41–50 of 173 posts
I don't get this article. The battery in a Tesla Model S is literally a huge array of Panasonic flashlight batteries. It is an off-the-shelf catalog item you can order from Panasonic. Admittedly, you should probably have prior arrangements before ordering millions. The central insight of the Tesla founders was that people really will pay $85000 for an electric car. The other auto makers didn't believe that.
If Tesla executes, they are going to be the leading company in a number of industries, of which battery technology and manufacturing is one of them. They are also leaders in direct sales, JIT manufacturing, motor design, any one of which is a disruptive innovation channel they could monetize, all in the service of building electric cars. Tesla is an energy company, a battery company, a car company, etc, just as GE or…
For example, being a leader in direct sales is great for their goal of spreadings EVs. But how is this applicable anywhere else outside the car industry? Does apple 'monetize' direct sales as a 'channel'? Does apple 'monetize' JIT manufacturing as a 'channel'? To me they just use it as a tool to better position the company. Similarly, once established it's unlikely other car manufacturers will consistently buy motors from them. Fortunately or not, electric induction motors are beautifully simple, any manufacturer could come up with a design much quicker than an ICE for example.
Now for it's two markets, electric cars and commercial batteries, I do think they're posed to succeed provided pure electric cars actually gain widespread adoption and so do Li-ion batteries (and not other storage methods which may turn out to be cheaper).
The interesting point for me is that all his business currently rely on steady, yet iterative, technological improvement to reach their goals (they're already successful, but haven't reached the ultimate goals yet). Tesla needs better batteries, SolarCity better cells, SpaceX reusable rockets.
It will indeed be a thrill to watch over the next few years.
I don't get this article. The battery in a Tesla Model S is literally a huge array of Panasonic flashlight batteries. It is an off-the-shelf catalog item you can order from Panasonic. Admittedly, you should probably have prior arrangements before ordering millions. The central insight of the Tesla founders was that people really will pay $85000 for an electric car. The other auto makers didn't believe that.
Sure. Similarly Google is just a bunch of commodity off-the-shelf hard drives.
I don't get this article. The battery in a Tesla Model S is literally a huge array of Panasonic flashlight batteries. It is an off-the-shelf catalog item you can order from Panasonic. Admittedly, you should probably have prior arrangements before ordering millions. The central insight of the Tesla founders was that people really will pay $85000 for an electric car. The other auto makers didn't believe that.
You say electric car like it's some souped up Prius (I own a Prius). The Tesla Model-S is an amazing vehicle that's not only electric but amazing to look at and drive. As an aspirational status symbol it's got a hell of a lot of cachet 3 years after it's introduction. That's a feat of product marketing and engineering.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The battery in a Tesla Model S is literally a huge array of Panasonic flashlight batteries. It is an off-the-shelf catalog item you can order from Panasonic. Um, no. Viewing the battery of a Tesla Model S as just a big flashlight battery misses the whole point of what Tesla is doing. A flashlight battery does one thing: it discharges energy until it's empty. Even an ordinary rechargeable household battery only does…
> The battery in a Tesla Model S, OTOH, is continuously computing whether to charge or discharge Is it? I would imagine the software does that. The battery really is a large array of commodity batteries made by panosonic. Tesla is doing the gigafactory for vertical integration and to bolster it's own supply. Obviously, they have done a lot of innovation around the pack in terms of heat distribution and cell construct…
It is. JB Straubel (Tesla's CTO) has done all of the hard work with regards to their energy management system.
Sure, babying the pack with a liquid medium for thermal transfer helps (compared to the inferior air cooling on the Nissan Leaf battery pack), but the foundation for both the performance and longevity of the Roadster and the Model S battery packs is Straubel's remarkable work.
Only as much as Apple was a HDD company with the release of the first iPod. Yes, their underlying hardware was necessary for the product to be revolutionary, and it was also something that no one else could produce at the time. But, like Tesla, Apple added a layer of design and marketing that made for a revolutionary UX, as well. So I agree that Tesla is a battery company, but I don't think that that makes them less…
As Apple has never made hard drives, calling them a hard drive company makes zero sense. The hard drive in the iPod was never the most interesting component, or the differentiator from the rest of the market. Tesla's battery is. The hard drive in the iPod is like the wheels on a Tesla. It's useless without them, but they're a completely replaceable commodity and has no bearing on the success of the product
If Tesla executes, they are going to be the leading company in a number of industries, of which battery technology and manufacturing is one of them. They are also leaders in direct sales, JIT manufacturing, motor design, any one of which is a disruptive innovation channel they could monetize, all in the service of building electric cars. Tesla is an energy company, a battery company, a car company, etc, just as GE or…
If Tesla is going to be a battery company, be it, but I think they have a bright future for most of their business (including selling electric cars).
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2900452/foxconn-partners-with...
Foxconn hopes to build cars priced under US$15,000,
according to Gou. The contract manufacturer already
develops electric car batteries, which he said were in demand.
Being that the batteries are the expensive part of an electric car, Foxconn could get to the mass market before Tesla, and possibly set back the market if the experience sucks.
And McDonalds is a Real Estate company.