I wasn’t referring to software. I agree that software engineering is a very different situation with different requirements. I’m referring to hard science majors (physics, chemistry, etc.) becoming materials engineers, applications engineers, chemical engineers, etc. It happens all the time.

Exactly. I’m an engineer (by degree and profession), and in my experience it is not at all uncommon for engineers in most industries to have either hard-science degrees like physics or chemistry or to have technical degrees and tons of relevant experience. Unless you’re a ‘Professional Engineer’, it’s really just a…

By all indications Rivian will likely be on the market first since they have a factory to produce with already. Cybertruck can’t start until the Austin factory is up and running, which will likely be 2nd half of 2021 with maybe a few trucks completed for customers by EOY. Rivian will do well, I expect they’ll sell…

Exactly. Anyone promoting hydrogen for land vehicles aren’t doing it because it’s the most efficient or best for the consumer. They’re doing it so that they can control the energy supply and profit off of all of it. Distributed solar with local storage and BEV’s is a nightmare for most oil companies or car companies.…

My guess is they’ve realized that they can’t afford all the emissions credits they’d need to buy to keep this going for very long...

Exactly. They’re in a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation. They could just keep churning out profitable gas and diesel cars to make some money in the short term. Or, they could make the painful transition to EVs and use the profits from the gas and diesels to spin up the loss leader EVs that will take…

I guess I both forgot about the Maverick and didn’t realize it was supposed to be unibody. Thanks.

Yeah, Porsche is pumping up the handling and ‘perceived interior quality’ over actual performance numbers or value. The $80k version of this car only has 321HP (401hp only when using launch control) and can only manage o-60 in 5.1seconds. It’s still a sporty car, but not even a match for a Model 3 dual motor ($47k,…

So: Honda Ridgeline, Hyundai Santa Cruz, Tesla Cybertruck, Rivian R1T... any other unibody trucks in the works that I’m missing?  Seems like that’s the direction that many automakers are going for new trucks.

I think the real question is how much money are they forced to buy from other automakers for every profitable gas guzzler they sell? Is that a sustainable business model long term?  Those hellcat and TRX models cost a lot in ZEV credits...

Part of me wonders if this strategy that Ford and GM are moving toward is meant to leverage the brand name to spin off a whole separate company that is EV-only and wouldn’t be saddled with the dealerships that the full companies aren’t able to separate from. Seems kind of like a more extreme version of what GM is…

Exactly, I’d think the FCC and EU regulatory bodies would like some more info on EMC testing before this hits the market. Hell, I’d want to know more about the power and frequency of the radiation coming off of this thing before I stood near it without a radiation badge...

Yup, and Amazon hit 3600 P/E ratio in 2012. When a company flips from negative to positive profits, P/E ratios are often out of whack until they scale a bit more in the profitable side. This P/E ratio for Tesla doesn’t really say as much as people are assuming.  I’d be glad to have bought Amazon in 2012 during their…

Exactly, these were the same reasons why other companies like Amazon traded at ‘high’ multiples for a period when they finally transitioned into profitability. Tesla isn’t ramped yet, but we know that they’re planning to be making several million cars a year in just a couple years. Once Berlin and Austin are running,…

Trump will pardon them en masse.

None of those steps are particularly time consuming for a fully developed system. Fueling is probably the slowest part given the fuel line sizes. Quick disconnect automated coupling plates make the connections for all the fueling connections make the loading easy. On a robust rocket, you shouldn’t need to inspect for…

Exactly. Q3 2020, Tesla reported ~23% automotive profit margin, which is after taking out the ZEV credits (it was like 27% with them included). If that quarterly profit margin holds, they’re one of the most profitable auto companies in the world. This ‘Tesla doesn’t make profits on car sales’ line is an old attack…

You sure about that? Decades long? Just like people thought it would take ‘decades’ for cell phones to be adopted? Personal Computers? Digital cameras? digital television? HDTVs? Smartphones?

It constantly surprises me how expensive/fancy trucks have gotten. The fact that $50-75k is an accepted price range for a non heavy duty truck is still pretty weird to me. That said, I’ve never owned a truck so it’s not surprising that my idea of many of these being used for actual work is a bit unrealistic. Stories…

In Soviet Russia, Ship sinks YOU!