4 Elon Musk Statements From Friday That Caught My Ear (Podcasts)
Originally published on EV Obsession.
Below are four of Elon Musk’s top statements from Tesla’s 2013 Quarter 2 Financial Results Q&A, imho. I’ve also included recordings for some of them. I’m actually planning to publish two more top statements in the coming days, but in individual posts, so stay tuned…
1. Model X — It Gets Better
Elon mentioned that they are working hard on Model X product development and making it even better than the demonstration prototype that was already unveiled to the public. He said he’s spending a lot of time on the Model X, trying to get the details right. “We’re gonna push pretty hard to make it better than what people have seen,” Elon said. “I think there’s some exciting features that… that I love, hopefully other people like them, too.”
The aim is still to have a handful of Model X units delivered at the end of 2014, and then “volume production” in 2015.
The Model X is expected to become the company’s top priority in the 4th quarter of this year, according to Mr. Musk.
2. “Sort of Affordable Car”
One questioner asked when the timing of the “next-generation” Tesla vehicle would move up. I’m sure a lot of people are interested in the answer there, but the really great line was where he said, “You mean our high-volume, sort of affordable car?” The way he said “sort of affordable” was somewhat hilarious. It’s not the best quality recording of the webcast, but give it a listen here:
Elon Musk on the next-gen Tesla vehicle
As I think you’ll agree, the whole answer was quite interesting, even beyond the humurous way in which he referred to the car as “somewhat affordable.”
3. Hyperloop… woops
There has been some serious enthusiasm, perhaps even mania, around Elon’s hyperloop concept (design to be released today). Apparently, Elon thinks he may have shot himself in the foot with that one.
When asked, “Are Tesla shareholders going to see any benefit from the hyperloop?” Elon gave a laugh, and then said, “Um… I don’t know, I think, uh, it’s not out of the question, but, uh,… I think I kind of shot myself in the foot by ever mentioning the hyperloop, cause I’m too strung out. I mean, I have to focus on core Tesla business and SpaceX business, and that’s more than enough, but I did commit to publishing a design… [I’m going to] provide quite a detailed design I think on Monday, and then invite critical feedback and see if people can find ways to improve it. And then it could just be out there as kind of like a… open-source design that maybe people can keep improving…. I don’t have any plans to execute it, because I must remain focused on SpaceX and Tesla. If nothing happens for a few years with that… maybe it could make sense to make the hyperloop happen with Tesla involvement, but that obviously is extremely speculative.”
Give the answer a full listen here (followed by a question about regulatory credits and Deepak Ahuja’s answer to that question):
Elon Musk on the Hyperloop & Deepak Ahuja on regulatory credits
4. Supplier parts are the bottleneck.
I’ll just throw in the recording on this one:
Tesla’s supplier bottleneck, and why…
- 90% of suppliers are able to ramp up.
- 5% have some difficulty.
- 4% have a lot of difficulty.
- 1% “just cant”
It was also interesting to hear why some are now having difficulty ramping up — because they didn’t believe Tesla’s production predictions and relied on those from market research firms instead (which were way off).
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
CleanTechnica Holiday Wish Book
Our Latest EVObsession Video
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.
I’m confused. Are you owned by Elon Musk? If not why does your website devote so much scarce space to him & his company? I mean, let’s look at this from a ‘normal person’s viewpoint…tesla cars are for the 1%, overpriced toys that have a cachet of green (and, note, I’m a car person myself, and love driving, but I’m also one who cannot dream of speding Tesla-level). This is exactly the same as peopl who build 5000 sq ft ‘green’ housing with Italian marble and German pseudo-double-hung windows…greenwash. So why slaver over him?
HInt: there’s plenty of other, more socially responsible companies you might give press to.
Let’s see.
Not owned by Elon, best I can tell.
Devote so much scarce space to him and his company? Could it be because Elon makes a lot of very interesting stuff happen? Should we the use space on people who do nothing, in your opinion?
Overpriced toys for the 1%? Well, that’s part of his very successful plan. Start by producing for those with the deepest pockets because you can earn higher margins there. Then use that income to build your base and reputation which will allow you to develop more affordable EVs.
Are other EV companies not covered here? Looks like you fired off before getting to know the site. There’s tons of stuff on other companies. When they make news tat gets reported.
Read the site. Lots of stuff. Thousands of articles and less than 99% of them are about Elon.
The Tesla stuff is sexy. Look, I’m driving my low cost Honda Insight, but,
Tesla is way further then most startups. The car market is littered with technology dead-ends (EV-1, Quadrasteer, Corvair) and startup companies
(DeLorean, Bricklin, Dynamaxion, Tucker, Sterling). Tesla is both a technology story (EV, Superchargers, Battery Swap) and it’s a startup story.
You have to give them some real credit for this. All the other green cars are coming from the majors or not quite the tech push. Making all that work,
is not easy.
Agreed. It’s a huge story in several niches. And Musk is actually a huge story beyond this niche… a leader in other segments we don’t cover. Pretty amazing.
cmu
You are confused. Boy did you step in it. No, cleantechnica isn’t owned by Elon Musk, he and Tesla are just doing amazing stuff. I’m not going to list it all our for you. Don’t read’em if your not interested. Duh!
