Tag Archives: Elon Musk

by | September 11, 2015 · 9:54 pm

Tesla Energy is growing

Tesla`s CEO Elon Musk said last year that their new SUV should be ready in May this year, but I still can`t see in on the market. Why? It`s probably because of their new business? The battery business, which is a $1 billion worth business.

CEO Elon Musk revealed some interesting new details about the new battery business last month. Tesla is on the way to build a Giga battery factory and the company will sell its batteries to industrial companies, utilities, commercial and home-owners.

 

Tesla Powerwall future

(Picture: Tesla Powerwall)

 

We all know the huge battery in their cars but their new market will be the battery to store energy from solar panels or energy from the power grid to be used for various purposes. Tesla`s Gigafactory is producing two new battery products, which is the larger Powerpack and the smaller Powerwall.

The demand for Tesla`s Powerpack is much bigger than the Powerwall. Straubel said earlier this year that the demand for their Powerpack is 70% of the business and 30% for their the Powerwall. Tesla`s new grid battery business is called «Tesla Energy».

The production is starting in the Gigafactory in the first quarter next year, but the first equipment to make the grid batteries in the Gigafactory will be installed at the end of this year.

So far, Tesla have about 100,000 reservations and the demand for their batteries is «crazy». The reservations are non-binding orders which is worth $1 billion. This is only the beginning and it is estimated to give around $40 million in grid battery sales at the end of this year.

But Elon Mush said that sales for the battery business could be «ten times that number next year», which means $400 million in a quarter. If this growth continue, for all I know, the sales can surpass Tesla`s Model S sales one day?

Well, Tesla is not alone on the market. There are tons of competitors that are already building batteries for the grid and buildings, and the projects using low-cost lithium-ion batteries are booming.

Batteries that let utilities, businesses and solar panel owners store energy is a growing market and 2015 will be a break out year for the battery makers.

A large coal or natural gas plant can generate a thousand megawatts, while a large solar farm can generate hundreds of megawatts of energy. According to GTM Research, there will be 220 megawatts of energy storage projects built in the U.S. You see the growth potential here?

The amount of energy storage projects installed was nine times higher than in the same time last year. The growth for energy storage will grow from 220MW in 2015 to about 858MW in 2019. The demand of low-cost lithium-ion batteries has led to mass production in Asia.

Solar companies are starting to pair batteries with solar panels, and the solar and storage pairing can also make solar energy more competitive with fossil fuels, and Utilities are starting to buy big battery banks which is the vast majority in this market right now.

87% of the 40,7 megawatts of energy storage installed in the U.S came from utility projects in the second quarter, but the battery market for commercial and industrial building owners grew significantly, too, according to GTM Research.

Tesla`s battery market made up 1% of the batteries installed in the second quarter and that was 61% higher than what it was in the first quarter. How big can Tesla`s Gigafactory be? And can it go beyond its present size?

 

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Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Shiny bull. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Shiny bull nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in precious metal products, commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Shiny bull and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication. UA-63539824-1.

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by | May 29, 2015 · 7:19 pm

The Education Revolution is here

Tesla`s CEO Elon Musk is a father of five. He started a school for his own children. Enrollment stands for 14 right now and will increase to about 20 in September. It is an educational revolution going on.

Have a listen to the interview below. Elon Mush said in the interview that he hated going to school when he was a kid. It was torture, he told his interviewer on Chinese TV.

 

 

On January 1st, 2015, John Moravec sent out a document with the title: «Manifesto 15». «We are at a time in history that is ripe for worldwide rethinking of, and rapid change in, education.» He said that the current system of education is a dinosaur, and must change and is already changing.

Buckminister Fuller wrote: «You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.»

The National Education Association made a broader attempt to foster educational excellence with its Seven Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education in 1918. These were;

1. Health
2. Command of fundamental processes (reading and writing – oral and written expression – and arithmetic
3. Worthy home membership (fostering strong family bonds)
4. Vocation
5. citizenship
6. Worthy use of leisure time (to teach that it should enrich one`s life, not hinder it)
7. Ethical character

This is 97 years ago, and the big test came through the Great Depression. Many of the school programs in the U.S saw severe cuts, and the U.S school system experienced many shifts over the next decades.

A progressive reform known as Open Education started in the 1960`s and 1970`s. The idea was that the students should learn «their own way». In 1983, a report was titled; «A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform.»

