Better Place singing with the choir invisible

c_c™ said :

… you’d have to assume we have the brains locally to have come up with something like Tesla if the drive to do so (no pun intended) were there.

Yes we can.

I cam across this Melbourne company, Axiflux, the other day which looks promising:

The world’s first modular, real-time, software-reconfigurable electric motor and generator. Relative to a traditional electrical motor, the innovative configuration and control of the AMFA yields significant size, weight and price reductions, while increasing power output, efficiency and reliability.[http://axiflux.com/]

I’ve only read some of their website marketing material, but it sounds like a potential gold mine.

dungfungus said :

howeph said :

dungfungus said :

The loan from the US Government was paid back by selling debt to the public, not from profits.

True; but it was the the fact that:

Tesla recently reported its first profitable quarter, and Consumer Reports gave the Model S a near-perfect rating of 99 out of 100 points. So far this year, Tesla’s stock price has soared by 171%, which helped drive the company’s recent billion dollar stock and debt offering. [http://business.time.com/2013/05/23/loser-no-more-tesla-repays-465-million-u-s-loan/]

The US stock market is at a record high and cheap money is pouring into equities like never before so there was never a better time to raise captital through shares and Tesla are in the right place at the right time with a hint of better things to come.
At the same time the markets are very volatile which is driving the massive gains in share prices.
I doubt if many contributers to this blog would remember the “dot-com boom bust” and new technology stocks are prone to go this way. I hope Tesla don’t as they deserve success.

Tesla is a brilliant example. Tiny company but some great innovations which they’re now selling back to the major players in the car industry. (The Rav-4 EV in the US was powered by the Tesla developed system).

I cringe when thinking that this country has been ploughing hundreds of millions into building dinosaurs and supporting anachronistic business models when you’d have to assume we have the brains locally to have come up with something like Tesla if the drive to do so (no pun intended) were there.

howeph said :

dungfungus said :

The loan from the US Government was paid back by selling debt to the public, not from profits.

True; but it was the the fact that:

Tesla recently reported its first profitable quarter, and Consumer Reports gave the Model S a near-perfect rating of 99 out of 100 points. So far this year, Tesla’s stock price has soared by 171%, which helped drive the company’s recent billion dollar stock and debt offering. [http://business.time.com/2013/05/23/loser-no-more-tesla-repays-465-million-u-s-loan/]

The US stock market is at a record high and cheap money is pouring into equities like never before so there was never a better time to raise captital through shares and Tesla are in the right place at the right time with a hint of better things to come.
At the same time the markets are very volatile which is driving the massive gains in share prices.
I doubt if many contributers to this blog would remember the “dot-com boom bust” and new technology stocks are prone to go this way. I hope Tesla don’t as they deserve success.

I have this great scheme, based on the trapezoid….

switch said :

dungfungus said :

The loan from the US Government was paid back by selling debt to the public, not from profits.

Is that like the paper loss Transact made?

switch said :

dungfungus said :

The loan from the US Government was paid back by selling debt to the public, not from profits.

Is that like the paper loss Transact made?

Don’t you know the difference between a loan and a loss?

dungfungus said :

The loan from the US Government was paid back by selling debt to the public, not from profits.

Is that like the paper loss Transact made?

dungfungus said :

The loan from the US Government was paid back by selling debt to the public, not from profits.

True; but it was the the fact that:

Tesla recently reported its first profitable quarter, and Consumer Reports gave the Model S a near-perfect rating of 99 out of 100 points. So far this year, Tesla’s stock price has soared by 171%, which helped drive the company’s recent billion dollar stock and debt offering. [http://business.time.com/2013/05/23/loser-no-more-tesla-repays-465-million-u-s-loan/]

howeph said :

Johnboy said: “we gullible rubes in Canberra have been taken in”.

I think this is an unfair characterisation.

Yes Better Place was a risky undertaking, but I don’t think the government or ActewAGL was blind to the risks.

Some of the greatest things happen when government and private industry get together on big, transformative and risky initiatives. So this one was a bust, others have been amazing successes. One such success seams to be the half a billion dollar loan made to another electric car company – Tesla:

‘Loser’ No More: Tesla Repays $465 Million U.S. Loan [http://business.time.com/2013/05/23/loser-no-more-tesla-repays-465-million-u-s-loan/]

Electric cars are still a nascent industry with a lot of hard and risky work to go. But thinking that they are the future and worthy of investment doesn’t make you a country bumpkin.

I think Tesla are leaders in the recharged electric car technology and by marketing their flagship model as a high performance sports car they have masked the expense and “sold the sizzle, not the steak”. The prices for their proposed mass market model will have to be a lot cheaper than the hybrid Volt if they are to become a viable competitor for very fuel efficient small petrol powered cars.
The loan from the US Government was paid back by selling debt to the public, not from profits.

artuoui said :

Ben_Dover said :

poetix said :

More people are pining for the Fords.

poetix said :

More people are pining for the Fords.

Best pun here EVER!!!

+1

agreed: i always said poetix had beautiful plumage…

I’d like to start an innovative hydroelectric scheme on Ginninderra creek with the aim of providing free power to all of Canberra.

A lazy $500K should cover it….

Please don’t give the Actew “thinkers” any encouragement.
They are probably already working on a solar powered skywhale for all we know.