Elon's exploits - Watch
-Lands most government space contracts.
-gets grants to research better fuel cells/batteries because of the above.
-ends up coming out ahead with tesla/solar city and space X ,
because we will pay for it.
Brilliant , he most definitely knows how to "play" the system.
(another personality trait - manipulative/obsessive)
I truly believe only someone like him will get to mars. NOT a
government.
OS
General Motors was "a health care plan with wheels" -- a de novo auto company has no legacy burden. The quote is circa the 1990's from GM's chairman.
Should a "de novo" tobacco company bear the burden of RJR and MO?
Here its not about the no 'legacy' costs, its about designing a car with a new paradigm and convincing the customers to pay the price of a Luxury car for it. This guys started a car company without any brand name recognition, no dealer network, entirely new energy source with range anxiety still be able to bring the car to market.
The existing car makers like GM exited the electric car market after producing some as unviable. But he proved them wrong.
He is not the only one who knows how to play the system, others know much better.
Tesla Motors got $20million in tax rebates while Royal Dutch/Shell squeezed $1.7billion in rebates, credits, reductions and abatements out of public coffers. And it's not like they need them since unlike Tesla they made $16.37billion in profits last year.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/12/01/us/government-incentives.html?_r=1&
PS: Nice move by Elon:
http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/all-our-patent-are-belong-you
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Can you back those "most likely" figures up, or are they what my former boss called "brown numbers"?
Here's one effort at calculating the CO2 footprint of an elecric car:
The ‘electric cars aren’t green’ myth debunked | shrinkthatfootprint.com
Bill
billionaires are rarefied territory.
as long as he sticks with his script, he will most likely do well.`
should he not, stuff like this will happen -
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=+bill+gates+deposition
so bill retires, and we now have google.
steve jobs openly threatened google,
he no longer works at apple.
certain people are building a 'fan base' for elon, as such ...
tom - not exactly sure the trajectory of that last post?
and just because he's no longer active on this plane of existence, how do we know Steve's not still plucking strings? - rather like Matthew's character in the final scenes of "Interstellar" - one of my favorite parts actually
Back to Elon - I recently read for the first time about issues that some Tesla S owners are having with their "magic" door handles
http://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrTccvUZ2NVa9wArKEXFwx.;_ylu=X3oDMTByaDNhc2JxBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMQRjb2xvA2dxMQR2dGlkAw--/RV=2/RE=1432606806/RO=10/RU=http%3a%2f%2fwww.usatoday.com%2fstory%2fmoney%2fcars%2f2015%2f05%2f18%2ftesla-cars-model-s-door-handles-dumb%2f27551453%2f/RK=0/RS=C9xzUmYQaND43dyGoaUKy_zMx68-
might expect something like this on a Yugo, but at $87,500 for the current P85D, no matter the technological wonders of the total package, that's simply intolerable.
and just because he's no longer active on this plane of existence, how do we know Steve's not still plucking strings? - rather like Matthew's character in the final scenes of "Interstellar" - one of my favorite parts actually
Back to Elon - I recently read for the first time about issues that some Tesla S owners are having with their "magic" door handles
http://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrTccvUZ2NVa9wArKEXFwx.;_ylu=X3oDMTByaDNhc2JxBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMQRjb2xvA2dxMQR2dGlkAw--/RV=2/RE=1432606806/RO=10/RU=http%3a%2f%2fwww.usatoday.com%2fstory%2fmoney%2fcars%2f2015%2f05%2f18%2ftesla-cars-model-s-door-handles-dumb%2f27551453%2f/RK=0/RS=C9xzUmYQaND43dyGoaUKy_zMx68-
might expect something like this on a Yugo, but at $87,500 for the current P85D, no matter the technological wonders of the total package, that's simply intolerable.
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Have you heard about the 1976 Aston Martin Lagonda and its worlds first computer management system & electronic dashboard?
That thing cost £50k or $450 000 in todays dollars.
OMG, whoever designed that car should be slapped up the side of the head with a wet leather glove.😱 Definitely in the top 10 for ugliest cars of all time.
jeff
Pontiac Aztec ranks within the top 5on that list in my books - and depending on by whom, and when such lists were written, some are really just too boring or pedestrian to consider ugly - it's the concept cars of the late 50s to mid 60ths that get me scratching my head.
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Yeah but the point is not its looks but that its advanced (for the time) computer system meant that it was also the worlds most unreliably car and it cost effectively $1/2 million.
I just drove by the Tesla repair center in Watertown, MA. what a mass quantity of them. Someone won the hole in one prize this week at the BMW Championship, The 140K i8. I have absolutely 0 interest in electric cars, my phone spends most of its time discharged sitting in my briefcase, I figure my car would end up the same way.
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Amusing how tastes differ.
Together with the 4-door Maserati and the De Tomaso Deauville of the 70s, it's in my top 5 of most iconic sedan designs of all time.
Ghibli Spyder circa late 60s was one of my favorite shapes of the era -dare I say I preferred it to the Jag XKE Sedan, which may have been a fabulous ride, but I always thought looked more than a bit out of balance.
The Ghibli looked like all parts were drawn on the same sheet of paper, while the XKE 2+2, well, didn't
The Ghibli looked like all parts were drawn on the same sheet of paper, while the XKE 2+2, well, didn't
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My first boss had an XKE and it consumed a good chunk of his after-tax salary keeping it running. Woulda been less expensive to own a Roller.
jack - I've never been in any of the mentioned vehicles - I was just commenting on the styling - although I have heard certain models and vintages of Jag being described as rather like small boats "a hole in the road through which you pour your money"
The most exotic rides I've had were early 70s Lotus Europa (yes, you can actually fit 2 in the passenger seat, but it does rather throw the cornering dynamics off a bit 😱), TVR Coupe, and Super7 - even less than 100mph felt scary fast those last two
back to Elon / Tesla - I must say the S is a pretty enough shape - there's dozens of them on the road over here already, and probably a day doesn't go by that I don't see one on the highway or in town. Actually a few weeks ago I was making a pickup at Capital Iron in town here, and in the parking lot was a Fisker Karma, Porsche Panamera, and the latest Corvette - rather a sexy beast that last one, I must say.
The most exotic rides I've had were early 70s Lotus Europa (yes, you can actually fit 2 in the passenger seat, but it does rather throw the cornering dynamics off a bit 😱), TVR Coupe, and Super7 - even less than 100mph felt scary fast those last two
back to Elon / Tesla - I must say the S is a pretty enough shape - there's dozens of them on the road over here already, and probably a day doesn't go by that I don't see one on the highway or in town. Actually a few weeks ago I was making a pickup at Capital Iron in town here, and in the parking lot was a Fisker Karma, Porsche Panamera, and the latest Corvette - rather a sexy beast that last one, I must say.
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