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

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21–30 of 149 posts

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

#21
One of the parts of the interview that gave me chills was when they mentioned, Elon had seen the future and brought it back.

I think most of us on HN are building the future for a world that lives in the past and I think it's beautiful. We're trying to craft something that doesn't exist yet... but can.

Not many professions do that.

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

#22
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Public money saved him.

There are two sides to that coin. Without an opportunity and potential like SpaceX, all the public money would have are cases like Solyndra. The reality was, NASA needed SpaceX as much as SpaceX needed NASA.

NASA needed Musk. Musk doesn't need anybody.

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

#24
post #4

Anyone have a mobile link that works? edit: link

Video playback on the web is such a farce.

Luckily with some poking around you can find the m3u8 playlist URL in the HTML source in plain sight: http://ipad-streaming.cbsnews.com/media/mpx/2014/03/30/21153...

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

#25

I, for one, welcome Elon Musk's empire! He couldn't possibly be paying for all the hype, all the influence, backing a worldwide PR campaign about himself and his stunts. He's on the media simply because he's freaking awesome compared to other millionaires industrialists. Come on, look at what the guy has done so far... we need more Elons Musks. There, end of fanboyism :-)

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 spirit that made apple's success, not the salary of the engineers.

Salary paid in dreams.

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

#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 producers who have less economies of scale and higher prices? Obviously, lower prices win and Musk ends up selling batteries to his competitors...genius.

Second, when other manufacturers get into the electric car game they are going to need nationwide chargers. Did you think that the Tesla and Supercharger of proprietary connectors for no reason? Since Tesla will have a huge nationwide system before anyone else, Musk will license the rights to use his chargers. Again, making money from the competition. Competitors will not have the ability to compete on charging when they release cars because Tesla will already have an established network.

As for SpaceX...thats a whole another post for another day.

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

#27
post #16
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Public money saved him.

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.

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

#28

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…

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.

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

#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 visionaries. He's still very responsible for Tesla's success, but it wasn't JUST him.

Same with PayPal, it would have been nice for Musk to say "I stared PayPal with a few friends to..."

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

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

#30

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…

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.

As far as I can tell - there's lots of "interesting" energy storage technology being researched, but there's nothing that's close to being ready for at-scale manufacturing.
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