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Well it looks like the Tesla purchase of Solar City is a go. With the Gigafactory opened or opening this month the PowerWall and Solar cell charging for Tesla could be a fast money maker while the model 3 effort is underway.

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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I went to an "alternative investment" presentation pitch last week on investing in developing oil wells. The presenter was a guy in his fiftys and had spent his life working in the oil industry from around the world to off shore to west Texas. I think this was maybe his first or second investor presention and he looked a little nervous/uncomfortable. But he was comfortable and happy to talk about the technology used in oil discovery - and so I asked a little about how they did it and when the technology was developed.

 

The ability to drill horizontally started around 2008/2009 and is a very productive method method of discovery and capture of oil according to the speaker. Also, they can remain profitable with oil priced down to $35 to $39 per barrel.

 

My take away, after sleeping on it, was that oil technology has progressed to a point that it is a disruptive technology unto itself. Fracking is yet another disruptive technology. Oil will remain abundant. And oil producers can see the many alternative energy technologies developing. The writing is on the wall for oil and producers know it.

 

Needless to say, I'm not interested in any oil investments. However, solar and other energy technologies are, in my opinion, the future.

The question, from an investors point of view, is which one(s)?

 

 

Lance-white-sands-500.jpg

~Rich

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The ability to drill horizontally started around 2008/2009 and is a very productive method method of discovery and capture of oil according to the speaker.

 

There was horizontal drilling and fracking way earlier, albeit nowhere near as far horizontally. I am personally aware of efforts in the Austin Chalk near College Station in the 1980's. I would be cautious of an "expert" who thought it started around 2008/2009.

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Well, you're getting third hand information here. I understand it as improvements to previous horizontal drilling. I'm not expert and cannot convey in totality that which the speaker said. I'm just trying to understand it. Time moves on and so does technology. Hope that you got the gist of the post, not the specific details of accuracy.

Lance-white-sands-500.jpg

~Rich

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Today's news about Hydrogen fuel has me exited as we already know Toyota is producing the Mirai a hydrogen fuel cell powered EV. This is another investment opportunity coming full circle thanks to Tesla's resurrection of the EV as a primary vehicle with range. See my stand alone article about it here.

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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There was horizontal drilling and fracking way earlier, albeit nowhere near as far horizontally. I am personally aware of efforts in the Austin Chalk near College Station in the 1980's. I would be cautious of an "expert" who thought it started around 2008/2009.

Diagonal drilling had been around a long time. Now they can drill straight out horizontally from a vertical shaft, like spindles off a tinkertoy connector. I asked this question about horizontal drilling again at another meeting presentation (by a different oil peddler this time). His answer was the same. About 2008-2009 that the technique came into common use.

(I wouldn't touch oil investment with a ten foot drill bit.)

 

What I would like to see is a breakthrough in "energy storage" - some kind of battery 10x better than anything we have today. THAT would be an investment opportunity.

Lance-white-sands-500.jpg

~Rich

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  • 3 weeks later...

Rich,

That is being pursued by more than just Musk and Tesla today. That is what makes these exciting times. We have seen our science fiction of just 16 years ago become reality. We have giant view screens, Tricorders and communicators.

 

http://io9.gizmodo.com/all-the-times-science-fiction-became-science-fact-in-on-1570282491

 

https://www.buzzfeed.com/kasiagalazka/science-fiction-things-that-actually-exist-now?utm_term=.iukRV3rWR#.yhjkKNG9k

 

Thank goodness I no longer need to go sit in a booth and use a giant book to find the numbers for things I did not already have memorized. Or worry about my long distance bill. Or complain that we don't have video calling. Or be frustrated when I can't remember the name of an actor or fact and wake up in the middle of the night worrying about it until I can get to the library and look it up by going through a bunch of books. Forget appointments or set the alarm. Or wait for an answer a week later to mail sent out today. Or wonder who is at the door with video Ring doorbells or other cameras.

 

There is research on quantum electro mechanics, Zero point energy and dark energy, as well as nano medicine and genetic therapies.

 

I'm looking for the company that has the breakthrough catalyst for highly efficient electrolysis production of hydrogen. Or the stable fast charge battery chemistry and substrates.

 

Lots happening out there.

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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  • 2 months later...

This is a good thread that should be revived. As an investor, this is good reading for me. Many of us posting here over the years were right and many of us posting here were wrong. That doesn't really matter. That's what makes the markets.

