Elon Musk Wins $1 Million Tesla Model S Bet, Donates $1 Million to Charity Anyway

Ah, one of those feelgood, feelgood stories. Apparently, back on May 1 or so of 2009, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and auto journalist Dan Neil made a bet about whether or not “the Model S could be built, within the technical specifications Mr. Musk laid out, before the end of 2012.”

The bet was that, if Neil was correct, Musk would have to donate $1 million to the charity Doctors without Borders. If Musk won, he said Neil would just have to donate $1,000 to the charity. The bet was made.

And, well, it turns out Musk won. But he’s decided to donate $1 million to the charity anyway. Neil also made his $1,000 donation.

“The new Model S is exactly the car he described, delivered six months before the end of 2012,” Neil writes.

“So, I lost, and happily so. As a proponent of electric mobility, I have said many times that I wanted to lose the bet; in other words, I wanted Tesla to succeed. As a critic, I’ll reserve judgment on the Model S until I get a chance to drive it. Regardless, Mr. Musk and Tesla’s achievement – birthing a radically different kind of car, and essentially a brand-new car company, in three years – is nothing short of astonishing. And I congratulate him.”

Certainly, congratulations to Musk and his whole team! Astounding accomplishment. And let’s hope that Musk is correct about his latest bet, as well — that 50% of new cars will be EVs in 20 years or fewer.

And, I know I’ve already shared this twice, but here’s a fun video on the Model S (many more videos here):

Source: Wall Street Journal | h/t TreeHugger
Image Credit: Elon Musk via Phil Stafford / Shutterstock.com