# Musk and Tesla Strategy? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** tools-electric-diy\ **Created:** [May 11, 2024, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-and-tesla-strategy/1001427 "2024-05-11T21:42:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2024, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-and-tesla-strategy/1001427/1 "2024-05-11T21:42:35Z")
This Atlantic story (limited gift linked) made me wonder about Tesla’s long term strategy. Why would they fire their experts? Not like they can’t go elsewhere? **Excerpt** _Take a road trip in an electric car, and you’ll quickly realize that gas stations are incredible. Nothing in the world of EVs is as fast or easy as… filling up your tank in just a few minutes, and getting on with your day. It’s not just that chargers are still hard to find. They can be dreadfully slow, adding as little as 25 miles of battery life every hour. Plenty of faster ones exist, yes, but [there is no guarantee that they will work](https://insideevs.com/news/708414/public-ev-charger-reliability-availability-jd-power-q4-2023/). A long-distance drive in an EV still requires a lot of planning and a lot of luck._ _But if you drive a Tesla, the experience is better. The company’s Superchargers are speedy—adding up to 200 miles of charge in just 15 minutes—and simple to use. Set up an account with Tesla and charging initiates automatically after plugging in. There’s no fumbling with screens or swiping a credit card. Superchargers consistently [clock in as the most reliable EV chargers in the U.S.](https://www.tesmanian.com/blogs/tesmanian-blog/tesla-supercharger-is-the-most-reliable-study-shows#:~:text=The%20Tesla%20Supercharger%20Network%20is,match%20Tesla%2C%20the%20experts%20concluded.)_ _Even though Tesla Superchargers make up nearly three-quarters of America’s fast chargers, most non-Tesla EV drivers have had to look for a plug elsewhere. That’s because Tesla’s cars use their own proprietary charging port, similar to how the Lightning Connector is only for Apple products. But in recent months, Tesla has opened up its Superchargers to cars from Ford and Rivian. With a brick-size charging adapter, drivers can plug into more chargers than ever before, alleviating one of the biggest challenges to owning an EV. Many more automakers may soon get Supercharger access and adapters, but that has gotten complicated by Tesla’s shocking and sudden decision to [fire its entire Supercharger team last week](https://electrek.co/2024/04/29/tesla-conducting-more-layoffs-including-entire-supercharger-team/). So much about the adoption of electric vehicles in America now hangs on a dongle._ _Tesla isn’t opening up its Superchargers out of the goodness of Elon Musk’s heart. In 2021, Tesla’s charging port seemed doomed: To encourage standardization, the federal government had decided to subsidize charging stations with the Combined Charging System (CCS) connector used by other automakers. The company responded by open-sourcing its connector—which it renamed the North American Charging Standard, or NACS for short—and struck a deal with the government to make its chargers accessible to other automakers. Since then, nearly every major automaker has announced that they’ll build the NACS port into future vehicles, including Ford, Rivian, GM, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Kia, Volvo, BMW, Nissan, and Jeep. (That’s not even the full list.) Tesla’s North American Charging Standard has functionally become exactly that: the new charging standard for America’s EVs. Tesla has received billions of dollars in federal funding to rapidly build more Superchargers—promising to double the number by the end of the year—and could bring in billions more from Supercharger fees._ > **[The Future of Electric Cars Hinges on a Dongle](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/05/electric-cars-tesla-supercharger-adapter/678346/?gift=FNE9XeXXKzu6Z_8urufLLtvhBsQHnM0G_4a4WcXrt4o&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share)** > > A free charging adapter can help alleviate one of the biggest problems holding back EVs. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2024, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-and-tesla-strategy/1001427/2 "2024-05-11T22:31:18Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Why would they fire their experts? Because the boss snorted K and decided they weren’t being “hardcore” enough? ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2024, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-and-tesla-strategy/1001427/3 "2024-05-11T22:39:24Z")
The Cybertruck was clearly designed as a joke. I can’t imagine any other reason. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2024, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-and-tesla-strategy/1001427/4 "2024-05-12T06:11:53Z")
Musk is firmly in his Howard Hughes era. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2024, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-and-tesla-strategy/1001427/5 "2024-05-12T16:49:17Z")
They didn’t fire their experts really. The got rid of the new acquisitions team. They still have people who will be expanding the size of existing sites and all of the maintenance people are still employed. He claims that he’s devoting $500m to this. Regardless, it’s obvious (to me anyway) that the charging piece of the company will be spun off and fairly soon. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2024, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-and-tesla-strategy/1001427/6 "2024-05-12T17:30:05Z")
Should have happened yesterday. It’s a billion dollar business with considerable risk and costs, and an attractive time to sell before Chinese firms get better established elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2024, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-and-tesla-strategy/1001427/7 "2024-05-13T19:06:52Z")
> **[Tesla does 180 on Superchargers, rehiring laid-off staff amid new plans](https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/05/tesla-does-180-on-superchargers-rehiring-laid-off-staff-amid-new-plans/)** > > Last week the CEO said Tesla will spend $500 million expanding the charger network. Some of us don’t understand Musk’s brilliance… ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2024, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-and-tesla-strategy/1001427/8 "2024-05-13T19:15:36Z")
