It looks like most of the line would run in the center median of I5. There isn't much out there in much of the central valley. In areas where this isn't feasible there generally isn't much population density. He goes into detail on this.
The biggest problem with the high speed rail is that farmers can't easily get from one side to the other without going miles out of their way and high speed rail requires a lot more land. With this it's elevated so it's not much of a problem since they can just go under it.
Part of it may be the fact that it takes more brain processing when listening to the poor audio quality from a cell phone than someone speaking next to them. Plus the other person speaking is also aware of conditions around the vehicle and the driver can better prioritize on driving. Things are especially bad when one of the parties on the cell phone has less than ideal reception.
In my local city the water company has sites all over the place. Many of the sites are small and spread out and it saves a lot of time and effort if things can be done remotely. Many of these sites are too small to have someone man them all the time.
It's yet another butt-ugly electric car designed to meet the California air standards to help offset carbon. With only an 80-100 mile range (180 with a gasoline range extender) and it's butt ugly looks I don't think Tesla has anything to worry about. It'll join all the Nissan Leafs that are constantly charging around here. For $22K more you can get a much nicer Tesla model S (not counting $7500 federal tax rebate) with a 208 mile range (EPA). The Leafs are actually rather annoying.
For the few times when I actually do need to charge (and there's not yet a Tesla Supercharger) all the spots are clogged up with Leafs because they have so little range. A friend of mine has one and he's always having to look for a place to charge whenever he goes anywhere.
Cars like this are fine if you're just driving around town or have a short commute, but even driving around the Bay Area these cars aren't all that practical unless you have a second car with decent range. At least it supports rapid charging though BMW is supporting the SAE standard referred to as "frankenplug" rather than Chademo which is far more common (but is only really supported by Nissan around here).
Note that I'm rather biased since I drive a Tesla Model S. In my case I've only driven my gasoline car a couple of times since I got my model S. Once was to go to a camping trip where there's no charging anywhere along the way out in the middle of nowhere over dirt roads and the other was to haul some garden supplies I didn't want in my Tesla. I've taken it from the Bay Area up to Lake Tahoe (destination at 7200' elevation) with zero problems. I just had to stop in Folsom long enough to eat lunch while my car charged. It was 106F while driving through the Sacramento valley as well so I ran with the AC set to 72. I worked out driving down to LA isn't an issue either since I can get by with a fast charge in Gilroy (only a few minutes since the car still has a lot of charge) then one battery swap (90 seconds) along the way if I don't feel like stopping and waiting again. A good alternative to Gilroy is to just drive south all the way to Harris Ranch and charge there while getting a good steak.
I think 150-200 miles is the magic number for EVs to really become practical for a lot more people here in the US.
In my case I just added a few low-powered LED lights on my porch. The yellow doesn't attract insects. It provides enough light to find my keys and see without being annoying. My front floodlights are not on a motion sensor and have been replaced with LED floods I bought at Costco which seem to be working well. I bought a number of solar LED lights as well, often under $5 each which also seem to work OK for lighting the pathway to my front door. I just wish I could shut down the street lights sometimes just so I could see the stars.
The problem is that PHP and web programmers are quite common. Even so, places like Facebook are looking for PHP developers and SQL engineers. Trying to find decent C programmers, especially those capable of working on embedded systems or the Linux kernel or device drivers are much harder to find. As for college, good luck getting started in the industry without a degree unless you've managed to make a name for yourself without it on some well known project.
I am certainly not lying nor a shill. These are just off the top of my head. Many of these sites have pages of openings as well as openings for new college graduates.
My employer generally only hires full-time at the standard going rates around Silicon Valley. We're looking for people with networking experience, embedded processor experience (especially multi-core 64-bit MIPS and ARM, though 64-bit ARM is new), multi-threaded/multi core experience (most of our CPUs are multi-core, our next major chip will support 4-way NUMA with 48 cores per chip). We're also looking for Linux kernel engineers and application optimization engineers. I don't know what salaries are being offered, but it should be competitive. Most positions are fairly senior level though we're also looking for FAEs and test engineers.
