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Tesla is making a profit because their vehicles are far more expensive. That profit margin comes directly out of your pocket.

It's likely Ford is accepting a loss now to build market share, brand consciousness, and brand loyalty, playing the long game.
 
Tesla is making a profit because their vehicles are far more expensive. That profit margin comes directly out of your pocket.

It's likely Ford is accepting a loss now to build market share, brand consciousness, and brand loyalty, playing the long game.

It's probably just timing. The bulk of Tesla's R&D is behind them, while Ford is still in the thick of incurring and amortizing those expenses. No doubt that Tesla is still feeling that early startup/R&D pinch, but they are ahead of the curve relative to other companies who just started offering EVs in the last couple years.
 
My son killed a deer at 6AM this morning.

Unfortunately, he was driving his truck at the time. Thankfully he and his passenger are ok, and while badly damaged, the truck is drivable. Hitting a deer at highway speed is never good.

3-1/2 years ago I got a deer just after noon on an Interstate. I was in the left lane and had a vehicle in my right blind spot. A cement divider separated my side from oncoming traffic, and the margin between my lane and the barrier might have been wide enough to park a vehicle, but not safely.

A deer jumped the cement median. I had enough time to say, "Oh, no!" and my wife looked up just in time to see the deer hit our front left quarter panel with us doing 75 MPH. Its face hit the windshield, so I got a view from about 1.5 feet, then the deer bounced down the side of the vehicle. I managed to make it 3 lanes to the right to pull onto a narrow shoulder. There was a loud grinding from the left front quarter.

We were scared and shaken, but unharmed.

After a minute I decided to move the vehicle, as 75+ MPH traffic was buzzing within 4' of us. The grinding from the front quarter was loud, but the van made it 100 yards to a wide shoulder where we were 20' off the highway.

Sienna-1.jpg

From a distance, the Sienna didn't look too bad. Up close? Nope.

Sienna-2.jpg

I carefully felt inside the wheel well, but nothing was touching the tire. Neither the driver's door nor the left-side sliding door would open. The front bumper, hood, front quarter panel, driver's door, sliding door, and rear quarter panel were all damaged.

Since it was a 10 yo vehicle with 200,000 miles on it, the insurance company totaled it.
 
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It's probably just timing. The bulk of Tesla's R&D is behind them, while Ford is still in the thick of incurring and amortizing those expenses. No doubt that Tesla is still feeling that early startup/R&D pinch, but they are ahead of the curve relative to other companies who just started offering EVs in the last couple years.
I think you hit the nail right on the head Jim.

While Tesla has been ramping up with EV for years, other car manufacturers were timid and shy away.

@winemaker_3352 well, take a look at Ford pickup prices and see how 'cheap' they are. LOL
 
@winemaker_3352 well, take a look at Ford pickup prices and see how 'cheap' they are. LOL
Wrong guy.

The cheapest Tesla car is far more expensive then equivalent sized EV from other vendors. Let's compare apples-to-apples, not apples-to-cows. Besides, the Tesla truck is not on the market, so it's vaporware, not a realistic part of any financial discussion.
 
All the spaghetti's starting to come together now in running order. It'll look a lot better once a couple more connections are finalized and wiring wrap is routed, and then I can hook up a battery and see that it all gets juice. Man, this stuff kills my back and hamstrings. Time for a beer or two or four or...

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What a nice project!! Cant wait to see a picture of you driving the car down the street. Here is my project, 96 Sonoma, replacing the 4.3L with a 5.3L turbo LS.
Just getting started.
 

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It's probably just timing. The bulk of Tesla's R&D is behind them, while Ford is still in the thick of incurring and amortizing those expenses. No doubt that Tesla is still feeling that early startup/R&D pinch, but they are ahead of the curve relative to other companies who just started offering EVs in the last couple years.

Tesla cars have also been richly priced, and margins have been absurdly high. But, after FIVE price reductions in the US, they are somewhat more reasonable, so profits per car are thinner, and TSLA stock has shown it, though it still carries a hefty 50.6 p/e.Screenshot 2023-05-11 at 4.05.36 PM.png
 
Read some fun info about the Tesla battery.
Each one weighs about 1000 lbs and contains 25 lbs of lithium, 60 lbs of nickel, 44 lbs of manganese, 30 lbs of cobalt, 200 lbs of copper, and 550 lbs of aluminum, steel, graphite, plastics, and other materials.

To make one battery requires mining 30,000 lbs of cobalt ore, 5,000 lbs of nickel ore, and 25,000 lbs of copper ore, and 25,000 lbs of brine is used to get the lithium.
 

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