I wonder if he got in a snit with the head of the group and fired all of them in a fit of pique. The article said that “some” of them were rehired. I also wonder how many told him to fuck off. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2024, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-and-tesla-strategy/1001427/9 "2024-05-13T19:32:37Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Some of us don’t understand Musk’s brilliance… I’m blinded by the darkness of his acumenical radiance. Although to be honest, I’ve had orchestra seating to Musk’s antics for several years of Falcon 9 and Heavy development, and found the public perception of his perspicacity to be vastly overestimated in that arena. > [@hajario](#): > > I wonder if he got in a snit with the head of the group and fired all of them in a fit of pique. This would be completely ‘on-brand’ for Musk. He’s a ‘shoot first, and keep shooting until you hit something’ kind of leader. > [@Shalmanese](#): > > Musk is firmly in his Howard Hughes era. Except Hughes actually understood something about aircraft and the aviation business instead of just mumbling bullshit to adoring tech-‘bros’ and uncritical fans who love the imagery without recognizing that it’s mostly vaporware. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![yendis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ed8c4c/32.png) [@yendis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yendis)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2024, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-and-tesla-strategy/1001427/10 "2024-05-14T14:02:08Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Except Hughes actually understood something about aircraft and the aviation business instead of just mumbling bullshit to adoring tech-‘bros’ and uncritical fans who love the imagery without recognizing that it’s mostly vaporware. Hughes was also excited enough about his business / brave enough to actually fly in his own aeroplanes. Musk has still not gone into space despite having access to his own private spacecraft. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2024, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-and-tesla-strategy/1001427/11 "2024-05-14T14:33:56Z")
Has he driven a cybertruck without the accelerator fix? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2024, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-and-tesla-strategy/1001427/12 "2024-05-14T17:53:56Z")
> [@yendis](#): > > Musk has still not gone into space despite having access to his own private spacecraft. I don’t know that this really proves much; it isn’t as if astronauts actually ‘fly’ a rocket into space, and having travelled in vehicles designed by their companies doesn’t make either Jeff Bezos or (especially) Richard Branson particularly knowledgable about propulsion or space launch. If there is anything which I believe that Elon Musk is actually sincere about it is his desire to “retire on Mars” just because he brings it up at the drop of a hat even though there is no possible way to make such a venture profitable or scam enough people into buying into it to make back an investment. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2024, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-and-tesla-strategy/1001427/13 "2024-11-14T20:26:11Z")
New Cybertruck issues and recall: > **[Tesla is recalling 2,431 Cybertrucks, and this time there’s no software fix](https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/11/tesla-recalls-cybertrucks-for-faulty-inverter-the-6th-recall-this-year/)** > > Owners of the affected trucks will require replacement hardware. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2024, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-and-tesla-strategy/1001427/14 "2024-11-14T21:28:01Z")
I posted this over in the Chinese EV thread: [Exclusive: Trump’s transition team aims to kill Biden EV tax credit](https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/trumps-transition-team-aims-kill-biden-ev-tax-credit-2024-11-14/) Summary: Tesla is now poised to take advantage of two benefits afforded by cozying-up to the rising Administration: 1) eliminating the EV tax credit will be harder on Tesla’s domestic competitors since Tesla owns a much larger share of the US market, and 2) it’s not likely any Chinese EVs (or any other foreign competitor) will appear in the US market any time soon. _Tesla has over the years been the biggest beneficiary of EV tax credits like the one in Biden’s IRA legislation, along with similar credits that preceded it. And yet it now may stand to gain from killing the subsidy because that could hurt rising EV competitors more than Tesla._ _Musk himself pointed out as much in a July earnings call when asked about the possibility of losing the subsidy, along with battery-production tax credits, under a Trump administration._ ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2024, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-and-tesla-strategy/1001427/15 "2024-11-14T21:44:31Z")
That credit is $7.5k off the top of any EV with a MSRP below a certain value. Model Y and 3 qualify but not X and S. It’s a huge incentive. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2024, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-and-tesla-strategy/1001427/16 "2024-11-14T21:59:23Z")
Elon Musk: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/A-sA-NqMlvI/maxresdefault.jpg ""This deal is getting worse all the time"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-sA-NqMlvI) Stranger ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2026, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-and-tesla-strategy/1001427/17 "2026-03-22T05:44:19Z")
The Cybertruck was not successful; maybe they will be successful with a semi: > **[Tesla's Upcoming Electric Big Rig Is Already a Hit with Truckers - Slashdot](https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/03/22/0317216/teslas-upcoming-electric-big-rig-is-already-a-hit-with-truckers)** > > "After nearly a decade of delays and industry skepticism, Tesla's electric big rig is finally rolling out of Nevada's Gigafactory for mass production starting summer 2026," writes Gadget Review. And some truckers who tested the vehicles already love...