You have to go to a station to charge it. I'm not aware they have an at-home battery recharge. Obviously that would be the best and would render stations completely obsolete.

They have 3 different solutions for home charging. I would guess 99% of model S owners charge at home.

I'm not trading this stock at all but I do find the whole "story" interesting. I don't understand how something like a Prius isn't a way easier decision to buy than one of these things. Seems way more convenient and practical. I drive one and I fill up once every couple weeks or so and get about 450-500 miles on a full tank.

Given the performance of the cars(0-60mph in ~4s) you can't really compare it to a BMW 320d, it's more closer to a BMW M5 and they have about the same range. But they don't need to compete with range, a lot of rich people don't really need range.

For my own situation, I don't think I have even driven more than 350km in one day during the 12years I have been a driver. If I have to go longer I prefer to take the bus/train(so I can use my laptop) or fly and rent a car where I arrive. Sure some people prefer to drive, but enough people can live without the range for Tesla to have a market.

A lot of people seems to confuse "it doesn't suit me" for "it doesn't suit other people".

lol it would be total garbage if you had to go to a station to charge. I believe it takes a long time to get up to 100%

Recharging ~every night is no big deal. The capacity increases are needed to bring costs down to start crushing gasoline based cars. If they can bring the cost down 50% for the battery packs and keep 200 miles of range, it'll be gg.

lol riverman. Yes, this is so close to a .com stock, I mean they have no revenue, no product, and all hype!

It's going to be really interesting to watch and see what unfolds stock price wise. The stock is clearly overvalued, but I'm too chicken to short it. :P

Just lol.

Thanks. My comment was mainly agreeing with jb. I have no clue about the home charging or anything else that has to do with these cars.

Per their website, you can charge up to 31mph at home. However, a standard outlet only charges at 5 mph. So really the only option is to upgrade your garage outlet.

But with this said, many people carry an extra cell phone battery in case it dies. This should def do the trick here too if they could somehow. (They may already have this, I clearly am not up to date with the car details.)

I guess the stations are free electricity, insurance in case loss of electric at home or just no time to charge it. Certainly makes you feel better to drive it knowing a quick 10 minute charge will surely get u back home normally.

Revenue: 400 MUSD Q2 2013

Product: Model S car of the year 2013

Hype? Well they are expanding into Europe and Asia right now. At the same time Tesla is becoming a household name. I'm really impressed tbh.

I was making fun of riverman / being sarcastic. :P

I just want to point out... it takes 20 to 40 minutes to charge a Tesla.

Pretty sure it takes less than 2 minutes to fill my Accord's tank.

Yes, but the supercharging is free, how many people would be willing to sit at a gas station for 20 minutes checking email and browsing web if it meant half a tank of free gas? I think quite a few would happily do that most of the time. I wonder if this will help sales in Europe as they already pay $8-9 a gallon equivalent there.

I sold half my position at 9 so I have a guaranteed profit and let the other half ride.

The improvements in storage capacity aren't as important as merely reducing the battery cost per car, which with all the increased demand and investments in battery production, is probably what elon is betting on.

On top of this they believe they can keep improving supercharging stations to the point that they can do full charges in 5-10 minutes in the future.

Getting in the habit of just plugging car in when you get home isn't a big deal to me, especially at the prospect of getting to smile and shrug the next time gas reaches a new all time high and everybody whines and complains.

Except TSLA is actually profitable. Very, very different than dot come mania.

More people would do it, but people who are shelling out $80K for a car are far less likely than the norm.

My bigger concern is with the lifetime of the batteries being able to hold charge and the expense of replacing them once they only hold 20% charge.

First, kind of. Second, the valuation is pure insanity even if you are drinking all the kool aid.

True, i would guess $80k tesla owners would be more likely to do it due to "being green" or "being early adapters/supporters in advancing technology".

Yeah, big variable.

You seem more suited to investing than trading. No worries, so am I. (I only trade companies I don't want to own for a really long time to pick up a few extra percent to make up for having a large cash position.)

Buy good companies (this is a good company) for decent prices (this is not at a good price).

There is also a huge coolness factor. No one is driving a Prius or a Smart Car because it is cool.

Cool + environmentally sound gets all the girls to bounce up and down on you in enjoyable ways. That sort of thing sells cars.

I drive an Impala.

So model S starts at $70k. With 8 years battery guarantee and free charging this doesnt seem very expensive to me. I get the feeling the competing car companies are no where close to having a model like this.

They don't care to, yet.

Every major car maker already has production electric vehicles on the road and sell hybrids at far bigger volumes than tesla.

I dont buy that at all. BMW released two different models, when I look at what I get for my money it doesnt even seem close.

Edit: so that riverman doesnt get confused :P

How many cars people sell isn't, like, a matter of opinion.

how big of a factor is elon to the hype? i see him regularly on various media, from late night shows to policy interviews, he seems like an extremely intelligent guy and he has a fantastic relationship with the media