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

[growler23]

Or Buccees!

New Bucc-ees mascot: the CyberBeaver

 

[hobbes]

Just signed up for a Cybertruck event at my nearest Service Centre here in Norway.

Found the info under Events on the Tesla website.

Crossing my fingers hoping I secured a spot!

I already got a call back after I registered earlier today, they just wanted to know on which day I was coming and at what approximate time.
They also 'sold' me a Highland test drive in the process so I can compare to my 2019 Model 3 LR .

 

[MD70]

Elon Musk goes ‘absolutely hard core’ in another round of Tesla layoffs

Almost the entire Supercharger team is reportedly out.

www.theverge.com

"Tinucci was notably responsible for the rollout of Tesla’s Supercharger network during her six years at the company, including efforts to get other companies to adopt the North American Charging Standard (NACS) developed by Tesla. In his email, Musk says Tesla will still build new Superchargers and complete those already under construction."

When I saw Tinucci was praised in an article I should have guessed her days are numbered.

 

[unk45]

"Only Nixon can go to China."

I remember all that. My first official visit to China was in 1978, the year before formal US diplomatic relations were established. Because of a few oddities when the Bank of China invited me to go to Beijing, following several dinner exchanges between the Chinese Ambassador to the country I worked in at the time, they also invited my spouse. Once arriving an established in an official guest house, translators appeared for Arabic, Portuguese and English. Allegedly they did not know what to supply when comparing official status with citizenships for my spouse and myself. It was memorable! My bank swiftly became profitable in no small part due to the Bank of China.

Watching the interplay between Elon Musk and officialdom I keep being reminded of all that.
My irrelevant story is only that cultural sensitivity and diligent search for mutual benefit often happens in China. When people do not seek mutual benefit conflict and disdain are probable.

I'm not an expert, of that I am certain. I have seen enough to recognize when people really are experts.
Elon Musk has built Chinese relationships since he was just beginning in business. Nearly everyone misses those points.

OTOH, like it or not, geopolitics is making these accomplishments much more difficult to sustain.

 

[MartinAustin]

When I saw Tinucci was praised in an article I should have guessed her days are numbered.

The same people who watch Fox News to get updates on what the Democratic Party are doing also get all their Tesla news from The Verge

 

[jkirkwood001]

I don't understand why Musk would lay off the entire supercharger team, like what was so wrong that literally everyone had to be let go? What is his plan to rebuild such a large team? Are supercharger deployments now on hold until they re-hire 500 new employees? Will Tesla be farming this out to a third party, that wouldn't be vertically integrated like Tesla normally is.

I think the "fire an entire team when the manager goes" thing depends on the issue(s) the manager was let go for.

If the manager's execution problems were associated with system approach, drive, style, etc... but the team is understood to be required going forward, then it may make sense to simply replace the manager and let him inherit the existing team and implement his improvements, etc...

But, if one of the manager's issues was building a large and/or unqualified team to support an approach that's not working or no longer in the direction the executive staff has decided to go, then I don't see much sense in retaining that team.

If 500 people are let go at once, for a categorical reason and not their individual performance, simple math suggests not all 500 of them were 'bad employees'.

Instead, it seems to me more likely that the way the Supercharger program was being run required a complete overhaul, and the Executive / Elon felt that it was easier to start with a clean slate than to try and individually cull / transfer individuals over to the desired target operating model.

Also, maybe Elon learnt that firing huge numbers discriminately - like he did at Twitter (Isaacson book: "give me the list of people who aren't hardcore so we can fire them") - causes more strife than cutting a whole team. It's.... cleaner this way.

Both arguments suggest this is more of a 'strategic reallocation of resources' rather than tactical, performance-based firings IMHO.

 

[STARR X]

Maybe Elon is heading off any antitrust talk with the SuperCharging network firings. It is by far the biggest network. I assume many of those fired people would be valued by the other charging network companies. This would allow them to ramp. Maybe Buffalo will be a third-party manufacturer for these other networks.

 

[unk45]

Interest rate isn't particularly high in China to begin with, lowest it has ever been the last 5 years.

Also from a 2010 article, only 10% of buyers in China get a car loan, number is over 80% in the US.

Leases are most common in higher prices vehicles but are: https://www.statista.com/download/MTcxNDQ5MzEwOCMjMSMjNDUzMTIyIyMxIyNwZGYjI1N0YXRpc3RpYw==
Loans are a hugger proportion, but are distinctly different by lender type:

https://www.statista.com/download/MTcxNDQ5MzI1MiMjMSMjNDUzMjIyIyMxIyNwZGYjI1N0YXRpc3RpYw==

These data do give the general perspective but...
Tesla has always been different and still is. Tesla has a higher proportion of cash buyers and lessees, and has much better creditworthiness than do most competitors. That data is available but sources from securitised loans and lease data. Frankly, although I've often dealt with this, I will not do it just to post here.
Anybody who cares enough can look it up. They'll find my generalizations are correct.

