Deafcat said:
After we've gone to mars thanks to SpaceX, many folks will be able to re-define what they consider "sensible".
What exactly isn't sensible about travelling to other planets again?
$50,000 per kg of payload to get there, for one. That's like $8 million to send my body, but only if it's dead. Keeping me alive would cost a whole lot more than that, in payload weight and equipment cost. And that's only to get there, not come back.
Opportunity cost, for another. Tech, energy, and other resources used on something like a Mars colony could be used much more efficiently to solve more pressing problems here on Earth, for somewhat less than $50k/kg.
I think we'll be ready for it after we learn to take care of our own planet like a space station. Until then, we'll be massively compromising our own home at an unsustainable rate so we can do a handful of unsustainable, uneconomic things on Mars.
I helped start an existing space program as one of its first employees. Trust me when I say that the cost of manned space exceeds its value at this time, and for some time to come. We're not even ready to start getting ready for Mars yet, except as a horrifically expensive and basically pointless stunt. To believe otherwise is childlike magical thinking.
Token return to topic:
The bike in the illustration is also childlike magical thinking, but much cheaper to try out and thereby debunk. A real one (with technical impossibilities fixed) would be like the bicycle version of Google Glass-- intriguing in principle, but ridiculous and off-putting when you're confronted with it.
I doubt Tesla has intentions of developing commercial e-bikes, because that's not their shtick. They sell glamor and opportunities for self-congratulation. E-bikes are notably deficient in both.