Guest essay by Eric Worrall
What does it take to break the faith of supporters of a green entrepreneur? The answer appears to be one bad tweet.
Elon Musk is a total fraud
By Maureen Callahan
July 21 2018/One disastrous tweet has finally revealed Elon Musk for what he is: a fraud.
Enraged that a British cave diver called his idea to rescue the Thai soccer team for what it was — “a p.r. stunt [with] absolutely no chance of working” — Musk took to Twitter and called him a “pedo.”
Just like that, Tesla’s market value plummeted by $2 billion.
Musk has been in business since 2002. His stated goal is nothing short of transforming humanity through his products: his electric cars, space travel, and an underground high-speed Hyperloop system.
He has yet to succeed at anything but somehow spins every failure into proof of imminent success. His only accomplishment has been this decades-long Jedi mind trick.
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Tesla is best known for blowing deadlines and consistently falling short on production.
In November 2017, Bloomberg reported that the company burns through $500,000 per hour. For two years now, Tesla has been suffering an epic talent drain and in May, two top execs — one the liaison with the National Transportation Safety Board — walked out the door.
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Read more: https://nypost.com/2018/07/21/elon-musk-is-a-total-fraud/
There is no doubt Elon Musk is very talented and clever, even his failures are impressive. But Musk’s twitter spree has been a PR disaster. Faith in Musk’s judgement was all that shielded him from criticism, and that faith has now slipped. In the wake of Musk’s twitter outbursts, there seems no escape from the perception that Musk’s corporate numbers just don’t seem to add up.
I’ve never been a believer in Tesla, because it is ever really became successful the big guys would “crush him like the bug you are” to quote Mr. Wonderful from Shark Tank.
SpaceX has been very successful, though.
They took engines developed by from Marshall Space Flight Center and TRW (Northrop Grumman who bought TRW had some kind of settlement with SpaceX) and took more modern, but not new, methods of lower cost production to reduce costs on the launch vehicle.
The important innovation was financial. The space biz is very volume dependent – costs decrease substantially with a few more launches a year.
Elon had the guts to sell the launches at extremely low prices first to get the volume of sales up. He bid the lowest to win the Space Station resupply program which gave him a giant pot of funding to pay for his development and he got a bunch of launches. He got additional funding from NASA for testing that should have been done but wasn’t (Lockheed or Boeing would have likely been expected to shoulder that burden themselves, so SpaceX’s lack of resources worked in their favor).
There was nothing new technically in what SpaceX did. Elon is not a technical genius. He is a gutsy financier who built a real company which helps us get to space. He’s got to keep the money coming in to keep SpaceX going, but so far he’s done it.
I just hope the cars and the solar panels don’t end up taking down the space business.
I have a question. I see that you call Musk by his first name. Are you a personal acquaintance, or just your random, glassy-eyed worshipper?
Space cadets are proliferating.
That’s exactly right. The problem is his costs are rising per launch and will continue to rise per launch as that money dries up.
The accusations that the big launch companies were fleecing the public and govt are just as crazy as this article about Musk’s dumb tweets.
The fact is costs can’t really dropthat much unless there’s mass production, and nobody has mass produced heavy-lift vehicles that’s why they’re so expensive to launch.
I’d bet Musk was trying to slip that one by as well and corner the heavy loft market so he could build his Mars rockets in LEO. But I don’t think it’s going to work out.
I think Musk is a ‘very talented’ con man, nothing more. He is expert at getting the government to fund ‘snake oil’ solutions to non-existent problems. I think if Tesla were still alive, he’d spit in Musk’s face.
Nikola Tesla 1856 – 1943 was “… well known as an inventor and would demonstrate his achievements to celebrities and wealthy patrons at his lab, and was noted for his showmanship at public lectures … Tesla went on to try to develop a series of inventions in the 1910s and 1920s with varying degrees of success … having spent most of his money, he lived in a series of New York hotels, leaving behind unpaid bills …” (Wiki).
