Okay, Elon Musk has lost it........

[Value Buy]

Jul 24, 2019 23:58:06 GMT -5 Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger said:

Shrinking margins, record deliveries but bigger losses. With no $$$$ for a line refresh, forget $$$ for all these new projects; that recent $$$ raise was just basically eaten. Meanwhile, more and more executives flee. So, is P.T. Elon crazy, or just the ppl who directly invest in this guy's companies??

-Tesla needs more time to turn profit; founding engineer steps down

Yes, cannabalize your profitible upscale version with a cheap version with almost the sam bells and whistles.
No longer acorporate leader in innovation but a mass producer to maximize sales numbers at lower margins.

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

Yes sir! And this strategy has essentially driven every key player out. I didn't realize how big this latest one was though. This really spells trouble, JMO.

JB Straubel wasn’t just Tesla’s CTO — he invented the carmaker’s core technologies

In the first decade of Tesla’s existence, Straubel, who’s among the group of co-founders, invented or co-created many of the company’s signature technologies. His name is on a majority of patents that Tesla filed, especially relating to electric vehicle batteries — safety, architecture, monitoring and power management.

“JB is absolutely brilliant,” said Gene Berdichevsky, employee No. 7 at Tesla, in an email. “When I started, we did some of the technical development in his garage! I think there would be no Tesla as it is today without JB.”

Straubel, who’s now 43, lobbied early on for Tesla to pursue a supercharger strategy, instead of going down the road of battery-swapping. Today, that network of charging stations, available for Tesla drivers only, is a boon for the company because it can offer greater service to customers, while drivers of most other electric cars are relegated to compete for time at generic chargers.

Musk delivered the news of Straubel’s exit this week while issuing some disappointing financial results to Wall Street. It was tough timing for a company that’s struggling to find a profitable model for building and selling cars as it’s investing in self-driving technology. Tesla recorded a quarterly loss of $408 million, and its automotive margins eroded as customers showed a clear preference for the lower-priced Model 3 sedans.....

......More recent Tesla employees describe Straubel as well-respected and a gentler voice in the room next to the bombastic and outspoken Musk. He’s an engineer at heart, a licensed pilot and father who wears khakis most of the time. His obsession was always to reduce costs per kilowatt hour — to make energy-dense vehicle batteries at a lower cost.

Straubel’s focus at Tesla was on building technology, teams and partnerships, and he was more than willing to cede the limelight to Musk, one reason the two got along so well, former employees said.....

....He also led the development of stationary energy products even before Tesla acquired SolarCity. Today, Tesla’s Powerwall and Powerpack function as home batteries and utility-scale battery installations that make it possible to store and use solar and wind power.(of course the rest of the article goes on to talk about how JB's successor is going to fill those shoes, etc, etc.... Which we know is probably NOT going to be the case. In fact, how bad is it when the guy who really made this company can't continue to support the Ponzi Elon.)