
Tesla Motors Launches Revolutionary Supercharger for Long Distance Driving - joeyespo
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-motors-launches-revolutionary-supercharger-032000226.html
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cryptoz
This is epic. It surprises me that the markets care more about the short-term
profit adjustment announcement than this long-term epic plan. I picked up a
bunch of TSLA this morning to take advantage of it being down 7-12%, but I'm
confused why the stock is down on such incredible news.

This company is going to take the auto industry by storm. And I bet they
partner with Google circa 2017 to build self-driving electric cars that can
navigate across a continent without supervision.

And at the same time, all the other auto makers are aware but somehow unable
to move. They cancel their projects [1] even as Tesla expands and prepares to
go further. Incredible that they're going to be taken "by surprise" as Tesla
ramps up production in the next few years.

[1] [http://inhabitat.com/toyota-cancels-productions-plans-for-
th...](http://inhabitat.com/toyota-cancels-productions-plans-for-the-electric-
iq-minicar/)

~~~
palebluedot
I am a Tesla shareholder, so I definitely believe in what they are doing, and
think they are a revolutionary company. However, it is more than just the
short-term revenue adjustment affecting the stock price - in addition to
revenue drop, Tesla also announced an additional stock offering[1],
essentially diluting existing shareholders.

With 105M shares currently outstanding, and Tesla planning to offer 4.34M
shares, 4% of today's drop is likely just the market adjusting for upcoming
dilution.

As a (very very minor) shareholder, I am glad they are doing this - relying on
the current cash position and cash flow to get to profitability would have
been cutting it too close for comfort, IMO. From an investor's perspective, I
view Tesla as not much different than investing in a biotech - it is likely
either going to be a huge hit, or a huge miss. The difference (for me) from a
biotech is I feel I can understand and follow the tech in Tesla, and I believe
in the company.

[1] <http://ir.teslamotors.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=709221>

~~~
cryptoz
Ah - I had missed that. Thanks, that makes a lot more sense.

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icey
Awesome. I can't wait til they license Google's DriveSense (or whatever 2 word
name they'll come up with for their automatic driving technology).

It'll feel weird having my car drop me off at work while it goes and gets
charged up, picks up my groceries, takes itself to get washed and shows up
again when I'm ready to go home, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

~~~
backprojection
But at that point, do you need to own the car? Basically you just described a
taxi service without human drivers.

Perhaps a taxi service based around self driving cars could drive costs below
the cost of ownership. My guess is that the limiting factor is rush-hour.

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DougBTX
This looks like a news article, but is actually a press release. The giveaway
line:

> By next year, _we_ plan to install Superchargers in high traffic corridors
> across the continental United States

(It does say that it is a press release in light gray text, but that is
effectively hidden.)

~~~
mcpherrinm
No giveaway needed. It's got the MarketWire logo fairly large at the top, and
look at the byline:

    
    
      Press Release: Tesla Motors, Inc.

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001sky
_Drive the Model S Electric Car Anywhere in the Country on Pure Sunlight for
Free_

\-- Not sure about that [1]

________________

[1] _Tesla Unveils Supercharger Stations; <Six> Now in California_.

[http://www.teslamotors.com/tesla_theme/images/supercharger/s...](http://www.teslamotors.com/tesla_theme/images/supercharger/supercharger_3_locations_2013.jpg)

PCH:
[http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Gil...](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Gilroy,+CA+95020&daddr=Big+Sur,+CA+to:ucla)

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nancyhua
Charging was definitely the biggest problem with the Roadster. If you want to
drive from Berkeley to Mountain View and then back, the car has to charge for
a good 3 hours on the fast connection while you're in Mountain View or you
risk going dead. The Roadster nominally drives 200 miles on one charge but it
was more like 140 unless you're going downhill the whole time.

I'd heard rumors of Stanford letting you charge without plugging in while
driving past the campus- that would be awesome.

~~~
jblow
As a Roadster owner of two years, who uses the car as his daily driver, I can
tell you this is completely untrue (the Berkeley-MV thing).

You can drive from SF to Santa Cruz and back on one charge.

You can drive from SF to Mountain View and back, and then there and back
again, on one charge.

I only need to think about recharging if I am going on long road trips -- say,
SF to Lake Tahoe. This is exactly where the Supercharger comes in and Tesla's
announcement is way huger than I expected. It makes me want a Model S even
though I have been thoroughly delighted with the Roadster for two years.

~~~
nancyhua
My experiences were from the Roadster I had for a month while in the Bay area.
I had been considering buying one until this experience with the battery. Your
battery must be way better than mine and/or you're much better at driving-
neither of which is that unlikely. Based on the mileage stats the car would
display, there is NO WAY we could've gone from MV to SF 2x on one charge. Even
once was seriously pushing it despite speeding down the 101 or the 280 in the
carpool zone.

~~~
jblow
P.S. My car has about 18k miles on it, so I don't think I have a particularly
youthful battery at this time!

~~~
nancyhua
Interesting, I don't know anything about either of the things you mentioned:
range mode (When giving me the car, they told me it could go about 200 hours
on 1 charge but to keep it under 150 because if it got completely drained I'd
have to pay $10K for a new battery. Most of the time I would hook the car up
to those free chargers in downtown PA), or not speeding (I always assumed
speeding was good for mileage. It's also easier for me to speed in a tesla bc
there aren't engine sounds, just road sounds, and everyone speeds on the 280).

~~~
jblow
For sure driving the car fast is one of the most fun things!

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robododo
Wow, they need a new name. I came in here thinking they'd invented some sort
of new electric forced induction mechanism
[<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercharger>]

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danielweber
So how much wear and tear does a supercharge put on the battery pack?

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gubatron
Did anyone else think of opening their own charging station(s)?

I think the big news here is that someone is creating a distributed electric
plant with social benefits to attract customers to buy their cars, pretty
brilliant and world changing ideas. Why not join the fun?

Even if there's not enough Tesla or other electric vehicles coming to your
station you'll at least be making your money back on solar energy generation
and selling coffee, internet, etc. to customers that come in.

Tesla doesn't have to be the sole provider for the free charges.

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toufka
and the average Tesla customer is likely to consume much coffee and
internet...

