Elon Musk

[WhiteKnight]

Only half-humorously: Elon is running Tesla because he loves a good car. He's building the Model S to drive around his large family -- perfectly sized. Now he's doing the Model X to accommodate his family as his boys get too tall for the jump seats. Then he'll make sure there's a great successor to the Roadster so he can have his very own mid-life crisis car.

Does this portend a Tesla EV-RV in 20 years for his retirement? :biggrin:

I read that Elon Musk bought a $1 million McLaren F1 after he sold one of his companies and I saw a video of him saying (paraphrasing) "behold, the fastest car in the world!" At which point I realized the next Roadster / Model R WILL BE the fastest car in the world from 0-60mph. To beat the Bugatti Veyron it will have to go 0-60 in 2.4 seconds and I fully believe that Elon will design the next Roadster from the ground up to make it the world's fastest. How's that for a mid-life crisis car. At a bare minimum he needs to find an exciting reason to stay at Tesla!!



MODERATOR'S NOTE: Subsequent next gen Roadster and battery conversation went to Next gen Roadster

 

[vfx]

FAA Aviator of the year

 

[dpeilow]

Ok can we keep this thread about the man and not the technology...

 

[WhiteKnight]

Ok can we keep this thread about the man and not the technology...

Sorry dpeilow, where should we move our conversation to?

 

[dpeilow]

Sorry dpeilow, where should we move our conversation to?

Seems appropriate to go in Next gen Roadster, so that's where you can now find it.

 

[Norbert]

I read that Elon Musk bought a $1 million McLaren F1 after he sold one of his companies and I saw a video of him saying (paraphrasing) "behold, the fastest car in the world!" At which point I realized the next Roadster / Model R WILL BE the fastest car in the world from 0-60mph. To beat the Bugatti Veyron it will have to go 0-60 in 2.4 seconds and I fully believe that Elon will design the next Roadster from the ground up to make it the world's fastest. How's that for a mid-life crisis car. At a bare minimum he needs to find an exciting reason to stay at Tesla!!

Yes, I think Elon will be keen to explore, for example, such features as AWD in a high-performance electric sports car (the discussion of which moved into the thread pointed to above), where it improves tire grip in acceleration, as well as in Model X for other reasons. While he obviously is very sincere in cost-saving, it does remain to be seen whether he will be equally enthusiastic about bringing exciting features into the mass-market arena. Personally I think it will be a very exciting process as electric cars will "take over" popularity in the mainstream and cross the 50% line of new cars being built. And I'd expect that he will find that a personally satisfying adventure as well. Although bigger auto manufacturers such as Nissan have made earlier steps towards producing larger volumes, the world may still rely on Tesla to bring about the big change in perception and mainstream demand. In hindsight, that role may very well have a huge historic relevance.

 

[PeterW]

Personally I think it will be a very exciting process as electric cars will "take over" popularity in the mainstream and cross the 50% line of new cars being built. And I'd expect that he will find that a personally satisfying adventure as well. Although bigger auto manufacturers such as Nissan have made earlier steps towards producing larger volumes, the world may still rely on Tesla to bring about the big change in perception and mainstream demand. In hindsight, that role may very well have a huge historic relevance.

Agreed, Elon and said that it is not the number of cars that Tesla produce but the number of cars that other manufacturers produce because of Tesla. For that to happen Tesla has to lead the way (more in tech, than in numbers) into the mainstream. Tesla needs to show what can be done and with Nissan and others, bring EV,s in the mainstream. It will get to the stage where other manufacturers will realise they need to get on board. For some it will be too late.

 

[neroden]

The assumption seems to be that Tesla will become a somewhat business-as-usual car company after Bluestar. I think there is lot of potential to remain innovative at the core, and use Tesla as the means.

For starters, energy storage technology is going to change massively over the next decade. Telsa really needs to call some people I know, who have got a solid-state, non-chemical battery design which has something like 100x the energy density of Tesla's batteries. Oddly, something Elon said in a speech, suggesting a direction which people should work on energy storage research, is something my friends already did in this design. Can't say more until the patents are issued, though.

A business-as-usual company won't jump on new battery designs. Tesla *needs* to jump on new battery designs, or someone else will crush them.

 

[Norbert]

Tesla *needs* to jump on new battery designs, or someone else will crush them.

Someone like you? I don't see anyone around who would make them "jump", but I think they are, in general, interested in any case. However you are not the first who claims to have private contacts to some wonder tech. I'd expect those things to be exaggerated in most cases.

 

[VolkerP]

For starters, energy storage technology is going to change massively over the next decade. Telsa really needs to call some people I know, who have got a solid-state, non-chemical battery design which has something like 100x the energy density of Tesla's batteries.

While I agree with your conclusion can you please post that "announcement" in the batteries thread?

 

[vfx]

Elon's Mom is still a model...

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/business&id=8374936

 

[AnOutsider]

Uhh... Yeah. I'm as speechless as elon in front of a crowd

 

[Mycroft]

At least she's employed.

 

[immel5]

Solar City plans IPO:
SolarCity planning IPO in Q3 | Climate Spectator

The whole company is estimated to be worth 1,5 Billion.
at the 2010 tech crunch talk Elon says that his 8Million initial investment has twelfefolded. I wander what his share is worth now!

Edit: another thing which catches the eye, is that the IPO is handled by Goldman again. They were involved in Teslas IPO as well

 

[Robert.Boston]

Solar City plans IPO:
SolarCity planning IPO in Q3 | Climate Spectator

Edit: another thing which catches the eye, is that the IPO is handled by Goldman again. They were involved in Teslas IPO as well

Goldman's role is hardly surprising. They're very competent, and they did a solid job for Elon before with TSLA. I liked the fact that TSLA didn't immediately start trading well above its IPO price -- which, to my mind, would have been a sign that the price was set too low and therefore too much of the value was going to the favored investors allocated IPO shares, rather than the company founders and early investors.

 

[immel5]

weird video of Elon. Though i just love to gape at that guy, it soothes me!

Elon Musk Cube Portrait, Lincoln Schatz | Lincoln Schatz

 

[medved]

Is Elon a Jew?

Elon said that this is his garage:

On the right frame of the garage door i see something that looks to me as a "Mezuzah".

Just curious.

 

[raymond]

I'd say No.

End of clip #10 at OnInnovation: Full Length Interview*with Elon Musk

INTERVIEWER:

It's almost like part of a grandness. [Do] you think there is some kind of destiny involved in this? Or is it just physics?

ELON MUSK:

Well, I do. Do I think that there's some sort of master intelligence architecting all of this stuff? I think probably not because then you have to say: "Where does the master intelligence come from?" So it sort of begs the question. So I think really you can explain this with the fundamental laws of physics. You know its complex phenomenon from simple elements.

 

[ckessel]

On the right frame of the garage door i see something that looks to me as a "Mezuzah".

Looks like a garage door keypad to me.

 

[Doug_G]

My garage door has several similar thingies on it. Sensor for the lawn light. Transmitter for the water meter reader. etc.