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Asking Elon Questions

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vfx

Well-Known Member
Aug 18, 2006
14,790
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CA CA
Assuming Mr Musk will answer questions at Teslive I was thinking about what I would ask him? ipdamages and Dave were asking about a Roadster repair manual, something that I have wondered about At the stockholder's meeting there were many questions we already knew the answers to. Then there is this guy. who did not do his research and his comment section was filled with up-to-date TMC'rs that knew every answer.

Though the members here on TMC are as knowledgeable about the cars as any Tesla employee (and some even more so) There may be something you missed (even me!) If you ask your questions here, someone may have seen a Tesla/Musk video or article and can preemptively post an answer. This leaves space for new, better questions.

IMHO questions from us Tesla enthusiasts to Elon should be thought provoking. It's great when Elon looks up and formulates an answer on the spot.

Guidelines:


  • How fascinating or interesting is your question? What have we NOT heard from Mr Musk? See how he is enjoying this.
  • Make them SEC regulations proof.
  • Review this thread to see that you haven’t asked the same question as your fellow TMC members.
  • Just to keep it under control, please provide the very best (4) questions you can come up with (you can replace and bold them if they have been answered in this thread)
  • Number your questions (and no two parters!)

There will be some common questions around Supercharging, Gen III, Model S, X, upgrades, expansions into EU, June 20th is, etc. etc. etc. To me ,we are the Tesla car club, not Bloomberg or Barrons, The best questions will have answers that an investor in TSLA wouldn't even care about.
 
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1. If Paypal, Tesla, SolarCity, and SpaceX were well underway and had a clear future when you were in your teens, where would you be spending your efforts? HyperLoop, electric plane, or something else?
2. Are there any areas that you wish someone else was exploring but you don't feel capable of or interested in exploring yourself?
3. If you could choose one invention in history to be present for as the assistant to the inventor, what would it be and why?

I need to chew on it some more for #4.
 
  • What recent innovations has he seen from other car companies that he likes?
  • Does he want other manufactuerer's EVs to adopt Supercharging and have that be the quick charging solution for choice for all? (Eventually ditch CHAdeMO and SAE/CCS...?)
  • Does he think that Ultracapacitors/Supercapacitors will replace Li-Ion cells in EVs someday? (If so, by when?)
  • Aside from battery/cell improvements, what innovations and improvements is he hoping that outsiders will provide to Tesla?
    (Do they need cheaper IGBTs? Lower rolling resistance tires? Less restrictive side view mirror regulations, etc...)

Edit: My last one seems to be similar to Brianman's #2... He posted while I was composing...
 
I'm really curious if Tesla is at all interested in a V2G (unidirectional) program for Model S. It wouldn't take much to set up and could be a nice extra revenue stream for the company that also lowers the cost of ownership. Especially when coupled with optimal energy storage management that could go on with their SC that have batteries.
 
I'm really curious if Tesla is at all interested in a V2G (unidirectional) program for Model S. It wouldn't take much to set up and could be a nice extra revenue stream for the company that also lowers the cost of ownership. Especially when coupled with optimal energy storage management that could go on with their SC that have batteries.
I just came back to this thread to add V2G too, and glad to see someone else is curious about that. There was some mention of some work being done with SolarCity in that area.
It would be nice to know what/when they expect to make available. I am more interested in having my car as a "ready to go" UPS for the house in case of grid outage, than as a buffer for load balancing... (In other words, don't make #1 wait for #2 to get perfected...) It would also be neat if there was an accesory to provide serious AC power on the go. For instance to power appliances at a camp site when car camping, or tools at a temporary "job site"...
 
1) Will repair manuals and diagnostic tools be available for Tesla's cars? If so, when, and how expensive?

2) Will Tesla's charging connector be available to purchase? Will Tesla allow production by alternate sources? I would very much like to see DC fast chargers with three cables: CHAdeMo, J1772-DC, and Tesla. This would allow fast charging (for a fee) on routes not supported by Superchargers, and at destinations for day trips.

3) Will Tesla allow other car manufactures to use the Tesla charging inlet, and production by alternate sources? This question probably doesn't make the cut.

