Tesla had big plans for 2017 — here's everything it accomplished

Tesla

• At the end of 2016, I made some predictions about Tesla. 
• A year later, I'm grading myself on how I — and Tesla — did.
• On balance, Tesla got a higher GPA than I did.

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A year ago, I took a gander at everything Tesla had in store for it in 2017 and made some predictions. As the carmaker heads into an even more challenging 2018, I thought it would be worth a look back to grade both Tesla — and myself! 

Here's the report card:

The launch of the Model 3

Timothy Artman/Tesla

"Tesla's mass-market vehicle, which will be priced at around $30,000 after tax breaks and serve up 200 miles of range on a single charge, is scheduled to launch in late 2017," I wrote.

"There's skepticism about whether Tesla will be able to meet that goal, but the Model 3 should be far easier to build than the delayed Model X SUV was."

I added: "Make no mistake — this is Tesla most important execution point of the entire year. Bringing in the Model 3 on time will vindicate Musk's promises, vision, and ambitions."

Grade:

Tesla, A+

Me, B+

Tesla launched the Model 3 in July, ahead of schedule and ahead of my expectations. Note that I didn't grade Tesla on actually building the Model 3. On that score, Elon Musk would probably give himself an F-, as the new vehicle has massively lagged its ambitious production targets.

I'm taking the hit for that myself in my grade. I should have seen it coming and expressed more than sidelong skepticism.

The arrival of Tesla's solar roof

Tesla

"The first important product from the Tesla-SolarCity tie-up will be the solar roof," I wrote.

I added: "Effectively, it will turn an entire roof into a giant, durable solar panel. It will also likely be an expensive product. But it will feed into Tesla's other products — and provide Tesla with a way to free SolarCity from its current leasing model, moving toward selling solar solutions rather than loaning them out."

Grade:

Tesla, C-

Me, B-

The solar roof isn't as far along as it should have been by this point. Tesla said mid-2017 for a rollout, but it later pushed that back to 2018. Again, not good for either me or Tesla, but Tesla does worse on this one. I still like the product, and my prediction wasn't as linked to the timetable. Obviously, I get a lower grade in 2018 is the solar roof suffers more delays.

The development of the Tesla Network

Thomson Reuters

"Musk has done a complete 180 on car sharing, likely compelled by Uber's success and by the advent of ride-sharing and car-sharing schemes from traditional automakers," I wrote.

"Up to this point, he's talked a good game about enabling owners to make money off their Teslas when they'd otherwise be sitting in the driveway — while perhaps not really expecting that the owner of a $100,000 luxury car would want to lend it out and have it come back with a few dents and a bunch of McDonald's wrappers in the backseat."

Then I added" "But now Tesla will likely start to build out a network, leveraging its vehicles' software and Tesla Autopilot suite of self-driving features. So look for the Tesla Network to be discussed far more in 2017."

Grade:

Tesla, D

Me, F

The Tesla Network is pretty much nowheresville at the end of 2017. Better luck in 2018! I get the lower grade because I was pushing the idea, while Tesla was just dropping suggestions.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider