Tesla Motors death watch

[Kaido]

What they need is a standardized battery pack that can be plugged in AND swapped. Otherwise, I don't see electrics being universal. Eight hours is a long ass drive, but I've done over 500 km in a day (stupid job...) over 10 hours, cops/emergency services might need even longer range. It takes a minute or two to top up a gas car (assuming you have a canteen in the back) if the shit hits the fan. Standardized battery + charging stations with exchangeable batteries = all set.

Heavy as hell though...

Yeah, but they can't though, because of different car designs. I'm surprised they're even using the same battery in the upcoming Tesla Model X SUV, because the larger car will be heavier and will give you less range on the same pack. Maybe it'd be possible to make them modular, but look at the Tesla Model S's battery pack - it's basically the entire frame of the car:

http://teslarumors.com/News-2012-02-25-013_files/Model-S-Battery.jpg

So to get the capacity (and thus range), they basically use thin batteries across the bottom of the car. And because it's a full-sized car, it gets better range than say the Honda Fit EV, which does the same thing, but is a compact car, so you only get 82 miles out of that pack instead of 265.

 

[Joe1987]

90 seconds to swap, $60 to $80 charge:

http://www.dailytech.com/Teslas+Battery+Swap+Only+Takes+90+Seconds+Costs+6080/article31810.htm

And you need to pick up your old one on the way back, or else get charged the difference for the age of your old pack (or something to that effect, just not full price iirc).

The same price as a tank of gas?

The great thing, is that this is all voluntary, no one is forcing anyone to buy one or taking away your petrol based car.

 

[Red Squirrel]

What they need is a standardized battery pack that can be plugged in AND swapped. Otherwise, I don't see electrics being universal. Eight hours is a long ass drive, but I've done over 500 km in a day (stupid job...) over 10 hours, cops/emergency services might need even longer range. It takes a minute or two to top up a gas car (assuming you have a canteen in the back) if the shit hits the fan. Standardized battery + charging stations with exchangeable batteries = all set.

Heavy as hell though...

This, funny since I thought of this concept when I was a little kid, but sadly I don't think we'll see it because each company will want to use it's own proprietary crap to make more money. Kinda like how Dell does not use the same kind of battery as IBM for laptops, for example.

But yeah it would be totally awesome. The concept has been brought up many times and some have tried it, but then it just dies. I think Tesla has it, but whether or not they open sourced it, or patented it, is a whole other story. Most companies will just want to patent it so nobody else can use it.

 

[Kaido]

The same price as a tank of gas?

The great thing, is that this is all voluntary, no one is forcing anyone to buy one or taking away your petrol based car.

Yeah, it is nice to have that option. Would be a lot more attractive if it were free, but at least the Superchargers are available at no cost (free forever!). Plus, I drive an old Volvo that takes Premium, which costs me $85 to fill up from empty, so even a battery swap would be cheaper :biggrin:

 

[Kaido]

This, funny since I thought of this concept when I was a little kid, but sadly I don't think we'll see it because each company will want to use it's own proprietary crap to make more money. Kinda like how Dell does not use the same kind of battery as IBM for laptops, for example.

But yeah it would be totally awesome. The concept has been brought up many times and some have tried it, but then it just dies. I think Tesla has it, but whether or not they open sourced it, or patented it, is a whole other story. Most companies will just want to patent it so nobody else can use it.

Yup. No reason why they can't do multiple standard slide-out batteries with an integrated cooling system & distributed charger.

Part of the problem is that it's also a progressing technology. It's not like gasoline, where we've pretty much eeked out all of the energy we can in our modern engines. Batteries keep getting larger, faster, cooler, with quicker recharging times and new charging methods. So it's in a constant state of flux. Tesla is almost shooting themselves in the foot with the nationwide rollout of the Supercharger network, because by the time the 200-mile $35k model comes out, there may be an entirely new battery technology that requires a different plug for high-speed energy transfer and can handle 720 volts or something. You just don't know, which is what makes it difficult - of course, I'm sure the Superchargers can be easily retrofitted, but still, if you want to standardize nationwide or globally, it's going to be a lot more difficult.

Public charging is already a mess too, Tesla is the only one who has really figured it out. Especially with the naming conventions like CHAdeMO and SAE J1772 and stuff instead of "Supercharger". Derp.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I think the best bet is to come up with a standard battery chassis and plug, what's inside wont matter as much. It would have a basic communication protocol with the charger as well, so it can give it specific information like the type of battery and current voltage, temperature, amperage being drawn etc... Then they can adapt the chargers to work with different types of batteries. For example one future battery tech might require something really specific like pulses of 200vdc current limited. And this pulse changes over time as the battery charges. The communication protocol would take care of that by specifying what it wants from the charger and the charger would simply send it. Of course there could also be some known standards where the battery just sends a profile and the charger does it's thing, but for forward compatibility there would be a way for a battery to basicall tell the charger what to do.

They'd also have to make the communication protocol fully open, and simple, so people who want to make their own battery packs can. If you want to use a bunch of lead acid batteries you can go right ahead, then you modify the controller so it charges according to those specs.

There could be a few different chassis size standards, similar to how you have AAA AA and C, D etc batteries. At least one of the sizes could also be fairly small so it can be carried by a person. Think, for golf cart applications and what not, or small cars.

