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Tesla's Quarter In Just Three Charts
While hardly surprising following yesterday's orchestrated leak that Tesla has been having serious issues penetrating the Chinese market, few expected its Q4 numbers to be quite so bad:
- Non-GAAP Revenue: $1.1BN, vs Est. $1.22BN
- Non-GAAP EPS: loss of $0.13 (GAAP loss of 86 cents), vs Est. of a $0.32 profit
- And cash burn of a whopping, and unprecedented $455 million in just one quarter, which brings TSLA cash to $1.9 billion down from $2.4 billion a quarter ago, suggesting an equity dilution, or convertible offering at least, is coming soon.
Furthermore, anyone waiting for some clarity on just what happened in China will keep on waiting. This is all TSLA said:
Despite initial challenges in China, we remain convinced of the vast potential of this market and are concentrating our efforts on the cities we are in currently, before launching into new cities. Our China initiatives include simplifying the buying process there by having Tesla personnel install charging points at customer homes or businesses well before vehicle delivery. We now offer a turn-by-turn navigation option in China that we provided retroactively through a remote software upgrade to all our customers with appropriately optioned cars, and we believe our new executive seats and second row center console will be quite popular with new China customers.
So nothing really on the reason why car sales and revenue in the quarter were both so weak.
The only saving grace for TSLA was its Outlook, which true to fashion, has been extremely optimistic as usual.
In 2015, we expect to deliver about 55,000 Model S and X vehicles, representing more than a 70% increase over 2014 deliveries. About 40% of these deliveries are planned for the first half of the year. First quarter production is expected to be about 10,000 vehicles due to it being a shorter quarter than in Q4 and approximately a week of factory downtime to allow the workforce to rest and tooling upgrades. Cars in transit to Europe and Asia must grow to support those markets, so we plan to deliver approximately 9,500 vehicles in Q1, an increase of over 47% from Q1 last year. In Q1, we expect to directly lease about the same percentage of cars that we did in Q4.
If the Chinese demand problems persist, and if the new BMW i8 rollout is even modestly successful, and if oil does not rebound, good luck with all that.
Finally, here is the quarter in just three chart:
Revenue: GAAP and non-GAAP
EPS: GAAP and non-GAAP
And Cash burn:
And a bonus: the table showing TSLA GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation. Because it never gets old.
And Cash Blow:
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recovery xD
"And a bonus: the table showing TSLA GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation."
Isn't that the cash flow statement?
Just where is that windmill factory? I'd like to visit that place.
Nothing is worst than enviro-commie, do-gooder trendy toys. What a joke!
Fisker had a better business model for ripping people off. Take government money, have Joe Biden show up at the new plant they're going to build (old GM Boxwood Road plant in Wilmington, DE not far from where I live) and then sell everything off for scrap and skip town with the money.
THAT'S how you do it. Actually trying to build and sell cars is insane.
If you can't make money non-GAAP, fire your accountants. For example, COGS should be considered as non-recurring.
Losing under a buck a share a quarter on a $210 stock when your CEO has said you're not gonna be profitable until 2020 ain't too shabby actually, especially for a Silicon Valley style startup, and neither are their cars. Whether they'll be around in 2030 is another matter entirely.
Just started using twitter actually.
Much more enjoyable media experience.
Hahahahaha. Brian Williams.
They are not a startup. They have ben in business since 2003.
I'd sooner invest in Brewster's Berg #1
Stock price says they're making money.
At least they have cash to burn.
Better than GM that's fer sure.
Just an electric powered go cart. Don't know why everyone so uupity bout the dern thing.
Every single car sold in the US has been subsidized at dollar amounts that would purchase a decent used car outright.
Can anyone explain to me how subsidizing the luxury/vanity purchases of rich douche-bags in the middle of a depression makes any sense?
It's good for the environment.
