What do people think about Tesla (the company)?

[Ikki]

I'm not a scientist or anything and have been casually following the developments of this company but it kind of blows my mind to see where this is headed. First they release a fully-powered electrical vehicle; then they have supercharging stations put in all around America so that you can basically drive across to anywhere and they charge you $0, forever, all powered by solar energy; now they've basically created 'Powerwalls' which seem will power your home and eventually take you off other sources of energy and solely rely on their systems...which are all solar powered. Oh, and all their design patents are released for free for everyone to use.

It seems like some crazy futuristic plan that might actually come to fruition in the near future. Or am I wrong and has the technology been overestimated?

See also:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UziAXis9yg

 

[Burner]

I hear that Elon Musk is some kind of genius visionary that is going to change the world for the better. From what I've seen, he looks like a sincere straight-forward guy as well. I wish him all the best, atleast someone is compensating for me sitting on my ass all day.

 

[BeeGee]

I've got shares in the bastards so I'm hoping they do well. In Musk I trust.

I'm actually more interested in his SpaceX company. Hopefully they'll go public soon.

When software developer Musk sold pay pal and then announced he would create a commercial space company, having no experience whatsoever in that field, everyone laughed at him with much ridicule and derision. Today SpaceX holds multiple NASA contracts worth billions of dollars to fly cargo and astronauts to the ISS. Nobody is laughing anymore.

 

[harsh.ag]

Tesla is the most exciting company in the world today, just because of their outrageous vision. The fact that capital is available to them to try their hand at their vision is one of the great achievements of the modern age

 

[Swingpanzee]

was unaware until today. No opinion on it yet, but seems interesting.

 

[Ikki]

Yeah, Musk does seem to be put forth as some sort of messiah at times but he doesn't play it up and it doesn't seem to be false modesty either. I just think he's a good dude that's spent his life chasing things he's believed in and is now chasing something that can forever change our world. It must be exciting working with him in these companies. As I've said before, I wish I had more of an interest in science when I was a kid.

 

[Bahnz]

Tend to think that Tesla's products are more than a little overhyped. Their Model S sure does look pretty, but outside of the super-rich, who's gonna fork over $90k for a car that claps out after 200 miles and needs expensive new batteries every 5-10 years? Likewise, their powerwall isn't going to allow people to go off the grid anytime soon. I'll only start to get exceited when I see them produce something that could actually make them some money. The "gigafactory" may well be the key to that. If it can deliver the efficiency gains that Tesla is promising, then they may finally be able to produce something that appeals to more than just the environmentally conscious rich. If it doesn't, or if some other transformative tech arrives on the scene before the factory comes on line, then I suspect they'll go down the tubes before the end of the decade.

 

[harsh.ag]

Tend to think that Tesla's products are more than a little overhyped. Their Model S sure does look pretty, but outside of the super-rich, who's gonna fork over $90k for a car that claps out after 200 miles and needs expensive new batteries every 5-10 years? Likewise, their powerwall isn't going to allow people to go off the grid anytime soon. I'll only start to get exceited when I see them produce something that could actually make them some money. The "gigafactory" may well be the key to that. If it can deliver the efficiency gains that Tesla is promising, then they may finally be able to produce something that appeals to more than just the environmentally conscious rich. If it doesn't, or if some other transformative tech arrives on the scene before the factory comes on line, then I suspect they'll go down the tubes before the end of the decade.

What I suspect is they are filling in for research that governments across the world should be financing anyways, and it will be a big surprise if/when someone upends them. The technologies they are developing will also be leased by giant research facilities like NASA all over the world, which will constitute a major portion of their revenue I bet.

 

[nightprowler10]

Tend to think that Tesla's products are more than a little overhyped. Their Model S sure does look pretty, but outside of the super-rich, who's gonna fork over $90k for a car that claps out after 200 miles and needs expensive new batteries every 5-10 years? Likewise, their powerwall isn't going to allow people to go off the grid anytime soon. I'll only start to get exceited when I see them produce something that could actually make them some money. The "gigafactory" may well be the key to that. If it can deliver the efficiency gains that Tesla is promising, then they may finally be able to produce something that appeals to more than just the environmentally conscious rich. If it doesn't, or if some other transformative tech arrives on the scene before the factory comes on line, then I suspect they'll go down the tubes before the end of the decade.

To your point about the 90k car, they're 2 years away from producing a much more affordable Model 3 that gives the same mileage.

 

[Ikki]

I think the hype is more so to do with the fact that someone is actually going after this and it seems much more attainable than it did (or was reported to) appear in the past. You can kind of see the future; they'll just get better and better and from here on out any improvement will be cheers all the way until it is absolutely viable for all of us to get off the grid and we can become mostly sustainable through solar power itself. If one can really harness that, it will be a great leap forward in humanity. It will permeate into every facet of our lives and it might even mean we stop going to war for oil.

And in a way, even if the hype is misplaced...who cares. Great. At least some of our attention on this world will be on something that is actually of benefit of us all...and not what selfie Kim Kardashian took. I hope it gets so much attention other entrepreneurs follow and try to copy and better them.

 

[Burner]

Yeah. It's a win-win situation for mankind.

 

[Redbacks]

Tend to think that Tesla's products are more than a little overhyped. Their Model S sure does look pretty, but outside of the super-rich, who's gonna fork over $90k for a car that claps out after 200 miles and needs expensive new batteries every 5-10 years? Likewise, their powerwall isn't going to allow people to go off the grid anytime soon.

True, but many modern safety features on even the cheapest cars were developed for luxury cars, F1 and other racing teams. I reckon the same will happen with the high end advances becoming standardised within a short time. Probably not at Tesla but a competitor who sees another sector of the market to exploit.

 

[Ikki]

****, I want one.

 

[social]

One of the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds used to me a major investor and the company had one of its first showrooms in the UAE

Brilliant car and they sold quite a few as the locals are into their status symbols/toys

Only problem was that there were insufficient recharging stations so the novelty quickly wore off

They recently recorded disappointing financial results as a result of lower than expected sales in China (locals wont pay the premium for being green) and this was expected to be their big growth market

IMO, if they don't have one already, company should be backed by a government to ensure that it can ride out cash-flow issues until technologies are commercially viable as some of it looks brilliant

 

[Top_Cat]

IMO, if they don't have one already, company should be backed by a government to ensure that it can ride out cash-flow issues until technologies are commercially viable as some of it looks brilliant

To their credit, they're one of the best at converting the government subsidies, loans and grants they receive into cool **** so I'm sure this will come to pass.

EDIT: Oops, wrong thread.