Slashdot Mirror
Tesla's Creepy 'Solid Metal Snake' Robotic Charger Slithers Its Way Into Model S
bigwophh writes: Last year, Elon Musk hinted at a new product that Tesla Motors was working on in its research lab. What Musk described seemed creepy at the time, especially considering that he had just recently shown off "The D" at an evening press event. "By the way, we are actually working on a charger that automatically moves out from the wall and connects like a solid metal snake," said Musk. We didn't think much else about this intriguing contraption given the precious little details that Musk provided at the time. But fast forward seven months and we now have video of the serpent-like charger in action.
Sex Cells.
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
It is creepy. All it needs is a squid head and about 7 more arms and it's something out of the Matrix.
yours,
kbs
GAME OVER "Snake?! Snaaaaaaaaaaaake!"
Cue hack to create slow-motion tentacle porn in 5, 4, 3, ...
You don't even need to modify the hardware to make it serviceable.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
It doesn't have to creep to be creepy.
From The Free Dictionary:
creep-y (krp)
adj. creep-i-er, creep-i-est Informal
1. Of or producing a sensation of uneasiness or fear, as of things crawling on one's skin: a creepy feeling; a creepy story.
2. Annoyingly unpleasant; repulsive: the creepy kids next door.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
Why not just save tens of thousands of dollars and get a Carolla.
Nowhere in the summary or article does it use tthe word "creeping". It says "creepy" in the context of producing a sensation of uneasiness or fear.
Tenticle porn
Slashdot. Nudes for Nerds, Stiff that matters.
Pretending this is my office full of bitter coworkers..
Obviously, not everyone will buy one... for example, I can't see Indiana Jones owning one.
Ultimately the advantage of something like this is better charge times. If you wanted to charge a Tesla in five or ten minutes you'd need a cable that's too heavy and unwieldy for manual use.
I have a Tesla model S. It takes me under 5 seconds to plug it in and 5 seconds to unplug. I just push a button on the end of the cord and the rear reflector opens and I just plug it in. The connector itself is extremely well designed, one of the easiest connectors to plug in due to the funnel-like design so you don't have to line it up exactly before shoving it in and it locks in place. To unplug, just push a button on the plug and pull.
People keep saying it takes too long to charge. Bullcrap. It charges while I sleep and I spend a lot less time plugging and unplugging the car than I did filling my gas car.
The only use I see for this is marketing and for people who have more money than sense, although it might prove to be quite popular in Japan. This could be somewhat useful for superchargers that are not covered with solar panels since you won't have to leave the car at all, although in my case I usually get out and grab something to eat with the money not spent on gas to return to a fully charged car. Every time I stop the car is usually ready to go before I am.
This post is encrypted twice with ROT-13. Documenting or attempting to crack this encryption is illegal.
The use for this is clearly not for you but for the car. Once the car is self driving, this will allow it to run off down the street, find a charging station, and plug itself in while it waits for you to need it again.
The point isn't the negligible effort saved in plugging in the charger when you're around. Consider it a big step forward to having a self-parking vehicle that can charge itself when you're *not* around.
Pull up to your door, get out, unload the groceries, and then have your car park and charge itself. Or imagine a scenario, a few years and several legal and technical hurdles down the line, where you drive yourself to the office and have your car return home, charge itself, and be ready to pick you up at the end of your workday.
Uh... You might want to remove the 10kW power feed.
The use for this is clearly not for your car, but for the lazy impatient passenger-owner of the car. Once charging stations become self-driving, they will catch up to self-driving cars, and plug themselves in to charge them while those self-driving cars are still going around the block indefinitely because their lazy impatient passenger-owners told their self-driving cars not to park too far (in a place that is almost impossible to find parking) and to be ready to pick them up at a moment's notice.