-so go fuck yourself, Brackish O'Promises
The Japanese government has been subsidizing Toyota's Prius to the tune of thousands of dollars per unit since it's inception. Some good ROI at work there. Better make it up in volume. Then, there are those toxic batteries. No one talks about how to dispose of them, and how much they cost to replace. Cheap gas should kill them off soon enough.
On the other hand, Government Motors' Volt only has a finite amount of placements at GE and the Federal Government, and Obama loves cooking the books.
Seen in context of greater evils, I'd rather we "wasted" money on this kind of R&D and products than in the FAR greater waste that is the War on Drugs, War on Terroor, the MIC, Foreign Aid, Fed reacharound to the ECB and BOJ.
Perspective. Besides, as long as the USD is the Reserce currency, "Debt don't matter", don't ya know, as we simply export our Debt via QE. ;-)
The joke isn't just on us/US; it's on the rest of the Dollar-using world.
"Fisker had a better business model for ripping people off"
I met Fisker in Monaco, put down $1500 deposit, waited 3 years, got a hand drawn poster with "Dear Fred signed Henrick" on it about a year later and then a dinky Corgi toy Fisker Karma a year after that. It suddenly clicked that with this toy Karma, they had contractually delivered me a Karma, so I quick went about getting my deposit back. Took about two weeks for it to come back, and then about 6 months later they went bankrupt.
:)
Musk plans to skip town with the money and go to Mars. They have no extradition policy with the US. That's the whole reason he started Spaced X
We EV'd some folks
This fucken pig is going DOWN.
Been telling everyone here that for 18 months.
BK is in its near future.
They did go through a huge wad of cash. Must have spent it on hookers and blow.
Either that or Edison Motors stole it from them.
They spent it on "opening up" China. Which didn't go so good. They sold 120 cars there vs. expectations (and promises) roughly 10X that.
A mere "Volt" of an estimation error
More than that actually, I frequently see them on the streets in Beijing. But their business model in China is horribly flawed. To get the subsidy in China, they are required to JV with a domestic and transfer technology. But, they went and made all their shit public, so there isn't much to offer now is there? A domestic can just as easily use that tech now and negate any need for a JV.
This means they run north of 600,000 RMB. A decent car in China is between 200k~400k RMB. Tesla is a toy, but actual value would demand it cost about half as much as it does. It's not long wheel base, it's hard to recharge, the range is meaningless, the brand is unknown to most (who just assume it's a cheap domestic). It's a toy, it's not a primary driver, it's a 2nd or 3rd car for the upper-middle class and to the rich... it's either a funny toy or simply not even a consideration (why waste the plate and not get a G-series AMG, or a ferarri, or a BMW6, or a masserati, etc. etc?) It's not competing in the sports-car segment, it's competing in the "family sedan" segment which bleeds into the business-car segment due to the cost. It's not dignified enough, it has too many flaws, and for a business-class car, no one gives a shit about buring gas, because the company will pay for it anyways.
Failing for the exact same reasons the Lexus hybrids were a massive flop. No one cares. To make it even worse, when you have a villa (a place to charge the thing) and multiple nice vehicles... you tend to have your own mechanic as well. They can work wonders on normal cars... but on an EV? Clueless. Mechanics won't touch the things, parts are expensive and scarce.
A 300mile or whatever range is nice, but charging is a serious problem. The best is an informal network of owners who pop in and charge where they can. That's IT. And you're stuck there for an hour for a "quick charge". Villa owners don't live there fulltime either, they live in highrises in the cities like everyone else. The only assigned parking is underground, and even then, it's VERY typical for spots to get blocked or made unparkable. So you need to recharge and oops, no way to park. In China you can't get cars towed. But this 600k RMB price point is more of a target to upper-middle, which means surface parking, not assigned, and noone is going to get a charger installed.
It's a complete and total joke on every level in China. Ultra-cheap low-range EVs are somewhat popular because they charge fast and low range is all that's needed. Hell, the damned prius is more popular (and it was a complete and total flop) because it will charge itself on gas.
