Tesla Investor Day Was a Hit

It took us almost a week to figure out what Musk’s boring, rambling Investor Day was all about. Once we understood, we were floored!

By now, you’ve probably heard about what a bust Investor Day was. Leading up to the event, itself, the Tesla true believers and Muskonauts were out in force hyping up all manner of techno-wizardry. Everything from a production version of the long-awaited Cybertruck and Roadster (first shown in 2017) to a half-priced Model 3, and even an all-new, $25,000 model set to take the EV market by storm … but none of those things happened.

What the world got, instead, was a four-hour long lecture from a number of Tesla’s top engineers. It was a long, rambling, and not entirely coherent sort of thing that explored climate change, the necessity of weening society off of fossil fuels, and the “one and done,” circular nature of electric vehicle production that enables minerals, once mined, to be used again and again. There was also an explanation of basic manufacturing concepts and how Tesla was working to do things differently, as well as a dubiously animated short where a Tesla Optimus awkwardly waddle across a room to tighten screws on another Optimus that’s been inexplicably strapped into a dental chair. At one point, one of Tesla AI’s muckety-mucks showed some numberless graphs as supposed “evidence” of the safety of the brand’s largely discredited “Full Self Driving” software.

The whole thing was bizarre, subdued, and uncharacteristically boring for a Musk affair — but that’s when it dawned on us that Tesla Investor Day wasn’t about Elon Musk. It was about everyone else … and that everyone else? They don’t need Elon.

There is a Whole Lot More to Tesla Than Elon Musk

While he may not admit it, Elon Musk did not “found” Tesla Motors in the way that you probably think he did. Yes, he was instrumental in his success, but the “founder” title was purchased. Without guys like Martin Eberhard, JB Straubel, and even Peter Rawlinson, Tesla wouldn’t be what it is … and this event, more than any other, was a tacit admission that Tesla can get along without Elon Musk.

Which, in fairness, is exactly what the investors wanted. Over the past year, Elon has gone down a dangerously political rabbit hole with his public, $44 billion purchase of Twitter and subsequent pandering to right-wing ideologues, echoing of Vladimir Putin’s anti-Ukranian talking points, and seeming embrace of unabashedly racist comments from people like ex-Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams.

For the environmentalists and educated, left-leaning EV buyers who fueled Tesla’s growth, Elon going rogue (or, at least, “red”) was nothing, if not conerning.

By trotting out other leaders within Tesla, engineers, visionaries, and leaders in their own right, Tesla made it clear that its stated mission remains intact, and that it’s moving forward on delivering a comprehensive and thoroughly conceived ecosystem of energy management, clean transportation, and grid resilience in the face of certain climate uncertainty.

Elon, meanwhile, seemed tired as he putzed around on stage — and that’s as it should be. His political clown show has, after all, been exhausting enough, and TSLA investors deserve better. With the the depth of Tesla’s talent pool finally getting a share in the spotlight, maybe they’ll get that.

But hey — you don’t have to take our word for it. Watch the Tesla Investor Day for yourself (all four hours of it), below, then let us know if that was the message you got from it in the comments.

Tesla Investor Day 2023

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