雙語達人:"鋼鐵俠"原型的勝利人生
Is there anything that Elon Musk enjoys more than shaming his haters? Here he is at Wednesday's D11 conference, reveling in running one of the few remaining electric car startups, one with stock that just passed the $100 mark, enjoying calling out all those who said it couldn't be done. "Before we were able to get the roadster out, they'd say you couldn't possibly make the car work. When we did, they said: Well, nobody's going to buy it. And people did. Then, when we announced the Model S, so many people called bullshit on that it was ridiculous. We were able to bring it to market, they said we wouldn't be able to produce at volume, we did that, and then they said we would never be profitable, and we did that in Q1. So I'm hopeful that people will observe that there is a trend here." After a pause, the audience cackles and applauds.
難道還有比羞辱嫉恨者更能讓埃隆•穆斯克高興的事情嗎？上週三，穆斯克出席了D11科技大會。他現在正熱衷於經營一家電動汽車初創公司，而這樣的公司目前已經爲數不多。最近，他公司的股票剛剛突破百元大關。他最喜歡挑戰那些說他做不到的人。“我們的敞篷車還沒有面世的時候，他們說，你們不可能讓汽車跑起來。等我們做到了，他們又說：就算這樣，也不會有人願意買。結果有人喜歡我們的汽車。後來，我們又推出了Model S電動車，許多人嗤之以鼻，說這款車太可笑了。等我們把這款車推向市場時，他們又說我們不可能實現量產。我們實現了量產，他們又說我們不可能盈利。可我們在第1季度就實現了盈利。所以我要說，人們終究會發現其中蘊含的趨勢，我能做到。”聽衆沉默了片刻，突然爆發出笑聲和掌聲。Musk went on to consider bending space to allow for faster-than-light travel, Mars settlements, and a rapid transit system called a Hyperloop that is three or four times faster than a bullet train, would never crash, and is immune to weather. No small dreams for this guy. But perhaps the biggest news was the announcement of a rapid expansion of Tesla's Supercharge stations. Soon -- within two-years, he said -- Tesla owners will be able to drive cross-country using Supercharge, filling up a 200-plus mile battery in a little under an hour.
穆斯克接着聊起了超光速太空旅行、火星移民等太空計劃，以及一個名爲Hyperloop的高速交通系統。這個系統的速度將是高速列車的三到四倍，不會撞車，而且不受氣候的影響。這個傢伙的夢想真夠遠大。不過，或許最大的新聞是他宣佈將快速擴建特斯拉（Tesla）的超級充電站。他表示，在兩年內，通過超級充電站，特斯拉汽車的車主們就可以驅車橫穿美國。超級充電站在不到一個小時內就可以爲電池充足行駛200多英里所需要的電量。
I've written about Tesla (TSLA) and the importance of a rapid-charging network before, mostly to say that, as exciting as the Supercharger is, it's really mostly a marketing tool, a way to alleviate the biggest issue surrounding electric car ownership, which is range anxiety. Musk's announcement feels like a direct rebuke. The company is building a national network! But a national network is overstating things. The ability to drive cross-country in an electric vehicle that's as fast and fun to drive as the Model S is certainly neat. How many people will? Not many, is my guess (though: sign me up!). As several owners of electric vehicle charging companies told me , the Supercharger is a bit of Musk magic: a great add-on to help sell more cars and a way to move the industry forward but by no means a comprehensive piece of EV infrastructure. That, unfortunately, will take time. More time, most likely, than the $30,000 EV Musk promises in three years. By the time all our cities and places in between have enough charging stations to make EV ownership no question at all, Musk will have moved on. To Mars, maybe.
之前，我曾寫過一篇文章，介紹特斯拉和快速充電網絡的重要性。文章的大意是，雖然超級充電樁令人興奮，但它實際上只是一個營銷工具，只是爲了緩解圍繞電動汽車的一個最大的問題——里程焦慮。穆斯克公佈的消息就像是對我的直接回擊。他的公司正在建造一個覆蓋全國的充電網絡！說全國範圍當然是有些誇張。能開着像Model S那樣的電動車橫穿全美，速度飛快，而且充滿樂趣，這當然很有吸引力。但有多少人會這麼做？我猜不會很多（但是，我一定會加入!）。一些電動汽車充電公司的老闆曾對我說，超級充電樁只是穆斯克的一個小花招：它是幫助提升汽車銷量的一個附加設備，是推動行業向前發展的方法而已，絕對不屬於電動汽車基礎設施的一部分。電動汽車基礎設施建設需要耗費很長時間，或許比穆斯克承諾在三年內推出30,000美元價位的電動汽車的時間還要長。有一天，我們所有城際區域都將擁有足夠的充電站，購買電動汽車將不再有任何問題。或許到那時，穆斯克又會瞄準新的目標吧，比如說，火星。