The Encyclopedia of Education described how the report “found a ‘rising tide of mediocrity’ that threatened the nation’s future.” It felt that the nation “had engaged in unthinking, unilateral educational disarmament.”

Previous President in the U.S, George H.W. Bush tried to change the source of American education in 1989. He set a number of ambitious goals to be accomplished by 2000. Some of the goals was to increase the high school graduation rate to at least 90%, that U.S pupils would lead the world in science and mathematics, and that all schools would be free from violence and drugs.

By the early 21st century, desperation birthed the largest attempt yet by the federal government to overhaul education: the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). George W. Bush said if a public school did not perform well on designed tests, it risked losing some of its federal funding, but over a decade later, the desired results have not materialized.

No matter what they do, America has never been able to achieve widespread, lasting success. It`s time for an education revolution.

Educators all over the world face the problem of keeping up with the times. Rapidly changing technology introduces a towering question educators must ask: «Will the knowledge we are teaching now be obsolete in five years?»

The European commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, Androulla Vassiliou said: «Today`s young people are the most educated in the whole of European history and yet they find it hard to get steady work after graduation in spite of the two million unfilled vacancies across Europe.»

“Education can provide some answers. The crisis has revealed serious weaknesses in Europe’s educational systems. Indeed, it has sharpened what we expect from our education systems.
“Our goal is to make graduates more deployable, foster entrepreneurship and stimulate innovation. By combining entrepreneurship education and interaction with business, students can develop the practical skills, knowledge and attitudes that allow them to innovate…There is a lot at stake. Today, more than ever, it is education that can deliver social progress.

When we invest in education, we commit ourselves to the development of our citizens and the future welfare of our society.
“The health of a society depends on the quality of the education it imparts to its citizens.”
Consider: Europe has essentially achieved the UN goal of “Universal Primary Education.” Despite this success, it still grapples with failures in its school systems. Something more is obviously missing.

If you saw the interview above, you probably heard that Elon Mush said if you want to teach children how engines work, you wouldn`t want to first teach them all about wrenches and screwdrivers.

You would show them the engine, and ask how they would take it apart. Then a very important thing happens, which is that the relevance of the tools becomes apparent, he told the Chinese interviewer.

Musk said that his children love going to school now. So much that they really think vacations is too long.

That`s exactly how it should be.

 

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Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Shiny bull. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Shiny bull nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in precious metal products, commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Shiny bull and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication. UA-63539824-1.

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by | May 28, 2014 · 1:37 pm

Who is Elon Musk?

 

The mind behind Tesla, SolarCity and SpaceX is the entrepreneur Elon Musk. A man with many plans. He is also the founder of PayPal and Zip2. Widely considered a co-founder of each. He has also envisioned a conceptual high-speed transportation system known as the hyperloop.

tesla

Elon Musk met his first wife Justine Musk at Ontario`s Queen`s University. They married in 2000 and separated eight years later. They have six sons, the eldest of whom, died of SIDS when he was 10 weeks old.

 

In 2012, he ended a four-year relationship with his second wife, British actress Talulah Riley, but in a 60 Minutes interview on March 30,2014 he said he is still happy together with Talulah. In February 11, 2014, Musk was invited to attend a state dinner at the White House.

 

Most of you probably know the story of Steve Jobs (Apple Inc), but Elon Musk is often compared to Steve Jobs and Henry Ford. It can`t be better than that. I personally like people who is thinking big. Really BIG! Thinking they want to go to the moon or into the space. Just like John F. Kennedy.

 

First of all, Elon Musk is an investor. He earned his big money during the financial crises in 1998. This is how succesful investors are doing it. Earning money no matter where the market goes. The most important thing is to be on the right side of the market!

 

Elon Musk was born in Pretoria in South Africa, in 1971, to a Canadian mother and a South African-born British father. He taught himself computer programming and sold the computer code for a video game called Blaster for $500 when he was 12 years old.

 

In 1992, Elon Musk transferred to the University of Pennsylvania where he received a bachelor`s degree in economics from the Wharton School. He stayed on a year to finish his second bachelor`s degree in physics.

 

Then he moved to California to pursue a PhD in applied physics at Standford but left the program after two days to pursue his entrepreneurial aspirations in the areas of the internet, renewable energy and outer space. He became an American citizen in 2002.

