Referinte Bibliografice Proiect Inovatie si Antreprenoriat Elon Musk

1.Erik Nordeus, The Engineer Follow Elon Musk on a journey from South Africa to
Mars

Preface
The history of The Engineer - Follow Elon Musk on a journey from South Africa to Mars began
in 2006 when I read a book about peak oil. The idea behind peak oil is that the world sooner or
later will run out of oil because oil is a finite resource. Most books written on the subject are
within the doomsday category. The book I read argued that when theres no more oil we would
be forced to return to a 19th century society. Horses would be the main mode of transportation
because the alternatives, such as electric cars, wouldnt make a difference because they werent
good enough.
Peak oil terrified me. The first night I had nightmares about how the world would look like
without any vehicles. How would we deliver food? How would we build houses? How would we
transport injured people? I watched every day how the price of oil climbed to record levels. But
when the 2008 credit crisis hit the world, the price of oil decreased from $150 per barrel, and
nightmares about derivatives replaced my nightmares about peak oil.
Fast forward to late 2012. One dark autumn night I watched a video on YouTube where the
entrepreneur Kevin Rose interviewed a guy called Elon Musk. I had never heard of him or his
companies before. At the end of the interview, Elon mentioned that he worked with the
Hyperloop - a fifth mode of transportation, where the other modes are train, boat, road, and
aircraft. This sounded interesting to the engineer in me, so I needed to learn more about him.
After reading a few articles, I realized that Elon was well aware of peak oil. He had even
designed an electric car that could replace a gasoline car. The book I had read about peak oil was
wrong! To learn more about Elon, I searched for if someone had written a biography. The only
books I found were those biographies where the author has copied only whats available on
Wikipedia. I began reading more articles and watching more videos, and I realized it existed so
much information I might as well write a real biography.
But this is not just a book about Elon as it has several other purposes. Elon himself said, I think
you have to enjoy what you are doing. Otherwise, it is hard to do it. There are three things you
look for. You have to look forward in the morning to doing your work. You do want to have a
significant financial reward. And you want to have a possible effect on the world. If you can find
all three, you have something you can tell your children.
I believe this book may have a positive effect on the world. The first purpose with the book is to
motivate young people to become engineers. It has been estimated that Europe will lack 500 000
engineers by 2020, and I believe the solution is inspiration.

During my first year in engineering school, each student had to read a book on the Nobel Prize. I
dont recall the purpose; maybe someone thought we would become more motivated? But the
book had almost the opposite effect - we became less motivated. The characters in the book were
no role models we could find any inspiration from. Elon, on the other hand, is a true role model.
Will Elon ever get a Nobel Prize? If he doesnt get it, will he be sad about it? He might, but then
he jumps into his Tesla Roadster, drives to the airport, boards his private jet, flies to the nearest
spaceport where he enters a rocket on its way to a new civilization on Mars. Thats inspiring.
The second purpose with this book is to motivate engineers to become entrepreneurs and tackle
the larger, more expensive, and difficult problems. I believe there are professional engineers who
have great ideas, but they dont know they can build a company from those ideas. If Elon can
build two Internet companies, a rocket company, a car company, and a solar company - why
cant you?
Another purpose is to explain the why of things. The problem is that not everyone understands
Elon and his companies. How can you convince someone to buy an electric car if he or she at the
same time believes the supply of oil is infinite? Elon himself said, If you could explain the why
of things then that makes a huge difference to peoples motivation.353 So someone has to
explain why we need to move away from a society dependent on oil. Why do we need to build
rockets and colonize Mars? Elon has tried to explain everything by giving countless interviews,
but its difficult to understand the big picture from articles and videos. I hope that you who read
this book will soon understand the big picture behind Elon.
I also believe the author of a biography on Elon has to be an engineer. Ive read articles by nonengineers (I suspect) that confuses different topics. One example is that several articles argued
that Elon became interested in electric cars to save the environment. But thats not true. Elon
became interested in electric cars because the world is running out of oil. During one interview,
he had to hang up the phone because the journalist couldnt understand the difficult topics. But
dont worry - you dont need to be an engineer to read this book.
Ive used 457 sources to write this biography. The goal is that everything in the book is as
truthful as it can be in an unofficial biography. But since its after all rocket science, some
factual errors may exist. If you find an error, Im happy to correct it as soon as possible.
Several conflicts have happened throughout Elons life, including divorces and angry employees.
When describing these conflicts, Ive tried to be as neutral as possible by including the views
from both sides.
Im not sponsored by and have no financial interest in neither Tesla Motors or SolarCity. This
book is for informational, educational, and discussion purposes only. Even though topics may be
discussed in this book that involve legal or investment issues, nothing in this book shall be
deemed to constitute the practice of law, legal advice, or investment advice. If any reader takes
action or makes decisions based solely on the information in this book, the reader does so at his
or her own risk.

