When people ask me how it is possible that most of my predictions about Tesla are correct, my answer is, “Those are not my predictions. You just have to listen carefully to Elon Musk, and do it twice, better trice.” Elon tells the truth, unless he is joking, and he likes joking but not if it’s about his mission to change the world to sustainable transportation.
I used to find the debate between Tesla critics (most notably short sellers) and Tesla fans as somewhat interesting but mostly straightforward. Tesla critics somehow thought that Tesla inherently couldn’t make profits on its products. Tesla fans thought and explained how Tesla could. Tesla critics thought Tesla couldn’t learn the art and skill of efficient, smooth mass production. Tesla fans noted many times, this isn’t rocket science (ahem). Tesla critics thought major automakers would come out with electric vehicles superior to what Tesla offered and would thus kill the company. Tesla fans highlighted Tesla’s leadership in batteries, software, self-driving tech, design, customer communications, and overall reputation.
Ir’s official. Tesla’s European factory will be located just outside of Berlin, Germany. It is expected to begin production in 2021.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s visions are being realized well in and out of this world, as the past week reveals. Elon Musk’s life has been surfing through land, sky, and space this week. Last fall, Musk tweeted, “Pace of innovation is all that matters in the long run.” He is certainly demonstrating that’s his companies’ mutual obsession.
Tesla just issued its Q3 2019 earnings report and the numbers are looking good across the board for the Silicon Valley electric vehicle builder.
Tesla just completed its annual shareholder meeting. Like in meetings past, it was fairly long and covered almost every Tesla topic under the sun. To make it easier for people who couldn’t watch, wouldn’t watch, or simply want to go back to some of the topics in the meeting, below is a timestamped summary from Paul, who kindly stayed up late in Florida (just not as late as me here in Poland) to put this together for the world.
The Belgian port city of Zeebrugge has been getting a lot of attention in the last few weeks as it has become the destination for all of the inbound Tesla Model 3s headed for continental Europe. To prepare for the arrival of the Tesla Model 3, the port of Zeebrugge (double E, double G) installed 300 EVBox chargers in a dockside parking lot that hints at a future where charging stations are everywhere.
Tesla has initiated a clear and definite EV revolution in the United States and Canada. In Canada, 8% of new car sales are now electric car sales. In the US, the Tesla Model 3 has absolutely crushed and embarrassed its “competitors” in the midsize luxury car market (or even the small + midsize luxury car market). It is also one of the top selling cars — of any class — in the land of stars and stripes.
Now, the revolution is headed to Europe and China.
When writing my letter to Elon Musk a few weeks ago, little did I know about the real actions undertaken by so few for so many. Tesla is a dream — a dream of an extraordinary electric vehicle everybody wants to own, a dream of an out-of-the-universe leader, Elon Musk, who everybody wants to follow, and a dream of a gigafactory every nation wants to attract. It seems now that Poles around the world are joining forces to save Elon from making a terrible mistake by going some other place than Poland. 🙂 Here is the story.
As a consequence of the current trade war, Tesla faces an extra 25% on top of the standard 15% general import duty when importing into China from the USA. That is 25% more than imported German cars and more than 50% over locally produced vehicles that are eligible for EV incentives.
