Elon Musk to unveil alpha Hyperloop high speed rail plans next month. - Polidicks

This is same than the "Swiss metro". [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swissmetro[/url] [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vactrain[/url]

The closest thing the world has to something as that are maglevs (Transrapid and JR-Centrals MLX-01 < that currently holds the world speed record for railed vehicles - 581km/h(non-conventional track). It would be another 5 - 15 years until vactrains would be feasible.

[QUOTE=FinalHunter;41487437]Musk is a genius, but he really needs to work on his public speaking skills.[/QUOTE] I find a brilliant mind does not come without it's drawbacks.

[QUOTE=OvB;41487867]I find a brilliant mind does not come without it's drawbacks.[/QUOTE] He truly is brilliant. My friends and I have dubbed him the patron saint of futurists :v:

If it saves us money.

[QUOTE=ewitwins;41486111]Can't . . . husk the Musk? v:v:v[/QUOTE] cant beat on the Elon (fuck i dont even know how you pronounce his name properly)

[QUOTE=aznz888;41489601]cant beat on the Elon (fuck i dont even know how you pronounce his name properly)[/QUOTE] You guys are trying too hard, you really shouldn't dwell on the Elon.

[QUOTE=zakedodead;41489839]You guys are trying too hard, you really shouldn't dwell on the Elon.[/QUOTE] mmmmclose but no cigar.

Oh wait I forgot to post my Musk thread header. [editline]17th July 2013[/editline] There we go.

I can only hope [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/LaunchLoop.svg/800px-LaunchLoop.svg.png[/img]

[QUOTE=Eltro102;41491461]I can only hope [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/LaunchLoop.svg/800px-LaunchLoop.svg.png[/img][/QUOTE] Oh yeah, I completely forgot about this. Land tunnel could be cheaper, though.

I'd fucking marry Elon Musk. [editline]17th July 2013[/editline] I mean. A concorde, a railgun and an air-hockey table all in one. Have my babies.

[QUOTE=OvB;41485705]Elon built that wealth by building and selling companies, each one bigger than the last. First Zip2, then he used the money from that sale to make PayPal, and from that sale he made his pride and joy SpaceX, and joined the Tesla team and basically rebuilt the company saving it. He also invested heavily in Solar City making him the largest share holder. When you own that much a good day on the stock market can make you a few hundred million richer. Right now his wage is around 30 grand but he owns $4.6 billion worth of assets making him a billion dollars more wealthy than Donald Trump. [editline]16th July 2013[/editline] There was a time when he invested most of his money in Tesla and he had to crash on a friends couch for a few days despite technically still being a billionaire.[/QUOTE] Since PayPal Musk has made all his money on the back of government subsidies. Both Tesla and SolarCity wouldn't have bombed long ago if they actually had to compete.

[QUOTE=sgman91;41494178]Since PayPal Musk has made all his money on the back of government subsidies. Both Tesla and SolarCity wouldn't have bombed long ago if they actually had to compete.[/QUOTE] Except Tesla paid back their government loans before any other car manufacturer.

[QUOTE=bravehat;41494311]Except Tesla paid back their government loans before any other car manufacturer.[/QUOTE] They get thousands (around 20k in some states) for every car they sell. Even beyond that, all of their profit comes from selling government emission credits, not by selling cars. If not for the credits they would have lost $57 million instead of having an $11 million profit. So, essentially, all their profit is just a forced money transfer from the citizens and other car companies. It has nothing to do with having a good product.

Show me a car or rocket company that doesn't suck the governments tit for money. Business isn't fair. If Tesla played by the rules the other car companies have made they wouldn't be around. Many electric car companies have come and gonein the time tesla has been opeoperating. The very nature of the company means it needs help getting off the ground. They sell their credits to Big Auto so they don't have to make their own electric cars because Big Auto hates innovation. Selling them credits keeps tesla alive by keeping the Auto industry lobby army at bay. Unfortunately they can't pay off the dealership lobbyists and theyre currently winning a state by state war with them. Movie theatres don't make money off movies, tesla don't make money from cars for now. Sometimes companies have to find creative ways to get by. If a start-up tried to play by the Industry rules they'll get ripped apart. The Big Industry does not like fresh competition and they have the power to remove you. Look up the EV-1 and Who Killed the Electric Car?