Erik Nordeus, M.Sc.

erik.nordeus@gmail.com
Stockholm, Sweden
August 2014

Introduction
I think were going to the Moon because its in the nature of the human being to face
challenges. Its by the nature of his deep inner soul. Yes, we are required to do these things just
as salmon swim upstream.
Neil Armstrong
All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
Walt Disney
A dictionary defines an engineer: A professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with
applying scientific knowledge, mathematics, and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical
problems. Engineers design materials, structures, and systems while considering the limitations
imposed by practicality, regulation, safety, and cost. The word engineer is derived from the Latin
roots ingeniare [to contrive, devise] and ingenium [cleverness].391
This is a book about the beginning of a journey. Elon Musk is the main person in the journey
through a roller-coaster life. His journey includes everything from Winston Churchills
adventures in British colonies to demolished sports cars. From failed marriages to German
scientists escaping from the Red Army. From the oil industry to the Burning Man festival.
Elon has been described as the Steve Jobs of heavy industry, as a modern version of the scientist
Nikola Tesla, and as the Henry Ford of rockets. Theres a high probability that the British Secret
Intelligence Service has a file on him. As the files of other James Bond villains, it describes
secret rocket launches in the Pacific Ocean. But Elon doesnt own a white cat - hes more of a
dog person. Maybe the most comparable persons are the great explorers who voyaged across the
globe. They had an entrepreneurial spirit, were a little crazy, tried what no one else had tried, and
thought what no one else had thought.
If you want to describe the companies Elon has founded with one theme, you can say that they
improve the world with the help of innovative technologies. This is exactly what our world
needs.
The history of mankind begins about 50 000 years ago. We know little of the first 40 000 years,
except at the end of them, we had learned to use the skins of animals. Then we emerged from our
caves to construct other kinds of shelter. 5 000 years ago, we learned how to write and how to
use a cart with wheels. Now began the acceleration of technological progress. Within only a few

