Tesla unlikely to Survive (Vol. 3)

Tesla unlikely to Survive (Vol. 3)

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Discussion

soupdragon1

4,092 posts

98 months

Wednesday 1st May
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How are all the semi trucks in the USA going to charge once the truck is out of beta and into mainstream? I thought the truck needed pretty heavy duty charging infrastructure. I would have thought even a smaller part of the team might be needed for that.

Seems quite bizarre all the recent layoffs and some really key people from leading roles leaving the company. However it might just be a hard reset from Musk and resetting key objectives for Tesla for the years ahead. Any signs of Tesla raising capital though would be enormously bearish. That would be a canary in the coal mine moment for their financial health.

Watching closely....

TheDeuce

21,912 posts

67 months

Wednesday 1st May
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soupdragon1 said:
How are all the semi trucks in the USA going to charge once the truck is out of beta and into mainstream? I thought the truck needed pretty heavy duty charging infrastructure. I would have thought even a smaller part of the team might be needed for that.

Seems quite bizarre all the recent layoffs and some really key people from leading roles leaving the company. However it might just be a hard reset from Musk and resetting key objectives for Tesla for the years ahead. Any signs of Tesla raising capital though would be enormously bearish. That would be a canary in the coal mine moment for their financial health.

Watching closely....
Have any been sold to anyone other than Pepsi? They ordered a 100, as part of a great two way PR deal in addition to the nicety of the trucks fitting their usage case quite well.

I assume the Tesla developed chargers in place can be replicated without needing the department that developed them to remain the same size.


Gone fishing

7,245 posts

125 months

Wednesday 1st May
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TheDeuce said:
I'll leave the robotaxi thing to one side for the moment - I simply don't believe that's anywhere remotely close to being a commercial reality.
I should have put a sarcastic face. Actions speak louder than words and cutting back on staff who would build a foundation service for the robotaxi kind of implies even Musk doesn’t believe they’re coming soon.

I’m struggling to think of a reason to stay with Tesla other than effectively free supercharging for the next 3 years due to accumulated referral credits. There is a nice year old iX 50 nearby that’s got everything from laser lights to a massage drivers seat and air suspension, all for the price of a new MY P

h0b0

7,650 posts

197 months

Wednesday 1st May
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I put this on another thread but seems it should be here.

Elon was forced to open up his supercharger network to all in the US. As a result, any investment I the network nets him zero competitive advantage. In fact, his biggest asset in over coming people’s fear was the super charger network. Now it is open, any investment is helping his competition.

No surprise he pulled out. Elon isn’t in this for his customers. He is in it for the money as a CEO.

Edited by h0b0 on Wednesday 1st May 13:05

TheDeuce

21,912 posts

67 months

Wednesday 1st May
quotequote all
Gone fishing said:
TheDeuce said:
I'll leave the robotaxi thing to one side for the moment - I simply don't believe that's anywhere remotely close to being a commercial reality.
I should have put a sarcastic face. Actions speak louder than words and cutting back on staff who would build a foundation service for the robotaxi kind of implies even Musk doesn’t believe they’re coming soon.

I’m struggling to think of a reason to stay with Tesla other than effectively free supercharging for the next 3 years due to accumulated referral credits. There is a nice year old iX 50 nearby that’s got everything from laser lights to a massage drivers seat and air suspension, all for the price of a new MY P
Yes, I think robotaxi was either something Musk thought would surely be possible soon, but really isn't! Or was just a Tesla marketing wheeze 'we're the car company that can do ANYTHING..'

The IX 50 is a lovely car! My business partner has the 40, but it's a bit slow. We tested a 50 and it was night and day, the car really became a bit of fun in addition to being very practical. It can't compete with effectively free charging though! Although if you can mostly charge at home I guess the difference is just a couple hundred quid a year.

Gone fishing

7,245 posts

125 months

Wednesday 1st May
quotequote all
h0b0 said:
I out this on another thread but seems it should be here.

