matthewaustin
Joined 14 years ago
Joined 14 years ago
Tesla builds their own powertrains and battery management systems, which are good enough that other automakers license or purchase these components from them.
I also believe that Tesla has efficiency advantages due to the high degree of automation they've built into their factories, as well as the lack of dealership markups. Tesla's profit margin on the Model S is excellent compared to many other automakers, which leads me to believe that they will also be able to offer more for less with the Model 3.
Their profitability has actually increased quarter to quarter even as their emission credit sales have dropped to zero.
One could postulate that Apple can fix third party apps by altering the available UI elements and interface guidelines. In fact, this type of alteration was done for iOS7 to guide developers into updating their app aesthetics to match iOS7.
Actual On-Demand Refilling Stats:
- One hour at supercharging station
- Two minutes at battery swapping station
I instead found myself trying to extrapolate the number by staring at the "since you loaded this page" number and observing the difference as it changed each second.
Consuming plants is not as efficient as photosynthesizing, and consuming animals is not as efficient as consuming plants.
In this case, the cows burn energy from the food they consume for as long as they're alive, meaning it's a physical impossibility for the meat produced from them to contain as much energy as the food they consumed.
Unless you're claiming that raising livestock violates the laws of physics, but that's an entirely different argument.
Giving an incredibly quick example, wheat and ground beef have roughly the same caloric density
Wheat: http://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/usda/whole-grain...
Beef: http://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/usda/ground-beef...
But since it requires numerous pounds of wheat to create one pound of beef, you are losing overall caloric density.
If x = environmental impact of cultivating crops
then R*x = environmental impact of raising livestock
where R = pounds of feed required to produce one pound of meat
Now if we raised our meat differently, such as only on grass-fed pastures, then things might look a lot different. But in the US at least, factory farming and animal feed is the norm.
Here is an example comparing the amount of water needed to irrigate various crops compared to the amount needed to raise beef.
US Corn Production: 9 gallons water / lb corn
US Wheat Production: 14 gallons water / lb wheat
US Barley Production: 26 gallons water / lb barley
US Alfalfa Production: 31 gallons water / lb alfalfa
US Beef Production: 441 gallons water / lb beef
http://www.journalofanimalscience.org/content/71/4/818.full....
Global Spinach Production: 2 gallons water / lb spinach
Global Potato Production: 4 gallons water / lb potatos
Global Banana Production: 13 gallons water / lb bananas
Global Apple Production: 18 gallons water / lb apples
Global Lentil Production: 64 gallons water / lb lentils
Global Cashew Production: 121 gallons water / lb cashews
Global Almond Production: 252 gallons water / lb almonds
http://www.waterfootprint.org/Reports/Mekonnen-Hoekstra-2011...
I could look for more examples, but this took me about half an hour already, and I think it pains a rather compelling picture by itself. The difference would be less extreme when looking at pork and poultry, but there is still a stark contrast.
Until then, though, I think they deserve some recognition for beating out every car Consumer Reports has tested in their very first attempt at a sedan.