 

Musk did not start his business career at Tesla. His fist company was Zip2 which is a web software company. Zip2 developed and marketed an internet «city guide» for the newspaper publishing industry.

 

Compaq acquired Zip2 for US$307 million in cash and US$34 million is stock options in 1999. Musk received 7% or $22 million from the sale, and co-founder of Zip2 was his brother, Kimbal. Now, Mush had money to start a new project.

 

He co-founded X.com, an online financial services and e-mail payment company. One year later, the company merged with Confinity, which operated a subsidiary called PayPal. The original intent was to merge the two systems, but it never happened.

 

Musk favored the PayPal brand over the X.com brand, and PayPal`s early growth was due in large part to a successful viral growth campaign created by Musk. PayPal was acquired by eBay for $US 1,5 billion in stock, in October 2002.

 

PayPal`s largest shareholder was Elon Musk and he owned 11,7% of PayPal`s shares. He pocketed $165 million from the sale, which was good for the next project. His third company was SpaceX. Musk co-founded it with rocket propulsion engineer Tom Mueller in June 2002.

 

SpaceX develops and manufactures space launch vehicles with a focus on advancing the state of rocket technology. The company`s fist two launch vehicles are the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 rockets, and its first spacecraft is the Dragon.

 

The company was awarded a $1,6 billion NASA contract on December 23, 2008. They designed Falcon 9/Dragon with astronaut transport in mind and the Augustine commission recommended that astronaut transport be handled by commercial companies like SpaceX.

Musk revealed that he was influenced by Isaac Asimov`s Foundation series and views space exploration as an important step in expanding the consciousnes of human life. But why is Elon Musk so interested in the space?

 

He had said that multiplanetary life may serve as a hedge against threats to the survival of the human species. «An asteroid or a super volcano could destroy us, and we face risks the dinosaurs never saw: an engineered virus, inadvertent creation of a micre black hole, catastrophic global warming or some as-yet unknown technology could spell the end of us.

 

He founded SpaceX with $100 million of his early fortune, and he wants to reduce the cost of human spaceflight by a factor of 10. In an interview, he said he hopes to send humans to Mars surface within 10 – 20 years.

 

Tesla Motors was co-founded by Martin Eberhard, Marc Tarpenning, JB Straubel, Ian Wright and Elon Musk, who became involved with the company in 2004, as a Series A investor. They started with the electric car called the Tesla Roadster, with sales of about 2,500 vehicles to 31 countries.

 

They began delivery of its four-door Model S sedan on 22 June 2012. Model X is scheduled to begin production in early 2015. I think many are waiting for that SUV to be released on the minivan market.

 

In addition to its own cars, Tesla sells electric powertrain systems to Daimler for Smart EV and Mercedes A Class and to Toyota for the RAV4EV. Musk was able to bring in both companies as long-term investors in Tesla.

 

Musk provided the initial concept for SolarCity, which was then co-founded by his cousins Lyndon and Peter Rive. Musk remains the largest shareholder and SolarCity is now the largest provider of solar power systems in the United States. The underlying motivation for funding both SolarCity and Tesla is to help combat global warming.

 

Like many other investors, Musk started his own foundation called Musk Foundation, which focuses its philanthropic efforts on science education, pediatric health and clean energy. He is trusted of the X Prize Foundation, promoting renewable-energy technologies.

 

In 2011, he visited Soma City in Fukushima, Japan, which had been devastated by tsunami, and he donated a solar power project valued at $250,000 to this city. He also donated a solar-power system for critical needs to a hurricane response center in Alabama that had been neglected by state and federal aid. SolarCity is not involved in this state.

 

Elon Musk joined The Giving Pledge in April 2012, offering an ethical commitment to donate the majority of his fortune to philanthropic causes. Musk became a member of the campaign first popularised by Warren Buffet and Bill Gates with class of 12 of America`s wealthiest families and individuals. What a great story!

 

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Shiny bull. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Shiny bull nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in precious metal products, commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Shiny bull and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.

 

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by | May 8, 2014 · 2:05 pm

Car war

 

Tesla (TSLA) produced 7,535 Model S units in Q1 (6,587 in Q4). Guidance was 7,400. The company delivered 6,457 units, slightly above guidance of 6,400. Tesla expects to produce 8,5K – 9K Model S units in Q2, and they expect to deliver 7,500 units.

