
Tesla and SpaceX: Elon Musk's industrial empire [video] - ahmadss
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tesla-and-spacex-elon-musks-industrial-empire/
======
coreymgilmore
Musk is thinking 8 steps ahead of almost everyone. While Tesla is a huge play
with revolutionizing the car world, there are some other parts in play.

First, his Gigafactory to produce batteries. When the other big automakers get
into the electric car mindset, who are they going to buy batteries from? Musk
who owns the single largest and high-tech battery factory (that produces on an
enormous scale), or other battery producers who have less economies of scale
and higher prices? Obviously, lower prices win and Musk ends up selling
batteries to his competitors...genius.

Second, when other manufacturers get into the electric car game they are going
to need nationwide chargers. Did you think that the Tesla and Supercharger of
proprietary connectors for no reason? Since Tesla will have a huge nationwide
system before anyone else, Musk will license the rights to use his chargers.
Again, making money from the competition. Competitors will not have the
ability to compete on charging when they release cars because Tesla will
already have an established network.

As for SpaceX...thats a whole another post for another day.

~~~
dpcheng2003
What's amazing is that Tesla has been providing NRE R&D for OTHER automotive
companies for years already. Last year, $15 million of their revenue was from
development services but as early as 2011, $55 million of revenue (>25%) was
from basically doing powertrain design for companies like Toyota and Mercedes.

Link to last 10-K:
[http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1318605/0001193125140...](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1318605/000119312514069681/d668062d10k.htm#tx668062_9)

Tesla will definitely make a killing on batteries. I actually think the
supercharger network is going to REMAIN proprietary as a competitive advantage
for Tesla vs. other electric car companies. As someone who's done research in
this in the past, there are already well-established standards adopted by the
IEEE and companies like GE for charging. This is obviously to encourage the
adoption of the technology.

However, since most electric charging networks are run by private companies or
utilities, we may have the "roaming charge" issue that telecom had once upon a
time. In other words, if you lived in Texas and got your electric charge from
your local utility as part of your monthly bill, you may have to pay "roaming
charge fees" for charging in California.

But if you're on the Tesla network, the "fuel" is part of your purchase price.
This is Apple-level walled garden tactics and it demonstrates the foresight of
Elon Musk and his team. What an incredible entrepreneur.

~~~
threeseed
The charging network also has a lot of risks associated with it. There are 192
other countries in this world all of whom will be looking to charging
standards as opposed to relying on a single American company. This means that
some time in the near future Tesla will have to go back and retrofit their
cars/stations to meet this standard.

Apple's walled garden strategy works because the devices are cheap and
relatively throw away. Cars are not.

~~~
greglindahl
Tesla cars are already compliant with J1772 (a small adapter that comes with
every car) and CHAdeMO ($1,000 adapter, coming soon.)

------
brianstorms
The most remarkable thing about the 60 Minutes segment was the simplification
of Tesla Motors' history, and Elon's apparent unwillingness to correct the
record in front of the camera. Elon was not the founder of Tesla. He was an
angel investor, and then became a major investor, and over time took over
after ousting the early founders. That is a very different story than he
founded the company, that it was his singular vision, blah blah blah.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of Tesla Motors and a believer in the
vision and how Tesla's going about achieving sustainable transport for the
world. But I am also a huge fan of accuracy, and having founded some startups
and co-founded some startups and worked for a bunch of startups that I did not
found or co-found, I try hard to get the story right and not give people the
impression that it was all me. I wish Elon didn't do that. I wish he insisted
60 Minutes get the story right, even if not convenient. I don't like a
manufactured story, especially when it's supposed to be nonfiction television
journalism.

~~~
etjossem
Elon Musk has made a deliberate attempt to simplify a founding story before,
when he was leaving Paypal. In Musk's separation agreement with the company
[1], there's a section marked "Deletion of References to Founders." In light
of (what looks like) Musk rewriting history with his previous company too, I'm
not sure _60 Minutes_ is to blame.

"[Paypal] acknowledges that Mr. Musk is a founder of the Company and its
predecessor X.com. The Company agrees that, within ten days after the
effective date of this Agreement, all references to 'founders' of the company
will be removed from the Company's website ... the Company shall refrain from
stating who the founders of the Company are or making statements quoted in the
press that undermine Mr. Musk's status as a 'founder' of X.com."

I love what he's done for Tesla since taking over. There's real potential in
the products the company has to offer, and I own a bit of TSLA myself. But at
this point, Elon Musk doesn't need a "lone hero" story to change the world,
and I'm not sure I agree with the decision to craft it.

[1]
[http://evworld.com/pdf/eberhardvmusk.pdf](http://evworld.com/pdf/eberhardvmusk.pdf),
scroll to p.42

------
caio1982
I, for one, welcome Elon Musk's empire! He couldn't possibly be paying for all
the hype, all the influence, backing a worldwide PR campaign about himself and
his stunts. He's on the media simply because he's freaking awesome compared to
other millionaires industrialists. Come on, look at what the guy has done so
far... we need more Elons Musks. There, end of fanboyism :-)

~~~
darkmighty
Also, it's clear that all he did wouldn't be possible without a superb team
behind him. But he's got such a strong character that it's just a talent
magnet -- if not more, probably the best motivator one institution could ever
hope, specially for engineers.

I think he's aware and quite pleased at all this image building as a "RL Iron
Man", because it does wonders for the success of the companies. It's this kind
of spirit that made apple's success, not the salary of the engineers.

Salary paid in dreams.

