So anyone that follows elon Musk knows the guy is a genius, however his ambitions are more insane than anything I can think off. First off, I look at Elon as one of the greatest minds of the century. Yes that is some bias but just look at what the guy has done. I mean he really doesn't care about status quo or money; all that matters is achieving the vision. I know people will say this isn't how you run a business, but I could say that it isn't how you innovate and do things the world never thought possible. Alright let's talk about Tesla. For anyone living under a rock, Tesla is the first truly Electric vehicle company. Yes that means NO GAS! It's the future whether people like it or not. This isn't based on the want for his and the company's success but rather the next generation of transportation. How can I possibly make this claim when giant like Ford or Nissan control the market. Let's take a look at history.
First I like to start with the Ford company. Henry Ford started something in the early 1900’s that know really saw company or even thought possible. Cars were being made piece by piece on at a time by workers. This turned out vehicles but it didn't really create an efficient business model. Ford wanted his cars everywhere and eventually the average person to drive them. So in comes the assembly line; arguably one of the greatest innovations in modern history. Instead of producing a few cars a day he created a line of cars that moved along a belt through stations. Each station had a unique part or structure to install. This exponentially speed things up and generated more cars than anyone thought possible. Im not gonna get into the details but anyone that wants to read here: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fords-assembly-line-starts-rolling .
So now we have cars being pumped out a rapid pace for this time, now what? Well more people can drive, which leads to more people can get places and overall connection of cities. As time progressed new innovations came around. Again i'm not gonna talk about it all but look where we are today with cars and you get the picture. Alright so where do electric cars come into play? Well it comes down to a 100 year cycle. See there is this theory that it takes 100 years to replace the previous technology. It's not an exact science but it gives us a starting point. We went from wood to whale oil to steam and coal and now Fossil fuels such as oil. This is broad I know but each previous technology was replaced eventually through mass adoption. The combustion engine did revolutionize the world in more ways than I can probably think of. So is the gas engine next? In my eyes yes, let me explain why.
So Electric cars are not new and have been around for a while. The idea has not really caught no since no one really has a need. Well that is where things are changing; electric vehicles are popping up. Tesla took a boring environmental concept and turned it into one of the top performing luxury vehicles that is fully electric. I am sure people see them on the streets and know a little about them. However, until you tour their store and drive one, you cannot comprehend what Tesla is trying to achieve. I had the chance to drive one and was blow away. Not only are they some of the fastest cars on the planet but they have more tech inside then most people have in there house, phones, and cars combined. People need to understand where the cars are taking us.
So Tesla prides itself on efficiency and in the future fully autonomous driving. Again not going into that since it will start a massive debate. We are not quite there yet, but we will be. Many people might not know but Porsche is desging there own electric sports car as well: https://www.teslarati.com/porsche-taycan-dealerships-customer-deposit-program/.
Not just them but BMW, audi and many more are starting to create concept and designs. BMW, Ford and Volkswagen are teaming up to create a massive charging grid similar to Tesla’s:https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/03/bmw-daimler-ford-and-volkswagen-team-up-on-high-power-charging-network/
Now why would they be doing that? Why would BMW be taking out billions of Euros in Loans to build a new plant for electric Vehicles. It's simple Tesla showed everyone how to do it and how to do it right. So in my eyes the next age has started and combustion engine cars are out the door. Everyone is seeing how this is possible and how efficient it can be. Now this leads me finally to Tesla going Private.
I do not believe Elon ever intended to take the company public, or at least forever. The company gets ridiculed on a daily bases for not hitting their quota or some other issue. All the people invested are constantly asking about missed price points out the price of the stock. Basically I want to make more money so fix it Elon. The guy really doesn't care about profits. All you need to do is listen to his conference calls and his overall attitude. He wants to change the world and Tesla is one of those pipeline. He doesn't want to have to worry about investors and shareholders breathing down his neck. He wants to run the company the best way he thinks. Now are they losing money, yes. Are they behind, they were. But, let's be real, look at what he is doing and then try to understand. This takes time and Im sure Ford had the same issues in the beginning, just on a much smaller scale. We are in a completely different age and things happen at lightspeed. Twitter creates instant communication where one bad word from a CEO can tank you. Everything is evolving whether people are ready for it or not.
As a private company a couple things come to my head. First off, it is not a coincidence that Saudi Arabia is a huge investor now. Has anyone heard of NEOM? If not go check it out then think of Tesla cars operating there. Oh and lets not forget the new Gigafactory in Europe And Shanghai China. He is trying to do what he can with the company to create mass adoption and spread the concept around the world. It won't be just for the super rich but for the average family. Look at the Model 3 priced at 35k $. Wall street completely inhibits fast growth and crazy bold moves since those guys really only care about profit. Again I understand that's their jobs and money but it that becomes an issue. When shareholders are more important than the vision well things won't move.
So these are a few of my ideas and concepts. Please commit your thoughts and ideas. Hope you enjoyed and I will follow up with more as the months progress.