hundred years, we invented the steam engine, electric lights, telephones, cars, and airplanes. In
the last few years, we developed penicillin, television, and nuclear power.19
Then something happened. Everyone forgot the larger problems and began to focus on the
smaller problems. The computer in a modern phone is more powerful than the computer in the
craft that landed on the Moon, but we are only using the power to fire birds against pigs and to
watch pictures showing what our friends ate for breakfast. Was it that future we wanted? In a
famous speech, the former US President John F. Kennedy said, So it is not surprising that some
would have us stay where we are a little longer to rest, to wait. But this city of Houston, this
State of Texas, this country of the United States was not built by those who waited and rested
and wished to look behind them. This country was conquered by those who moved forward.19
We are no longer moving forward with ever-greater speed, we are moving slower. The Concorde
could fly across the Atlantic Ocean in three hours, and the commercial said, The world is now a
smaller place. But with the decommissioning of the Concorde in 2003, the world is now a larger
place. Were not just flying slower, other modes of transportation are also moving slower. The
US state of California ordered a bullet train that would be one of the slowest bullet trains in the
world at the highest cost per mile.
The world has not just become a larger place; we are also destroying the world. One explanation
to why we no longer are moving faster is because we are using expensive, dirty, and sometimes
dangerous energy sources. We are not only using nuclear power plants, we are a world
dependent on oil. The problem is that oil is a finite natural resource we are running out of, and
we may begin to run out of it as soon as 2020. Unless we want to start using horses, we need to
design technology that doesnt rely on oil.
The question is why we are focusing on the smaller problems and forget the larger ones. One of
the reasons might be that its complicated and more expensive to build an electric car, while its
less expensive to build yet another Facebook clone. Another reason might be that we are satisfied
with what we have. We dont have to replace the worlds oil dependency today. But what
happens when we need to? What if we need to leave the planet because something has happened
or will happen to it. Then we have to trust that someone has the answers to these larger problems
no one cares about today.
But someone who cares about these larger problems is Elon. He knows how we can replace our
dependency on oil. He knows how we can colonize Mars and escape to the red planet if
something happens to Earth. To yet again make the world a smaller place, he has designed an
aircraft thats faster than the Concorde.
The difference between Elon and other pundits is that he realizes his ideas. To save the world
from its oil dependency, hes creating companies with exactly that purpose. To be able to escape
to Mars, he has already begun building the rockets needed. To make the world a smaller place,
he will release the technology for free. The rest of the world needs to just sit back and enjoy the
ride.

Sand Hill Road

You can find several stories about the engineer Elon Musk. One of them took place on and
around the Sand Hill Road in California. It goes like this:
A 28-year-old Elon wanted to buy a new car. The price of the car wasnt important because he
didnt need to think about money anymore. He had just made $22 million from selling his
company.327 His garage had already included a 1967 Series 1 E-type Jaguar, which is considered
to have the best car design ever made. Now he wanted the fastest car he could find.
A magnesium silver McLaren F1 met his requirements. The British made McLaren F1 is
essentially a road-ready version of a racing car from the Formula One World Championship.
With a top speed of 231 mph [372 km/h], it set a record in 1998 as the fastest road car in the
world. It only takes 3.2 seconds to reach 60 mph [100 km/h].
It was a close call when Elon bought his dream car. The fashion designer Ralph Lauren tried to
buy the same one, but Elon signed the deal one hour earlier.263 When McLaren began selling it,
the fortunate customers paid one million dollars to get one. But since only 106 cars were ever
manufactured, the price today can be as high as four million dollars. Elon bought number 67.10
A large black truck delivered the McLaren F1 to Elons home. He was now famous in Silicon
Valley, so a film crew behind the documentary Silicon Valley Gold Rush followed each step.
Like a boy before Christmas, Elon jumped around the truck while the car was unloaded. The first
person who walked by said, Is that a McLaren F1? Oh my God. Thats unbelievable. Elon was
happy. Wow, I cant believe its actually here, he said. Thats pretty wild man. Just three
years ago, I was showering at the YMCA and sleeping on the office floor, and now I got a
million dollar car.27
Enthusiasts described the McLaren F1 as the purest super car ever manufactured. This may
sometimes be a drawback with owning one because enthusiasts chase them like a paparazzi
chasing a movie star. I lined up next to one at a light in Palo Alto a few months ago, a proud
enthusiast said. I think it was the one that belongs to the X.com/PayPal founder guy [Elon
Musk]. Made my day.9
Seeing the car in Silicon Valley wasnt anything unusual. The region has the largest density of
McLaren F1 in the world. Im more excited about seeing this car than I have ever been about
anything else, another enthusiast said. Nothing else compares at all. As he [Elon Musk] braked
for the 90-degree right to get on the freeway, the rear diffuser popped up exposing its gold foil
covered underside. That sent a chill up my spine go ahead laugh all you want. When he
decided hed had enough of me tagging along beside him he practically disappeared down the
FWY. Considering hes got about five times the power of my car, I just let him go.111
In 2000, Elon drove his McLaren F1 along Sand Hill Road. Located in California, the Sand Hill
Road has the same appeal as Wall Street in New York. Venture capitalist companies flock to the
road, and it provides easy access to the Stanford University and Silicon Valley. During the height
of the tech bubble when the difference between being the next big thing and looking like it

