Virgin Could Take On Tesla With Electric Car 105
According to a story at Ars Technica, Virgin empire founder Richard Branson says 'teams of people' are working on electric cars. Says the article:
Virgin is working on electric cars and could one day take on Tesla, according to company founder Richard Branson. Speaking at a racing event in Miami, Branson said Virgin had "teams of people" working on electric cars but refused to be drawn on specific details. The company's Virgin Racing team already competes in the all-electric Formula E championship, a high-speed, battery-powered spinoff of Formula 1. Branson has now hinted that Virgin's involvement could lead to the company selling its own electric cars. ... Branson's business has continued to expand in recent years. As well as trains and planes, Virgin now has a fledgling space operation and is soon to launch its own cruise ships.
soon to launch its own cruise ships. (Score:1)
Stay away from the tapioca!
Elon Musk vs Richard Branson (Score:4, Funny)
The title for the real Tony Stark begins.
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Re:Elon Musk vs Richard Branson (Score:5, Insightful)
Bitch, please, that's not even a contest.
Branson started off with a magazine & record stores before launching an airline; Elon sold a space shooter video game as a 12yr old and was studying physics & material science at Stanford, is invested in SOLAR energy, considers running SpaceX to be his primary job & still found time to put his thoughts on the Hyperloop on paper while showcasing the launch of the most kickass electric sedan ever made.
http://www.theatlantic.com/tec... [theatlantic.com]
It may be that there's someone more deserving of the title than Musk but it ain't Branson, not now, not ever.
Re:Elon Musk vs Richard Branson (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: Elon Musk vs Richard Branson (Score:2)
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Moron's like yourself are too attached to Boehner's and Koch's fronts to see the facts.
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Exactly.
The guy is basically a hero. Reusable launcher stuff - no one even thought of that stuff until SpaceX dared to do it. Lockheed and Boeing and Energya and whatever other agencies doing this for other countries, they don't really give a flying fuck about costs. Their leaders don't give a fuck about actual cheap of getting stuff to space. It took SpaceX to turn the tide from waste waste waste committee spending, to streamlined process *AND* reusable launcher.
Same for Tesla Motors. Every electric car co
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"Reusable launcher stuff - no one even thought of that stuff until SpaceX dared to do it"
Space shuttle?
Musk, born in 1971
Space shuttle planning start, 1969.
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Space shuttle?
The space shuttle reusable launcher idea didn't really work as intended, requiring a very extensive refurbishing after every launch. After that, nobody cared enough about reusable launchers to come up with a better design.
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The post I replied to said that no one had thought about "reusable launcher stuff".
You can argue that the space shuttle was any number of things.
My point was that it was indeed "thought about" before the days of Elon.
( but, according to that post, Elon cares about "reusable launchers" )
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My point was that it was indeed "thought about" before the days of Elon.
True, and I realized that when I was writing my reply. The actual idea of "reusable launchers" isn't new, but the guy still deserves a lot of credit for pursuing it where others have ignored it, or given up on the concept.
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I can't be the only one old enough to remember the "Delta Clipper" [wikipedia.org]...
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It was mostly a dead end because NASA felt forced to play with it, and when it fell over and caught fire they felt very little motivation to rebuild it. Their money was on the also-doomed Lockheed space plane (Venture Star?). It's pretty clear that DC-X technology could have been used to land the first stage, even if the capsule itself still did a traditional "splashdown".
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No, single stage was a non-starter - both projects failed at that goal. But there was still hope that it could be used for the stages individually - which is exactly what SpaceX is doing.
My point wasn't to be dreamy eyed and show that "with a little more time, NASA could have..." My point was only to show that others have (mostly) solved the problem that Mr. Musk is currently chasing. I applaud his very pragmatic approach to engineering - the man is really to be admired. But credit where credit is due :)
Re: Elon Musk vs Richard Branson (Score:2)
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"He makes cars for the upper class"
Oh, for f*cks sake, his stated goal, as published on the Tesla Motors website in Aug 2006 is
"Almost any new technology initially has high unit cost before it can be optimized and this is no less true for electric cars. The strategy of Tesla is to enter at the high end of the market, where customers are prepared to pay a premium, and then drive down market as fast as possible to higher unit volume and lower prices with each successive model."
