Recent content by Joel Weber

Does anyone know if Tesla uses a different FM receiver in cars sold in Japan vs the rest of the world, or if it's the same hardware with software differences allowing users to select different channels? (Is it even reasonable to assume that Tesla's FM receiver can receive the entire broadcast...

I think I've seen more specific aerodynamic efficiency information about the Bye Aerospace eFlyer planes than about the Eviation Alice. Largest order to date for the all-electric aircraft announced. - Bye Aerospace claims ``The Sun Flyer 2[...]will have[...]a significantly higher lift-to-drag...

Western Maryland Rail Trail - Wikipedia says that the Western Maryland Rail Trail isn't using certain abandoned railroad tunnels because there are endangered bats living in them. I think we should build several new tunnels that bats can live in, with a goal of getting the bats off the...

I believe I have read that the plan for the Alice is that if either wingtip motor fails, the other will automatically be shut down, and the tail motor will be able to maintain altitude by itself in that case. It's Electri-Flying: Cape Air Pioneers Flights Without Fossil Fuels has an operating...

Heavy trucks are exempt from many of the safety standards, at least in the US, and Bollinger is making trucks heavy enough to be exempt as The Bollinger B2 Is the Beefy Electric Truck We've Been Waiting For mentions; I don't know whether Tesla is doing likewise.

Optimizing for energy efficiency per vehicle mile traveled seems to have been a key goal. If you don't care about aerodynamic efficiency and are willing to put the driver's seat as far forward as in a cab over, and want the vehicle to be 19' long, an 11' boxy passenger area in the front...

https://bgp.he.net/AS14593#_whois PeeringDB both mention Starlink explicitly. It'll be interesting to see whether they build ground stations with enough bandwidth to upgrade to 100 gigabit ports at places like Seattle Internet Exchange.

https://bgp.he.net/AS27277#_graph4 https://bgp.he.net/AS14593#_graph4 shows some information about what paths some of SpaceX's networking infrastructure uses to connect to various parts of the Internet. The prefixes tabs indicate SpaceX announces three IPv4 /24s and one IPv6 /48. Arguably...

Could the magnetic shield for Mars idea be applied to the moon to give it an atmosphere? NASA proposes a magnetic shield to protect Mars' atmosphere

Closer to the surface of Earth also has the potential to reduce the round trip time if there are enough satellites for one to be nearby at any given time. Do we know what ASN Starlink is using?

The Ultracapacitors, Electrodes, & Battery Manufacturing Tech Tesla Gets With Maxwell Technologies | CleanTechnica mentions that Maxwell (which Tesla very recently acquired) has demonstrated 300 Wh/kg batteries and claims to have identified a path to 500 Wh/kg batteries. Are 500 Wh/kg batteries...

@SSonnentag: Is this a rooftop solar system? Do you have any spare roof space you'd be able to use to generate even more power to export to the grid if that would get you compensated appropriately? Are you using 20% efficient panels, or something in the ballpark of 12% where in principle if...

Presumably the retracting brake pads will help to reduce brake dust. But did Tesla put any effort into trying to minimize the particulate matter that is released by tires wearing against the road surface?

Sensor size and quality can also make a big difference in low light performance. If one brand of relatively cheap 4K camera has poor low light performance, that doesn't necessarily imply that all 4K cameras will have poor low light performance.

I was surprised to read that Tesla is not using 4K cameras, but then again, there's a trade off between the amount of detail that can be seen vs processing power required...