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Comment by chris_mahan | Hacker News Reader

Evidently something went wrong with the batteries on the Boeing 787, so if those engineers were so good, how do you explain that there was a problem? The proof's in the pudding. Have you heard of Tesla batteries catching on fire? Me neither. (GM's Volt, however, is another story.)

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http://www.teslamotors.com/it_IT/forum/forums/electric-car-b...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/07/tesla_roadster_recal...

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/08/tesla-recalling-4...

http://blog.timesunion.com/hottopics/100k-electric-vehicle-b...

http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/fisker-karma-evs-caug...

http://www.leftlanenews.com/16-fisker-karmas-catch-fire-at-p...

http://priuschat.com/threads/more-than-a-dozen-fisker-karma-...

What were you saying?

Wait, you put links for fisker-karma in there...

Yes, there was a recall, and Tesla recalled all their roadsters because there might have been a fire in a cable (not in the battery mind you), but none of the articles you pointed to showed that there was, ever, one Tesla battery system that caught fire.

I am ready to be disproved, but I'd need actual proof.

Your criteria for being "proven wrong" are fairly narrow.

Tesla has clearly had quite their share of battery related difficulties, including the infamous bricking problems. They have domain knowledge, but let's not pretend they are in the same zip code - let alone ballpark - as Boeing.

This is a publicity grab by Elon.

Umm, I own Boeing stock, I have friends who work there, I have friends who have retired from there. I have a healthy respect for them, and I have bought Ford stock on the strength of Mullally's performance at Boeing. Since a bunch of NASA guys have gone to SpaceX and since Toyota and Daimler both work with Tesla (both are multi-billion dollar companies), I think the zip-code/ballpark analogy went too far. The company is younger and smaller, granted, but I wouldn't put it past them to put a serious dent in Boeing's businesses.

And, about the criteria being narrow: yes, of course it is.

You think someone is going to waste time to find you "proof" especially in light of your previous comment http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5081667 ? I tell you what, using your logic, maybe those Tesla engineers can fix the battery but they'll f-up the cable and the plane will burn totally next time. Proof is in the pudding and all, no?

Ever build anything with a lot of parts? Things do go wrong.

Granted, things do go wrong, but Boeing is in a pinch. They were years behind on delivery of the 787, they now have 45 787s grounded, they can't make new deliveries to customers, and that means their supply chain is getting all jacked. I think they should look long and hard at all their options.

As far as proving me wrong, perhaps it's because I did my research on Tesla too. And in the interest of disclosure, I own Tesla stock as well as Boeing stock.

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