Originally posted by jantimot
As I said, he was innovative in marketing. When they first came out, I too was swept along by the Musk genius claims and thought the cars were great - I still do, but the company is looking pretty shaky atm. When his personality flaws started to emerge (he acknowledges he’s bipolar) I wondered exactly what his genius was based on. Apparently, as you think, it was battery development. But I couldn’t find any evidence of this. Teslas use standard Panasonic 18650 batteries. Motor? No. Control unit? Basically a 1990’s design. Even the much vaunted automated production lines have had to be augmented by extra tent factories and manual assembly to meet production targets. Management techniques? Huge NO.
So, what’s innovative about the car? I looked into converting a small car to electric in the 80’s, but it really didn’t stack up back then on the cost/range factors - so nothing has changed. Well, not true I suppose, Li batteries replacing lead acid probably makes the cost/range equation better as the batteries last longer and can cycle to empty, rather than down to 80%. But in terms of cost and CO2 emissions, a Commodore Diesel wagon (only available in Europe, Australian govts. of all colours have never been interested in reducing emissions, and that includes the greens) at 55mpg is still comparable to the Tesla, at a third the price.
Definitely an AGW sceptic, although I was an enthusiastic contributor to the greenhouse effect in the ‘70s, buying one to help grow veggies in the ice age that the Anglian Climate Research Unit told us was inevitable. Everyone was doing it, they were popping up everywhere.
There isn’t enough data for any model to be meaningful. Undersea volcanic activity is almost totally unknown. Existing models actually ignore significant categories of undersea volcanic activity even when they have data! If the AGW’ists are that sloppy with known knowns and known unknowns, they haven’t proven their point and every other aspect of their work needs questioning too.
I'd actually say Tesla is an innovator. I think Musk is more of the concept man and it's his engineers that come up with the solutions.
For sure Tesla hasn't invented anything ( that we know of ) but I would argue that it's the way they've used existing stuff that is where the innovation is. Innovation is about using things or doing things in different and somewhat unconventiona ways to the norm.
My understanding is things like the Tesla drive motors are ( or were ) unique to Tesla. The way they arranged their battery packs and how they cooled them was some of their innovation.
There are plenty of Tesla deconstructed videos on youtube now where you can see this. That said, you can also see where some of it is surprising basic. Worth a watch if you're a industrial tech nerd like me.
Then there are his solutions. He understood that range anxiety is one of the biggest issues. So he started building a charging network to charge his cars. A bit ' build it and they will come ' type thinking.
The second thing with Musk is that he somehow made the electric car cool and popular. All the other manufacturers could and did build evs but they couldn't build them cheaply. Musk didn't worry about the price as is his long established business plan. He just built them anyway.
That's the big difference. He was able to raise the money and somehow with clever marketing and a cool product, he managed to sell them.
That 's what he does and that's what conventional business does not do. I'm not sure whether you'd call that innovation or just marketing but he is the first guy to pull it off for evs and I think he deserves credit for that. There is no doubt that timing is also a factor. Musk has happened along in the internet and technology age that has certainly enabled him to do things imo.
Because of Musk , other entrepeneurs and other industries have started to follow his lead. Doesn't make Musk the first guy to do it but he is one of the few modern examples that I can think of. Richard Branson is another.
There have been plenty of Elon Musks in the past. Many lasted a very short time. Some endured like Henry Ford.
I would call all of them innovators but I reckon it's just an opinion thing that's not worth arguing over.
