Everybody Still Hates Tesla, Part 1

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and everywhere else.

Looking back at the 43 episodes published over the last few years, the messages of the episodes have stood the test of time well.  Two episodes with a variety of observations and prognostications about Tesla seem to have held up really well, especially given what, in retrospect, were the boldness of the assertions.  The episodes were called “Everybody Hates Tesla, Parts 1 & 2”.  I had a lot of fun adding current commentary and I want to reshare the episodes and my new commentary with you here.   

“Tesla still gets the kind of deference that a celebrity gets when they walk into a room." – Ali Tabibian

The stock is still valued multiples higher than that of a typical automobile manufacturer, even though the company no longer delivers differentiated growth rates.  Tesla’s self-driving features continue to be implicated in accidents that, in my opinion, few if any other auto manufacturer would be able to tolerate or be allowed to tolerate.   

“The company’s impact on EV adoption. discussed in part one of the series, remains immense.  At the same time, Chinese EV manufacturers are rapidly becoming the trendsetters globally.” – Ali Tabibian

In the original Episode 1, I claim that only EV range, and not the charging networks or anything else, matters to consumer adoption. This is less true today, as typical range in the North American market is now in 250-280 miles.  However, I don’t think things are as different as is currently popularly believed.  Range still matters a lot, and if you don’t have a charger where your car could be naturally ideal for a long time (e.g. at home owning) an EV pure-electric vehicles are a tough sell.  Most of the easy sales have been made, and this is a big reason you’re seeing a plateauing of demand for these vehicles.