Tesla Powerwall

avatar33

e-Hustler
Dec 5, 2009
3,838
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Calgary, AB
I've said it many times on this forum: Elon Musk is a superhuman and you better always be watching out for what he's doing.

This new home battery idea is a "shut up and take my money" kinda deal... anyone bought in?

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKORsrlN-2k[/ame]
 


I've said it many times on this forum: Elon Musk is a superhuman and you better always be watching out for what he's doing.

This new home battery idea is a "shut up and take my money" kinda deal... anyone bought in?

Elon Musk Debuts the Tesla Powerwall - YouTube

He's a smart guy and interesting, but he's not the mastermind you're giving him credit for being. Remember, there is a massive team effort behind everything he does, presents for, and runs. Most of the stuff is not his original idea, it's someone else's. But he's the leader and face, so he gets the assumed credit and respect.

Let's put it this way.. his company may be named Tesla, but the REAL Tesla was not only a genuine mastermind but selfless too... and.. fuckin insane, but that's understandable for what he had to go through.
 
I believe they are already sold out. In a few years I plan to build a "green" house that runs completely off solar and I'm going to have a closet full of these things. I'll let you know how it goes. Ideally I should wait until 2020 when Tesla's new factory is completed as it will drive the cost down big time.
 
Jon, I agree for the most part, but on this forum we always say that ideas are like assholes, we all have them. Seriously, a lot of us had great ideas at some point in our lives, and we did jack shit about it.

Execution > Idea

and Elon is the MASTER at execution. You know that when he says he'll do something, he will do it fearlessly. To me that's fucking impressive especially since he's juggling with a dozen innovative and highly risky projects at the same time. He's not a "me too business" type of guy. He goes where no one else is going and he goes full force.
 
Did some quick research on the product... not the man...

1- Initial thought: Presenting a veneer of instant ease of use, somewhat decently priced (I guess -- If they go with a commercial and consumer financing alternative then, game ovarrr in the US and UK for sure!), quick to market avail, warm feels and awww! appeal with sharing is caring (open source, with the pitch of 'because we want to encourage competition and entrepreneurial spirit --- cute story, but you kinda had to do it and we all know you could give a fuck about helping if you didn't have to!).
2- Product weighs something like 220 lbs. That's heavy shit. Also it only actually outputs 2 kwh not 10 kwh per pack, so avg US electricity hoarder would need at least two (I guess this is why he mentions that up to 9 are avail, smart move!!) to run off grid.
3- Alaska is still fucked during the dark months.. unless they are attached the grid, but even so, Alaska always finds ways to fuck shit up and is one of the best test places for any product (if you can survive Alaska you can survive anywhere... and bears.)
4- Remote outposts and island living folk, again, folksy and cute idea, but their target market are us, consumers and companies (I would assume small and medium biz mostly -- you know, the ones that don't really rely on coal).
5- Holy fuck their stock is going to rock in the long run because of this. Even if all of this fails, they are gonna win. Unless they are hiding something crazy and profoundly evil (like that you need to feed the battery with baby's blood and fairy dust to make it last -- bro, do not fuck with fairy dust, we are sensitive people!).
6- If this does even a shred of what he's hoping, in terms of cutting down widespread energy consumption and reliance on fossil fuels etc, then 1a- Holy fuckballs that's gonna start a war with a ton of industries, globally.. and 1b- Say goodbye to a shit ton of jobs. Ouch.

I like this video too..

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvlolmFX-rc[/ame]
 
Jon, I agree for the most part, but on this forum we always say that ideas are like assholes, we all have them. Seriously, a lot of us had great ideas at some point in our lives, and we did jack shit about it.

Execution > Idea

and Elon is the MASTER at execution. You know that when he says he'll do something, he will do it fearlessly. To me that's fucking impressive especially since he's juggling with a dozen innovative and highly risky projects at the same time. He's not a "me too business" type of guy. He goes where no one else is going and he goes full force.

I'm certainly not trying to ruin your view of him. By all means, respecting a biz guy over an athlete or movie star is always preferred.

You're right. He's got access and funds to do shit and get shit done that we are all envious of. But think about what the process is like behind the scenes. The people, the planning, the different moving parts and pieces. For all we know this whole thing could have been pitched to them and was acquired or was part of the grand scheme plan of all plans from years ago. Just sayin.. A lot of that execution relies on a lot of people behind the scenes. Without teamwork, none of these big boy biz guys would be anywhere now.
 
I respect Elon Musk because he's a hard worker who truly wants to make a difference and solve problems that others think are too complex/risky. He's definitely not in it to "pop bottles and bang models"... even his ex-wife said that he has a mental condition (kind of OCD) that makes it very hard for him to relax and enjoy a normal life. She said he's only truly happy when he's working at solving problems.

