Musk is thinking 8 steps ahead of almost everyone. While Tesla is a huge play with revolutionizing the car world, there are some other parts in play.<p>First, his Gigafactory to produce batteries. When the other big automakers get into the electric car mindset, who are they going to buy batteries from? Musk who owns the single largest and high-tech battery factory (that produces on an enormous scale), or other battery producers who have less economies of scale and higher prices? Obviously, lower prices win and Musk ends up selling batteries to his competitors...genius.<p>Second, when other manufacturers get into the electric car game they are going to need nationwide chargers. Did you think that the Tesla and Supercharger of proprietary connectors for no reason? Since Tesla will have a huge nationwide system before anyone else, Musk will license the rights to use his chargers. Again, making money from the competition. Competitors will not have the ability to compete on charging when they release cars because Tesla will already have an established network.<p>As for SpaceX...thats a whole another post for another day.
The most remarkable thing about the 60 Minutes segment was the simplification of Tesla Motors' history, and Elon's apparent unwillingness to correct the record in front of the camera. Elon was not the founder of Tesla. He was an angel investor, and then became a major investor, and over time took over after ousting the early founders. That is a very different story than he founded the company, that it was his singular vision, blah blah blah.<p>Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of Tesla Motors and a believer in the vision and how Tesla's going about achieving sustainable transport for the world. But I am also a huge fan of accuracy, and having founded some startups and co-founded some startups and worked for a bunch of startups that I did not found or co-found, I try hard to get the story right and not give people the impression that it was all me. I wish Elon didn't do that. I wish he insisted 60 Minutes get the story right, even if not convenient. I don't like a manufactured story, especially when it's supposed to be nonfiction television journalism.
I, for one, welcome Elon Musk's empire! He couldn't possibly be paying for all the hype, all the influence, backing a worldwide PR campaign about himself and his stunts. He's on the media simply because he's freaking awesome compared to other millionaires industrialists. Come on, look at what the guy has done so far... we need more Elons Musks. There, end of fanboyism :-)
I'm only half way through, but so far, I find it very disappointing that CBS has not given credit to anybody else who Musk has worked with.<p>They discuss "you decided to start a car company", but it was started by two other engineers, and Musk came in as an investor first, and joined the company later. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Motors" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Motors</a> It would have been nice to see Musk give some credit to the original visionaries. He's still very responsible for Tesla's success, but it wasn't JUST him.<p>Same with PayPal, it would have been nice for Musk to say "I stared PayPal with a few friends to..."<p>This report sadly gives nobody else any credit in the development of this empire.
In the immortal words of Keanu Charles Reeves, "Whoa". So much admiration for this guy. For once, it's actually nice to see one of my heroes getting mainstream media coverage like this. The guy has broken through to the mainstream by being himself and staying true to his engineering roots. You look at a guy like Jobs and it was always such a hokey, patronizing, and calculated exercise with his Houdini-esque product launches. Elon's humility and grit should be an inspiration to all.
elon = grit, as an entrepreneur when i have dark times, i'll read about him to get amped. my favorite quote: "Optimism, pessimism, fuck that; we’re going to make it happen. As God is my bloody witness, I’m hell-bent on making it work." -- back in 2008 after the SpaceX Falcon rocket failed to make orbit 3 times. More context: <a href="http://dcurt.is/elon-musks-determination" rel="nofollow">http://dcurt.is/elon-musks-determination</a>
One of the parts of the interview that gave me chills was when they mentioned, Elon had seen the future and brought it back.<p>I think most of us on HN are building the future for a world that lives in the past and I think it's beautiful. We're trying to craft something that doesn't exist yet... but can.<p>Not many professions do that.
I wonder how fast everyone forgets the real founders of Tesla: Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, and all credit is put on Elon. I am sure he deserves a lot of credit for his foresight, strategic decisions and also his execution... Bottom line he bought himself into the electric car game, which was itself a very good strategic move.
> When the other big automakers get into the electric car mindset, who are they going to buy batteries from?<p>Umm... LG? They have an enormous operation already supplying GM and Renault, two big rivals.
In this world, where everyone finds everything with Google, Elon is one of the few persons thinking through his mind..
More here: <a href="http://techgeekforever.com/2014/02/20/elon-musk-one-man-who-aspires-to-change-the-world/" rel="nofollow">http://techgeekforever.com/2014/02/20/elon-musk-one-man-who-...</a>
Found this on StumbleUpon
Someone brought this up to me:<p>"If Elon Musk wanted to revolutionize the car industry, why didn't he figure out how to recycle the materials of the existing cars into Tesla somehow? Instead of making more new cars? Sure, the new cars are more environmentally friendly and sustainable but that doesn't solve the existing waste problem."
It's got to be said that most of the wealth created in the last 50 years or so has been in either financial or software engineering.<p>Musk is a bit of a throw-back right to the 19th and 20th centuries in this regard. Humanity could do with more folks like him if we're to see real progress in our life-time.
Imagine the kind of scum it would take to bet against Tesla's success.<p>Here is Musk, improving human life, clearing our air and probably taking us to Mars one day and on the opposite, we have scumbags waiting to make a quick buck and working actively, bribing legislatures to make Tesla a failure.
Great quote from the interview with Musk. He first said that he actually expected when he started Tesla that most likely it would fail. When asked why he did it then, he answered, "If something is important enough, you should try even if the probable outcome is failure."
Is that old footage ? Just wondering because it portrays his second wife Talulah Riley, but (german) wikipedia states they have been divorced for 2 years already.
Definitely makes me want to buy Tesla stock. My guess is that Elon is on a road show to get the stock price back up. He'll probably stop by New York Times, ABC and others this week and the stock price will shoot back up to $230.
I think the most interesting thing about Tesla is it's applicability to SpaceX. If the goal of Tesla is to provide a better energy source (where "better" is defined as capacity and environmentally friendly) and SpaceX's primary constraint is the energy source, then long-term they'll be the same company.
<i>“What's important to Musk is reducing green house gas, which he believes, threaten the world”</i><p>That kind of phrasing annoys me deeply, it tries to spin scientific consensus as if it's a disputed issue.