Is that at GF1 annex, located in area 51?
Just hearsay. It appears Tesla has secretive areas both in Fremont and Nevada. Here is an article that touches this:
Tesla's Secret Weapon: Intense Focus On Batteries
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
The Promise of Maxwell
- Thread starter ammulder
- Start date
Just hearsay. It appears Tesla has secretive areas both in Fremont and Nevada. Here is an article that touches this:
Tesla's Secret Weapon: Intense Focus On Batteries
Those secretive areas could house all sorts of things. Some is probably being used for autopilot development, but other areas could be doing R&D on virtually anything. There are a lot of rumors floating around that Tesla is working on new battery tech and they are obviously doing something with the tech they inherited from Maxwell. I'm sure at least one of their black hole areas is working on batteries, but nobody but Tesla knows how big the project is and how close they are to production.
It normally takes about 10 years to get a new battery tech from the lab into mass production. If the stories are true the Maxwell dielectric might have into that road to production and Tesla is known to innovate much faster than most of the industry, so batteries with Maxwell tech are almost certainly less than 10 years from mass production, but is it 6 months or 2 years? Elon may think it's six months and it turns into 2 years because he's awful at estimating how long things take.
It normally takes about 10 years to get a new battery tech from the lab into mass production. If the stories are true the Maxwell dielectric might have into that road to production and Tesla is known to innovate much faster than most of the industry, so batteries with Maxwell tech are almost certainly less than 10 years from mass production, but is it 6 months or 2 years? Elon may think it's six months and it turns into 2 years because he's awful at estimating how long things take.
I've been trying to find the right thread for this, and this was the best I could do.
My hunch is if Tesla wanted to they could eventually expand into electronic products using Maxwell battery tech....
I'm talking specifically Smart Phone, Tablet and Laptop running a Tesla developed version of Linux.
They would need an App Store and Apps, that looks difficult, but if they provide an easy path for the porting of Android apps, there should be no issue.
The main issue is battery price, smart phone batteries are currently cheap and disposable, that isn't great from an environmental point of view, most customers would prefer batteries with more longevity....
From what we know about Maxwell it should offer faster charging, less heat, a longer lifetime and probably higher energy density.
The main question is price, a bit higher than current smart batteries is fine.... but there are limits on price even for a premium product..
They may also need to develop CPUs for the smart phone and the tablet at some stage, that is the main R&D, and those chips could also be used in cars... As the laptop takes less R&D, that might be the place to start...an AMD CPU should be fine... The laptop market is also very competitive and price is an issue, but longevity and battery life are also big issues..
IMO both Android and Windows have lost their way to some extent, and are potentially ripe for disruption.... While that could be Apple, Linux has a lot of traction in corporations and in IT.
So there is a lot that can be done if it stacks up financially and a few years down the track Tesla has the resources to invest in this type of product development...
My hunch is if Tesla wanted to they could eventually expand into electronic products using Maxwell battery tech....
I'm talking specifically Smart Phone, Tablet and Laptop running a Tesla developed version of Linux.
They would need an App Store and Apps, that looks difficult, but if they provide an easy path for the porting of Android apps, there should be no issue.
The main issue is battery price, smart phone batteries are currently cheap and disposable, that isn't great from an environmental point of view, most customers would prefer batteries with more longevity....
From what we know about Maxwell it should offer faster charging, less heat, a longer lifetime and probably higher energy density.
The main question is price, a bit higher than current smart batteries is fine.... but there are limits on price even for a premium product..
They may also need to develop CPUs for the smart phone and the tablet at some stage, that is the main R&D, and those chips could also be used in cars... As the laptop takes less R&D, that might be the place to start...an AMD CPU should be fine... The laptop market is also very competitive and price is an issue, but longevity and battery life are also big issues..
IMO both Android and Windows have lost their way to some extent, and are potentially ripe for disruption.... While that could be Apple, Linux has a lot of traction in corporations and in IT.
So there is a lot that can be done if it stacks up financially and a few years down the track Tesla has the resources to invest in this type of product development...
