I agree SpaceX has way more contracts than achievements, but "It has already launched, for a paying customer, a low earth orbiting satellite with its Falcon 1 booster in 2009."
No, not a Ponzi scheme.
You obviously overlooked the part of her suit where Honda changed the software to WORSEN mpg in order to reduce premature battery failure. It wasn't a 50mpg car... then it was more a mid-30s mpg car after that move. The facts she presented convinced the judge. Try reading before opining next time.
No, Tesla is starting up a factory at the former NUMMI plant to make the Model S. Lotus has stopped supplying the Elise-based chassis upon which Lotus assembled Roadsters for Tesla, just as Tesla has said all along would happen. (Would haters be happy if Roadster sales were so slow that the car remained in production through 2013?)
I believe Tesla unveiled the Model S in March 2009, and reports at the time said "Tesla hopes to build 20,000 per year by mid-2012". Tesla now says deliveries will start by July 2012, that doesn't sound like much of a delay when making your first car in-house in your first factory. Ray Wert has said that Tesla has lied and missed deadlines, but I'm not sure what he means.
I'm sure multiple journalists are working on books and documentaries on this very topic.
They both make expensive cars using new technologies. Tesla's proposition is simpler and clearer: stick a lot of batteries in a car for impressive range (for an electric car) and performance. Fisker's plug-in hybrid is electric for 32 miles and then the range-extender engine drones away. Fisker overcomes "range anxiety" but that doesn't seem to stop initial buyers (almost anyone spending Fisker/Tesla money on a car has more than one car!).
Their execution is completely different. Fisker bought its plug-in hybrid drivetrain from Quantum Technologies and put it in a custom-designed body, while Tesla developed its own battery pack, battery management, motor, and motor-generator controller and stuck them in an Elise chassis (both manufactured by someone else - Valmet in Finland and Lotus in GB). Tesla's approach let it get the Roadster out quicker than the Karma, as @ranwhenparked says it can sell the tech to Toyota and Daimler, and Tesla seems to be finding it easier to move to building the second-generation car — for all of Ray Wert's sour whining about the Model S, the pre-production cars are on the road, while we know almost nothing about Fisker's Project NINA except it will use BMW engines as the range extender. Also Fisker sells through dealers and Tesla owns its stores.
I hope both succeed, the more USA car companies the better.
Tesla doesn't have dealerships, it owns all its stores. And Ray Wert can't think straight when it comes to Tesla. And a publicly traded company isn't a Ponzi scheme under any normal definition of the term. And although the deposits and reservations on future cars are a nice boost to Tesla's cash flow (and disprove the "I don't want an electric car, therefore nobody wants one, therefore they'll fail" line around here) , they aren't nearly enough to pay for car development; that's come from Musk's personal investment, other early investors like Toyota, the two stock offerings, and the DoE loan.
If you think Tesla won't deliver, short the stock and make a fortune.
Hopefully the states' attorneys general will get a better deal as a result of her suit. Though I hope all the people who make mean hostile comments about the consumer who convinced a small-claims judge get nothing.
While Ray Wert nurses his unreasoning butt-hurt anomie against Elon Musk, other journalists report back from the Tesla factory. [blog.caranddriver.com]
There was a slide from the Model X announcement saying Model S deliveries will begin in July 2012. We'll see.
I think only CHAdeMO DC fast charging stations are actually out there. It's "only" high-voltage high-current electricity and some signaling; three different connectors on one station seems possible. I dunno which plug will be most popular in which region.
You're still using Excel? How twentieth century. Upload your spreadsheet to Google Docs, then click Share and it'll give you a link you can hand out.
What are you on about? From Porsche's USA web site: Porsche 911 Carrera: 0-60 mph: 4.6 s
Reviewers find the Roadster meets its 0-60 and range claims, and the ~2,000 "poor suckers" who bought one seem to love the car. The Model S has yet to enter production as Ray keeps reminding us. We'll see.
jcin2win1's comment seems apropos:
"A man gets rich on a tech start up and what does he use his wealth for? Starting a car company and a company that builds rockets. Companies that are headquartered in America, employ American engineers, and manufacture their products in America. They manage to build and sell an all-electric sports car and launch a rocket into space. For this the man gets snide comments and childish insults from a hack like you. Maybe if he had bought an M5 and an AK-47 and done some donuts you'd be happier? "
It's moronic to take your expensive technology and put it in a fast car with greater range than other electric cars in the body shape that, right or wrong, a huge number of buyers buy?