Out of curiosity I also looked at Tesla Motor's web site to try and get an idea on what they're doing. They too have a lot of openings for engineering.
Here in Silicon Valley I see a huge demand. My company has multiple positions that have been open for some time. We prefer to hire locally, but if we can't we will hire people where we can get them. Friends of mine at other companies are reporting the same thing.
I can attest to this. In Silicon Valley this has been happening for some time. My company has a number of open positions and it's hard to find qualified engineers. It's amazing how many screw up basic C programming questions or computer architecture questions. I have friends at other companies who are reporting the same thing... open positions that they can't fill. If you can do embedded programming and/or Linux kernel work there is a huge demand.
My employer has multiple open positions that we just can't fill. There aren't enough qualified engineers for the positions open. Friends of mine at other companies are reporting the same thing. This is true for both software and hardware engineers. I'm constantly being contacted by other companies and recruiters to the point where they sometimes call me at my work number (which they must be getting from some of the mailing lists I've posted to).
Of course they also repaid that half a billion. What about the multiple billions the other US car companies received, some of which has not been repaid?
I would compare my Tesla's touch screen with the Prius touch screen in this regard. I own both. The touch screen in my '06 Prius was well designed and fairly minimalist. Tesla followed the same concepts. I do miss some of the buttons on my Prius steering wheel, but the user configurable controls on the Tesla steering wheel are pretty good as well.
The right button is for the glove box. There are also voice commands and a number of controls on the steering wheel. As far as touch screens go it is pretty good, requiring minimal distraction compared to most other cars I've seen. The minimalist design and large buttons helps a lot.
Right now Tesla is having no problem selling their cars with demand exceeding supply, and that's without any real advertizing other than their showrooms. They're only now starting to sell in Europe where demand should be particularly strong given the high cost of fuel. I don't think they're going away anytime soon.
The Tesla model S is one of the safest cars on the road. There was a head-on between a model S and a Honda Accord due to another car forcing the Tesla into the opposite lane. The Tesla driver walked away with minor injuries. There was nothing left of the Accord and neither occupant survived. The entire front of the car is crumple zone with no engine there.
In another accident, a BMW M5 ran a stop sign and hit a model S. The BMW was in pieces but the model S was fully intact with no injuries to the model S occupants.
I ran the numbers. Paying cash just doesn't make sense when I got a 2% loan. The money that would have gone into the car is better spent investing at much higher returns. The money I invest earns well over 2% after taxes. I considered paying cash but economically a loan just makes a lot more sense. If the interest rates were a lot higher then things would be different.
Not true at all. By taking out a loan I can use the money that otherwise would have gone to paying cash for the car and invest it elsewhere which more than covers the 2-3% interest rate of the loan. It's stupid to pay cash for something if the interest rates are so low. Take that cash and invest it wisely and you'll be a lot better off.
Correct. I ran the numbers when I bought mine and it just didn't make sense to pay cash for it. By investing the money covered by the loan I earn far more than the interest on the loan. If interest rates were high then things would be different, but I'm paying under 2% interest and earning well over that by investing my money elsewhere.
When I was at the Tesla service center one of the engineers there basically told me the same thing. From what I have been able to find, the batteries should be good for 3000 charge/discharge cycles, over 600,000 miles. At that point they will still have 70% of their capacity and by then new batteries should be a lot cheaper and have higher capacity.
It is estimated to be significantly less than $30K. Right now Tesla charges $12K for a replacement battery in 8 years (after the warranty has expired) and will refund back $2K per year after that. The battery is warrantied for 8 years. As for fill-ups, try 3000 fill-ups. Assuming 200 miles per fill-up that's 600,000 miles. From the research I have done the batteries should hold 70% of their original capacity after 3000 full charge/discharge cycles.
