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Musk said (about an hour before you posted your comment) that SolarCity is hoping to manufacture 1000 solar roofs per week by the end of this year. [1] Most of

Musk said (about an hour before you posted your comment) that SolarCity is hoping to manufacture 1000 solar roofs per week by the end of this year. [1] Most of Musk's company goals are aspirational, and the means to the end often change. For example, Falcon 9 first stage was supposed to be reusable by landing it in the ocean with a parachute, but they found it didn't work. Instead, they lengthened the first stage booster dramatically so it would have the propellant margin to land propulsively. [1] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1156005185656782848?s=20 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1156005185656782848?s=20

AndrewBissell 7y ago
"Musk said" .... Dan Telvock, a local reporter in Buffalo who covers the solar gigafactory which taxpayers bought for Tesla, is already calling out Musk on his "aspirational" BS. https://mobile.twitter.com/DanTelvock/status/1156214527194796032 https://mobile.twitter.com/DanTelvock/status/115621452719479...
- SECProto 7y ago
  Uh huh. A former employee claims that the goal as of February was 200/wk by end of year, but a tweet by the CEO in July states publicly the goal is 1000/wk by end of year. I have no reason to trust a former employee over the CEO. Regardless of which one is correct, the fact remains that they are scaling up a new technology. Both 200 and 1000 are ambitious goals, and both contradict your implication that the solar department is "a shell of its former self". It has dramatically shifted directions (from market standard solar panels on roof, to integrated solar roof tiles).
  - AndrewBissell 7y ago
    It's just one among many tweets from Telvock questioning the veracity of Musk's tweet. A rampup of the kind Musk is promising doesn't happen in a vacuum -- there should be new hiring happening at the Buffalo Gigafactory already (they laid off 50 employees in January, has that headcount even been restored?), raw materials procurement should be underway, and there should be a healthy roster of orders for the $50,000 roofs. Where are they? Of course normal companies, with a level of corporate governance ranking somewhere above "drunken frat house," publish these sorts of production forecasts in official channels after careful vetting and consideration. It is neither admirable nor acceptable for a public company CEO like Musk to simply pop off on Twitter with "ambitious goals" on which investors might rely for trading decisions if they have no basis in fact. Which is why questions are already being asked about whether Musk's tweet violated the terms of his amended SEC settlement agreement, which requires legal pre-approval for any public statements he makes about matters relevant to Tesla, including production forecasts. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-30/musk-tweeting-on-tesla-production-raises-questions-on-sec-accord https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-30/musk-twee...

AndrewBissell 7y ago

"Musk said" .... Dan Telvock, a local reporter in Buffalo who covers the solar gigafactory which taxpayers bought for Tesla, is already calling out Musk on his "aspirational" BS. https://mobile.twitter.com/DanTelvock/status/1156214527194796032 https://mobile.twitter.com/DanTelvock/status/115621452719479...

SECProto 7y ago
Uh huh. A former employee claims that the goal as of February was 200/wk by end of year, but a tweet by the CEO in July states publicly the goal is 1000/wk by end of year. I have no reason to trust a former employee over the CEO. Regardless of which one is correct, the fact remains that they are scaling up a new technology. Both 200 and 1000 are ambitious goals, and both contradict your implication that the solar department is "a shell of its former self". It has dramatically shifted directions (from market standard solar panels on roof, to integrated solar roof tiles).
- AndrewBissell 7y ago
  It's just one among many tweets from Telvock questioning the veracity of Musk's tweet. A rampup of the kind Musk is promising doesn't happen in a vacuum -- there should be new hiring happening at the Buffalo Gigafactory already (they laid off 50 employees in January, has that headcount even been restored?), raw materials procurement should be underway, and there should be a healthy roster of orders for the $50,000 roofs. Where are they? Of course normal companies, with a level of corporate governance ranking somewhere above "drunken frat house," publish these sorts of production forecasts in official channels after careful vetting and consideration. It is neither admirable nor acceptable for a public company CEO like Musk to simply pop off on Twitter with "ambitious goals" on which investors might rely for trading decisions if they have no basis in fact. Which is why questions are already being asked about whether Musk's tweet violated the terms of his amended SEC settlement agreement, which requires legal pre-approval for any public statements he makes about matters relevant to Tesla, including production forecasts. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-30/musk-tweeting-on-tesla-production-raises-questions-on-sec-accord https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-30/musk-twee...