4) What are Tesla's goals for quality, reliability, and durability? To be the best? What is their plan to achieve this, especially for initial quality with less rework in the service channel?

5) Will tesla support aftermarket apps like Apple? If so, when?

6) Roadster upgrades?

7) Will Tesla partner with hotel chains to install J1772 stations? It would be great to know that 240 V charging would be available nationwide as long as you stay at XYZ hotels.

GSP

PS. Thanks VFX for this thread. Great idea!
 
What specific energy value, wh/kg, do you need to make the Gen3 car, and at what price point, $/kWh?
How close are you to those values?
Do you expect battery technology to allow you to drop much of the temperature management in the pack at some point?
Why did you design a vehicle with 60-85kWh of battery storage that can be stranded by a 12V lead acid battery failure?
 
1. I am a metrics architect, and I am eagerly waiting for access to my data to build tools that can help people analyze their data. When will we have the ability to pull down data similar to the roadster?

2. When will we have an sdk that we can use to build apps for the MS?

3. I love the concept of an upgradable car. What is the most aggressive or demonstrative upgrade you have planned?

4. We purchased the rear seats and our kids love them, but they have gotten very uncomfortable in the warm weather. Are there any plans to install better heat blocking glass and/or A/C venting as a retrofit?
 
Keep em coming!

TEG I think he answered your number 3 (best he could) at the recent Stockholders meeting.

GSP Your count is way more than four. :)


Personally I have many Roadster questions, looks like you guys do to.
 
Is there an estimate for when the NHTSA ratings of the Model S will be complete and published?
The Model S has been on the road (in at least small quantities) for a year now, the VINs align with being in the 2nd year of production, and there are changes relative to the 2012 edition (new red color, changes in what's "standard", introduction of new sensors in European model, etc.).

I wouldn't be surprised if we never see an NHTSA response on the 2012 version. Maybe on the 2013 version.
 
I just came back to this thread to add V2G too, and glad to see someone else is curious about that. There was some mention of some work being done with SolarCity in that area.
It would be nice to know what/when they expect to make available. I am more interested in having my car as a "ready to go" UPS for the house in case of grid outage, than as a buffer for load balancing... (In other words, don't make #1 wait for #2 to get perfected...) It would also be neat if there was an accesory to provide serious AC power on the go. For instance to power appliances at a camp site when car camping, or tools at a temporary "job site"...
Oo, bidirectional power flow from an EV is a big can o' worms I doubt Tesla would want to open, especially with respect to battery warranty. But if they're installing battery buffers at SC sites, I'd hope they're also selling backup power capacity to the local businesses.
 
What specific energy value, wh/kg, do you need to make the Gen3 car, and at what price point, $/kWh?
How close are you to those values?

I wouldn't expect him to answer those except in a generic fashion like he has. That said, I've love to hear his answer.

Why did you design a vehicle with 60-85kWh of battery storage that can be stranded by a 12V lead acid battery failure?

This is an outstanding question, but I'd word it different to keep the scandal press at bay. Investment aside, I want EV's to succeed and the wrong question on this point will result is tens of thousands of page views focused on FUD. Just ask if there are any plans to modify the Model S so that it is not so reliant on it's 12v battery.

For my part, I've been curious for awhile now as to whether you could use one of those cigarette lighter socket jump start batteries in order to "jump start" a Model S. So here is my question along those lines, which also obliquely raises the 12v failure issue -

"If the 12v battery on the Model S fails, can you plug a conventional battery jump starter kit into the cigarette lighter to power the car back up? Or are there plans to modify the system to guard against a failure of the 12v battery?" Sorry, I don't believe in the no followup rule :)

As to the rest of the questions, I've seen a ton of great ones. I especially would like to ask if Tesla is going to give data to Chiltons to publish repair procedures. Just saying that it's not "safe" because of high voltage is not an answer IMHO. Having a two ton car fall on your head is not "safe" either, so mechanics implement straightforward safety techniques to guard against it. Working with electricity is no different, and there are literally millions of electrical workers who do this stuff every day.