Elon was forced to open up his supercharger network to all in the US. As a result, any investment I the network nets him zero competitive advantage. In fact, his biggest asset in over coming people’s fear was the super charger network. Now it is open, any investment is helping his competition.

No surprise he pulled out. Elon isn’t in this for his customers. He is in it for the money as a CEO.
They started opening them in Europe a long time ago and seemingly without pressure to do so. If Musk thinks the world stops at the US border and kills the worldwide supercharging team then that’s a bit stupid.

Superchargers have always been a sales point, in the US, through the app, you have a captive audience of people you can promote to, that’s quote valuable. In the U.K. the majority of the early ones to be opened up were collocated at sales centres, brilliant idea, you turn up in the etron, you’re at a lose end for 30 mins, you go and look in the showroom.

soupdragon1

4,092 posts

98 months

Wednesday 1st May
quotequote all
Absolute chaos at Tesla.

Word on the street is that the supercharger exec pushed back to Musk to have a debate around the level of headcount reduction so he just removed them all, every single one of them.

Hearing that the head of Tesla HR has just quit as well.

Also hearing that the new unboxing platform, originally for M2 and robotaxi, then just robotaxi....well it looks like the whole thing has been shelved. Not sure what they can reveal on robotaxi day in August, especially considering the head of new vehicles program no longer works at Tesla either.

Hearing that Tesla has hired an ex military airbase in Germany with strict controls and that there are thousands of unsold vehicles being stored there.

Sounds like an assortment of issues that typically precede unfortunate events....

skwdenyer

16,622 posts

241 months

Wednesday 1st May
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This isn’t just a Tesla problem; this is an everyone problem. Cheap credit has driven growth and relative prosperity. Now that’s gone, together with soaring energy costs, there’s potential for a global slowdown on a scale we haven’t seen in a while.

Many out there in business are already saying it is - for then - worse than 2008. In its own way, this is a credit crunch. Tesla’s value - and Musk’s net worth - is intrinsically linked to the growth story.

Tesla have been expanded at a dramatic rate. Their sunk costs in setting up new facilities alone have been dramatic. If there’s going to be a major downturn, Musk is likely to want to target cash preservation and profitability in order to prevent having to dilute by going back to issuing lots of convertible debt.

Especially when his pay deal hasn’t yet been renewed - right now he’s worked for nothing for years, and faces the possibility of that becoming the new reality.

Now I’ll be the first to say he shouldn’t have bought Twitter. Coupled with the never-ending costs at SpaceX, I very much doubt his life is especially pleasant right now; the prospect of it all crashing down and/or - worse - his being diluted out, will feel very real.

The reported story of firing the whole team because the manager pushed back on headcount reductions, and his writing to the company that this was - as it were - to make sure everyone understood the seriousness of his intent, has all the hallmarks of somebody in a very real stress crisis.

Where is the board in all of this? What about major shareholders?

durbster

10,291 posts

223 months

Thursday 2nd May
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It's beginning to sound a lot like Musk is doing to Tesla what he did to Twitter, which is possibly the worst thing that could happen to them.

There may be strategic reasons for getting rid of the supercharger team but as others have said, it has always been one of Tesla's primary USPs. Even the people who don't use it still mention it because it's reassuring to know it's there. They could have wound it down steadily and quietly, and nobody would notice, but dropping the team in such a panicky, clumsy, headline-grabbing way, suddenly makes the future of the network look very uncertain, and undermines that confidence.

Is it simply that Musk doesn't have a clue about running a business when borrowing isn't cheap? He really doesn't seem to understand that firing people doesn't necessarily save you money.

durbster

10,291 posts

223 months

Thursday 2nd May
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skwdenyer said:
Where is the board in all of this? What about major shareholders?
This is the bit I'm confused about too. With Twitter there's nobody to stop him burning it to the ground but you'd think Tesla would have some layers of protection against this kind of thing.

Puzzles

1,858 posts

112 months

Thursday 2nd May
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durbster said:
This is the bit I'm confused about too. With Twitter there's nobody to stop him burning it to the ground but you'd think Tesla would have some layers of protection against this kind of thing.
IIRC he has selected people who are supportive of him within the company, so gets little push back, also they’d get fired if they did.