But Tesla is all bleeding edge, and churning and burning, especially BURNING.
OK, they've got a cool name, that's all, but that's worth a hundred billion market cap, right?
They are named after a brilliant scientist who died alone, forgotten and broke. Quel appropries
There are a lot of myths about Tesla and this is one of them.
Nicola Tesla did not die alone, forgotten and broke. His last years were spent at the New Yorker Hotel , the biggest, best equipped, most modern hotel in the city. He occupied 2 suites, 3327 and 3328. One was his living quarters, the other a business office and laboratory.
He was voted a $600 a month pension by Yugoslavia, his home country, in recognition of his contributions to the advancement of human knowledge and he also got royalties from Westinghouse who bought his AC electric patents. He may have had other sources of income as well.
Crowned heads, diplomats, scientists, and reporters all visited him. As an honoured guest who lived at the hotel for 10 years, all the staff knew him and took good care of him.
As far as I can find out everyone thought the world of him and treated him with the greatest respect.
http://www.teslasociety.com/nyhotel.htm
I want to see their actual warranty costs.They can cause a big cash burn.
Having had painful experience in manufacturing electric vehicles, thats the achilles heel.
I guarantee somewhere is a great wall of battery returns being hidden from investors and auditors.
i played that game for a while,thinking I would come up with a solution to the endemic(and
still unsolved) battery issues.
I know a guy who makes money in that "space", Winston.
He rents golf carts at the beach..., and his maintenance costs even on that little goober drive him nuts.
Golf carts and electric milk floats hardly stress the batteries and still have problems.
I think Tesla has been lucky so far inasmuch as their cars are
creme puffs, not really used as working vehicles.Their foray downmarket will be their undoing,
when batteries are maxed out on a daily basis. the problems are horrendous.
Tesla just needs to provide free, streaming, porn with each automobile purchase. Turnaround of the century...
Hookers and blow? At least they didn't waste it.
No way. With a stock value that high, they'll simply dilute the share pool and grab another $10 billion, which will keep them running for at least 10 years. It all depends on whether they're able to put their money where their mouth is regarding the Gigafactory and the lowering of battery costs. If they can make it to 2017 without running out of customers, they'll be around for decades.
Elon meant it when he said the company was not expecting real profitability until 2020. The jury is still out on whether they'll be around in 2030, but they'll definitely make 2020.
Super Duper Bullish!!!!
So, Tesla has an "INSANE" mode. At the end of a run, you explode in a ball of fire.
Tesla, Solyndra, the Bakken shale. The bubble economy we have looks ready to blow up. But not as bad an explosion as that chemical plant blowing up in Donetsk on Sunday (which looked a lot like a tactical nuclear explosion).
I'm making over $7k a month working part time. I kept hearing other people tell me how much money they can make online so I decided to look into it. Well, it was all true and has totally changed my life. This is what I do... www.globe-report.com
Blame it on the Forex
Definitely a strong BUY
stop misleading people dude
HE meant a strong BYE!
Hey man, not cool, I have a friend who works for SpaceX.
/meme
LOL. No, it just seems that the market always does the opposite of what I think so I'm trying to fool it with a bluff :D
BULLISH!!!!!
Up is down. Left is right. Black is white. Welcome to Obamaville...
I keep telling people here in Reno that the Giga Factory is going to be the "Spruce Goose" of Nevada and will just be a big empty building if it gets finished. Everyone just looks at me like I'm crazy lol.
RobD
Not to worry ....I'm sure the Rino Gov. Sandoval will just bump taxes here in Vegas to cover things.
I call him Gov. Squishy, him and Pinky Reid are good buds I hear. Oh and I don't buy that "My exercise band broke and I bashed my own face in crap" Somebody tuned up old Harry.
Musta been hooker and blow related tuning, otherwise somebody'd be in SuperMax or Gitmo by now for fuckin' up da Senator
The batteries are useful for other manufacturers (be it renewables or competing, existing automotive suppliers.)
