Elon Musk on Tesla-Apple Meeting, Battery Giga Factory & the Model X being delayed

Betty Liu reports that Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk met early last year with Apple's head of mergers and acquisitions on Bloomberg Television's "In The Loop."

Though Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk didn't discuss the Tesla battery giga factory or the Tesla-Apple meet-up during the earnings call, he did hold a phone interview with Bloomberg in which both topics (and way more) were discussed.

On the Apple meet-up, Musk stated: "We had conversations with Apple. I can't comment on whether those revolved around any kind of acquisition."



The description that goes along with the Bloomberg video is as follows:
"Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Motors Inc., talks about the company's plans for a "gigafactory" to supply batteries, Model X SUV, talks with Apple Inc. and fourth-quarter profit. Tesla reported net income that beat analysts' estimates and projected a 55 percent increase in vehicle deliveries. Musk speaks with Betty Liu on Bloomberg Television's "Bloomberg West."















Source: Inside EVs & Bloomberg

Electric Helicopter !

An helicopter too can be electric ...

Check out this short video from a Belgium TV channel

The rotor blades are made of very specific materials, lowering the power requirement to lift the helicopter and move it





The company AeroSkyLux is trying to cross the ocean with a small airplane, consuming only 2kW of battery power ... this is quite low !

DIY ESS - Normaly used as a TV stand ...

I found another use for the ESS which is usually sold by Ikea as a TV stand / HiFi cabinet ... Now the video projector is sitting on it and providing entertainment for the whole family during dark winter evening

Watching this 80's French movie, Les Specialists with Gérard Lanvin and Bernard Giraudeau






BTW, here is the trailer

Turbo on TV - BMW i3, Tesla Model S, Renault Zoe, & Autolib

Last sunday, for once, I watched Turbo on M6, and last time I did so must have been years ago ... It is the kind of TV program always showing battles of Diesel against Diesel -we are in Europe and in France the "Diesel leader", which is a shame -, or hyper expensive sports car - you can only dream of, does not make me dream at all actually - 

But, this time they said thay would talk about Electric Cars: the New BMW i3 and the Tesla Model S, wow this is changing ...

So it starts with the BMW i3 - exclusivity - 

and this journalist says he choose to test drive the one with the range extender option - 5,000 EUR (!) - to make sure he would not get stranded with an empty battery pack ... it starts very well :-)

Right after, the main journalist, Dominique Chapatte, interview a French politician - representative - who drives a Renault Zoe and explains his fmaily road trip from Marseille to Bordeaux last summer, using only Renault dealers Charging Stations - Zoe can not charge on a regular 220V outlet ... yet - 

Then we got the Leipzig BMWi factory tout, quite interesting, mixed with the official BMW Youtube video, in my last post

Image from the launch commercial, shot in SF and LA

Later, they visit the Autolib Maintenance Center close to Paris

These wooden boxes on crates look like battery pack to me ... oops, do they have to change many of them ???

The number one damage to this Electric rental car

 - I skipt all the Diesel and Gas stuff, of course - 

Then, time for a Tesla Model S test drive :-) 

but before, some more BMW i3, interior, rear doors opening ...

and they go get the test drivers in Saint Germain en Laye, close to Paris, with their BMW of course

Their conclusion on the BMW i3: not bad but Electric Cars are kind of pricy - (!) of course if you add this 5,000 EUR option that will not be used ... it starts to get pricy: 28,000 EUR + 5,000 EUR -, oh well ... 

There it is :-)

First time for them, in an Electric Car too I think, from their remarks

They really enjoyed their Model S test drive and I think it changed their perception of Electric Cars in general, which is a god thing ...

Ten Bucks a Litre - Dick Smith Documentary cherry picks the facts

A recently aired Australian documentary by local eccentric millionaire Dick Smith about alternatives to fossil fuels has stirred quite a hornets nest of feedback, both positive and negative.



While on the whole the Doco was fairly interesting and we here at EV News noted Dick's enthusiasm for electric cars, some facts seem to have been seriously cherry picked.

The EV segment starts @47 mins with Dick enthusing about an EV powered only by renewables and which has Vehicle to Grid Technology (V2G) that can held smooth the intermittency of renewable energy.

The cherry picking starts @50 mins when to close the segment Dick holds up a flask containing 1 litre of fuel stating that it weighs 700 grams and will take an average car approx 10 km. The bad news for EV's, we are told, is that the equivalent battery would weigh 25x as much! End of argument apparently and the story moves onto bio-fuels.

What Dick failed to mention was that the equivalent of that 1 litre of fuel (10 kWh) stored in an EV battery can propel an electric car 10x as far (100 km)... surely a worthy trade-off in energy efficiency Dick?

Of course, battery power may not be a solution for his Helicopter any time soon but Dick was so impressed with EVs he is now the proud owner of a solar powered Nissan Leaf.


Source: Electric Vehicle News

Electric Vehicle Conversion Convention - EVCCON

WSIU Coverage of the first Electric Vehicle Conversion Convention - EVTV EVCCON 2011

Jack Rickard & Brian Noto interviewed about their work and passion