Tesla Will 'Open-Source' All Its Patents

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Yes folks, Elon Musk used this picture to make his patent sharing announcement. :cool:

Tesla Motors just went "open source," at least in spirit. CEO Elon Musk announced this morning in California that the nascent electric car company will open up all its patents "for the advancement of electric vehicle technology." And he did it with a meme, which is awesome.
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I cannot believe this, or even the meme in the official announcement.

Elon is a philanthropist. This is going to hurt the oil companies' rule significantly, and will overall be good for our economy, extremely good.
 
He's as close as we're going to get to Tony Stark IRL, it's time to unveil the armor.
 
Kalabalana said:
I cannot believe this, or even the meme in the official announcement.

Elon is a philanthropist. This is going to hurt the oil companies' rule significantly, and will overall be good for our economy, extremely good.
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Where exactly do you think most of our electricity comes from?
 
Currently, fossil fuels. However, nuclear is already a viable alternative, though its impact on the environment compared to fossil fuels is a point worth debating. Solar/wind, with enough time and investment for the technology to mature, are possibilities. Also, I would imagine that the amount of fossil fuels burned in cars is significant enough that if it were to shift dramatically it would have a noticeable impact on oil prices.

Elon Musk is an intriguing figure. He certainly has the showmanship of a real life Tony Stark. He also obviously knows how to generate a buzz about what he's doing.
 
I think I'm a pessimist at heart, it sounds like it's too expensive for them to develop their charging network in the vast expanse of the US, and 3rd parties haven't stepped up to pay royalties and implement their own stations to the extent that Tesla was hoping. I'm not saying that opening their patents is a bad thing, but you can't deny one of the major issues is 'freedom to roam' when it comes to electric vehicles, and I wonder if they did this upon realizing that it was holding them back.
 
Elon Musk seems to be a rare type these days who's more interested in the advancement of humanity/technology than money. I saw the TED talk he does where he understands that, while most of the energy we currently generate in the US comes from burning hydrocarbons, thus his vehicles are still reliant on fossil fuels. His rationale. which I agree with, is that while that's true, burning the hydrocarbons to generate electricity is better than doing that AND burning them in vehicles. This is also a stepping stone to his ultimate vision of a decentralized power grid. He has another company called....SolarCity....I think....that installs solar panels but has a different way of funding the panels or something like that, didn't quite grasp the business model there. His vision though is that 10-15 years from now, the majority of homes in America will have solar panels attached to their roofs and that electric lines will eventually be used to merely route the power around in these, basically, enormous solar farms in cities. Of course, that's pretty lofty ambitions but if anybody can do it, I think Elon is the one that will.


I'm not sure if any of that has made sense...I'm confusing myself, lol.
 
teh_chem said:
I think I'm a pessimist at heart, it sounds like it's too expensive for them to develop their charging network in the vast expanse of the US, and 3rd parties haven't stepped up to pay royalties and implement their own stations to the extent that Tesla was hoping. I'm not saying that opening their patents is a bad thing, but you can't deny one of the major issues is 'freedom to roam' when it comes to electric vehicles, and I wonder if they did this upon realizing that it was holding them back.
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That and a 4.5 billion dollar battery plant that would ideally like to make and sell batteries to companies besides Tesla.
 
Wow, lots of you guys bought this hook, line, and sinker.

The only reason he wants other companies to use this tech is so they have more charging stations. He didn't do it for the hell of it.

His line of vehicles is still only for the so called 1%ers that people love to hate.

When he makes a car that is under $25K that most people can afford and still be able to drive 300 miles without a charge, then, this would be news.
 
Bladestar said:
When he makes a car that is under $25K that most people can afford and still be able to drive 300 miles without a charge, then, this would be news.
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That's the idea though, Tesla is in the business of making luxury battery operated vehicles. A bit of an exaggeration, but you don't see Ferrari making 25,000 vehicles for "you and I" to purchase.

Now that the technology is available, other OEM's such as Honda, Toyota, or whomever, who do actually make those 25k vehicles can now make one of these battery operated vehicles for "you and I".
 
MrCaffeineX said:
Currently, fossil fuels. However, nuclear is already a viable alternative, though its impact on the environment compared to fossil fuels is a point worth debating. Solar/wind, with enough time and investment for the technology to mature, are possibilities. Also, I would imagine that the amount of fossil fuels burned in cars is significant enough that if it were to shift dramatically it would have a noticeable impact on oil prices.

