“So, in that context, Elon may be correct, in a way. There could be a shortage of auto haulers, but only in the sense of a shortage of auto haulers that Tesla has taken the time to plan with and establish a working relationship with.”

Forgive me, I didn’t make my point well.

While that’s true, its virtually inevitable with a new design.

There are a number of problems with the swapping batteries idea. One is that the battery makes a huge portion of the price of the vehicle. So there needs to be some kind of financial protection in place, so one has an easy recourse for when they accidentally get a dud.

Is Tesla blocking other manufacturers from using it’s stations, or is it just refusing to switch to their format?

I don’t know if/when 5 minute charge times will become a reality, but I do think we’ll come around to the idea of charging vehicles at home/work. When 90+% of trips are short enough that home and work charging is sufficient, 20minute or even 1 hr long recharge time become much less annoying.

I know I’d be picking all kinds of fancy car features if someone else was paying the bill. Why I might start claiming that infotainment was absolutely necessary.

Most of the expanse of new designs isn’t in paying the designers, it’s in the approval process. There are many more expensive tests that need to be performed (while a retrofit can re use many of the previous tests). New contractors have to be selected. Those contractors have to be approved. There is a lot of red tape…

But they aren’t talking about building new ships, they are talking about building new types of ships. That’s much more expensive.

While it might be cheaper to build a new ship rather than refurbish, there is no way it’s cheaper to design and approve and build a whole new type of ship.

Navy doesn’t put it’s ships thru pressure cycles.

Or change requirements 12 times during the design process. 

If the airforce can keep the B52 flying and current for almost 70 years, I think the navy can refit their ships

One thing for sure. Whatever the projected cost is, the actual cost will be at least twice as  high.

While the TV series hugely improved by season 3, the books are significantly better.

Well, yes, sort of. It depends on the guidance system. The original 12ft long rods have all the weaknesses you describe, but if you could make small, 12" or so rods, with very good targeting, you have a weapon system that can strike high value targets that is impossible to defend against. No interceptor can touch it,…

I think the 3 Pandoras star, judas unchained are his best books. The later commonwealth remains good as well. It’s one of the few that have a solid ending. I find the rich/poor divide of his world rather realistic. The poor of the future will be much better of than even the rich of today, but I don’t think income…

Too bad most of his endings are very blah. But the first 98% tends to be amazing. 

If you look @1:25 you’ll see something that will make kinja commenters very happy.

No video? wanted to see the small overlap test