Electric Cars: The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan

[ROB]

He forgot to mention the most important part of his plan: trick people into believing that digging up half of Bolivia to find the lithium to build batteries that will be charged using electricity from coal-fired power plants is actually "green".

As usual, things are a little more complex than that.

http://www.slate.com/articles/technolog ... where.html

[snaark]

He forgot to mention the most important part of his plan: trick people into believing that digging up half of Bolivia to find the lithium to build batteries that will be charged using electricity from coal-fired power plants is actually "green".

As usual, things are a little more complex than that.

http://www.slate.com/articles/technolog ... where.html

Really? Because I was pretty sure it was simple enough to summarise in a single sentence.

[ROB]

Really? Because I was pretty sure it was simple enough to summarise in a single sentence.

Then you were wrong.

[Bronco]

Classifying a car as a pollution source is not really fair unless it actually burns fuel. Even my home refrigerator used power in its manufacturing process and continues to use power to refrigerate my food. So, it's not as green as a Prius? like Apples and Oranges, that's not a fair comparison.

Tesla is trying to make things better. That's better than trying to make things worse. At least they're working on a better way and not trying to perpetuate something that was bad idea..like another gasoline burning car, or another coal fired power plant.

I'd buy a Tesla if they were about 90% cheaper. I have hopes that one day I may be able to purchase a Tesla sports car. By then they may be able to realize their dream of producing a cheap family car. Good luck to us both.

[gnaruki]

Electric cars are a form pollution redistribution. Toxic emissions are generated far from the city where most are driven. As the grid modernizes in America eletric cars will become more sensible. Currently it's a nimby situation. RIP Boardman coal plant (1977-2020?). It was real Trojan, your cooling tower on the skyline is missed. Hanford, please clean you mess up. It's embarrassing and worrisome.

[ROB]

Classifying a car as a pollution source is not really fair unless it actually burns fuel. Even my home refrigerator used power in its manufacturing process and continues to use power to refrigerate my food. So, it's not as green as a Prius? like Apples and Oranges, that's not a fair comparison.

Tesla is trying to make things better. That's better than trying to make things worse. At least they're working on a better way and not trying to perpetuate something that was bad idea..like another gasoline burning car, or another coal fired power plant.

I'd buy a Tesla if they were about 90% cheaper. I have hopes that one day I may be able to purchase a Tesla sports car. By then they may be able to realize their dream of producing a cheap family car. Good luck to us both.

I agree with you up to the point that they are misrepresenting the ACTUAL benefit and profiting from that misrepresentation.

I also think it's important to ACTUALLY help the environment rather than simply purport to help it.

But yeah, it's a journey like anything else, I guess. I think the scrutiny can only be a good thing.

[snaark]

Tesla is trying to make things better.

Tesla is trying to make money, in probably the most fiercely contested industry in the world, where the incumbants are woefully slow to accept new ideas. Thats no easy feat, hence the necessity of (massive) government subsidies.

[ROB]

Tesla is trying to make money

If Musk wanted to make money, he would have stayed in software startups.

[Woodsman]

I think tesla motor company is a good thing & the guy behind it is about as crazy as I am. In the future, this company will ultimately surpass GM, Ford, Chysler because they have a sharper vision of what's needed.

[snaark]

Tesla is trying to make money

If Musk wanted to make money, he would have stayed in software startups.

So it's a charitable venture then? That's always a sound business strategy.

[friendlyskies]

The 60 Minutes piece on Musk last weekend was pretty interesting.

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/tesla-and ... al-empire/

[ROB]

Tesla is trying to make money

If Musk wanted to make money, he would have stayed in software startups.

So it's a charitable venture then? That's always a sound business strategy.

It needs to make money to be self sustaining. Duh.

[snaark]

Tesla is trying to make money

If Musk wanted to make money, he would have stayed in software startups.

So it's a charitable venture then? That's always a sound business strategy.

It needs to make money to be self sustaining. Duh.

It's a publicly listed company. Its purpose is to maximise profit, not to be self-sustaining. But ok, you can believe Musk is an eco-warrior who wants to change the world if you want to be naive. I guess his corporate space travel venture is also altruistic, right? Because all billionaires are born with the inexorable right to see earth from (almost) space.

[ROB]

It's a publicly listed company. Its purpose is to maximise profit, not to be self-sustaining. But ok, you can believe Musk is an eco-warrior who wants to change the world if you want to be naive. I guess his corporate space travel venture is also altruistic, right? Because all billionaires are born with the inexorable right to see earth from (almost) space.

Yeah, you're right. The billionaire with every connection in the software VC and startup world and no connections or experience in hardware decided to make a play making cars cos he couldn't think of any easier ways to make money in software. Yeah, I am the naive one.

Who said he wants to change the world? Not me. I think he wants to be seen as the next Howard Hughes character. Ego. Big "world changing" companies are just part of that plan.

[snaark]

I think you’re all over the place, Rob :)

I doubt making billions from software startups is particularly easy. I don't know, I’ve never tried, but that is my overwhelming suspicion. He is a serial entrepreneur, much like you are a serial contrarian on this forum.

I was challenging Bronco’s assertion that Tesla exists "to make things better". To think a publicly listed corporation exists for altruistic reasons is indeed naive. It exists to make a profit, regardless of whether the boss is a narcisist or not.