He's taking longer than he thoug
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Forgot to mention, with a price range of $70 - 120k (P85D, fully loaded), there are a lot of folks on the lower end of the upper-middle class who can & do buy the Model S.
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And Wernher von Braun started his career as a Nazi responsible for the deaths of countless Brits and still became and American hero.
I don't know if PayPal exercised the same questionable practices back in 2002, but I guess I don't really care much either way.
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Perhaps Elon will deign to present you with today's Godwin's Law prize.
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Re:Elon Musk vs Richard Branson (Score:5, Informative)
He sold out before it did.
Stop being jealous. He is just better than us.
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We are not worthy!
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Do we have to argue over which John Galt wannabe is the bigger swinging dick?
Can't we all just enjoy the billionaire slap fight and hope that one of us finds pictures of either one of them whipping their Costa Rican maid so we can maybe get a free Tesla or a ride on the Virgin Space Elevator?
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Branson is exceptional at PR, but thats about it - he rarely actually achieves something revolutionary from scratch as musk is doing, he will rather buy up existing outfits that is on the verge of success or has just achieved success. Formula E is easy to compete in because the cars are stock and supplied by a single third party, while their space effort only came about after Scaled Composites achieved their fame. Virgin Atlantic et al are nothing to call home about.
Branson is all about making money, he rar
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I realize I forgot to mention Virgin Galactic which Branson founded 2 yrs after Musk started SpaceX.
They've been promising a maiden flight since 2009 but it seems that was more marketing than reality and they're not quite ready.
With the midair explosion of SpaceShipTwo last October, it remains to be seen what they do next.
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So what, are you accusing Elon of suffering from attention deficit disorder, pretty cheeky that ;).
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Heh, no. It would be ADD if his companies never delivered on anything and, of course, there are a lot of smart, hardworking people behind him - one can hardly disregard the talent of JB Straubel.
But he is the front man and the one'll get the arrows in the back if his ventures fail.
In just the past 5 years, his resume is damned impressive with what has been accomplished at SpaceX, Tesla, Solar City, Silevo so for now, he's earned the badge of a highly successful multi-tasker, the only blemish is that his com
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Sit tight. It takes a while to change the world.
The Apple Newton dates back to the late 80s, Philippe Kahn rigged the 1st camera phone in '97 and it still took until 2007 for the iPhone to debut. And that's for a $500 device.
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
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Virgin is doing okay in Australia as the #2 airline. They also do mobile phone services running on the Optus network.
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Misleading subject (Score:5, Funny)
It said "Virgin could take on Tesla", so I thought it was about a fellow Slashdotter forming his own company.
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I was having a thought alone the same lines, what are they going to call it? The Virgin Car? The Virgin S? The Auto Virgin? There's exactly zero ways "I drive a Virgin" sounds good, unless you're talking about tonight's date. And the odds of them releasing it under any other name is also near zero. So oddly enough, what I'm most curious to see is the name.
Mary (Score:3)
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There's exactly zero ways "I drive a Virgin" sounds good,
Indeed, "I ride a virgin" sounds way better.
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Well at least it wasn't a virgin bent over the hood of a car.
Does Slashdot have a disproportionate share of virgins, and are Slashdotters well proportioned?
Is there a shortage of basements? Do I smell poll questions?
I think stories are often overly dramatic, take on this, killer, that. What matters is having what the market needs, or can be made to think it needs.
Not knowing anything about this company, I'm still skeptical. There's more to an electric car than the car. The battery plays a key role in se
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So I guess we could have counted as one of Branson's teams, strictly speaking, had he sponsored us.
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Besides, a Porsche 914 is not exactly the pinnacle of Porsche technology or appreciation. Hell, that one-off front-engine model is better liked than the 914.
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It still would have looked great on GP commenter's front lawn on cinder blocks. Probably the best on his block!
