@Brandonium: I don't make light of nickel mining and I never said it was minimal, I provided a link to the math that proves a hundred pounds of NiMH batteries saves TONS of gasoline. Driving a 3000 pound car is always going to be bad for the environment (for example the iron and steel in a regular car contain…
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@Daveinva: Elon Musk Can't Handle The Truth shows you're right! One may think one is only setting things straight, but the other side is always going to seize on something and sling more mud. Not saying anything isn't winning, it's not playing.
@Daveinva: Apparently you DIDN'T read it! Lazy bloggers and journalists echoed his garrulous wife's version of events and added their own falsehoods, and that narrative has become the public's understanding as you can see from Jalopnik writers and commenters in earlier #elonmusk posts. It's easy to tell him to let…
@zeeboid: To be consistent, you want Ford to give back its $5.9 billion loan for upgrading factories in five states to produce 13 more fuel-efficient models, Nissan to give back its $1.6 bn loan to build advanced electric vehicles and advanced batteries, and Fisker Automotive to return its $528.7M loan for the…
@rcfoss: Would be nice, hard to see it happening. What makes the Roadster accelerate is what costs a lot of money: Lotus Elise chassis + carbon fiber body panels + in-house motor + custom power/thermal management + 450 kg battery pack. The last might have some cost-cutting potential since there are newer laptop…
@Arms Akimbo: Not drugs, blame religion, in this case Jehovah's Witnesses.
@CABEZAGRANDE: Sure, public transportation throughout a typical USA city is impossible, but that's not the point. Build one or two mass transportation lines and allow and encourage dense development along them. The people living elsewhere in suburban sprawl, or too far from the stations/too fat to ride a bike to…
@elfjuice: Yes, that looks like the lovely red Model S prototype that Tesla showed at Detroit 2010. There's also the white prototype that was on Letterman.
@theallpowerfulme (living waters church of subaru; elder): You hire talented people who've worked at Jaguar, Lotus, Mazda, and Toyota, you acquire a car plant, you start buying equipment suitable for low-volume aluminum spaceframe production. You already know how to make your own motor, power electronics, battery…
@Stoatmaster: The California Air Resources Board put a lot of work into standardization in the 90s, so we're actually in pretty good shape. The SAE J1772 connector and protocol for 120-240 volt, 13-70 amp recharging was approved last year, and EVERY plug-in car in the USA and Japan will have it. The Nissan Leaf and…
@Stoatmaster: Swapping charged batteries for depleted ones makes so much sense! But only Project Better Place has got far in pursuing it, and they only have four Nissan taxi prototypes in Japan swapping batteries, and plans for public battery swapping stations for the upcoming Renault Fluence Z.E. in Denmark and…
@HiroPro42: No confrontation, just correcting misinformation and presenting another viewpoint.
@HiramJahoovafat: No, I'm just an American resident bewildered at all the hate and misinformation. Musk is a jerk, the Roadster had real production problems, but come on, we have a 3.9 second 0-60 innovative car of the future and a gorgeous prototype from a new AMERICAN company.
@ranwhenparked: I completely agree, the odds are heavily against Tesla! The Model S is so likely to be late and over-budget. But the IPO gives them a cushion on top of the DoE loan to survive the likely debacles and build out their 50 stores.
@FriscoFairlane: They are horrendously expensive.