didnt matter the commercial real estates on Sand Hill Road were more expensive than almost
anywhere else in the world. The prices were so high it would be less expensive to live on
Manhattan in New York. It was impossible to find vacant office spaces or any legal places to
park. Those who could afford to live in the area accepted the cost of parking tickets as part of the
high price of living there. But money wasnt a problem for most people. You could hear
comments like, Lets call our team Gold Rush because we all want to make a lot of money.167
Together with Elon in the car sat his friend and co-worker Peter Thiel. They were on their way to
the famous venture capital firm Sequoia Capital where they would brainstorm fund-raising
strategies. Thiel sat in one of the two passenger seats. The driver in a McLaren F1 is sitting in the
middle of the car in a seat personally customized for each owner. Slightly behind the driver,
there are two passenger seats on each side of the drivers seat.8,123
So what can this do? Thiel asked Elon after a fifteen-minute demonstration of the car.
Watch this, Elon replied and floored the gas pedal.
The McLaren F1 has no traction control because the car is designed for maximum performance,
so the car began to spin after a lane change. Elon did what he could to avoid the other cars
driving on the same road while he at the same time tried to control the spinning car. After some
terrifying seconds, the McLaren F1 slammed into the embankment of the road. The car lifted
from the ground and began rotating like a discus flying through the air. They finally crashed
down on the ground.328
When the dust cleared, Thiel heard how Elon laughed. Thiel asked him why he laughed when he
had just wrecked his new dream car. You dont know the funny part, it wasnt even insured,
Elon replied.328 Its unclear exactly why he laughed. One reason might have been the shock from
the traumatic event that had just happened. Another reason can be explained with the new word
muskitude, defined as a supercilious attitude caused by having made too much money too
young.301 It might have been a combination of both.
Elon and Thiel survived the crash without any major injuries. The first woman who saw us
thought we were dead, and the whole thing felt like a roller coaster gone a little bit out of
control, Thiel said.8 Before the emergency services arrived to the scene, Thiel opened the gullwinged door, stepped out of the car, and hitchhiked a ride to not miss the meeting with Sequoia
Capital. Elon also hitchhiked a ride to the meeting once a tow truck arrived to the scene.
Despite the dramatic accident, the McLaren factory could repair the damaged car. The cars main
body had survived, but the front and the suspension were damaged. After the brief detour to the
workshop, Elon began using the McLaren F1 as his daily driver to and home from work.
Another unfortunate McLaren F1 driver was the British comedian and actor Rowan Atkinson,
also known as Mr. Bean. His black McLaren F1, number 61, has crashed twice. Luckily he
survived the accidents without any major injuries, but his insurance company had to pay the most
expensive insurance payout ever recorded in Britain.

In favor of Atkinsons driving skills, he has driven the car since 1997, covering a distance of 37
000 miles [60 000 km]. Its probably a world record among McLaren F1 owners.7
While Atkinson competes with other sports cars on a racetrack, Elon never participated in a race
with his car. Elon, however, once tried to see how fast he could drive it on an airstrip, and he
pushed the McLaren F1 to speeds of 215 mph [346 km/h].4
In 2007, Elon felt he had to sell his beloved McLaren F1. As the manager of a company
manufacturing environmental friendly cars, he wanted to improve his image. It was an
environmental decision, he said. My McLaren F1 was a great car. It was a work of art, really,
but its not good for the environment and I didnt want people always writing that I have a highperformance gasoline sports car, so I decided to sell it.69
Number 67 wasnt more safe with its new owner. After six months of winter storage in a garage,
the new owner wanted to take it out for a spin. A passing onlooker alerted the driver that smoke
came out of the rear engine compartment. As the owner jumped out, the fire spread quickly,
destroying large parts of the car. Since the car is a collectibles item, the McLaren factory had to
save it yet again. But theres no need to feel sad for the owner while the car was repaired the
owner had one McLaren F1 in reserve.5
So who said it was dull to be an engineer?

