How to find an active short

Profiles in the Automotive Industry- Elon Reeve Musk

 

• Elon Reeve Musk is an engineer, best known as cofounder PayPal, founder SpaceX, early investor and CEO Tesla, founder Boring Company, and more.
• Elon Reeve Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa.
• After his parents divorced in 1980, Musk lived mostly with his father in Pretoria.
• Musk graduated from Pretoria Boys High School in South Africa.
• At age 10, he developed an interest in computing using the Commodore VIC-20.
• He learned computer programming using a manua. By12, he sold a BASIC-based video game Blastar to PC and Office Technology magazine for approximately $500.
• An awkward and introverted child, Musk was bullied throughout his childhood and was once hospitalized after a group of boys threw him down a flight of stairs.
• He attended Waterkloof House Preparatory School and Bryanston High School before graduating from Pretoria Boys High School.
• He moved to Canada in 1989, lived with a cousin in Saskatchewan, and worked odd jobs at a farm and lumber-mill.
• In 1990, Musk entered Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.
• Two years later, he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania; he graduated in 1997 with a BS in Economics from the Wharton School and a BA in Physics.
• In 1994, Musk interned in Silicon Valley at an energy storage start-up called Pinnacle Research Institute and at start-up Rocket Science Games.
• In 1995, Musk, co-founded Zip2, with his brother Kimbal and Greg Kouri. Using funds from angel investors, Zip2 developed an internet city guide for publishers.
• Musk slept on the couch and showered at the YMCA. He coded at seven nights a week, so the company’s single computer could be used in the day for business.
• Zip2 obtained contracts with The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune.
• In 1999, Compaq acquired Zip2 for $307M in cash. Musk received $22M for his 7%.
• In March 1999, Musk co-founded X.com, an online financial services and e-mail payment company, with $10 million from the sale of Zip2.
• One year later, the company merged with Confinity, which had a money-transfer service called PayPal. The merged company was renamed PayPal in 2001.
• In October 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in stock, of which Musk received $165 million for his 11.7%.
• In 2001, Musk conceived of Mars Oasis, a greenhouse on Mars to save mankind.
• In 2002, after two failed attempts to buy Russian ICBMs, Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies Corp., trading as SpaceX, with $100M his own funds.
• In 2006, SpaceX was selected as one of two companies to for a crew and cargo resupply demonstration contract to the ISS
• In 2008, SpaceX received $1.6 billion for a Commercial Resupply Services program.
• Starting in 2011, SpaceX was funded to develop the Dragon 2 crew capsule.
• SpaceX’s goal is to reduce the cost of human spaceflight by a factor of 10. SpaceX successfully landed the first stage near the launch pad and later on a drone ship.
• In 2018, SpaceX launched the Falcon Heavy, the most powerful rocket in operation.
• In 2015, SpaceX began development of the Starlink constellation of LEO satellites to provide Internet access. The total cost of the decade-long project will be $10B.
• In May 2020, SpaceX launched its first manned flight, the Demo-2 to the ISS.
• Musk hopes to send humans to Mars within 20 years, with the first launch in 2022.
• In 2004, Musk led the Series A round of investment in Tesla. He joined Tesla’s Board as Chair. Musk became CEO and product architect in 2008.
• Tesla first built an electric sports car, the Tesla Roadster, in 2008, with sales of about 2,500 vehicles to 31 countries. Tesla began delivery of its Model S in June 2012.
• The Model X, announced in February 2012, was launch September 2015.
• In July 2016, Gigafactory 1 was opened near Reno, NV. Gigafactory 1 produces 35 GWh/year of batteries. In 2019, Musk opened Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory.
• In 2016, Tesla began developing Autopilot in-house after dropping Mobileye.
• In 2019, Musk unveiled the Tesla Cybertruck with commercial production in 2021.
• As of 2020, the Tesla Model 3 is the world’s best-selling electric car (500,000 units).
• In 2016, Musk owned about 28.9M Tesla shares, equal to 22% of the company.
• In 2006, Musk co-founded SolarCity, which his cousins. By 2013, SolarCity was the second largest provider of solar power systems in the United States.
• In 2012, Musk announced that SolarCity and Tesla would collaborate to use electric vehicle batteries to smooth the impact of rooftop solar on the power grid.
• Tesla acquired SolarCity for over $2 billion in 2016 as its solar division
• In 2016, Musk co-founded Neuralink, a neurotechnology start-up company to integrate the human brain with AI. These enhancements could improve memory or allow more direct interfacing with computing devices.
• After being stuck in traffic, he founded The Boring Company to create traffic tunnels.
• A tunnel beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center was completed in early 2020.
• In 2013, Musk unveiled Hyperloop, a concept for high-speed transportation system reduced-pressure tubes in which capsules ride on an air cushion.
• In December 2015, Musk announced OpenAI, a not-for-profit AI research company. OpenAI wants to keep large corporations from gaining too much power with AI.
• Musk is chairman of the Musk Foundation to provide solar-power energy systems in disaster areas as well as other goals. Since 2002, he has made over 350 contributions.
• In 2020, Musk has become the world’s richest person, as his net worth crossed $185B, taking the top spot from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
• Musk does not really care about money. He is an engineer. He has sold all of his home so he can live a simply life and continue inventing.

 

How often do you have to change the 12V battery in a passenger car?

Unanswerable without a lot more information. First is where you live. Warm weather is what does the most damage to batteries. So why do people in the north always blame cold weather for being the cause of their battery failure? Because the heat of the summer damages the battery and the extra stress of starting the car in the cold pushes it over the edge. On average, batteries last one to two years longer in the colder regions than in the hot south. So the average temperature where you live could have an extreme affect on how long your battery will last. Next is battery CCA (Cold Cranking Amps). CCA is the measurement of how much work a battery can do during the starting process. Starting a car will draw more electricity from the battery then anything else it will ever be required to do. The higher the CCA the more power the battery can deliver. So if you have a car that requires a 500 CCA battery and you install a 750 CCA battery it will not work as hard to start the engine and will last longer. But if your car requires a 500CCA battery and you install a 250 CCA battery that battery will struggle and wear out much faster. Then comes RC (Reserve Capacity) which determines how long a battery can maintain a small load, like computer memory, and still maintain a minimum voltage. The higher the RC rating the longer the battery can maintain the various loads applied to it when the car isn’t running and still be able to start the car. A low RC rating could mean the battery goes dead while sitting and that is very stressful on the battery and causes shortened life. There are also differences in battery types which must match the requirements of the vehicle. Wrong battery type, shorter battery life. How many times the battery is discharged to where it won’t start the car or deep cycled to where it won’t light the lights. The more discharges and the deeper the discharges the shorter the life of the battery. How well your charging system works. If the voltage isn’t kept within a tight range the battery will likely overcharge and fail prematurely. Dirty (electrically dirty) battery cable connections are a common cause of over charging. Physically dirty battery cases are another cause of overcharging. Other things that affect the life of a battery are: if the car was reprogrammed when a new battery was installed (applies to some but not all cars), was the heat shield replaced with the new battery or thrown in the trash because it is a pain to reinstall, the number of times the car is started over the life of the battery, how difficult the car is to start, etc., etc. So battery life 2 years to 10 years but the average is 3 to 4 years.