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To Elon Musk and the Model S: Congratulations
- nkoren 14y agoFootnote, not mentioned in the story: Elon Musk tweets that he'll donate the $1M to Doctors Without Borders in any case, as though he'd lost the bet: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/218897974242181121 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/218897974242181121 100%. Class. Act.
- thenewgreen 14y agoAgreed. I may not be the biggest "PayPal" fan but I'm certainly a "Musk" fan. To Mars!
- Nevaeh 14y agoIn addition, Elon said that he had already committed in his will to give away most of his fortune to charity. http://i.imgur.com/Mnk7U.jpg http://i.imgur.com/Mnk7U.jpg Elon also experienced near-death back in 2000 during a visit to South Africa. He almost died from cerebral malaria. (According to an interview) He tweeted about it here: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/152394000857448448 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/152394000857448448
- mrkmcknz 14y agoThe great thing about Elon becoming part of the giving pledge is that his wealth could spiral into the kind of numbers we are yet to see individuals accumulate. This guy is taking on gigantic problems and is quickly establishing at the forefront of future tech. I've always been in awe of Elon and quite simply that doesn't seem like changing any day soon.
- mahyarm 14y agoElon is awesome, but the founders of NASA contracting companies, intel, car companies, etc didn't reach bill gates levels of wealth.
- kunle 14y ago>Elon is awesome, but the founders of NASA contracting companies, intel, car companies, etc didn't reach bill gates levels of wealth This might be true. But Elon stands to be the first private citizen with a chance to reach the moon or Mars. The chance is (admittedly) slim, but the expected value of being commercially successful at reaching the moon or Mars is exponentially greater than Microsoft.
- jmj42 14y agoI don't think the change is that slim. Elon is the type of person who knows his limits and pushes them. His goals tend to be grand, but, with effort, achievable. I'd be more surprised if he didn't reach the moon or Mars
- chc 14y agoWhat is the expected value of a private party reaching Mars? What are they going to get from it?
- stcredzero 14y agoThe first individuals to reach North America didn't become ultra-rich. But North America did eventually produce unprecedented new wealth. Zubrin has argued that the colonization of Mars is analogous to North America, and will produce unprecendented wealth. http://www.nss.org/settlement/mars/zubrin-promise.html http://www.nss.org/settlement/mars/zubrin-promise.html
- mapleoin 14y agoIn addition, Elon said that he had already committed in his will to give away most of his fortune to charity. Is donating your fortune to charity in your will really altruistic? You're just giving away something you would no longer need, something which you wouldn't be able to use in any way after you're dead. On the other hand, by writing that will now, you get to feel damn good about yourself and also have a lot of people praise you. I think the people volunteering their life and their youth for an NGO and going to work with people in need NOW are the ones who deserve praise, not billionaires who are pledging to helping the poor without risking anything. I wish I could be one of the former, yet our society always encourages and rewards the latter. NB. I'm not arguing against Ellon Musk, I'm arguing against the way you phrased that sentence, and what people are sometimes mislead into viewing as a great deeds. See also Orwell's Burmese days.
- Tloewald 14y agoGiven that people feel oneness with their offspring and relatives, yes it is altruistic.
- Nate75Sanders 14y agoRelatively speaking, it is. He could instead use it to have lots of progeny and make sure they'll be in a great financial position to pass on his genes.
- JanezStupar 14y agoI think hes still doing pretty well on both counts.
- heed 14y agoAltruism is definite, absolute. There are degrees of selfishness though. I think donating your fortune upon death is less selfish (or more selfless) than not.
