TESLA Motors

Elon Musk: Internet-, Space-, Environmental Futurist
TESLA Motors: Burn rubber, not gasoline
TESLA Motors presents the Tesla Roadster

• 100% Electric
• 0 to 60 in about 4 seconds
• 135 mpg equivalent
• 250 miles per charge
• about 1 cent per mile.
• Better acceleration than a Lamborghini Murcielago!

Price: $92,950 base price

IT IS midnight at the Playboy mansion and Elon Musk is in the cigar alcove with a couple of friends, holding forth. His vantage point gives him panoramic views of the goings-on at the party and easy access to the poolside bunnywalks. He seems like just another wealthy playboy. After all, when he is not partying with Playmates, Mr Musk likes to entertain in style at his pricey Bel Air home and speed around Los Angeles in his million-dollar McLaren racer...

...Though he is only 35, Mr Musk has already made surprising progress toward the three modest goals he set for himself when at college: to transform the internet, make a breakthrough in clean energy and propel mankind towards inter-planetary travel. He arrived at Stanford University intending to do a doctorate on batteries for electric cars, but dropped out to jump on the internet bandwagon. He struck gold when he sold PayPal, the online payments firm, to eBay for $1.5 billion in 2002. Rather than retire comfortably, he says he “doubled down” his proceeds into his two other passions: clean energy and space.

The first bet was Tesla Motors, an electric-car company that is the first new American automobile firm in decades. Many consumers associate electric cars with golf carts and fear they will have only limited range; the motor industry refused to make them after a failed effort in the 1990s. Mr Musk may prove the nay-sayers wrong. In July Tesla unveiled its first model: a sports car which is faster than a Ferrari, more environmentally friendly than a Toyota Prius and can travel 250 miles after charging overnight through an ordinary household socket. The first few have been pre-sold, but the concept will be properly tested only when they start rolling off the production line in August.

Read the full article at The Economist.

Copyright: The Economist Newspaper Limited 2007

hotnewdesign.blogspot.com applauds Elon for his vision to build wealth through good.