Comments by "" (@BasementEngineer) on "Bloomberg Originals" channel.

  1. So... the BMW costs a lot more than the Tesla, doesn't accelerate as quickly, but is... 'performance oriented', unlike the faster Tesla? I realize this is an old vid, but BMW is going to have to sell their uber-expensive car based on more than it's looks. It seems like the Tesla (especially the S P90D) is vastly better value.
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  2. +Sayo Manzini There isn't much you can say about a vehicle in a one-and-a-half minute review. Car reviews in general tell you about what gimmicky toys a vehicle has, and how many horsepower it has. That's it. For a vehicle this expensive, I'd like to know how good the steering feel is, how good the on-center tracking is, how well placed the pedals are, how solidly built and rattle-free the interior bits are etc. The only way to know any vehicle is to buy one and drive it for a few years :) I have no interest in touch screens, gadget interface ports or any accessory junk. It's a vehicle, just drive it.
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  3. +nixxxon18 The cost of the electricity is negligible. When a company sells you a $100,000+ car, they won't mind tipping in for $2 or $3 worth of 'fuel' every now and then. Tesla owners that make use of Supercharger stations still use their own homes for charging most of the time. That's one of the reasons why they're going through all the trouble of developing electric cars, because they use a lot less energy. Since sustainable personal transport is very cost-intensive and slow to develop, it simply makes sense that it's a government-assisted program. It's a great example of a nation's taxpayers backing up the intense efforts of a private company led by visionaries. Until now, the only example of a really cash-intensive taxpayer-backed private effort would have been developing military hardware, which has historically (in my lifetime at least) been the USA's forte; another relatively small-time example in terms of cost would have been the development of manned spaceflight. Sustainable electric cars may very well be the next big thing that puts the USA back on the map in terms of ingenuity and innovation, the basic yet rare human drive to make worthwhile things happen in the world--rather than just military force.
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  4. +nixxxon18 Tesla as an operation, not just a car, is a very serious effort quite unlike anything else. They're not just a hot little startup banging out the newest stupid cell phone or other electronic toy. What they're doing is a major undertaking. As fashionable as they are, smartphones or tablet PCs don't actually 'change the world', they exist partially for their usefulness but mostly as a fashion statement. Electric vehicles running on renewable energy sources actually have a major role to play in society, it's just that as long as gas is available at the pumps, the average motorist won't know or care where the energy comes from, nevermind any political shenanigans that a given country must go through to get hold of it (i.e. oil wars). Considering the scope of this endeavour time-wise, I think it's rather remarkable that it's starting to happen in my lifetime. I'll never be able to afford a Tesla, but I'm rootin' for 'em :)
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  5. Quang Lam Well, they were never really in 'trouble', but they owed massive amounts of money in business loans. It was well understood that they were working on a long-term project and it would be many years before all their debts were paid off and they were completely clear and making money. Starting any car company, let alone one that makes a very expensive niche product, is always a massive undertaking and it takes years to clear debt and start profiting--and that's only if your own product can compete with numerous others that already have brand recognition. That's why it doesn't happen very often. Even if Tesla makes the best passenger car in the world (some people believe they already have), most people will be buying Toyotas, Hondas, Chevys, Chryslers etc. etc. for many years to come.
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  6. +My-Quang Le No they're not, all of the active chemicals remain entirely inside the battery cells and are available for recycling.
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  7. My-Quang Le As I said, the batteries are recyclable. Exhaust gas from a combustion engine is not. The old used cells will still have some cash value because of the useful chemical elements in them. You'll be able to drop them off at a recycling center, like returning empty beer bottles. Lithium-ion cells aren't that toxic anyway, and anything particularly nasty in them (the liquid electrolyte) stays inside the cell instead of being released into the atmosphere. There's no way to recycle a gas engine's exhaust.
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