https://cleantechnica.com/2019/01/26/what-changed-in-the-ev-industry-in-2018/ You have to go to the article to make the links work "For a thorough rundown of Tesla in 2018, read this: “2018 Was A Giant, Awesome Year For Tesla — Because Elon Musk.” Tesla supplied a ~$5.1 billion economic boost to the state of California. The Tesla Model 3 was scored the safest vehicle ever tested by the NHTSA — by far. The Model S was #2 and Model X #3. The Model 3 got a collision avoidance rating of “Superior” from the IIHS. Tesla opened its 10,000th Supercharger. Tesla invited more drivers to be beta test hardware 3’s autonomous driving features. Tesla Autopilot hit a milestone of 1 billion miles of operation in customer vehicles. Tesla introduced fancy new Summon features that include the ability to walk your car like a dog (have it follow you around) and control it like a little remote-controlled car. Tesla unleashed version 9.0 of its in-car software. Perhaps the most notable part of the software update was the addition of “Full 360 degree view” for Autopilot. Shortly after that, Tesla rolled out Drive on Navigation for those with Enhanced Autopilot. Tesla provided customers the option to request service from the Tesla app. Atari games and “camper mode” came to Tesla vehicles. Tesla introduced the Model 3 Mid Range as the Model 3 Standard Range was delayed. Tesla passed its 200,000th US delivery, kicking in the long phaseout of the federal EV tax credit for Tesla buyers (unless that tax credit policy gets modified). Tesla Model 3 Chinese pricing came in at 50% of the price of a lower-spec BMW M3. Tesla cut Model S & Model X prices in China in order to try to help out with the Trump tariffs. The Tesla Model 3 configurator opened for orders in Europe and China. (It was revealed that Tesla Model 3 deliveries would start in Europe in February and in China in March 2019, or April at the latest.) The Tesla Model 3 made it to Japanese stores. Tesla passed up Daimler in market cap (for a while), becoming the 3rd most valuable auto company, only behind Toyota and Volkswagen. (The company vacillates between #3 and #7.) The Model S continued to outsell (by a wide margin) its large luxury car competitors in the States. Investment firm Wedbush Securities started covering Tesla [TSLA] and noted: “Tesla has evolved into one of the most dynamic technology innovators over the last 30 years and, in our opinion, has put itself into an esteemed category of companies such as Apple and Amazon that have revolutionized consumer buying habits and behaviors over the last decade.” Elon Musk dropped a little tweet indicating that Tesla and Panasonic are together producing ~60% of the world’s EV batteries (which presumably means batteries for electric cars but not electric buses, vans, and large trucks). Tesla emphasized that it is aiming to get cobalt content in its batteries down from 3% to 0%. Tesla revealed it would spend $3 billion a year over the next two years on gigafactories. Tesla also announced that its Nevada Gigafactory would be 100% powered by solar by the end of 2019. The Gigafactory continued to exceed the performance targets it set with the state of Nevada. (max character limit) continued in next post in this thread
(continued list from prior post in this thread) Tesla sped up its Shanghai Gigafactory due to Trump’s trade war with China, reportedly. It was also revealed that the Shanghai Gigafactory would produce the Model 3 and Model Y to start. Tesla announced it was looking at building a Gigafactory in Germany … or somewhere else in Europe. One year of income from Tesla’s Big Battery in Australia generated enough revenue to cover approximately one-third the cost of the battery. DHL noted that the Tesla Semi looks set to save the company money after 1½ years of use. We determined that a UBS report on Tesla Model 3 costs was wildly pessimistic and based on illogical assumptions. We also highlighted that UBS had a long history of incorrect pessimism on Tesla. We launched a weekly #Pravduh About #Tesla report series. The findings are scary. Bob Lutz predicted that Tesla will die within 2 years. Of course, he has been predicting Tesla’s death for years. By the way, it was the 10 year anniversary of Tesla’s premature death … or not. Nonetheless, the company has been getting slammed from major media outlets like CNBC and the New York Times as if it should be dead. What a shame — it’s such a great American success story pushing the world toward cleaner air, a safer climate, and more fun! Tesla considered going private, but stayed public … even though the press showed exactly why Tesla would have benefitted from going private. The SEC filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk and Tesla related to tweets about potentially going private. After a few days, they settled (even though it seemed to Elon Musk and many others that he did nothing wrong or illegal). The settlement included Elon Musk stepping down from the Chairman role but staying on in the CEO role. (Before news broke, I explained why exactly competitors would love to see Elon Musk step away from Tesla.) A major multi-year Tesla short seller switched and became a Tesla long … citing 4 CleanTechnica Tesla sales charts in the process. The surprising move appeared to result in a $1.11 billion rise in Tesla stock the following day. Some reporters and analysts started talking about “The Tesla Effect.” Tesla announced plans to have its own body shops. Tesla bought some trucking companies to help with Model 3 deliveries. The announced it is doubling its global mobile service fleet in 2018. Tesla added warehouse space in Lathrop, California, to relieve pressure on its Fremont factory. Instead of selling used cars all by itself, Tesla started partnering with auction companies to manage its used car sales. A Tesla Model 3 motor & gearbox survived 1 million miles of testing. Tesla opened up its parts catalog and vehicle diagrams for the public. The City of Taipei, Taiwan, and Tesla joined forces “to establish a new 1.5 hectare hub to help local startups find footing and get training for new energy ventures in the city.” The first graduates of Tesla START classes started hitting the job market in April. Tesla approved a unique, record 10-year compensation package for Elon Musk that skips giving him a salary but will reward him handsomely if he does well on various performance incentives. Tesla Shuttle (not an arm of Tesla, but a city-to-city shuttle network I cofounded that uses Tesla vehicles) opened up 100+ routes around the USA. InOrbis, a Tesla-based shuttle service between Calgary and Edmonton, launched. We would be remiss if we didn’t also note that Elon Musk sent his insanely valuable Tesla Roadster into space on a SpaceX rocket, which is just fun. And you can’t miss this: “Elon Muskox Is New Yellowknife Mascot.” At the end of a long interview on Joe Rogan’s podcast, Elon Musk said, “Love is the answer.” Indeed, it is. Oh yeah, and I got to chat with Elon Musk"
A few things define those who push the Tesla short thesis 1. Corrupt Either by direct money at stake (fossil fuel corruption and make no mistake self interested behavior here is aggravated corruption) or by a conflict of interest involving a paid to lie scheme or even blackmail or a similar hook. 2. Dishonesty Almost none of the people who push this crap if they have any sense at all actually believe it. 3. Dumb There is almost no valid self interest scenario that supports lying about Tesla or trying to push pessimism outside of the rare undefined dislike and that wouldn't rise to the systematic collusive level we see. No, these people are either naturally stupid (no bar to having money- kind of proof how money and innovation aren't correlated) or willfully ignorant but at the very least or most charitable, unaware. So when you see a dumb, dishonest corrupt short or short thesis pusher let up you can assume it was the corruption that gave way and they weren't quite as dumb as it seems and when given a chance they started acting in everyone's best interest including their own. Think of the idiot predictions and analysis by people like Chanos and then think of the reality of Tesla last year. And think about the Model 3. Is the best vehicle on the planet and is about to get much better with AP3 and this is reflected in the highest resale values the highest customer satisfaction there is and in a mere 15 years becoming the 3rd most valued automaker in the world by market cap from California no less. Think about the corrupt, lying, idiots that try to deceive the public about green products and why they do it? Now think about whether you want fossil fuel rent seeking and the resultant slavery to continue and continue for the benefit of the usual felons at the cost of literally everything else.