What will be interesting is when their $$30-40K car comes out in a few years. And Teslas start at $62,400 before the tax credit.
In their class and price range they are outselling the other cars. In Q1 they outsold Lexus, Mercedes, BMW, Porsche and Jaguar. They also outsold the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf, considerably less expensive cars not in their class and that's before they started shipping to Europe which is starting now.
My father bought a Fisker Karma. The car has had major problems. The motors were replaced twice due to a design flaw. The splines are not strong enough to handle the torque. Their fix is to apply Locktite. A lot of cars are failing with the linkage between the engine and generator which tends to fail if the engine misfires. Acceleration was nothing special and it gets the equivalent of 50MPG on electricity and only 21MPG on gasoline. The interior is cramped (it's classified as a subcompact). I'm 6'2" and don't have much head room in the front seat and the rear seat is impossible for me to fit into. There's minimal trunk space. The touch screen is horrible. The car handles well, for a 5400LB beast and it looks nice, but it is anything but reliable. They had a battery recall and a couple fires due to a fan assembly.
Fisker promised the world but the car has so many compromises it's a joke and lived up to none of their promises.
The radio is barely functional IMO. Fast forwarding is painful. The GPS is absolutely horrible and almost useless.
There's no comparison between Tesla and Fisker and Fisker is an example of how not to run a car or design a product. I saw the writing on the wall when I test drove the Karma before my father bought his and tried unsuccessfully to talk him out of it. Back then the software was barely alpha quality where the software would crash if you so much as plugged in an Ipod. (It crashed without any help as well).
The final nails in their coffin were the failure of the Fisker Karma early in Consumer Reports testing (which led to the A123 battery recall which helped bankrupt A123) and the fires. Even though the fires were not due to the battery, the perception is there.
I own a Tesla model S. Tesla has executed almost flawlessly with respect to the model S.
It's BS. I closely follow the Tesla forums. I have never heard of a failed battery pack. The ones being sold on Ebay were people who paid the deposit and are basically selling their place in order to avoid the wait or else are selling new cars at a profit.
As an owner of both a Toyota and a Tesla there is really no comparison at all. My toyota has sat in my driveway with a battery minder on it since I got my Tesla some months back and I'll likely add the fuel stabilizer additive soon. I don't forsee any major issues with my Tesla, especially since the drive train is much simpler with only a fraction of the moving parts. I also worked out the lifetime of the battery given my normal driving habits. It will outlast the life of the car by many years. While my Toyota is a good car, my Tesla is better in just about every way. The only issues I have had with my Tesla were some rattles which were quickly addressed and a few other minor things which is surprising given that this is a brand new car from a brand new factory.
Furthermore, Tesla is in a totally different class and will likely remain so when their 3rd generation lower cost cars come out in a few years. Once you've dealt with a good electric drivetrain it's difficult to go back. Right now Tesla competes with high-end BMW's, Audi's, Mercedes and Lexus, not Toyota. They're years ahead of anyone else with battery technology.
I think Tesla's market will remain strong, especially now that they're branching out into Europe, where the price of fuel is quite high. It got the highest rating from Consumer Reports and was the first car to ever be awarded Car of the Year by Motortrend unanimously by all of their judges.
Slashdot Mirror
It looks like most of the line would run in the center median of I5. There isn't much out there in much of the central valley. In areas where this isn't feasible there generally isn't much population density. He goes into detail on this.
The biggest problem with the high speed rail is that farmers can't easily get from one side to the other without going miles out of their way and high speed rail requires a lot more land. With this it's elevated so it's not much of a problem since they can just go under it.
Part of it may be the fact that it takes more brain processing when listening to the poor audio quality from a cell phone than someone speaking next to them. Plus the other person speaking is also aware of conditions around the vehicle and the driver can better prioritize on driving. Things are especially bad when one of the parties on the cell phone has less than ideal reception.
