A car races up an almost vertical wall, sticks to it, flips once in midair, and lands back on the ground. Tesla’s timeline for this maneuver: eleven years.
On October 15, local time, the second-generation Roadster was unveiled at SpaceX’s test site in Texas.
The previous-generation concept car was unveiled in November 2017, with deliveries then promised for 2020. This time, Musk put production in 2028. Two delivery dates have come and gone in between, each accompanied by a livestream.
Strictly speaking, the setup onstage doesn’t count as flight. Codenamed A71, it was developed jointly with SpaceX and is essentially a cold-gas propulsion system. The Rocket version has ten small thrusters mounted around the car and a 600-liter compressed-air tank. High-pressure gas is directed out of the thrusters to lift the car or help hold it against the ground. That’s the configuration Tesla VP of Engineering Lars Moravy gave onstage.
The acceleration figures don’t quite match across sources. Tesla’s official account says the Thrust version goes from zero to 60 mph in under 0.9 seconds, and the Rocket version in under 0.59 seconds. The timer at the launch event showed 0.81 seconds. Jiemian News and National Business Daily both listed all three versions—Performance, Thrust, and Rocket—with a range of 483 kilometers and a top speed above 370 kilometers per hour for each.
Prices haven’t been announced. The U.S. website is taking reservations, with a $50,000 deposit for the Performance version and $250,000 for the Thrust version. The Chinese website lists only the Performance version, with a 332,000-yuan deposit that is fully refundable. The Rocket version has no permit for public roads; the official page says it is not intended for use on public roads.
Now look at its balance sheet.
In February 2021, Tesla spent $1.5 billion to buy bitcoin. It sold 10% in the first quarter of that year, saying it was testing the liquidity of the spot market.
The following July, under cash-flow pressure caused by shutdowns at its Asian factories, it sold about 75% of its holdings. The remaining 11,509 coins haven’t moved since.
The on-chain addresses match the quarterly reports it filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This isn’t an estimate.
Under new fair-value accounting rules, the carrying value of the coins rises and falls with the market. At the end of last year, they were booked at $1.008 billion; by the end of June this year, that had fallen to $674 million.
By the end of September, the market had recovered, and the value had climbed back to nearly $1 billion. The number changed four times. The 11,509 coins didn’t.
Two different timescales at the same company sit side by side. The Roadster onstage has been talked about from 2017 to 2028, with one promise after another. Those coins, meanwhile, have had no launch event in four years. No promises, and no explanation.
My take is that these two things aren’t contradictory; they’re two sides of the same disposition. Announcing the future costs almost nothing—a single sentence can generate another round of coverage. Moving a real holding means reporting it, explaining it to shareholders, and leaving a record if the decision proves wrong. So the things that get talked about grow ever bigger, while the things left unspoken stay put.
Musk himself holds bitcoin, ether, and dogecoin. He said so in a public interview in July 2021. Tesla has given no indication that the 11,509 coins on its books will be moved again in any particular quarter. I don’t know.
SpaceX separately holds about 8,285 coins, which likewise haven’t moved in years.
Tesla’s third-quarter earnings report is scheduled for October 21. What we’ll see then is still that line item, revalued at market prices.
$BTC $DOGE $ETH #币安广场 #比特币 #特斯拉 #马斯克 #Crypto assets
On October 15, local time, the second-generation Roadster was unveiled at SpaceX’s test site in Texas.
The previous-generation concept car was unveiled in November 2017, with deliveries then promised for 2020. This time, Musk put production in 2028. Two delivery dates have come and gone in between, each accompanied by a livestream.
Strictly speaking, the setup onstage doesn’t count as flight. Codenamed A71, it was developed jointly with SpaceX and is essentially a cold-gas propulsion system. The Rocket version has ten small thrusters mounted around the car and a 600-liter compressed-air tank. High-pressure gas is directed out of the thrusters to lift the car or help hold it against the ground. That’s the configuration Tesla VP of Engineering Lars Moravy gave onstage.
The acceleration figures don’t quite match across sources. Tesla’s official account says the Thrust version goes from zero to 60 mph in under 0.9 seconds, and the Rocket version in under 0.59 seconds. The timer at the launch event showed 0.81 seconds. Jiemian News and National Business Daily both listed all three versions—Performance, Thrust, and Rocket—with a range of 483 kilometers and a top speed above 370 kilometers per hour for each.
Prices haven’t been announced. The U.S. website is taking reservations, with a $50,000 deposit for the Performance version and $250,000 for the Thrust version. The Chinese website lists only the Performance version, with a 332,000-yuan deposit that is fully refundable. The Rocket version has no permit for public roads; the official page says it is not intended for use on public roads.
Now look at its balance sheet.
In February 2021, Tesla spent $1.5 billion to buy bitcoin. It sold 10% in the first quarter of that year, saying it was testing the liquidity of the spot market.
The following July, under cash-flow pressure caused by shutdowns at its Asian factories, it sold about 75% of its holdings. The remaining 11,509 coins haven’t moved since.
The on-chain addresses match the quarterly reports it filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This isn’t an estimate.
Under new fair-value accounting rules, the carrying value of the coins rises and falls with the market. At the end of last year, they were booked at $1.008 billion; by the end of June this year, that had fallen to $674 million.
By the end of September, the market had recovered, and the value had climbed back to nearly $1 billion. The number changed four times. The 11,509 coins didn’t.
Two different timescales at the same company sit side by side. The Roadster onstage has been talked about from 2017 to 2028, with one promise after another. Those coins, meanwhile, have had no launch event in four years. No promises, and no explanation.
My take is that these two things aren’t contradictory; they’re two sides of the same disposition. Announcing the future costs almost nothing—a single sentence can generate another round of coverage. Moving a real holding means reporting it, explaining it to shareholders, and leaving a record if the decision proves wrong. So the things that get talked about grow ever bigger, while the things left unspoken stay put.
Musk himself holds bitcoin, ether, and dogecoin. He said so in a public interview in July 2021. Tesla has given no indication that the 11,509 coins on its books will be moved again in any particular quarter. I don’t know.
SpaceX separately holds about 8,285 coins, which likewise haven’t moved in years.
Tesla’s third-quarter earnings report is scheduled for October 21. What we’ll see then is still that line item, revalued at market prices.
$BTC $DOGE $ETH #币安广场 #比特币 #特斯拉 #马斯克 #Crypto assets