960_bmw_i8_01

(Picture: BMW i8)

The company expects to be «marginally profitable» in Q2. The EPS consensus is at $0,27. Full-year free cash flow is expected to be slightly negative. Operating cash flow was $61M, and capex totaled $141M. The full-year capes forecast is $650M – $850M.

 

Gross margin was 25,4%. The stock will open down about – 8,5% today. It declined -2,86% yesterday. The stock price is $201,35, and the question is: Are Tesla stocks overvalued? They are doing it well but are Tesla`s market cap reasonable given the results and outlook?

 

Despite the success many companies have, its stock can be massively overvalued, and some investors can have unrealistic expectations going into earnings. They did probably not sell enough cars to satisfy the investors, and they need to sell plenty for the rest of the year to justify current price.

 

So far, they are still in a growth phase, putting cash back into the company to grow. The cost of batteries when they need to be replaced somewhere between 200,000 and 400,000 miles will be significantly cheaper in the future.

 

I think that Tesla is a good brand, but they are not alone on the market, and many other companies will follow. Take a look at BMW i8, which is a plug-in hybrid. The 2015 model has a 7,1 kWh lithium-ion battery pack that delivers an all-electric range of 37 km (23 mi).

 

BMW Vision Efficient Dynamics concept car is a plug-in hybrid with a three cylinder turbo diesel engine. The initial turbo diesel concept car was unveiled at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show, and deliveries in Europe are scheduled to begin in next month, and about a month later in the U.S.

 

The problem with Tesla is the limited time on the battery. With BMW i8 you have both, battery and gas, but the battery is in my opinion too small and limited. Anyway; this is just the beginning of a new era in the car industry.

 

Mercedes B-klass Electric Drive will be launched in the U.S soon. The engine is from Tesla, and they will fight against VW e-Golf, Nissan Leaf and BMW i3. The price for the Electric Drive will be $41,450.

 

Daimler are stock owner in Tesla and they are the factory that have developed the engine in the new car. The engine is fast and seems to be a great unit. It is a Tesla engine. Very good for Tesla and CEO Elon Musk, but are the Tesla stock price right?

 

CEO Elon Musk admitted several months ago that the stock price is more than they have any right to deserve. Tesla is overvalued using any reasonable valuation metric. Market cap is $27,000,000,000. This valuation will probably be repriced much lower, and that`s probably why it will plunge today.

 

Tesla have to increase its intrinsic value the next years. If not I think the stock price will decline to a lower level to reflect the company`s right valuation. A bearish commentary from Elon Musk is something long investors should take notice of.

 

 

Reports today:

 

08:30 a.m EST ECB Press Conference

08:30 a.m EST Unemployment Claims

09:30 a.m EST Fed Chair Yellen Testifies

 

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Shiny bull. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Shiny bull nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in precious metal products, commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Shiny bull and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.

 

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by | February 28, 2014 · 2:02 pm

EL Cars

It seems like Tesla (TSLA) is on the way to change one of America`s most beloved industries – Automotive. This is not only good for Tesla themselves, but SolarCity (SCTY) will profit from it too. You probably know Tesla`s Superchargers.

tesla

Not everyone knows that Tesla`s superchargers is powered by a combination of electric grid, solar, and batteries. The batteries are being used to store excess solar energy and offset the costs of buying energy from the grid.

 

SolarCity is working on a new project called DemandLogic battery storage systems. They have tested the battery systems (provided by Tesla) in some people`s homes to complement their solar panels.

 

The intention is to bypass peak rate charges and store or sell any excess energy, ultimately providing a lower energy bill. Just like the superchargers. You can just imagine how it will be in the future as the technology matures.

solarcity-lg

A joint venture by Elon Musk and SolarCity could be a great company to make a better world! SolarCity is up 51,6% in 2014, while Tesla is up 67,9% in 2014. Tesla is up 625,1% (1 YR). SolarCity is up 375,6% (! YR). Great!

 

Reports today:

 

08:30 AM ET GDP
09:45 AM ET Chicago PMI
09:55 AM ET Consumer Sentiment
10:00 AM ET Pending Home Sales Index

 

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Shiny bull. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Shiny bull nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in precious metal products, commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Shiny bull and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.

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