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Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video]
- mas644 13y agoelon = grit, as an entrepreneur when i have dark times, i'll read about him to get amped. my favorite quote: "Optimism, pessimism, fuck that; we’re going to make it happen. As God is my bloody witness, I’m hell-bent on making it work." -- back in 2008 after the SpaceX Falcon rocket failed to make orbit 3 times. More context: http://dcurt.is/elon-musks-determination http://dcurt.is/elon-musks-determination
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- adventured 13y agohttp://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:f5hUrv24o3kJ:www.wired.com/science/space/news/2008/08/musk_qa+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:f5hUrv2... Cached because wired seems to have disappeared the original: http://www.wired.com/science/space/news/2008/08/musk_qa http://www.wired.com/science/space/news/2008/08/musk_qa Interesting to note that when he said that, in the third quarter of 2008, he was in the middle of a complete implosion across everything in his life. Adds a very dramatic quality to it.
- cipher0 13y agoThanks for linking, yeah it was an extremely tough period for him.
- bane 13y agoHe doesn't so much as say it, but show it in his eyes how much the NASA contract meant and how much passion he has.
- kome 13y agoPublic money saved him.
- cromwellian 13y agoAnd that means what? Public money has saved a lot of companies. The next time you fly somewhere, thank defense contracts and US postal service contracts for subsidizing the development of commercial air travel. Aerospace, especially space, is tightly linked with government spending, period. Also, does the fact that Musk bet his entire fortune means he's a freeloader on corporate welfare?
- reubenmorais 13y agoAnd also, you know… the entire field of computer science.
- adventured 13y agoThere are two sides to that coin. Without an opportunity and potential like SpaceX, all the public money would have are cases like Solyndra. The reality was, NASA needed SpaceX as much as SpaceX needed NASA.
- jasonlingx 13y agoNASA needed Musk. Musk doesn't need anybody.
- bsilvereagle 13y agoDid you watch the news clip? And the Department of Energy (not mentioned) was huge in getting Tesla to where it is today.
- rayiner 13y agoThat's ridiculous. There are tons of successful developments using public money besides SpaceX.
- lugg 13y agoAnyone have a mobile link that works? edit: link
- Namrog84 13y agoYeah that site doesn't seem to work for me on mobile either :/
- MicroBerto 13y agoI know I'm not the typical reader, but there's literally no single article or video that will ever get me to install an app to read it. I wonder what their conversion rate on this is.
- njharman 13y agoI hope it is close to zero. Proprietary bullshit is bullshit.
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- alexeckermann 13y agoVideo playback on the web is such a farce. Luckily with some poking around you can find the m3u8 playlist URL in the HTML source in plain sight: http://ipad-streaming.cbsnews.com/media/mpx/2014/03/30/211533379674/60_0330_Pelley_phone.m3u8 http://ipad-streaming.cbsnews.com/media/mpx/2014/03/30/21153...
- caio1982 13y agoI, for one, welcome Elon Musk's empire! He couldn't possibly be paying for all the hype, all the influence, backing a worldwide PR campaign about himself and his stunts. He's on the media simply because he's freaking awesome compared to other millionaires industrialists. Come on, look at what the guy has done so far... we need more Elons Musks. There, end of fanboyism :-)
- darkmighty 13y agoAlso, it's clear that all he did wouldn't be possible without a superb team behind him. But he's got such a strong character that it's just a talent magnet -- if not more, probably the best motivator one institution could ever hope, specially for engineers. I think he's aware and quite pleased at all this image building as a "RL Iron Man", because it does wonders for the success of the companies. It's this kind of spirit that made apple's success, not the salary of the engineers. Salary paid in dreams.
- cushychicken 13y ago>Salary paid in dreams. That's something that would look great in a marble facade.
- dclowd9901 13y agoYes, I'd rather stare at a pretty marvel façade than put my kids through college, too. I'm all about sweat equity, but that payoff better be substantial.