 

So what are the current thoughts on where we are heading?

 

Jim

Jim
SKP: 99693
If you think you can, or you think you can't. . . you are probably right (Henry Ford)
2014 Dodge 4WD Dually
1998 Carriage LS-341

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Jim,

I agree. I believe that Tesla just gained a big advantage in that they just fired their last foreign part supplier and manufacture all their parts in house or with US suppliers. While some dinosaurs think that electric will never gain traction they need to read the press from overseas. I believe once the model 3 is in full production as well as the Gigafactory, between end of this year and 2020, we will see the sure demise of the ICE vehicles as a surety, even the diehards.

 

I see Canada taking a more active role in world economics along with, surprisingly,Mexico and several other countries. Colombia's drug wars are over and I see their re-entry into the emerald, coffee, and tech markets as well.

 

I am still trying to see where the odds fall in the next year or two than all the emerging solar and renewable power should take off, but not because of climate change. Simply because once the storage is resolved there are no more expenses for renewables as in train cars full of coal and oil and Natural gas. Cheap energy to produce and sell. The rest of the world took a cue from Telsa.

 

Much more later as I get recovered from my recent surgical adventures.

Edited by RV

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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Jim,

I agree. I believe that Tesla just gained a big advantage in that they just fired their last foreign part supplier and manufacture all their parts in house or with US suppliers. While some dinosaurs think that electric will never gain traction they need to read the press from overseas. I believe once the model 3 is in full production as well as the Gigafactory, between end of this year and 2020, we will see the sure demise of the ICE vehicles as a surety, even the diehards.

 

I see Canada taking a more active role in world economics along with, surprisingly,Mexico and several other countries. Colombia's drug wars are over and I see their re-entry into the emerald, coffee, and tech markets as well.

 

I am still trying to see where the odds fall in the next year or two than all the emerging solar and renewable power should take off, but not because of climate change. Simply because once the storage is resolved there are no more expenses for renewables as in train cars full of coal and oil and Natural gas. Cheap energy to produce and sell. The rest of the world took a cue from Telsa.

 

Much more later as I get recovered from my recent surgical adventures.

 

RV

I found it interesting that this Vermont utility was promoting and actually offers financing to customers for the installation of Tesla residential battery packs.

 

http://fortune.com/2015/12/10/vermont-sells-tesla-batteries/

 

Jim

Jim
SKP: 99693
If you think you can, or you think you can't. . . you are probably right (Henry Ford)
2014 Dodge 4WD Dually
1998 Carriage LS-341

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Wow!

That is one customer oriented power company! They also point up one of the main fallacies in talking about ROI for it. I bought one of these:

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200646636_200646636?cm_mmc=Bing-pla&utm_source=Bing_PLA&utm_medium=Generators%20%3E%20Residential%20Standby%20Generators&utm_campaign=Generac&utm_content=48907

 

Mine cost more than the smaller Powerwall. I had a smaller 15kw air-cooled back up system that used Propane as my thinking was if the Natural gas went offline I would have a two week supply of power if I conserved use. The tank was ugly and our house has gas cooking, furnace, and water heater, on city Natural gas. So when we realized it was not going to handle the A/C system as well as the house I decided to trade it in for a water cooled 25kw that does not bog down with the A/C running.

 

My wife and I have many times smiled at each other during the long outages here that last from a few minutes to overnight or all day after a storm. Our ROI is having our modem and router, freezer and fridge, TV and computers all running as if from the power company. So as far as storm and outage back up the ROI is all lifestyle. MY computers and other expensive systems are protected by UPS' appropriately sized so only our lights go off for the ten seconds it takes for the generator to take over. The auto switch on the outside wall is enormous.

 

I found another article from yours Jim. Here is more about that utility:

 

"Specifically, GMP is offering its customers three options to get their hands on one of the 500 Powerwalls the utility has ordered from Tesla. They can buy it outright for $6,500, and use it for emergency backup power during the state’s weather-related, multi-hour power outages. Or they can get much less expensive installment or bill credit deals, if they agree to “share access” to the battery with the utility.

 

The first of these options involves the customer buying the $6,500 Powerwall, and then getting monthly bill credits of $31.76 -- a figure that would take 17 years to pay back the battery’s cost. The other, and seemingly more attractive, option is to get the battery free of charge, and then pay a monthly fee of $37.50 -- what amounts to an interest-free 14-year Powerwall installment plan.

