1/ Rambling Friday thoughts: Recently I've been talking about how Ford's been ramping up their public war with Tesla and how hardly anyone is taking it seriously. Read a bunch of domestic auto history books and you'll realize that big boys like Ford and GM love to get down in the https://twitter.com/InsideEVs/status/1388204011686354950

2/ mud and beat people at their own game. That's not a bad thing. It's expected when you're in a highly competitive business with razor thin margins, and brand loyalties/images that can and do shift overnight. What you're seeing from Levine (someone who's publicly fighting back

3/ on Ford's behalf and not pulling punches) is just the start. And now Sandy (who's obviously just a shill-for-hire, but still very influential in the EV scene and market) is carrying water for Ford. That's not a coincidence. It's all part of this grass-roots guerilla warfare

4/ strategy of Ford's, and I love it. Fight fire with fire. Don't take shit. Don't bow down to bullies.

And now, as of the last Tesla earnings call that officially announced the delay of Semi and Roadster 2, due to the delay of 4680 production-ready cells, means Ford is going

5/ to beat Tesla (and possibly Rivian) to market with a viable EV truck, based on a platform that has already been the best selling truck in America, and the world, for quite some time. The real crux for Tesla here is the delay of the 4680 cells, which in all likelihood are

6/ just as much vaporware as several of their other products have proven to be. In order to come anywhere close to their boasted specs on the Semi, Roadster 2, Cybertruck, and Plaid Plus vehicles, they NEED breakthrough battery tech. Period. They simply can't go to market with

7/ their "next gen" EVs without those cells. If Tesla had actually managed to pull off those cells it could have floated the company along indefinitely. But now that golden goose is officially being roasted on the spit and Tesla is stranded with their current lineup.

8/ And now Ford is doing exactly what they said they would; they're building. Recall this video from October of 2018, their first official shot across the bow at Tesla and when I sounded the alarm on it:

9/ Everyone was so focused on stonk prices, dubious preorders, and miraculous claims that they weren't keeping an eye on the rearview mirror.

I think the second half of this year and especially next year are going to be very difficult for Tesla.

10/ Disclosure: not short or long a single damn thing in this space right now so blow me.

How timely...

Final addendum for now, but a very important question that $TSLA investors should be asking...

What happens to Giga Texas, now? Elon very recently shifted the focus of the Texas factory to the Model Y, since they can't get the CT to meet these specs without the 4680s. Soooo...?