Elon actually makes his point very clear: I just found a video with an excerpt from the conference discussion which this is based on: Video - Elon Musk: 'Tax CO2' - WSJ.com (Currently not behind a pay wall, I hope this doesn't change.) His argument goes like this: 1. He *prefaces* it by saying that in general, the markets work very well, and, in general, he isn't a big believer in subsidies. 2. However, when you have a "tragedy of the commons" problem, the government needs to step in. 3. In the case of the CO2 problem, we are playing russian roulette with the whole planet. 4. The ideal solution would be a CO2 tax, but taxes are difficult to implement. 5. So ... "we are doing an indirect thing, which is to subsidize electric power to some degree". In other words, he describes subsidies as something which "we do", as a CO2 tax is difficult to implement. So something that he is *in favor of*, given the previous points. So I think my interpretation which I posted above was quite correct. He only talks about Tesla specifically because after step 1, the moderator interrupts him and say: "Wait, wait, would Tesla's IPO have been possible without [the DOE loan]?". If he had let Elon finish his argument, I think he would have seen that this question was beside the point. However, since that question was asked, Elon explains that yes, Tesla would have been able to survive and make an IPO (contrary to what "many people" think), even though it wouldn't have been as good. However he points out that, as intended, the DOE loan helped accelerate ("catalyst"), and that this would be very important. This is consistent with what Tesla's wrote in its post on its website, on this topic, September 2011: How We See It - Changes to the ATVM Loan Program | Forums | Tesla Motors followed buy a detailed description of the benefits of the DOE loan. (It also says that since receiving the loan, "Tesla has raised an additional $620 million in private investment capital".) Yet, again, Tesla's situation wasn't substantial to his argument *pro* subsidies.
And, I might add, when Elon says "acceleration is very important", that means really *very* important, as he previously points out that these things need to (start to) happen *now*, if the optimistic scenario (which he believes in) is to happen. (Not sure whether that is in the video above, or in another video excerpt from the same discussion, referenced by an article which Larry posted a link to, I couldn't find that post immediately, when I searched for it again.)
Here is Larry's post and the reference to the article containing the video (and partial transcript) of a different excerpt from the conference: (For those interested in what Elon *really* said.)
Transport Evolved 95 - The infinite cat catcher Join Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield from Green Car Reports, Michael Thwaite from TeslaMotorsClub, and guest Gavin Shoebridge as they discuss the week’s news in the world of electric and plug-in cars, including the latest news from the New York Auto Show, including the new BMW i8 Spyder, Inifiniti LE and much more.
Transport Evolved 96 - Karma Chromeleon Join Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield from Green Car Reports, Michael Thwaite from TeslaMotorsClub, and guest Justin Adkinson as they discuss the latest news in the world of electric cars, including Tesla Model S Winter testing, upgrades to the 2013 Nissan Leaf, and Justin Bieber’s Chromium effect Karma.
Regarding chademo. It is cha-DE-mo, not cha-DA-mo. ちゃでも not ちゃだも Mispronouncing vowels in Japanese words is as bad as using the wrong consonant in English. For example, one would never say Dondon in place of London. So, please, cha-DE-mo. Thank you. ありがちうございます。
...and today with all the talk of charging only the guest said the word chademo. :smile: Btw, congrats on having the episode up so quickly.
Transport Evolved 97 - You drove HOW FAR? Join Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield from Green Car Reports, Michael Thwaite from TeslaMotorsClub, and guest Mark Chatterly from ZeroCarbonWorld as they discuss the 2013 upgrade to the Chevrolet Volt, the 2012 Ford Focus’ battery cost, the problems of charging away from home and someone who has driven his Leaf 36,000 miles in just 11 months.
Transport Evolved 98 - The Big NJ Switch On Join Michael Thwaite for this special edition roadshow edition of Transport Evolved at the EAA Naunas April Switch On, including interviews with Chris Neff, Matthew Konrad, Ian Giblin, Marvin Hammerman, Manny Antunes, Chuck Finberg, Phil Galati, Albert Chak, Ye Wang, Lisa Westheimer, Doug Stansfield and Tom Moloughney.
Really appreciate the effort to cover an event like this, it looks like a great EVent - but you need to invest in a windshield for that mic
Thanks for the props and yes, the windshield is right here on the table beside me... exactly where it was last weekend - dammit!
Liked the show very much! It's feels more real! (As in : Yes people, Ev's really exist and we are not talking bullocks!) You should do some more shows like this ;-)
Nice piece, but I do feel the need to correct some of the statements by the guy with the conversion. He said he has about 35 miles of range from $3K worth of lead acid, and he's on his second pack. I get 50 miles of range from less than $5K worth of lithium which should easily last more than 4 times as long. My car is smaller and lighter so he'd probably get similar range to what he's getting now. I also do not use a BMS and have not needed to balance the pack since my initial balance almost 3 years ago. Adding a BMS would cost less than $1K. And of course I don't have to water them or deal with corrosion, and I didn't add 1500lbs of lead to it, vehicle is still at stock weight. I also didn't need a special charger, the one I have is adjustable and also works with lead acid. If you intend to keep a vehicle for more than 3 years and use it regularly there is no good reason to bother with lead acid anymore. Regarding the iMiev salesman, only selling one car in a month, (if they had more than one available), doesn't sound promising.
Thanks for the event coverage I enjoyed it very much, very nice to see all the different cars and people and interesting comments from everyone there.
Thanks all, much appreciated! On the regular show we have an amazing line up of guests in the coming month; This week we have Richard Lowenthal - Founder and CTO of Coulomb, a.k.a. ChargePoint so we'll be talking about cost, deployment, etc, On our 100th show we'll have Chelsea Sexton - EV legend Next up Chip Yates - electric super bike champ and now electric airplane development - bring on the questions and then, Chris Paine - WKtEC & Revenge. …and then… Alexandra Paul - EV, overpopulation and animal rights advocate, not to mention actress from Paper Dolls, Baywatch, Dragnet, Spyhard and WKtEC Plus loads more! How are we going to top this lot? Who do you think that we should invite?