How Tesla Fumbled
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Writing by Sam Denby and Tristan Purdy
Editing by Alexander Williard
Animation led by Josh Sherrington
Sound by Graham Haerther
Thumbnail by Simon Buckmaster
References
[1] https://morningconsult.com/2022/11/17/elon-musks-politically-polarizing-effect/
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/21/business/tesla-elon-musk.html
[3] https://www.anl.gov/esia/light-duty-electric-drive-vehicles-monthly-sales-updates
[4] https://www.wired.com/2013/11/elon-musk-pickup-plane/
[5] https://cnevpost.com/2023/02/08/tesla-delivers-26843-in-china-jan-shanghai-plant-exports-39208/
[6] https://electrek.co/2022/06/14/elon-musk-lucid-rivian-tracking-toward-bankruptcy/
[7] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/31/technology/tesla-autopilot-investigation.html
[8] https://www.autoweek.com/news/industry-news/a41721712/elon-musk-says-teslas-full-self-driving-this-year/
[9] https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-technology-accidents-business-f4f59a574cbe3fe2214c573ab81d47d3
[10] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/06/technology/tesla-autopilot-elon-musk.html
[11] https://www.slashgear.com/tesla-makes-self-driving-tech-standard-on-all-cars-20460830
[12] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/05/business/tesla-china-sales-electric-vehicles.html
[13] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/21/business/tesla-elon-musk.html
[14] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/15/business/tesla-model-3-buyers.html
[15] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-01-25/elon-musk-s-flailing-reputation-is-bad-news-for-tesla-stock
One note: this video is going to get a lot of negative response, and we’ve made it with full knowledge of that. In fact, #TSLA investors pre-planned their brigading strategy for this video on Reddit, having seen it yesterday on Nebula, so take the comments with a grain of salt. A couple of things I’d like to highlight:
– This video is titled “How Tesla Fumbled.” It’s not “The State of Tesla in 2023.” This video is specifically focused on the ways that Tesla squandered its lead, so it inherently omits the positives—that’s the video we decided to make.
– The thesis of this video is not that Tesla will fail, but rather that Tesla made some missteps that squandered the massive lead it built for itself, and that it’s therefore going to be more difficult for the company to maintain a dominant market position (but not necessarily impossible.)
– This video has no undisclosed funding sources. Wren is the only sponsor on this video. I am not currently a Tesla shareholder, not do I hold any options on the stock.
@User Name oh I thought it was along the lines of What The **** 😅 sorry, there are a lot of unreasonable people here
You never mention the charging infrastructure even though you show it in the video over, and over again. You could have talked about how Tesla is giving up it’s golden goose by letting other cars on, but you just go on about how the only good thing about Tesla is Musk? It is what every EV owner I know has as a complaint against other brands. I feel you did let us down here.
@All Things Trains by DrTesla totally agree, I have unsubscribed because I can’t trust these videos anymore
@BLAHDUDE1 yeah I figured this was the case, that Wendover was getting funding from an anti-Tesla source
@GAV321 Agreed, wondering if there was some payment by Ford/GM in some fashion for this
Electric cars, while somewhat better than regular cars for the environment, will never be as good and as helpful as just building a decent transport network
So many Americans live in areas populated enough to support robust rail networks but are underdeveloped, California is obvious but also the Texas triangle, the Pacific Northwest from Eugene to Seattle, Arizona sun corridor just to name a few
*which Musk is completely against because he wants people to buy cars. (Looking at his sabatoge of California’s high speed rail in particular.)
Electric Cars are not better for the environment, they are worse. Look up how the Lithium and Cobalt that are required to make the batters come from?
@Wadosan They don’t need to rework everything. There are obvious elements of it which can be implemented for cheap with big impact. For example the railroad network is there, and it is just a matter of a few laws to make it useful for passengers too.
Somewhat? The lack of smog producing emissions alone makes a staggering difference. It’s far more realistic to use congestion fees to encourage a switch to electric vehicles than somehow have a public transport network plan that doesn’t collapse.
I agree that other EV’s can offer better value for the car itself, but I really struggle to consider any other EV purely due to the charging network. As a current EV driver of a not-Tesla but renter of many, my experience with public chargers that are not Superchargers has been very poor. Beyond that, competition is great, and hopefully other manufacturers can work together to improve public chargers so that alternative EV’s become realistic options for single car households, driving Tesla towards improving the quality of their own cars.
Thankfully, the Biden administration just got Tesla to open their Supercharger network up to other cars by EOY 2024. And they’ve established a standard for charging if electric vehicle charging companies want federal funds. So this shouldn’t be a big problem for much longer.
Elon Musk: “Delivery logistics hell.”
Wendover: “Future content inbound.”
Makes you wonder why he’s finally going after him tho? Is it because his lean to the right that he is now going after him
Yeah pure bullshit from opening lines. What a childish waste of time.
Also of note: You point out Rivian and Lucid as rivals, but they too have yet to make it through “production hell”. As of last quarter, Lucid’s reservation holder list was shrinking due to withdrawn reservations faster than due to delivered vehicles. Tesla problems are not always unique.
rrrrrright!