 

[advocate8]

Or maybe he's already struck a deal to sell of the entire supercharger operation to Chevron, Shell or BP?

Almost any buyer would screw it up. Tesla has been running it about as close to perfectly as one can imagine. Meanwhile, all competitors have consistently demonstrated their chargers aren't reliable in various ways.

 

[MD70]

Almost any buyer would screw it up. Tesla has been running it about as close to perfectly as one can imagine. Meanwhile, all competitors have consistently demonstrated their chargers aren't reliable in various ways.

Exactly, buyers will look to recoup the cost and make profits by charging more, doing less maintenance and not building new ones at the rate and quality that tesla has.

 

[DarkandStormy]

Insert <hot dog guy trying to find the guy who did this meme>

 

[Chunky Jr.]

Or maybe he's already struck a deal to sell of the entire supercharger operation to Chevron, Shell or BP?

Day deal closes : We are excited to lead the way towards electrification!
Day after deal closes : Due to unforeseen issues, we have made the difficult decision to shut down the charging network

 

[Cal1]

I read the article and didn’t see the why. Sure overall sales decline etc could necessitate production force reduction but the demand for superchargers has not decreased and I thought increasing. The supercharger team is still much needed and probably should be expanded. So why the firing?

 

[Ellec]

keep calm

There will be sound business/mission logic to the decision to cut the teams. I don't think Elon would do this without good reason or based on some emotional outburst. Remember Elon has the ultimate insider view of the company as a whole (as well as many others) and will be mutiple steps ahead of most people inside and outside the company. It will become clear but my guess is it's just not needed anymore as the roll out slows down and a replacement agile lean team will be built that could target efficient installs while saving tens of millions in salaries.

 

[Paul_SF]

People still don't understand Elon's management style and how good he understands what the company needs.

What if Exxon and Shell are going to partner up with Tesla and implement Superchargers at +50% of their locations in US/World?

It seems to me it's be fastest way and Elon is right, no need for 500ppl in the Supercharger team no matter what they did and their qualifications. It's now a problem of manufacture them and get them shipped. Plug and Play Superchargers, all with battery storage. Win-Win for everyone.

 

[sunwarriors]

I read the article and didn’t see the why. Sure overall sales decline etc could necessitate production force reduction but the demand for superchargers has not decreased and I thought increasing. The supercharger team is still much needed and probably should be expanded. So why the firing?

My take earlier, jokingly, but actually seriously is that the supercharger network is not exclusive anymore and any improvements help every other EV competitor so there is no need to keep this in house. It's not a Tesla game changer or benefit if everyone gets to use it.

Why pay for top talent for a top network benefiting your competitors when you can "get by" with anyone and keep it mostly running?

That's my take at least. I don't think it's actually a bad move since I don't see superchargers as a Tesla advantage anymore if everyone can use it (which Ford/Rivian can now already).

 

[rypalmer]

Unfounded news from an Atlantic Canadian Facebook group. The Dartmouth location only opened this winter.

 

[uscbucsfan]

It's not a Tesla game changer or benefit if everyone gets to use it.

Sure, outside of making money on charging and maintaining the most reliable SC network.

There's no reason to think Tesla is getting out of the SC game or won't expand more. They basically fired the entire Public Policy team under Rohan.

Look at all the executives and their teams "leaving" either "willingly" or being fired and when they go, their team is following.

This is much more likely to just be a complete reshaping, leaning out of the company like we are being told.

 

[scaesare]

If 500 people are let go at once, for a categorical reason and not their individual performance, simple math suggests not all 500 of them were 'bad employees'.

Instead, it seems to me more likely that the way the Supercharger program was being run required a complete overhaul, and the Executive / Elon felt that it was easier to start with a clean slate than to try and individually cull / transfer individuals over to the desired target operating model.

Also, maybe Elon learnt that firing huge numbers discriminately - like he did at Twitter (Isaacson book: "give me the list of people who aren't hardcore so we can fire them") - causes more strife than cutting a whole team. It's.... cleaner this way.

Both arguments suggest this is more of a 'strategic reallocation of resources' rather than tactical, performance-based firings IMHO.

Agreed. This is much more indicative of company change of direction/approach rather than indictment that the employees were all a problem.

 

[scaesare]

People still don't understand Elon's management style and how good he understands what the company needs.

What if Exxon and Shell are going to partner up with Tesla and implement Superchargers at +50% of their locations in US/World?

It seems to me it's be fastest way and Elon is right, no need for 500ppl in the Supercharger team no matter what they did and their qualifications. It's now a problem of manufacture them and get them shipped. Plug and Play Superchargers, all with battery storage. Win-Win for everyone.

It occurs to me that, despite the rapid cadence of installation and expansion, that Elon has even more ambitious goals for the network that weren't being implemented.

Solar canopies/generation? Gaps in the network remaining unfilled? More/faster buildout of "marquee" sites with diners, etc...? Greater expansion in other countries?

There are very few things I can think of where a program Elon focused on and took direct action with (i.e. "cleaned house") got worse.