Tesla

[Steve Webb]

Does anyone else here find the plans and business model of Tesla fascinating?

If its not the way they are managing to finance themselves, its the production problems, and then deciding to launch not 1 but 2 new models!!
Add to this the Ideas Elon has about the autopilot, and creating what basically amounts to a driverless network of cabs.

Mad times for the car industry, but the question is, will Tesla actually survive long enough to see it all happen?

[jNk]

I know SpaceX is somewhat still a vision and you can buy Model S since 5 years but I find his space exploration company more fascinating and I think he build and plan his other project around it.
Tesla pushed the car industry out from the first steps of battery-only-cars and diesel fog and has to lead the development race to survive.
Maybe they will not survive as a stand alone company and somebody will eventualy buy them before they grow too big, or they will lead the autonomous car industry for years.

[Steve Webb]

I fully agree that Tesla have pushed the envelope as far as electric cars go, its the way that its funded that intruiges me.

Tesla are selling more cars than ever, and are making even bigger losses than ever. Last quarter (Q3 2017) they had a net loss of $619 million !!! Yet, their stock value is going up. They raise capital by selling off equity in the company, but they seem to be burning through this capital faster and faster.
If you look into who owns the stock now, it has moved away from large corporations and into private hands.

I think part of this is down to what Tesla and Elon are trying to sell the public. They are effectively saying that you can keep running around in your big heavy luxurious cars, but at the same time you are saving the planet. Which might be nice, but lets face it isn't really the way to make non poluting (at the endpoint) cars available to the masses.People want to believe this, so are buying into the dream.

The launches of the truck and the new roadster also intruige me, not for the products, but because of the timing. If you look at the new Model 3 Tesla, the delays for owning one are massive and growing. It comes down to the new factory that makes them, or is trying to make them, its sat out in the middle of nowhere (Nevada) hard to get to, by all accounts suffers from an inconsistent power supply from the utility companies, and is situated in an area with no history of manufacturing of any sort. The main problem appears to lie with the battery production, and the head of battery engineering has just walked away from the company.
Not exactly the time you want to introduce new models to put even more strain on your battery production, unless you want to make a big song and dance about the new models to divert people away from your production issues.

I'm sure the R&D that Tesla have carried out so far will live on, I'm just not so sure that it will do so under the Tesla flag.