 

This is less than half the costs of $86 per month that Green Mountain Power has calculated for the 7-kilowatt-hour systems it’s deploying in its “Energy City of the Future” project in Rutland, by the way. But according to its filing with the Vermont Public Service Board, the utility is also expecting to achieve a net present value (NPV) of about $50 per month over 10 years from each system, based on the grid services they can provide.

 

Subtract that from its $86 in costs, and you’re left with the $37.50 monthly fee the utility’s asking its customers to pay -- a fairly transparent sharing of costs. As for what it intends to do with these batteries to earn $50 per month, here’s the plan:

 

During normal (i.e., non-outage) conditions, GMP will have the ability to control the charging and discharging cycles of the batteries. For customers who agree, this will enable GMP to discharge batteries during (1) times of high market prices to help lower its energy costs and (2) times of peak load to help reduce significant capacity and transmission expenses. Those savings will directly benefit customers."

 

The biggest and most predictable benefits will come from reducing capacity and transmission expenses from grid operator New England ISO, which can add up to 20 percent to 30 percent of the cost of energy for utilities in the region. The first is the forward capacity market (FCM), which sets the price of future grid capacity for the region’s utilities, based on their share of peak power consumption on the days when the ISO reaches its own system peaks. The second is the regional network service (RNS) charge, meant to cover a utility’s share of transmission infrastructure costs and based on monthly peaks.

 

Green Mountain Power intends to use its Tesla batteries to meet 100 percent of the FCM peaks, and 75 percent of the RNS peaks, for customers who’ve chosen the $37.50-per-month installment plan. For customers who decide to receive a $31.76-per-month credit instead, the utility assumes the batteries will hit 75 percent of the FCM peaks, and half of the RNS peaks.

 

Energy arbitrage is a third value stream, with an eye toward storing energy to ride through cold snaps, when regional energy prices can spike, Josh Castonguay, GMP’s director of generation and renewable innovation, said in Friday’s interview. All together, these values can be calculated down to the individual customer, using the real-time broadband or cellular-connected SolarEdge inverters it’s installing with each solar-battery project, he said.

 

“For every kilowatt we can knock off that peak, there’s a dollar-figure savings for our customers,” Castonguay said. This assumes, of course, that the utility doesn’t tap the batteries when they’re going to be needed for emergency backup. GMP CEO Mary Powell noted that the typical winter outage in Vermont lasts about 2.5 hours, which could require most of a Powerwall’s capacity -- or a lot less, if people minimize their electricity use through the downtime.

 

That’s a key focus of the Rutland project, which is combining Powerwalls with rooftop solar, smart thermostats, energy-efficiency improvements, and real-time connectivity to its distribution grid and customer data systems, according to Castonguay. But it will also apply to the direct-to-customer batteries it’s selling, under the state’s relaxed regulatory regime that allows vertically integrated utilities to move novel projects, like behind-the-meter battery financing, into action far more quickly than usual.

 

“Our whole goal is to take the dispatch of the battery out of the customers’ hands, and use our microgrid controls,” Castonguay said. “There are times we can say, we’d like to have every Powerwall we have out there to hit our peak.” But when the weather starts to turn, or storms approach, “we can leave those alone, to provide customers that emergency backup.”

 

For now, backup power remains the primary reason for a homeowner or small business to install a Powerwall, Powell said -- essentially, a cleaner, if more expensive, alternative to the backup generators available today. But solar integration brings further benefits, including the potential for long-range energy balancing, and “as we deploy these, I’d like to work in more sophisticated ways with solar customers,” she said."

 

That here with even more: https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/green-mountain-powers-bet-on-tesla-powerwall-value-50-per-month

 

Those of us with a whole house backup generator would buy ir for the same reason I bought mine. However, I can't hook my Natural gas powered up to solar and save money. And the cost of the gas is too expensive to share with the grid.

 

Every utility should be offering this to their customers to manage their own peak loads and save the customer the cost of fuel as I have to pay when I use the generator. I will go battery soon. Right now we do not know whether we will stay here, or move, possibly to another country. I am trying to move to Canada but it is not as easy as I thought it would be. Costa Rica is a possibility as is Colombia. My SH is willing to learn Spanish and I could use immersion to bring mine back up to conversational speed. Money is not the issue, it is filling the squares to emigrate as a permanent resident.

