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So either he was "asked to leave" (fired) for somehow being responsible for the battery issue that was the rate-limiting factor for Model 3 production, OR he wa
by maxander 9y ago
So either he was "asked to leave" (fired) for somehow being responsible for the battery issue that was the rate-limiting factor for Model 3 production, OR he was being leaned on so hard by management to fix the problem that he left for work-life-balance reasons (ragequit.)
Either way, he gets to put in his expertise to found a new company in one of the hottest technologies there is in 2017, probably becoming rich by selling Tesla's own upgraded tech back to it, as well as to everyone else in the electric car race. All while not having Elon Musk looming over his shoulder. Not bad!
- leggomylibro 9y agoIt sounds like the battery issues aren't even completely within Tesla's control - you try sourcing that much lithium! ...seriously, I'm sorta worried about our continued access to enough lithium for all this electric technology that's rapidly emerging. Counterarguments?
- Avshalom 9y agoThere's no shortage of lithium, just lithium at the current price point. Like with oilsand it should get to a sufficient price to encourage investment in extraction technology and then price will drop.
- mtgx 9y agoYes, the issue is being overblown. It's the "we're reaching peak oil" debate of 30 years ago. We're still nowhere near peak oil (supply).
- SubiculumCode 9y agoIf lithium prices get too high, then SpaceX will have a financial incentive to get space-based lithium mining from asteroids in production, probably using Boring tech. :)
- leggomylibro 9y agoThat's a good point...it's not like it's a super heavy metal that only gets born in the bellies of colliding neutron stars or something.
- rsynnott 9y agoCurrent world production is only 36,000 tonnes per year. Chile alone has 7.5 million tonnes known reserves. So 200 years of current requirements, known, in one country. And the lithium doesn’t just go away. Lithium batteries can be recycled, though in practice it is currently often cheaper to just mine more lithium.
- starky 9y agoThe values I heard some years ago (~10) was that there were well over 1000 years of known lithium reserves even when assuming some truly impressive rates of electric vehicle production and zero recycling.
- leggomylibro 9y agoCoolio, so we just have to scale up? Phew!
- tankenmate 9y agoThomas Watson (founder of IBM) is quoted to have once said to an employee who tried to resign after a big mistake, “Fire you? I’ve just invested one million dollars in your education, and you think I’m going to fire you?”
- Danihan 9y agoSounds like the sunken cost fallacy in action.
- ktta 9y agoI think experience is the biggest educator in the field, and one will be careful not to repeat a mistake, especially when it is a big one. I think sunk cost fallacy can be quoted if someone messes up multiple times but they still don't want to let them go. Then the problem is nonchalance or incompetence.
- jacquesm 9y agoThe only people that don't make mistakes are the people that never do anything at all.
- Danihan 9y agoThere are people who are very productive who make very few mistakes. Just like there people who can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory nearly every time.
- jacquesm 9y agoFew is not none, besides that those people who are very productive and that make very few mistakes usually also were younger when they were still learning and likely learned a lot from those mistakes so now you see the end product.
- koonsolo 9y agoThat is true, but realize that those are the people that stay in their comfort zone and repeat the things they already know.