Why don't outsource all of the grid upgrades to Tesla? Get it done in 2 years instead of 7 and no bonuses/raises to Palo Alto employees for a job poorly done.

/marc

Musk is a proven unstable and immoral individual. Our city should keep his credibility in perspective when making deals with Tesla, as Musk is the largest shareholder.

Palo Alto should be ashamed of itself for awarding this contract to Elon Musk given his history of violating labor laws, showing lack of respect for his own workers, for destroying Twitter and the truth, for fostering discrimination, for inciting violence, for putting endangering Tesla owners and those anywhere near those vehicles and then blaming owners for the vehicles' safety problems, for bragging about incorporating elsewhere to escape California taxes etc etc.

But this being Palo Alto I'm sure the city manager isn't the least bit ashamed of awarding Tesla the contract without public discussion.

Years ago Steve Jobs offered to pay to renovate a public park near their home. The Palo Alto city clowncil turned it down with the comment that it would lead to rich people could move to the front of the list.

Palo Alto should obviously turn this down. Taking the money would lead to the idea that rich companies could get better power by paying part of the costs.

/marc

The whole point of our utility is to provide plentiful and reliable power. This seems like a win/win option and we should take it.

City Council should approve this, and figure out why it takes years, if not decades for the city, to improve its electrical infrastructure. There is much about Musk that cannot be defended, but there is no reason for the city to shoot itself in the foot. Tesla is a major Palo Alto employer, and one of the few assets the US has to move this country away from carbon based transportation and energy.

Given the shorter timeline from 3-4 years to 15 months to upgrade a substation, I would consult with Elon Musk and his team of engineers for input on the city wide grid upgrade.

I believe he could come up with a solution that will take less than the 7 year , $350M budget. He may discover more efficiencies for the entire city rather than just the Stanford Research Park.

This is a good approach by the city to partner with Musk and Tesla with their technology innovation expertise, skilled staff and financial investment to improve part of the city's electrical grid. Maybe there are additional companies that wish to partner to speed up the upgrades for the rest of the Palo Alto grid.

Then there is the California grid which requires major help.

"This is a good approach by the city to partner with Musk and Tesla with their technology innovation expertise, skilled staff and financial investment to improve part of the city's electrical grid."

Sure, one can look his track record at X aka Twitter to see that! HAH!

Seriously, how many "skilled staff" did he unceremoniously lay off and how many are suing him?

RE "innovation expertise" how clever of him to blame customers for all the vehicle failures rather than taking responsibility for releasing dangerous products.

I could go on but just check any day's headlines for a rundown on his latest "accomplishments" so you can see what a great fit he is for PA Values and virtue-signalling.

The list goes on. Just check any day's worth of n

Musk is a quirky narcissist with a huge public profile by design.
I would urge caution to the City re: dealing with him.
- One wonders if he could threaten to remove “his” Palo Alto office location…like his dealings with the State of California during the height of Covid? Personal rules just for him.
I don’t care as others do about his not operating a union shop. I do dislike his apparent mysogyny.
But we should keep the discussion on a business level and focus on what’s best for the residents of the City of Palo Alto.