Elon Musk is an intriguing figure. He certainly has the showmanship of a real life Tony Stark. He also obviously knows how to generate a buzz about what he's doing.
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Nuclear is a non-starter due to NIMBY. Doesn't matter what innovations have been made since the last plant was built 40 years ago. And the 100 or so plants that are currently running are near the end of their operational design lifespan...and those 100 plants comprise about 30% of our power. And will simply not be replaced.

Solar and wind...even if you made the 100% efficient. You can still only generate power when the resource is there. And just because it is there doesn't mean there's much of it. The Sun puts out 1000W/m2 only on a clear day at high noon on the Summer Solstice. At any time other time of the day it puts out less, and the further away from the equator you are the more that number drops.
 
MrCaffeineX said:
Currently, fossil fuels. However, nuclear is already a viable alternative, though its impact on the environment compared to fossil fuels is a point worth debating. Solar/wind, with enough time and investment for the technology to mature, are possibilities. Also, I would imagine that the amount of fossil fuels burned in cars is significant enough that if it were to shift dramatically it would have a noticeable impact on oil prices.

Elon Musk is an intriguing figure. He certainly has the showmanship of a real life Tony Stark. He also obviously knows how to generate a buzz about what he's doing.
Click to expand...

Nuclear is the only mass producible power source we have ready. Unfortunately, 60 years of Cold War left us with relics of nuclear weapons production instead of energy production, and the government has drug its feet in allowing change.

Chernobyl, TMI, and Fukushima would never have happened if we had built power plants instead of weapon plants.
 
Bladestar said:
Wow, lots of you guys bought this hook, line, and sinker.

The only reason he wants other companies to use this tech is so they have more charging stations. He didn't do it for the hell of it.

His line of vehicles is still only for the so called 1%ers that people love to hate.

When he makes a car that is under $25K that most people can afford and still be able to drive 300 miles without a charge, then, this would be news.
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Elon also mentions in his TED talk that Tesla's roadmap was always to create a high dollar luxury electric vehicle in low volumes, then a 50k-ish "mid-range" vehicle in moderate volumes, and then finally, a 25-30k entry level electric vehicle in high volumes.
 
Naieve said:
Nuclear is the only mass producible power source we have ready. Unfortunately, 60 years of Cold War left us with relics of nuclear weapons production instead of energy production, and the government has drug its feet in allowing change.

Chernobyl, TMI, and Fukushima would never have happened if we had built power plants instead of weapon plants.
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Hoss, only one of those 3 plants were designed to produce weapons material...the other three were just light-water power plants. I'll give you a hint, it wasn't Fukushima or TMI
 
Bladestar said:
Wow, lots of you guys bought this hook, line, and sinker.

The only reason he wants other companies to use this tech is so they have more charging stations. He didn't do it for the hell of it.

His line of vehicles is still only for the so called 1%ers that people love to hate.

When he makes a car that is under $25K that most people can afford and still be able to drive 300 miles without a charge, then, this would be news.
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Nothing wrong with win:win. I'm tired of paying almost $100 for a fill up. If this helps advance the technology and infrastructure, positive for everyone
 
I kinda wonder how Toyota (Rav4 electric) and Daimler (Mercedes electric vehicle) feel about this. They each paid about $50mil for Tesla to build (license) their drivetrains for electric vehicles back when Tesla needed capital fast.

But all in all, it's good news. For the people who say "well, you can't go more than 300 miles so electric vehicles teh-sux0r". Who really drives 300 miles in a single day? If you're looking to do long-distance road trips frequently, then it's possible an electric vehicle isn't for you at the moment.

What I've been curious about is the Tesla swap-out centers they showed off. If they're swapping batteries, does your battery ever go "bad"? Because it'd seem you'd be constantly getting a different battery from a pool of batteries. Or do they start charging after your warranty runs out?
 
Skripka said:
Nuclear is a non-starter due to NIMBY.
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Why do they never ask me!!!! :D

Seriously, I would be OK with a nuclear power plan in my back yard. Clean energy for the Tesla that Im hoping to be able to afford in a few years. :D
 
Spidey329 said:
I kinda wonder how Toyota (Rav4 electric) and Daimler (Mercedes electric vehicle) feel about this. They each paid about $50mil for Tesla to build (license) their drivetrains for electric vehicles back when Tesla needed capital fast.

