PS. Tesla's other project: liftoff 3:44 a.m. ET Today "Falcon flew perfectly!!," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on Twitter moments after the launch. "Feels like a giant weight just came off my back ." http://news.nationalgeographic.com/...falcon-9-international-space-station-science/
Elon Musk is a living Tony Stark. It seems like physics, electronics and economics are his expert areas.
FIRST DELIVERIES SCHEDULED! The Tesla Factory will begin customer deliveries on June 22nd!!! We have a great day planned for our employees to celebrate this incredible event and will be webcasting the actual delivery ceremony on teslamotors.com. Source: Tesla Motors
Amazing news. That means that Press Test Drives are around the corner then. Hopefully Motortrend will get one for a long term review so that we can get an idea on how it is to live with the car over a long period.
from the Tesla Motors Blog http://www.teslamotors.com/forum/forums/model-s-final-interior-dashboard-infotainment-screen-console?
The huge screen bugs me. It makes the cabin look like an ATM or those checkin machines at airport. Worst of all is the lack of buttons on the wheel so that the driver doesn't need to use the screen to toggle radio, AC and other functions without distracting himself with pokin a screen.
This car is just too good to be true. How a small & independent company can produce such a thing (85kWh battery with 400 mile range; high top speed; and great acceleration; large car with bearable weight; great features; nice & simple design) ... and sell it for a relatively affordable price (the car is cheaper than eg. regular A6, 5er, E-class!!!) ... while automotive giants aren't able to compete (do the same thing for reasonable sum of R&D money)? Toyota, GM, VW, Ford, Renault-Nissan, Hyundai-KIA etc ... all of them lagging behind, not even close to the recent Tesla products. What's the magic behind Tesla? Is an electric car a completely different paradigm than a regular car with IC engine? Do the automotive giants really lack of resources & know-how to develop & produce such a car? Is this case similar to Apple vs mobile phone giants like Nokia, Samsung, Sony, Motorola? Is the Silicon Valley mindset what gives Tesla such an advantage? Or is Tesla just a hype, a bubble that will explode in few years ... or it will be bought by some automotive giants in aim to acquire Tesla's know-how? Now it seems Tesla is light years ahead of all the automotive giants ... who are only able to offer EVs that seem like a joke compared to Tesla cars when it comes to performance, design, features, price. Yet Tesla's formula seems so easy & simple. What are we missing here???
Careful EnI. Latest range update: "We are very pleased to report that Model S has exceeded our initial range expectations by about 20 miles and has achieved a Roadster equivalent 2-cycle range of 320 miles and a 5-cycle range of 265 miles. This sets a new record for electric vehicle range!" -- JB Straubel and Elon Musk, Tesla Motors Blog http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/model-s-efficiency-and-range
Starting a car company is probably at the bottom of the most achievable entreprenurial endeavours. Barriers to entry are tall and return on investment or even break-even is anywhere between 5-15 year. More so there has been little innovation in the recent 20 years. Sure cars are safer and have plenty of cup holders but nevertheless a car from the 80s is fundamentally the same as one produced to day: It runs on fossil fuels and need to be topped up at a gas station. Now compare this to the evolution of the telephone. You get the point. What Tesla is doing is phenomenal. The electric car is long overdue. It's a very scientific challenge and one that has been a perfect fit for Elon Musk who is very much a living Tony Stark. SpaceX has produced the first commercial spacecraft replacing the space shuttle and Tesla has brought to market a four door electric car! The biggest challenge here has been energy. Anyone who has owned a remote controlled car at a young age knows how quickly the battery depleat when you flip the car and toggle the switch for maximum speed. Now imagine this on the scale of a 5-Series whilst leaving enough space for four people, luggage and achieving a long range. It's a very tall order that could unlikely have been triumphed by someone other than Paypal's cofounder Elon Musk who is also a physics and economics genius with a Silicon Valley backbone. If Elon Musk has overcome the battery and energy consumption challenges then he could easilly scale the business to electric scooters, vans, and possibly even helicopters. I bet there are some very valuable patents he has registered which protects his engineering inventions.