- Nevaeh 14y agoFirst off, I agree with you that the volunteers deserve credit. But this is not a contest of who can get the most praise. Volunteers and researchers need funding in order to operate effectively, and Elon's billions could be extremely helpful if he really does donate most of his fortune to charity upon his death. That sentence was from Elon Musk himself, not mine. So really, you're arguing against Elon Musk. Did you even read the picture I posted? http://i.imgur.com/Mnk7U.jpg http://i.imgur.com/Mnk7U.jpg He goes further on twitter to set the basic premise that it's better to try to address some of the world's problems than to create an aristocracy of wealth. He has donated to charitable organizations like MSF, UNICEF, Peace & Justice, Doctors without Borders, and personally bought presents for kids at the orphanage on Xmas. His established Musk Foundation helps to promote science education, pediatric health and clean energy. All of his companies has the ultimate goal of having a positive effect on the world, whether it's space exploration, solar energy generation, or electric cars. Elon personally said that he worked 80-100 hours a week for 15 years, and at one point invested nearly all of his assets in order to keep Tesla & SpaceX alive back in 2008. Source: http://archive.mensjournal.com/elon-musk%E2%80%99s-risky-business http://archive.mensjournal.com/elon-musk%E2%80%99s-risky-bus... Your claim of Elon being one of those billionaires pledging to help the poor without risking anything is flat out wrong. He risked everything and gave it his all, to the point of waking up in tears during the 2008 economic crash, when he thought all 3 companies would die and his marriage was ruined. He almost had a nervous breakdown. Source: 34:42 mark http://www.bloomberg.com/video/73460184-elon-musk-profiled-bloomberg-risk-takers.html http://www.bloomberg.com/video/73460184-elon-musk-profiled-b...
- tripzilch 14y agoAh, I was just going to say, "the only downside to this story is that the charity now gets $1K instead of $1M" :-) But not even that is the case. Indeed 100% class.
- dos1 14y agoEverything I've read about Elon Musk recently has really made me root for the guy. He is disrupting two very difficult industries. This was posted on HN a few months ago, but I really thought this interview with him was exceptional: http://www.wired.com/science/space/news/2008/08/musk_qa http://www.wired.com/science/space/news/2008/08/musk_qa What's most impressive to me is that this interview was almost 4 years ago, and he's done exactly as he said. He's focused on results and he's spending his considerable capital on things likely to make an impact on the world, not on frivolous applications like social networks.
- vannevar 14y agoI'd really like to know how he's doing it. Is it because he's personally a brilliant engineer, micromanaging the projects to success? Or does he have an eye for great talent, able to rapidly put together highly productive teams? Or is he so motivational that he can take ordinary engineers and inspire them to do extraordinary things? The stuff they're doing is hard. A lot of very talented people have failed in the space and automotive businesses. To succeed in both to the degree he has is mind-boggling. Tesla and SpaceX still have a long way to go, but where they've been in a few short years is remarkable.
- JanezStupar 14y agoProbably his companies have less than your average share of bickering VP's and MBA class business types waging corporate warfare with his resources.
- powerslave12r 14y agoI think one major reason is that his companies have a 'strict no-assholes policy.' [Clip http://www.oninnovation.com/videos/detail.aspx?video=1256&title=Hiring%20The%20Right%20People http://www.oninnovation.com/videos/detail.aspx?video=1256...] I have seen a few of his talks and he makes it look really easy. It's probably well known already, but in case you missed it, Iron Man's character in the movies is based off of him to some degree.
- antonioevans 14y agoCan't wait to do a test drive of the car.
- rdl 14y agoI don't really even feel a need to test drive it first. I'm just waiting until I have a place to charge it and my current car dies.
- listic 14y agoI wonder, what fraction of households in the US has the electric power necessary to charge an electric car?
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- MikeCapone 14y ago240 volt at 40 amps is the same as an electric oven, so I'd say almost all of them.
- protomyth 14y agoThe bigger barrier is people living in apartments.
- MikeCapone 14y agoIndeed, though the transition to electric vehicles will happen gradually in any scenario, so that's not a huge problem. Over time I expect that many street parkings will have power outlets kind of like park-meters.
- anothermachine 14y ago
- ck2 14y agoNow if Top Gear just gives it an honest review and doesn't go for the entertainment cheap shot of pretending it runs out of power and pushing it down the road. I look forward to buying my first used electric car in five to eight years. Probably a Leaf. Should be lots of hobbyists at that point rebuilding their own battery packs by hand.