I think there may be a clue there.
Nikola Tesla, in his lifetime, literally transformed (pardon the pun) society in the US and the world at large by his invention of the induction electric motor and by being the major advocate for AC power distribution over DC power distribution, which was being publicly advocated at the time by Edison.
In comparison, Musk . . .
This is old news for followers of Tesla.
If you want to get current, this recent WSJ article is what’s on the minds of Tesla followers:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/tesla-asks-suppliers-for-cash-back-to-help-turn-a-profit-1532301091?mod=e2tw
It is bizarre for any manufacturer to ask suppliers for money back on product purchased in the past. This is fueling speculation that Tesla is in a major liquidity crunch. Having watched Tesla closely for some time now, all I can say is that if true, it would not surprise me in the least if Tesla stock went up.
I wouldn’t say he is a total fraud, probably about 97%.
As I understand it, Space-X launches do reach orbit and perform what is required, something that is hard to fake. Most of his other schemes are already on another planet.
Every time I see the landing on the barge, and the dual ground landing, they just seem too…perfect. The barge landing almost seems like its run in reverse, but the exhaust and the waves belie that.
I don’t know, they just don’t look right.
What about the videos of the many first stage return landing attempts that ended in fires and explosions prior to the first successful one? Did those “look right”?
Bringing disrepute to the name Tesla. Elon Musk, snake oil salesman extraordinaire
This:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/105638663/nz-super-down-at-least-57m-on-second-green-tech-investment
.. would be worth a chuckle if it weren’t for the fact that they are investing our peoples’ money that is supposed to provide for their retirement
M
I continue to voice my suspicions on his Space X company. Is what we read true ?
Battery cars don’t work and so Musk will lose. First comes the revolution in battery technology we have been waiting for over 150 years to see, then you build electric cars.
As any scientist knows there are two parts to a chemical equation. With hydrocarbons the second part is oxygen from the air, so you only need to carry around the hydrocarbon. That is unless you go into space, where you also need to take the oxygen. Which is why rockets “vehicles” are fundamentally more expensive than jet engine “vehicles” even though the technology is the same.
However, imagine then, not only having to carry both sides of the equation around with you all the time, but also having to have a very complex matrix to hold the various parts, because instead of taking your energy around as an easily moved liquid (or gas), you’re daft enough to have an equation that works on the surface of an electrode. Now, not only do you need to carry both sides, but you also need to carry the ADDITIONAL weight and cost of a complex mechanism to create a massive surface area electrode and back it into a minuscule space with massive current carrying capacity (so huge conductors).
So why on earth is anyone even interested in batteries? The reason is simple: they are much more complex and as such there’s a lot more opportunity to research them. So, many academics are besotted with the idea as it means a life time of research grants.
Portability, not storage, is the chief advantage of batteries. Building a battery too big to carry defeats the purpose. 🙁
Also, the minimal friction of open space is a double-edged sword. You don’t need constant thrust to go forward, but you do need retro-thrust to slow down and stop. As opposed to a terrestrial vehicle which needs constant thrust to overcome friction, but can rely on that same friction to come to a stop.
The first step is for someone who has the ability to do so to go ahead amend and change the laws of physics in a way that allows all of us to produce and have perpetual motion machines.
I’ll write to my congressman. I’m sure he’s up to that challenge.
A tesla factory is located about 5 miles NW from Tilburg (NL). A 40’000+ m2 flat sort of 2 stores building with 45 (yes forty-five) full size semi-trailer gates.
Mirror shiny solar cells rooftop, no way to miss it from above.
I admit car manufacturing is not my thing but… The only places where I’ve seen similar buildings with that many semi-trailer docking ports (gates) are the cargo compounds of big airports.
Isn’t that too many truck gates for a factory ? Or do I miss the point ?
err?
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-22/liquidity-crisis-tesla-asks-suppliers-cash-back
Elon Musk designed his business model around the receipt of green money… grants, subsidies & loans that Obama was so keen to throw at anything pro-green. To that extent I take my hat off to him. But such a business model is totally unfair because it’s not a viable business model for obvious reasons.