 

Wherever we land we will have a Telsa Model 3, a solar system, and a Powerwall. Especially in the rural settings we prefer. If no fast broadband it is out.

 

I see the steps that utility is taking, embracing the Powerwalls and solar as something they can control for their use too, rather than fear and taxing the solar owners, is like the German companies that went along and helped renewables prevail and become cheaper to the end users than coal or other power sources.

 

Some very progressive thinkers there at that utility. (Progressive as in making progress not politics)

 

Thanks again Jim.

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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Smitty,

Here is one future investment I think if adopted by Musk may well lead to surprising changes for the Solar City division of Telsa.

 

MIT just made a significant breakthrough in highly efficient solar panels. The problem has always been the cost to get to the 50% efficiency rates and the other end is the usual panels used at 18-22% efficient. They are forming a private company to actually bring these to market. THe ones doing that on the team have done other startups with success. I am optimistic on this one.

 

Excerpt:

 

 

 

"The cost of solar power is beginning to reach price parity with cheaper fossil fuel-based electricity in many parts of the world, yet the clean energy source still accounts for just slightly more than 1 percent of the world’s electricity mix.

Solar, or photovoltaic (PV), cells, which convert sunlight into electrical energy, have a large role to play in boosting solar power generation globally, but researchers still face limitations to scaling up this technology. For example, developing very high-efficiency solar cells that can convert a significant amount of sunlight into usable electrical energy at very low costs remains a significant challenge.

A team of researchers from MIT and the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology may have found a way around this seemingly intractable tradeoff between efficiency and cost. The team has developed a new solar cell that combines two different layers of sunlight-absorbing material to harvest a broader range of the sun’s energy. The researchers call the device a “step cell,” because the two layers are arranged in a stepwise fashion, with the lower layer jutting out beneath the upper layer, in order to expose both layers to incoming sunlight. Such layered, or “multijunction,” solar cells are typically expensive to manufacture, but the researchers also used a novel, low-cost manufacturing process for their step cell.

 

The problem with the silicon germanium under the GaAsP layer is that SiGe absorbs the lower-energy light waves before it reaches the bottom silicon layer, and SiGe does not convert these low-energy light waves into current.

 

“To get around the optical problem posed by the silicon germanium, we developed the idea of the step cell, which allows us to leverage the different energy absorption bands of gallium arsenide phosphate and silicon,” says Nayfeh.

 

The step cell concept led to an improved cell in which the SiGe template is removed and re-used, creating a solar cell in which GaAsP cell tiles are directly on top of a silicon cell. The step-cell allows for SiGe reuse since the GaAsP cell tiles can be under-cut during the transfer process. Explaining the future low-cost fabrication process, Fitzgerald says: “We grew the gallium arsenide phosphide on top of the silicon germanium, patterned it in the optimized geometric configuration, and bonded it to a silicon cell. Then we etched through the patterned channels and lifted off the silicon germanium alloys on silicon. What remains then, is a high-efficiency tandem solar cell and a silicon germanium template, ready to be reused.”

 

Because the tandem cell is bonded together, rather than created as a monolithic solar cell (where all layers are grown onto a single substrate), the SiGe can be removed and reused repeatedly, which significantly reduces the manufacturing costs.

 

“Adding that one layer of the gallium arsenide phosphide can really boost efficiency of the solar cell but because of the unique ability to etch away the silicon germanium and reuse it, the cost is kept low because you can amortize that silicon germanium cost over the course of manufacturing many cells,” Fitzgerald adds.

 

Filling a market gap

 

Fitzgerald believes the step cell fits well in the existing gap of the solar PV market, between the super high-efficiency and low-efficiency industrial applications. And as volume increases in this market gap, the manufacturing costs should be driven down even further over time.

 

This project began as one of nine Masdar Institute-MIT Flagship Research Projects, which are high-potential projects involving faculty and students from both universities. The MIT and Masdar Institute Cooperative Program helped launch the Masdar Institute in 2007. Research collaborations between the two institutes address global energy and sustainability issues, and seek to develop research and development capabilities in Abu Dhabi.

 

“This research project highlights the valuable role that research and international collaboration plays in developing a commercially-relevant technology-based innovation, and it is a perfect demonstration of how a research idea can transform into an entrepreneurial reality,” says Nayfeh."