[QUOTE=OvB;41495073]Show me a car or rocket company that doesn't suck the governments tit for money. Business isn't fair. If Tesla played by the rules the other car companies have made they wouldn't be around. Many electric car companies have come and gonein the time tesla has been opeoperating. The very nature of the company means it needs help getting off the ground. They sell their credits to Big Auto so they don't have to make their own electric cars because Big Auto hates innovation. Selling them credits keeps tesla alive by keeping the Auto industry lobby army at bay. Unfortunately they can't pay off the dealership lobbyists and theyre currently winning a state by state war with them. Movie theatres don't make money off movies, tesla don't make money from cars for now. Sometimes companies have to find creative ways to get by. If a start-up tried to play by the Industry rules they'll get ripped apart. The Big Industry does not like fresh competition and they have the power to remove you. Look up the EV-1 and Who Killed the Electric Car?[/QUOTE] That's fine and dandy, but it isn't a profit in the normal sense. They aren't making anything from providing a product people want. They are making money from following the governments environmental policy. I would argue the massive subsidies are contributing to the lack of innovation. There's a reason the major companies aren't making electric cars and that reason is that people don't want to spend the money it takes to buy one.

[QUOTE=sgman91;41495102]That's fine and dandy, but it isn't a profit in the normal sense. They aren't making anything from providing a product people want. They are making money from following the governments environmental policy.[/QUOTE] Except they're making more money from selling their cars than they are from the government. You do know that they're mid to upper range cars, right? [editline]17th July 2013[/editline] And I could use a source other than (20k in some states)

One day the government issued credits will expire, telsa will have a fleet of vehicles that are affordable, and Big Auto will realize they let a beast sneak by and will all scramble to complete. But whose done the most work in EV tech? Telsa. Which is why you'll find tesla logos inside current Mercedes and Honda EV's. Tesla will have won its seat in the future among the big auto companies. [editline]17th July 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=sgman91;41495102]There's a reason the major companies aren't making electric cars and that reason is that people don't want to spend the money it takes to buy one.[/QUOTE] The reason why no one is buying cars is because the big companies make them only to keep the government happy. Every electric car they design or try to produce is a pseudo futuristic piece of garbage with a stupid name that screams out HEY EVERYBODY LOOK AT ME I'M GREEN I DRIVE A CAR NAMED AFTER SOMETHING GREEN. If you took the electric drive from a Tesla, put a Tahoe or a standard sedan body on it, and built the electric battery swap infrastructure Tesla is working on they would fly off the shelves like hot cakes because everyone hates paying for gas. But the Oil & Gas and Car industries are too comfortable with themselves to let you have that luxury. So they try to delay it as long as possible.

[QUOTE=Paul McCartney;41495113]Except they're making more money from selling their cars than they are from the government. You do know that they're mid to upper range cars, right? [editline]17th July 2013[/editline] And I could use a source other than (20k in some states)[/QUOTE] Literally ALL the PROFIT is coming from the credits and subsidies. The cars lose money for the company, even with the massive individual car refunds. Here, I'll give you Tesla's own website: [URL]http://www.teslamotors.com/incentives/US/California[/URL] - $7,500 from the federal government - $2,500 from California (the very large majority of their sales), $4,000 in Illinois, $6,000 in Colorado etc. - Various free parking/carpool lane usage/etc. incentives So that's $10,00 in cash right off the top. The $20,000 was probably including the tax credits. Just for comparison, if a normal car company had the same subsidies you could buy a new sedan for ~$6,000-$8,000 that gets ~35 mpg. [editline]17th July 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=Paul McCartney;41495113]You do know that they're mid to upper range cars, right?[/QUOTE] The base model is $63k after the tax credits ($73k without credits). That is NOT mid to upper range. No average person can even come close to affording that. [editline]17th July 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=OvB;41495148]One day the government issued credits will expire, telsa will have a fleet of vehicles that are affordable, and Big Auto will realize they let a beast sneak by and will all scramble to complete. But whose done the most work in EV tech? Telsa. Which is why you'll find tesla logos inside current Mercedes and Honda EV's. Tesla will have won its seat in the future among the big auto companies.[/QUOTE] This is nothing more than speculation. I'm sure people said the same thing about all the EV, government funded, start ups that failed. [QUOTE]The reason why no one is buying cars is because the big companies make them only to keep the government happy. Every electric car they design or try to produce is a pseudo futuristic piece of garbage with a stupid name that screams out HEY EVERYBODY LOOK AT ME I'M GREEN I DRIVE A CAR NAMED AFTER SOMETHING GREEN. If you took the electric drive from a Tesla, put a Tahoe or a standard sedan body on it, and built the electric battery swap infrastructure Tesla is working on they would fly off the shelves like hot cakes because everyone hates paying for gas. But the Oil & Gas and Car industries are too comfortable with themselves to let you have that luxury. So they try to delay it as long as possible.[/QUOTE] No, people don't buy average electric cars because they are insanely expensive, have no power, and are small. There's a reason normal car companies make lame electric cars. There's no other way to make one that's affordable to the average person and even then, barely.

