Sales of the mug spiked in February 2017 when Musk tweeted a photo of one, describing it as “maybe my favourite mug ever”. The following month, however, he tweeted an even more crudely drawn copy of the image to promote Tesla’s new “sketch pad” feature. It subsequently appeared as an icon on the vehicles’ operating system, and in a Christmas holiday message to his customers....I guess Musk assumed he was helping the artist by promoting his work, but the continued use of the image should have been cleared with the artist.
I think it's funny that Tesla liked the image, because it seems to me like critique of electric cars. There are no unicorns, and even if they were, it would be hard to get them to fart directly into a car. It's already hard to find places along your route where you can charge your electric car, and the unicorn method — even if unicorns existed and had farts that could power a car — you'd have a hell of a time finding them when you needed them and getting them to fart in the general direction of your... well, wouldn't farts go in a gas tank? I'm seeing critique of electric cars... on so many levels.
Posts
33 comments:
Kinda of lame to sue? I’m confident Musk and Tesla have actively used the courts and especially regarding covenants not to compete.
Musk and the Tesla scam are going down!
If the global warming scam wasn’t widely believed by the gullible, there would be no Tesla. Musk needed federal tax credits to raise money to fund Tesla. He also needs federal tax credits to sell the cars. And, of course, buying a Tesla is the ultimate virtue signal.
I empty my nose at you.
Odd that I said both lines just yesterday afternoon to a young guy who had no idea where they came from.
Unicorn farts was a longtime diss of “renewable” technologies, so it its pretty reasonable to take the insult and turn it around. Of course if you take out burning wood and hydro, which are ancient technologies, “renewables” still are pretty limited. So it seems more like bluster to use the image ironically. But if the new buzz on fusion pans out, electric cars will be the thing, after the grid is rebuilt to accommodate that much energy being routed through it to ubiquitous electric cars. Right now most Tesla’s are free riding on our grid and using fossil fuels indirectly.
I read the tax credit for Tesla cars will begin phasing out next year.
His solar roof shingles combined with his battery are a neat system but far too expensive.
The Tesla Model X is the most practical electric vehicle I've seen (most are too low to the ground for aerodynamic efficiency), but the bizarre doors will limit its sales.
My daughter watermarks everything she does. Other students have stolen her work.
The new buzz on fusion? It will pan out just like the old buzz on fusion.
The Green scamasters know one thing: a civil or criminal case for fraud can’t be premised on a future events.
The fart on the original is ill-defined.
Here's $1000, and that is more than generous.
I guess Musk assumed he was helping the artist by promoting his work, but the continued use of the image should have been cleared with the artist.
I guess Musk assumed that he could just use anything (like a cave rescue) that he wanted. Why should Musk be bound by rules ?
...and your Tesla smells of elderberries!!!
It subsequently appeared as an icon on the vehicles’ operating system, and in a Christmas holiday message to his customers....
promoting his work? By using his work ?
Annie, i wasn't Stealing that Glazed Peach Pie*; i was PROMOTING it!!!!
Annie's Glazed Peach Pie* If you're ever in West Union Iowa in July or August; make SURE you stop at Gus&Tony's diner and get a slice: It's THE BEST EVER!
Unicorns wouldn't be so scarce if we had a sufficient number of virgins. Won't you help ?
He was saying that the Tesla is worth its weight in unicorn dung, which being very rare is extremely valuable.
A car powerex by unicorn farts is more likely to be practical than an battery only car.
Generally. There are exceptions such as in a city, for a fleet operation. Maybe.
John Henry
Tim,
It's not the cost of electricity that makes battery cars less practical than unicorn fart powered cars.
I'm as excited about new nuke technologies as anyone. Faster please.
They will help make battery cars more, though never generally, practical.
I think hybrids are the way to go. Small engine with generator. Small(ish) battery. Electric drive train.
I wish there was more work being done on this.
John Henry
So, you plug your Tesla into the grid, and pretend that all of the electrons going into the battery are from solar and wind and none are from coal, natural gas or nukes. Unicorn farts may be too kind a metaphor for the level of self delusion involved.
even if unicorns existed and had farts that could power a car — you'd have a hell of a time finding them when you needed them and getting them to fart in the general direction of your...
"I fart in your general direction!"
I think hybrids are the way to go. Small engine with generator. Small(ish) battery. Electric drive train. I wish there was more work being done on this.
My sister's company has been Delivering these for about 80 years! Their SD70 series provides good fuel economy along with GREAT reliability.