The Electric Stars

There was a time when more electric cars drove on the roads than there were cars powered by
fossil fuels. In 1900, electric motors powered 34 percent of the cars in New York, Boston, and
Chicago. A steam or a combustion engine powered the other cars.385
Manufactured in the late 1800s, the first electric cars were quiet, clean, and could be charged in
the home.59 The torpedo shaped electric car, The Never Satisfied, was the first vehicle to reach a
speed over 62 mph [100 km/h]. Those who saw the record thought they were going to die if they
traveled so fast. While Henry Ford mass produced gasoline cars, his wife Clara Ford drove a
1914 Detroit Electric with a range of 80 miles [130 km] and a speed of 20 mph [32 km/h].218
Around 1920, the gasoline cars began to outnumber the electric because they were easier to
refuel. In most smaller towns in America, the gasoline car arrived before electricity. The gasoline
car was also less expensive. You could buy three of Fords Model T for the price of just one
electric car.59,329 Several car manufacturers have since then again and again tried to sell electric
cars. But all models failed. They didnt always fail because the cars were expensive, slow, ugly,
or had a limited range they could also fail because the auto manufacturers wanted them to fail.
The best example is General Motorss EV1.
At the 1990 Los Angeles Auto Show, General Motors revealed an electric concept car: the
Impact. Because of the name, you could hear comments like, Whats next, the Ford Whiplash?
General Motors announced at the same time how the Impact would become a vehicle for the
mass market.

The California Air Resources Board realized this new generation of electric vehicles could solve
the states problem with pollution. The same year, they passed the Zero-Emission Vehicle
mandate. It said that if a car manufacturer wanted to sell cars in California, some cars must be
free from exhaust. California was a large market, so the car manufacturers didnt have any other
choice than to begin selling electric cars.330
The Impact evolved into the EV1 [Electric Vehicle 1]. It became the first modern mass produced
electric car 1 117 were manufactured between 1996 and 1999. The EV1 had two seats, a
futuristic shape where the rear wheels were almost covered, it was developed in California, and
was supposed to be the first in a series of electric vehicles. The next car in the series would be
called EV2, the next EV3, and so on. This is going to represent a great step forward for people
in terms of commuting to work, from work, if you dont have to go more than 120 miles [190
km] a day, the CEO of General Motors explained when he introduced the car.
Several celebrities enjoyed driving the EV1. The only sound they could hear from the car was a
slight hum and the quiet clicks from the brakes. Because there was no lag between pedal and
power, the EV1 owner and actor, Mel Gibson, thought he drove the same car as the superhero
Batman. With no gears to complicate acceleration, you get that launched sort of feeling, a
childish giddiness called the EV smile, a driver said.330
Another famous EV1 driver was Alexandra Paul, who played a lifeguard in the television series
Baywatch. Mine [EV1] was forest green, got 70 miles [113 km] on a charge, and handled like a
Porsche, she said. A couple years later, improved battery technology in the EV1 allowed me to
get 100 miles to a charge and then 120 miles to a charge. It was my only vehicle, and served 95
percent of my driving needs. When I needed to go farther, I borrowed a Toyota Prius.
Paul had previously owned two other electric cars. She had taken an interest in them ever since
the oil tanker Exxon Valdez struck a reef in Alaska and 500 000 barrels of oil spilled into the sea.
I was very much on my high horse about it, until I realized that I was part of the reason that the
Exxon Valdez was out there in the first place my car needed gasoline as much as the next
persons to take me from one place to another in my daily life, she said.379
The actor and director, Peter Horton, wanted to join the other celebrities. I decided to go
electric, he said. I had seen those sleek, sort of George Jetson EV1s shoot by me with
surprising speed on the freeways. I thought, fine, Ill get an EV1. But Horton couldnt find one.
General Motors had removed them from the market.229
According to General Motors, the EV1 failed. They didnt believe the car would bring in any
profits to the company because the EV1 would never appeal to anyone else than a small group of
technology enthusiasts and environmentalists. But before the car was removed from the streets, 4
000 people had written on a list how they wanted to order the EV1. General Motors called these
people and began the conversation with describing the cars limitations. So when they came to
the bottom of the list, it had shrunk to 50 people. The private individuals who supported the EV1
wondered if it really was a wise idea to sell a car by describing the limitations.

