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I want someone to explain HN's obsession with anything Tesla related. Is it the technology, the disruption or just Elon Musk's involvement? I understand articl

by larrys 12y ago

I want someone to explain HN's obsession with anything Tesla related. Is it the technology, the disruption or just Elon Musk's involvement? I understand articles appear that get upvoted I'm just wondering why this type of news would get upvoted.

seanflyon 12y ago
> Is it the technology, the disruption or just Elon Musk's involvement? Yes, yes and yes.
- sliverstorm 12y ago
  In increasing order of importance to HN'ers, I think.
- gutnor 12y ago
  Well except that this article has nothing to do about technology or disruption ( that is a recognised business model used as noted by the article Tesla direct competitors ), and indirectly about Musk. That is so banal, AFAIK almost all brand have some sort of certified second hand channel, that I don't even know what sort of on-topic discussion it is supposed to bring. The article itself has nothing else to offer either - no idea on the pricing or what happens to your access to the supercharger network with a second hand Tesla. Very weak for a HN article.
  - seanflyon 12y ago
    I actually did not up-vote the article (for all the reasons you stated), but I do think the general "obsession with anything Tesla related" is warranted.
dmishe 12y ago
Great car, great company, lots of good publicity lately, obviously tech related.
arenaninja 12y ago
I'm excited for the advancements in battery technology. Personally, I upvoted this one because it could put it in my price range
- pkorzeniewski 12y ago
  Affordable to buy, but to maintain? It's not like you can go to the first mechanic around the corner to fix something in Tesla, and I'm quite sure original parts are ridiculously expensive. It's the same thing as with luxury, old cars - you can buy, for example, an old Porsche 911 quite cheap, but you will pay twice the price for repairs.
  - toomuchtodo 12y ago
    Tesla has an 8 year, infinite mile warranty on the power train (not sure what the rest of the vehicle is covered by). It also requires very little, if any, maintenance (tire rotations every 5K miles, brakes every 100K miles, battery replacement every 150-200K miles). For battery replacements, they just drop the pack and lift a new one in. For motor replacements, they just lift the 80 lbs motor out and drop a new one in.
    - pkorzeniewski 12y ago
      Model S has been around for 2 years, it's their first model (not counting the Roadster, which was rather exotic, not mass produced) and you assume nothing will ever brake? There are so many little things that are not covered by warranty and may be really expensive to fix - and just like any other car, things will brake with time. Let's be honest, Model S, new or used, is a luxury car for the rich - I would rather wait for a new model targeted at the middle class.
      - toomuchtodo 12y ago
        Why would their "new model targeted at the middle class" be cheaper to fix? Tesla/Elon has shown that they'll make good on vehicle upgrades/substandard parts if needed (battery shield and debris bar upgrades at no charge).
general_failure 12y ago
If I had a downvote button I would. I think the main reason is that people think the mere fact of associating themselves and reading anything Tesla and anything Elon Musk related makes them feel cool and modern. It's basically like a cult. How people who know "music" will always disparage pop music and think this random indie alternative band is the best.
grecy 12y ago
I genuinely believe everything Musk is currently involved in (Tesla, Space X, Solar City, Hyperloop) is changing the world.
- mkehrt 12y ago
  ...hyperloop? hahhahahahahahahaha
  - grecy 12y ago
    Someone will build one sooner or later.
    - mkehrt 12y ago
      Or we could build a train, which we've had hundreds of years of experience with, using proven technologies we understand, without squeezing people into a tiny pod. The hyperloop is a distraction from actually building useful infrastructure, and one that is half-baked at best. It's what a billionaire doodled on a napkin one day and decided to publish to get free publicity for his other, more legitimate businesses. What bothers me most is that he's building spaceships, for heaven's sake. He understands what engineering problems and solutions look like, and he knows this isn't one.
      - grecy 12y ago
        You know, people said the same things when the first automobile was made, when the first train was made and when the first plane was made. The hyperloop is a major, major step up from a train (even a "high speed train" so it's not acceptable to just say "stick with the old tech".
funkyy 12y ago
The company that changes one of the oldest and most established industries. People were hating them and here is change. Old companies protected by government just for a reason that there is no alternative got in people nerves.
- 001sky 12y ago
  People were hating them and here is change. The financial system very efficiently bankrupted the Auto industry, no problem.
- bramp324-08 12y ago
  The Nissan Leaf came out a year or two before. They somehow managed to galvanize public support better than Nissan
IkmoIkmo 12y ago
I really can't stand Elon Musk, I mean, awesome guy, for sure, I'd love for him to be my boss. But 9/10 times he's doing an interview and he's just rehashing the same story. He has a way of telling the 'reason from first principles' story and jamming it into the interview despite nobody asking any question for which this answer would be relevant, I've heard it a dozen times now. So no, for me it's definitely not Musk. Cool guy, but you can only hear Martin Luther King have a speech so many times before you're like 'I agree, but I'm getting sleepy.' For me it's really just the tech and disruption. The things Tesla and SpaceX and SolarCity are doing really are very cool, and they sit at the heart of some of the biggest problems and challenges of the 21st century. An inevitable shift to green energy and the final frontier. For Tesla it's just a cool startup with a slick product, some ballsy moves, frequent run-ins with local/state competition and media clickbait journalists, and a product that for me is a bit like the iphone: not the very first smartphone, touchscreen, mobile os, app store, not the thing the average western consumer will have let alone the average person on the planet, not the cheapest or the most inclusive, but a frontrunner with a huge and lasting impact that will drive everyone else, a company that sets a bar. That's exciting. And for SpaceX, well, that's just really exciting. This notion we're regularly shipping all kinds of stuff to a freaking permanent space station and returning safely and making multiple trips with the same vehicle over and over, is insane. A one-time planned crash on the moon and on the earth is one thing, but we seem to start to really grasp real control in space, where we can comfortably do lots of different things at an accelerated pace, cheaper and cheaper, and renew the interest, investments and plans in space that laid dormant for a few decades. SpaceX being a part of that, as a private startup company that again is making ballsy moves, is a hugely compelling story. SolarCity is the least exciting for me personally, but I think it's also hugely important. Generally sits in the top 3 solar companies in the US, doing cool work, like building the biggest ever US solar farm. Creating a solar security, solar leasing options and retrofits (a not so sexy but very important part of our energy discussion). I don't follow the company too much, oil prices have been low recently and shale gas has exploded on the scene, so I expect it to be the most difficult company to run as it's hard to get it cheaper than coal/gas. As solar only has a 'moral' benefit to consumers, and the average customer isn't willing to pay a large premium for something that's moral (because green) especially with all the rhetoric on climate denial, the company is in many ways limited to the growth in the industry. While Tesla and SpaceX can outpace competition, SolarCity probably can't very much.

