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Tesla’s Engineering Chief Takes Leave of Absence at Pivotal Moment

wsj.com

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Re: Tesla’s Engineering Chief Takes Leave of Absence at Pivotal Moment

#61

Post by [deleted] »

wpietri wrote: post #38
LeifCarrotson wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is a tragedy - people occasionally need to take breaks to be more productive.

Sure, and I think the reason he's taking a 6-week break now is that he failed to take sufficient breaks earlier. I've burnt out myself, and it's no joke. I wish him only the best. But to me the real risk here isn't "senior leader out for long, possibly indefinite period". It's "Tesla has been running a sprint, not a marathon." If somebody this high up is burnt out, what's it like for everybody else? Given Tesla's pre…

[deleted]

Re: Tesla’s Engineering Chief Takes Leave of Absence at Pivotal Moment

#63

Post by sunstone »

meritt wrote: post #45
heurist wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Poor examples - Ford produced only the Model T for two decades. Toyota has been around for 80 years.

Why is it a poor example? I'm comparing a car company that, over 100 years ago in 1914, was producing 714 vehicles a day by hand with 13,000 workers [1] to a company in 2018 with 37,000 employees utilizing robots yet manages to only produce half that amount? [1] https://www.wiley.com/legacy/products/subject/business/forbe...

It's poor example because the Model 3 has 1000's of parts some of which have supply chains that spread around the world. The model T had 1481 parts almost all built in their factory. The model 3 is orders of magnitude more complex to the point that it's more similar to a business jet than it is to a model T. But then, you knew that.

Re: Tesla’s Engineering Chief Takes Leave of Absence at Pivotal Moment

#64

Post by kyrra »

akamaka wrote: post #57
kyrra wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WSJ doesn't have great love for most silicon valley companies. In Tesla's case, I think it's their continued over promising and under delivery. Currently the high cash burn plus low production volume on the model 3. Wsj also has some nice pieces about Tesla, such as their recent tour of the production factory. https://www.wsj.com/articles/teslas-factory-in-a-fishbowl-15...

I lost respect for WSJ because of their continuous anti-Tesla editorials. I’m not at all a Tesla fanboy, but the WSJ commentary on subsidies are just trashy attacks that are devoid of any logic or context, given that the help that other industries and automakers have received. For example: https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilwinton/2015/02/16/tesla-sho...

For those interested in reading more on this

Source article: http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-tesla-paradox-1423786534

Electric car site looking at subsidies across the industry: https://electrek.co/2016/11/25/tesla-subsidies-big-three-oil...

One complaint I have with both of you both is that neither provides breakdowns by dollar of subsidies per car produced or sold.

Re: Tesla’s Engineering Chief Takes Leave of Absence at Pivotal Moment

#65

Post by forapurpose »

zimpenfish wrote: post #60
hliyan wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Digging is good, that's their job. But this is borderline innuendo. Journalists are supposed to be dispassionate.

> Journalists are supposed to be dispassionate. This has never been true, has it?

> This has never been true, has it?

That's like saying everybody lies, therefore nobody has ever been honest. Sure, journalists are human and have emotions and make mistakes, but it's not a binary issue; it's a continuum. Journalists generally should strive to be dispassionate.

Re: Tesla’s Engineering Chief Takes Leave of Absence at Pivotal Moment

#66

Post by danso »

hliyan wrote: post #58
IBM wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good journalists are like sharks and they're getting whiffs of Theranos or Enron and are rightly digging into the company.

Digging is good, that's their job. But this is borderline innuendo. Journalists are supposed to be dispassionate.

What in particular from the article seemed overly passionate?

Re: Tesla’s Engineering Chief Takes Leave of Absence at Pivotal Moment

#67

Post by forapurpose »

akamaka wrote: post #57
kyrra wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WSJ doesn't have great love for most silicon valley companies. In Tesla's case, I think it's their continued over promising and under delivery. Currently the high cash burn plus low production volume on the model 3. Wsj also has some nice pieces about Tesla, such as their recent tour of the production factory. https://www.wsj.com/articles/teslas-factory-in-a-fishbowl-15...

I lost respect for WSJ because of their continuous anti-Tesla editorials. I’m not at all a Tesla fanboy, but the WSJ commentary on subsidies are just trashy attacks that are devoid of any logic or context, given that the help that other industries and automakers have received. For example: https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilwinton/2015/02/16/tesla-sho...

> WSJ ... editorials

Twice I conducted a study: I collected everything on their op-ed page over a week or two and coded them for their political stance. I think there were a couple pro-Democratic/liberal pieces out of over a hundred, and a few criticized the Republicans;[0] all the rest were pro-GOP/conservative or anti-liberal/Dem (plus a few that were apolitical). (And if you think the NY Times is the same, you're wrong: Ross Douthat, Bret Stephens (former WSJ editorial page editor) and David Brooks are all conservatives, and maybe others are too.) I encourage anyone to do the same; I feel I can almost guarantee results ever over a small sample like a day.

My conclusion: WSJ op-eds and editorials are partisan mouthpieces for the Republican Party and conservatives. I don't know how Tesla fits into that, but that's their motive. Denying climate change and demonizing any attempt at a solution? Supporting big oil? Musk pulling away from Trump? Others might have a better guess than I do.

[0] Criticizing Republicans is not necessarily pro-Democratic. For example, an editorial could criticize the Republicans for not cutting taxes enough.

Re: Tesla’s Engineering Chief Takes Leave of Absence at Pivotal Moment

#68

Post by ztjio »

zimpenfish wrote: post #60
hliyan wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Digging is good, that's their job. But this is borderline innuendo. Journalists are supposed to be dispassionate.

> Journalists are supposed to be dispassionate. This has never been true, has it?

Look at it this way, journalism’s most prized.... award... the Pulitzer, is named after a man famous for introducing the original Fake News ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism )

Re: Tesla’s Engineering Chief Takes Leave of Absence at Pivotal Moment

#69

Post by modeless »

olivermarks wrote: post #34

It may be the looming post accident battery safety realities that has caused this...it's possible a massive recall or worse is in the works for Tesla given the volatility of damaged batteries catching fire repeatedly after accidents. https://electrek.co/2018/05/10/tesla-battery-reignited-days-...

Why on Earth would that require a recall? Hundreds of gas powered cars catch fire every day. The only difference is first responders expect and know how to handle gas fires. They will learn to handle batteries too.
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