Jeff Findley wrote:
I think what amazes me most about Elon is that he's actually
*younger* than I and the fact that he understands that a problem
must be approached with a solution that's system oriented. He has
taken this approach with all his businesses. He also focuses on the
long term, not the next quarter. It will likely take decades before
a SpaceX vehicle ever reaches Mars, but he's willing to hold onto
that vision in the face of criticism from the "dinospace" sector.

Perhaps Elon Musk is a contemporary Renaissance Man, but I must
confess that I think hyperloop is an iron too many in the fires.

Just for fun, but noting that I can assert no cause and effect, I will
point-out that the SpaceX launch manifest page has had some
non-trivial alterations in the last several weeks, with a number of
"Vehicle at the launch site" dates slipping to the following year.
There are now just 5 entries for 2013, 12 for 2014, and 15 for 2015.
Comparisons to what may be found on archive.org left as an exercise to
the reader.

With Tesla you see this with his building of "supercharger" stations
for Tesla vehicles around the US, offering free charging or fast
battery pack swaps (swaps limited to the Model S). Quite simply,
it's not enough just to build an awesome product and market it. A
successful business supports the customer from the moment of
purchase until they no longer own/use the product. The customer
focus is refreshing in this day and age of mostly "disposable"
products imported from nations with cheap labor. It's no wonder
Tesla is proving to be successful, despite the uphill battle faced
by start-ups in the extremely conservative juggernauts which
dominate the automobile industry.

Finance via the early adopter is a great, and tried-and-true model,
yet my feeling of being refreshed is awaiting the existence of a Tesla
under $40K (before any rebates). And yes, I am indeed quite jealous
of the "souped-up golf-cart" of a Tesla S some family friends have

IIRC, the family friends have mentioned that the "free" charging is
only if you buy the top-end Model S model. If you buy the lesser
model, it is a $2000 addon. I think the US average residential price
for a kWh is something like 11 cents (that is from memory and probably
wrong), but for the sake of easy math lets call that $0.10/kWh so that
is 20,000 kWh. What I don't know is how many kWhs it takes to charge
the lesser Model S. I think the battery itself is rated at 60 kWh.

rick jones
--
Process shall set you free from the need for rational thought.
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...