~~~
cushychicken
>Salary paid in dreams.

That's something that would look great in a marble facade.

~~~
dclowd9901
Yes, I'd rather stare at a pretty marvel façade than put my kids through
college, too.

I'm all about sweat equity, but that payoff better be substantial.

~~~
toomuchtodo
Counterpoint: I keep applying for a Linux sysadmin job at SpaceX that would
have me taking a ~$80K/year paycut, so I can work at SpaceX.

Substantial payoff? Mine is getting to work in launch operations, no matter
what the position is.

~~~
aryastark
I have yet to hear anyone speak positively about their experience working at
SpaceX. The common theme seems to be incredibly high turnover with intense
burnout. However, looking at Glassdoor right now, it seems things may have
improved. Or there has been a lot of recent astroturfing going on. The reviews
were pretty negative last I looked, a year or two ago.

~~~
toomuchtodo
Yep, I know. I check their Glassdoor reviews every few weeks. I didn't expect
it to be an easy-going place.

I've worked at far more grueling places (Citadel).

------
pedalpete
I'm only half way through, but so far, I find it very disappointing that CBS
has not given credit to anybody else who Musk has worked with.

They discuss "you decided to start a car company", but it was started by two
other engineers, and Musk came in as an investor first, and joined the company
later.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Motors](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Motors)
It would have been nice to see Musk give some credit to the original
visionaries. He's still very responsible for Tesla's success, but it wasn't
JUST him.

Same with PayPal, it would have been nice for Musk to say "I stared PayPal
with a few friends to..."

This report sadly gives nobody else any credit in the development of this
empire.

~~~
carlosdp
To be fair, having a single face of the company being enforced constantly is
probably an intentional PR decision. And it is quite effective from my
perspective.

~~~
pedalpete
That's an interesting perspective, I hadn't thought of it that way. My concern
is that it feeds into the idea that these guys do it all on their own, but
then speak to any VC, and they talk about the team.

------
bane
He doesn't so much as say it, but show it in his eyes how much the NASA
contract meant and how much passion he has.

~~~
kome
Public money saved him.

~~~
adventured
There are two sides to that coin.

Without an opportunity and potential like SpaceX, all the public money would
have are cases like Solyndra.

The reality was, NASA needed SpaceX as much as SpaceX needed NASA.

~~~
rayiner
That's ridiculous. There are tons of successful developments using public
money besides SpaceX.

~~~
adventured
Yes, and my "like" in the "like SpaceX" was meant to acknowledge that fact.
Thus, not ridiculous at all.

------
l33tbro
In the immortal words of Keanu Charles Reeves, "Whoa". So much admiration for
this guy. For once, it's actually nice to see one of my heroes getting
mainstream media coverage like this. The guy has broken through to the
mainstream by being himself and staying true to his engineering roots. You
look at a guy like Jobs and it was always such a hokey, patronizing, and
calculated exercise with his Houdini-esque product launches. Elon's humility
and grit should be an inspiration to all.

------
mas644
elon = grit, as an entrepreneur when i have dark times, i'll read about him to
get amped. my favorite quote: "Optimism, pessimism, fuck that; we’re going to
make it happen. As God is my bloody witness, I’m hell-bent on making it work."
\-- back in 2008 after the SpaceX Falcon rocket failed to make orbit 3 times.
More context: [http://dcurt.is/elon-musks-determination](http://dcurt.is/elon-
musks-determination)

------
antonioevans
One of the parts of the interview that gave me chills was when they mentioned,
Elon had seen the future and brought it back.

I think most of us on HN are building the future for a world that lives in the
past and I think it's beautiful. We're trying to craft something that doesn't
exist yet... but can.

Not many professions do that.

------
andrewtbham
Since the car is so quiet... I wonder if the noise the car makes on these
clips is an overdub.

~~~
bsilvereagle
Jalopnik thinks they were dubbed: [http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/why-
is-60-minutes-dubbing-m...](http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/why-
is-60-minutes-dubbing-motor-noises-over-tesla-foota-1554962894)

But I also remember reading somewhere that the ADA was pushing for electric
cars to emit noise for deaf and hard hearing pedestrians.

~~~
dm2
"But I also remember reading somewhere that the ADA was pushing for electric
cars to emit noise for deaf and hard hearing pedestrians."

I read a similar one except it was regarding blind pedestrians.

I'm not sure how a silent vehicle would affect deaf person.

~~~
bsilvereagle
And that is why I shouldn't post comments online when I should be sleeping.
You're right, it was for blind pedestrians.

------
kayoone
If he would have crashed and burned in 2008 (and he was very very close to it)
mankind literally would have lost a few decades of advancement i guess.

------
tbolse
I wonder how fast everyone forgets the real founders of Tesla: Martin Eberhard
and Marc Tarpenning, and all credit is put on Elon. I am sure he deserves a
lot of credit for his foresight, strategic decisions and also his execution...
Bottom line he bought himself into the electric car game, which was itself a
very good strategic move.