“the company burns through $500,000 per hour. For two years now, Tesla has been suffering an epic talent drain and in May, two top execs” Hmmm. I didn’t realized selling Co2 credits and receiving subsidies paid so well. As far as talent drain: Same thing happened to Lucent Technologies, Inc., was an American multinational telecommunications equipment company. They were burning through cash and the talent (R&D) was the first to jump ship.
Normal. Jump ship from a renowned company, you’re a winner.
Remain in the wake of a bankrupt ex-renowned company, you’re a looser.
He’s not called “Enron” Musk for nothing.
I’m just waiting for this serial fraudster to be prosecuted.
It’ll make Bernie Madoff look like a corner pickpocket.
Big oil will do anything to bring down Musk and his new contraptions.by the way another rocket launch and landing at Sea…news carry that No…
So the fact that Musk can’t build a car and sell it for a profit is the fault of “Big Oil”?
Do you have evidence to support this, or do you just fall for any old form of paranoia?
Big oil would have stopped musk long ago but thankfully he had some cash…as musk continues to improve they will throw more and more things at him to discredit and bring him down..so let’s see what kind of a person you all are throwing stones at…
He builds a new type of car..
He builds a factory to build the car..
He builds a factory to build the batteries to power the car…
He builds rockets that fly cheaper then anyone else ..oh and Returns them to landing site..
He builds solar roofing materials that will last fifty years…
Oh and there’s the hyper loop thing…
And you people want to just throw stones…
SAD…people like you also stoned Nicola Tesla …
You must be a shareholder.
I have been reading the comments mainly about the cars and not his tweets. Hopefully this may have already been mentioned but to give some kind perspective to the comments made about the man from the UK. Here in the UK people have been murdered just for that accusation and no evidence, in fact even a paediatric doctor was attacked because an idiot couldn’t tell the difference. It is an incredibly dangerous thing that Musk has done which could have serious ramifications.
plummeted by $2 billion
Expensive tweet there, but the left does eat its own if there is any sign of impure thinking.
I’d dispute the fraud allegation… he seems to be the genuine example of a thoughtless dick.
Electric cars are basically a very expensive dixie cup.
I have an electric car I bought at an auction last year. Once the battery goes, it’s ready for the scrap yard.
I have never thought Eloon Gantry was anything other than a grifter, a smooth talking huckster in hipster clothes, convincing people to finance this, that and the other of his schemes. Among readers here a reference to The Man Who Sold The Moon would not be lost, I just don’t want to elevate Eloon to the level of D.D. Harriman.
he’s been a leech for years. spacex has some potential but the auto does not.
Musk specializes in enterprises that rest in large measure on govt subsidies. His hyperloop has been shredded by numerous engineers – not to mention the fact that the passenger carrying capacity of the loop would be less than simply adding another lane to the Interstates connecting the terminal points. In general, engineers point to many things wrong with the hyperloop concept – epansion of stel tubes over hundreds of miles, protection against terror attacks,
problems with failure of electric power, etc. I don’t believe anyone thinks Musk’s Hyperloop makes any sense. His current traffic loop is a completely different concept – an underground tunnel to avoid city traffic congestion – big deal.
Th main recent negative publicity Musk earned was when it became known that he had contributed $38,000 to the GOP (he also contributed to the Dems). That led to several on the waiting list for the Model 3 cancelling their orders and selling the Tesla Model S and X cars
they already own.
The fact that people cancelled their deposits and sold their cars when they found out that Musk had made a contribution to a Republican is sufficient to show that most of those buying electric cars are only doing it for virtue signalling.
Selling cars means somebody else is buying. Like divestiture of evil company stocks, it just changes the owners and doesn’t hurt the company.
Until batteries get better, I don’t think electric vehicles will do much more than virtue signal as MarkW notes.