I wouldn't be shocked if there's some interesting terms in their contracts that result in Tesla funding things and someone else "inheriting" it, like how Iridium happened and the billions in capital spent was picked up for a few million.
There is virtually no innovation in their battery technology.
That's why this fuckin pig is going DOWN.
What? But...but... surely 10,000 Li-ion AA equivalents wired to together is super-innovative, ain't it? Mercan knowhow at it's finest!
Good to see I'm not the only one who is starting to compare Elon Musk to Howard Hughes.
Perhaps Musk chose Reno so he too can hole up in a casino one day.
Who cares - they are a hedge fund favourite, so they will issue stock to infinity.....
Golly gee, maybe the chinese tesla drivers can't find charging stations
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/11/business/international/tesla-seeks-a-stronger-foothold-in-china.html?smid=nytcore-iphone-share&smprod=nytcore-iphone
everybody loves optimism...nobody cares about reality.
Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.
But but but people will buy moar Teslas because they save so much on cheap oil.
Turns out those who can afford their product don't give a joule about gas money nor the "environment..chuckle"...or maybe they want to drive a car for more than a few hours or (this is a longshot)...it's just a badly conceived and managed company. Same cash hemorrhage any way.
delorean circa 21st century...
but...the delorean was actually cool. What...30 years later and still no up doors on my ride and not even a single flux capacitor to be seen anywhere. I do have an unpaid XM radio though...that's close.
Hey Tesla try making a car the average Joe can afford.
So does this mean that douches will have to go back to driving Audi's?
There is no brand cache for Tesla in China. Nobody cares about being Green. The Chinese aren't willing to overlook all of the poor design decisions just to get a few smug points.
Plus you have the 100% import duty, so you're paying over $200k for a car the looks like a high end Corolla in the inside. Rich Chinese want to drive big, powerful, gas guzzling luxury cars. Being able to afford to waste gas is seen as a status symbol.
In China the poor drive electric vehicles. Would you really want to drive a car based on the same technology as the scooter your noodle delivery guy rides.
The i8 is going to destroy Tesla in China, along with the hybrid supercars from Porsche and Audi. Because the electric drive is there for performance, not economy.
ADR love the comment. Literally gut busting..."noodle felivery guy" Awesome! Cant stop laughing. Just like the board room after the conference call at HQ Tesla.
I live in China, and my wife and I got invited to a wedding out of town. Their nephew would give us a ride there and back. He showed up in a new Escalade imported from America. He told us several times that it was imported and that he paid a huge tarrif. I guess that's part of the cache, having a ridiculous price tag. I wonder what it cost him? He's an executive in the radio/TV business.
We have a lot of luxury car dealers in this city. Names like Audi, Bentley,BM,Ferrari, Hong Qi (starts at $112,000), Lamborghini, Land Rover/Range Rover, Lotus, Maserati. Mercedes-Benz
, Morgan, Porsche, Rolls Royce, but I have only seen one Tesla.
This is what happened...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Zn85XqL3BoI
I hear the airbags will take your head off.
That cash burn is like Brewster's Millions.
No worries! Bailouts are like buses, there's one just around every corner. Think of Solyndra, of GM, of AIG..... Now there's some real success stories.
And Elon Musk, like a 21st century rockstar, came from prep school in the 1980's to astounding engineering prominence. Just how does that happen?????
His expertise is in borrowing money. He has a bachelor's degree in physics. That means he's not qualified to teach high school physics in many states. He also has a degree in economics.
He's a con man. No more, no less.
I costs a lot of money to launch and recover a, "self landing rocket" SLR from a barge Tyler. Non~GAAP R&D. ;-)
Look at R/D end of 2014 vs R/D 3 months end of '14. numbers.
I was waiting for some douche Tesla lover to show up.
Why all these extras for the Chinese ?? Will American customers get the same incentives?? Wtf!
We made some cars...but not many...
