The next Henry Ford?

Elon Musk, I feel, is in the process of single-handedly transforming the face of American transportation. Not only is he coming up with *quality* all-electric vehicles - he currently has the Model S sedan, a SUV planned for 2014, and a compact soon after - but he's also putting in the essential infrastructure to support those vehicles. As the technology gets better and the price comes down, I can't see a reason for this not going mainstream in 5-10 years, and the other big players to follow.

If there's one nut left uncracked by Tesla Motors, it's the inherent range limits of electric vehicles. The Model S sedan can travel about 270 miles on a full charge, but the combination of lack of high-power vehicle plug-in stations and lengthy charging times keeps the Model S from being of use for a classic American road trip. Today, Tesla co-founder Elon Musk revealed the company would speed the expansion of its free Supercharger network to make a coast-to-coast journey viable within two years — and a new charging system that would drastically shorten how long Model S sedan owners would have to wait for juice.

autos.yahoo.com...

I think it's amazing to watch this happen. I wish him luck, but I'm not sure he needs it. Now there's just the problem of decarbonizing the electrical grid, but that's a different story...

Dang - this I can seriously see this guy's net worth increasing massively in the next 5-10+ years. He'll almost certainly become one of the richest men. Why? You only need look at the company he owns and the sectors he's in - that is, space, green tech etc. These sectors are indeed the big ones of the future and green tech is becoming more and more popular and he's clearly capitalizing on that.

If he plays it right, he can continue to expand and will only be made richer because of it whilst providing excellent and useful things to society (e.g. space rockets, green tech etc).

On a light-hearted, but related note - apparently, word on the street is that the Tony Stark in the Iron Man movies is said to be based on Elon Musk; in other words, the only billionaire alive today which most resembles Tony Stark is Elon Musk.

Originally posted by HomoSapiensSapiens
Dang - this I can seriously see this guy's net worth increasing massively in the next 5-10+ years. He'll almost certainly become one of the richest men. Why? You only need look at the company he owns and the sectors he's in - that is, space, green tech etc. These sectors are indeed the big ones of the future and green tech is becoming more and more popular and he's clearly capitalizing on that.

If he plays it right, he can continue to expand and will only be made richer because of it whilst providing excellent and useful things to society (e.g. space rockets, green tech etc).

While I don't think that money is his main motivator, that's certainly a byproduct of being intelligent, driven, passionate and innovative...

On a light-hearted, but related note - apparently, word on the street is that the Tony Stark in the Iron Man movies is said to be based on Elon Musk; in other words, the only billionaire alive today which most resembles Tony Stark is Elon Musk.

edit on 5/31/2013 by HomoSapiensSapiens because: (no reason given)

That's funny - I hadn't heard that, but a quick google shows that's true. Makes sense, I guess. If we start seeing a light source emanating from his chest, I suppose then we should start to worry...

Originally posted by redtic


While I don't think that money is his main motivator, that's certainly a byproduct of being intelligent, driven, passionate and innovative...

Oh certainly - I fully agree. I might have conveyed the wrong message in that first paragraph. Indeed, Elon has said himself that his ultimate goal was space and whatnot and therefore the success in Paypal and other ventures was great to raise capital in order to fully realize his space dream and indeed, SpaceX is getting up there certainly.

I expect SpaceX to survive and to survive well and by implication, Tesla Motors which will continue to expand and has only got to be a good thing for the planet.

Originally posted by HomoSapiensSapiens
Tesla Motors which will continue to expand and has only got to be a good thing for the planet.

Yeah, agreed. But apparently, as I learned earlier when doing some research, it's not as clear-cut as "electric cars good, ICE cars bad". The key, as I said in the OP, is a more decarbonized grid - I found this very interesting article, which sums it up at the end thusly:

The authors of this new paper are evidently not saying that electric cars are "bad" for the environment in all circumstances, but they are confirming what many already knew: that as electric cars become more popular - which is being encouraged by policymakers across many countries - we mustn't lose sight of the fact that the carbon intensity of the electricity used to power them is key. Another crucially important factor to monitor (and, hopefully, ameliorate) is just how energy- and resource-intensive the production of these vehicles can be.

The problem for electric cars is that they will only increase their environmental credentials (compared to "conventional" cars) once more and more of them are made and used, which, in itself, will drive faster and deeper innovation in battery technology, production efficiencies and end-of-life recyclability. It's somewhat unfair to compare them to conventional cars at present because they are an immature, fledgling technology, but the opportunity for increased efficiency throughout their lifecycle seems significant as/if they become more popular.

But a bigger problem, perhaps, is that their environmental "success" hangs largely on factors beyond their manufacturers' control. As has been shown in China, electric cars powered by electricity generated through the burning of coal and oil make very little environmental sense. They need to run off a low-carbon, "smart" grid where renewables and nuclear do much of the heavy lifting. So policy-makers have a twin challenge if they want to see more people driving electric cars: they need to ensure a low-carbon, smart grid is delivered and they need to assist manufacturers in bringing down the cost of these vehicles. Doing that in a synchronised and timely manner is going to be hard, but a prize worth reaching for.

www.guardian.co.uk...

