Tesla, TSLA & the Investment World: the Perpetual Investors' Roundtable

[Artful Dodger]

OTOH, I am very much a long range investor

Really? I thought you were a 'Plaid' investor...

Cheers!

 

[SmokyPeat]

Curious re this tesla supercharger opening to ford customers. Some are saying that one must use the ford supplied adapter (which comes from Tesla). If the adapter is just a straight thru how would tesla know if you are using an adapter from someone else like A2Z?

Also, if tesla is supplying them to ford would this not be a revenue stream?

It's a just a "dumb" adapter. Standard CYA stuff.

While Fred's website was full of Ads? He's clearly running a commercial, daily, for-profit website as his full-time job. Thus he does not meet the spirt of the Program Limits on the Referral Program, which is to "recognize authentic word-of-mouth referrals by owners". I highly doubt Fred knew or had met even 1% of the people who used his link (which was reproduced 100s of times as part of his website template - no additional effort expended).

Fred didn't get those 'referrals' because he owned a Tesla; he got them because he owned a website. IMO those aren't "qualified referrals". All Fred did was scoop up the referral credits which would have otherwise gone to friends, family and associates. This pushed Tesla to end the Roadster referral program, ultimately hurting people who don't run websites for a living. Again, another net negative.

Fred didn't pay to advertise his referral code. I guess it depends on how literally you want to define "word of mouth". I suspect he'll get the cars.

 

[SO16]

Here we go

As of Feb. 29. 2024, Tesla Supercharger network:

• 27,000+ stalls for Teslas
• 15,000+ for NACS
• 500+ stalls for other EVs

500+ stalls is the gateway drug for the dangling carrot of 15,000 NACS. It will simultaneously attract more people to Tesla and suppress their appetite for non-Teslas before they're able to roll out NACS EVs in 2025.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1763192409075450212

View attachment 1023183

Of course some are saying this is Tesla’s last big advantage and more people will buy non-teslas now instead of teslas.

Will be interesting to see which way this goes.

 

[MP3Mike]

Also, if tesla is supplying them to ford would this not be a revenue stream?

Elon said that Tesla would provide NACS hardware/equipment to the other OEMs at cost. So yes, there will be revenue coming in, but it shouldn't add profit.

 

[Captkerosene]

Dumb Money Podcast:

TLDR: Buy TSLA

 

[Drumheller]

Yeah, there was no "deal" with commercial website bloggers for free roadsters. Tesla imposed Program Limits on the Referral Program: No advertising of referral links allowed. As Tesla stated, Founder series Roadster discounts were intended to recognize "authentic word-of-mouth referrals provided by our owners".

IMO, pasting the author's referral link in dozens or hundreds of web articles (w. paid advertisements) does not constitute an authentic word-of-mouth referral, and does not meet the spirit and intent of the referral program.

Previous Referral Program – Phase 9 | Tesla Support

• Founders Series Roadster:
  • All winners have claimed the discount.
  • As stated in our Program Limits, we do not allow advertising of referral links. In recognition of the many authentic word-of-mouth referrals provided by our owners, we have recalculated Founder Series Roadster discounts. If we believe that you have paid for ads, we have reduced your Referral count by the number of views from any paid sources during the time when the Secret Level Founder Series Roadster award was offered.
  • [Ed. note: My emphasis and underscore]

IMO owners of commercial, for-profit websites do not qualify for free Roadsters under the referral program, which clearly stated:

That matches my understanding of the rules of the program at the time. If I recall, a roadster required 55 referrals. Did anyone get that much without youtube or a website? Fred has said before that he anticipates he has won 2 roadsters. We will see

 

[hobbes]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1763229530678788288

 

[EQC_]

Gonna be a submarine. Got my deposit in.

When Elon was asked if it will fly, he responded with eyes looking down. And, the "if you can call it a car" quote.

OMG, that would be glorious, almost no matter what the cost. Other companies get away with million+ dollar supercars that can only drive on land. It would be awesome if the new Roadster offered:

1) Base version -- for the "regular" rich people, and to give away to those people that won a roadster via the referral program. Hopefully $250K-ish in price, and it doesn't need to be all that much different from the S Plaid with a smaller/lighter body. Hopefully it meets the original 4-seat, <2s 0-60mph acceleration, and ~600 mile range specs....and can beat many of those $1,000,000+ cars from the other guys.

2) SpaceX package -- Totally worth it, even if this option is well over $1,000,000 on its own and trades the back seat for the pressure vessel. The world will go nuts if there is actually enough engineering and multiple individual thrusters to get the 0-60mph time below 1 second, and enhance cornering and braking, and let the car very briefly hover or hop.

3) (Sub?)Marine package -- Again, totally worth it even if it is well over $1,000,000. If the car is water tight and can act like a boat, or even better a submarine, even in a very limited way, it would get tons of attention. Even if most of the attention is negative / "What's the point", that is still the kind of "any publicity" that is good publicity.

 

[M|S|M MYP]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1763229530678788288

AKA, we've accumulated enough shares on the cheap, time to let the cat out of the bag.

 

[Joe F]

Submarine? Really?

What's next, it only comes in yellow?

 

[Artful Dodger]

In addition to others using & paying for Tesla chargers, our fleet vehicles have a newer charge of 1$ per minute when charging over 90%. Not huge but it all adds up

The Supercharger congestion fee of $1 per min after 90% was added on Nov 26, 2023. It is not associated with the NACS rollout on Mar 01, 2024 except in that it tends to encourage all EVs to 'move along' once they're full.

Cheers!

 

[2daMoon]

Submarine? Really?

What's next, it only comes in yellow?

Yes.

And, it functions as a tiny home we all can live in.

 

[Artful Dodger]

The Tesla website has been updated with the functionality of the locations. The symbol for the NACS location is the NACS connector.

Hmm, seems to need a bigger font... JACK!
/s

 

[Artful Dodger]

Yeah, I suspect either a pass through, or Tesla worked with them to add the NACS stuff, or Tesla built a library they can supply to the member companies to incorporate in to their apps.

^This. IIRC, Elon said that Tesla would provide an API for 3rd parties to access the Supercharger Network. I think this goes beyond handshaking and billiing, to also include site stats and current usage.

 

[Stretch2727]

This seems to confirm non-Tesla owners need to pay the monthly subscription or pay higher per Kwh prices.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1763316448376823894

 

[cliff harris]

Fisker stock is down 25% after earnings disaster. Can someone let me know if the competition is still coming?

 

[Artful Dodger]

and more people will buy non-teslas now instead of teslas.

Yeah, not likely now that they're building FEWER** non-Tesla EVs.

Cheers!

**remember Bob "structurally unprofitable" Lutz? It wasn't just Jim Chanos singin' in the choir back in the day:

Former General Motors Vice Chair: I Think Tesla Is Doomed | CNBC (Apr 12, 2017)

 

[unk45]

Really? I thought you were a 'Plaid' investor...

Cheers!

Há! As of yesterday I am not Plaid, I’m Long Range. I decided at long last to move to a smaller Tesla, just because the S was too large for my present preferences. Once FSD could transfer I bought a Model Y. Now Long Range in all respects.

 

[elasalle]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1763320617758020072

 

[Artful Dodger]

3) (Sub?)Marine package -- Again, totally worth it even if it is well over $1,000,000. If the car is water tight and can act like a boat, or even better a submarine, even in a very limited way, it would get tons of attention. Even if most of the attention is negative / "What's the point", that is still the kind of "any publicity" that is good publicity.

Well, if it is rated to 10m depth underwater (+1 bar pressure), it should also be able to be pressurized for the Martian surface (0.02 bar). That's good PR...