So, you buy a car for $80,000. In 4 years, you have to buy a new battery for $40,000. Then in another 4 years, $40,000 more...
A Chinese buys an electric scooter for $2,000, then a new battery for $1,000. This business model makes more sense.
The electric scooter costs about $300.
Forward guidance - TSLA confident it will be building every car on the planet by 2100. Anticipates making a profit around the same time.
Tesla, " The only car that comes with a custom fire extinguisher and BTC payment discount".
It's a pity about Tesla because despite the bubblicious business model, the silly hype and exploding cars, I rather liked the concept of a long range rechargeable electric car. From a prepper transportation pov, it's almost as good as a wood gasifier truck. But, yeah the BMW i8 is going to blow it away.
It's almost like cheap gas lowers the demand for electric cars. Weird.
LSD induced models post Accounting Standards dropping Mark to Market are GAAP. Why bother with the "non" prefix?
For all the TSLA hate, at least Elon Musk is creating great things and doing big projects that have't been done before. Save the TSLA hate for the relentless Wall St stock bidders funded by negative interest rates, reverse repos, and other perverse incentives. If Elon can issue a dilutive stock offering at these perverse mutples — GREAT! Dilute those Wall St gamblers into dust.
I do agree. At least they manufacture a product instead of every other shitty SV company.
I do agree. At least they manufacture a product instead of every other shitty SV company.
He isn't creating "great" things, it's a giant fucking misallocation of capital. Electric cars are the stupidest fucking idea out there. Just monumentally dumb.
Even cheaper fermented dino graveyard juice on the horizon = curtains for EVs.
Monopolists/cabals never intended to relinquish complete control of energy market. "Competition is a sin."
Maybe they can make better inroads in China if they install driver improvement/crash avoidance/shitty maneuver negating systems??
having just awaken from a nap I see this and the charts and just wonder on non gaap revenues--when does it crossover with gaap sales or just like on non gaap expenses they are forever forgiven?
dang, why does everybody else get rich off this type of gigs with no consequense?
Remember in the dot com days..it was all proforma income...
Crazy Elon - lose a little on every deal, but make it up in volume.
volkswagen sold 7 million cars in 2014 and has a mkt cap of 100B; tesla hopes to sell 55,000 in 2015; thats less than 1% the units VW sells. market cap of tsla $26billion; mkt cap of VW 100B. fair value of tsla: $0....maybe $1 as a long term option or something.
tsla has negative economic value. they burn money each quarter. they have no secret technology or edge. the most optimistic sales expectations have them breaking even in several years at the best. total joke
With car makers the world over rushing to produce electric cars, the going will be rough for Tesla. I wish them well.
I'd be curious how close we are to an electric car that can:
- Operate at full power, under maxiumum occupancy/load, for 500 miles before recharge, regardless of elevation changes
- Battery weight of no more than 500 lbs.
- Maximum charge time of 5 minutes (an average 30 gallon equivalent gasoline fill up)
- 5 year life on batteries or, 5 minute swap time of battery tray at charging station
- 500 ft. lb. (equivalent) torque rating, launch/pulling power
Are such questions way out there or way off, both...?
As someone who is actively researching the same issues, my best guess is anywhere from 10 to 20 years (worst case never), based on the current rate of innovation.
Of course it all depends on the $$$ being thrown in the right direction.
A crash effort, like the lunar landing, could reduce this to 5 - 10 years, but that also involves things like building out a Thorium based Nuclear strategy.
Electric cars are the automotive equivalent of "free beer tomorrow".
The electric car of 2015 is only marginally more advanced than the electric car of 1905. Gasoline and diesel cars,on the other hand, have advanced tremendously.
I'd get a BMW diesel with tons of power/torque with good MPG for 60% less. At 12K miles per year, you will have enough gas money left over for 20 years.
Someday he will have the best golf carts in the world....but not a car...I still think in 5 years when theyse start to need a new battery that its toast...
