• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Tesla opens all patents to the public

There is a good reason they did this. The regular automakers sell their cars to dealerships, who mark up the price and resell them to the public. Tesla began selling directly to the public, and so the other automakers have sued Tesla in court, in a attempt to shut them down. By making their patents public, Tesla not only wins the battle, but possibly the war as well.
 
Nilly said:
If it makes you feel any better, just pretend Musk named it that after the unit of magnetism instead of the guy. (although I do realize the unit is also named after the guy). It may soften the blow.
Maybe you should ask Alessandro Volta's descendents what they think of the Chevy Volt.
Click to expand...

I'm a big fan of Nicola Tesla.

He was a true Pioneer and inventor and his contribution to science far exceeds anything Eddison came up with.

His intentions are still being used today on a massive scale.

Think every transformer from the one on the pole outside of your home or business going back to all the substations and eventually back to the power plant.

The car " Tesla" is not innovative, nor is it especially a pioneering technogy.

Electric Cars have been around since the 70s and they really haven't changed all that much.

They still have profound and innherent limitations that make them some what of a bad joke.

Name the damned thing Eddison.

Its a massive DC battery pack that feeds a Inverter that chops up the DC into PWM.

That PWM square wave signal is then sent to the Electronically Commutated motors for drive and speed control

Its not even especially new technology.
 
the_recruit said:
All Our Patent Are Belong To You | Blog | Tesla Motors

Interesting. Good or bad, I have to admire Musk's tolerance for taking big risks and shoving all the chips in.
Click to expand...

He is changing the face of our day to day lives right in front of us and it's a rather quiet revolution.

Tesla is about to open a mega-battery factory that will make these batteries so that will make him bank when other car makers buy up his batteries.
Tesla will soon narrow, then name $5B battery factory winner - Phoenix Business Journal

You can now drive coast to coast charging up your tesla for free.
Gas 2 | Bridging the gap between green heads and gear heads.

And now with offering other car makers the right to use their battery... they also offer the ability to use their charge up stations and drive cross country.

The infrastructure is on its way and it can be the door opening to kick big oil in the nuts. Which would come none to soon.


*edit...

Also, the model S is out now for sale (up to 300 miles per charge). The Model X is soon to be out for the same price range (70k or so to start and up to 300 miles per charge) which is an all wheel drive SUV... and the next car to come is the Model E for 35k. 200 miles per charge.
 
Last edited:
Fenton said:
I'm a big fan of Nicola Tesla.

He was a true Pioneer and inventor and his contribution to science far exceeds anything Eddison came up with.

His intentions are still being used today on a massive scale.

Think every transformer from the one on the pole outside of your home or business going back to all the substations and eventually back to the power plant.

The car " Tesla" is not innovative, nor is it especially a pioneering technogy.

Electric Cars have been around since the 70s and they really haven't changed all that much.


They still have profound and innherent limitations that make them some what of a bad joke.

Name the damned thing Eddison.

Its a massive DC battery pack that feeds a Inverter that chops up the DC into PWM.
That PWM square wave signal is then sent to the Electronically Commutated motors for drive and speed control

Its not even especially new technology.
Click to expand...

Tell us what energy is made in AC current to begin with. Energy creation that doesn't require an inverter to change it from the DC current, as it was made, into AC so it can be transported...
 
Last edited:
Fenton said:
So why is this DC powered car named after the inventor of whats essentially AC induction ?
Click to expand...

Roadster Technoloy - Motor | Tesla Motors

The Tesla Roadster uses a three-phase Alternating Current (AC) Induction motor. The AC Induction motor was first patented by Nikola Tesla in 1888. AC Induction motors are widely used in industry for their reliability, simplicity, and efficiency.

The Roadster motor has two primary components: a rotor and a stator. The rotor is a shaft of steel with copper bars running through it. It rotates and, in doing so, turns the wheels. The stationary stator surrounds, but does not touch, the rotor. The stator has two functions: it creates a rotating magnetic field and it induces a current in the rotor. The current creates a second magnetic field in the rotor that chases the rotating stator field. The end result is torque. Some motors use permanent magnets, but not the Roadster motor -- the magnetic field is created completely from electricity.
Click to expand...

Well...
 
DA60 said:
Still not sure what the patents contained or exactly why he did it...but it sure sounds cool.

However, though I think Tesla's are beautiful, fantastic cars...they are purely a luxury car.

The S starts at almost $80 grand...that is useless for the masses. They stated for years before production that the S would come in around 40-50K...and now they came in at roughly double. I have little doubt if the major manufacturers wanted to built a car as good as the Tesla, they could.

But they don't want to, IMO because they HATE electric cars.

EV's (electric vehicles) have far fewer moving parts and require FAR less maintenance. And after market parts and planned obsolescence are large aspects of these corporations profits. And dealers make (apparently) about half of their profits from parts/service...so they hate electric cars even more.
That is why GM would not let anyone keep their EV-1's when the leases ran out way back when and why they crushed them all after they took them back...they hate electric vehicles and they don't want them taking off.
General Motors EV1 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
That is why the EV's they do sell are over priced and have incredibly short ranges. The base Tesla can do over 230 miles. Yet the best EV's only do about 60-80 miles...which are near-useless for anything but daily commuting. They are designed to appeal to a small segment, but it makes them look like they are embracing EV's...when they are not. They could increase the range of these cars if they want to (just add more batteries under the floor like Tesla does)...they clearly don't want to.

