About Tesla Motors and Elon Musk
Tesla Motors was co-founded in 2003 by Elon Musk, Martin Eberhard, Marc Tarpenning, JB Straubel, and Ian Wright. The automobile company was dedicated to producing affordable, mass-market electric cars. Trouble started for him in the beginning, the Roadster's manufacturing price was predicted to be $65,000 they found out that it would actually cost $140,000 for the raw materials alone. He needed people to invest into Tesla Motors, therefore he flew to Germany in 2007 to form an alliance with Diamler-Mercedes. He took the risk that Tesla Motors could develop a small battery pack that would replace the gas engine of a smart car in less than four weeks. However, when the executives of Diamler went for a test drive, a breakthrough occur, a $70 million contract to build smart car battery packs.
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During the financial crisis of 2008, Tesla Motors was running out of money and they weren't selling enough cars they predicted that they would sell. Musk assumed leadership of the company as CEO and product architect. Elon had to decided on whether to risk putting in more of his own money to keep the company's and his dreams alive. Elon risked the last of his $40 million dollars, totaling to $70 million of investments for Tesla alone. There is no other feeling than risking everything you have for something you believe in.
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With a revamped team, the Model S was being developed. In March 2009 Elon unveiled the prototype for the Model S but to build it he knew that he will need a piece of the U.S. government loan program to support alternative energy vehicles. However there was controversy over governmental loans and it was thought to be a bail out for rich people who invested into Tesla. But Elon fought back, he made sure it was a loan and the U.S agreed to lend Tesla $465 million dollars to mass produce the Model S. Currently, Tesla is doing great is now producing revenue and has already paid back the loan thanks to Elon's risk of fighting back against people who wanted to see Tesla Motors fail.
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In 2012, Tesla Motors unveiled the Model X and in 2013 Tesla announced that they expect to deliver small numbers by the end of 2014 and with high volume by the end of 2015. Elon Musk's risky business plan worked and now people are looking forward to owning an electric vehicle which are available for almost every household.
Elon Musk Interview and Critque
At first they talk about his other company, Tesla Motors, and their product the Roadster, a battery electric vehicle sports car. It was the first highway-capable all-electric vehicle in serial production for sale in the United States. Elon Musk explains his position on how to solve the energy problem we are having today. His idea is a three-step plan system; Step1: create a high power high performance car (Roadster) but create it on low production which will get people hyped up about Tesla Motor cars. Step 2: create a medium power medium performance car (Model S) and create it on a moderate production level which will allow more people to buy the car. Step 3: create a low cost electric car that will still have good performance on a high production level for the everyday Joe. Personally, I really love this business model since it is risky by targeting all levels of society to make electric vehicles available for everyone. The interview makes a point that Elon is trying to show people that you can have a better experience with an electric car than a gasoline car.
They talk about the controversy environmental impact about the electricity used for a electrical car being derived from a coal-powered power plant. Elon claimed that even though if the electricity is being made from a coal-powered power plant, the efficiency (CO2 emissions per mile) for the plant is much higher than that of a car so therefore, the electric vehicles will still be producing less CO2 emissions than a gasoline car. Even though he is a credible person in general I would have like some legitimate statistics to support his claim. Also with electrical cars, we will be able to develop sustainable energy technology and techniques to harness energy efficiently (Hydro, geo-thermal, wind, solar) leading to a CO2 emission less overall for electric vehicles.
Elon Musk's main goal is to reach a sustainable future through renewable energy. Which is why he made all of Tesla Motor's technology available for the public. Noted in the interview, Elon said that he doesn't see the electric car industry as an competition since its such a huge market and the over arching goal for Tesla Motors is to get the industry to move towards electrical cars. This segment is quite inspirational since Elon takes a risk by not caring about the profits for his company but just wants to see humanity move towards the sustainable future he dreams of. He does this by helping other car company build their electric vehicles such as Diamler-Mercedes (producing battery packs for them) and Toyota (producing power-trains)
Elon believes a future that is all electric and doesn't believe in hybrids. However that is a bold idea because that will make it so that gasoline will not have a market anymore which will result in job loss. However, with the creation of renewable energy companies to support electric vehicles, jobs will be created. Even though this may happen I personally think that hybrids will still be needed in the future as a niche role.
At the end of the interview, they talk about SpaceX and his goal with SpaceX. Elon wants to help land people on Mars and wants to see a self-sustaining colony on Mars. To put a man or woman on Mars he suspects it to happen in 20 to 10 years. This is a big claim he is making since there has been no recent breakthrough in rocket technology. However, I do believe he can do it since he was able to get satellites in orbit only in 6 years something countries took 40 to 50 years to do. Elon has big dreams and I hope he is able to achieve them for himself and for humanity.