368 Million of that was CapEx in Q4. I don't see the big deal. Aren't they investing massivley in the new battery plant out west? That costs $$. Top line was still 1.1 billion. I like this site ZH, and on many days TD points out that companies are using cash for stock buy backs (bad and agreed), but here we have a company making massive investments in the future, and we get these charts somehow suggesting that that is the wrong strategy (Capital Investment). Cant have it both ways on here Gents. Now I am not arguing valuation, which is absurd, but just the use of cash by the company.
The article point about the BMW i8 doesn't matter. The i8 is sold out for 18 months, but they can only produce 4000/yr. That's not enough production to affect Tesla.
However, Tesla still looks like a big risk, even with all of their government money. I'd short it here, if I had any courage.
Yeah, all those hipsters who want to step up to an i8 from their Honda /Rubbbermaid Elements will be swooning.
Can't wait for this fad vehicle to die off. But ugly!
Did every ZH member get their period at the same time?
Tesla hate fest going on here
Musk did screw up in China, but the Model S and even more so the Model X are light years ahead of anything else available today
Musk did screw up in China, but the Model S and even more so the Model X are light years ahead of anything else available today
Yeah, that is if you have $100K to burn on a car . . . .
Then wait for the Model 3
Around $35k, minus whatever state incentive are available in your tax farm for a zero emissions vehicle
Elon has severe ADHD. He has lost interest in the electric car and moved on to his other projects. It seems that he finds 0 challenge in making an affordable car and even the improvements to the existing cars are marginal. Simply has other things to do. I think he sells this puppy this year or next to another automotive company.
It's not ADHD. Am I the only person who thinks he looks as gay as a tree full of parakeets?
Just sayin'.
Gotta love it. If you sell the dream, you can live large as an executive directing a company that makes no sense financially.
Wow! An orgy of pessimism.
Well, I hope you guys are wrong because I bought some Tesla lottery tickets.
Some of the ZH criticisms are troubling, especially the valuation numbers. But I see the possibilities of significant upside which would change the calculus positively.
Much of the disrespecting of Tesla seems to be based on the premise that it is "just an electric car company", and we've had electric cars before and they flopped.
My optimism is based on the fact that Tesla IS innovative in a number of different ways, and even though there may not be a single breakthrough technology in the pipeline, combining a number of "ahead of the curve" technologies in a single solution IS valued by the marketplace, often disproportionately.
I was one of those guys who believed the conventional wisdom about the iPhone before it was announced: "Integrated multi-function products always fail".
If a customer wants a great cell phone, he'll buy a cellphone. If he wants a PDA, he'll by a Palm Pilot. If he wants email, he'll buy a Blackberry.
But ... I WAS WRONG!!! Slick, thoughtful integration with attention to detail IS value.
Tesla is doing a lot of things right. And the result is a product, albeit an expensive one, that has won the hearts and minds of a lot of hyper-fussy, big budget car buyers.
I have talked to Tesla sales reps and heard the sales pitch. They know who their customers are. They know the questions their customers ask. They have answers. They know that a Tesla is not for everyone.
If you want to use a Tesla as a taxi cab or a delivery van, forget about it. It's not for you.
If you want to zoom up the freeway in Silicon Valley in a sleek, quiet, luxurious, and safe vehicle AND use the diamond lanes, the Tesla is for you. It just screams "on the fast track" -- in a quiet sort of way.
Oh, it is innovative. But 6,800+ lithium batteries and many pounds of rare Earth metals in a Tesla make it, at best, only a slightly less environmental impact then our beloved internal combustion engine.
The buyers who are buying Tesla's are not buying them to save the environment. They are buying them because they are cool and they have the cash.
If your generation X or Y teenager with the iPod plugged in his ear THINKS you're saving the environment, so much the better. They won't feel so bad about your otherwise conspicuous consumption lifestyle.
Tesla IS snob appeal. Maybe the snob niche will carry Tesla, maybe not. Nothing else.
