A decade later, Tesla is close to meeting most of those goals – Musk felt it was time to draft another “master plan”.
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The new plan is a revision of the original, first published by Tesla in 2006. Released in 2006 and pretty much followed to a T, it consisted of four basic components: Create a low-volume high-cost auto, use that money to develop a medium-volume vehicle at a lower price, use that money to create an affordable high-volume auto and provide solar power.
Here’s exactly what Musk has in mind.
When it comes to his goal of integrating energy generation and storage, he sidestepped accusations that Tesla is buying SolarCity to save the latter, stating that the fact that they were ever separate at all “is largely an accident of history”. This was the missing piece in the puzzle for Tesla as a company capturing sustainable energy – solar power in this case – and supplying it back to consumers for use in their homes and cars. A Tesla Model S on Autopilot slammed into a semi-truck, killing the driver and prompting an investigation from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. But Musk wants the company’s lineup to encompass “the major forms of terrestrial transport”.
He said that while the company planned to release a new compact SUV and a new pickup truck in the future, he also wanted to extend into other areas of road tansport. It will also branch out into the realm of commercial vehicles.
Tesla’s boss Elon Musk has unveiled an ambitious expansion plan. Fixed summon buttons at existing bus stops would serve those who don’t have a phone. Musk has said he expects Tesla to make a profit in 2020, once the Model 3 is in full production.
Musk also teased at his plans to dominate the entire vehicle market, not just a fragment. To do that, Musk said the carmaker will focus on “the machine that makes the machine”.
Tesla has had a rough ride lately. “A lower cost vehicle than the Model 3 is unlikely to be necessary”.
“It would therefore be morally reprehensible to delay release simply for fear of bad press or some mercantile calculation of legal liability”, Musk wrote. He also restated his ambition to make all Tesla vehicles completely autonomous – capable of driving without a human driver.
His goal is to make his cars, equipped with Autopilot, approximately 10 times safer than the average USA vehicle. Musk said the company will continue to pursue self-driving auto technology so that Tesla customers will be able to use their cars for ride sharing, “to make money for you when you aren’t using it”. “Since most cars are only in use by their owner for 5% to 10% of the day, the fundamental economic utility of a true self-driving auto is likely to be several times that of a vehicle which is not”.
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Musk said he envisions Tesla owners allowing others to use their vehicles through a smartphone application. Ten years ago, Musk set out to start manufacturing electric cars and increase their scale to be affordable to a mass market. And when he draws up a plan for Tesla, almost a decade after the first one, you can only imagine what happens – the world goes into a tizzy.
