Tesla Motors' Stock Finally Falls
Wall Street's favored child of the year has finally hit some rough terrain. Third-quarter earnings were meek, causing stocks to tumble 20.9 percent on Tuesday in after hours trading. Now, a third fire in six weeks in a Model S is causing more than a few heads to turn. The latest fire was in Smyrna, Tennessee where federal investigators are getting involved amid fears that there might be some fundamental engineering problem.
Tesla has been the symbol of the potential and progress made in marrying high-end technology with excellent design in automobiles. If these fires continue, though, then the stock price and public good will may never fully recover. Generally speaking, car fires are very, very unlikely, but roughly 33 still happen every day. Given the sheer number of vehicles on the road that are actively used, that still leaves a Tesla Model S several times as likely to catch fire over the past six weeks than any given regular auto.
A recall or retrofit might be necessary based on federal investigation findings – both of which would be catastrophic for the young automaker.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
-
ethanolson The fundamental problem is the type of battery can horribly destabilize... but usually doesn't. Put 134 batteries in the pack and you have a potential hazard. A few will catch on fire. That's just going to happen.Reply -
rwinches Well the front of the car was on fire but no flames or smoke from under the car where the batteries are mounted. What does that mean? Did the hot motor ignite flammable car parts? Just what kind of road debris did the car hit? How do they keep the motor cool? I do know that electrical fires are wicked.Reply -
Nilo BP Tesla is so last semester. Now to see who the teenage girls at the trading desks are babbling about this time...Reply -
r1Master DRIVERS NEED TO STOP HITTING THINGS ! ! ! Don't blame the manufacturer for something that is clearly the IDIOT drivers fault... *shakes head*Reply -
karkacool Oil companies bought the stocks, planned some fires and then sold the stocks. It is that easy to manipulate your mind when you have money :) Wish all the best for Elon Musk, hope he makes it.Reply -
DRosencraft Tesla's goals are admirable. But they've always struck me as horribly arrogant and having too much self-importance from their spokespeople and leadership. The way some people have been hyping the Model S in particular (like whoever it was that decided it deserved a safety rating above their own scale) has been worrying. It's almost as if they're trying to hype it as much as possible to cover-up a problem.Reply
I hope the company succeeds in a pure sense. I mean selling a lot of quality vehicles. They are one of the biggest driving forces behind electric vehicles in the US right now. But they do concern me. Every time I hear about them I get a queasy feeling something bad is going to happen, like there's gonna be a disastrous scandal to come out. May be the case of right message and wrong messenger as far as changing the car and energy culture. -
danwat1234 Reply
The motor is in the back, as are the high voltage power regulators. They are water cooled with radiators in the front. In the front you have the cabin/battery air conditioner, electric steering, a small compressor (maybe for the optional air suspension, maybe for the brake booster, not sure), lead acid acessory battery somewhere, etc.11894788 said:Well the front of the car was on fire but no flames or smoke from under the car where the batteries are mounted. What does that mean? Did the hot motor ignite flammable car parts? Just what kind of road debris did the car hit? How do they keep the motor cool? I do know that electrical fires are wicked.
It will be interesting to see what got hot since it wasn't the battery this latest time I don't think.
-
chicofehr Will probably be another Solyndra and go bankrupt. Green tech just isn't profitable yet. Still another 20-30 years before this stuff can make money without the Gov't bailing it out like wind mills that kill millions of birds every year and and make the people near by ill and solar panels that take 10+years to pay themselves off and product lots of pollution in China where they are made. Also electric cars wont stop pollution. We still have to charge them and the only electrical power generation that doesn't produce much pollution is nuclear which has its own long term problems.Reply