We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars

Alternative Subsidy Roadkill 32 Comments

Here’s the backstory;

Tesla whistleblower Martin Tripp is tweeting internal emails, photos and vehicle identification numbers that he says are evidence of flawed manufacturing practices at Tesla’s battery factory, and product sold by Tesla that is imperfect, and could put drivers’ lives at risk.
 
Tripp has, in previous interviews, said that Tesla’s Gigafactory took dangerous manufacturing shortcuts, and that Elon Musk had direct knowledge of these and failed to intervene.

Which prompted the latest chapter in Twitter’s corporate suicide note: Twitter Promptly Suspends Tesla Whistleblower Following Tweets About His Former Employer.

That’s right! Twitter is now suspending accounts for Musk-a-phobia. But I digress…

Hmmm… what’s the hold up?

And then, there’s the little SEC problem.

Or you can just grab a beverage and stroll through short-seller Mark Spiegel’s feed.

32 Replies to “We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars”

  1. Take away

    Elon needs cash flow.
    Tesla being a publicly traded company has become a problem for Musk.
    Enough of the folks in control of the trade in shares are starting to get suspicious so they made some calls to bring in some muscle (the SEC).

    This is not going to end well for the innocent.

    1. Anyone involved with Tesla, in any way, is not innocent. There are only collaborators, and people on the outside.

      1. Unless you allow “involved” to describe the gullible customers who bought one of their cars. I pity those suckers, but not enough to contribute to any kind of compensation. They bought an expensive lesson and no one should do anything that risks preventing them from learning from it.

  2. I have been telling people for years that electric car is a dead end. No one listened to me then, no one is going to start now.

    People been working the electric car problem since 1832; I posit that we officially declare this one an NP complete problem, and give up on it.

  3. I understand that Tesla cars have an internal battery problem – a serious electrical short. It’s been well-known to the market for at least the past five years, and Elon Musk himself has personally gone to great lengths to fix it, but with a notable lack of success.

    “I’ll take ‘Short-to-Zero’ for $420, Alex”

  4. Musk should have read about Icarus.
    It is an abject lesson in the danger of both US investors’ ludicrous religious-like faith in Silicon Valley and their obsession with companies that are more like cults of personality. Starting up a new, successful car company is almost impossible. Starting up a new, successful car company based on questionable technology using even more questionable manufacturing techniques was doomed to failure. It was obvious to anyone paying attention from day one that trying to turn Tesla into anything more than a boutique manufacturer was doomed to failure but investors poured money in based on the fact it was Silicon Valley and Musk. It’s hard to have much sympathy for anyone who takes a bath in all this….

    1. The biggest thing Musk had going for him was President Obama; were he still in the White House, the massive public subsidies that were such a big part of Musks’s cashflow would still be flowing, unabated and likely increased. Without the subsidies, Tesla (like most ‘renewable-energy’ outfits), are stuck facing competition they can’t really challenge in a fair marketplace.

      And of course, global-warming initiatives weren’t the only ones to benefit from Obie’s ‘pen and phone’ – Ruger and Smith&Wesson did well by him too!

    2. “cult of personality”
      oh it’s worse than that, it goes right down to those influential pheromones in nature, from the online dictionary:
      https://www.google.com/search?q=dictionary&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-ab#dobs=musk

      musk
      məsk/
      noun
      noun: musk; plural noun: musks; noun: musk plant; plural noun: musk plants
      1.
      a strong-smelling reddish-brown substance that is secreted by the male musk deer for scent-marking and is an important ingredient in perfumery.
      a secretion similar to musk from another animal.
      “civets habitually deposit tiny amounts of musk”

      see, the dude tapped into a very deeply ingrained biological urge that overwhelmed logic and common sense.
      that is how cults work. cult of personality.

  5. Might I suggest Elon take up Cocaine trafficking to meet his cash flow problem?

    Very interesting chart illustrating the uptick in Mechanics Lien filings (obviously parts suppliers, and “consultants”). I assume these are formal Liens and not routine Pre-Lien notifications. Will Elon offer to pay his creditors with ‘free’ Teslas?

    Tesla had one thing going for it … it is a “stylish” electric car. I mean who would be caught dead driving a Leaf? Nobody living in my upper end zip code. But Tesla is no longer the only option to an ugly Prius. EVERY Luxury auto manufacturer has added electric cars to their fleets. Nice cars … built to the standards of their luxury branding. They’ve added electric cars to meet Obama’s (and an out of control EPA’s) OUTRAGEOUS CAFE standards. So Musk should actually be BLAMING Obama for the coming demise of his company. Obama FORCED competition on Tesla. And they are about to LOSE the electric car battle. Bigly.