 

The rest of the MIT News article with links is here:

http://news.mit.edu/2016/new-solar-cell-more-efficient-costs-less-its-counterparts-0829

Edited by RV

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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OK.
Here are my visions of the near future for investing in tech that may do as well as Telsa has. I already wrote these over in Connecting on the road today and also a related post in Beginning RVing.

 

Here is the one showing, to me, almost guaranteed returns. Picking the right horse is easy for me. Space X and Telsa. Here are more to consider in current investments while some are still cheap:

http://www.rvnetwork.com/index.php?showtopic=126430&hl=

 

This I posted in Beginning RVing in the thread Antenna, Satellite, or both?

http://www.rvnetwork.com/index.php?showtopic=126416&p=882740

 

Any thoughts? New info?

Edited by RV

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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  • 1 month later...

German scientists test 'artificial sun' in quest to make climate-friendly fuel

I just found out about a German project that I misunderstood as solar, until I read the whole article. For those thinking that oil will prevail, this article is a must read for investors to watch develop. It is a large array that focuses xenon short-arc lamp light onto an eight inch by eight inch square area making temps so high that they can split water into oxygen and hydrogen. This breakthrough concept is completely different from using fossil based fuels to make electricity by solar concentration to make steam or heat up salt or oil solutions to run turbines. This project will develop the most efficient way to do the same thing with sunlight concentrators which we already know how to build. I see a lot of the reasoning of Germans because they don't get the sunlight our US solar arrays in the deserts and Southern areas of the US. Like these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concentrated_solar_power

If done with solar concentrators it eliminates the fossil fuel to power the lights, and the hydrogen can be stored much easier and cheaply than electricity for night. Instead of fossil fuels to electricity to splitting water and then getting hydrogen, it will eliminate the electricity and use high temps to split water using only concentrated solar power.

But those are just my first thoughts. I need to absorb this and see what yields they get, and how they mean to store and distribute it. They say they will have the R&D done and be up and running in a decade.

Excerpt:

"Scientists in Germany flipped the switch Thursday on what's being described as "the world's largest artificial sun," a device they hope will help shed light on new ways of making climate-friendly fuels.

The giant honeycomb-like setup of 149 spotlights -- officially known as "Synlight" -- in Juelich, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) west of Cologne, uses xenon short-arc lamps normally found in cinemas to simulate natural sunlight that's often in short supply in Germany at this time of year.

By focusing the entire array on a single 20-by-20 centimeter (8x8 inch) spot, scientists from the German Aerospace Center, or DLR , will be able to produce the equivalent of 10,000 times the amount of solar radiation that would normally shine on the same surface.

Creating such furnace-like conditions -- with temperatures of up to 3,000 degrees Celsius (5,432 Fahrenheit) -- is key to testing novel ways of making hydrogen, according to Bernhard Hoffschmidt, the director of DLR's Institute for Solar Research.

Many consider hydrogen to be the fuel of the future because it produces no carbon emissions when burned, meaning it doesn't add to global warming. But since hydrogen doesn't occur naturally, it first has to be made by splitting water into its two components -- the other being oxygen -- in a process that currently requires large amounts of electricity.

Researchers hope to bypass the electricity stage by tapping into the enormous amount of energy that reaches Earth in the form of light from the sun.

Hoffschmidt said the dazzling display is designed to take experiments done in smaller labs to the next level, adding that once researchers have mastered hydrogen-making techniques with Synlight's 350-kilowatt array, the process could be scaled up ten-fold on the way to reaching a level fit for industry in about a decade.

The goal is to eventually use actual sunlight rather than the artificial light produced at the Juelich experiment, which cost 3.5 million euros ($3.8 million) to build and requires as much electricity in four hours as a four-person household would use in a year."

That from an AP feed here: http://www.mlive.com/news/us-world/index.ssf/2017/03/german_scientists_test_artific.html

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well,

Today was a refrain from the past in this thread since I first posted about Tesla here. Today Tesla finally broke $300 a share. My initial investment which I took back, when Tesla was ~90, and with a profit, let me actually have a token $5k gain and retain most of my original shares.

Since then my initial investment, even after deducting my taking my principal back with profit, than adding in our recent inheritance of the shares we advised Lynn's parents to buy when Tesla was at $70, left us today in a position to say that we are comfortably in the low five figures in number of shares, and yes, I will finally admit this is significant money.

