Difference between revisions of "Tesla, Inc."

Revision as of 04:09, 20 February 2017

Tesla[1] is an automotive and energy storage company co-founded by Elon Musk, Marc Tarpenning, Martin Eberhard, Ian Wright, and JB Straubel. Named after the electrical engineer and physicist Nikola Tesla, the company is based in Palo Alto, California, the company specializes in electric cars, energy charging equipment and is known for its autonomous driving software. It was founded in July, 2013 and has so far released three models, Tesla Roadster, Model S, and Model X. Under Elon Musk, Tesla has a master plan to fundamentally change the automobile and energy industry.

History

Christie Nicolson, a multimedia science journalist, met Elon Must for the first time at a party in 1989. The second sentence that Must said was, "I think a lot about electric cars". The reason being that the electric motor is easier, cheaper, and more sensible long-term plan for power cars. Yet, there tends to be three age-old concerns regarding the viability of electric cars: range, performance, and price. When Musk decided in 2003 to start making electric cars, there were high barriers to entry that prevented any startup car company from succeeding. However, in the Silicon Valley there were people in one little car technology company, AC Propulsion, that were experimenting and making incremental EV breakthroughs. During 2003, another Californian named JB Straubel who was also tinkering with EV and met Musk to ask for funding for a car project he was working on. Later, Straubel brought Musk by AC Propulsion. At the time, Musk was already running SpaceX but wanted to fund AC Propulsion in bringing one of their prototypes into market, but they didn't want to deal with that. Instead they introduced Musk to three guys who included Martin Elberhard and Marc Tarpenning. They wanted to use AC Propulsion's technology and bring it to market as a new company called Tesla Motors, but lacked the funding. Thus, it was a perfect match, Musk provided the money and together they formed a team and started to figure out how to start a car company.

Plans For the Future

Master Plan

Like any new technology such as the first cell phone or computer, the R&D costs drive up the price of the product. Thus, Tesla had to develop a business plan[2] for the company on how to make and market their products.

Part One

Step 1: High-priced, low volume car for the very rich. First come out with an expensive fancy first product that is worth the price. Hence, the Roadster, a legitimate Ferrari competitor that costs over $100,000.

Step 2: Mid-priced, mid-volume car for the rich. Use the profits from Step 1 to develop a Step 2 car. A luxury car that competes with $80,000 Mercedes or BMW products.

Step 3: Low-priced, high-volume car for the general population. Use the profits from Step 2 to develop a car that is affordable to the middle class, around the range of $35,000.

Part Deux

With the master plan part one in the final stages of completion, Elon Musk wrote a Part Deux of his next master plan. In short, Musk enumerated on four major points:

• Create solar roofs withe seamlessly integrated battery storage

• Expand the electric vehicle product line to address all major industries

• Develop autonomous driving capability that is far safer than manual via massive fleet learning

• Enable your Tesla vehicle to make money for you when you aren't using it

S-3-X-Y

While the Roadster is also a Tesla model, currently the only models in production are the S and X, with the third model, 3, coming late 2017. The model S, nicknamed the Whitestar while under production, was designed by Franz von Holzhausen. [3] One of the main features that was never seen before in any other car was the touchscreen. Tesla placed nearly all vehicle controls and function in this huge control center. Two other new features that didn't exist before were "Ludicrous Mode" speed, which on the high-performance P100D goes 0-60 mph acceleration in 2.5 seconds and Autopilot.

The next model Tesla release was the Model X. The most notable feature that came with this model was the "falcon wing" doors. Along with the release of the car, Tesla also introduced the Bioweapon Defense Mode!. With the touch of the Model X's center touchscreen controls, users go from breathing normally filtered air to hospital-grade atmosphere.

And while the Model 3 isn't ready for the public yet, prototype models show a re-oriented touchscreen. Both the Model S's and X's screen is in portrait mode, but the Model 3's could be in landscape. There is also a chance that the production car will do away with traditional gauges and instruments.

Technology

Battery

Previous electric vehicles would use lead-acid batteries, which were heavy and limited. AC Propulsion, however, took inspiration from the laptop and phone industry's use of 18650 lithium-ion batteries. By combining several thousand, AA-sized lithium batteries, AC Propulsion created the world's best car battery. Tesla continued with augmenting the technology, allowing an increase in performance and battery range. One of the areas where Tesla truly outshines its competitors is in its packaging and cost of electric batteries. By designing a vehicle from the ground up, Tesla built its entire vehicle around the battery. What resulted is a flat slab that forms the floor of the car, which enables a very large battery without sacrificing interior space.

Autopilot

On October 15, 2015 Tesla released an update over-the-air officially named Tesla Version 7.0, but would later be known as Autopilot. It allowed users to activate a feature in their Tesla that could make the vehicle autonomous under certain conditions. The technology has been proven several time and again to help people avoid accidents.[4][5] Elon Musk even said that Autopilot can reduce accidents by as much as 50%.[6]

Tesla's Autopilot system is made up of multiple ultrasonic sensors place all around the car. These sensors can sense 16 feet in every direction which helps the car analyze and understand its environment, allowing it to steer itself in most situations. The sensors enable the vehicle to realize when something is too close and gauge when it's appropriate to safely change lanes. In addition, there is a forward-facing camera located on the top windshield that helps the car understand what obstacles are in front of the car. It can detect traffic, pedestrians, road signs, and many other things. The camera, radar, ultrasonic sensors and GPS all work together to constantly provide real-time feedback from the Tesla fleet. Over-the-air updates are used to continually improve the system and add new features to the Autopilot system This data is then used to improve the overall system.

Ethical Implications

Crashes

Hacking

Responsibility

http://www.businessinsider.com/autopilot-in-tesla-model-s-prevents-truck-accident-2016-4 http://www.businessinsider.com/teslas-autopilot-reduces-accidents-2016-4 http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2012/11/tesla-model-s-the-electric-car-that-shatters-every-myth/index.htm https://www.tesla.com/blog/mission-tesla https://www.tesla.com/blog/tesla-approach-distributing-and-servicing-cars https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=17&v=EJmhpgW0Dmc https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/20/business/elon-musk-says-self-driving-tesla-cars-will-be-in-the-us-by-summer.html?emc=edit_th_20150320&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=58786282&_r=1