Ludicrous / The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors
WikipwediaEdward Niedermeyer 2019 / 338.7729 NIE Tigard Lib
If Elon Musk is reading this ... I no longer sign nondisclosure agreements, and I don't sign anything legally actionable without my lawyer's approval. I respect the honorable secrets of others, but will tattle on those who put me or others at risk. I will walk out when the slander or shouting starts.
(Portland author) Niedermeyer has few good things to say about Tesla.
Many references to the Ashlee Vance book Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, which I own.
Ludicrous portrays Tesla as a company that rarely meets Musk's rosy projections, doesn't earn sustained profits, and is supported by continued rounds of stock sales and venture capital injections, rather than profits on sales.
Model S, 0 to 60 mph in 2.3 (or 1.99?) seconds
- 96560.64 meters per hour, 26.6224 m/s, average acceleration 11.66 m²/s or 13.48 m²/s.
I recall a mention of Steve Jurvetson (who invested in a startup helped build, and has a spiffy space collection), but cannot find it in the index. Jurvetson was on Tesla's board, and currently is a SpaceX board member.
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Disturbing things:
- Cast aluminum frames and other components. Niedermeyer says aluminum castings entrain tiny bubbles, which weaken the castings. Aluminum melts (and solidifies) at 660°C and is typically cast around 720°C. There will be some aluminum vapor and other gasses present, perhaps also some oxidized alumina, which will create bubbles and solid inclusions that can nucleate cracks.
- Large touch screen control panel, like a computer tablet or phone. This can distract the driver from the road and suddenly emergent traffic hazards, and very difficult to operate in a crisis.
- Suggestions to customers that self-driving capability is "safe enough". Tarpenning says this is true of distracted driving in general, except every few years when sudden emergencies make driving lethally unsafe. We've learned most of what we know about safe driving from millions of fatalities per decade.
Repairs and faults not reported to NTSB , customers forbidden by NDAs to do so.
- No third party repairs, also a way to hide faults from NTSB.
- Raising prices and added destination charges to customers who paid in advance for "locked-in" prices
Marc Tarpenning and Martin Eberhard founded Tesla, pushed out by Musk