Sure it isn't their core mission, but neither is insurance...
The question is if this direction would be compatible with their automotive and home energy products also if hardware and software developments could share some components and an app store.
For example, imagine these devices fit in a special case which docks in a hidden secure component in a Tesla car, now no one knows your laptop is in the car, and it is very hard to steal. Your laptop and tablet are also charging while you drive, and in any case they have an insane amount of battery life...
Maxwell battery tech may give them a product edge, but that is only worth taking if they want to do more with the products and they think that can help their mission either by making money, or by making car and energy products more attractive.
I see Tesla as most similar to GE, they could end up being a very diverse company there is no end of possibilities, too many in fact, so they can't do everything. But they can leverage their tech and software ability in multiple directions, if they choose to do so.
brucet999
Active Member
Isn't GE down-sizing and selling off divisions now just to stay alive?
I'm more referring to the era when GE emerged was very successful, and diversified... they were successful for a long time before they lost their way. Diversity isn't a problem poor decisions are. diversity is harder to manage,but done right creates synergies which provide an edge on the competition.
Windows has been a bloated dinosaur for over a decade now. I've hated the newer versions. Android has become bloated too. Linux has shown promise with the desktop/laptop market for 20 years but it never caught on. It dominates the server market, but Windows hangs on because there is a massive installed user base of software. There is WINE for Linux which allows you to run many Windows programs, but it's always had limits.
Everything has been moving towards portable devices in recent years. Windows has become a business OS with a shrinking number of home users with Windows machines. I still have multiple desktops, but I'm a software developer and a bit of a Luddite. Desktops still have some advantages if you're using them for some work purposes. I have three monitors on one of my computers and it has an 8 core processor. Great for software development.
In any case, the future is phones and tablets. If someone came up with an inexpensive phone and tablet that ran on top of Linux with a battery that could hold 2X or more charge than the competition, they might be able to grab a significant chunk of the portable device market. Tesla has the cache branding that could get their foot in the door. The fact that is was Tesla brand would get it noticed whereas Acme brand probably wouldn't.
GE was the largest, most diverse company in the US at one time. They made everything from light bulbs to railroad locomotives with quite a bit in between.
Brando
Active Member
You all know that Android is built on Linux ??
And that Google is also a contributor to the Linux kernel.
And that Google is also a contributor to the Linux kernel.
Interesting details: Who Contributes to the Linux Kernel? - The New Stack
Yes, but IMO Android has become bloated, and there are a mountain of inefficient poor quality apps... which contain too much dumb advertising... or which don't work...
Google restricts access to the app store, so I can't see Tesla cars ever using the Android app store...
Whether or not Tesla could negotiate a deal with Google to license Android is an open question....
What i have in mind is Tesla creates an open app store like environment for Linux... that is all Linux, not just Android...
Obviously apps run in a sandbox, which is hosted under Linux ... and obviously Tesla would start contributing to Linux development..
Brando
Active Member
You can run countless apps on both iPhones and Android.
Why you want Tesla to somehow fix such apps is beyond my little brain to comprehend.
I'll never buy a Tesla - perhaps used?? but I just see 2 ton boxes to carry 200 lbs. people as completely absurd.
Since I'm retarded or retired (I forget which) I don't need a car any more - bikes are fine.
Seems hundreds of cell phones to shop. Go find your favorite.
Why you want Tesla to somehow fix such apps is beyond my little brain to comprehend.
I'll never buy a Tesla - perhaps used?? but I just see 2 ton boxes to carry 200 lbs. people as completely absurd.
Since I'm retarded or retired (I forget which) I don't need a car any more - bikes are fine.
Seems hundreds of cell phones to shop. Go find your favorite.
That is fine we can agree to disagree, I mostly want better battery life, and a faster more robust, more secure phone....
I see this as a potential opportunity for Tesla, and fully compatible with how the car would be used as a Robo-taxi, in car entertainment being the norm rather than the exception..
Similar threads
