Elon Musk... world biggest solar panel company...?

[mazdavirgin]

Originally posted by A790

First, he said he'd have a human on Mars by the 2020's. He didn't say 2020, he said 2020's. Big difference.

Second, he revolutionized electric vehicles and is poised to do the same with commercial space travel.

It's hilarious how much you seem to know about Musk and how his companies work.

Or, maybe you're just talking out of your ass.

He didn't do shit since paypal. He is just a venture capitalist. Look at who the co-founders are on the companies he is involved in. Surprise surprise the brains of the operations are the co founders but he is public PR image of the company.

[rage2]

Originally posted by A790
Second, he revolutionized electric vehicles

He's a great marketer, I'll give him that, just like Steve Jobs.


» Click image for larger version


» Click image for larger version

[A790]

Originally posted by mazdavirgin


He didn't do shit since paypal. He is just a venture capitalist. Look at who the co-founders are on the companies he is involved in. Surprise surprise the brains of the operations are the co founders but he is public PR image of the company.

After look into it a bit further it appears you are correct.

I concede and withdraw my earlier comment.

You won an argument on the internet.

[supe]

rage your battery pack swap is pretty weak you have to admit compared to a slick fully automated solution. Now show me a rocket that lands vertically.

[rx7_turbo2]

Originally posted by supe


Ok show me another electric car that can swap its batteries out in minutes.

Show me a rocket that can land itself vertically with precision.

You guys have some tough standards.

You called Musk an innovator, you bolstered that statement by saying he re-engineered a number of things. I simply commented that I didn't think the ability to re-engineer something should be enough to apply the word innovator to someone.

There may be a number of things that are his original idea and design, I was only commenting on your statement.

[rage2]

Originally posted by supe
rage your battery pack swap is pretty weak you have to admit compared to a slick fully automated solution. Now show me a rocket that lands vertically.

Oh so making things prettier means you're an innovator? Got it. I'll call Steve Jobs an innovator now.

As for a rocket than lands vertically, I hope you're not forgetting that we landed on a moon using vertically landing rockets. The lunar module carried people too, something the SpaceX rocket can't do yet.

Edit - and in case you say that doesn't look like a rocket...



That sure looks like the damn SpaceX video...



I guess that Elon guy totally innovated being able to capture that vid so much more slick in HD! 19 years to pull off that innovation!

[Toma]

Originally posted by A790

First, he said he'd have a human on Mars by the 2020's. He didn't say 2020, he said 2020's. Big difference.

Second, he revolutionized electric vehicles and is poised to do the same with commercial space travel.

It's hilarious how much you seem to know about Musk and how his companies work.

Or, maybe you're just talking out of your ass.

Not to mention the other car manufacturers he inspired. 3 big shots directly credited Tesla with pushing then to electric. Nissan and the leaf was one, gm and volt was the other. Forget the third.

Without that man, Tesla motors would not be where it is today.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[UndrgroundRider]

Originally posted by rage2
The biggest sticking point however, are batteries. The technology has not improved at a rate where we can have small batteries to offer "buffer charge" during night time, unless you fit a home with a massive battery room just for the purpose. Battery technology needs to improve faster for all of the above to actually work out.

Batteries follow less of an evolutionary curve and more of a revolutionary curve. As such it's hard to extrapolate where we'll be in the next 10-20 years. One thing I will say though is that there's a lot of very promising battery technology on the horizon. Lithium Air technology, if it ever reaches fruition, will change the world overnight. We're talking densities that are 5 to 15 times that of Lithium ion. The wiki page says that's on par with gasoline.

[ZenOps]

Those that think there will be some sort of "doubling" technology in batteries do not understand basic chemistry.

Lithium as any other metal, only can contain so many electrons per atom. The fact that it is lighter than many other elements does make it more useful in some portable applications.

However, you cannot make the metal store any more energy than the electron capacity of that atom, which has a specific weight. You can make it discharge quicker, charge quicker, transfer quicker (via strong electrolytes) But the overall capacity is limited to the element itself (Finite electrons to each atom)

In the next decades or so, someone may figure out a way to make a battery maybe 5% more capacity than the best now, but there will always be that physical electron shell per atom limitation. Reality rears its ugly head yet once again.

Most of the advances in the last two decades for "portable" batteries has come from a fairly straightforward transition from lead based batteries to nickel, and then to lithium. There were also some small advances in barrier thickness that allowed more lithium to be packed into a battery.

And: They still haven't totally ruled out the possiblity that lithium batteries have caused airplanes to fall out of the sky (lithium battery failures most definitely can catch fire and explode) Pure lithium does react with air, lead and nickel - do not. From a safety standpoint, using a lithium battery on an airplane is irresponsible (not only for the fire, but the consumption of finite oxygen on an airplane)

[UndrgroundRider]

Originally posted by ZenOps
Those that think there will be some sort of "doubling" technology in batteries do not understand basic chemistry.

Lithium as any other metal, only can contain so many electrons per atom. The fact that it is lighter than many other elements does make it more useful in some portable applications.

However, you cannot make the metal store any more energy than the electron capacity of that atom, which has a specific weight. You can make it discharge quicker, charge quicker, transfer quicker (via strong electrolytes) But the overall capacity is limited to the element itself (Finite electrons to each atom)

In the next decades or so, someone may figure out a way to make a battery maybe 5% more capacity than the best now, but there will always be that physical electron shell per atom limitation. Reality rears its ugly head yet once again.

Most of the advances in the last two decades for "portable" batteries has come from a fairly straightforward transition from lead based batteries to nickel, and then to lithium. There were also some small advances in barrier thickness that allowed more lithium to be packed into a battery.

And: They still haven't totally ruled out the possiblity that lithium batteries have caused airplanes to fall out of the sky (lithium battery failures most definitely can catch fire and explode) Pure lithium does react with air, lead and nickel - do not. From a safety standpoint, using a lithium battery on an airplane is irresponsible (not only for the fire, but the consumption of finite oxygen on an airplane)

[msommers]

Elon and Steve may have similar roles to play but man was Steve an asshole lol.