141–150 of 281 posts
Here's a thought (disclaimer - IANAEE): Could we charge electric vehicles while driving? Could we bury, say, some coils under the highways and have cars have a transformer on board to draw power from the road? That would remove the need for charging stations on a long-distance trips almost completely.
Here's a thought (disclaimer - IANAEE): Could we charge electric vehicles while driving? Could we bury, say, some coils under the highways and have cars have a transformer on board to draw power from the road? That would remove the need for charging stations on a long-distance trips almost completely.
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.…
Things are likely to change in the future. Better mileage, more space for batteries and faster charging times might mean you charge fewer number of times for more mileage.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 arra…
> Have you ever looked at satellite views of the US?
My thoughts exactly. I think looking at Europe could bring a new perspective into what does 'lacking space' mean.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think he had them backwards -- I've heard similar stories from others who own gas stations. Gas makes up a substantial portion of their revenue, but the margins are so thin that most of the profit comes from the food and retail services.
So basically gas stations are just an excuse to do other business?
Is it outrageous to think that eventually this "gas" will be free because outlets will compete to have Tesla and other electric customers stuck at their restaurant, bar, store for a half hour?
Another possible revenue stream is free for Tesla owners, and not free for other electric cars that support the "nozzle" (if Tesla allows others to use the same nozzle design).
I find it rather amazing that a single entrepreneur takes on a task normally expected from governments.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 arra…
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.
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…