2017 Investor Roundtable:General Discussion

[madodel]

And no rich man had a penny in the bank/lender stocks. It's always the poor that gets hit with the bill they couldn't pay?

You mean the ones pushing derivatives? A lot of them got rich off of that scam. I honestly can't figure out what you are asking. But I'm not one of those superior minds that could figure out all those subprime securities so I stayed out of that. I just lost north of a million in the resulting Bush Recession. But I could afford it so don't feel sorry for me. I never invest what I can't afford to lose. Poor and middle class folks aren't that lucky. They live paycheck to paycheck and hope they don't get clobbered by a layoff or cancer.

I have no idea what your circumstances are. Perhaps you lost money when the housing bubble burst and took down the world economy, but some people made lots of money peddling those bundled bad mortgages before the sky fell in. And many of those knew full well that it was all based on lies. They didn't go to prison where they belonged because there is a double standard in our justice system. What has any of that to do with TSLA?

 

[hacer]

Why don't more people take this risk-free path to being billionaires?

Because first you need daddy to bankroll you so that it appears that you have skin in the game. Of course management fees, etc. pay all that back to you before you declare bankruptcy. So the answer is, pretty much the people that are born rich can (temporarily) pay the entry fee. Those who actually build something that makes them rich don't need to go that route.

 

[AudubonB]

ON TOPIC, Everyone.
I'm not in a good mood this morning, and that means trouble for smart-alecks. Back to your seats and no more spitballs.

 

[Intl Professor]

Paul Krugman has a summarizing conclusion in an op ed at the New York Times. (I've removed four words of partisanship.)

"Our government hasn’t always done the right thing. But it has kept its promises, to nations and individuals alike.

Now all of that is in question. Everyone, from small nations who thought they were protected against Russian aggression, to Mexican entrepreneurs who thought they had guaranteed access to our markets, to Iraqi interpreters who thought their service with the U.S. meant an assurance of sanctuary, now has to wonder whether they’ll be treated like stiffed contractors....

That’s a very big loss. And it’s probably irreversible."

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/30/...version=Full&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article

 

[Thumper]

Trump is the only story now. He is causing chaos and the market hates uncertainty. The market is beginning to understand that this is just the opening chaos which will continue as long as he is in office. If threatened by impeachment, he will probably start a war. Woe is me.

 

[jhm]

Thanks. A little sloppy, was in a hurry this morning. From doing the Powerpack math (happy for any corrections) it looks to be priced at $428/kWh retail ($1.8 million for 4200kWh system)....which would still lead to either a) They are loosing $72/kWh installed at a pack project cost of $500/kWh, or their COGS is south of $200 kWh as many here believe, and they should be pretty close to the $275kWh battery plant cost quoted. Maybe Bloomberg New Energy Finance means $275 total cost with 30% margins.

A stand-alone battery plant is not the best configuration. If you combine Powerpacks with a solar plant, you can get a 30% ITC, tax credit for the whole combined plant. Moreover, a combined solar+battery plant can make more efficient use of interconnection and other shared resources.

For example pair 1MW solar @ $1.3M with 1MW/4.2MWh Powerpack @ $1.8M and net out 30% ITC and you get to $2.2M per 1MW for a solar+battery plant that can compete head to head with a gas peaker anytime of day with zero cost of fuel. That is it can deliver 0 to 1 MW on demand anytime of day, if needed, it could even go down to -1MW, while gas peakers cannot take load. AES is writing a PPA on this sort of system in Kauai for $0.11/kWh which is already cheaper than the fuel cost of running diesel gensets on the island. I suspect this configuration will be quite competitive for peak power on the mainland as well.

By contrast a stand-alone battery plant does not qualify for ITC, must have its own interconnection and must purchase power from the wholesale market. It's hard to see how that would be competitive with the solar+battery configuration.

 

[kenliles]

GM, Honda to make hydrogen bet

 

[Hogfighter]

GM, Honda to make hydrogen bet

Unbelievable.