Remember we already took out our initial investment plus a small profit so I can say today we made money with our investment. But until I cash in my shares for the rest, we can't say we made or lost money yet.

Why let it ride? Isn't that being greedy? Nahh. See Tesla will debut its consumer priced Model 3 at the end of this year, and begin mass production and filling of the 400k $1000 deposits made to reserve a place in line for one. All refundable of course.

Tesla is going to make it or break it on the Model 3. Then close on its heels will be the model "Y." Models S3XY. Tesla makes the number 3 like an e.

I recommended all along to buy it and hold and only a couple of folks jumped in and out and made some nice change with them.

Smitty, it has become a significant amount at this point. For the newcomers, I invested in Tesla after writing about them here since Musk joined them in 2003. As well as writing about Space X. One of our old but gone members called it a typical pump and dump. Another pyramid or other scam.

I bought in on IPO at $17 and $22.50. then twice more when it crashed to 22.5 again after missing a few times because I am not a stressed out trader and missed the one day bounce down then back up. I invested money I could afford to lose not from all our savings but mostly from my leftover  company payroll account when we decided to retire again in December 2009. I was tired of the post 2007/8/9, and to today, .5 % interest maxing out today at about 1.5%. I had invested in our funds heavily during 2007-2009 while the funds were rock bottom prices. See, our house and land were bought short term loan and then paid off the smallish balance cash. So we only had utilities/food/fuel/Cable Internet to pay. I also buy all our cars from a few months old to three years old cash too, and we pay our credit cards off monthly or more often. So before you ask, yes, I could afford to use all my substantial income for investing as my military retirement and medical covered all our living expenses with a chunk left over.

Now I will let it ride and re-evaluate after the Model 3 is in full production in late 2018/2019. Then again in 2020, and monthly or so after that. My wife recently said we can't take it with us, and she will not go fulltiming again. <sigh>

But she will move to Colombia South America, or Costa Rica to try expat living for a while. We wanted to move to Canada but they don't want retirees even with enough funds to cover everything. Vancouver is close enough to US military health care under Tricare for life which I get next month at 65. But Canada has no desire for a bunch of American immigrants as they are seeing now. I see their problem with others. And we may just move near our newest grandchild in the Denver area.

We still have to finish a freshening of her parent's house (Paint and carpet) and sell it and the property, then sell our stuff and then our property. I South America I can afford a full time housekeeper and groundskeeper couple, and live very well away from city compression. We will likely be traveling to both countries and Denver for a final sanity check. Our kids want us in South America because they have been there with Doctors Without Borders trips for a month twice. They are both BSRNs and she is long time surgical ICU nurse. My son put her through Nursing school when he owned the local Outback Steakhouse. Then he decided the 24/7 of the restaurant biz was burning him out, and he did not want to start using his own degree, so he decided she would return the favor and put him through nursing school. See she was working 12 on 12 off and 12 hour shifts. He wanted that. Now they are at the same hospital and five on five off and can ski, travel, and visit friends all over the world for vacation weeks. They want to have us there for them to visit as much as they want.

So Tesla is good, and this was a catch up for my friends. The back is not as good as I hoped, but serviceable for the basics, no heavy lifting. The eye surgeries went well. We may have an additional lens slipped in to give me the near vision I had before.

All bills are paid and we are not much interested in making more money. Our kids don't need it and we keep making more than we spend. Maybe I'll cash in a few shares in late 2017 to buy a Model E ourselves for me. And I don't see any no better ways to park my money with more satisfaction, in addition to already making money on it.

Model 3 page: https://www.tesla.com/model3

 

Edited by RV_
typos

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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Derek - I thought of you today... and salute your ride on Tesla!!!

You may recall I've been in and out of Tesla a few times as this thread has been working up to page 25:)! I put a sell order in for $304.24 yesterday, for 75% of the current shares we had in Tesla, not expecting to see it until late Wed or early Thursday. All had been held for Long Term gain treatment... 

And for you sir, with all that you have had going on, I'm happy your long ride has gone so well. Sure, some down time during this period, and probably more dips ahead too. But as you've pointed out, you two have worked hard to position yourselves that this is really not 'Live on money.', it's going to be more like 'Grand living on money:)!' when you decide it is time to sell. 

I've not commented before, but have read a few of your posts about moving possibly out of the country. Panama (East Side) and Costa Rica are places where we've heard many US Patriots are quite happy to live in. 