Zach,
Please keep them coming, Tesla and Elon are amazing! I was blown away by the model s. I’m dying to see how far they get on cost verses performance with the model x. Very funny that Elon is getting overwhelmed and is trying to reign in is scope a little. I was really wondering if he had any bandwidth limit at all. Let’s see:
1. Completely revolutionary and wildly successful EV startup: check.
2. Very successful solar installation/3rd party financing startup: check.
3. Completely revolutionary and wildly successful space launch startup: check.
Yeh, think will give him some time before he completely revolutionizes intercity, across continent travel …simply amazing.
(Ever visited the spacex web site? Ever seen a multi-storied rocket blast-off, hover, and then land? Have you seen the simulation of their long term plan? He humbly mentioned in an interview that he’s working on a “2 order of magnitude reduction in launch costs” …A FRIGGIN FACTOR OF 100!!! WOW!!! …and Tesla’s accomplishments with EVs are equally incredible!!! Sorry, but I don’t think many people have much idea what this really means, how exciting it really is. This guy is going to help save us from our deadly oil addiction and then he’s going to help us colonize Mars. Talking about exciting times! Forget Hollywood! Forget football! THIS IS EXCITING! THIS IS COLUMBUS or THE VIKINGS FINDING THE NEW WORLD EXCITING! …sorry, little carried away there 😉
You made a good point about Zach. Zach is doing an amazing job in a different niche. However I think Zach still has a ways to go before he becomes a billionaire…
Oh Zach is right up there with Elon Musk in my book. They are both awe inspiring! Am I laying it on ya too thick Zach? Just stay humble and you’ll be fine. 🙂
Zach is doing something that is at least as valuable as what Elon is doing. Maybe more important.
He’s starting with the acknowledgement that we have a severe problem and we need solutions. He’s gathering up the answers from here and there and putting them in one central place where people can find them and presenting them in a form that most people can quickly comprehend.
We need to transition off fossil fuels ASAP. Zack is out there with his LED lantern and rechargeable batteries, showing us the path.
I do agree that there is much more value in helping to educate the masses and shift the tide in the way we are doing… that the work is “undervalued.” But have to feel lucky that I’ve found a niche that I think needs my work, am able to make a decent living off it, and enjoy the heck out of it. Happy I’m finding a path that others are getting some value from. 😀
Haha 😀 Yeah, wouldn’t count on ever becoming a billionaire or even millionaire, but love what I do and try to do it the best I can. 😀
Actually I read cleantechnica from time to time, and am very well versed in sustainability, alternate energy sources and EV. The site’s bias towards Tesla is obvious. Tesla has produced a potent andvery niche-sucessful car, of course, but its success will not be by “Start[ing] producing for those with the deepest pockets because you can earn higher margins there.” Name one other niche car company that’s done that. If Tesla is mass-market successful, it will be because of investors and he’ll need a lot of them. Bugatti Veyron, anyone?
And, so, mds, is he saving us from oil addiction or wasting our resources on his spacecraft? Do you really think going to Mars in any way helps any of us? Btw, ‘don’t read if you’re not interested’ is a juvenile comment and betrays some reading incomprehesion as well.
I haven’t drunk the Musk Koolaid yet. Must be pretty potent.
Can you name another car company that set out to create an affordable car by beginning with a luxury car?
I can name a number of companies that built and build luxury/exotic cars but I don’t know that any of them have stated that they are doing so in order to eventually produce a car “for the masses”.
(You’ll have to excuse us if we find successful ideas interesting.)
Yeh, you’re right, Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla were bums too.
Thomas Edison was similar to Steve Jobs from what all I have read. In other words he would lie, cheat, steal, sabotage, and do anything to get his way.
For instance look at the broken promises Thomas Edison made to Tesla. Or the sabotaging of the World Fair. Or all the patents he took credit for.
I agree. Think very few people grasp what he has done… and is doing today.
I often see Tesla as overhyper and misleading advertisers, but overall, I see them as excellent startup company. Even if they do not become successful, they have already made the greatest contribution to us all by forcing the rest of the automakers to jump start the EV revolution in more ways than one. There is no turning back, the EV is here to stay, thanks to Elon Musk! Thus, I love the articles to keep coming about Tesla and Elon Musk. I will be here to counteract what I feel or know that some of their claims and promises are overhyped or have not been delivered, and for sure I will be critical for their own good. I wish the company great success. So keep the articles coming.
Already, Elon Musk is making the statement “somewhat affordable”, and as I have predicted and criticized, the hint of upcoming price increases from their original goal of mass market affordability. I told you so!
Haha, I wish. Think you’d see a lot of Tesla advertisements if we were.
Elon Musk is considered by many to be something like a Henry Ford or Thomas Edison (or Ford + Edison) person of our day. He will surely be written up in the history books. He was this year put on TIME’s top 100 list. Millions of people follow him and pay close attention to what he says. He’s probably the biggest name in the cleantech biz, as well as the auto biz, these days.
http://evobsession.com/teslas-elon-musk-named-one-of-times-100-most-influential-people/
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/04/08/obama-elon-musk-bloomberg-me-on-a-top-20-list/
We just try to cover his most notable statements.
Point 4 I find most interesting. I suspect there are some real juicy stories there waiting to be reported on.
Agreed. I did, too. Would love to dig in and get more details on that as it progresses. Just read today that a parts bottleneck is the biggest hold-up on Leaf manufacturing, too. Takes time to build that huge supply chain.