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Comment by forgetsusername | Hacker News Reader

Cashed in a large amount of ZEV credits, for a one-time revenue bump of $140MM. Excluding that, GAAP loss was $117MM. Big increase in accounts payable. But, all things considered, that's not bad.

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Good point to note the ZEV credits. The first time they showed a profit that was part of it. But those credits keep on coming, they aren't necessarily a one time thing. Other car companies that don't produce electric cars in abundance or at all will have to keep buying them until they do.

FCA had to be strong armed into building the 500e. Ford hasn't previously taken the electric Focus seriously, but word is that the 2017 model will be range competitive with the current Leaf.

I believe I have read elsewhere that although GM will sell the Bolt in all 50 states, early inventory will be going to states with ZEV mandates.

With all that, I could see a future in which those ZEV credits aren't nearly so valuable.

LG Chem the supplier for the GM Bolt battery said they expect more than 35k this sounds to me like the car is going to be aggressively prioritized in ZEV states.

Not sure why you are getting downvoted. I am a Tesla bull, but you are correct. I'm very interested about the increase in AP. Hope the conf call will get into that.

If you're wondering who's buying and selling ZEV credits, here's the California score-card for Oct 2015 through August 1, 2016. No prices:

https://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/zevprog/zevcredits/2015zevcred...

Tesla provides 80+% of the ZEV credits transferred, and the 2 biggest buyers are Fiat and Ford. It could be that this quarter's transfers aren't in this table.

Very first line of the Update linked to in another comment,

> The Tesla third quarter results reflect strong company-wide execution in many areas. Furthermore, we expect this to continue into Q4 and project positive GAAP net income (excluding non-cash stock-based compensation) despite ZEV credit sales in Q4 likely being negligible.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12800234

Er, should GAAP net income include SBC? Otherwise, it's non GAAP.

Dude (or dudette). I have no idea. I was merely responding to the assertion made up yonder. I was pointing out that while possibly not an incorrect assertion it is one that is contradicted by the estimated projections of the very first line from the report under discussion.

I'm not sure your point. That they expect profits to continue without the credits? I guess we will see. Not sure how this invalidates anything I wrote. I care less about projections than financial statements. Those credits composed a good chunk.

It's not a wild prediction, given that the new sensors means another surge in orders, which gives Tesla a chance to prioritize higher-margin, more expensive cars.

I don't know how many potential buyers were waiting, but I was expecting a bump in sensors and compute power sooner than later.

it seems like i see this basic comment every time Tesla reports earnings. this specific credit might be a one-time thing, but they somehow find another one every quarter.

Do you have a list?

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