Slashdot Mirror
Elon Musk Offers Boeing SpaceX Batteries For the 787 Dreamliner
An anonymous reader writes "Boeing is currently dealing with a bit of a disaster as the company's 787 Dreamliner has been grounded due to safety concerns. Boeing is currently investigating the situation, but they aren't alone. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX, has stepped in to offer his help and technology if Boeing wants it. Musk has had to harness battery tech not only to run his Tesla Motors, but also to function flawlessly aboard SpaceX spacecraft as they travel both in and out of the Earth's atmosphere. If you need a battery to work at any altitude, you'd trust Musk to supply one, and that's exactly what he's offering Boeing."
Batteries if you must,
In moving parts trust,
Or with mere soap and a blade,
Be plying your trade.
Burma Shave
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
Have to admire the guy.
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
Great idea...but this won't work. A new battery would require some redesign. All of this would need FAA & EU (forget the agency name) approval. That would take at least 8-12 months. Boeing wants the 787 flying in weeks.
TFA seems a little irrelevant since the news today says that the batteries are not the problem. Instead, the electrical systems and monitoring systems are now being scrutinized.
Here's one article, but the internet is full of it.
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/morning_call/2013/01/batteries-not-a-problem-on-boeing-787.html
As noted the issue was not the batteries, which have passed muster after inspection by the FAA and the NTSB - the focus now is on the charging systems and monitoring systems, as well as the related failure of the containment system.
SpaceX may have a fantastic battery, but they still need to use a charging system designed for charging from a power source that is fairly unreliable in consistency (the four generators on the 787s engines, and the generator on the APU), a power source that is reliable but completely different in power characteristics (ground power), and be FAA certified. Not to mention that it needs to be charged and discharged on a much regular basis than that of a battery used on a booster.
I rather think SpaceX's solution to the charging system is not compatible with that required by regular service usage of the Boeing 787.
The batteries have already been ruled out as the cause of the problems. It's most likely in the charging or temp monitoring systems.
This is just Elon Musk being a bit of an asshole and drumming up publicity.
At least it was Tesla/SpaceX making the offer, and not Fisker.
Elon knows very well that you can't simply swap out batteries on a passenger jet. The entire system is subject to rigorous (and expensive) certification that would be tossed out the window if you simply started swapping parts. That's to say nothing of the supplier issues.
In any case yesterday I believe Japanese investigators announced that no fault whatsoever was found with the battery, and instead they were looking into the electronics.
This is just a stunt to bolster is company's profile.
"Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
Elon Musk's actual tweet: "Desire to help Boeing is real & am corresponding w 787 chief engineer. Junod's Esquire article had high fiction content." 3 days ago
All the rest about whoring, nothing if not a PR wiz, it's the wiring and control not the batteries, etc. is all a huge raft of solid bullshit, thanks Slashdot I don't get enough in my day job!!
Look, IANAEE but temperature and voltage control is apparently an integral part of these batteries. Even if the circuit is a 100m away and not inside the battery pack itself, or You can't just say it is the battery he's whoring, etc. Elon Musk has a huge amount of practical experience with this technology and nothing bad can come from offering to talk over their problems with Boeing, as he is doing. Nothing bad except of course, all this crazy dipshit hater stuff, starting apparently with an Esquire article and continuing into slashdot. Probably he could give them an idea of what to look for, or offer an alternate circuit design that is already FAA approved, etc. You'd have to be an idiot to turn down an offer to at least talk. Honestly it is amazing how the crap-fest volume approaches infinity immediately after a rare tweet from Mr. Musk. Who is a guy who actually accomplishes things.
Maybe because of a "you take our batteries, we buy your planes" deal?
More likely then you might think. I work in the aviation industry and crap like that is what you have to deal with once you become an international organization. We (the engineers) just learned recently that India has put in place regulations that if you want to sell planes in that market (which is a huge market) you have to use India-based work for a minimum of 20% of the development/manufacturing effort spread across all parts of the project. Which is why we now have an India-based office who gets to play in all sorts of projects... and which we have to cleanup after in all sorts of projects.
DEMETRIUS: Villain, what hast thou done?
AARON: Villain, I have done thy mother.
Shakespeare invents 'your mom'