involved? Did he actively participate in SolarCity management before the acquisition?

Yes. Solar City was a Musk (nee Rive) family business from the start. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SolarCity#History > SolarCity was founded in 2006 by brothers Peter and Lyndon Rive, based on a suggestion for a solar company concept by their cousin, Elon Musk, who is the chairman and helped start the company. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyndon_Rive > Rive is a cousin of SolarCity investor and entrepreneur Elon Mu…

Wait wait, the evidence for "Musk was personally involved" was "his cousin did it"? I mean, it's hard to tell whether there's any wrongdoing here to allege at all, honestly. But to the extent there is: I think the upthread question is still unanswered. What does this have to do with Tesla?

Re: $50M worth of Tesla equipment sits unused in a Wheatfield warehouse

#152

Post by anonsivalley652 »

I don't particularly care about what Tesla, SolarCity or Silevo does or doesn't do. What is concerning is handing over hundreds of millions in socialist corporate welfare that goes to waste, when that money could've helped the homeless and desperately poor who get austerity instead.

Re: $50M worth of Tesla equipment sits unused in a Wheatfield warehouse

#153

Post by mattkrause »

ajross wrote: post #151
gowld wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Solar City was a Musk (nee Rive) family business from the start. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SolarCity#History > SolarCity was founded in 2006 by brothers Peter and Lyndon Rive, based on a suggestion for a solar company concept by their cousin, Elon Musk, who is the chairman and helped start the company. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyndon_Rive > Rive is a cousin of SolarCity investor and entrepreneur Elon Mu…

Wait wait, the evidence for "Musk was personally involved" was "his cousin did it"? I mean, it's hard to tell whether there's any wrongdoing here to allege at all, honestly. But to the extent there is: I think the upthread question is still unanswered. What does this have to do with Tesla?

Well, that and he (apparently) suggested it to them.

I think the cousin thing is just explaining why they were interacting at all.

Re: $50M worth of Tesla equipment sits unused in a Wheatfield warehouse

#154

Post by rjdagost »

Robotbeat wrote: post #117
rjdagost wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The history of the Buffalo "gigafactory" is rather sordid... In a nutshell, Tesla and its subsidiaries made large employment and economic growth promises to the state of NY in exchange for massive subsidies (almost $1B total). The state wanted to stimulate growth in an economically depressed region, but those growth expectations have not materialized at all. And now, at least some of the NY state taxpayer financed eq…

This is just not accurate. The Buffalo plant economic stimulus package had a clawback provision if Tesla doesn't meet employment milestones. They have been meeting those milestones and so will not have to pay the fee: https://buffalonews.com/2020/02/13/tesla-looks-like-a-good-b... I know people want to make this into some corruption scandal (blaming it either on the state or on Tesla or both), but the state did their…

You're trying to act like everything is A-OK with this project, when it has in reality been a huge waste of public money. First, there has already been a large corruption scandal centered on this project, with people in prison because of associated corruption (search Alain Kaloyeros). Second, those Tesla employment requirement milestones have been repeatedly reduced to require fewer jobs, and the types of required jobs has also been watered down. The requirements in the original agreement are more stringent than the 1460 jobs required now.

The state of NY just wrote off 92% of the value of its $957M investment in the factory: https://buffalonews.com/2019/11/08/pennies-on-the-dollar-the... Does that sound like Tesla is operating at 5/6 utilization of capital equipment?

Panasonic just announced that they're pulling out of the Buffalo factory: https://www.eveningtribune.com/news/20200227/after-nys-750m-... Tesla just wasn't giving them the business that they were promised in 2016 when they joined the project.

I had high hopes for this project when it was announced. It is near my hometown, and I thought it might be a good boost for the local economy. All it seems to have been is a big siphon from public funds, but not a siphon to where it is needed.

Re: $50M worth of Tesla equipment sits unused in a Wheatfield warehouse

#155

Post by jfengel »

anonsivalley652 wrote: post #149
ricardobeat wrote: post #148

This website responds with a plain 403 'Access Denied' for european users.

I guess it's American-made propaganda with export controls because it's considered "munitions." Try this instead: https://outline.com/BdaeZq

I suspect it's more likely overzealous GDPR paranoia. Not that that's any better.

Re: $50M worth of Tesla equipment sits unused in a Wheatfield warehouse

#156

Post by NotSammyHagar »

at-fates-hands wrote: post #147
NotSammyHagar wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting info. If they got 750 million statewide investment, the factory used $700 million of it then? 50 mil left over? I hate state investments in businesses via direct or tax cuts. But this couldn't be worse than Washington state's massive tax cuts for boeing, which proceeded to move more production and jobs to their east coast factory right after they got the tax brake.

> But this couldn't be worse than Washington state's massive tax cuts for boeing, I see your Boeing deal and raise you one Wisconsin deal with Foxconn that will cost the state $4.5 billion and thousands of jobs that most likely never existed.

okay, you win, that's probably worse. That foxconn deal looked like it could end up with just a few dozen new jobs.

Re: $50M worth of Tesla equipment sits unused in a Wheatfield warehouse

#157

Post by jcrawfordor »

prostheticvamp wrote: post #48
2000YearOldMan wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.govliquidation.com/ Looks like the site moved to https://www.go-dove.com/

Have you used that site in the past? I see a lot of listings saying something like “24 ea” to describe a lot of 24, but can’t find what the ea means. I’d think it might mean “bid is per item,” but that makes no sense (I’m seeing bids at multiples of what the individual items are worth).

Typically in an auction, a situation where you are bidding price-per-item for multiple items would be described as "24 times the money" or "24 x money". Only some auctioneers do this because it is confusing to novice bidders. Seems to be more common in live auctions than online.

"24 ea" would generally mean that you're bidding one price for all 24.

Your price may be increased by a buyer's premium as well, but again, this is more common in live auctions than online auctions. Typically it would be in the paperwork you sign to register for the auction (...which online auctionhouses often don't do at all).

Re: $50M worth of Tesla equipment sits unused in a Wheatfield warehouse

#158

Post by ng12 »

jfengel wrote: post #155
anonsivalley652 wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess it's American-made propaganda with export controls because it's considered "munitions." Try this instead: https://outline.com/BdaeZq

I suspect it's more likely overzealous GDPR paranoia. Not that that's any better.

Or more likely a simple cost-benefit analysis.

Re: $50M worth of Tesla equipment sits unused in a Wheatfield warehouse

#159

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

at-fates-hands wrote: post #147
NotSammyHagar wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting info. If they got 750 million statewide investment, the factory used $700 million of it then? 50 mil left over? I hate state investments in businesses via direct or tax cuts. But this couldn't be worse than Washington state's massive tax cuts for boeing, which proceeded to move more production and jobs to their east coast factory right after they got the tax brake.

> But this couldn't be worse than Washington state's massive tax cuts for boeing, I see your Boeing deal and raise you one Wisconsin deal with Foxconn that will cost the state $4.5 billion and thousands of jobs that most likely never existed.

Is there a worse tax deal a state has ever made? Anyone?

Re: $50M worth of Tesla equipment sits unused in a Wheatfield warehouse

#160

Post by natch »

CrazyStat wrote: post #89
natch wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Considering that Tesla will longer make solar cells in that factory Solar cells? Panasonic was making battery cells for Tesla. Are you mixing up different uses of the word “cell”?

Panasonic was making battery cells for Tesla in Nevada and solar cells for Tesla in New York. This article is about the latter.

TIL, thanks.
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