Musky

Like most people who have risen to prominence, it’s due to dedication and commitment to do something not many or nobody has done before.  Now, along with this comes the responsibility to be a bit of a dick…to be pushy to get your ideas noticed, whether it’s for funding or pushing product.  I get it.  It’s what they don’t say about type “A” personalities that’s just implied.  Now, I know what you’re thinking, not all famous people are obnoxious. “Take Hellen Keller for instance,” you might say, “I’m sure she was a sweet woman with all of the challenges she faced.”  Yeah, that bitch is probably alright.  While her accomplishments were nothing short of amazing, she’s probably the one who originated the following joke:

A blind guy and his Seeing Eye dog walk into a supermarket, and in the produce aisle he proceeds to start spinning and swinging the dog above his head.  When the manager came over to stop and ask what the hell he was doing, the blind man said, “I was just taking a look around.”

There are sicker jokes about the blind, and if you write me a personal note, I’d be happy to share them.

Still, if you read technology news, you may have read that there’s a new electric sedan soon to be on the market which can out gun some Ferraris.  That’s right, you read that…a sedan…a 4-door family car…goes from 0-60 in 3.2 seconds.  Holy sedans, Batman.  That’s a jaw dropping 691 horsepower for a street-legal top speed of 155!  What’s better is that it’s all-wheel drive…and completely, 100% electric. 

Enter TESLA and Elon Musk.  The founder of PayPal has a crap-load of outside the box ideas that he’s making work…largely though initial investments from his amassed fortune of about $11.7 billion with a “B.”  But, the most incredible thing is that he’s doing it, and with huge support from investors.  Stock prices for TESLA shares have rocketed to $250/share.  He made $1.1 billion last week.  WITH A FRIGGIN’ “B.”

Now it’s not his wealth that impresses me as much as how he got it.  While I believe there’s some business sense in creating electric roadsters (at $93,000 they’re not quite family cars), it’s the fact that they’re electric…that the cost to charge them is less than $500 a year without direct impact to fossil fuels. 

1. 12000 miles/ year
2. .300 kWh/mile
3. 85% charging efficiency.
4. 10cents/kWh
=12000miles x .300kWh/miles=4000kWh
=4000/.85= 4706kWh x 10cents/kWh = $470.60/year
VS
1. 12000 miles/year
2. 25miles/gallon
3. 3.25 dollars/gallon
12000/25 x 4 = $1,560/year

MATH!

To my point that famous people are pushy, yeah, he may be a douche canoe…but I just get the feeling that his projects are for the greater good.  Not only that, he puts his money where his mouth is, and is financially supporting the creation of a TESLA museum and campus at Wardenclyffe, the site for Nikola Tesla’s laboratories where Tesla developed modern alternating current while Edison was pushing his direct current…AC vs. DC! 

SCIENCE!  ROCK & ROLL!

AND…dude is soon going to be responsible for shuttling people to and from the international space station with his SpaceX…the first private company (which received grants from NASA; full disclosure) to send a spacecraft to the ISS.  Dude wants to colonize Mars, and, it seems that the nutty aspirations are catching.  Lots of talk about Mars…and resources…and additional studies and such. 

All in all, and I know this is yet another profile/love letter, but the dude is putting money where his brains are, and is financing projects that are real, and that have the potential to change our world as we know it.  Oh, did I mention that the new Tesla S can park itself?  No big whoop…but it can also change lanes, and, soon will be able to drive by itself.  Jetson’s, Here we come!