- ams6110 14y agoThe Top Gear review was somewhat staged for effect, but did point out a real shortcoming with the vehicle. Top Gear reviews hardly make a difference anyway, I think anyone who has watched even a few episodes knows they exaggerate negatives for entertainment value almost constantly; the Tesla was hardly their only "victim" in this regard.
- ender7 14y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Gear_controversies#Tesla_Roadster_review http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Gear_controversies#Tesla_Ro... Basically, they imagined the worst that could possibly happen, but when it didn't happen, they pretended that it did anyway. This is kind of like saying "we reviewed your iPhone app. Because apps can crash, we wrote a review describing all the way your app crashing ruined various real-life activities we had, even though your app never actually crashed."
- sambe 14y agoTop Gear is highly influential both in terms of viewing figures and general perception. Of all the people I know who saw the episode, they all had genuine reservations and believed it to be about accurate journalism, not comedy. Second, as another reply points out, they did not really point out genuine shortcomings but rather fabricated events and used strawmen. If you analyse existing usage of sports cars, you will probably find the vast majority are used for short and medium distance driving on the road, not cross-continent or highly intensive race track driving. Hence the design and marketing of the Tesla.
- anothermachine 14y ago
- Flemlord 14y agoIs anybody in LA test driving the Model S this weekend? How did it go?
- berntb 14y agoHow about a sense of proportion? With due respect for electric cars and their great possible environmental impact, SpaceX is what is important of Musk's projects. It is what might make his name remembered in a few hundred years.
- powerslave12r 14y agoI think both projects are equally important. Arguably, Tesla might be even more important considering it will affect far more people much sooner.
- falling 14y agoI think it's stupid to compare the importance of such projects, that can and will be done only by the people in the future, when they will see the effects of what we are doing now.
- ams6110 14y agoThe Tesla is still an impractical car for 90% or more of average consumers. It's still mostly a rich person's toy/fashion statement. That's OK though, if it eventually leads to something that is practical and affordable.
- powerslave12r 14y agoFrom one of his talks, they have planned their roadmap in three phases: - Very high cost, very low volume car to start off with. - Moderate cost, moderate volume car (Tesla S). - Low cost, high volume. As we can see, they have achieved the first two targets (with surprising success). If you consider the 'rich people' argument, SpaceX customers are still going to be fewer than Tesla's for the near future at least. (Although, that is not to say the businesses borne from using SpaceX like bringing better satellite based services etc won't affect a LOT of people.)
- mahyarm 14y agoI'm getting an impression that Tesla's low cost high volume car will basically be a nissan leaf, which nissan has on the market already.
- MikeCapone 14y agoHere is a compilation of "first drive" videos of the Model S, as well as a list of initial review articles: http://www.treehugger.com/cars/jurys-tesla-model-s-rocks.html http://www.treehugger.com/cars/jurys-tesla-model-s-rocks.htm...
- jeffool 14y agoHas Elon ever talked about space in the mid-range future? Ten, twenty, thirty years from now? It's easy to talk about plans they already have for next year, or hopes we all have for a thousand years for now, but I'd like to hear someone knowledgeable about the time between point A and B. I don't need nuanced predictions, just reasonable conjecture.
- waterlesscloud 14y agoHis 10-20 year timeline is a man on Mars. I haven't seen the actual roadmap for that anywhere, but I wouldn't be shocked to learn he has one. http://news.discovery.com/space/spacex-elon-musk-mars-astronauts-20-years-110423.html http://news.discovery.com/space/spacex-elon-musk-mars-astron...
- SeoxyS 14y ago"It’s better for journalists to write about the story than to somehow become part of the story." And yet, this is at the top of Hacker News.
- cheez 14y agoWait. So you mean the guy started PayPal, SpaceX AND Tesla. Mother of god. What have I been doing with my life.
- mratzloff 14y agoMusk seems like a great guy, but a comparable bet for the journalist would have been closer to $50. $1 million is just not that much to a man worth $20 billion.