Monday, June 3, 2013
The SpaceX and Tesla CEO takes a victory lap, builds a nationwide
charging network, and alludes to a new mind-blowing form of rapid
transit.
FORTUNE -- Is there anything that Elon Musk enjoys more than shaming his haters? Here he is at Wednesday's D11 conference,
reveling in running one of the few remaining electric car startups, one
with stock that just passed the $100 mark, enjoying calling out all
those who said it couldn't be done. "Before we were able to get the
roadster out, they'd say you couldn't possibly make the car work. When
we did, they said: Well, nobody's going to buy it. And people did. Then,
when we announced the Model S, so many people called bullshit on that
it was ridiculous. We were able to bring it to market, they said we
wouldn't be able to produce at volume, we did that, and then they said
we would never be profitable, and we did that in Q1. So I'm hopeful that
people will observe that there is a trend here." After a pause, the
audience cackles and applauds.Musk went on to consider bending space to allow for faster-than-light travel, Mars settlements, and a rapid transit system called a Hyperloop that is three or four times faster than a bullet train, would never crash, and is immune to weather. No small dreams for this guy. But perhaps the biggest news was the announcement of a rapid expansion of Tesla's Supercharge stations. Soon -- within two-years, he said -- Tesla owners will be able to drive cross-country using Supercharge, filling up a 200-plus mile battery in a little under an hour.
MORE: A new way to get to Macau: Seaplane
I've written about Tesla (TSLA) and the importance of a rapid-charging network before, mostly to say that, as exciting as the Supercharger is, it's really mostly a marketing tool, a way to alleviate the biggest issue surrounding electric car ownership, which is range anxiety. Musk's announcement feels like a direct rebuke. The company is building a national network! But a national network is overstating things. The ability to drive cross-country in an electric vehicle that's as fast and fun to drive as the Model S is certainly neat. How many people will? Not many, is my guess (though: sign me up!). As several owners of electric vehicle charging companies told me , the Supercharger is a bit of Musk magic: a great add-on to help sell more cars and a way to move the industry forward but by no means a comprehensive piece of EV infrastructure. That, unfortunately, will take time. More time, most likely, than the $30,000 EV Musk promises in three years. By the time all our cities and places in between have enough charging stations to make EV ownership no question at all, Musk will have moved on. To Mars, maybe.