If this is all done right, and none of the usual partisan crap gets in the way, we can make a real change for the better of the environment and the world..

I like Elon Musk, he is the type of visionary we need in these times. However please let's not forget that Tesla motors was and is heavily subsidized by the state. On it's own it would have failed as a startup. The venture is not nearly profitable, even for the hefty cost of it's vehicles.

sadhillnews.com...

The sooner Tesla gets off the government teat and shows us a viable money making electric car the better.

Originally posted by redtic
As the technology gets better and the price comes down, I can't see a reason for this not going mainstream in 5-10 years, and the other big players to follow.

As much as I wish this to succeed, he's going to have to plow a truckload of money into that pit before it ever has a chance of becoming profitable.

As an example, Better Place charging stations just went bankrupt.

Personally I think its only ever going to work (in the foreseable future) in small crowded countries like Japan, and in larger metro areas like LA, London, New York, or some parts of Europe.

I think Tesla Motors SUCKS and deserves to fail. Why? None of the cars they make are affordable to anyone but the very rich.

The next Henry Ford.. more like the next PT Barnum.

There are FAR better technologies out there that can save us from the oil and gas giants. I own an electric bike myself and love it but the technology is not practical for cars yet and wont be for at least another 50 to 100 years. I'm 45.. sadly, I'll be dead by then.

I like the compressed air cars from MDI www.mdi.lu... Under 10,000 dollars for the Flow Air One which is a sporty convertible model.

Originally posted by SevenThunders
I like Elon Musk, he is the type of visionary we need in these times. However please let's not forget that Tesla motors was and is heavily subsidized by the state. On it's own it would have failed as a startup. The venture is not nearly profitable, even for the hefty cost of it's vehicles.

sadhillnews.com...

The sooner Tesla gets off the government teat and shows us a viable money making electric car the better.

That article is from 2010. Tesla has already paid off their gov't loan (9 years early!) and has turned its first quarterly profit. I'm not saying it's going to be easy transforming how Americans think about automobile transportation, but I personally think he has the best chance of doing it. Imho.

Originally posted by JohnPhoenix
I think Tesla Motors SUCKS and deserves to fail. Why? None of the cars they make are affordable to anyone but the very rich.

The next Henry Ford.. more like the next PT Barnum.

There are FAR better technologies out there that can save us from the oil and gas giants. I own an electric bike myself and love it but the technology is not practical for cars yet and wont be for at least another 50 to 100 years. I'm 45.. sadly, I'll be dead by then.

I like the compressed air cars from MDI www.mdi.lu... Under 10,000 dollars for the Flow Air One which is a sporty convertible model.

You are certainly welcomed to your negative attitude on the whole thing, but I think it's short-sighted. The key, I think, is making cars that Americans want (I think he's done that with the Model S) *and* that they can afford (he hasn't done that... yet). I firmly believe he's on the right track - the technology will get better (and it won't take 50-100 years) and the prices will come down. Only time will tell.

reply to post by redtic


Lol that little tiny car would be useless here sad to say. The wind on a normal day would blow that thing off the road

Originally posted by TKDRL
reply to post by redtic

 

Lol that little tiny car would be useless here sad to say. The wind on a normal day would blow that thing off the road

And which "little tiny car" are you referring to???

Originally posted by redtic

Originally posted by TKDRL
Lol that little tiny car would be useless here sad to say. The wind on a normal day would blow that thing off the road

And which "little tiny car" are you referring to???

I suspect he was referring to the MDI car that you linked to in the last post you made before his reply.
Edit - the " Flow Air One" is slightly bigger, but its not the one the MDI main page presents to the casual reader.



And while we're on the topic, air powered engines are NOISY.
All the videos of it that I can find right now are either completely silent, or have background music in favour of the actual sound of the car.
If anyone can find a video that actually shows the real sound of the MDI car being anywhere near comparable to a modern internal combustion engine car, I'd like to see it.

Henry Ford was worse than Hitler in many ways. You should not wish for someone like him to return.

Did you know that he had a department who's job was to go to employee homes and make sure they were living the appropriate lifestyle. If they smoked or drank too much they would be fired.

reply to post by alfa1


yeah that was the one, my bad, hit reply on the wrong post lol.

Originally posted by Hopechest
Henry Ford was worse than Hitler in many ways. You should not wish for someone like him to return.

Did you know that he had a department who's job was to go to employee homes and make sure they were living the appropriate lifestyle. If they smoked or drank too much they would be fired.

Wow - the last thing I thought would be brought up in this thread (ok, maybe not the last - maybe the 54th from last) was Hitler. The only parallel I was drawing between Musk and Ford was a revolution in the transportation industry. That is all.

The only thing Ford really did was to create a working assembly line that produced cars fast and cheap. This was not necessarily a good thing. The cars were so cheap they would often break, not to mention many of his designs caused great injury to the car owners ( bad cranking system) Fords cars were not the only cars around, nor were they the best quality.

Fix or repair daily - found on road dead - those aren't just jokes they have basis in reality.