Gas prices up

[Lazybones]

Swap systems present a risk of damaged, tampered, old devices being swapped into vehicles and causing problems or poor performance.

A better solution is to focus on electric drive trains NOW and offer a variety of power storage options in the future from super CAPS, new batteries, to fuel cells.

[Lazybones]

Hmm I think another way to look at it is BBQ propane swapping. How do you automate inspection of containers? Number of cycles? brand? Length of time idle...

[Thorin]

At the moment the brand is all the same - it'll be Tesla-brand battery packs for Model S generation II (not the Roadster).  There are indeed questions about swapping your brand-new battery for one that has been in use for five years.  Although so far they're talking about swapping out for a different pack, then on the return trip getting your pack back.  If that's how they plan to do it, there will be a fair bit of administrative overhead in keeping track of what pack belongs to what customer.

What I see as a problem is the limited storage space at the battery-swapping station.  If it's the only station for miles around, and there's a lot of Teslas around, you might be in a line of ten Teslas all waiting for a battery pack when there's only one in the swap station.  Of course they're planning to have these swap stations integrated with their charging stations, but charging takes time.  And at the charging stations, essentially the same problem exists - charging takes 20 to 30 minutes, and if there's a line of ten Teslas waiting for four chargers, you might be waiting for an hour before even getting served.

I'm willing to bet that a couple of years after these swap stations go in, a lot of this will have been worked out.  Also, I hope they use the same battery in their cheaper generation III car, otherwise the battery swap stations will need to either be very smart or will only be able to serve one model of car.

[Darren Dirt]

At the moment the brand is all the same - it'll be Tesla-brand battery packs for Model S generation II (not the Roadster).  There are indeed questions about swapping your brand-new battery for one that has been in use for five years.  Although so far they're talking about swapping out for a different pack, then on the return trip getting your pack back.  If that's how they plan to do it, there will be a fair bit of administrative overhead in keeping track of what pack belongs to what customer.

Perhaps the future for VEHICLES is to just have a compact version of the Tesla Powerwall (18 minute presentation -- btw some speeches Elon Musk sure stutters a lot!)

...because solar is readily available but "current batteries SUCK" (to quote the man)


2 minute summary from Bloomberg
(01 May 2015; even a guy who is not a fan of Musk thinks it's very forward-thinking)

This review from WIRED says it's about one-third the price of comparable tech already out there. But he also points out that if you wanted to go completely off-grid it would take more than 8 years (based on consumption of average US families etc... Or more like 3 if you live in the more expensive places like Hawaii. And I would expect smaller/simpler families and single would manage to get by without buying 4 of these puppies!)

This video from some dude in Australia reminds us this is just the first generation and when we think back to the first generation of cell phones (including their cost, bulkiness, short life, etc.) it's a helluva start in a direction we all really need to get going... (existing energy delivery systems are as old-school thinking as a rotary dial phone imo!)

[Thorin]

Thanks to having a trailer now, I started researching solar electricity including storing it for night-time use.  This would allow me to camp in places that don't have electricity and still watch a movie or use the microwave.  It would also use a lot less propane, as the fridge runs on either propane or electricity (when available).

There are some big costs to consider.  Solar panels still aren't cheap, and you have to remember that they're quite inefficient as soon as there's dust or snow on the panel, or the sun is at the wrong angle.  That said, you can outfit a house for $40k or $50k so that it's entirely off the electric grid and you're still able to use your computers and tvs and fridges and stoves.  Which seems like a good deal, until you realize you're spending that $40k to $50k again in ten to fifteen years when all the components have worn out.

Still, cool that someone's trying to Apple-fy the home solar power market.  I mean, really, that thing just screams ex-Apple engineers...

[Darren Dirt]

Still, cool that someone's trying to Apple-fy the home solar power market.  I mean, really, that thing just screams ex-Apple engineers...

"First Generation" that's the key.

Remember what the original iPod was like? How much it weighed? How much it cost? 

[Darren Dirt]

Perhaps the future for VEHICLES is to just have a compact version of the Tesla Powerwall (18 minute presentation -- btw some speeches Elon Musk sure stutters a lot!)

uh-oh.

had a thought.

These batteries (as the next few generations get more efficient, lighter, last longer, etc.)
PLUS
http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/05/15/google-autos-selfdriving-idINKBN0O01TR20150515
PLUS
IBM Watson technology
EQUALS
Skynet On Wheels -- EVERYWHERE, ALL DAY EVERY DAY ... *FOREVER*

#HeadAsplodeMomentOfAwarenessOfUnavoidablePath