This is how one of the supporters recalled a discussion with General Motors:
Whats wrong with the batteries? The ones in my car seem to work fine, an EV1 owner asked.
Do you know how much it costs to replace those batteries? A lot, a General Motors
representative replied.
Yeah, but doesnt it cost a lot to replace a transmission or an engine in a traditional car?
Not as much as youd think. An engines only a couple hundred.
Thats because you mass produce them?
Well, that and other factors.
If you mass produced the batteries, wouldnt their cost come down?
Yeah, but were not.229
The final kill to the electric vehicle in California came when General Motors, Chrysler, and
several auto dealers sued the California Air Resources Board. In April 2003, California killed the
electric car mandate. They thought the batteries were not yet good enough to be a competitive
alternative to the gasoline car.
Another technology shift happened at the same time. With one billion dollars, the US
Government announced it would support the shift to hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.330 Elon Musk is
not a fan of fuel-cells and nicknamed them fool-cells.328 If car companies cant figure out
anything else to do they give a technology that is always ten years into the future and something
people dont quite understand, Elon said. People say, They are doing something for
sustainable transport, but we dont understand it and its ten years away. And then ten years go
by and nothing happens.366
General Motors didnt sell the EV1, the customers leased it for $250 to $500 per month. When
General Motors canceled the EV1 program, they told the owners they had to turn them in or they
would face legal consequences. Some owners wanted to keep their cars, so they fought back. But
nothing helped. General Motors called the police who carried away the last supporters who
blocked the truck that transported the last EV1 away from the roads in 2004.330
The now heartbroken EV1 owners held a funeral for the cars. You could hear a musical piece
with Scottish bagpipes and each owner held a speech. What the contractors and critics of
electric vehicles have been saying for years is true; the electric vehicle is not for everybody.
Given the limited range, it can only meet the needs of 90 percent of the population, an owner
said.330

A group of EV1 supporters traveled across the country to find out what had happened to their
cars. They heard a rumor that the cars had been transported to the General Motors proving
ground in Arizona. With a rented helicopter, they flew over the area and found the now crushed
cars. The EV1 had to be forcibly taken from people, and then the cars were sent to some car
graveyard where they were squashed, while the customers held a candle-light vigil, Elon said.
Now, when was the last time you heard of someone holding a candle-light vigil for a product,
let alone a General Motors product? How blind do you have to be to not realize that that is
something you should be pursuing, not destroying? Its astounding incompetence. Mind-blowing
incompetence. How foolish. Where would GM be today if it had done the EV2 and EV3?197
While General Motors manufactured the EV1, Toyota manufactured 1 480 electric RAV4 EV.
500 of them were still rolling on the roads as late as 2012. One famous RAV4 EV driver was the
actor Tom Hanks, famous from the movie Forrest Gump. He began to search for an electric
vehicle in 2003, and since the EV1 didnt exist anymore, he had to buy the RAV4 EV. When
the car companies collectively, and, to some, diabolically, decided to take these cars back, the
electric vehicles disappeared, Hanks said. But not mine. I have the pink slip. I own that car,
and it is still driven every day, albeit by one of my crack staff of employees. My electric car
recently crossed 50 000 miles [80 000 km] on the odometer with its original battery but without
so much as a splash of gasoline.191
In addition to the RAV4 EV, Hanks bought an eBox, which is an electric Toyota Scion xB. The
car actually looks like a box and may not win a design price, but Hanks liked it. There are three
electric cars sitting on the Moon, and now another one in my garage, Hanks said. The eBox
makes even more sense in Los Angeles than in the Taurus-Littrow Valley of the Moon. I can
drive all weekend, hauling dogs and helping my friends move, and the only reason Ill need to
stop at a gas station is for beef jerky and lottery tickets.192 Ironically, it was engineers from
General Motors who came up with the best design for the electric Lunar Rover that drove around
on the Moon.348
AC Propulsion was responsible for converting the Toyota Scion xB to the electric eBox. Alan
Al Cocconi, thus the AC in the company name, founded the company in 1992. Cocconi had
earlier worked with the now crushed EV1. He designed the first prototype in his garage. But as
General Motors didnt believe in the EV1, he decided to make a better car on his own.
Cocconi bought a Piontek kit car, converted it to electric power, and renamed it to tzero. We
designed it to show that ultimate performance is available for electric vehicle technology,
Cocconi said. The plan was that the tzero would be the first in a series of the next generation
environmental friendly vehicles. The name tzero originates from the engineering term t0, which
indicates the first measurement of time in a sequence of several measurements, where t1 is the
next measurement, and so on.
It was the tzero that convinced Hanks to buy an eBox. I drove their tzero electric sports car a
few years ago, so when they put the same technology in a four-door I wanted one for myself, he
said.219 The yellow tzero wouldnt win a design competition, it had no safety systems, and it was
expensive. But it was fast. When the car competed with a famous sports car, the Dodge Viper,
the tzero had a better acceleration.33

