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Tesla reveals Supercharger network, Free Fill Ups

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Re: Tesla reveals Supercharger network, Free Fill Ups

#121

Post by sixQuarks »

I would say Elon Musk is the greatest entrepreneur of the past century - even more so than Steve Jobs. He simultaneously created three separate companies, all in extremely complex industries, and combined all of them into one overall strategy.

The precision manufacturing they learned with Space X is incorporated into the Tesla S. Their aim is to make the Model S the most reliable and problem-free vehicle due to this precision.

Now they are incorporating SolarCity technology into the entire system. This is absolutely brilliant!

Re: Tesla reveals Supercharger network, Free Fill Ups

#122

Post by veemjeem »

tjoff wrote: post #81
Osiris wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At $0.11/kWh, the Roadster at 53kWh would take almost $6 to completely fill. Though if these stations charge using solar power and store the power in a battery pack to discharge when a car hooks up, it could potentially cost them a lot less than $0.11/kWh, depending on the cost of building the station itself.

Solar will hardly be efficient enough, unless you'd have a whole solar farm beside each station... Also add maintenance of all those batteries and I bet you'd have a really hard time to motivate solar for economical reasons.

I doubt those stations will store the power locally. My bet is that the solar system pumps power into the grid during the day, generating $$ for tesla. Then in the night, it draws from the grid since power is cheaper then anyway.

Re: Tesla reveals Supercharger network, Free Fill Ups

#123

Post by veb »

ricardobeat wrote: post #49
Shenglong wrote: post #27

Tesla had a 250 million dollar operating loss in 2011 and 106 million last quarter. Add 700 million of debt onto that, and... I wonder how long they can keep up this kind of expansion. This however, is really cool.

Elon Musk alone has an estimated $2B fortune, so at least five years at that burn rate? :) Facebook's IPO bled much more money out to bankers than all Tesla has spent so far, it's not like they are doing bad. Tesla has the potential to take over a sizeable slice of the (huge) automobile industry.

They also have on thing that I don't think Facebook has, an awesome leader with a great vision.

That goes a long way in todays world.

Re: Tesla reveals Supercharger network, Free Fill Ups

#124

Post by veemjeem »

surrealize wrote: post #50

Making a "charging station" that could take the place of an existing gas station would be huge feat of engineering. When I go from the SF bay area down to LA, I get gas at kettleman city (because of the in-n-out :) and I go to the chevron station there. From google street view, it looks like that station can fuel 12 cars at a time. And when I'm there, there's often a line for a pump. A gas stop takes, say, 2 minutes.…

When it hits mass market, there will be charging stations at every metered parking spot. You can pay 25 cents for 15 minutes, or $1 for 15 minutes and a battery charge. Parking meters already draw power from the grid, so all they need to do is slap on a measurement tool and an electrical socket.

The only reason gas station exists is because one needs to store a great amount of gasoline in a container, but power lines are pretty much everywhere. Gas stations of tomorrow will be like the coin operated telephones of today. Most will become toxic barren shells, but few will be converted into toxic waste storage units.

Getting gas is an extraneous hassle that people in the future won't need to do anymore. Brick and mortar stores will all advertise "free charging" the same way they advertise free wifi today.

Re: Tesla reveals Supercharger network, Free Fill Ups

#125

Post by marshray »

lollerpops wrote: post #109
Osiris wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At $0.11/kWh, the Roadster at 53kWh would take almost $6 to completely fill. Though if these stations charge using solar power and store the power in a battery pack to discharge when a car hooks up, it could potentially cost them a lot less than $0.11/kWh, depending on the cost of building the station itself.

At $2/W, filling up a roadster would require $106,000 in solar panels. More if you anticipate more than one fill up per hour.

Probably much cheaper than installing tanks in the ground and pumps on the surface to handle gasoline. Not to mention remediating the site when the tanks eventually start to fail.

Re: Tesla reveals Supercharger network, Free Fill Ups

#126

Post by veemjeem »

eric-hu wrote: post #116
svmegatron wrote: post #37

If these become as popular as they seem like they should, I foresee long lines at the supercharging stations. I'm sure that 1. Tesla have thought of it and 2. They will milk the positive publicity from such an occurrence, but it could still be a PITA for, eg., folks who want to get home from Vegas.

What's to keep Tesla from partnering up with major supermarkets and malls? Tesla could offer free covered parking spaces to the building owner-operators and free (or metered) charging to the customers. The owner-operators get free 'green' PR, and could see increased business as customers have an incentive to stay in the stores longer. Tesla sees a real-estate free way to offer more charging stations, a marketing cost…

Yeah, I feel like charging stations of tomorrow will be advertised in the same way "free wifi" is advertised today.

Re: Tesla reveals Supercharger network, Free Fill Ups

#127

Post by marshray »

jlgreco wrote: post #90
001sky wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hydropower is clean and renewable. Dams are already built, etc. Everything has its tradeoffs, though. Remote solar and wind take up lost of room and are eyesores. Grid connects require large-scale duplication/new assets. But, I think we need less sprawl generally, so I find it hard to support, in particular, urban development where better use could be made of the land.

If there is anything this continent (or world, for that matter) is lacking, it is space. That said, I think we should be plastering the land we already use with solar panels. Might as well put all those rooftops to use. I also think there is likely a lot to see in the future of non-panel-type solar. That generally involves a much larger or smaller scope than panels though, "medium" sized doesn't work well.

If there is anything this continent (or world, for that matter) is lacking, it is space.

Have you ever looked at satellite views of the US? There are massive deserts just begging for the shade of some solar panels or mirrors. No use in heating up all that sand.

It's not so hard to move the energy out of the desert either. Just run wires, or better, relocate an aluminum smelter from the grid to out near the solar array.

Re: Tesla reveals Supercharger network, Free Fill Ups

#128

Post by marshray »

darrinm wrote: post #75
surrealize wrote: post #50

Making a "charging station" that could take the place of an existing gas station would be huge feat of engineering. When I go from the SF bay area down to LA, I get gas at kettleman city (because of the in-n-out :) and I go to the chevron station there. From google street view, it looks like that station can fuel 12 cars at a time. And when I'm there, there's often a line for a pump. A gas stop takes, say, 2 minutes.…

Let's keep in mind that electric car owners "fill up" their cars at home. Unlike gas stations these charging stations are only for unusual situations. Most the people you see at gas stations aren't on 200 mile plus trips.

I've met guys who'd built their own electric cars. Apparently there are spare utility outlets in quite a few parking garages. :-)

Re: Tesla reveals Supercharger network, Free Fill Ups

#129

Post by marshray »

sbierwagen wrote: post #41
spullara wrote: post #2

So painful that the actual article was buried because they used a different link: http://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger

I wonder why they used CGI renders if there's supposed to be actual stations already in operation.

One plausible explanation is photos of the actual stations are filled with lots of background clutter that just doesn't suit the mood of the presentation.

Re: Tesla reveals Supercharger network, Free Fill Ups

#130

Post by marshray »

sbierwagen wrote: post #40
recuter wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been in a Better Place car here in Israel and experienced the swap, it works. Also, Shai Agassi recently completed a full cross country trip (North to South). Small country, but still. What makes you think this is not a viable solution?

"Small country" is a bit of an overstatement. If Israel was a US state, it'd be the 47th largest.

You mean the 3rd smallest? That doesn't sound very big.
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