Shifting back to stocks, as you also may recall, I'm a fan of Musk too. If Space X goes public, I'll gladly jump in with the IPO gang. 

Keep your posts coming, here and elsewhere. I may not respond all the time, and admit I'm sometimes a week or two late in reading them, but I do get caught up at least montly. ALWAYS enjoy your research on posts, and the info you share along the way, and your attention to detail on adding links. A benefit to the board.

Best sir,

Smitty

By the way, I also place some funds in CAT during their post IRS/FBI raid dip. As well as we still retain Qualcomm, now going on 15+ years for a bucket of the shares. Have been in, out, in, out of Apple more times then I can recall. Long, and many, many Short Term rides. (And just a reminder, these are the funds that are not tied to our retirement stability. We use post tax gains for RV modifications, helping our daughter, donations, and occasionally a non box wine night too!! DNP, AWK, evil BAC have also been good stocks. (DNP as a short of parking lot in DRIP format, and BAC another combo of Long Term hold's as well as some 'churning' Short Term gainers... I find that where as I would maybe spend 5 hours a week 3-4 years ago on stocks, now I'm spending an hour on Sunday AM reviewing, and then setting up entry and exit points and then seeing what happens the next week... So not near as active as I was when first retiring. Suppose it is the cycle of things:)!

 

Be safe, have fun,

Smitty

04 CC Allure "RooII" - Our "E" ride for life!

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Thanks Smitty, 

As a beginner investor I learned a lot here. I always looked at investing like piloting an aircraft. I don't know how to pilot an aircraft. My rule is to never ride in any aircraft in which the pilot is me?

I let others, in our USAA funds, manage them for me. The only individual stock I ever bought was TSLA. And I started with all I had in my liquid savings, which included my petty cash/payroll account from my LLC selling and designing steel buildings, when I retired for my last time. 

Remember when I thought it was a decent profit at $90, but not significant money? Lol boy is it significant money now. 

Good article on the control patent. Thanks. 

It is nice that I now understood 99% if your comments. I've been interacting with Seeking Alpha and am AreV there. Here is an article I agree with, and commented on when the shorts got their Alternate facts mixed up. Check this Tesla prognosis for the next three years.

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4061142-can-tesla-rev-revenues-significantly-next-year?auth_param=ee6s6:1cefqnj:49d2217412dd4a66142113682e8b3408&uprof=46&utoken=39f3b592412733ed04865ae67b96d2a2405ad5b4

I'm letting it ride long. It finally broke and set $300 as the stable new high. I expect it to go to $600 a share. What amazes me are how many folks are anti anything they perceive as politically opposite them. Using personal egos to invest is like blogging while drunk. Nothing good can come of it. The shorts are angry people now with the second big Tesla squeeze in three years on them. When they say the sky is falling every day for the last nIne years within a few weeks or months, and nothing continually happens as they predict. They can't seem to recall last night/week/month/year. They seem to think that if the say enough negatives that everyone will forget what they know and stampede. 

I'm glad you have had luck with Tesla too. 

Wait until the model 3 is out and in full production!

It isn't just Musk and his industries, there are emerging technologies and medical breakthroughs in numbers too overwhelming in sheer magnitude to be able to grasp. We just have to pick and learn.

So excited that Tesla finally broke 300. Now on to $400 by mid 2018!

 

 

Edited by RV_

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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WooHoo! $307.07 after closing today in after hours trading.

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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Tesla just announced the next two models will be a semi big rig, and a pickup truck. Read about it here:

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4062425-tesla-semi-truck-unveiled-september?auth_param=ee6s6:1cf0h9f:7e914e0fcbb42f3fd6232f0484fd4aa6&uprof=46&utoken=39f3b592412733ed04865ae67b96d2a2405ad5b4

Looks like RVrs will soon be able to go electric I can't imagine the cost however. I bet one with unlimited resources will show up pulling a top of the line fiver.

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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  • 2 weeks later...

Tesla closed at 308.03 today. There are many new markets and technologies to look into with high risk high reward like Tesla. I am looking forward to the unveiling of the Pickup and semi starting in September. Not in production then, but the main R&D done and first testing prototypes. It is only a matter of time before the first waves of model 3 cars come out this year.

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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New high today closing at $313.79

Anybody else riding this long bull market?

Anyone with new investment ideas?

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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