Elon has always liked cars. He has owned, among others, a 2007 Porsche 911 Turbo, a Hamann
BMW, an Audi Q7, the 1967 Series 1 E-type bad girlfriend Jaguar, and of course the McLaren
F1.4 He used the Porsche as a family car. Two of his children could sit in the tiny back seat.190
But electricity didnt power any of these cars.
Cars are the type of transportation that consumes the most oil. Out of the 20 million barrels of oil
consumed each day in the US, cars are using 25 percent, light trucks are using 18 percent, heavy
trucks are using 16 percent, and airplanes are using 6 percent. When theres no more oil to fill
the gasoline vehicles, then we have no other choice than to choose another type of fuel. Elons
prophecy is that peak oil will happen in 2020, so he believes a majority of all new cars
manufactured in year 2030 will be pure electric. 20 years after that, a majority of all cars on the
roads will be pure electric.360 There may be something cooler than a car in 20 years, but the
most likely outcome is that well still have cars and theyll be predominantly electric, Elon
said.316
Alternatives such as ethanol or fuel-cells are not good enough compared with the electric
alternative. Ethanol may work in countries where theres plenty of room to grow the plants that
will be turned into ethanol, but not in other countries. Domestic ethanol as the primary solution
will definitely not work for the worlds most populous countries, such as Japan, China, India,
Pakistan, Indonesia, Elon said. Those countries are either breaking even on domestic food
production or are net importers. If you argue that ethanol is to be grown elsewhere and shipped,
where are the vast tracts of unused arable land?248
Electricity is the best alternative because electricity is like cash it can be generated in many
ways. You can power an electric vehicle by generating electricity from coal, wind, solar, water,
oil, natural gas, geothermal, or nuclear power.359
Electric vehicles are also energy efficient to use. Lets say you produce electricity in a coal
power plant. If you calculate the CO2 per mile if an electric vehicle is charged with electricity
from the coal power plant, the electric vehicle will release less CO2 per mile compared with a
hybrid car. This is because even without clean electricity production, its very efficient to
produce power at a power plant. Whats important to appreciate is that even if the power is 100
percent coal-generated, the CO2 per mile is still better than a gasoline engine, Elon said. The
electric motor is incredibly good at turning energy into motion. Mostly what youre doing with a
gasoline engine in a car is generating heat.57
In 2003, Elon went to a lunch in Los Angeles organized by Harold Rosen.199 With them was also
JB Straubel, who first heard of Elon when he attended a Stanford University speech where Elon
talked about SpaceX.214
At age 14, Jeffrey Brian Straubel, known to all as JB, discovered a discarded electric golf cart.
He decided to rebuild it. To find the parts needed, he convinced his mother to drive as far as 50
miles [80 km] in search for batteries, tires, and electric motors. He was passionate about it, his
mother said. He wrote to the manufacturers for information. He worked on it every day, all day
long, all evening long, until he got it to run. JB was born to be an engineer. He was always
passionate about anything that had wheels and required engineering.

