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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]

#82
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's been 160 years since the first hydrogen fuel cell and the lead-acid battery were invented.

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

#83

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…

That is true, but when the reporter asked at the end "what is it about YOU that seems to invite skepticism", he replied with "I think it's because WE'RE doing things that are unlikely to succeed". At least Elon is speaking from the frame of the team and not from his ego, even if the media is not.

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

#86
post #69

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

Is he not within his rights to buy a company and lead it to success?

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

#87
post #20
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 thought this was an insightful look at Elon Musk, the man. It looks like his eyes are actually tearing up when discussing the NASA contract. Another area of the interview I found telling was when Musk described 2008 and how he essentially lost all his money, got divorced, and almost faced a nervous breakdown. Musk isn't some billionaire playboy, he's a brilliant man with the conviction to take bold risks that could…

How does that crisis compare to Jobs' crisis with NeXT? My understanding is that he had a reality check that took about a decade, during which he and the people who worked with him pushed extremely hard, nearly failed, and were saved by the Apple buyout.

Musk has also accumulated tales of his immaturity as a business leader -- trying to switch PayPal to Windows, for example -- but if 2008 was a turning point for him, then he went through it a lot faster than Jobs.

Of course plenty of other people who have gone through crises and come out the other side much more fit. The entrepreneur's hero's journey?

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

#88

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…

His move is economical as well as and advantage for his business.

If you take him for his word and since he believes in breaking down a problem into its individual components and improve it the the only reason he is building the battery factory is because he saw the opportunity and the potential to make a batter and cheaper battery.

And on the issues of charging stations is he needs them anyway and it's not like there's a standardized connector for quickly charging a car so he made his own, he would have done the same it there was a connector but it wasn't any good, however i doubt he would have done it if there wasn't an engineering advantage.

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

#89

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…

> This report sadly gives nobody else any credit in the development of this empire.

Sounds like someone who was very popular in Cupertino, too.

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