News Tesla Motors goes "open source"

[Urwumpe]

And so the electric car dies. With thunderous applause.

Nobody is ever going to develop the market unless there is money in it, and patents mean money.

Its not that simple. The core of the internet is open-source. Will you say that the internet never made any money?

The important patents in the internet world are less technical solutions than business processes.

Of course open standards for electric cars would be a major step forward. And many such problems are already solved without Tesla even being involved. The problem isn't about the standards, but about the customers. Who is going to buy an electric car, that is not even fulfilling the standards of the expected product behind a car? Only a small number of rich excentrics.

If you want to make electric cars successful, you have to make them cool for real men.

 

[RisingFury]

This thread seems to be focused on storage. It seems most relevant to me.
You can use wind power in producing the hydrogen if you like.

I know you can use wind, solar, nuclear or other "clean" sources to produce hydrogen, but consider the chain here:

With electric, it's:
Produce power, charge the battery, power the motor.

With hydrogen, it's:
Produce power, produce hydrogen, store hydrogen, produce power from hydrogen. You have extra steps along the way where you have losses of energy.

Lithium batteries are quite efficient and large electric motors are well in excess of 95% efficient. Internal combustion engines are not...


As far as filling a hydrogen car at home... You really want to store large quantities of hydrogen at home?!
On the other hand, batteries are now being created that can charge to 80% capacity in 20 minutes.

 

[Proximus]

I know you can use wind, solar, nuclear or other "clean" sources to produce hydrogen, but consider the chain here:

With electric, it's:
Produce power, charge the battery, power the motor.

With hydrogen, it's:
Produce power, produce hydrogen, store hydrogen, produce power from hydrogen. You have extra steps along the way where you have losses of energy.

Lithium batteries are quite efficient and large electric motors are well in excess of 95% efficient. Internal combustion engines are not...


As far as filling a hydrogen car at home... You really want to store large quantities of hydrogen at home?!
On the other hand, batteries are now being created that can charge to 80% capacity in 20 minutes.

I'm sure hydrogen at home would be no more dangerous than using a gas cooker or boiler.
The technology could be applied in a safe manner I think.

I see what you mean about the extra stepps in the hydrogen cycle impacting on efficiancy, but wouldn't the convinience make up for the losses?

If battery technology gets to the point where I can travel 300 miles on a 20 min charge, I'm all for it.

 

[kamaz]

The best way to solve the carbon crisis in the transportation area is to develop technology to produce fuel from atmospheric CO2, water, and sunlight.

 

[Unstung]

I'm sure hydrogen at home would be no more dangerous than using a gas cooker or boiler.
The technology could be applied in a safe manner I think.

I just... couldn't help it.

 

[Proximus]

I just... couldn't help it.

Damn you sir, I thought I had got away with it

 

[thepenguin]

Its not that simple. The core of the internet is open-source. Will you say that the internet never made any money?

The internet is a service industry. It isn't the kind of thing where you can go out and say, "We sold 5000 internets to our customers in the last quarter". It just doesn't work that way. There is only one internet, and the money is in providing access to it.

An electric car is a physical object that exists in discrete quantities, so the business model behind that is completely different. You're comparing apples to oranges.

Although, I do agree that the main problem is that the cars don't seem to work to spec.

 

[Ghostrider]

It's the same with a superconducting coil that has tens of thousands of amps running through it or a super-capacitor, charged to a high voltage.

Don't know about you guys, but I'd freakin' weaponize stuff like that.:thumbup:

 

[RisingFury]

Don't know about you guys, but I'd freakin' weaponize stuff like that.:thumbup:

It already is...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y54aLcC3G74

 

[Ghostrider]

Nobody is ever going to develop the market unless there is money in it, and patents mean money.

Well, small arms manufacturers don't seem to have many problems with that... It's a world where either there are no patents or they're incredibly short lived. Colt is still making a killing (no pun intended) making M1911A1s even though anyone can make them.