Gigafactory

Quote: reno

Unlike Nareed, I'm not really that interested in SpaceX. Explain to me: how will SpaceX ever have much of an impact on my personal, everyday life?

Why, in the same way the Olympics, the Super Bowl, and works like Michelangelo's David or Beethoven's Ninth will or did.

Space X may be the way GPS satellites get replaced. So that might have a big effect on your daily life.

Quote: TheCesspit

Oil for transportation is still going to keep on for many years... it's a massively energy dense resource. There's nothing like it right now, as much as I'd like electric trains and light rail, those things don't work over long distances and we've become used to our comforts of getting in car to do things, not weight for shared transit.

Imagine recharging cables buried in major highways that will constantly recharge electric vehicles in the same way you can lay your cellphone on a pad to recharge without a plug. By allowing vehicles to maintain almost a full charge until they reach their destination, the 200 mile "off grid" range allows plenty of flexibility to get to where you want to go off the "electric highway". At your destination, you can plug in, or simply drive back to the highway and "fill up" on your way back. I think this change is within our lifetimes.

While I like the idea, the long term exposure to radiation bugs me.

Supplies of petro will eventually diminish to the point that only the rich will be able to afford it for their personal vehicles. Maybe we need to go back to steam.

Quote: Ayecarumba

Imagine recharging cables buried in major highways that will constantly recharge electric vehicles in the same way you can lay your cellphone on a pad to recharge without a plug. By allowing vehicles to maintain almost a full charge until they reach their destination, the 200 mile "off grid" range allows plenty of flexibility to get to where you want to go off the "electric highway". At your destination, you can plug in, or simply drive back to the highway and "fill up" on your way back. I think this change is within our lifetimes.

Two keys needed. First is to move electricity a short distance without wires. Tesla had some idea for this 100+ years ago but to this day nobody can figure it out. Other is how to charge the user.

Quote:

Supplies of petro will eventually diminish to the point that only the rich will be able to afford it for their personal vehicles. Maybe we need to go back to steam.

Been hearing this since 1976. Today oil is so cheap the industry is having mass layoffs.

Quote: Pacomartin

That's a good photo, but let's give it some perspective to understand just how massive Tesla's ambitions are. This building will be the second largest factory in North America.



The mystery, of course, is whether EV demand grows enough to justify this ridiculous size. Will half of it remain empty for a decade or 2?

Quote: AZDuffman

They will not be "terrified." 200 miles is still too short for many people, including myself. Oil has many uses besides as a motor fuel. Until they can find a way to charge that 200 mile range in less than 15 minutes the practicality is not there.

There are many different segments of the transportation market beyond the consumer market. Just consider how many businesses would be tempted to buy a fleet of Nissan E-NV200s. Suppose you own a business with a regional distribution center and a fleet of 20 delivery trucks that never travel outside a 50 mile radius. Every vehicle in your fleet needs daily fill-ups and semi-annual oil changes. The van market for businesses is huge: postal fleets, couriers, plumbers, carpenters, retailers, electricians, taxi cabs, cable TV installers. Now consider beyond the U.S. market: gasoline prices in Japan, Korea, Germany, France, Italy, UK are currently well over US$6/gallon for gasoline as I write this sentence. Six bucks a gallon?!? If you're FedEx, UPS, or DHL, you'd at least be considering the Nissan E-NV200 for your European fleet of local delivery trucks.

In the near future, I could see the E-NV200 easily taking 10 or 20 percent of the business van market. Would the oil companies feel that pinch?

No, the oil companies while hardly see the dial move if there was 10% of the vans in Europe replaced... their product can be sold to many other sources rather than for fuelling cars.

The auto-manufacturers might care.

Quote: reno

There are many different segments of the transportation market beyond the consumer market. Just consider how many businesses would be tempted to buy a fleet of Nissan E-NV200s. Suppose you own a business with a regional distribution center and a fleet of 20 delivery trucks that never travel outside a 50 mile radius. Every vehicle in your fleet needs daily fill-ups and semi-annual oil changes. The van market for businesses is huge: postal fleets, couriers, plumbers, carpenters, retailers, electricians, taxi cabs, cable TV installers. Now consider beyond the U.S. market: gasoline prices in Japan, Korea, Germany, France, Italy, UK are currently well over US$6/gallon for gasoline as I write this sentence. Six bucks a gallon?!? If you're FedEx, UPS, or DHL, you'd at least be considering the Nissan E-NV200 for your European fleet of local delivery trucks.

In the near future, I could see the E-NV200 easily taking 10 or 20 percent of the business van market. Would the oil companies feel that pinch?

While gas prices are a lot higher in those markets so are electricity rates 2, 3 or even more than the US rates so the overall saving will be similar or less for the electric vehicles.

Quote: kenarman

While gas prices are a lot higher in those markets so are electricity rates 2, 3 or even more than the US rates so the overall saving will be similar or less for the electric vehicles.

I can think of a long laundry list of advantages that electric vehicles would provide to a business fleet that would not apply to a private vehicle.

A big one is PR. A FEDEX fleet of quite EV's would make people think of FEDEX as trendy and ecologically minded.
The second is that these vehicles probably park more times in a day than individuals do in a month. EV can have fancy wheels that turn and aid in parking. A parking ding is much more expensive to FEDEX than to an individual, because people are going to much more likely to pursue legal action.

Probably a lot fewer speeding tickets as controllers are much more likely. Also detailed reports on how you drivers drive.

Having a corporate garage rather than an individual garage means you can automate the process of replacing batteires. If you don't want to replace them routinely, you can more easily afford the equipment to provide quick charges

Quote: Pacomartin

I can think of a long laundry list of advantages that electric vehicles would provide to a business fleet that would not apply to a private vehicle.

EV can have fancy wheels that turn and aid in parking. A parking ding is much more expensive to FEDEX than to an individual, because people are going to much more likely to pursue legal action.

Probably a lot fewer speeding tickets as controllers are much more likely.

Also detailed reports on how you drivers drive.

All of these are just as possible on gas vehicles.