 

[Imp]

Like this?


http://www.teslamotors.com/batteryswap

I heard about the Supercharger in this thread, but not the battery swap. Cool, but needs work. I'm thinking universal battery across all manufacturers. It's stupid that something like laptops, cell phones, and cameras haven't even come up with anything like this yet. The tech is constantly progressing, but not even a standard size? And things should have started to stabilize somewhat with every damn phone looking like an iPhone/Galaxy/vice versa. Some laptops from Dell and probably other companies have batteries used across a few models.

Yeah, but they can't though, because of different car designs. I'm surprised they're even using the same battery in the upcoming Tesla Model X SUV, because the larger car will be heavier and will give you less range on the same pack. Maybe it'd be possible to make them modular, but look at the Tesla Model S's battery pack - it's basically the entire frame of the car:

Yep, tech is too new. Way too new. But it'd be a good start to just have everyone agree to a standardized set of sizes like AAA, AA, etc. Seems like they managed to standardize the lead-acid battery, why not go further?

There could be a few different chassis size standards, similar to how you have AAA AA and C, D etc batteries. At least one of the sizes could also be fairly small so it can be carried by a person. Think, for golf cart applications and what not, or small cars.

Exactly.

 

[makken]

I don't understand the loom and gloom mentality at Tesla these days; it seems a lot of it is politically motivated than anything else.

I brought the stock at $33/share when I researched the Model S and realized how great of a car it was, then doubled down at $39/share when they released their Q1 2013 guidance. When I told my dad about this, he just laughed at me and said the company was going to die within a year. Then when it crossed $100/share, he calls me up and says hes going to short it. I spent the next 2 days talking him out of it; he dodged a bullet there.

Make no mistake, the Model S is the original ($599) iPhone of EVs. We're just waiting for someone to release the $199 3G model. And I'm willing to bet that someone is going to be Tesla.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

makken

don't confuse stock prices with success. they dont always correlate.

 

[xeemzor]

Threads like this one are why 99% of most people should stick to index funds.

 

[jpiniero]

Threads like this one are why 99% of most people should stick to index funds.

You know, I wonder how long it'll be before Wall Street figures out how to game index funds so they become obsolete.

 

[olds]

tesla-is-big-draw

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Threads like this one are why 99% of most people should stick to index funds.

No no, you should listen to Cramer, that man is a genius! He is how I turned $1 into over $9 billion in just 4 weeks!

 

[Spungo]

Currently $192.79.
Just wait for those third quarter earnings to be reported

 

[Capt Caveman]

Currently $192.79.
Just wait for those third quarter earnings to be reported

Yep. And you still have zero clue about investing. Next year, will be good year for Tesla.

 

[Joe1987]

Another 52 week high today.

 

[natto fire]

So between investing ignorance of this stock, and technical ignorance of how these cars work, we have ~200 posts of FUD, and the rest get lost in the noise?

 

[fstime]

Yep. And you still have zero clue about investing. Next year, will be good year for Tesla.

Investing is you getting shafted by the big boys who really make all the money off peon investors and other small fish in the pond. You think you are going to compete with Goldman Sachs who are fined left and right for illegal shady practices with HFT super computers?

The markets are so manipulated by them that for the rest of us it's just legalized gambling.

 

[Darkstar757]

Investing is you getting shafted by the big boys who really make all the money off peon investors and other small fish in the pond. You think you are going to compete with Goldman Sachs who are fined left and right for illegal shady practices with HFT super computers?

The markets are so manipulated by them that for the rest of us it's just legalized gambling.

Best fucking quote ever! Cheers to your m8.

 

[OverVolt]

Best fucking quote ever! Cheers to your m8.

Can't you just do the opposite of what goldman sachs says? Do what goldman does, not what they say?

 

[Joe1987]

Can't you just do the opposite of what goldman sachs says? Do what goldman does, not what they say?

The problem is that with HFT, they don't care what direction the stock moves, just that it moves.

 

[KlokWyze]

I hope they do well. As someone mentioned earlier, it's all about if/when they (or someone else) release the affordable mass market model. That will shoot them to the moon.

I remember hearing somewhere that it's illegal to sell these in Texas. Jesus Christ Texas is fucking stupid.

 

[SampSon]

Tesla is a cute little boutique company with niche products. They are overall irrelevant in the auto industry. I would be willing to bet my bottom dollar that they never begin to come close to being relevant to the typical consumer.

Fun stuff for the top 15-20% of the country. The rest don't care and don't have a chance of being affected by Tesla's products or it's energy network dream.

Cool cars though. My friend bought one and has a deposit down for an X. He may cancel is order as an addition to his home or a new home is more important than a 100K car.

 

[Eug]

Hmmmm... In the US, my car would usually be around $25-30 US to fill up, for about 300-350 miles.

 

[bigi]

California is the only place in the country with the proper density of rich tree-huggers. Everywhere else the save the Earth hippie freaks are too poor to buy over-priced electric cars. Tesla has some good ideas and a makes a good product, but they're a niche company. The cars are simply too expensive for most of their target demographic to be able to buy one.

So why FIRST 2 Teslas went to Chicago, IL ?

event