~~~
simonh
He was chairman of the board from month 7, and personalty won two design
awards for his work leading the engineering team on the first car. Bottom
line, he deserves all the credit he gets.

------
dingaling
> When the other big automakers get into the electric car mindset, who are
> they going to buy batteries from?

Umm... LG? They have an enormous operation already supplying GM and Renault,
two big rivals.

------
technophilliac
In this world, where everyone finds everything with Google, Elon is one of the
few persons thinking through his mind.. More here:
[http://techgeekforever.com/2014/02/20/elon-musk-one-man-
who-...](http://techgeekforever.com/2014/02/20/elon-musk-one-man-who-aspires-
to-change-the-world/) Found this on StumbleUpon

------
gavinpc
Am I the only one who got an ad for Chevrolet? Pretty awesome that GM helped
pay for the segment.

(Also for Viagra... not sure about that one.)

~~~
jonwachob91
I only got Viagra... For all the related videos too... Is CBS trying to tell
me something :(

------
MimiZ
Someone brought this up to me:

"If Elon Musk wanted to revolutionize the car industry, why didn't he figure
out how to recycle the materials of the existing cars into Tesla somehow?
Instead of making more new cars? Sure, the new cars are more environmentally
friendly and sustainable but that doesn't solve the existing waste problem."

~~~
cheald
Which materials in particular are being referred to? Teslas don't use any
rare-earth metals in their motors or batteries, and we're not exactly short on
steel and aluminum.

------
amac
It's got to be said that most of the wealth created in the last 50 years or so
has been in either financial or software engineering.

Musk is a bit of a throw-back right to the 19th and 20th centuries in this
regard. Humanity could do with more folks like him if we're to see real
progress in our life-time.

------
mavdi
Imagine the kind of scum it would take to bet against Tesla's success.

Here is Musk, improving human life, clearing our air and probably taking us to
Mars one day and on the opposite, we have scumbags waiting to make a quick
buck and working actively, bribing legislatures to make Tesla a failure.

------
tempestn
Great quote from the interview with Musk. He first said that he actually
expected when he started Tesla that most likely it would fail. When asked why
he did it then, he answered, "If something is important enough, you should try
even if the probable outcome is failure."

------
lugg
Anyone have a mobile _link_ that works?

edit: link

~~~
alexeckermann
Video playback on the web is such a farce.

Luckily with some poking around you can find the m3u8 playlist URL in the HTML
source in plain sight: [http://ipad-
streaming.cbsnews.com/media/mpx/2014/03/30/21153...](http://ipad-
streaming.cbsnews.com/media/mpx/2014/03/30/211533379674/60_0330_Pelley_phone.m3u8)

~~~
j1z0
Thanks for the link.

As for CBS. I don't want your g@$

------
kayoone
Is that old footage ? Just wondering because it portrays his second wife
Talulah Riley, but (german) wikipedia states they have been divorced for 2
years already.

~~~
samelliot
Not sure about their marital status but her twitter account suggests they are
still a family:
[https://twitter.com/TalulahRiley](https://twitter.com/TalulahRiley)

------
shuaib
I am thankful to Woz for giving us Apple. And thankful to Musk for a promising
future in the industries he is venturing in.

------
davidiach
Why does it show in this interview that Musk is married to Talulah Riley? Are
they not divorced?

~~~
SuperChihuahua
They were, but then they got back again

------
mike2477
Definitely makes me want to buy Tesla stock. My guess is that Elon is on a
road show to get the stock price back up. He'll probably stop by New York
Times, ABC and others this week and the stock price will shoot back up to
$230.

------
kelvin0
Makes every other startup seem so trivial ...

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hyp0
Be like Musk: don't give up til you've failed three times... and given it one
more try.

------
jeffreyrufino
Love live Elon Musk! I'll be buying a Telsa when it comes to Australia

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NN88
LOL at the part about his wife.

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rokhayakebe
While we are on the subject, I would love to see "car chassis + engine +
trans" as a service.

------
Jarred
I think the most interesting thing about Tesla is it's applicability to
SpaceX. If the goal of Tesla is to provide a better energy source (where
"better" is defined as capacity and environmentally friendly) and SpaceX's
primary constraint is the energy source, then long-term they'll be the same
company.

------
tambourine_man
_“What 's important to Musk is reducing green house gas, which he believes,
threaten the world”_

That kind of phrasing annoys me deeply, it tries to spin scientific consensus
as if it's a disputed issue.

~~~
tambourine_man
Anyone care to explain the reason for the downvotes?

~~~
pjkundert
The day scientific consensus fails to be a disputed issue is the day science
begins to die.

~~~
tambourine_man
How often do you see the BigBang or Plate Tectonics being reported as a
controversy? There is a pile of evidence supporting anthropogenic climate
change, but it's constantly downplayed as something one “believes” in or not.