In my local city the water company has sites all over the place. Many of the sites are small and spread out and it saves a lot of time and effort if things can be done remotely. Many of these sites are too small to have someone man them all the time.
It's yet another butt-ugly electric car designed to meet the California air standards to help offset carbon. With only an 80-100 mile range (180 with a gasoline range extender) and it's butt ugly looks I don't think Tesla has anything to worry about. It'll join all the Nissan Leafs that are constantly charging around here. For $22K more you can get a much nicer Tesla model S (not counting $7500 federal tax rebate) with a 208 mile range (EPA). The Leafs are actually rather annoying.
For the few times when I actually do need to charge (and there's not yet a Tesla Supercharger) all the spots are clogged up with Leafs because they have so little range. A friend of mine has one and he's always having to look for a place to charge whenever he goes anywhere.
Cars like this are fine if you're just driving around town or have a short commute, but even driving around the Bay Area these cars aren't all that practical unless you have a second car with decent range. At least it supports rapid charging though BMW is supporting the SAE standard referred to as "frankenplug" rather than Chademo which is far more common (but is only really supported by Nissan around here).
Note that I'm rather biased since I drive a Tesla Model S. In my case I've only driven my gasoline car a couple of times since I got my model S. Once was to go to a camping trip where there's no charging anywhere along the way out in the middle of nowhere over dirt roads and the other was to haul some garden supplies I didn't want in my Tesla. I've taken it from the Bay Area up to Lake Tahoe (destination at 7200' elevation) with zero problems. I just had to stop in Folsom long enough to eat lunch while my car charged. It was 106F while driving through the Sacramento valley as well so I ran with the AC set to 72. I worked out driving down to LA isn't an issue either since I can get by with a fast charge in Gilroy (only a few minutes since the car still has a lot of charge) then one battery swap (90 seconds) along the way if I don't feel like stopping and waiting again. A good alternative to Gilroy is to just drive south all the way to Harris Ranch and charge there while getting a good steak.
I think 150-200 miles is the magic number for EVs to really become practical for a lot more people here in the US.
In my case I just added a few low-powered LED lights on my porch. The yellow doesn't attract insects. It provides enough light to find my keys and see without being annoying. My front floodlights are not on a motion sensor and have been replaced with LED floods I bought at Costco which seem to be working well. I bought a number of solar LED lights as well, often under $5 each which also seem to work OK for lighting the pathway to my front door. I just wish I could shut down the street lights sometimes just so I could see the stars.
The problem is that PHP and web programmers are quite common. Even so, places like Facebook are looking for PHP developers and SQL engineers. Trying to find decent C programmers, especially those capable of working on embedded systems or the Linux kernel or device drivers are much harder to find. As for college, good luck getting started in the industry without a degree unless you've managed to make a name for yourself without it on some well known project.
For example:
(Facebook) https://www.facebook.com/careers/search?q=&location=menlo-park
(Google) https://www.google.com/about/jobs/search/
(Apple) http://www.apple.com/jobs/us/corporate.html
(Tesla) http://tbe.taleo.net/CH07/ats/careers/jobSearch.jsp?org=TESLA&cws=1
(Cavium) http://www.cavium.com/careers.html
(Amazon Lab 126) http://www.lab126.com/careers.htm
(Yahoo) http://us.careers.yahoo.com/
(Xilinx) https://xapps9.xilinx.com/OA_HTML/RF.jsp?function_id=12325&resp_id=23350&resp_appl_id=800&security_group_id=0&lang_code=US¶ms=mCsTre-AToe2wnIXflPtqsZZTnVM9.N1OyhNnBv5KuqbLKT.chxR3de6DRGMEkZb&oas=suuh5UdozJuyoXGEIHQclw..
(Altera) http://ch.tbe.taleo.net/CH03/ats/careers/jobSearch.jsp?org=ALTERA&cws=1
(Intel) http://jobs.intel.com/
(Qualcomm) https://jobs.qualcomm.com/public/jobSearch.xhtml#messages
I am certainly not lying nor a shill. These are just off the top of my head. Many of these sites have pages of openings as well as openings for new college graduates.
