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Expect Surprises In Tesla's Upcoming Supercharger Announcement

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A lot of suspense has been built into next week's Superchargers announcement since Elon Musk first tweeted it, and then delayed it till next week due to the secondary offering:
ElonTweetSuperchargers.png


However, the broad financial situation of Tesla has changed dramatically since it raised more than $1 billion dollars last week. With more than $600 millions left after paying off the DOE loan, suddenly Tesla has a lot more capital in the arsenal. Nobody has expected such a dramatic change. And given the supercharger announcement was long planed as part of the 5 part trilogy before such change, the speculative minds can't helped but wondering what is in store for next week's announcement given this new pool of capital. What would you do if you were the one and only Elon Musk?

Obviously there are development related to Superchargers station or faster supercharging technology, which is another intriguing thread by itself, that are matter of fact kept secret away from the general public. Things like how many supercharger stations have been deployed or will be in the near future are kind of set in stone. However, with more than $600 millions in cash, one can confidently speculate that the mastermind of Tesla will "up the ante" and pull out something spectacular.

As the mastermind behind Model S, a beautiful/practical/powerful/luxurious/environmentally-conscious/technologically-advanced automobile that crushes competitions like the old Soviet hockey teams, an automobile that is simply too good for Germany, the proud auto nation found themselves slap in the face, Elon now has the opportunity to announce something spectacular that he didn't even plan two weeks ago. Fellow Tesla longs and shorts, we are talking about a virtually empty map of United States and Europe, all he has to do is place lots of stations on the map. Let's face it, Elon has proven himself he is all for extraordinary feats. The first time I test-drove the Model S, I was simply overwhelmed, how could someone build such a car from scratch? Then the more I learn about Tesla, SpaceX and SolarCity, the more I am in awe, the more I am convinced how he stretches and comes out with innovative solutions to each challenge. I simply could not fathom someone could run two and one-quarter revolutionary companies at the same time.

Some facts first:

1. Each Supercharger station costs around $250,000 to install.

2. Tesla plans to cover the US in two years.
More specifically, Tesla's US map showed 100 by the end of 2013, and 193 by the end of 2015 or so.

Let's say we accelerate the installation of Superchargers to the cover the whole US. That is $250,000 x 200 = $50 millions.

Now adding Europe, maybe another 200 Superchargers, big deal, another $50 millions.

So in my widest speculation, Tesla will announce to spend $100 millions to accelerate the Superchargers installation through out US(how about North America?!) and Europe. All model S owners can drive across country and within the two continents for free.

A bonus point is if the roll-out can be completed by the end of 2013. But I expect it will be way ahead of the original schedule, which is by the end of 2015.

This is a simple task: give Elon an empty map and new flush of capital; he will draw something on the map beyond our imagination.

Oh just one more thing, if Elon indeed follows up on the other intriguing tweet:
fasterCharging.png


Coupled with accelerated roll-out of Superchargers, this effectively removes the only drawback of Model S. Beyond the near-perfect score Model S gets from Consumer Reports, Jake Fisher, head of auto testing for Consumer Reports further comments:

"If it could recharge in any gas station in three minutes, this car would score about 110,"

And I say Jack is right on the money by calling score of 110 for Model S. As of this quiescent Memorial day of 2013, TSLA stands at $97.08, not as perfect score as the Model S. But I will go out on a limb to call $110 for TSLA next week.

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This is the my first article I submitted to SeekingAlpha. However they have not responded yet so I decided to publish here first as it is very time sensitive. Feedback welcome!
 
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The truth is here:

8:08:55 PM PDT
Elon: The Supercharger network by the end of this year will cover most of the major areas of the US and Canada. You will be able to drive from LA to New York using Superchargers.

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Elon just pre-announce it in D11:

http://live.theverge.com/tesla-motors-ceo-elon-musk-live-blog-d11/