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Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]

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Re: Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]

#61

Post by sixQuarks »

pedalpete wrote: post #29

I'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…

Well, my memory isn't perfect, but didn't Musk try to let some other guy run Tesla, only to see it nearly driven into bankruptcy? It wasn't until Musk came back as CEO that it turned around, and is now worth over $20 billion. Of course there are countless talented people behind the product, but like great athletes, if they don't have a great coach, they won't win a lot of games. Musk just happens to be the greatest coach we've seen in generations.

Re: Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]

#62

Post by stcredzero »

coreymgilmore wrote: post #26

Musk 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…

Musk is thinking 8 steps ahead of almost everyone.

I think he's just thinking from first principles and it's the rest of us that have convoluted reality with a panoply of suppositions and just-so stories. People like Musk only seem like they have a "reality distortion field because we're seeing his simple conclusions through the lens of our own distortions. (It's us that have the 8-steps, in a tortured circle.)

Re: Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]

#63

Post by pedalpete »

carlosdp wrote: post #52
pedalpete wrote: post #29

I'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.

That's an interesting perspective, I hadn't thought of it that way. My concern is that it feeds into the idea that these guys do it all on their own, but then speak to any VC, and they talk about the team.

Re: Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]

#64

Post by dm2 »

bsilvereagle wrote: post #45
andrewtbham wrote: post #18

Since the car is so quiet... I wonder if the noise the car makes on these clips is an overdub.

Jalopnik thinks they were dubbed: http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/why-is-60-minutes-dubbing-m... But I also remember reading somewhere that the ADA was pushing for electric cars to emit noise for deaf and hard hearing pedestrians.

"But I also remember reading somewhere that the ADA was pushing for electric cars to emit noise for deaf and hard hearing pedestrians."

I read a similar one except it was regarding blind pedestrians.

I'm not sure how a silent vehicle would affect deaf person.

Re: Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]

#65

Post by greglindahl »

threeseed wrote: post #50
dpcheng2003 wrote: post #35

Earlier 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…

Tesla cars are already compliant with J1772 (a small adapter that comes with every car) and CHAdeMO ($1,000 adapter, coming soon.)

Re: Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]

#66

Post by tbolse »

I wonder how fast everyone forgets the real founders of Tesla: Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, and all credit is put on Elon. I am sure he deserves a lot of credit for his foresight, strategic decisions and also his execution... Bottom line he bought himself into the electric car game, which was itself a very good strategic move.

Re: Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]

#67

Post by bane »

markdown wrote: post #54
bane wrote: post #3

He 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)

Yeah, I remember that now. This is something deep inside him. I suspect it's inside lots of people of this age, growing up in the vapors of the end of the space age. He may feel a deep responsibility for making this happen now that he had the chance.

Re: Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]

#68

Post by dclowd9901 »

cushychicken wrote: post #33
darkmighty wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, it's clear that all he did wouldn't be possible without a superb team behind him. But he's got such a strong character that it's just a talent magnet -- if not more, probably the best motivator one institution could ever hope, specially for engineers. I think he's aware and quite pleased at all this image building as a "RL Iron Man", because it does wonders for the success of the companies. It's this kind of sp…

>Salary paid in dreams. That's something that would look great in a marble facade.

Yes, I'd rather stare at a pretty marvel façade than put my kids through college, too.

I'm all about sweat equity, but that payoff better be substantial.

Re: Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]

#69

Post by tbolse »

pedalpete wrote: post #29

I'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…

Musk bought himself into the game. There is actually some more dirty little secrets to the whole story. It looks like Musk bought himself in and then overtook the whole company. In 2009 after Eberhard (real founder and CEO) was kicked out, he filed a lawsuite against Musk - it got settled for god knows how many dollars.

Here is the full complaint: http://evworld.com/pdf/eberhardvmusk.pdf

Re: Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]

#70

Post by bittercynic »

stcredzero wrote: post #62
coreymgilmore wrote: post #26

Musk 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…

Musk is thinking 8 steps ahead of almost everyone. I think he's just thinking from first principles and it's the rest of us that have convoluted reality with a panoply of suppositions and just-so stories. People like Musk only seem like they have a "reality distortion field because we're seeing his simple conclusions through the lens of our own distortions. (It's us that have the 8-steps, in a tortured circle.)

He seems to have a Reality Clarification Field to me.
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