Thank heavens you're not running a car company.
The final numbers have been tallied. A Nissan Leaf travels 100 miles on 34 kW·h. That's the amount of energy in a gallon of gasoline. Electric is undeniably phenomenally efficient. Besides, an electric car's purpose is to not burn gasoline, there are a lot of reasons buyers value that beyond the cheap running costs and overall-better-for-the-environment that efficiency brings: stick it to oil companies, support domestic energy instead of dictators, quieter, no tailpipe emissions, etc.
(How does a Prius not live up to its manufacturer's claims? It's a practical reliable 50mpg midsized car that gets 50 mpg.)
I think you're confusing Tesla with Wrightspeed, Venturi, Tango and all the other would-be electric car makers who showed a prototype and at best sold a handful. Tesla produced and sold over 2,000 Roadsters. Numerous journalists have toured the former NUMMI plant and seen the presses and paint shop for the Model S - We Visit the Tesla Factory, and It Looks A Lot Like a Real Car Company’s.
It's possible the Model S will be late and over-budget or even abandoned before it ever goes into production. If you're so sure of it, short the stock and make a lot of money. But "It really looks like this thing ain't happening" seems like wishful thinking from people who hate the idea of a new American car that doesn't burn gasoline in an engine.
Tesla gets its batteries from Panasonic, not Toyota.
The Roadster is/was built on an Elise chassis and much of its assembly is at Lotus. Lotus is discontinuing the Elise and Exige (already happened in the USA "until the redesigned models are released in 2015") so there's not much Tesla can do.
'But Tesla Chairman and CEO Elon Musk disclosed Thursday that he's decided to hold up on a replacement roadster until the company launches its "Gen 3" electric car, a smaller, less-expensive EV for the mass market.' -- [www.insideline.com]
Tesla detractors criticize it for making a low-volume $109k sports car, for announcing Model X before Model S is in production, for not making a cheaper car, and for discontinuing a $109k sports car. Hmm.
As with any car, drive sedately in order to get the claimed range. A beefier motor may not hurt efficiency; it doesn't weigh much more and it can handle more free regenerative energy when you brake.
The obvious alternative to your daily electric transport is the other car in the garage (the majority of Americans live in a multi-car household), and another is renting; presumably that's how impractical two-seat sports cars and pickups somehow get sold. Unlike the hydrogen fantasy, Tesla doesn't have to invest in infrastructure when there are billions of plugs already., and other companies are building public recharging stations. But Tesla is contributing infrastructure:
* The ability to swap a Model S battery pack at a Tesla store for a large one (details remain sketchy)
* Their SuperCharger system. "Musk said that the 90 kilowatt SuperCharger station could add up to 150 miles of range to the Model S in less than 30 minutes." There's a worldwide SAE J1772 standard for AC charging at up to 19 kW, but for faster DC charging Japan already has 700 50 kW DC fast-charging stations using the CHAdeMO design, while GM pushed SAE to develop a different combo-connector, and Tesla's is a third alternative.
Where were you while Tesla MADE and SOLD 2,000 Roadsters? Now production has ended since Lotus isn't providing them any more Elise gliders. And don't claim it not being practical on an auto enthusiast site. You get in a fully charged sports car every morning and have 245 miles of range, sounds like a blast.
Where were you when Model S was opened up for reservations? While you're talking about wanting one, Tesla has sold out their first year's production and have so many deposits for the high-end Signature Series 300 mile version that it may be years before the $57,400 version is widely available.
For the Roadster, Tesla made its own battery pack, battery management system (thermal, electrical, safety), motor, and motor controller. They've sold these to Daimler and will put them in the Toyota RAV4. That's a lot of R&D, whether it's "new technology" is a slippery question.
Tesla got a $465M loan under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program to engineer and manufacture advanced vehicle technology in the USA, just like Ford and Nissan did. The Model S gets their new fantastic "skateboard" chassis and they make their own body.
... crickets...
C'mon Ray Wert, how would you run Tesla better?