On the other hand these corporations LOVE hybrids. They have all the moving parts of a regular car plus the electric motor/batteries of an EV, so they require even more service then regular cars. They raise fuel economy which helps their CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) compliance. They make at least as much per vehicle since they can charge a premium for them. And it makes them look 'greener'. And because of the added service/parts requirements, dealers like them as well.

As long as Tesla makes luxury cars in small numbers that few can afford, I assume the big 'boys' won't care much.


Personally, I love electric cars...but until they come down to $25K (before government incentives) and can go 200 miles at least, they are, IMO, strictly for luxury buyers and/or green 'fanatics'.
Click to expand...

This is one of the reasons I want an EV one day. I can fix it myself due (not necessarily every problem, but more than current mainstream vehicles) to the reduced complexity of the power train and engine.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
Probably from an inverter.

Power inverter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Click to expand...


It's not just a inverter.

A inverter for a car, so you can plug in a 110 volt appliance provides a constant AC output.

What the Tesla uses is similar to a Variable Frequency Drive minus the front end AC three phase rectifier since the Tesla has a huge battery pack that outputs DC.

So DC is fed into three isolated DC buses and then into DC Capacitors for pre-charge and discharge into the IGBT's that change that DC into a " AC waveform ". Well there's a bit more but that's the basics.

But it's NOT true AC that's outputted, It's actually modulated DC.

If you had a oscilloscope laying around you could monitor the output and see that its actually a manufactured square wave, and not a true sinusoidal waveform that you would get if you were checking the output of a AC Generator which works off the principle of induction.

The square wave output can be manipulated by using Pulse Width Modulation switching and there is typically a feed back loop transmitting a 4-20 Ma analog signal back to the PWM controller and that controls the speed of the drive motors.

It's switched DC, from positive to negative and motors have to be rated to run off a VFD. Or they need to be inverter safe.

DC motors use brushes and a commutator to provide continuous torque. So there is always a opposing charge that pushes the rotor around 180 degrees.

A VFD transmits DC pulses at varying intervals depending on a analog input to the PWM controller. I assume with the Tesla it's the accelerator pedal.
 
tacomancer said:
This is one of the reasons I want an EV one day. I can fix it myself due (not necessarily every problem, but more than current mainstream vehicles) to the reduced complexity of the power train and engine.
Click to expand...

I only want one when they perform as well or better than a gas engine and cost no more than one. That day is nowhere close.
 
upsideguy said:
Sometimes it makes good business sense to not be an island of proprietary technology. By others adopting some of your technology to further market acceptance of your product. More products on the market based on your technology means better service offerings for your customers; lower cost parts; more electric refueling stations, etc.

I just drove one of these for the first time on Wednesday. What an incredible car. Its a dream to drive. 0-60 in about 5 seconds.
Click to expand...

Then you have to charge it for 8 hours to get another 5 seconds! Kidding.
 
DA60 said:
Still not sure what the patents contained or exactly why he did it...but it sure sounds cool.

However, though I think Tesla's are beautiful, fantastic cars...they are purely a luxury car.

The S starts at almost $80 grand...that is useless for the masses. They stated for years before production that the S would come in around 40-50K...and now they came in at roughly double. I have little doubt if the major manufacturers wanted to built a car as good as the Tesla, they could.

But they don't want to, IMO because they HATE electric cars.

EV's (electric vehicles) have far fewer moving parts and require FAR less maintenance. And after market parts and planned obsolescence are large aspects of these corporations profits. And dealers make (apparently) about half of their profits from parts/service...so they hate electric cars even more.
That is why GM would not let anyone keep their EV-1's when the leases ran out way back when and why they crushed them all after they took them back...they hate electric vehicles and they don't want them taking off.
General Motors EV1 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
That is why the EV's they do sell are over priced and have incredibly short ranges. The base Tesla can do over 230 miles. Yet the best EV's only do about 60-80 miles...which are near-useless for anything but daily commuting. They are designed to appeal to a small segment, but it makes them look like they are embracing EV's...when they are not. They could increase the range of these cars if they want to (just add more batteries under the floor like Tesla does)...they clearly don't want to.

On the other hand these corporations LOVE hybrids. They have all the moving parts of a regular car plus the electric motor/batteries of an EV, so they require even more service then regular cars. They raise fuel economy which helps their CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) compliance. They make at least as much per vehicle since they can charge a premium for them. And it makes them look 'greener'. And because of the added service/parts requirements, dealers like them as well.

As long as Tesla makes luxury cars in small numbers that few can afford, I assume the big 'boys' won't care much.


Personally, I love electric cars...but until they come down to $25K (before government incentives) and can go 200 miles at least, they are, IMO, strictly for luxury buyers and/or green 'fanatics'.
Click to expand...

Yes struggling car manufacturers would hate to sell a product consumers desired. Because muh conspiracy.
 
Sherman123 said:
Yes struggling car manufacturers would hate to sell a product consumers desired. Because muh conspiracy.
Click to expand...

No idea what you are talking about....I said nothing about struggling car manufacturers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom