An Upgrade for the Tesla Supercharger Network
I am writing this to you from the veranda of my penthouse suite at the Maui Hyatt Hotel.
I am sipping my fifth cup of Kona coffee for the morning. You see, the New York market opens at 3:30 AM here. On the other hand, Tokyo hours run from 3:00 ? 8:00 pm, ideal working hours if surfing every morning is your priority.
That explains why so many Asian oriented hedge funds are based here. You can tell by all the BMW?s and Ferrari?s parked at the prime surfing beaches.
The channel in front of me between the islands of Maui and Lanai is a veritable freeway for whales. I can see pods of humpbacks blowing and breaching every few minutes, chased by a flotilla of tourist bearing whale-watching boats. It is truly one of the greatest sights in nature.
I received an email from Tesla (TSLA) this morning informing me of the latest additions to the Tesla National Supercharger Network. Drivers of the Tesla Model S-1 and soon the Model X SUV will be ecstatic.
Should holders of the shares be similarly ebullient? I?ll get to this last point later.
The new station in Truckee, California now makes it possible to drive to Salt Lake City, and then on to Chicago and New York.
An addition in Petaluma, California now makes possible a round trip for a romantic weekend in Mendocino. Before, you had to spend at least three days there while a lowly 110-volt charge got you enough juice to get home, excuses in hand.
There is also another supercharger in remote Inyokern, California, on US Highway 395 in the Owens Valley. This puts ski weekends at Mammoth Mountains for Los Angeles Tesla drivers on the calendar (if they ever get any snow).
It is all exciting news for me, who has been following the construction of the National Supercharger Network since it consisted of only two stations. Over the years, readers have been faithfully emailing me photos of stations as they were built from locations as far away as North Dakota (thanks Susanna!).
By the end of next year, no point in the continental United States will be more than 200 miles from a station.
Superchargers allow a full charge for a depleted battery in 45 minutes, giving you a 270 miles range, and it is free. They are usually located in big shopping malls where one can pick up a Starbucks or catch a meal while your car is getting juiced up. Many support vast arrays of solar panels.
This is a big deal.
It is not just a luxury toy for the rich and famous. It is all part of an infrastructure build out for when Tesla takes over the global car market in three years. That?s when the Tesla 3 model comes out at a cost of $35,000 with a 300-mile range. Initial production is slated for 400,000 units a year.
As for the stock, it is a ?no touch? here. How do you value a company that will be producing 15 million units annually in 15 years, and is miles ahead of the competitors on the technology front, but is losing money now after the tax breaks are stripped out?
It beats me.
Apparently, other investors are having the same problem, as a position in the stock has been dead money for the past year. Now, we have the technical picture starting to roll over and play dead.
All I know is that it was a screaming ?BUY? at $16 when I first recommended to readers after a disastrous IPO years ago.
In the meantime, it is best to wait for Tesla to announce new drivers for the share price until we dive back in. An announcement of a launch date for the Model X would be a big help.
Until then, buy the car and not the stock.
Back to whale watching.