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" Hell, that one-off front-engine model is better liked than the 914."
I'd have to disagree. The 914 was a heck of a lot more fun than a 924, 944 or a 928. It sat low, felt like it was glued to the road and still gave ya the boxer, oil-cooled feel. It was a bit scary to drive at the edge due to the fact of the mid-engine. If you start to lose it, it's a 50/50 shot whether brake or throttle input will bring it back. Aside from that, who wants their Porsche to pump water?
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"You should be shot for desecrating a Porsche like that."
Unless it was a 914 6, there's plenty out there. Most had issues with rust, even in dry climates. Aside from that, only US cars were branded Porsche. ROW were branded VW-PORSCHE.
Re: Refused to be drawn on specific details (Score:2)
We've a sight to make you drool (Score:1)
space business (Score:3)
you may find Virgin competing with the Tesla in the car business as we do in the space business.
Sure, except that Virgin isn't competing in the space business. Virgin's business is suborbital fun rides.
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Virgin's business is suborbital fun rides.
So I guess that means Virgin's electric cars will be fun to drive, but break down a lot?
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Lets leave medium sized chunks of metal in the road and find out.
Fireworks in the springtime are nice.
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Well, if we want to extend the analogy of SpaceShipTwo vs. Falcon 9 + Dragon (with delta-V as range), compared to a baseline Model S, then Virgin's car would go about 30 miles with a top speed of 20mph and would cost $750.
In short, Virgin's electric "car" would actually be an electric bike.
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For that price, range and speed, convert that into a closed tricycle with enough space for four groceries bags and he'd sell millions of them.
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Well, if we want to extend the analogy of SpaceShipTwo vs. Falcon 9 + Dragon (with delta-V as range), compared to a baseline Model S, then Virgin's car would go about 30 miles with a top speed of 20mph and would cost $750.
In short, Virgin's electric "car" would actually be an electric bike.
Electric vehicles with more or less those specs already exist: they're called golf carts. They're actually reasonably popular as a method of transport in a few communities.
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Except not for $750, they cost more like $5,000. :)
Transport = One of 5 basic needs (Score:1)
Food
Clothing
Communication
Shelter
Transportation
Well of course they "could". (Score:3)
This is the marriage of two mature technologies -- electric motors and automobile chassis -- plus modern batteries. So all you need to create an electric car is the will and enough money to hire the engineers.
The trick will be to create a car that is practical and successful in the marketplace.
It's easy for an engineer to create an amazing car on paper. What's hard is for a company to actually produce an amazing car (electric or otherwise) that people actually want to buy and to make money at it. That requires so many things to go right at so many levels, and that's what's impressive about the success of Tesla.
I look forward to seeing what Virgin comes up with. I wish them success. But I don't particularly expect it.
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This is the marriage of two mature technologies -- electric motors and automobile chassis -- plus modern batteries.
And Virgin has no experience in any of those things. It's very rare for a business to succeed in a new market that has so little overlap with their current.
interestingly ignorant (Score:2)
why is it that the collective think that Tesla are the only ones making electric cars like some lone pioneer, every car company has at least one model, and some sell fairly well being just on either side of Tesla's extremely thin market of 20 something's
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The last time those car companies tried to make electric cars, one of them even went as far as crushing their own cars instead of selling them [wikipedia.org] to the people who wanted to buy them.
Tesla is forcing them to start making electric cars again. That's why people are so excited about Tesla.
More competition is always a good thing (Score:5, Interesting)
I would rather that he focus on Nuke power (Score:2)
Yet, if he would spend just $.5B, he could have transatomic up and running before 2020.
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Get the stick out of your ass. They're trying to change one of the most powerful manufacturing industries ever, from the outside.
Arrogant? Obnoxious? How exactly? You not being able to afford one of the current cars is not relevant.
Funny that so many companies who built millions of cars, even millions yearly, aren't able to be "real competitors" to a Silicon Valley upstart.
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Musk is confident and realizes he has little time to waste. I wish I were like him instead of the neurotic, depressed introverted mess I am at the same age.