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Interesting article on the new Tesla Semi Truck. Thought I would share.

http://energyskeptic.com/2017/can-the-t ... 500-miles/

Most people think that electric truck makers need to tell us the specs — the battery kWh, price, performance, and so on — before we can possibly know anything about their truck.

But that’s simply not true. We know what lithium-ion batteries are capable of. And we know the kWh, size, and weight of the battery needed to move a truck of given weight a certain number of miles. That makes it possible for scientists to work backwards and figure out how many kWh the battery would need to be to go 300 to 500 miles, what it would weigh, and the likely price for the battery needed for a truck at the maximum road limit of 80,000 pounds.

Any self driving technology that reduces the need for skilled truck drivers will also be interesting: https://medium.com/basic-income/self-dr ... 507d9c5961. Anyone invested in anything related to trucking?

Tesla is such a joke at this point, the best part is the $250,000 they are asking (right now) for the privilege to own their new roadster (delivered at an undisclosed future date, possibly never)

Musk is definitely mostly in the dreaming business. then again, brute wouldn't have thought Tesla would get even the Model S on the road, so maybe there is a way.

It's great entertainment! The whole pageantry, glitz and glamour reminds me of Tony Stark in the marvel movies. It's about as believable too.

Unfortunately, he's sure to include all of the trendy catch words and phrases that tells me they are destined for liberal government assistance. As the private investors are taking a second look, and their media darling status fades, that is all that will be left for them.

BRUTE wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 24, 2017 7:50 pm

Musk is definitely mostly in the dreaming business. then again, brute wouldn't have thought Tesla would get even the Model S on the road, so maybe there is a way.

TBH, I see some similarities to classic ponzi schemes. Hence the long delays in production, and promise of new products on the horizon if only you'll pay up front and... look look, one just came off the production line, oh but you're #666 in the queue, come back later.

JMG points out that Musk is actually currently in the business of attracting government subsidies, and unsurprisingly there's lots of talk around that for Tesla Trucks etc

I'm getting the sense you all think Elon is dishonest instead of just delusional. I think its the second one. He seems sincere. Do you think he is not familiar with the arguments on energyskeptic.com? He's a smart guy. He could have used his PayPal money to retire to a private island and marry Amber Heard. Instead, he's building rockets and batteries. There have to be better ways to rip off the government if that's really his motive.

+1 to ThisDinosaur

Tesla is not the only one. It's just the most famous within the geek crowd. A cynic might argue that these businesses are only viable with government subsidies. This is probably true [for now?], but those subsidies exist because the scaling isn't there. Notice how much PV has come down after Chinese factories scaled up production (using Australian coal ). Ditto Lithium batteries. And it's not like traditional oil companies don't enjoy a generous depletion allowance subsidy ... and that regular car companies [or by extension the oil companies] didn't benefit from free [to them] roads paid for by tax payers... so parallel cynical arguments exist there. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that it was quite deliberate on part of Tesla to focus on the high-end (people with more money than sense) warez first to drive the scaling costs for the mass-consumer end eventually. Subsidies don't hurt of course.

Others:
https://www.cummins.com/news/2017/08/29 ... cept-truck (came out before the Tesla truck with much less fanfare)
http://sustainability.wm.com/operations/fleet.php (these garbage trucks run on natgas from their own landfills)
https://www.wrightspeed.com/the-route-powertrain

Disclosure: I own both WM and CMI ... I bought them when they were cheap. They're not cheap now.

I don't want to come across as kicking the guy trying to do what's regarded as impossible. He is visionary and a great salesman.

I have been watching it from an investor perspective, from a safe distance. All the media hype and positives were exaggerated while their failures were not making the back page of unread newspaper. Their p/e was soring. Lately, all of that is changing.

If they have legitimate promise, there should be private investors looking closer and stepping forward. If they deliver on half of their boasting, they will be rich. I don't like the idea of government subsidies for flashy salesmanship and emotional attachment.

If they have legitimate promise, there should be private investors looking closer and stepping forward. If they deliver on half of their boasting, they will be rich. I don't like the idea of government subsidies for flashy salesmanship and emotional attachment.

I was a skeptic, but I'm coming around. Not about Tesla, exactly, but the electric, self driven trucks. When/if the self driven gets resolved, the rest will follow. I say this from looking at electric bikes. The battery tech is already good enough, and the motor is already developed. The rest is standard engineering. But I wouldn't put any money in Tesla.

Their business model is all about hype, and while that is great for luxury goods and attracting investors and subsidies, the real applications for this are just boring. So I don't have much in terms of long term hopes for Tesla. I think Cummins or Case will make better use of the tech.

There are lots of shorter range delivery truck jobs that will benefit far more than typical long haul trucks. For that matter, the rail system could use this tech better. Why use trucks to cross the plains when rail could do it so much cheaper and more efficiently? When this is fully developed, I expect slow, solar powered rail to become the backbone of a star configured distribution system. Currently labor, habit, speed and logistics are the reasons for our system. When slower means much cheaper, and labor can be removed, habits and logistics will correct for these.

Conspiracy theory: Elon Musk is Satoshi Nakamoto.

Bit Coin founder undercover. Iron Man at night.