Billionaire Tesla CEO has fascinating ideasJul 6 - McClatchy-Tribune Content Agency, LLC - Jessica Van Sack Boston Herald
Dear Elon Musk, My name is Jessica, and I am writing to you because for some reason, most other media simply hates you. Likely because you're self-made and worth $11 billion at age 44. You're offensively successful. But your long-term vision is actually pretty interesting, and it's tough for someone to see if they're too busy hating your guts. As CEO and product architect of electric luxury car maker Tesla, you are building the first brand that will surpass Apple in look and feel. But that's just a means to an end, isn't it? Your ultimate goal is much grander, and that's what people don't seem to get. I think you're plotting a self-reinforcing infrastructure of global energy production and conservation. This is good stuff. I get it, Elon. I get you. Here's how I see your vision: First you commissioned the Roadster, which was really the tech experiment. You showed that luxury electric cars weren't just for dorks, and you produced only a few thousand so they were coveted and cool. Then came the Model S, a sports car for rich people. Good call getting the attention of rich people early on. Electric charging stations started popping up in every Whole Foods parking lot for this reason. Now you're coming out with the Model X, which still appeals to rich people, and rich families. With gull-winged doors, three rows of seats, an enormous touchscreen display and the cargo room of a Volvo 240 wagon, the Model X will be the safest car on the road. Upper-class mommies will want to pony up the $100,000 for this. Let the money pour in. Your considerable profits from the richest vehicle owners will subsidize your larger plan to build capacity -- in the form of your recently announced battery farm. You dubbed it Gigafactory 1 because there are likely plans for many more. These factories will produce battery packs for homes, businesses and other applications I probably haven't thought of. But first you'll focus on flush businesses because they have more to spend. You're like the Robin Hood of green energy, Elon. You'll simultaneously ramp up car production from your current ceiling of about 60,000 vehicles annually to many multiples of that number. That takes us roughly to the year 2020. You've built the brand. Everyone will want a Tesla because they're so cool and only rich people have them. They're mysterious. You buy them online. They've got falcon doors. They're just sexy. All of a sudden, Tesla will surpass Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Jaguar and other status symbols on wheels. As the Tesla lust reaches a fever pitch, you'll produce midrange and economy cars. And the floodgates will open. And at the same time, your capacity is growing rapidly. You're selling your excess capacity to everyone. Solar farm and wind farm operators. The government. Mom-and-pop shops. That's where your side business, SolarCity, comes in. We'll all have solar panels on our roof by then. They'll give us power all day long, funneled into a battery pack that is sold to us by Elon Musk. Bye-bye annoying grid. Hello green energy. I get you, Elon. Your genius isn't in your technology, but in your long-term vision. I'm buying what you're selling. Well, I will when it comes down in price. Sincerely, JVS http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=36683181 |