[MenhirMike]

Could also be an interesting Pivot in the future - with more competition in the EV market (and a race to the bottom for pricing, combined with the need to get more and more batteries), maybe it's better for Tesla to get out of the car market (eventually) and into the "fuel" market.

[choudharism]

The valuation gap between that Tesla and this Tesla would wipe the company out. Fuel (however good) is a commodity, and a commodity company which doesn't own its raw materials is not a trillion dollar company.

[scythe]

Tesla's car business doesn't exactly justify their valuation either, certainly not with their recent decline in profit margin. A comparison to other manufacturers makes them look ridiculously overvalued. The explanation, to the extent there is one, probably has to do with a (real or perceived) moat of expertise surrounding EV and battery technology that may allow (???) future innovation/expansion into new markets. I'd say there's a large chance it's all hot air, but they've pulled several rabbits out of the hat already.

[dv_dt]

Tesla owns a solar cell and storage battery business. This is owning the vertical integration of EV fuel. You don’t need exclusive access to the Sun any more than an oil company needs to monopolize all oil fields to succeed.

[XorNot]

Tesla has overall build quality problems, but AFAIK their components for battery/powertrain and charging are all state of the art.

So yeah, it's a viable pivot.