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This is why Tesla brought the Roadster to Europe

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According to the journalist Reinking, "In the future, major technological advances in the automobile will continue to come from large auto companies and suppliers, and not from small high-tech firms in California."

Apparently, he has a crystal ball. But since he missed the technological advances made by Tesla which have helped to rekindle the emergence of the electric car, I'd say his crystal ball is a bit cloudy. In short, I wouldn't bet against Tesla or other small innovative firms to continue to drive innovation in ways the big companies can't.
 
Very true. But any start-up American car company is a long shot. Tesla has a long way to go still, and the future is anything but certain for them. If you are going to prognosticate publicly, it is always a safer bet to say "the little guy will go away... the big car companies will be the future."
 
If you are going to prognosticate publicly, it is always a safer bet to say "the little guy will go away... the big car companies will be the future."

Really? Have you been aware of what's going on with GM and Ford lately? If I had to guess which is more likely: GM buys Tesla or Tesla buys the sad remains of GM, I'd have a hard time deciding.
 
Really? Have you been aware of what's going on with GM and Ford lately? If I had to guess which is more likely: GM buys Tesla or Tesla buys the sad remains of GM, I'd have a hard time deciding.

I just happened to have a conversation with a friend of mine (Univ of Michigan Law School grad), who lives out in NE Michigan. Whew! His input on GM was SCATHING.

Briefly:

1) GM are DINOSAURS
on a path towards extinction

2) GM execs are NEANDERTHALS
paid well to NOT do anything (regressive, rather than progressive), maintain the status-quo.

Had their chance 5 yrs ago, Ford will be part of XXX in 5 yrs.

Basically, GM got caught with their pants down (willful incompetence) & failed to be pro-active.

"I've always put Quickness, ahead of SIZE. The ability of my players to ANTICIPATE the actions of their opponent"
-- John Wooden, UCLA basketball coach (aka "Wizard of Westwood", 10 NCAA championship)

Basically, GM was doing anti-Wooden "Pyramid of Success":

John Wooden's Pyramid of Success still relevant in business, sports and life - Entrepreneur.com
The John R. Wooden Course
Amazon.com: The John Wooden Pyramid Of Success: Neville L. Johnson: Books
John Wooden - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
YouTube - Charlie Rose: December 15, 2000

What an abomination! John Wooden is from the Midwest (like Martin & me), which known for hard work, ethics. How a megaloth in Business like GM represents itself as an American company (in the Midwest no less), is a travesty.

I see 2 things: TM running themselves into the ground (lack of "critical mass") & GM the same (too much "mass"). I see China coming in & cleaning up (I just got back from China, where I saw masses of electric bicycles & scooters). A friend of mine (Illinois custom telescope maker, Masters in EE..like Martin) refers to China "watch out for the Chinese bulldozer". They essentially own the USA (loans to finance this country's deficit), not to mention the dominance in trade (what do you see when you walk into a Walmart, Target, K-mart, etc).

I think Tesla Motors should look to partner with a Chinese entity (not compete with them, bad move). They could get a revenue stream from the mass-market of China, & benefit from a Technology Transfer. A grad school officemate of mine (Dr. Chen, EE prof at NTU/National Taiwan Univ) who I met at SIGGRAPH 2008 2 weeks ago, told me:

"Dell is a service company, not a hardware company. They contract out Chinese companies to design/build their hardware"

In the same way, TM might just want to follow a similar model & tap into the IP/Intellectual Property of Chinese engineers. Already, the Roadster's motor is made in Taiwan. Just extend that concept.

Another contemporary of Martin's at UIUC/Coordinated Science Laboratory/AARG (Advanced Automation Research Group) is Bill Ho (friend with R. Fletcher, the guy who designed the Hi-Speed Image Buffer for the Air Force contract..Martin was hired that 1 summer to wire-wrap the design). Bill Ho's dad RAN the whole Technology Park in Taiwan. Dr Chen of NTU (see above) ironically is "Irving T. Ho Chair Professor". Dr. Chen is involved with some entrepeneurial startups with his former students. He had a paper at the SIGGRAPH 2008 conference entitled:

"Programmable-Aperture Photography: Multiplexed Light Field Acquisition"

It was an amazing coincidence, that 25 years after the fact, that a couple of UIUC/AARG alumni (Martin & Dr. Chen) converge on my path!

Somewhere in the above mix, is a solution for Martin's next entrepeneurial gig in Alternative Energy.