No problem.
Snob money rings the cash register just as well as peasant money.
Tesla's business plan probably even says "we're going to go after snob money."
Anothe subsidized POS! After 7 years, it will probably lose 80% of it's value. However, it is a toy for the rich.
Yes. So your point is what?
My advice to you is: don't buy a Tesla if it makes you unhappy.
"Blue horseshoe loves Tesla Motors!"
BMW will revise their i8 Production Plans. I heard their i9 Concept rcvd a "Thumbs Up" for Production as well.
We've several other Auto Firms coming up with their Hybrid-Electric Performance Cars.
Fuel Cell Vehicles are coming online with Toyota and Honda introducing their Mass Production Models at Px below TSLA in JPN. Others will follow. For the FCV Deniers, RDS put up a Hydrogen Station "right across the street" from TM's US HQ Facility.
Industrial H2 production, unlike TSLA's Vaporware Gigaplant, delayed Models, and positive earnings, is a reality readily available.
Things I learned about tesla just last few weeks:
#1 it automaticly updates the cars software using LTE connection while standing parked during the night.
#2 any car that got electrical steering and other parts connected to the cars computer, which of course the tesla has, can all be controlled by our overloards or their enemys, even get hacked by local thugs.
I've got bad news for you, all cars sold today have an OBD2 compliant CPU(s), and many can be hacked (especially the more expensive models)
Elon & Barry - nice fudgepacker ring
LONG V8's LOL wait when hydrogen gets going Tokyo is planning to spend around 40 billion yen — roughly $US330 million — to increase the use of hydrogen energy in the country ahead of the 2020 Olympics.
The project is for more than just the Olympics. According to top officials from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the goal is to promote the use of sustainable hydrogen energy in Japan.
The plan actually began when car-maker Toyota announced the launch of the first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle.
By the year 2020, Tokyo hopes that there will be 6,000 fuel cell vehicles on the road, as consumers buy vehicles from Toyota and Honda.
The fund will be used to build up 35 hydrogen refueling stations near Olympic venues to keep the vehicles fuelled. In addition, the city expects to have 100 fuel cell buses operating by that time, helping transport athletes between Olympic venues. It will also be used to promote the vehicles.
By the year 2025, Tokyo’s goal is to have 100,000 hydrogen passenger vehicles on the road along with 80 refueling stations, helping pave the way for a “hydrogen society.“
Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are powered by the electricity created from the combination of the hydrogen in the fuel cell and oxygen from the air. Tanks need to be refilled every 300 miles and are capable of “supplying enough energy to power home essentials in an average house for up to a week,” according to executives at Toyota. In fact, the 2016 Toyota Mirai comes with a power-out jack that connects to an associated energy station, capable of generating 150 kilowatt-hours of energy.
Though the use of hydrogen energy seems agreeable to the environment, some experts disagree on how beneficial it really is. Unlike regular gas stations, hydrogen gas stations can be more combustible due to their built-in hydrogen compressors. In addition, the creation of hydrogen from natural gases and fossil fuels only serves to worsen the environmental problems at hand.
Well, California has got them beat. We already are a hydrogen society. At least that's what Arnold Schwarzeneggar press release says we should be by now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Hydrogen_Highway
http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2014/12/10/pioneering-hydroge...
Oops. Looks like things are going backwards.
Tesla got in quite a tight spot with these oil prices... actually I assume alternative energy in general is "suspended" for a while...
Tesla + crack pipe = $700B Apple
Speaking of Tesla innovation:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2015/02/12/this-new-te...
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9038888
What I think all the financial nervous nellies are missiing is that Tesla is much more than just an "electric car company".
Its engineering and technology investments have a lot of implications for those who would like to live off the grid.
Imagine having an extra battery pack for your Tesla which powers your household during the day, and recharges at night at very cheap off peak rates.
Or drive you Tesla to work, and recharge it at employer expense, and then drive it home and power your home at night. Heh, heh, heh!