by larrys 12y ago

seanflyon 12y ago

> Is it the technology, the disruption or just Elon Musk's involvement? Yes, yes and yes.

sliverstorm 12y ago
In increasing order of importance to HN'ers, I think.
gutnor 12y ago
Well except that this article has nothing to do about technology or disruption ( that is a recognised business model used as noted by the article Tesla direct competitors ), and indirectly about Musk. That is so banal, AFAIK almost all brand have some sort of certified second hand channel, that I don't even know what sort of on-topic discussion it is supposed to bring. The article itself has nothing else to offer either - no idea on the pricing or what happens to your access to the supercharger network with a second hand Tesla. Very weak for a HN article.
- seanflyon 12y ago
  I actually did not up-vote the article (for all the reasons you stated), but I do think the general "obsession with anything Tesla related" is warranted.

dmishe 12y ago

Great car, great company, lots of good publicity lately, obviously tech related.

arenaninja 12y ago

I'm excited for the advancements in battery technology. Personally, I upvoted this one because it could put it in my price range

pkorzeniewski 12y ago
Affordable to buy, but to maintain? It's not like you can go to the first mechanic around the corner to fix something in Tesla, and I'm quite sure original parts are ridiculously expensive. It's the same thing as with luxury, old cars - you can buy, for example, an old Porsche 911 quite cheap, but you will pay twice the price for repairs.
- toomuchtodo 12y ago
  Tesla has an 8 year, infinite mile warranty on the power train (not sure what the rest of the vehicle is covered by). It also requires very little, if any, maintenance (tire rotations every 5K miles, brakes every 100K miles, battery replacement every 150-200K miles). For battery replacements, they just drop the pack and lift a new one in. For motor replacements, they just lift the 80 lbs motor out and drop a new one in.
  - pkorzeniewski 12y ago
    Model S has been around for 2 years, it's their first model (not counting the Roadster, which was rather exotic, not mass produced) and you assume nothing will ever brake? There are so many little things that are not covered by warranty and may be really expensive to fix - and just like any other car, things will brake with time. Let's be honest, Model S, new or used, is a luxury car for the rich - I would rather wait for a new model targeted at the middle class.
    - toomuchtodo 12y ago
      Why would their "new model targeted at the middle class" be cheaper to fix? Tesla/Elon has shown that they'll make good on vehicle upgrades/substandard parts if needed (battery shield and debris bar upgrades at no charge).

