Unlimited long distance $24.99/mo
February 15, 2008 4:00 AM PST
Newsmaker: Elon Musk on rockets, sports cars, and solar power
See all Newsmakers- Related Stories
-
Does GM now mean 'green motors'?
December 14, 2007 -
Private industry moves to take over space race
October 1, 2007 - Related Blogs
-
Tesla to make gas-electric car
February 1, 2008 -
Tesla raising millions more amid restructuring
January 14, 2008 -
SpaceX reports milestone, details future plans
September 21, 2007
(continued from previous page)
For a brief period, you guys planned on selling batteries to third-party car companies. Is it the kind of thing that you want to come back to?
Musk: I think we'll have some discussions with car companies, but I think Tesla got too far ahead of itself by having discussions with supplying battery packs to other companies before our product was ready. We have to make sure we've got things sorted out with our own product before we try to sell to others. But I think there's a good chance that there'll be some power train supply deals. It could be the motor, the electronics, the system, the software that governs all of that. I think there's a good chance of seeing an announcement later this year but I wouldn't expect to see anything actually come to market before next year at the earliest. It'll be at the earliest next year for us to supply power train components to other companies.
Do you take orders from foreign clients?
Musk: Right now the car is only available in the U.S. Some additional modification is necessary to meet European standards. It's just a slightly different set of rules. I think it'll probably be 2010 before we deliver cars to Europe.
What do you think of all the money going to biofuels? Do you think biofuel will be able stand a chance against electric?
Musk: It depends on the biofuel application. I think for high-value applications like jet fuel, it makes a lot more sense than it does for cars. Biofuels such as ethanol require enormous amounts of cropland and end up displacing either food crops or natural wilderness, neither of which is good.
What about cellulose?
Musk: That's certainly a possibility. It's obviously tricky to convert cellulose to a useful biofuel. I think actually the most efficient way to use cellulose is to burn it in a co-generation power plant. That will yield the most energy and that is something you can do today.
But in general, crops are not a very efficient way of turning sunlight into mobile energy. A solar panel from SunPower is probably 20 to 22 percent efficient, but if you look at the actual efficiency of plants, if you take the sunlight incidence and then how much of that gets converted into plant matter and then what it takes to take that plant matter and convert it into ethanol or some other energy source, it actually ends up being well under 1 percent efficient. I mean, in some cases 0.1 percent.
Another way to think about it is, the current cultivated land is what's needed to provide food for about 6 billion people. The energy used by a car is much greater than a person. A person might use 3,000 calories in a day, but a car would use 300,000. Cars take a lot more energy than people do.
On a completely different topic, how is SpaceX doing?
Musk: Good. Last year we were profitable for the first year with over $100 million in revenue. We'll do either two or three launches of our Falcon 1 vehicle this year.
When is the next launch?
Musk: It's contingent on our satellite tests. It's currently tentatively scheduled for June because that's when they will be ready. We have 12 launches on manifest going forward. Over the next two and a half years we'll do 12 launches at least. In fact we'll probably add more to that manifest.
How much does each launch cost?
Musk: A Falcon 1 launch is about $8 million although, of course, if you ask for any kind of special work then it would be more. Then a Falcon 9 launch is anywhere from $35 million to $55 million.
Do you have more or less respect now for NASA and the government space agencies now that you've been doing this?
Musk: Well, NASA is our largest customer so I have enormous respect for them.
Why do you keep managing the company yourself? I mean, obviously you're an investor but you are also a CEO and you like to manage.
Musk: Well, yeah, I'm primarily an entrepreneur and a technologist. So with SpaceX, I'm the CEO and the chief designer of the rocket.
Don't you think there are too many things on your plate?
Musk: Yes, I do have too many things on my plate. I absolutely think that. SpaceX is really what I do on a day-to-day basis. The intention with Tesla is that of two to three days a month, although for the last several months it's been much more than that. The CEO (Ze'ev Drori) and I are working closely on getting the company on track and making sure that our business fundamentals are good.
It's certainly a significant strain on me personally, but I'm hopeful to reduce my time with Tesla to only two to three days a month. My intention is with Tesla and with SolarCity that those together don't take up more than 20 percent of my time. Actually, fortunately SolarCity is doing extraordinarily well and requires very little of my time.
How did you get involved with SolarCity? A solar-panel installer seems kind of low-tech.
Musk: Lyndon (founder and CEO Lyndon Rive) is my cousin.
See more CNET content tagged:
Elon Musk,
Tesla Roadster,
sedan,
rocket,
motivation
I ponder all this in the light that I can't find a vehicle that meets my family's needs and I have been itching to have one designed that did. We have past the sports car stage and now we need a vehicle that is a cross between an SUV and van. It has to be all-wheel drive an with a multi-purpose interior so that we can haul passengers in comfort or fold down the seating and haul a load of plywood for weekend projects - or stick our dive or windsurfing gear in the bed, turned easily into a weekend camper. All of this on top of a fuel efficient drive system that can compete effectively in turnpike traffic speeds, or manuever in tight parking areas. That's impossible you say - you would be right if you only consider what's currently being made.
Another thing and i'm not sure how revolutionary what i'm about to say is, is this.
When you recharge a battery you are inducing Electricity into the Chemistry to give it charge onece more.
If while charging this Battery chemistry you could occilate organised Caotic Voltage and perhaps minor caotic current noise along that charge current then might you be able to tune the caotic noise to better charge the battery chemistry.
IThe Cuircuit would be an odd one but could be achieved if you had a caotic noise source you could minipulate.
Well it just so happens i have developed a Maths Algirythmic tehnology that can be used to generate organised caotic noise and i have worked out the basics of how to use it to Play with the noise and have produce sounds with mathematica with it.
I have been considered a mental health patient and other consider me on drugs and hence i cant function well enough yet to further develop my maths technology.
I have developed it well enough to have a working example of it that itself is very usful but i am fighting against Quantum Radar Homming Based Radio Transmitter Electrosonic technologies and the people behind it seem to treat me as if i'm vermin who should bow to their god an die and of course i just see straight through it but i'm not rich and power ful and we are fighting.
I have coal underneath my bed. Peizo electric tweeters and shilding material and am building up my nights sleep technology and push my learnid dicipline to try and get my self to the point where i can improve on and use my skilled mind to make my self rich and powerful.
http://freespace.virgin.net/luke.marsh2/index/Basveo.html