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Tesla Shows Up
It's regrettable -- and I say that sincerely as a Tesla shareholder since way back April -- that Elon Musk has made such a spectacle of himself in recent years that it's impossible to discuss his companies without reference to his eccentricities.
Musk is, by his own account, disabled. He wouldn't use that word, but he's publicly talked about having Asperger's, and that's a developmental disability. So Musk is disabled. And it shows. In his behavior and also very subtly in his appearance. Musk i
I’m constantly receiving 0% financing and free transfer of ‘Fool Self Driving,’ not a typo. Elon is turning over every couch cushion, trying to keep the numbers up a little while longer.
If Kamala gets back into office, we (the USA) really need to think about Musk’s role in our national defense and space programs.
As usual, well said H. My feelings are similar, and I wouldn’t be able to articulate like you. Unfortunately, after buying with you in April I took a quick profit. I’m not considering becoming a share holder again given your track record. Thanks as always.
Not completely dissimilar to another icon of American business Howard Hughes.
He he ended up living out his years in a hotel room with tissue boxes as shoes…
And all of this begs the question, how successful would Tesla be without a Chinese EV import ban? I read this morning that the Ford CEO absolutely loves his Xiaomi EV and doesn’t want to give it up. Chew on that for a minute.
Tesla has been able to monetize an aging product line because there is effectively no competition.
China meanwhile is highly competitive (with itself) in the EV space and would eat Tesla’s lunch, given the opportunity.
How is this ban good for 1) American EV consumers and 2) The domestic EV market more broadly?
It isn’t, it’s good for Elon Musk.
It does appear to be the classic ‘can of worms’ that only good moral guidance can come out of with coherence.
It is morally correct to go with low cost solutions. After a recent EV purchase from Hyundai, my average fuel costs for electricity from local utility is 3 cent per mile. To do that with gasoline would require a vehicle to average 100 mpg.
It is morally correct to focus on plentiful resources which Lithium is. We have enough to supply the world several times over.
It is morally correct to prioritize those technologies which reduce pollutants. Low cost solar does this.
It is morally correct to priortize technologies that benefit ones nation. Solar powered EV’s do just that. We are an energy intensive society, lowering energy costs is in our national interest. Solar is the leading low cost supplier of energy to our economy and EV’s can make use of this energy by independent solar charging or drawing from the grid when solar energy is plentiful.
The current Telsa car business is, in the longer-term, irrelevant to TSLA the stock. The car business can only support a fraction of the market cap. The stock needs FSD, Robotaxi, Optimus, etc.
Musk admitted yesterday that they are “not 100% sure” if FSD can work on “Hardware 3”, the computer, sensor, and wiring package used until the changeover to Hardware 4 in 2023. From what I’ve read, FSD very likely cannot be made to work on Hardware 3 (assuming it ever works on Hardware 4) and upgrading pre-2024 Teslas from HW 3 to HW 4 will be difficult and expensive.
But hey, we’ve moved on to Robotaxi anyway. Which will be deployed in huge numbers, soon. According to “Technoking”.
“There are other Elons wandering around out there. Unfortunately, their circumstances weren’t such that they were able to build rocket ships. Instead, they mutter to themselves about building rocket ships while sleeping in makeshift tents under bridges.”
I met this guy. In college, I was a hard-core night-owl. I and a similarly nocturnal friend, Carye, would typically leave the dorm after midnight and head to the local 24/7 cafe to sip bottomless coffee cups while smoking ultra-lights and playing the same 3 songs on the jukebox. The local homeless folks would come in some times, and Carye, who was a bleeding heart, would invite them over for conversation and a free drink. The most famous one, “The Crazy Lady of M Street,” drank carrot juice. I’m not sure what’s more surprising–a homeless person ordering carrot juice, or a greasy-spoon diner actually having that for sale. She was textbook paranoid-schizophrenic. I always wonder what happened to her.
But there was this one guy… He had a Hitler-stache and hairdo, and it turned out, he was a huge Hitler fan. It was odd, because he was neither racist nor an anti-semite. He was just crazy and latched on to that period of history. He shared with us his “designs.” These were drawings he’d made on napkins, scraps of paper, whatever. He carried them folded up in a greasy drab peacoat that he always wore. He talked about how he was a designer for Hitler, and he designed the rockets. By my guess, this guy was born in the late 50s or early 60s, so he certainly wasn’t a former engineer for the third Reich fallen on hard times, he was just severely mentally disabled and homeless. He had incredibly elaborate diagrams of rockets though. The quality of the lines and proportions suggested he’d taken drafting classes at a minimum. At the same time, these were cartoonish drawings–an 8 year old’s impression of what rockets look like. When asked, he informed me that his primary contribution to the designs was the color palette.
On one occasion he proudly told us he’d been hired to design an automatic sprinkler irrigation system for one of the rich houses. He had some incredible diagrams for that too. It came out though that he wasn’t exactly hired to design the system. His responsibilities started and ended with a shovel. But he did have some lovely drawings.
The last time I saw him, he walked up to another customer, a black man, whom he apparently knew. That guy was super friendly and they seemed to get along well, and then something came out about how great Hitler was. “What?! That’s fucked up man!” The Designer got a look of panic on his face and scrambled out of there, never to be seen again.