I was responding to another post about theoretically having automation of labour, that would only require 5% employment.  That would require a huge push in R&D, which would need to be driven by tech guys, because who else can do it?

Tesla was privately funded until 2010 I believe.  So throughout the financial crisis, when they came very close to bankruptcy, the government didn't loan or grant Tesla anything.  In 2010 they received a government loan, which has already been repaid in full, with interest.  Then I believe they received another loan to expand their production capacity, and tax cuts from Nevada from building the gigafactory over there.

So the problem with Tesla right now, is their production capacity.  They were only able to do ~33,000 cars in 2014, and will approximately double that in 2015.  But still, they are a drop in the bucket in global car sales.  So it's going to take a few years at the current momentum to be a big player in the industry.

Their GAAP financials will be normal COGS subtracted from revenues...what are you speaking of that's misleading?  They have a lot of automation, and literally form the body out of raw sheets of aluminum, so their production facility is pretty efficient.  Check out the videos if you're interested.

Yeah, I'd like to pick up some TSLA shares at this point, but all my USD are invested right now.  I'm Canadian, and I don't want to convert CDN to USD right now because the exchange rate is ridiculous.  I'll need to sell off some GOOG shares to free up some USD, but I missed the boat at $570+ a couple days ago.  TSLA is a super volatile stock, because it's valuation is based on bets about the company well into the future - so very speculative.