- toomuchtodo 13y agoCounterpoint: I keep applying for a Linux sysadmin job at SpaceX that would have me taking a ~$80K/year paycut, so I can work at SpaceX. Substantial payoff? Mine is getting to work in launch operations, no matter what the position is.
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- andrewtbham 13y agoSince the car is so quiet... I wonder if the noise the car makes on these clips is an overdub.
- kevincennis 13y agoWas wondering the same thing. Those really sounded like engine noises (at maybe 1:30 or so. Right after the first break).
- bsilvereagle 13y agoJalopnik thinks they were dubbed: http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/why-is-60-minutes-dubbing-motor-noises-over-tesla-foota-1554962894 http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/why-is-60-minutes-dubbing-m... But I also remember reading somewhere that the ADA was pushing for electric cars to emit noise for deaf and hard hearing pedestrians.
- dm2 13y ago"But I also remember reading somewhere that the ADA was pushing for electric cars to emit noise for deaf and hard hearing pedestrians." I read a similar one except it was regarding blind pedestrians. I'm not sure how a silent vehicle would affect deaf person.
- bsilvereagle 13y agoAnd that is why I shouldn't post comments online when I should be sleeping. You're right, it was for blind pedestrians.
- andrewtbham 13y agoElectric vehicle warning sounds http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle_warning_sounds http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle_warning_sounds
- sahaskatta 13y agoThe sound is definitely from the vehicle which is doing the filming. The Tesla Model S does not sound like that.
- antonioevans 13y agoOne of the parts of the interview that gave me chills was when they mentioned, Elon had seen the future and brought it back. I think most of us on HN are building the future for a world that lives in the past and I think it's beautiful. We're trying to craft something that doesn't exist yet... but can. Not many professions do that.
- coreymgilmore 13y agoMusk is thinking 8 steps ahead of almost everyone. While Tesla is a huge play with revolutionizing the car world, there are some other parts in play. First, his Gigafactory to produce batteries. When the other big automakers get into the electric car mindset, who are they going to buy batteries from? Musk who owns the single largest and high-tech battery factory (that produces on an enormous scale), or other battery producers who have less economies of scale and higher prices? Obviously, lower prices win and Musk ends up selling batteries to his competitors...genius. Second, when other manufacturers get into the electric car game they are going to need nationwide chargers. Did you think that the Tesla and Supercharger of proprietary connectors for no reason? Since Tesla will have a huge nationwide system before anyone else, Musk will license the rights to use his chargers. Again, making money from the competition. Competitors will not have the ability to compete on charging when they release cars because Tesla will already have an established network. As for SpaceX...thats a whole another post for another day.
- purringmeow 13y agoMakes me think how much we need a revolution in batteries. I am wondering if there will be a new type of batteries soon or maybe we'll get improved capacity by slapping a software layer that manages charging/discharging.
- will_hughes 13y agoAs far as I can tell - there's lots of "interesting" energy storage technology being researched, but there's nothing that's close to being ready for at-scale manufacturing.
- cushychicken 13y agoWe've needed one for ages! Lithium ion is the best we can do so far, and it has two GAPING flaws: * tons of energy is lost as heat * volatility of the chemical storage mechanism occasionally causes that heat to get released as an explosion I'd love to see Musk's solution end up in a massive increase in battery performance.
- pedalpete 13y agoI'm only half way through, but so far, I find it very disappointing that CBS has not given credit to anybody else who Musk has worked with. They discuss "you decided to start a car company", but it was started by two other engineers, and Musk came in as an investor first, and joined the company later. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Motors http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Motors It would have been nice to see Musk give some credit to the original visionaries. He's still very responsible for Tesla's success, but it wasn't JUST him. Same with PayPal, it would have been nice for Musk to say "I stared PayPal with a few friends to..." This report sadly gives nobody else any credit in the development of this empire.
- carlosdp 13y agoTo be fair, having a single face of the company being enforced constantly is probably an intentional PR decision. And it is quite effective from my perspective.
