Earlier quoted context omitted.
Elon has been hinting at faster-than-gas recharging rates for the past few weeks on Twitter. The Supercharger network upgrades are part 4 of a 5 part trilogy they've been running since April. It's widely rumored that part 5 will be battery swapping or something similar to enable ultra fast charging. My guess: Superchargers will remain free as promised and the battery swapping will offer faster charging, but at a cost…
5 part trilogy? He been reading Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy?
Elon Musk: Tesla network to triple by July, cross country travel by year’s end
51–60 of 69 posts
Re: Elon Musk: Tesla network to triple by July, cross country travel by year’s end
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
How about switching out those batteries Batteries in most electric cars are squeezed in every possible location. It's not just a cube you can slide out the side of the car. If it was a cube, you'd either have to make the car really big or cut the range in half. Maybe they've found some way around it with the Tesla, but it isn't usually just that they don't like the idea of battery-swap stations.
In the case of the Tesla, it actually is a cube, or at least a flat rectangular solid. They're not crammed in odd places. But the battery enclosure itself is integral to the frame, and the rest of the car is literally built around it. It's possible to remove the battery, but not trivial.
The Model S was designed for swapping from the start. The flat battery is just bolted under the car between the wheels. Selling swap-capable EVs means Tesla gets 7 ZEV credits per car instead of 4.
Re: Elon Musk: Tesla network to triple by July, cross country travel by year’s end
#53"Musk then spoke about how we might be able to terraform Mars by using greenhouse gasses to warm it up. ”Mars is a fixer-upper of a planet, but we could make it work.” he added." I thought that would be difficult because the Mars has a very week protective magnetosphere and any kind of atmosphere is blown away by the solar winds. Am I missing something?
Use SpaceX rocket to put machinery in orbit to convert atmospheric CO2 into blocks, mass drive them towards Mars, charge carbon tax credits to fund it.
Terraforming Mars or lower atmospheric CO2 content on Earth. Why can't we have both?
Re: Elon Musk: Tesla network to triple by July, cross country travel by year’s end
#54"Musk then spoke about how we might be able to terraform Mars by using greenhouse gasses to warm it up. ”Mars is a fixer-upper of a planet, but we could make it work.” he added." I thought that would be difficult because the Mars has a very week protective magnetosphere and any kind of atmosphere is blown away by the solar winds. Am I missing something?
Giving Mars an atmosphere that you or I could breathe is science fiction. It would require designer microbes, or enormous energy input.
Extending life beyond Earth - establishing a simple biosphere that's mostly plants - is much simpler. It's an engineering problem.
Loss to space is geologically slow [1]. Photochemical degradation of greenhouse gases is a bigger problem, but not a likely showstopper. Optimal mixes of greenhouse gases are so powerful that the output from one mine and one factory could be enough to dramatically raise temperatures [2]. We know where the halogen deposits are [3,4], and already have most of the technology to mine and process them robotically [5,6], but it would be expensive. The problem is to make it cheaper.
[1] http://www.cesr.fr/~genot/M2/article_science.pdf
[2] http://www.climatefutures.com/doc/marinova_et_al_journal_of_...
[3] http://aram.ess.sunysb.edu/tglotch/TDG18.pdf
[4] http://astronomy101.jpl.nasa.gov/files/Keller_Dissertation20...
[5] http://www.iaarc.org/news/a_news_2012_09_11.pdf
[6] http://www.nautilusminerals.com/i/pdf/2012-Q2-FactSheet.pdf
Re: Elon Musk: Tesla network to triple by July, cross country travel by year’s end
#55Waiting 30 minutes is still a dealbreaker for a lot of people. How about switching out those batteries like propane tanks. I'll let someone else figure out the technical details of that.
Tesla needs to start talks with quick-serve restaurant chains (McDonalds, in particular) for setting up charging stations at their restaurants. I don't know what a Supercharger draws (30 amps?), but the restaurant probably has enough excess utility power to run 1 or 2 of them.
They should be looking at installing charging stations everywhere there is commercial 3-phase power available, and charge other car maker's for access for their own EVs (like the LEAF).
Re: Elon Musk: Tesla network to triple by July, cross country travel by year’s end
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
If he gets the manufacturing costs down and the volume up, could the service possibly be cheaper than the typical $50 fill up? That would be a game changer.
Really? Right now it costs an average of about $7-8 bucks for a typical 230 mi range (about a tank). If the service costs anywhere near $50, it'd be disappointing. Cost reduction plays a huge (if not the biggest) consideration in going electric.
Based on how much per kWh? I can charge my car for $0.01/KwH at night.
Re: Elon Musk: Tesla network to triple by July, cross country travel by year’s end
#57Waiting 30 minutes is still a dealbreaker for a lot of people. How about switching out those batteries like propane tanks. I'll let someone else figure out the technical details of that.
I'd wait 30 minutes to save $45. Currently a fill-up from 1/8th of a tank to full costs me $58. Waiting 30 minutes to get $45 worth of power is like making $90 per hour. Lots of people will be OK with that I think.
People wait 30 minutes or more to get their car washed already... Ohhhhh... Charge up and Car Wash together! That would be awesome!
Re: Elon Musk: Tesla network to triple by July, cross country travel by year’s end
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
Twenty percent of your road time spent not moving? Yes, I would complain about that. I don't think anyone who has taken any considerable road trip would find this strange.
Most car owners, including Tesla owners, don't take that many road trips. You drive in the range you charge it at night. If you do take a road trip, schedule the stop for dinner at the same time as the recharge.
The whole point of this transcontinental charge network, at least as it has been marketed, is for road trips. If you're driving across the country it's unlikely that you will want to stop for 30 minutes every 2 hours. I could see two or three 30 minute stops per day at the most.
Re: Elon Musk: Tesla network to triple by July, cross country travel by year’s end
#59“It was clear that we were not going to see electric cars from incumbent manufacturers,” says Musk."
Clear, perhaps, but not correct. Ford, GM, Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi, Mercedes and Toyota all sell electric cars (though the latter two use Tesla's batteries). BMW is about to start. California has almost single-handedly willed these cars into existence.
Re: Elon Musk: Tesla network to triple by July, cross country travel by year’s end
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can do SF to Vegas without stopping (except for fuel, and in a diesel truck with extra tanks, without stopping). My preference is generally top stop and have a meal at Harris Ranch, too (which, conveniently, is where the supercharger is), or at In-N-Out in Bakersfield, but that's about it. SF to Seattle is the really hard one. SF to Portland is something I can do (without starting absurdly early, or maybe even afte…
Safely driving over 1300km (edit: SF to Seattle) without stopping is impossible. http://drowsydriving.org/about/facts-and-stats/ Please adjust your driving behavior.
What do you mean by "without stopping"? Are you including fuel stops? I don't know of any vehicle which has an 800-mile range, so in a purely superficial sense your statement is of course correct; but your reference to "driving behavior" and link to "drowsydriving.org" suggests that you are focused more on human limits than those of our vehicles.
If that is the case, I am here to tell you that driving from Seattle to San Francisco in a single run is neither impossible nor even particularly remarkable. I make this trip two or three times a year, visiting my California-based family. I-5 is a smooth, easy, comfortable road, well engineered and well maintained. The challenge is not fatigue but boredom, especially through the long, straight sections in the wide-open countryside of Nothern California, where average traffic speed approaches 80 mph. Bring an interesting companion or some good energetic music and you're set.