  6. Uncle Elon’s even down to taking money from Fossil Fuel Central, home of the 1000 lash raised back tattoo. Such a nice wise progressive gent! You can bet that whoever’s acting 420 friendly in privatizing TSLA isn’t someone known to be cute and cuddly. I fear Elon’s passing from the 8th to 9th circle now and maybe he’ll be able to add another product line to his models “S”, “X” and “3”: prying eye-free privately laundered money done by the plane load.

  7. “I have been telling people for years that electric car is a dead end”
    ..and charging the batteries with electricity generated from burning fossil fuels is saving the planet how?

    1. ..and charging the batteries with electricity generated from burning fossil fuels is saving the planet how?

      – Funny you should ask. Do some reading:

      https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/08/15/the-fight-against-global-greening-part-2/

      – Oh and:

      https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/08/15/climatologys-startling-error-of-physics-answers-to-comments/

      – To quote the man, “It. Isn’t. Happening.” Forget ‘saving the planet’ – it doesn’t need our saving.

      1. Indeed. Save ourselves. The environment has been killing us since before we were the species we are currently and will continue to kill us if we survive to evolve into a new species. And to those who think we are destroying our environment, we aren’t. It is theoretically possible that we may change it to the point that we can no longer live in it, but then we will no longer exist, but it will have destroyed us and will then continue in its changed form.

  8. I will never understand people buying Teslas…
    For one thing…they are way too expensive to leave parked outside…
    …and who in their right mind would park a self-igniting car in the house?

    …and forget that little problem of not being able to even get parts to fix it

    1. I work in the same company as one of the Tesla Faithful who put in an order, I think last year?
      In my experience Tesla Faithful are people who favor the post-modern worldview, so all prior philosophical systems (besides Socialism) are tossed in the figurative garbage. Believing in a “scientific” corporate savior is a stopgap solution in the absence of a moral code to follow. When it fails they go on to the next Company, or to the firebrand Marxist who’s next in line for succession.
      I’m in a deep blue state, so I’ve seen quite a few Teslas around.

      1. Yes, a few here around Socialist Victoria. No surprise, plenty of virtue signallers here.

        But, they will be stuck with a lemon WHEN Tesla goes Chapter 11.

        1. In Ottawa, they’ll be stuck when the temperature drops below -20C. Yes, the battery heating will kick in but reduce mileage. And if they cheat by plugging their vehicle in? Well, they’d better not expect reduced hydro rates for saving the [planet, just like the $14k they (used to) get from us taxpyaers.

      2. So true. The eco-religious are substituting Mother Gaia for a divine creator. They “believe” this makes them “more evolved” than a “sky daddy” believer such as me. When in fact, they are putting their faith in dirt … in things … which rust and become moth eaten. Jesus forgot to mention chemical battery combustion. My upper-upper middle class community is rife with $130k Tesla saloons. Grocery shopping in STYLE. Oh to have so much $$$$ to waste on looking eco-fashionable …

  9. As the CEO of a public company, Musk acted irresponsibly in tweeting his desire (with funding and price target) to go private knowing that a huge number of short positions were outstanding. As a rent seeker’s rent seeker, his actions weren’t surprising. ICE car manufacturers will put him out of business with their electric vehicles as they can stay profitable through the product development period. My own view of electric vehicles is their being over-priced and technologically pushing fancy urban golf carts beyond their practical (battery limiting) usefulness.

  11. Musk has ambition and some interesting ideas regarding the manufacturing chain. SpaceX is awesome. That’s about as far as praise of him can go. He has arrogantly tried to throw out the rulebook without reading it, and apparently his newest make-shift factory was built ad-hoc out of spare factory parts. Outdoors, under a giant tent. The QC problems are going to blot out the sun.

    1. Whoa, I actually agree with UnMe on this, except the phrase “make-shift” contains too many “effs”.

  12. People are still waiting on 3’s…and they found literally thousands of them hidden away in parking lots
    I never did hear what happened with that….did you??

  14. I am a rock hard conservative who drives a Tesla. I love the car. Its risk of fire is far less than a gasoline vehicle and I’m not supporting Venezuela every time I fill up. Made in the USA with a domestic parts content higher than the Big 3. And it is faster than a Porsche 911,

    Never understood the hate here for Tesla. But enjoy supporting the socialists in Venezuela next time you fill up. My car is effectively power by PA natural gas…

    1. It’s also powered by subsidies, picking winners by government.

      If you understood that concept, you wouldn’t buy one. You’re no conservative, boy!

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