- pedalpete 13y agoThat's an interesting perspective, I hadn't thought of it that way. My concern is that it feeds into the idea that these guys do it all on their own, but then speak to any VC, and they talk about the team.
- markvdb 13y agoIt's also a self reinforcing loop. In other words, even if Musk would _try_ to give credit to the team, much of that would be ignored in the reporting about Tesla/SpaceX/...
- sixQuarks 13y agoWell, my memory isn't perfect, but didn't Musk try to let some other guy run Tesla, only to see it nearly driven into bankruptcy? It wasn't until Musk came back as CEO that it turned around, and is now worth over $20 billion. Of course there are countless talented people behind the product, but like great athletes, if they don't have a great coach, they won't win a lot of games. Musk just happens to be the greatest coach we've seen in generations.
- rokhayakebe 13y agoWhile we are on the subject, I would love to see "car chassis + engine + trans" as a service.
- l33tbro 13y agoIn the immortal words of Keanu Charles Reeves, "Whoa". So much admiration for this guy. For once, it's actually nice to see one of my heroes getting mainstream media coverage like this. The guy has broken through to the mainstream by being himself and staying true to his engineering roots. You look at a guy like Jobs and it was always such a hokey, patronizing, and calculated exercise with his Houdini-esque product launches. Elon's humility and grit should be an inspiration to all.
- Jarred 13y agoI think the most interesting thing about Tesla is it's applicability to SpaceX. If the goal of Tesla is to provide a better energy source (where "better" is defined as capacity and environmentally friendly) and SpaceX's primary constraint is the energy source, then long-term they'll be the same company.
- tbolse 13y agoI wonder how fast everyone forgets the real founders of Tesla: Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, and all credit is put on Elon. I am sure he deserves a lot of credit for his foresight, strategic decisions and also his execution... Bottom line he bought himself into the electric car game, which was itself a very good strategic move.
- simonh 13y agoHe was chairman of the board from month 7, and personalty won two design awards for his work leading the engineering team on the first car. Bottom line, he deserves all the credit he gets.
- gavinpc 13y agoAm I the only one who got an ad for Chevrolet? Pretty awesome that GM helped pay for the segment. (Also for Viagra... not sure about that one.)
- jonwachob91 13y agoI only got Viagra... For all the related videos too... Is CBS trying to tell me something :(
- hyp0 13y agoBe like Musk: don't give up til you've failed three times... and given it one more try.
- tambourine_man 13y ago“What's important to Musk is reducing green house gas, which he believes, threaten the world” That kind of phrasing annoys me deeply, it tries to spin scientific consensus as if it's a disputed issue.
- tambourine_man 13y agoAnyone care to explain the reason for the downvotes?
- pjkundert 13y agoThe day scientific consensus fails to be a disputed issue is the day science begins to die.
- tambourine_man 13y agoHow often do you see the BigBang or Plate Tectonics being reported as a controversy? There is a pile of evidence supporting anthropogenic climate change, but it's constantly downplayed as something one “believes” in or not.
- kayoone 13y agoIf he would have crashed and burned in 2008 (and he was very very close to it) mankind literally would have lost a few decades of advancement i guess.
- mike2477 13y agoDefinitely makes me want to buy Tesla stock. My guess is that Elon is on a road show to get the stock price back up. He'll probably stop by New York Times, ABC and others this week and the stock price will shoot back up to $230.
- kayoone 13y agoIs that old footage ? Just wondering because it portrays his second wife Talulah Riley, but (german) wikipedia states they have been divorced for 2 years already.
- samelliot 13y agoNot sure about their marital status but her twitter account suggests they are still a family: https://twitter.com/TalulahRiley https://twitter.com/TalulahRiley
- jonwachob91 13y agoMy understanding is that their divorce was just a rumor...
- NN88 13y agoLOL at the part about his wife.
- dingaling 13y ago> When the other big automakers get into the electric car mindset, who are they going to buy batteries from? Umm... LG? They have an enormous operation already supplying GM and Renault, two big rivals.