Also, this is kinda off topic but I hate when people compare Musk to Branson. 2 different words. Branson likes money and enjoys the high life. In that sense a lot of IMers relate to Branson more. I dare anyone to find a pic of Elon Musk chilling with booze and half naked women... meanwhile Branson is living it up on Necker island and proudly shows it...

That's why I'd put all my money on Space X way before I throw a dollar at Virgin Galactic. Sure having a solid team is important but in the end all teams aspire to be like their leader. A CEO that works 14 hour days is a way bigger motivation for his employees than one that is wake boarding with buttnaked women on his private island. Amirite?

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He's a smart guy and interesting, but he's not the mastermind you're giving him credit for being. Remember, there is a massive team effort behind everything he does, presents for, and runs. Most of the stuff is not his original idea, it's someone else's. But he's the leader and face, so he gets the assumed credit and respect.

Let's put it this way.. his company may be named Tesla, but the REAL Tesla was not only a genuine mastermind but selfless too... and.. fuckin insane, but that's understandable for what he had to go through.

I suppose next you're gonna tell us Steve Jobs didn't single handily invent the iPhone?
 
I saw an engineer estimate on it and the cost per KWH of storage was higher than the cost to produce the power for most users (Meaning it'll cost you approximately double the normal rate to use it).

The battery has a finite shelf-life since it's lithium ion, so just like your phone it'll lose its effectiveness over time.
 
This guy writes a lot about Space X and Elon Musk, he actually even met Elon and they talked about many stuff. His posts are long, but really nice written. Apart from many bloggers today, he has some really strong observational skills about society and human interactions.
 
Tesla's factory battery production needs lithium the amount of lithium accessible in the world is not nearly enough to supply the factory - I think the battery is a pipe dream.

Solar panels cannot ever generate the amount of power required to manufacture them, and when you take the loss efficiencies of conversion this becomes an even more of a pipe dream.

Energy you cannot have on demand and is unreliable is as useful as warriorform
 
Tesla's factory battery production needs lithium the amount of lithium accessible in the world is not nearly enough to supply the factory - I think the battery is a pipe dream.

Solar panels cannot ever generate the amount of power required to manufacture them, and when you take the loss efficiencies of conversion this becomes an even more of a pipe dream.

Energy you cannot have on demand and is unreliable is as useful as warriorform

and in one fell swoop, ttime completely destroys the solar industry sending stock in Tesla on a downward spiral after CEO Musk admits he didn't in fact do any research at all before investing in and building his "Gigafactory", proving once and for all that we should stick to digging oil, coal and gas out of the ground until a 100% perfect solution appears out of nowhere.
 
not a perfect solution just, saying that perhaps the first thing to do is fix this "rejected" energy before adding and storing any more of it with the same loss ratio.

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^well unless you're mining major bitcoin or growing tons of weed in your basement, he said it's more than enough for the average user. You can always get more power by buying the more expensive model with double the capacity.

Tesla is not run by a bunch of idiots guys. Read Elon Musk's book and you'll see that the motherfucker went ahead and hired the top talent in the industry. He is surrounded by a bunch of geniuses from Stanford and Harvard that started building batteries and shit at the age of 12, while you were too busy discovering your dick.

Sure it's not perfect yet and there are still a few major hurdles but you have the option of encouraging this endeavour or continue to shell out major dough every month to your state-run hydro company that is robbing you blind because they know (or think) you have no other option.
 
Damn that looks cool, but have to agree with the others -- little hesitant as to whether or not it can provide enough electricity for a standard user. Would be great if you're not in a hot or cold region of the world where you need either, air conditioning or a furnace. If you do though, might not be such a great value.

The Tesla site says daily cycle battery is 7kWh, and backup application battery is 10kWh. Now take a decent sized family home in a hot climate. Due to family being spread across the house, say you have 4 A/Cs going at any given time, each of which takes 3.5kWh. There's two batteries right there at max capacity, so you need say 4 batteries in total for your house.

@ $3500/battery that's $14,000 worth of batteries. Add probably another $40k for the solar panel installation, and other misc things. Now you're up to $54k to get off the grid.

Batteries are guaranteed for 10 years. Say your average electric bill in that house is $400/month, so $48,000 over the 10 years. That means over a 10 year period, you're looking at about an extra $6000 in electricity bills if you go with the solar / batteries, and that's assuming the system continues running smoothly without any repairs / maintenance during the 10 years, which we all know is extremely unlikely.
 
He's a smart guy and interesting, but he's not the mastermind you're giving him credit for being. Remember, there is a massive team effort behind everything he does, presents for, and runs. Most of the stuff is not his original idea, it's someone else's. But he's the leader and face, so he gets the assumed credit and respect.

Let's put it this way.. his company may be named Tesla, but the REAL Tesla was not only a genuine mastermind but selfless too... and.. fuckin insane, but that's understandable for what he had to go through.

but that hairline tho

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