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Tesla Burns Through Record Cash To Bring the Model 3 To Market (bloomberg.com)
Dana Hull, reporting for Bloomberg: Tesla's Elon Musk keeps getting the green light to do what it takes to bring electric cars to the masses, regardless of how much it's going to cost. The company burned through $1.16 billion in cash in the second quarter by spending on capacity for its cheapest model yet and boosting battery output. Investors fixated instead on what Musk said is coming next: Hundreds of thousands of Model 3 sedan deliveries, installations of solar roofs and an all-new semi truck to add to the lineup. "This is the best I've ever felt about Tesla's future," Musk said on a conference call. The stock surged as much as 7.4 percent to $349.94 as of 9:45 a.m. Thursday in New York, the biggest intraday gain in four months. The chief executive officer has built a fanatical following of Tesla shareholders who continue to throw their support behind his clean-energy vision. It helps that consumers keep opening their wallets: The Model 3, which starts at $35,000, has racked up almost half a million reservations and is drawing more deposits by the day. The record negative free cash flow Tesla reported for the three months ended in June was almost double the $622 million it went through in the first quarter. With a little more than $3 billion in cash on hand, Musk told analysts the company is thinking about raising money through a debt offering.
it's buying hardware and services to set up the production facility... big difference
burning cash would be spending it on things that don't do anything for the company, such as distributing dividends and cash executive bonuses...
Considering the terminology for how much they spend each month is their "burn rate" I don't see how burning cash is that inaccurate of a description. Probably evokes some misleading connotations but these are the terms the industry is using.
-- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
said government money was paid off with interest aeons ago
Lol, okay, let's go down the list. Bolt vs. Model 3. Just the base models (Model 3 is much more upgradeable)
MSRP: $37500 vs $35000
0-60: 6,5s vs. 5,6s
Top speed: 90mph vs. 130mph
Handling: Read for yourself (start at "What's blanching...")
EPA range: 238mi vs. 220mi
Max charge speed: 90mph vs. 260mph
Fast charge network: Poor (single stall, poorly monitored, big holes) vs. excellent (4-8+ stalls, widespread distribution on almost all major interstates)
Dealership experience: Famously hard sell and uneducated about EVs, vs. almost humorously soft-sell, behaving instead like museum curators who just want to talk about their exhibit
Automatic crash avoidance: Optional extra vs. standard
Climate control: Single vs. dual zone
Track record for safety: less-than-stellar vs. outright-insulted-if-they-score-less-than-perfect-in-any-test. And this.
Standard warranty: 3yrs / 36k mi vs. 4yrs / 50k mi (both have the same battery warranty, 8 yrs / 100k mi)
Company dedication: Makes EVs as a side project to their main business vs. fully invested in EVs.
Efficiency: heavier & higher drag vs. lighter and lower drag
Styling: Come on, is there any contest? Even remotely? Bolt vs. Model 3. The interior difference is even worse, with the Bolt being your typical econobox interior (yet at a nearly $40k price point).
Depreciation of past models: Terrible vs. Low
I could keep going. I mean, there's just no contest. Unless you're seriously in a rush, or you think Musk is the devil, I can't imagine why anyone would pick the Bolt over the Model 3.
So, apart from that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?
>> Tesla Model 3 is the better performance and the over the air updates.
Yeah, OTA Updates, so cool. or is it ? Now that's an OTA update : https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
While Chrysler/Jeep does a poor job of engineering its in-car computer systems (as shown by the film!) that has nothing to do with Tesla. Proper engineering makes ota updates safe from hackers (witness MacOS, Linux, and part of the time, Windows). Just be careful whose stuff you buy.
The Leaf's lack of a TMS causes their battery to degrade rapidly, losing as much as 40% of its capacity in 2-3 years
This depends on where you live. My 2012 LEAF has 50K miles on it and has lost only about 4% of its battery capacity. (I'd go check it right now with my OBDII interface and LeafSpy Pro, but my wife has it.)
Get a used Volt. They're ass-cheap. Just don't buy a Leaf
Used LEAFs are much cheaper. You can get one about like mine (note: I'm not selling mine; I like it) for around $6K. Assuming you don't need more than 60 or so miles of daily range, and don't live in an area with a very hot climate (which causes rapid battery degradation), for $6K you can get an EV that will be a great commuter and around-town vehicle for several years, and will cost less than a nickel per mile to operate, including electricity and maintenance.
Unless you live in Arizona,or the like, they're great little cars, and very, very cheap right now.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
Yeah, he and some MontanaSkeptic guy are well known for arguing that Tesla is dead, but Tesla keeps going and selling more. Gut feeling says both are idiot trolls being paid by kock Bros.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.