What will Martin do Next?

[Mike_A]

Hello Martin,

You alluded to some things that you might like to do once the dust settles.

Would you like to stay in EV or move on?

I was wondering if you will look for projects where you can have 51% and therefore control ?

Are you open to pitches (EV based)?

Apologies for this brazen spruiking, think of it as a form of flattery.

Ciao,

Mike

[TEG]

Martin mentioned that he plans to have a "teslafounders.com" blog soon.

You may wish to save your ideas and present them there when it goes live.

[TEG]

Some interesting quotes from Martin to be found here:

EVWORLD FEATURE: Shysters and Vapourware: Battery | EEStor | cityZENN

[graham]

Very interesting quotes, TEG. I had not read anything suggesting that Martin was so critical of Project Better Place before this. His criticisms do make some sense.

[stopcrazypp]

Very interesting quotes, TEG. I had not read anything suggesting that Martin was so critical of Project Better Place before this. His criticisms do make some sense.

I agree on this. My hope for BEVs is that they eventually get cheap enough that we don't need an elaborate subscription model for them to work. I think most people want to own their cars.
The article also mentions Martin's interest in solid oxide fuel cells, which I believe wasn't mentioned here before.

[JRP3]

Nice to see that Martin agrees with the points I've been making against battery swapping. More surprising was the almost rational comment from our favorite Kent Bot

[Dogtown]

After reading through the 50 plus comments on Martin's new blog it seems to me that the EV is still nearest and dearest to his heart. If I were a betting man I would say the next project will be EV related.

In the posts Martin refers to some of the issues he faced at Tesla. Most of these have pretty obvious solutions within a new company. Basic answer is "Keep control of company vision and product design rights."

What other things do you think he would like to change; or do with a new EV company? Would it compete directly with the Tesla roadster? Should it go straight to a WhiteStar competitor? What makes the most sense? What should be considered and why?

[malcolm]

Well I guess we'll find out soon enough, but I'm idly wondering whether it might be something in the charging infrastucture area. A common recharge communications protocol? Something like the CAN bus, but for charging stations???

Then again, if the intelligence in the charging system is built into the car anyway, why bother? It'll only make kerb-side recharging points more expensive.

Dumb electronics are cheap electronics

I'm assuming that it's going to be EV-related, of course.

Might be something completely different.

[WarpedOne]

... but I'm idly wondering whether it might be something in the charging infrastucture area. A common recharge communications protocol? Something like the CAN bus, but for charging stations ...

A single man or small company cannot do anything in the infrastucture area or protocols. Those things take big companies, government, politics and a lot of money and time.

Martin has "almost" succeded with the first step of his plan - crate an EV supercar. The next step - EV family sedan - I'd say is out of his reach for now. Also he would directly compete with Tesla Motors.

What about third step? Small, affordable and fun comuter EV? Something like this maybe? (concept D from Venture Vehicles at http://www.flytheroad.com/):


This is not something I'd call a punishment vehicle. This thing could weigh well around 1000 pounds and be cheaper to develope and produce than an ordinary car because legaly it is a motorcycle, no safety demands and standards to meet. But it can be used in rain and cold weather, without helmet and special lether suits. It also can take on your groceries and it is a fun to drive!

A smaller battery pack would suffice (I'd say 30kWh, 500pounds), because it has much less drag than a car, making it less expensive and also lighter. Target price is 25.000$ for pure EV version. Even if it rises to 35.000 it would sell like hotcakes.

Only I'm not so sure VentureVehicles are actualy capable of making it a reality. Martins experience could realy help them out. He hadn't said no yet

[vfx]

(concept D from Venture Vehicles

It may not be a punishment car but it is too far into the "weird" category. (Same with the the Aptera)
Tesla / Martin wisely did not go all freaky with the Roadster design. Even if they had come out with the sort of bat-like spider/wicked look of an Exige would be pushing it. While I believed (and still do a bit) that the roadster design is a bit pabulum, kind of awesome car smoothed out and a bit commite-ized in it's design, I also believe it was the right thing to do for the introduction of a new car, new technology to the market. You don't want to turn off Middle America. You want to give them something that the girls can call "cute" and the boys can call "cooool.

A very striking design statement would make the car’s evangelists even more rabid but this would be at the expense of their numbers.