But all in all, it's good news. For the people who say "well, you can't go more than 300 miles so electric vehicles teh-sux0r". Who really drives 300 miles in a single day? If you're looking to do long-distance road trips frequently, then it's possible an electric vehicle isn't for you at the moment.

What I've been curious about is the Tesla swap-out centers they showed off. If they're swapping batteries, does your battery ever go "bad"? Because it'd seem you'd be constantly getting a different battery from a pool of batteries. Or do they start charging after your warranty runs out?
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Again, in the TED talk with Elon, he talks about it being free for life.
 
Spidey329 said:
What I've been curious about is the Tesla swap-out centers they showed off. If they're swapping batteries, does your battery ever go "bad"? Because it'd seem you'd be constantly getting a different battery from a pool of batteries. Or do they start charging after your warranty runs out?
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Good question, I was wondering the same thing myself.
 
Bladestar said:
The only reason he wants other companies to use this tech is so they have more charging stations. He didn't do it for the hell of it.
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Or I don't know, he's fucking tired of all the bullshit electric vehicles that have come out, where they're proudly sporting a boner for having a 40 mile range with optimal driving conditions?

His line of vehicles is still only for the so called 1%ers that people love to hate.

When he makes a car that is under $25K that most people can afford and still be able to drive 300 miles without a charge, then, this would be news.
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Considering how many people I see with BMWs or Mercedes or some higher end SUV, I don't buy this line of thinking the 1%ers are the only ones who can afford this. It's not like people need to put down the whole cost of the car down at once, remember this is America we love to over stretch our spending capacity with monthly payments that make us live paycheck to paycheck.
 
Bladestar said:
When he makes a car that is under $25K that most people can afford and still be able to drive 300 miles without a charge, then, this would be news.
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More like 10K for the Poor Folks and I was think 300 Standard Battery/600Miles with Ext Battery :D After I my want take road trip.
 
MavericK96 said:
Good question, I was wondering the same thing myself.
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You have to return and get your old battery back.

It's not going to be widespread, anyway. Supercharging is plenty fast. It's not worth the cost / time to do the swap.
 
I'd so buy a 25k Electric car. My commute is 5 miles each way. I use more gas letting my car warm up then driving it.
 
Big companies never do anything because they care, what happens is they find another problem they are trying to solve then realize they can spin a solution as philanthropy. If Elon cares so much then why doesn't he open source every patent he has any control over, or why doesn't he give them to the public domain? And how on earth did he get enough care from the other parties involved at Tesla? No this is just a selfish move. Probably stemming from the largely failed push for electric cars. Once they realized that everyone wasn't going to jump on board right away they saw a huge problem with lack of investment, lack of cheap suppliers and lack of charging stations and inventory. So he realizes that giving away access to the patents might be the only way to make faster headway on the issues I mentioned. And the best part is enforcement of those patents is still in his hands if you happen to do something in what he calls bad faith.
 
I think he should have just offered cross licensing. You can use our patents as long as we can use yours. That would make sure they don't get sued in the future. Or a patent sharing group everyone who joins gets to use everyone else's patents.
 
BladeVenom said:
I think he should have just offered cross licensing. You can use our patents as long as we can use yours. That would make sure they don't get sued in the future. Or a patent sharing group everyone who joins gets to use everyone else's patents.
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How could he make any news out of doing the same thing every other large company does?
 
okashira said:
Successful people , like Mr elon, simply ignore haters like you
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I am not talking to mr elon because while he is wollowing in billions of dollars I am pretty sure he couldn't care less if he was Hitler himself. I am talking the fools who fall strait for the publicity stunt here.
 
SBSuperfly said:
Where exactly do you think most of our electricity comes from?
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Doesn't matter. We'll have an easier time getting electric power from different sources. All of which can compete for your money. Big oil isn't competing against each other. They price fix like it's nobody's business.
 
Bladestar said:
Wow, lots of you guys bought this hook, line, and sinker.

The only reason he wants other companies to use this tech is so they have more charging stations. He didn't do it for the hell of it.

His line of vehicles is still only for the so called 1%ers that people love to hate.

When he makes a car that is under $25K that most people can afford and still be able to drive 300 miles without a charge, then, this would be news.
Click to expand...
So what? But Tesla will also make lots of batteries. Which will likely end up in cars like Toyota, Chevy, and etc. He wants more people driving electric cars. I don't see anything wrong with that. Just so happens to boost his business as well. Congrats him for taking such a bold move.
 
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