Electric Cars: The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan

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Re: Electric Cars: The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan

Postby ROB » Wed Apr 02, 2014 10:44 am

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


Quite possibly. It's late and I haven't had my fourth xanax yet.

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.


My point there is that he could pretty much click his fingers and get hundreds of millions (dare I say billions) in VC funding from investors if he were doing a web or mobile internet software startup. That is not something that he can do in the realm of hardware because it's a different game and one that he isn't experienced in (though I guess he is changing that). As a money making venture, Tesla is a lot harder path to take than others he could have taken if money were his only motivation.

To think a publicly listed corporation exists for altruistic reasons is indeed naive.


Meaningless generalisation. I personally know several people in charge of publically listed companies and to say they are only motivated by money is way off the mark. They can walk AND chew gum.

Musk can too.
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Re: Electric Cars: The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan

Postby snaark » Wed Apr 02, 2014 11:13 am

I think we're talking about different things. I'm saying the corporation, as a legal entity, exists to make profit. The people employed by that company may have their own motivations, but that is less relevant: they make decisions in line with the objectives of the corporation. Or not, in which case they are bad employees.

Anyway, this sounds way too philosophical. Getting back to the original point, I simply don't see electric vehicles being a "game changer" over the long term. Electric vehicles need big batteries, which are expensive, unreliable and inherently degradable. They are also not new, i.e. it's not just a matter of time and money until they get better.

IMHO the answer decreasing the mass, and increasing the efficiency of, conventional vehicles. That is, until such time that it becomes financially viable to build the infrastructure to pump hydrogen around the place.

'till then, EV's are just a bridging technology.
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Re: Electric Cars: The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan

Postby Bronco » Wed Apr 02, 2014 4:54 pm

I suspect the most environmentally friendly change to our way of moving human bodies around is going to be mass transit but we need some way to make a transition from individual automobiles to mass transit other than a parking lot outside the train station. Until then, the electric car is a better solution than almost any other option. A change from our mobile society to one where more people can telecommute would help, too.
Maybe Tesla should be working on a more efficient electric bus people can take to the "Tube" station.
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Re: Electric Cars: The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan

Postby snaark » Wed Apr 02, 2014 7:04 pm

Agreed, but unfortunately most towns and cities have been design around the the need to move people and things around using cars and trucks. The car is here to stay.
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Re: Electric Cars: The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan

Postby ROB » Wed Apr 02, 2014 7:57 pm

snaark wrote:Electric vehicles need big batteries, which are expensive, unreliable and inherently degradable. They are also not new, i.e. it's not just a matter of time and money until they get better.


Except that it is.

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/15 ... mes-faster
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Re: Electric Cars: The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan

Postby snaark » Thu Apr 03, 2014 3:41 pm

Trust me Rob, as a scientist (in fact I work in a field not too distant from this one) and someone who's done more than a few such press-releases, you really shouldn't believe everything you read.
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Re: Electric Cars: The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan

Postby ROB » Thu Apr 03, 2014 7:52 pm

Cool. Then as a scientist, you'll know that your response isn't gonna quite cut it.
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Re: Electric Cars: The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan

Postby Alessandro » Sat Apr 12, 2014 6:59 pm

snaark wrote:
Bronco wrote: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.

Blandest all fool joke I´ve seen in a long time.
Car industry is very innovative, thats why its so regulated.
To think before you type is like wiping your butt before you dump.
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Re: Electric Cars: The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan

Postby ROB » Wed Feb 03, 2016 6:15 am

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Re: Electric Cars: The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan

Postby snaark » Wed Feb 03, 2016 9:24 pm

There are already plenty of EVs in that price range. Those Renault Twizy things cost about 7k, though you have to rent the battery. The price is coupled with the size of the batteries, i.e. lower price = less range.

Incidentally I had a look at the Model S a few weeks ago. Fucking thing costs as much as a 911 and is about as exciting inside as a Toyota Auris. Not exactly green either, given that energy here comes from burning brown coal. Surely if you can afford to spend 90k on a car you don't give a fuck about the price of petrol, so what exactly is the incentive to buy one?
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Re: Electric Cars: The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan

Postby ROB » Thu Feb 04, 2016 12:16 am

snaark wrote:So what exactly is the incentive to buy one?


To get up the nose of know-it-alls who shat on the project in the first place, of course.
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Re: Electric Cars: The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan

Postby snaark » Thu Feb 04, 2016 2:36 pm

ROB wrote:
snaark wrote:So what exactly is the incentive to buy one?


To get up the nose of know-it-alls who shat on the project in the first place, of course.


There are cheaper ways to make everything think you're a nob. Plenty of people do it on this forum for free.
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Re: Electric Cars: The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan

Postby coldharvest » Thu Feb 04, 2016 2:39 pm

snaark wrote:
ROB wrote:
snaark wrote:So what exactly is the incentive to buy one?


To get up the nose of know-it-alls who shat on the project in the first place, of course.


There are cheaper ways to make everything think you're a nob. Plenty of people do it on this forum for free.

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Re: Electric Cars: The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan

Postby snaark » Thu Feb 04, 2016 3:00 pm

Thank you Captain Speling!
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Re: Electric Cars: The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan

Postby frostyneutron » Thu Feb 04, 2016 5:29 pm

What the fuck is a 'mile'? You quoting Shakespeare or something?
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