Questions about Master Plan 2

[Eric S]

I'm not a Tesla owner....just Tesla-curious. So I'm hoping you guys are more dialed-in, and can clear up a few things.

1. I know specifics haven't been announced, but is there informed speculation about how much range might be extended via factory-installed solar (on super sunny days as well as normal days)? Just so I can get a general sense of it?

2. I don't totally understand the paragraph about buses, especially " would also take people all the way to their destination. Fixed summon buttons at existing bus stops would serve those who don't have a phone." I'm sure someone out there has already fleshed this out....can anyone toss me a link?

3. Musk seems narrowly focused on # of vehicular deaths as THE metric re: autonomous driving. But anyone who's ever participated in the cat/mouse game of street-crossing in a place like Manhattan knows that if cars predictably brake at any cost to avoid pedestrians (as they obviously must), pedestrians will hold god-like control over traffic. I.e. if we remove the element of fear re: driver inattention/incompetence which maintains the delicate pedestrian/car equilibrium, urban driving will be unviable, no?

More general question: when praising the green-ness of electric, everyone hastily notes that, of course, electricity generation isn't totally green, either. Can anyone give me a Twitter-length contrast of carbon footprint for electricity versus gas, in terms of overall national average (I understand there's varying % of wind/solar/coal/etc in different parts of the grid)?

 

[ecarfan]

1. I am not clear on what you are asking. Do you mean "factory installed solar" cells on the roof of the car? That will not be happening on a Tesla, Elon has said that the power generated by such a small area of solar cells is too small to be useful. Tesla have never "announced" anything like that. If you read Tesla will be offering solar cells on the roof of a vehicle, what you read is simply wrong.

2. All that Tesla has offered about EV buses is in Elon's post, anything else you read is speculation. So no one has "fleshed this out".

3. I do not think the issue you raised is worth thinking about at this time, many many years ahead of the widespread availability and real life use of autonomous cars.

"General question": how much CO2 an EV generates depends on how the electricity was generated. Even if the EV is run from electricity generated by a coal fired power plant, the EV generates about as much CO2 per mile as a Prius. If the EV is running off sustainable energy like solar or wind the CO2 per mile is negligible. In comparison, all gasoline cars generate huge amounts of CO2 when it is properly calculated in a "well to wheel" analysis.

Not possible to provide a "Twitter-length" response to your question. In the real world, useful thoughts and analysis require far more than 140 characters.

 

[gavine]

My take on the fixed summon buttons is that you can summon a bus with your phone, but if you don't have one, there will be a button at the bus stop that you can push to summon a bus to come get you.

 

[Eric S]

Fantastic! Thanks so much for gracing me with your testiness!

Anyone else?

 

[djplong]

As another stated, a complete-generated-by-coal electrical source will have a Tesla generating the same emissions as a Prius.

However, less than 40% of our electricity is generated by coal and that number is shrinking every year (it was over 50% not too long ago).

 

[Eric S]

I am not clear on what you are asking. Do you mean "factory installed solar" cells on the roof of the car? That will not be happening on a Tesla, Elon has said that the power generated by such a small area of solar cells is too small to be useful. Tesla have never "announced" anything like that. If you read Tesla will be offering solar cells on the roof of a vehicle, what you read is simply wrong.

This thread is about Musk's "Master Plan, Part Deux", which can be read here. It includes this:

Create a smoothly integrated and beautiful solar-roof-with-battery product that just works, empowering the individual as their own utility, and then scale that throughout the world. One ordering experience, one installation, one service contact, one phone app.

We can't do this well if Tesla and SolarCity are different companies, which is why we need to combine and break down the barriers inherent to being separate companies. That they are separate at all, despite similar origins and pursuit of the same overarching goal of sustainable energy, is largely an accident of history. Now that Tesla is ready to scale Powerwall and SolarCity is ready to provide highly differentiated solar, the time has come to bring them together​

 

[BluestarE3]

The solar-roof-with-battery product referred to in the plan is for house roofs, not car roofs.

 

[ecarfan]

This thread is about Musk's "Master Plan, Part Deux", which can be read here. It includes this:

Create a smoothly integrated and beautiful solar-roof-with-battery product that just works, empowering the individual as their own utility.

For HOUSE roofs. Not cars.