@Matic in 2022 they produced 7000 but sold 4000. They are planning on producing 10000 in 2023. They are a lost cause.
@Drebob17 the saudis want to buy them and they just started selling them in Europe
Rivian and Lucid are currently losing money and not a relevant example in how it was used in the video. 100% agree with your comment.
Lucid is going to go broke, no one wants to buy their vehicles and they are cutting production
In my state, Georgia, the senate put a hard limit of 5 showrooms Tesla can have open at any time. Dealerships have been lobbying very hard to prevent manufacturers from selling direct to consumers, and Tesla – among other car makers such as Rivian and Lucid, will have problems with expanding.
Another classic example of something redundant and useless but it’s so big and employs too many people to take away now
Hm so good to pay useless dealerships
It’s the exact same here in NJ. Only 5 locations. Which is arguably worse because we are the most dense state in the country.
Good point, and conveniently left out of the video.
@Zhou Fang I absolutely agree, but actually repealing these laws is a tough task. Dealerships are among the largest local businesses and largest employers in every state. Even if you ignore the lobbying and donations, State Legislators aren’t going to line up to pass legislation that kills off all these large local businesses & the jobs they provide.
Tesla keeps up the appearance of a startup because if the public and investors shifted their view of Tesla as a traditional automaker, people would instantly see that the company is extremely overvalued in marketcap and the stock price would tank overnight. And then we’d probably see Musk drive one of his cars off a cliff.
@Grant Adamson Touché
@Lewis Bowes Ironic comment.
@CozmicSaber’s Opinions All that, and the fact that the CEO is an actual self taught rocket engineer. No, this is not just ‘he founded spacex with his government grants & tesla money’, he literally is a rocket scientist and engineer.
Elon is not just another rich CEO of a company like so many others. Elon’s ability to see the issues lying ahead, and then actually going ahead and do it, is astounding.
My dad bought his first Tesla in 2016, and when we were on roadtrips, let me tell you, these 5x Supercharger Stations in Denmark with 8-16 chargers stood empty like 95% of the time. Fast forward 7 years later, and they 95% full almost daily. The initial investment seemed idiotic, and literally no one else did it what Tesla did.
Investing in Tesla is an investment into the car brand, which in and of itself is years ahead technology wise of its competitors, everything xExtraGamingHD mentioned, and Elon Musk himself, who I’d almost dare call a genius.
Tesla, as mentioned in this video, and Elon Musk, are by no means perfect by any stretch of the imagination.
I’m 23 and have owned 2 Teslas now, and the first Tesla I got, on the day where we were introduced to the vehicle, when I went to close the trunk, I pulled out the handle. The lady at Tesla said “this happens often, just push it into place” and she did. Not a great first impression. But the car itself is amazing, and the user interface in the screen and the autopilot is simply next to nothing in this business – and that comes from someone who has driven most of the new EVs out. (More specifically I drove the Audi E-Tron, Polestar 2, Ioniq5, Kia E-Niro, VW ID3, ID4 and ID Buzz).
Least mentally challenged take
Inshallah
Is it just me, or does anyone else want a more efficient station wagon? 😅 Electric or hybrid, I’m down for it!
@Jason Birzer Station wagons are very popular here in Germany, like the Passat, shurely they will produce it. I believe there will be an A4 etron avant, too.
@K4n0n3nkn3cht I’ll believe it when it is on the showroom floor.
@Jason Birzer there will be an ID7 wagon, look up the space vizzion concept
@K4n0n3nkn3cht The ID.7 isn’t a wagon.
@K4n0n3nkn3cht Sadly still a concept, and for a hot hatch it’s a bit on the chunky side. But one to watch perhaps.
Well, Tesla is certainly more than competitive on price in the European market and certainly will be in the US if/when std range model Y becomes available there.
Totally agree that tesla should’ve built an easy Model X/S based pickup years ago.
So far, chinese electric cars have not been too well received within Europe either and none of the American competition are even available.
Tesla certainly differentiated when they launched the Model 3, and I think a future cheaper model will have the same effect, no competitors don’t have the efficiency to produce a good cheap electric car yet.
I think Tesla needs to change, demand is no longer vastly larger than supply, and that needs to reflect on products and marketing.
For service centers, it is worth remembering that close to half of states barred them from operating there due to local dealers fighting tooth and nail. It is down to single digits, but has been a large uphill legal battle
@Lucas 1029 he is a dum head bro, no point arguing with kid
@Flavio A Anecdotal but I live in a major city (top 5) and they are 1 for 1 with exception of BMW. We are not discussing quality of customer care. We are discussing the quality of the cars and their $ for $ range. Tesla’s build quality does not come close to their price point.
@Lucas 1029 those brands have way more dealerships than tesla stores so you’re wrong lol also go read some horror stories on how those brands treat their customers . They’re all horrible
@Fort very true but they are priced as such and don’t have an affordable model.
@Flavio A I’m comparing luxury/exotic cars such as Ferraris but let’s add something in the Tesla price range which in no way are they 40k. More like 75k-150k. Range Rover, BMW, Mercedes, Audi. All of these manufacturers have as little service representation as Tesla yet have superior quality. Not sure why you think this is a win/ lose discussion unless you are choosing a side for some reason.