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Comment by briandw | Hacker News Reader

Elon's antics and politics are causing problems. IMHO the politics don't change Tesla huge lead in the EV space. Seems like people are conflating their hatred of Elon with Teslas potential as a company.

None of the other car makers can produce EVs at a profit. Tesla has very high margins on their cars and are continuing to reduce their production costs.

They have the following advantages: 1) Most efficient use of batteries (kWh per distance) 2) Most extensive charging network 3) Contracts for battery minerals, and battery supply contracts

Once the the 4680 dry electrode process, structural battery pack and castings for the new Model Y and 3 are worked out and ramped, their manufacturing mote with be even bigger.

I'm ignoring the FSD software, even though they are in the best position to pull that off. It's still too far off.

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1) Tesla's drivetrain's kWh per distance is the best, but only by 10% or so. That's not enough to be a deal breaker for the other brands. Body style selection completely dominates 10% drive train efficiency, and Tesla is rapidly falling behind there.

2) The Tesla charging network seems less extensive in silicon valley than the multiple competing networks. Also, Tesla is advertising that they'll open it up to all other manufacturers (at least in the US) really soon, so to the extent you believe Tesla can still deliver stuff, the charging network is not a competitive advantage. On top of that, the Biden infrastructure plan is subsidizing standard chargers, so the proprietary Tesla charging port is turning into a competitive disadvantage.

3) I agree that Tesla still has an advantage in terms of production ramp, but this is eroding too. BofA is projecting Tesla's market share will be in the low teens within a few years. Assuming their analysts aren't idiots, this implies the other manufactures have been able to secure battery sources.

Regarding FSD: I strongly prefer the jog wheel computer + physical buttons in my BMW over Tesla's touch screens, and that's comparing features that exist. Other manufacturers have a bigger software functionality gap, from what I've heard, but that's not unique. Most manufacturers have auto-braking and lane keeping, which is most of what FSD has delivered so far.

Regarding the rest of the company: Apparently, they pulled out of solar installs. Anecdotally, all the tesla powerwall licensed contractors around here hate supporting them (poor reliability), and point homeowners to LG on the low end or Enphase on the high end.

the supercharger network shines outside of urban areas, where tesla far beats the competition

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