Why do Republicans hate Tesla??

[Dinner]

With new software upgrades, provided to customers for free, it's range is now slightly over 300 miles and all recharges are free as long as you live near one of their charging stations. They are establishing the brand first on the high end of the market then pushing down market. That is a good policy and their battery technology is the best in the world with electronics makers paying them royalties to lease their battery tech plus they just launched a new industrial battery division which sells batteries to electric utilities. It allows them to smooth out demand and supply which becomes more erratic as the percentage of renewable goes up so countries like Germany are placing lots of orders. Also Tesla is only in about 1/3rd of the big national auto markets so there is a ton of room for growth especially once their gigafactory is up and running and their lower priced models come online.

[Dinner]

Also it is nice to see states like NC and New Jersey are coming around on direct sales. The company has had big industry players with both Toyota and Mercedes has bought shares in the company and given them access to their corporate parts bins. That support is a big deal but it also helps that the company has billions of dollars in the bank so it has the money to go for the long term.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I don't think Republicans are trying to kill Tesla. What Republicans don't like is the various tax and regulatory credits for electric cars.

Yes, because the GOP has really been on the forefront against tax and regulatory credits....

[DinoDoc]

Also it is nice to see states like NC and New Jersey are coming around on direct sales. The company has had big industry players with both Toyota and Mercedes has bought shares in the company and given them access to their corporate parts bins. That support is a big deal but it also helps that the company has billions of dollars in the bank so it has the money to go for the long term.

So we can remove their subsidies then?

[Dinner]

http://www.siliconvalley.com/business/ci_26529194/tesla-motors-spawns-an-automotive-ecosystem

There has been a lot of talk about the 6500 jobs Tesla's new battery factory will bring to Nevada but the company points out it already employees 6500 people in California and it plans to add an additional 6500 jobs in California over the next five years. It's main assembly plant, it's R&D facility, it's corporate HQ, and it's design Center are all in California.

Add to that the thousands of jobs created by companies from around the world who supply parts to the Fremont assembly factory, most of whom want to be located near to their largest customer, and the area is seeing big growth in the automotive field. The company plans to start production of their SUV in 2017 and their gen 3 midsized car (priced at $35k) in 2020 and both will be built at the Fremont factory. The company is also working on the next generation Model S and Roadster models which will also all be built at the giant former GM factory. Lastly, Toyota also contracts Tesla to assemble the hybrid version of their RAV4 and is in talks to possibly have Tesla assemble all of their Prius models for the North American market.

These are pretty solid plans and unless there is a major **** up on the midsized Gen 3 car we could easily see Tesla producing half a million cars per year in the 2020-2022 time frame. The contract work from Toyota is a good back up line of work to keep the factory humming. I have to also think Toyota buying a stake in the company (along with Mercedes) and having some of its models built by the company really does give Tesla a leg up on world class quality control experience from Toyota.

[Dinner]

So we can remove their subsidies then?

As long as you remove the subsidies for oil I would be fine with that. Until then subsidies for electric vehicles just helps to slightly even the playing field.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

I ****ing love Tesla. Every now and then I hear male students raving about a "Bugati," and am forced to inform them that a substantially cheaper car goes 0-60 in three seconds.

And that's been the case for as long as Caterham have made these (and they're substantially less expensive than Teslas too).

[Dinner]

Technically, that has been the case for that car long before there was a company named Caterham as the Caterham 7 is just an open source Lotus 7 with some updated bits.

[Aeson]

Back in the days of the Cold War, no one ever mentioned Tesla. It was all about how great Edison and his lightbulbs were. I don't think I ever heard Tesla's name in school in the 80's. Conservatives are of course wont to let go of the glory days back when America could muscle and nuke our way to savior of humanity. When you mention Tesla, it's basically the same thing as welcoming the Russian invasion of Alaska.

If they came out with the Edison car, it would drive 6 feet and then melt. But conservatives would love it.

[rah]

In the 60's he was mentioned quite often in our school. But then it was a Catholic school which prepared us better than the public schools.

[DinoDoc]

He was a crazy guy that nerd's seem to have adopted as their new god, yes?

[Aeson]

In the 60's he was mentioned quite often in our school. But then it was a Catholic school which prepared us better than the public schools.

Further proof Christians are Communists

[rah]

Better that then child diddlers.

In hindsight, I'm glad that I had a twin brother so I was rarely alone when serving as an alter boy.

[Dinner]

Yeah, I could see how that would be an extra level of protection.

[rah]

YES, the nuns loved the symmetry so they always scheduled us to serve at the same time.
And we lived only a few blocks from the church so we could get there quickly when others didn't show up.
I can't remember every being alone in the sacristy with a priest.