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Gigafactory
| September 10th, 2016 at 9:45:25 PM permalink | |
| reno Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 58 Posts: 1384 |
It's not exactly a mystery why it was so sparsely populated in the 19th century: it was extremely geographically isolated. No transcontinental railroad until 1869, no highways until the 1920s, no transcontinental passenger flights until the 1930s. The train took 7 days. That was a lot faster than riding in a wagon on the California Trail (1845 to 1869): the wagons could only travel 15 miles per day in the summer. The other options involved lovely brief boat rides around Cape Horn, the Magellan Strait, or the Isthmus of Panama or Nicaragua. It was just really really hard to get to California. |
| September 10th, 2016 at 11:00:31 PM permalink | |
| Pacomartin Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 1068 Posts: 12569 |
I suppose that makes sense. But even up until 1940 California was still smaller than Ohio. While it wasn't the jet age yet, you could still fly across the country in 7 hours. Now CA is larger than the combined population of 22 smallest states plus DC. The big four states have a third of the population. It seems crazy not to break them up somehow into two or more states. |
| September 11th, 2016 at 8:18:40 AM permalink | |
| reno Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 58 Posts: 1384 |
Air travel was prohibitively expensive for most Americans. Airline tickets in the 1930s averaged $260, which was about half the cost of a new car. |
| October 3rd, 2016 at 3:56:46 PM permalink | |
| reno Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 58 Posts: 1384 |
Tesla deliveries in the 2nd quarter of 2016: 14,402 Tesla deliveries in the 3rd quarter of 2016: 24,500. That's an impressive jump. And compare that to a year ago: the company delivered just 11,603 vehicles in the 3rd quarter of 2015. |
| November 3rd, 2016 at 10:06:14 AM permalink | |
| reno Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 58 Posts: 1384 | Tesla wants to bring this product to market:  Those aren't roof shingles. Those are solar panels. The house below isn't covered with red Spanish tiles-- it's covered with solar panels: 
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| November 3rd, 2016 at 12:28:51 PM permalink | |
| Nareed Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 346 Posts: 12545 |
That's a great idea, given the American penchant for shingled roofs (they're rare in other countries). But it's not that simple. Costs can get very complicated, aside from the cost of the solar tiles. There was a post about the issue in the Neurologica blog recently. One idea, not surprisingly, is to get a big storage battery; I think Musk is making some... Seriously, as most people are out during most of the day, most of the power generated from sunlight can't be used as it's generated. So either you store it and use it later (battery), or you sell it to the utility company to add to the grid. The problem with the latter option is that there's only so much power the grid can handle or needs. IF many homes adopted these tiles, that limit would be reached quickly. Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER |
| November 3rd, 2016 at 1:43:32 PM permalink | |
| Dalex64 Member since: Mar 8, 2014 Threads: 3 Posts: 3687 | I was looking at those, and what they really seem to be is glass tiles that sit over solar panels, and they aren't solar panels themselves. The use of the glass tiles is what reduces efficiency by whatever percent they stated, minus whatever percents you lose by not having the panels aimed optimally at the sun all day. "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts." Daniel Patrick Moynihan |
| November 4th, 2016 at 1:36:15 PM permalink | |
| Nareed Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 346 Posts: 12545 | Here's the blog post at Neurologica: http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/teslas-solar-shingles/ Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER |
| November 4th, 2016 at 2:06:22 PM permalink | |
| Pacomartin Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 1068 Posts: 12569 |
Well it works that way in theory. Problem is for me if I calculate the cost of the battery, and the lifespan, it is cheaper to buy electricity off the grid than to fill and empty the battery. And that is without the cost of generation. At least hypothetically you could have an individual circuit in your home that is strictly direct current, and run you LED lights, and all your electronics on DC. Then it would be much more efficient to use your batteries.  But many devices are inherently designed to run on AC. Washers, dryers, vacuum cleaners, heaters, stove, microwaves, kitchen gadgets, incandescent lighting. Most Americans are addicted to these devices. |
| November 6th, 2016 at 4:03:04 AM permalink | |
| AZDuffman Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 135 Posts: 18212 |
And that is why it cannot take off at this time. On a hybrid car the cost is hidden enough that the average person forgets the math of the payback period. With this kind of system you need to be a very dedicated prepper or green to overlook the costs. And the costs are not as simple as it seems. Both the solar collection and battery can fall by a factor of 5-10, but the labor will only go up and the hardware to keep excess power flowing to the grid will not fall by so much since it is not "tech" but more older-school stuff where breakthrus are not very likely. This is all the more reason to be wary of Tesla as a stock. Do they even know what business they are in? Cars? Batteries? They seem to keep going down multiple roads. The President is a fink. |