Shareholders might feel the value can only be sustained with musk and his AI/visionary leadership.

If it’s a regular car company they are going to lose a lot of value.

NDA

21,657 posts

226 months

Thursday 2nd May
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Are most Tesla chargers now open to every EV make? Seems as though they are (but I'm not sure). If this is the case, maybe Tesla don't see the benefit of building chargers for the benefit other makes?

Do Tesla have enough sites now? Are they focussed on expanding those rather than building new ones?

Just guessing....

Puzzles

1,858 posts

112 months

Thursday 2nd May
quotequote all
NDA said:
Are most Tesla chargers now open to every EV make? Seems as though they are (but I'm not sure). If this is the case, maybe Tesla don't see the benefit of building chargers for the benefit other makes?

Do Tesla have enough sites now? Are they focussed on expanding those rather than building new ones?

Just guessing....
Still expanding but at a slower rate.

ZesPak

24,439 posts

197 months

Thursday 2nd May
quotequote all
NDA said:
Are most Tesla chargers now open to every EV make? Seems as though they are (but I'm not sure). If this is the case, maybe Tesla don't see the benefit of building chargers for the benefit other makes?

Do Tesla have enough sites now? Are they focussed on expanding those rather than building new ones?

Just guessing....
I've been traveling through Europe for over 5 years and there are definetely some dead spots and still new ones opening up, but the center of Europe is quite well endowed.
England, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, North of Italy I've never had a problem finding a charger and basically have the freedom of movement I had in my diesel.
Been to south of Italy a couple of times, same as Croatia and while feasible it does require a bit of planning.
The network is great but it does need some expansion. I like to take the train to Poland and from the look of it it's not something I'd do in the Tesla.
I've never used a non-tesla supercharger to this day. I do use destination charging as much as possible though, so do use other networks there.

This map from Tesla's own site perfectly aligns with my experience.


skwdenyer

16,622 posts

241 months

Thursday 2nd May
quotequote all
ZesPak said:
I've been traveling through Europe for over 5 years and there are definetely some dead spots and still new ones opening up, but the center of Europe is quite well endowed.
England, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, North of Italy I've never had a problem finding a charger and basically have the freedom of movement I had in my diesel.
Been to south of Italy a couple of times, same as Croatia and while feasible it does require a bit of planning.
The network is great but it does need some expansion. I like to take the train to Poland and from the look of it it's not something I'd do in the Tesla.
I've never used a non-tesla supercharger to this day. I do use destination charging as much as possible though, so do use other networks there.

This map from Tesla's own site perfectly aligns with my experience.

For some of us, that map looks like a great way to identify places in Europe to live well away from the madding crowds smile

ZesPak

24,439 posts

197 months

Thursday 2nd May
quotequote all
skwdenyer said:
For some of us, that map looks like a great way to identify places in Europe to live well away from the madding crowds smile
I agree with you, but people tend to flock to wealth.

h0b0

7,650 posts

197 months

Friday 3rd May
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Elon has cancelled all internships just weeks before they were to start. I am sure he will save enough for his $50B pay check.

skwdenyer

16,622 posts

241 months

Monday 6th May
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Some interesting videos coming out of FSD 12.3.4 and 12.3.5, showing impressive progress.

On the question of direct sunlight, this video seems to suggest this isn’t a huge problem: https://youtu.be/Ly05FWCHrKs?si=laBI0XGYcUd4dFou


Mikebentley

6,150 posts

141 months

Monday 6th May
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Just got a Reddit email linking to a thread saying more lay offs from Engineering and Software Services departments. Don’t know if this is true or not.

Gone fishing

7,245 posts

125 months

Monday 6th May
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Mikebentley said:
Just got a Reddit email linking to a thread saying more lay offs from Engineering and Software Services departments. Don’t know if this is true or not.
Probably true, but Reddit has become toxic, if you post in the “RealTesla” area the moderators of the other Tesla groups ban you, they don’t like people posting negative articles about their brand. #freespeech