Silicon Valley.
My employer generally only hires full-time at the standard going rates around Silicon Valley. We're looking for people with networking experience, embedded processor experience (especially multi-core 64-bit MIPS and ARM, though 64-bit ARM is new), multi-threaded/multi core experience (most of our CPUs are multi-core, our next major chip will support 4-way NUMA with 48 cores per chip). We're also looking for Linux kernel engineers and application optimization engineers. I don't know what salaries are being offered, but it should be competitive. Most positions are fairly senior level though we're also looking for FAEs and test engineers.
We're hiring hardware engineers as well.
http://www.cavium.com/careers.html
Out of curiosity I also looked at Tesla Motor's web site to try and get an idea on what they're doing. They too have a lot of openings for engineering.
http://tbe.taleo.net/CH07/ats/careers/jobSearch.jsp?org=TESLA&cws=1
Here in Silicon Valley I see a huge demand. My company has multiple positions that have been open for some time. We prefer to hire locally, but if we can't we will hire people where we can get them. Friends of mine at other companies are reporting the same thing.
I can attest to this. In Silicon Valley this has been happening for some time. My company has a number of open positions and it's hard to find qualified engineers. It's amazing how many screw up basic C programming questions or computer architecture questions. I have friends at other companies who are reporting the same thing... open positions that they can't fill. If you can do embedded programming and/or Linux kernel work there is a huge demand.
My employer has multiple open positions that we just can't fill. There aren't enough qualified engineers for the positions open. Friends of mine at other companies are reporting the same thing. This is true for both software and hardware engineers. I'm constantly being contacted by other companies and recruiters to the point where they sometimes call me at my work number (which they must be getting from some of the mailing lists I've posted to).
Of course they also repaid that half a billion. What about the multiple billions the other US car companies received, some of which has not been repaid?
I would compare my Tesla's touch screen with the Prius touch screen in this regard. I own both. The touch screen in my '06 Prius was well designed and fairly minimalist. Tesla followed the same concepts. I do miss some of the buttons on my Prius steering wheel, but the user configurable controls on the Tesla steering wheel are pretty good as well.
The right button is for the glove box. There are also voice commands and a number of controls on the steering wheel. As far as touch screens go it is pretty good, requiring minimal distraction compared to most other cars I've seen. The minimalist design and large buttons helps a lot.
Right now Tesla is having no problem selling their cars with demand exceeding supply, and that's without any real advertizing other than their showrooms. They're only now starting to sell in Europe where demand should be particularly strong given the high cost of fuel. I don't think they're going away anytime soon.
Actually yes.
The Tesla model S is one of the safest cars on the road. There was a head-on between a model S and a Honda Accord due to another car forcing the Tesla into the opposite lane. The Tesla driver walked away with minor injuries. There was nothing left of the Accord and neither occupant survived. The entire front of the car is crumple zone with no engine there.
In another accident, a BMW M5 ran a stop sign and hit a model S. The BMW was in pieces but the model S was fully intact with no injuries to the model S occupants.
I ran the numbers. Paying cash just doesn't make sense when I got a 2% loan. The money that would have gone into the car is better spent investing at much higher returns. The money I invest earns well over 2% after taxes. I considered paying cash but economically a loan just makes a lot more sense. If the interest rates were a lot higher then things would be different.
Not true at all. By taking out a loan I can use the money that otherwise would have gone to paying cash for the car and invest it elsewhere which more than covers the 2-3% interest rate of the loan. It's stupid to pay cash for something if the interest rates are so low. Take that cash and invest it wisely and you'll be a lot better off.
Correct. I ran the numbers when I bought mine and it just didn't make sense to pay cash for it. By investing the money covered by the loan I earn far more than the interest on the loan. If interest rates were high then things would be different, but I'm paying under 2% interest and earning well over that by investing my money elsewhere.