- davidiach 13y agoWhy does it show in this interview that Musk is married to Talulah Riley? Are they not divorced?
- SuperChihuahua 13y agoThey were, but then they got back again
- jeffreyrufino 13y agoLove live Elon Musk! I'll be buying a Telsa when it comes to Australia
- mavdi 13y agoImagine the kind of scum it would take to bet against Tesla's success. Here is Musk, improving human life, clearing our air and probably taking us to Mars one day and on the opposite, we have scumbags waiting to make a quick buck and working actively, bribing legislatures to make Tesla a failure.
- technophilliac 13y agoIn this world, where everyone finds everything with Google, Elon is one of the few persons thinking through his mind.. More here: http://techgeekforever.com/2014/02/20/elon-musk-one-man-who-aspires-to-change-the-world/ http://techgeekforever.com/2014/02/20/elon-musk-one-man-who-... Found this on StumbleUpon
- amac 13y agoIt's got to be said that most of the wealth created in the last 50 years or so has been in either financial or software engineering. Musk is a bit of a throw-back right to the 19th and 20th centuries in this regard. Humanity could do with more folks like him if we're to see real progress in our life-time.
- shuaib 13y agoI am thankful to Woz for giving us Apple. And thankful to Musk for a promising future in the industries he is venturing in.
- brianstorms 13y agoThe most remarkable thing about the 60 Minutes segment was the simplification of Tesla Motors' history, and Elon's apparent unwillingness to correct the record in front of the camera. Elon was not the founder of Tesla. He was an angel investor, and then became a major investor, and over time took over after ousting the early founders. That is a very different story than he founded the company, that it was his singular vision, blah blah blah. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of Tesla Motors and a believer in the vision and how Tesla's going about achieving sustainable transport for the world. But I am also a huge fan of accuracy, and having founded some startups and co-founded some startups and worked for a bunch of startups that I did not found or co-found, I try hard to get the story right and not give people the impression that it was all me. I wish Elon didn't do that. I wish he insisted 60 Minutes get the story right, even if not convenient. I don't like a manufactured story, especially when it's supposed to be nonfiction television journalism.
- etjossem 13y agoElon Musk has made a deliberate attempt to simplify a founding story before, when he was leaving Paypal. In Musk's separation agreement with the company [1], there's a section marked "Deletion of References to Founders." In light of (what looks like) Musk rewriting history with his previous company too, I'm not sure 60 Minutes is to blame. "[Paypal] acknowledges that Mr. Musk is a founder of the Company and its predecessor X.com. The Company agrees that, within ten days after the effective date of this Agreement, all references to 'founders' of the company will be removed from the Company's website ... the Company shall refrain from stating who the founders of the Company are or making statements quoted in the press that undermine Mr. Musk's status as a 'founder' of X.com." I love what he's done for Tesla since taking over. There's real potential in the products the company has to offer, and I own a bit of TSLA myself. But at this point, Elon Musk doesn't need a "lone hero" story to change the world, and I'm not sure I agree with the decision to craft it. [1] http://evworld.com/pdf/eberhardvmusk.pdf http://evworld.com/pdf/eberhardvmusk.pdf, scroll to p.42
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- MimiZ 13y agoSomeone brought this up to me: "If Elon Musk wanted to revolutionize the car industry, why didn't he figure out how to recycle the materials of the existing cars into Tesla somehow? Instead of making more new cars? Sure, the new cars are more environmentally friendly and sustainable but that doesn't solve the existing waste problem."
- cheald 13y agoWhich materials in particular are being referred to? Teslas don't use any rare-earth metals in their motors or batteries, and we're not exactly short on steel and aluminum.
- kelvin0 13y agoMakes every other startup seem so trivial ...
- tempestn 13y agoGreat quote from the interview with Musk. He first said that he actually expected when he started Tesla that most likely it would fail. When asked why he did it then, he answered, "If something is important enough, you should try even if the probable outcome is failure."