general_failure 12y ago

If I had a downvote button I would. I think the main reason is that people think the mere fact of associating themselves and reading anything Tesla and anything Elon Musk related makes them feel cool and modern. It's basically like a cult. How people who know "music" will always disparage pop music and think this random indie alternative band is the best.

grecy 12y ago

I genuinely believe everything Musk is currently involved in (Tesla, Space X, Solar City, Hyperloop) is changing the world.

mkehrt 12y ago
...hyperloop? hahhahahahahahahaha
- grecy 12y ago
  Someone will build one sooner or later.
  - mkehrt 12y ago
    Or we could build a train, which we've had hundreds of years of experience with, using proven technologies we understand, without squeezing people into a tiny pod. The hyperloop is a distraction from actually building useful infrastructure, and one that is half-baked at best. It's what a billionaire doodled on a napkin one day and decided to publish to get free publicity for his other, more legitimate businesses. What bothers me most is that he's building spaceships, for heaven's sake. He understands what engineering problems and solutions look like, and he knows this isn't one.
    - grecy 12y ago
      You know, people said the same things when the first automobile was made, when the first train was made and when the first plane was made. The hyperloop is a major, major step up from a train (even a "high speed train" so it's not acceptable to just say "stick with the old tech".

funkyy 12y ago

The company that changes one of the oldest and most established industries. People were hating them and here is change. Old companies protected by government just for a reason that there is no alternative got in people nerves.

001sky 12y ago
People were hating them and here is change. The financial system very efficiently bankrupted the Auto industry, no problem.
bramp324-08 12y ago
The Nissan Leaf came out a year or two before. They somehow managed to galvanize public support better than Nissan

IkmoIkmo 12y ago

I really can't stand Elon Musk, I mean, awesome guy, for sure, I'd love for him to be my boss. But 9/10 times he's doing an interview and he's just rehashing the same story. He has a way of telling the 'reason from first principles' story and jamming it into the interview despite nobody asking any question for which this answer would be relevant, I've heard it a dozen times now. So no, for me it's definitely not Musk. Cool guy, but you can only hear Martin Luther King have a speech so many times before you're like 'I agree, but I'm getting sleepy.' For me it's really just the tech and disruption. The things Tesla and SpaceX and SolarCity are doing really are very cool, and they sit at the heart of some of the biggest problems and challenges of the 21st century. An inevitable shift to green energy and the final frontier. For Tesla it's just a cool startup with a slick product, some ballsy moves, frequent run-ins with local/state competition and media clickbait journalists, and a product that for me is a bit like the iphone: not the very first smartphone, touchscreen, mobile os, app store, not the thing the average western consumer will have let alone the average person on the planet, not the cheapest or the most inclusive, but a frontrunner with a huge and lasting impact that will drive everyone else, a company that sets a bar. That's exciting. And for SpaceX, well, that's just really exciting. This notion we're regularly shipping all kinds of stuff to a freaking permanent space station and returning safely and making multiple trips with the same vehicle over and over, is insane. A one-time planned crash on the moon and on the earth is one thing, but we seem to start to really grasp real control in space, where we can comfortably do lots of different things at an accelerated pace, cheaper and cheaper, and renew the interest, investments and plans in space that laid dormant for a few decades. SpaceX being a part of that, as a private startup company that again is making ballsy moves, is a hugely compelling story. SolarCity is the least exciting for me personally, but I think it's also hugely important. Generally sits in the top 3 solar companies in the US, doing cool work, like building the biggest ever US solar farm. Creating a solar security, solar leasing options and retrofits (a not so sexy but very important part of our energy discussion). I don't follow the company too much, oil prices have been low recently and shale gas has exploded on the scene, so I expect it to be the most difficult company to run as it's hard to get it cheaper than coal/gas. As solar only has a 'moral' benefit to consumers, and the average customer isn't willing to pay a large premium for something that's moral (because green) especially with all the rhetoric on climate denial, the company is in many ways limited to the growth in the industry. While Tesla and SpaceX can outpace competition, SolarCity probably can't very much.