 

[racer26]

GM, Honda to make hydrogen bet

...as a lifelong Honda driver - I wish they would wake up and realize that HFCVs are never going to make it.

I like their cars, but at the rate they're going, the Civic I currently drive is likely to be the last Honda I own.

 

[SwTslaGrl]

I think BEV is better tech, others are seems to promote HFCV

Wednesday, January 11, 08:07
Japan, Australia set hydrogen transport standards
View attachment 210784

Japan and Australia have agreed on safety standards to transport liquid hydrogen by sea.

Government officials from both countries struck a deal in the Australian capital of Canberra on Wednesday.

Hydrogen produced in Australia by heating brown coal will be shipped in liquid form by tanker to Japan for use as energy.

The safety standards require that storage tanks be made of materials that can withstand the low temperature extreme of liquid hydrogen, at minus 253 degrees Celsius. They also cover fire extinguishing equipment.

Both governments will set domestic safety standards ahead of a pilot project planned for 2020.

Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industries will build a dedicated tanker for the project.

Senior company official Yukichi Takaoka says technical challenges remain, as liquid hydrogen has never been shipped. But he says the tanker will be ready on time.

Japan, Australia set hydrogen transport standards- News - NHK WORLD - English

 

[jhm]

GM, Honda to make hydrogen bet

Also placing bet on Betamax revival.

 

[hobbes]

Via user 2050project on Tesla reddit:
Tesla’s Battery Revolution Just Reached Critical Mass

Three massive battery storage plants—built by Tesla, AES Corp., and Altagas Ltd.—are all officially going live in southern California at about the same time. Any one of these projects would have been the largest battery storage facility ever built. Combined, they amount to 15 percent of the battery storage installed planet-wide last year.

Ribbons will be cut and executives will take their bows. But this is a revolution that’s just getting started, Tesla Chief Technology Officer J.B. Straubel said in an interview on Friday. “It’s sort of hard to comprehend sometimes the speed all this is going at,” he said. “Our storage is growing as fast as we can humanly scale it.”

Bolding by me.

 

[davecolene0606]

The astonishing thing here is (sarcasm intended) that Phil thinks the only thing holding back fool cells is a lack a filling stations!? Hey Phil, where is GM and Honda gonna get the H?

What struck me though was the paltry 85 million investment and another 2020 promise for more vaporware as "features" in future cars.

One more fantastic development for TSLA as these guys continue to throw away their money and squander any hope they may have had in participating is a sustainable transportation solution.

I remain... looonnnggg

 

[larmor]

...as a lifelong Honda driver - I wish they would wake up and realize that HFCVs are never going to make it.

I like their cars, but at the rate they're going, the Civic I currently drive is likely to be the last Honda I own.

And that is one major reason most current ICE manufacturers stay away from BEV. Current manufacturing quality ensures cars last a long time. A BEV will last longer... My RC blackfoot of 25 years old still runs great!

 

[larmor]

Via user 2050project on Tesla reddit:
Tesla’s Battery Revolution Just Reached Critical Mass



Bolding by me.

But still not as fast as robotically possible....

 

[kenliles]

Elon Musk polls Twitter for a way to improve Trump's travel ban and gets an earful

 

[dirtyofries]

Elon Musk polls Twitter for a way to improve Trump's travel ban and gets an earful

This is why it sucks having to mix politics. It distracts from the mission.

 

[sdtslafan]

Elon, no one is asking you to solve all the worlds problems! That would be crazy!

Just stop global warming.

 

[MXWing]

This is why it sucks having to mix politics. It distracts from the mission.

Work on getting the Model 3 shipped out this year.

 

[drinkerofkoolaid]

Question: Did I just hear the "SpaceX pusher" uses 2 Model S engines?

Anyone else catch that comment during the Hyperloop event?

Additionally, anyone else seeing this? Yahoo finance is showing N/A x N/A for the bid ask on many stocks, and volume is low all around. Is this a glitch or something else?