1/ Now that the election has been called and voter fraud dismissed, it’s time to search for other frauds. Let’s look at $TSLA Full Self Drive. About 3 weeks ago, Tesla released its Beta version to a limited audience of Tesla influencers.
2/ The influencers were supposed to flood social media with praise and testimonial videos. Instead, FSD performance was so bad that every video contained errors, many requiring driver intervention.
3/ Excuses were made. “Remember, this is only Beta”. “I’m teaching it to drive down this street”. But the reality clear to everyone was that Tesla’s Beta FSD is anything but Full Self Drive.
4/ Beta release – what does that mean? It means that the software is a candidate for production release. It means 100% of the specification has been implemented. It means only clean-ups remain.
5/ So how is it possible that FSD performs so poorly after all the hype? Certainly, there’s an element of time pressure to fulfill the Robotaxi proclamation. And similar pressure from Waymo’s competition.
6/ But timelines have never carried much weight at Tesla. What’s different this time? Why release Beta FSD when it’s clearly not ready for production?
7/ The answer is that this is as good as FSD gets. This is the best that Tesla can do with the resources (hardware and software) available. There’s no breakthrough on the horizon.
8/ There’s really no choice but to pronounce “feature complete” and book the deferred revenue.
9/ For $TSLA fans, the FSD release is disappointing. For $TSLAQ skeptics, the FSD release is worse than imagined. For Elon, the FSD release is capitulation.
10/ Hat tip to so many who have provided FSD commentary/analysis, especially @Tweetermeyer and @GretaMusk

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More from @CoverDrive12

23 Sep
1/ $TSLA Battery Day will "Blow Your Mind" said Elon Musk. I think the presentation would've been a lot more convincing had they actually shown one of the new 4680 cells. Maybe show what 1 kWh of the new cells looks like compared to 1 kWh of 2170 cells.
2/ The percentage improvements of the various elements seemed rather vague. It would've been nice to have a few hard numbers. Without hard numbers, you can't compare Tesla's technology to anyone else's. I assume that was on purpose.
3/ But it was most unsettling when they proceeded to add up all those percentages of different things to get an overall % improvement. That was purely deceptive.
Read 4 tweets
10 Sep
This is what happens when the design process does not allow time for reading the supplier's application guideline. Failing to design it correctly in the first place, I wonder how much engineering went into this makeshift solution?
What is that strap wrapped around - will it deform?
Can the condenser stack carry mechanical load through the center like that?
How about the mechanical properties of the foam corner molding? Temperature range?
Once there's a little compliance in the strap assembly, the cantilevered mass will have vibrational movement. And there will be more compliance quickly. Will somebody tighten the strap periodically?

This is a fix you'd do to keep driving until the end of the semester.
Read 4 tweets
9 Sep
1/ By now, it must be clear to both bulls and bears that exponential growth is becoming harder and harder to find at . Tesla’s avenue for growth now rests largely in the People’s Republic of China. Image
2/ Expansion at GF3 in Shanghai has been rapid and decisive. Ahead of schedule, production capacity surpassed 4,000 per week in mid-June. It’s safe to assume that they have Model 3 capacity for 20,000 per month today. tesmanian.com/blogs/tesmania…
3/ Meaningful production at GF3 began in March, when more almost 12,000 Model 3’s were delivered. Very impressive for sure – where do we stand today? We’re now at 11,800 in August, according to Reuters. reuters.com/article/us-tes…
Read 6 tweets
3 Aug
1/ 🚨🚨🚨 Shorty Ground Force – 🇬🇧 Edition

I’d like to take a moment to share some Shorty Ground Force info-nuggets from a UK acquaintance who prefers to remain anonymous.
2/ The first EU ship of Q3 is scheduled to arrive in Zeebrugge tomorrow. Sales in July have been uninspiring, as inventories were pretty much drained by the end of June. So by the end of July, surely inventories are down to 0 given Tesla’s insatiable demand. Let’s check in.
3/ The first observation comes from Heathrow. It was not possible to get an precise inventory headcount. But adding up the inventory cars inside and more at the rear of the building, there appear to be well over 20. Image
Read 10 tweets
28 Jul
1/ A few thought about India.

Although Tesla’s customer deposits declined 10% this quarter, the reservation book still carries an attractive balance. Some of it is pent-up demand for Cybertruck, Semi, and Roadster.
2/ But a chunk of it is for Model 3 reservations in India, where deposits have been accumulating since Apr 2016. Opening up reservations in India was a bold move my Musk, who had no idea when or even if he could deliver.
3/ The usual promises of “next year, definitely” were enough to keep reservations flowing. In Sep of 2019, there was still optimism as recounted in this CleanTechinca article.
cleantechnica.com/2019/09/18/tes…
Read 6 tweets
7 Jul
1/ OK, enough distractions. Let’s get back to business here $TSLA $TSLAQ and look at Q2 earnings. We’re still waiting for some numbers to come in. But let’s see what’s different this Q (rough numbers).
2/
🚗 Shanghai sales up 12000; Fremont down 10,000
🚗 Model Y sales up 12,000; S/X/3 down 10,000
🚗 European sales down 10,000
🚗 North American sales unchanged
🚗 Shanghai production up 12,000; Fremont down 30,000
🚗 Prices lowered 5% in late May on S/X/3
🚗 FSD sales frenzy
3/ In addition to updated delivery numbers, I have these adjustments.
🚗 S/X revenue/car down $3000; 3 down $1000; Y unchanged
🚗 Gross margins down 2.5% in Fremont; unchanged in Shanghai
🚗 Bump up OpEx due to significantly more engineering activity
🚗 Reg Credits unchanged
Read 4 tweets

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