Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm still going to bet on the guy who has put something in space.
Yes. Because it's not like the other guys have decades of experience in the automobile industry.
Or, the regulatory capture industry.
Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]
51–60 of 149 posts
Re: Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]
#52I'm only half way through, but so far, I find it very disappointing that CBS has not given credit to anybody else who Musk has worked with. They discuss "you decided to start a car company", but it was started by two other engineers, and Musk came in as an investor first, and joined the company later. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Motors It would have been nice to see Musk give some credit to the original vision…
To be fair, having a single face of the company being enforced constantly is probably an intentional PR decision. And it is quite effective from my perspective.
Re: Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]
#53Musk is thinking 8 steps ahead of almost everyone. While Tesla is a huge play with revolutionizing the car world, there are some other parts in play. First, his Gigafactory to produce batteries. When the other big automakers get into the electric car mindset, who are they going to buy batteries from? Musk who owns the single largest and high-tech battery factory (that produces on an enormous scale), or other battery…
I agree with a lot of what you said. However, this: "Competitors will not have the ability to compete on charging when they release cars because Tesla will already have an established network." is dramatically wrong. They will absolutely compete on charging, stubbornly so, and probably leveraging politics in the process. The major energy companies will also get into the charging business (much like the oil companies…
I very much agree with you: energy companies and other auto manufacturers will get into the charging business. They have to!
But I defend my point based on this: Would you buy a car that has an established charging network, or a car with only a few chargers nationwide? Of course, the established network since there is less worry about "filling up". This is a direct mirror of today's issue with electric vehicles: there isn't a large charging network. Tesla has been competing against other vehicles that have no range anxiety. Similarly, if GM produces a car to use only a GM charger buyers will feel this anxiety and tend toward an easier solution. Therefore, it would only make sense for GM to license the rights to use Tesla chargers since GM can quell range fears and still make money off the car sale.
As for a standard in charging. This is going to be a long fight. The energy and auto industry (minus Tesla) has the political power and money to force a standard many times over. The question becomes: accept a standard because it exists and was funded well (feature phones), or choose something new because it is supremely better (iPhone 1).
Who knows, I enjoyed your response. It made me rethink about this.
Re: Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]
#54He doesn't so much as say it, but show it in his eyes how much the NASA contract meant and how much passion he has.
I saw this when he teared up in the 60 minute interview last year when talking about how crushed he was that his childhood heroes (Neil Armstrong et al) attacked him and his company (wasn't personal, they just thought space exploration should be the sole domain of NASA, and not corporations)
Re: Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]
#55Since the car is so quiet... I wonder if the noise the car makes on these clips is an overdub.
The sound is definitely from the vehicle which is doing the filming. The Tesla Model S does not sound like that.
Re: Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]
#56He doesn't so much as say it, but show it in his eyes how much the NASA contract meant and how much passion he has.
Public money saved him.
Kudos all around! To those within the government with the foresight to bet on Musk (or those like him) and to Musk for actually pulling off something great with the opportunity.
Re: Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]
#57Musk is thinking 8 steps ahead of almost everyone. While Tesla is a huge play with revolutionizing the car world, there are some other parts in play. First, his Gigafactory to produce batteries. When the other big automakers get into the electric car mindset, who are they going to buy batteries from? Musk who owns the single largest and high-tech battery factory (that produces on an enormous scale), or other battery…
> Did you think that the Tesla and Supercharger of proprietary connectors for no reason
This isn't just entirely for a competitive advantage, although I'm sure they plan on licensing as you mention.
The fact is none of the existing DC charging standards can handle nearly as much power as Tesla's system can. CHAdeMO can handle up to 62kW (but most are 50kW or less), and some of the new Combo chargers have demonstrated (but not implemented) ~100kW. Superchargers can do 120kW right now, and Tesla has claimed they will up this to 135. As with so much of what they do, the existing state of the art is just so far behind they had no option but to roll their own. Everything else that exists currently is simply too slow for recharging during long distance trips (which nobody else cares about, because no other BEV has anywhere near the range)
Re: Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
Makes me think how much we need a revolution in batteries. I am wondering if there will be a new type of batteries soon or maybe we'll get improved capacity by slapping a software layer that manages charging/discharging.
We've needed one for ages! Lithium ion is the best we can do so far, and it has two GAPING flaws: * tons of energy is lost as heat * volatility of the chemical storage mechanism occasionally causes that heat to get released as an explosion I'd love to see Musk's solution end up in a massive increase in battery performance.
I've been adamant that we've needed a battery revolution since Terminator. Batteries were the major hurdle 30 years ago and they still today.
I can't believe it's been 30 years.
Re: Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, you didn't think his clients were going to be your average HN reader, who won't spend money to buy expensive developer tools or who daily ask how to get around a paywall because they believe everything should be free? A few large companies and governments were his obvious targets. Just like large defense contractors exist on "public" money.
> A few large companies and governments were his obvious targets. Just like large defense contractors exist on "public" money. Exactly. The military-industrial complex lives mostly on public money.
"Exactly. The military-industrial complex lives mostly on public money."
That's what I said. Is there some other point that you're trying to make? Getting a government contract isn't taking donations. You deliver a service or a product and you get paid for it. The US government spends a lot of money. Cray Supercomputer sold systems to the government too, for example. I imagine that if Elon wants to build his electric jet someday, one of his best business planes would be to build electric jet drones for the US government.
Re: Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's amazing is that Tesla has been providing NRE R&D for OTHER automotive companies for years already. Last year, $15 million of their revenue was from development services but as early as 2011, $55 million of revenue (>25%) was from basically doing powertrain design for companies like Toyota and Mercedes. Link to last 10-K: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1318605/0001193125140... Tesla will definitely make…
The charging network also has a lot of risks associated with it. There are 192 other countries in this world all of whom will be looking to charging standards as opposed to relying on a single American company. This means that some time in the near future Tesla will have to go back and retrofit their cars/stations to meet this standard. Apple's walled garden strategy works because the devices are cheap and relatively…
Could that be sold as an upgrade, something akin to the international outlet kits that apple sells for it's laptop chargers?