[HN Gopher] Tesla Introduces Its Own $300 Version of Apple's Can...
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       Tesla Introduces Its Own $300 Version of Apple's Canceled AirPower
       Charger
        
       Author : nickthegreek
       Score  : 11 points
       Date   : 2022-12-23 20:28 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (gizmodo.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (gizmodo.com)
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | ericlewis777 wrote:
       | I fail to see how this really differs other than saying Tesla vs
       | other products on the market today. It actually seems kinda worse
       | in some regards vs the nomad I own.
       | 
       | The reason Apple had so many problems was it also had to support
       | Apple Watch too, which none of have done thus far, Apple
       | included. Because it turns out having such competing standards
       | packed in such a way equals heat.
        
       | Waterluvian wrote:
       | I can't see how this would "annoy Tim Cook." I imagine he'll just
       | feel embarrassed-by-proxy for the guy who is scraping the barrel
       | for... not sure what.
       | 
       | I was wondering "how do you solve the issue of not having to find
       | the coil? Do you just shove 30 coils into it?" Turns out the
       | answer is: yes.
        
       | nickthegreek wrote:
       | I am having trouble viewing this as a good use of Tesla's
       | resources. Am I missing something? It would be one thing if their
       | stock was riding a high.. but this feels like it's failing to
       | read the room. If Elon wants to mess around with this kinda
       | thing, shouldn't it be done under a joke company like Boring?
       | That's how he did the flame thrower.
        
         | ksherlock wrote:
         | Teslaquilla and the surfboard were from Tesla. Anyhow, it's
         | probably straight from Ali Express and the only Tesla resources
         | were the web intern who had to build a page for it.
        
         | Mountain_Skies wrote:
         | Charging batteries is one of the core competencies of Tesla.
        
         | netsharc wrote:
         | Since the article says it's using a different company's
         | product, I wonder if it's just a matter asking them to design a
         | unique casing and slapping the Tesla name on it, for a little
         | license fee. So most of the profits would go to the original
         | manufacturer.
         | 
         | Somewhat similar to this famous guy who would license his name
         | to building projects: Trump.
        
           | tosc wrote:
           | Does that imply there will soon be Tesla steaks?
        
             | HPMOR wrote:
             | No, bad for the environment. Maybe some Tesla Tofu though.
        
           | [deleted]
        
       | jonfw wrote:
       | I assume they're giving it a shakedown as a consumer device
       | before attempting to slap it in a car.
       | 
       | It looks like the original company is claiming to succeed where
       | Apple has failed in creating a good multi position charger. I'm
       | curious what the delta is between their attempt and Apple's.
       | 
       | They either did a better job engineering it, or they're willing
       | to live with flaws that Apple isn't willing to with. If I was
       | Tesla id be weary of putting it in a car as well- so this
       | offering makes sense to me
        
       | samwillis wrote:
       | Some years ago I had a colleague who had been an early electrical
       | engineer at a company called SplashPower [0], one of the smartest
       | people I've ever worked with. It had spent much of the early
       | 2000s trying to develop exactly what Apple tried to do with an
       | induction charging pad where you could place items anywhere.
       | Ultimately they didn't manage to achieve it and went bankrupt.
       | 
       | In conversation he said that he didn't think it was possible to
       | do, too much power was needed to inductively charge misaligned
       | coils. At the time Apple was rumoured to be trying to do it, he
       | predicted that they would fail.
       | 
       | Ultimately the SplashPower tech was brought by the company that
       | went on to develop the Qi charging standard [1]. The Qi tech
       | doesn't achieve the original vision though.
       | 
       | I struggle to believe that this FreePower tech works as
       | advertised. I suspect from a quick browse they are brute forcing
       | it by having 10s of coils, turning on just the one that most
       | closely aligned with the devices coil.
       | 
       | 0: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splashpower
       | 
       | 1: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Power_Consortium
       | 
       | Edit:
       | 
       | SplashPowers main patent expired three days ago!
       | https://patents.google.com/patent/US6906495B2/en?oq=6906495
        
       | crayboff wrote:
       | Why does the article keep saying that creating this charger would
       | be a simple endeavor? It sounds simple at face value, but when
       | you start thinking of it more deeply you have to imagine there
       | could be difficulty with things like cooling.
        
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       (page generated 2022-12-23 23:02 UTC)