When I was at the Tesla service center one of the engineers there basically told me the same thing. From what I have been able to find, the batteries should be good for 3000 charge/discharge cycles, over 600,000 miles. At that point they will still have 70% of their capacity and by then new batteries should be a lot cheaper and have higher capacity.
It is estimated to be significantly less than $30K. Right now Tesla charges $12K for a replacement battery in 8 years (after the warranty has expired) and will refund back $2K per year after that. The battery is warrantied for 8 years. As for fill-ups, try 3000 fill-ups. Assuming 200 miles per fill-up that's 600,000 miles. From the research I have done the batteries should hold 70% of their original capacity after 3000 full charge/discharge cycles.
What will be interesting is when their $$30-40K car comes out in a few years. And Teslas start at $62,400 before the tax credit.
In their class and price range they are outselling the other cars. In Q1 they outsold Lexus, Mercedes, BMW, Porsche and Jaguar. They also outsold the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf, considerably less expensive cars not in their class and that's before they started shipping to Europe which is starting now.
http://www.teslamotors.com/models/options
My father bought a Fisker Karma. The car has had major problems. The motors were replaced twice due to a design flaw. The splines are not strong enough to handle the torque. Their fix is to apply Locktite. A lot of cars are failing with the linkage between the engine and generator which tends to fail if the engine misfires. Acceleration was nothing special and it gets the equivalent of 50MPG on electricity and only 21MPG on gasoline. The interior is cramped (it's classified as a subcompact). I'm 6'2" and don't have much head room in the front seat and the rear seat is impossible for me to fit into. There's minimal trunk space. The touch screen is horrible. The car handles well, for a 5400LB beast and it looks nice, but it is anything but reliable. They had a battery recall and a couple fires due to a fan assembly.
Fisker promised the world but the car has so many compromises it's a joke and lived up to none of their promises.
The radio is barely functional IMO. Fast forwarding is painful. The GPS is absolutely horrible and almost useless.
There's no comparison between Tesla and Fisker and Fisker is an example of how not to run a car or design a product. I saw the writing on the wall when I test drove the Karma before my father bought his and tried unsuccessfully to talk him out of it. Back then the software was barely alpha quality where the software would crash if you so much as plugged in an Ipod. (It crashed without any help as well).
The final nails in their coffin were the failure of the Fisker Karma early in Consumer Reports testing (which led to the A123 battery recall which helped bankrupt A123) and the fires. Even though the fires were not due to the battery, the perception is there.
I own a Tesla model S. Tesla has executed almost flawlessly with respect to the model S.
It's BS. I closely follow the Tesla forums. I have never heard of a failed battery pack. The ones being sold on Ebay were people who paid the deposit and are basically selling their place in order to avoid the wait or else are selling new cars at a profit.
As an owner of both a Toyota and a Tesla there is really no comparison at all. My toyota has sat in my driveway with a battery minder on it since I got my Tesla some months back and I'll likely add the fuel stabilizer additive soon. I don't forsee any major issues with my Tesla, especially since the drive train is much simpler with only a fraction of the moving parts. I also worked out the lifetime of the battery given my normal driving habits. It will outlast the life of the car by many years. While my Toyota is a good car, my Tesla is better in just about every way. The only issues I have had with my Tesla were some rattles which were quickly addressed and a few other minor things which is surprising given that this is a brand new car from a brand new factory.
Furthermore, Tesla is in a totally different class and will likely remain so when their 3rd generation lower cost cars come out in a few years. Once you've dealt with a good electric drivetrain it's difficult to go back. Right now Tesla competes with high-end BMW's, Audi's, Mercedes and Lexus, not Toyota. They're years ahead of anyone else with battery technology.
I think Tesla's market will remain strong, especially now that they're branching out into Europe, where the price of fuel is quite high. It got the highest rating from Consumer Reports and was the first car to ever be awarded Car of the Year by Motortrend unanimously by all of their judges.