Just the other day I saw a new vehicle with a sign where the license plate will go that says “ZERO EMISSIONS.” It is sort of true if you only count while driving. The emissions made producing the electricity to run them is a different matter.
My first impulse was to cheer them on if they used nuclear energy, and then remembered I like the CO2 from burning coal and oil to help plants be greener. 66% of electricity comes from natural gas and coal, 20% from nuclear. I used Wikipedia for these facts, so usual caveats apply.
One thing I don’t see discussed much is the effects on climate from windmills slowing up the lower atmosphere and only a cursory treatment of bird and bat kills. Also in that category are the solar farms that smoke birds out of the air and keep light from getting to plants underneath solar panels. Are these still issues or have they solved these problems?
There are some places where EVs are “zero emissions,” but not very many. I own an EV (along with other vehicles, including a Ram 3500 diesel pickup), bought at a 70% discount truly out of curiosity and car nuttery.
I was living in Seattle (People’s Republic of) when I bought it, and they get 100% of their juice from a dam on the Skagit River in the northern part of WA State. (Seattle’s overweening virtue signalers want to tear down dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers, but curiously never seem to mention a certain big one owned by the municipal utility. I guess the Skagit River’s salmon aren’t much worth saving.)
I’ll say this much for the EV: It’s a fun little grocery getter. Summertime range of 70-80 miles on 80% of the battery, and (I expect) about 55 miles in the winter. Cost of the juice is 2-1/2 to 4 cents a mile, compared to 22 to 24 cents a mile for diesel for the truck.
We have since moved to Klickitat County, WA which gets 89% of its juice from the dams on the Columbia River and windmills in the eastern part of the county, plus 8% from a nuke, and only 3% from coal. Brought the EV with us, so I’ve been zero emissions (or close enough for horseshoes) the whole time. Not that I care.
Last time I looked, about 62% of U.S. electricity comes from gas and coal, so your number is close enough for horseshoes. You are spot on with 20% nuke, at least the last time I looked. If you want to get all nerdy, here’s the link:
http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/pdf/sec7_5.pdf
I am acquainted with windmill workers around here, and have been meaning to ask about the birds but it keeps slipping my mind. My main issue with wind turbines is that they spoil the landscapes of the wide open West. As for their effects on the atmosphere, I’m even more skeptical on that front than I am of the AGW religion. Same goes for the “threat” to plants under solar panels. We’re really not talking about enough ground to matter.
By the way, I’m not sure that people are selling their Teslas for political reasons. There might be some people getting deposit refunds for that reason, although there are reasons to question whether or not a deposit refund really represents the cancellation of an intent to buy. Apparently, if you get the deposit back, you can turn right around and place an actual order, and tie up $1,000 less cash pending delivery. It’s all very murky, and I think Tesla is more than happy to have it be that way.
That much said, I suspect I’m in a minority among EV owners, being someone for whom the green politics of it doesn’t count for one little bit. It wouldn’t shock me to find out that some people asked for their deposits back because Musk threw some money at the Republicans in the time-honored corporate fashion. I don’t think we’ll ever know how widespread that is; in any case, I don’t think the cancellation of a deposit represents any kind of deal between a buyer and a third-party seller.
Some things cannot under any circumstances be considered a joke, even if they were intended to be. That is a very serious accusation (it is in the UK anyway) in many ways more serious than a murder accusation. It could completely ruin the victim’s life, even result in his being killed by child-protection activists, if it was believed.
Musk ought to get out his wallet and pay up for making it. Big time. Along with an apology and retraction in a major newspaper.
He has yet to succeed at anything but somehow spins every failure into proof of imminent success. His only accomplishment has been this decades-long Jedi mind trick.
People can jump up and down and yell all they want at Tesla et al. But SpaceX and the Falcon Heavy are very poor examples of “He has yet to succeed at anything…” Let’s keep a sense of proportion here.
Please explain to me why someone who developed some software years ago is considered anything but….someone who developed some software years ago?