Aug 24, 2021
Why Tesla Will Fail
Elon Musk has rock star status! What he has done with SpaceX is incredible. As a South African, I really want him to succeed. But his unkept promises and lies will eventually catch up with him. Here is what Musk has promised and not delivered on…
Courtesy of the QTR Podcast and @TeslaCharts
Full Self Driving (FSD)
Five years ago, Musk said, “the person in the driver’s seat is only there for legal reasons, he is not doing anything. The car is driving itself.”
Yesterday Musk said, “FSD Beta 9.2 is actually not great in my opinion, but the Autopilot / AI team is rallying to improve as fast as possible.”
For five years, customers have been paying for FSD, which has not been delivered and has no delivery date. Add to this that deaths from Autopilot failure have allegedly been covered up. In 2016 Joshua Brown’s death was whitewashed in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) report just in time for Tesla’s capital raise in May of 2016. The NHTSA claimed that data showed that Autopilot was 40% safer than a human driver. Musk quoted this data at every opportunity until it was later found that the NHTSA fabricated the data.
Solar Roof Tiles
Musk is being sued in Delaware, USA, by the shareholders in Tesla for his involvement in Tesla’s acquisition of Solar City. Other board members, who were also being sued, have settled to avoid the stain of fraud if the case went against them. Many class-action lawsuits against Musk are on hold, pending the outcome of this trial. Musk hasn’t settled yet. Watch this space.
Musk is trying to motivate why the acquisition of the insolvent Solar City (SC), run by his cousin, was justified. Musk’s brother, Kimbal, was facing margin calls on his SC stock, which weren’t disclosed at the time of the deal. Elon Musk had pledged much of his SpaceX and Tesla stock as security for SC debt. If SC went down, Tesla and SpaceX would have followed. Musk was way out on the edge. SC had to be bailed out. Sorry, bought out by Tesla.
Most people don’t know that SC doesn’t make solar panels; they are a leasing business that facilitates the financing of solar installations. Musk went on stage with an ordinary clay roof tile and told the world how he would make these “innovative” solar tiles. We are still waiting. Musk was performing the classic “bait and switch”.
Musk has a standard operating procedure. He stumbles into a field where he has no experience. He spews a bunch of nonsense, promises a new “innovative” product, and then makes fun of the experts in that field for not having thought of it before. Fast forward several years later, and he hasn’t delivered on his promise. His latest promise is a leotard-clad dancing robot. Boston Dynamics must be shaking or their boots. More likely, they are laughing their heads off. Add the robot to the failed promise list of Cybertruck, Roadster, Semi and the required battery technology that doesn’t exist. The saying “all hat and no cattle” comes to mind. The walls are closing in.
Justin Spencer-Young