Some people might say that the 710 engines aren't "small"; but you don't HAVE to have the V-16 version. For light switching (in town use) a 3000 horsepower V-12 is available. And it's True that their regen units don't exactly store the braking energy; but you've got the mass of the cars for that. Trust me! if you want high fuel efficiency (how much fuel does it take to deliver a pound of freight), you're NOT going to beat a diesel electric
Gilbar,
I first learned about hybrids in the Navy. In 67. The navy's had hybrid ships and boats for 100 years.
John Henry
I agree, John Henry. Keep the engine rpm fairly steady during acceleration.
There are plenty of hybrid systems, but they're too expensive to be practical for most people's driving habits. Sluggish performance of the affordable cars (Prius) hasn't helped.
Payoff requires you to drive a lot of miles, but the systems improve mpg for city miles much more than for highway miles, which is where most high-mileage drivers drive most of their miles.
Then there's reliability and longevity.
Gilbar, i think EMD used to build power trains for the navy.
John Henry
I do think the unicorn is a perfect symbol for electric car power. Finding a charging station can be like trying to find the unicorn. The idea that the electricity provided by those charging stations are free of carbon emissions, is about as realistic as a unicorn fart powering your car.
On a slight tangent, these towns that claim to run on 100% renewable energy; can we cut them off the main grid? Ok, perhaps they want to sell their "excess" energy production, so can we just put a large diode that prevents them from getting power from other sources, and if they don't have a diode, stop with the virtue signaling.
His solar roof shingles combined with his battery are a neat system but far too expensive.
We looked at them because we have a huge south facing barn roof and in theory, combined with a powerwall, that would be great for the barn and the house, but while we can afford it, we are not flat out stupid.
The idea behind fusion is not so much the cost as the clean aspect of it. At that point plug-in hybrids would genuinely be cleaner, assuming of course that the environmental cost of the manufacturing of it all is good, which is a large assumption.
The lights dim when my dad's 5 ton AC comes on. I would not want to charge a car regularly on that system.
Two words. Fuel Cells
PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said.., i think EMD used to build power trains for the navy.
They currently still sell the 710 engines for marine use; the epa has send no two strokes for land use, so they only sell the 1010 for locos
said no two strokes
dam typos!
He needs to change his name to #Elondouche
Rusty.
Where does the fuel for the fuel cells come from?
Perhaps, if we get cheap electricity from nuclear, we can use it to make hydrogen from water.
Until then, fuel cells, and their juice, are way too expensive.
Just to be clear, I am not totally against batteries, especially big honking batteries. One of the problems with our utility grid is that it is very peaky. It might vary as much as 100% over the course of the day. A utility might need a 200MW gas turbine just to provide peak power 30 minutes per day. Think of the capital invested in that and the cost of keeping it available.
Put in a huge battery, charge it from base generation in the night time when that plant is running at 50% and you eliminate the need for the GT and all its expense.
Or, if you have a town up in the mountains or otherwise on the fringe of the grid, as it grows it will eventually overload existing powerlines. Instead of running new transmission lines at $1mm per mile just to keep the lights on from 1800 to 2200 Put a big battery. Charge it during the night when there is spare transmission capacity, use it between 1800 and 2200 to keep the lights on.
I think that if the Tesla cars result in good, large battery systems, all the car foolishness may be worth it. They seem to be accomplishing this. There was a Tesla battery installed in Australia last year that was, I think 1,000 megawatt hours. That is, the equivalent of one typical nuclear plant running for one hour.
You could even use solar or wind (maybe) to help keep it charged. If that technology ever comes of age. Even if it does, you still need rotating power. Injecting DC power that has been converted to AC via an inverter can really screw up the grid if it gets more than 5-10% (reactive current and such).
John Henry
hmmm.... moon battery ?
john henry
They developed a fuel cell that uses mathane and a propriatary catlyst. It is used for statioary power stations right now because of the excess heat.
Blogger Rusty said...
They developed a fuel cell that uses mathane and a propriatary catlyst
Cool. Methane is just natural gas. It's clean and we have plenty of it.
I am guessing that what you call excess heat I would call wasted heat. Until they can solve that, if they can, I wonder if it can be economical compared to a NG fired gas turbine?
It might have industrial applications where the heat can be used to make process steam, chilled water, or some other use. As they do now with heat from conventional engines.
If there is enough wasted heat, maybe CHP/Co-Generation?
John Henry
Post a Comment