They make them that way because they don't care of they fail or not. Why is it when a car company with nearly 100 years of experience makes an EV it's usually crap, but Tesla with only a few years experience can manufacture an EV that not only is one of the fastest luxury sedan in North America, accelerates like a fighter jet, but can seat 7 with room for cargo, has a perfect rating by Consumer Reports, and can swap its battery out in half the time it takes to fill up a gas tank? No, it's not cheap, but neither are the cars its designed to compete with. And it competes with them exceptionally well. Tesla has the Model X in production by next year, and then they'll unveil the "Blue Star' which they say will be an affordable mass market EV that's similar to the Model S. By then their Tesla Station infrastructure will be able to get you anywhere in the country free of charge with Superchargers, or spending about the same as a tank of gas for a battery swap.

sgman what are you even trying to argue who cares if tesla is subsidized or not, they're increasing the adoption of evs and innovating at the same time, doing research

[QUOTE=Eltro102;41496185]sgman what are you even trying to argue who cares if tesla is subsidized or not, they're increasing the adoption of evs and innovating at the same time, doing research[/QUOTE] Yeah he says that the subsidies are stopping companies from innovating, is Tesla not innovating?

I've actually seen More Model S's than I have Chevy Volts recently. I guess the production cycle finally caught up to my neck of the woods. I've even seen a black one in the middle of fuck-all Texas countryside. Last place I expected to see one.

[QUOTE=Dacheet;41484072]The thing about super high speed travel is that the ideas are there (maglev, Concorde, this) but it's just too expensive, and the infrastructure is too cemented into place that it would be very hard to get momentum going for the idea. [sub][sub][sub][sub]Also the Concorde sort of broke windows and was super fucking expensive and shit but that's beside the point [sub][sub]P.S. [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq0wgBRIQ60]we sort of rectified the whole sonic boom breaking windows thing so can we have another supersonic transport tia.[/url][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/QUOTE] Comparing this to Concorde is like comparing a potato to an orange. Concorde was an expensive test that got huge amounts of backing in it's later development, it was older tech and even when it was launched there was newer tech which would outpace it if used. The infrastructures might be in place but what's to stop having a 2nd placed next to it and have both run inline with each other, you can have this rail system run inline with the current as an alternative, quicker to get to A to B while being a bit more expensive than the current but the speed pays off the additional price (as long as its not stupid), plus in the long run, it might be cheaper to maintain as most of it will be frictionless so no physical wear on the rail its self nor the carts.

I had an idea for a vacuum based maglev train back in fourth grade and did a project on it, I wonder if he took the idea from me :v:

[QUOTE=dije;41496885]I had an idea for a vacuum based maglev train back in fourth grade and did a project on it, I wonder if he took the idea from me :v:[/QUOTE] [img]https://sslimgs.xkcd.com/comics/business_idea.png[/img]

[QUOTE=sgman91;41494560]They get thousands (around 20k in some states) for every car they sell. Even beyond that, all of their profit comes from selling government emission credits, not by selling cars. If not for the credits they would have lost $57 million instead of having an $11 million profit. So, essentially, all their profit is just a forced money transfer from the citizens and other car companies. It has nothing to do with having a good product.[/QUOTE] Yeah and Teslas current business strategy is to take every penny they get from sales of their current model to make a cheaper, more affordable, more efficient and effective model to sell, and then the same for that model to create a better model.