I'm looking forward to seeing this being tested against a diesel Audi/BMW/Merc equivalent to see how it stacks up. Especially once some performance disciplines are thrown into the mix, we already know how they effect mpg so I can only imagine the Tesla's range will tumble.
First deliveries to the customers have been already done a few days ago. Supposedly this means that we'll receive a bunch or sophisticated reviews
Watching reviews I fall more and more in love with this car... The perfect everyday cruiser Number 1 in the list for my next car
This is the proof that in the case of personal mobility gadgets (PMGs - which EVs already are, or just heading to be) Silicon Valley products are proving to be far superior to the old-school products by existing automotive industry. Imagine SV-developed product produced in China (like consumer electronics) ... Ouch! for the established automotive industry! Mind that EVs are all about energy management - which is a software-driven component. And this is where & why Silicon Valley Evs have huge advantage over others. We are max. a decade away from Apple & Google offering their own PMG, and MANY car companies won't be prepared for this paradigm shift. Just like many companies were devastated by shift form analog to digital solutions. Or even some digital pioneers were defeated by newcomers who have understood the users better. Since today UX-driven products are the benchmark. People just don't wont to be bothered by gadget too much, and the want an intuitive & simple UI - delivering exactly what they want. So, user-driven products fare better than engineer-driven products. I wonder to see how many car companies will be able to survive this paradigm shift. I guess not many. Even the biggest ones are in danger ... incl. VAG!!! The faiths of Motorola & Nokia should serve as reminders & as red alerts to automotive industry! Since it's a bi.tch to predict the exact time when the paradigm will shift in favor of the new solutions. It can happen very quickly, and many companies will be caught completely unprepared. And there will be panic ... and decisions made in panic are the worst & many times prove to be near fatal, or even fatal! It's hard to predict when niche avant-garde becomes mainstream. Since it's hard to predict precise consumer behavior ... what's the trigger that makes the shift in consumer's mind. Eg. Apple, Google etc were all underestimated by established industry. But we all should learn from history that shift from niche avant-garde to mainstream can be pretty quick, and can affect the industry colossally. Smaller established "old-tech" companies are more flexible & can react quicker than their bigger oversized peers. And they need to start the transformation sooner since they have less resources available, and they can not afford to be caught by surprise when paradigm shift begins. While bigger players do overestimate themselves - since they have huge resources pool, and are convinced they can catch up quickly ... but the case studies prove that's not always the case. And that's hard to turn a giant for 180 degrees in a short time. The organization can prove to be too rigid & too complicated for quick shifts. IMO quite revolutionary times are ahead of us ... when it comes to automotive industry. "iPads on wheels" and "self-driven Googlecars" etc are inevitable in the future ... and the Silicon Valley industry is strong enough to be successful in lobbying for regulation / legislation change in their own favor. The trend is clear ... and quite some established car companies are in complete denial! It will be a slaughter when the paradigm shift begins! Who's gonna be Kodak, Motorola, Nokia, Ericsson of automotive industry? And who will be Samsung - who was able to survive the change, and even catapult itself on the very top of the industry?
Awesome numbers, as a SV denizen, it does me proud. I love the way it looks too. Only thing I dislike is the dash - gigantic screen, chrome surrounds and wood don't exactly mix too well - wish they went for something more futuristic, or maybe just a docking station for iPad.
The automotive industry is a herd of sheep. No one will take a leap of faith by differing from the group. Habitually they are risk adverse and scared of the wolf. For car manufacturers the wolf is failure. Bringing an electric car to market is more risky than rewarding. Don't forget that car manufacturing is mostly an assembly exercise, most components are from suppliers and thus the number of companies that would need involving to develop and produce something along the lines of Model S would be numerous. The cost? Billions! Entrepreneurs like Elon Musk are brave hearts. They've got nothing to lose and aren't afraid of sticking their necks out. Now when the Model S will prove itself to be a viable product for both consumers and Tesla Motor company the really threat for the Automotive industry will mount. Like you said a Model S mass produced in China would be a scary scenario for the industry. Once thing that the consumer electronics industry are great at is innovation and miniaturization. Imagine the Model S being improved at the rate of which we've seen cellphones and laptops improve the past 5 years, crazy right?
