J.B. Straubel Meets With Tesla Owners In China

In July, CNBCreported that J.B. Straubel was leaving the executive ranks of Tesla, and many seemed to think that meant he quit Tesla completely. The truth is, though, he is still at Tesla and recently met with the Tesla Owners Club of China.

Sometimes, we need to focus on ourselves a bit more and not our work. We need to unplug and refocus on what we want to do with a new phase of our lives. We can get so caught up in our work lives that time passes us by and makes us neglect other things. We don’t really know why J.B. left his role as CTO, but we do know he hasn’t left Tesla completely. Critical to Tesla’s founding, growth, and development, he will always be a part of Tesla.

J.B. has not only remained in the position of senior advisor for Tesla, but Eva Fox at Tesmanian also points out that his role at Tesla can’t be understated. He was a huge part of the innovation of the last 15 years at Tesla, especially when it comes to batteries.

When J.B. left, Tesla’s stock price tumbled and many short sellers celebrated. They just knew Tesla was about to file those Chapter 11 papers. In reality, change is just inevitable, and sometimes people move on to other things.

Tesla has seen so much progress in Shanghai, setting the stage for a fast-paced jump into the production of “Made in China” Model 3s, and the current milestone warranted a celebration with Mr. J.B.

Grace Tao, VP of Tesla Global, said while at the 2019 Shanghai City Promotion Conference that Tesla is estimated to make 3,000 Model 3 vehicles per week. If you do the math, this would equate to around 159,000 Made in China Model 3s. Divide that by the 4 quarters of the year and that’s almost 40,000 vehicles per quarter — from China alone.

I may not be that great at math (come at me with some trig and I’ll run and hide), but I can see that Tesla’s leadership in China has already become a monumental leap for Tesla. I still find it amazing that Tesla, despite a US-China trade war, was given the green light to have its very own factory there — which is a first for any foreign company.

This shows just how much China values Elon Musk, Tesla, and the value of electric vehicles and energy storage. China knows what the future is and sees Tesla as the leader in industries that will affect its future. While American stock analysts squabble about whether to short the stock, we have China believing in Tesla and supporting it. America needs to step up and stop allowing misinformation and distractions to come first.

Instead of focusing on what Tesla is doing for both the auto and energy industry of America, Wall Street seems like that flaky friend who only shows up to your party if there are drinks and food but otherwise would trash you behind your back. Or to your face, even. They are there for the entertainment, but you can’t count on them to have your back.

I believe we can do better. Tesla has created an atmosphere for those who love to create, in fields of cutting-edge technology. J.B. Straubel was a core creator at Tesla for many years, but the company has thousands of other creators as well and I’m sure J.B. will advise as needed and enjoy the further evolution of the company as it ramps up Gigafactory 3, Gigafactory 4, Gigafactory 5, Gigafactory 6 … and so on.

Featured image courtesy Tesla