To motivate himself, he watch the movie October Sky. I watch it every year or so, he said.
Its inspirational. I always come out of it wanting to work harder.213,215
Straubel has always enjoyed the sound of silence. He can drive for hours without listening to
music. This might be the reason to why he became fascinated by machines powered by
electricity. Electric vehicles dont make much noise, Straubel said. When they do, something
is not right. Among other projects, he worked with unmanned electric airplanes, he converted a
Porsche 944 to electric drive, and he constructed an electric bicycle nicknamed the Red Bike. He
was also a fan of the EV1 and you can see him, or his unknown twin, driving it in the
documentary Who killed the electric car? I was talking to anyone and everyone to promote the
idea that electric vehicles had turned a corner, Straubel said. I told them that with new battery
technology, they could go much, much farther than anyone thought was possible.213,215
Armed with two engineering degrees from Stanford University, Straubel joined Rosen Motors
where he met Harold Rosen who was one of the founders. Rosen had previously worked within
the space industry and hes considered to be the father of the geosynchronous satellite. Straubel
and Rosen left Rosen Motors and founded Volacom where they helped the company Scaled
Composites the same company that won the Ansari X Prize.39
Straubel and Rosen sat now at the lunch table together with Elon. The topic of the day was space,
but they also talked about general topics. Elon mentioned how he came to California to work on
a new battery technology for electric vehicles, and how he became interested in them before
global warming became a hot topic. Maybe they laughed when Elon said he talked about cars
with girls he dated. And we talked about lithium-ion and what that meant for electric vehicle
range. Elon said. The EV1 had a range of about 120 miles [190 km] or so with nickel metal
hydride and so if you did a direct substitution of lithium-ion for nickel metal hydride, which has
directly two times the energy density you get to around a 240-250 mile range, which would be
acceptable to people.199 Its true because nearly eighty percent of all Americans drive less than
40 miles [64 km] a day.59
They began talking about AC Propulsion. Straubel, who had friends working at AC Propulsion,
mentioned that the company developed early prototypes of electric sports cars, and the
performance of these cars was good. After Elon told him he wanted to learn more, Straubel
arranged a meeting with AC Propulsion so Elon could drive the tzero.
Despite the cars disadvantages, Elon liked the ideas behind the tzero. He said it was a really
awesome vehicle. For several months, Elon tried to convince AC Propulsion to accept funding
from him to commercialize the tzero by creating an electric sports car for the mass market. But
AC Propulsion was a small company. They wanted to tinker and experiment with their vehicles
before they commercialized it, so they declined the offer. AC Propulsion also declined to sell a
tzero to Elon and convert his Porsche to electric drive.199
What Elon could do was to buy an eBox. While Hanks liked the car, Elon didnt like the idea to
convert the Toyota Scion xB. The basic vehicle cost $20 000, the electric conversion cost $45
000, so you had to pay $65 000 for the final vehicle. Who wants to take an ugly $20 000 car and
buy it for $65 000? Elon asked. Thats not a very viable strategy. I wouldnt want to drive it.

My wife certainly wouldnt want to drive it. I said, Look, I wouldnt even drive an electric
Scion if it was free. I mean, its OK as a car, but come on.4,209
Elon told AC Propulsion that if they didnt want to manufacture an electric vehicle for the mass
market, then he would do it on his own. Do you want to meet Martin, Marc, and Ian? AC
Propulsion asked Elon.199
Martin Eberhard was born in 1960 in California and at age thirteen, he drove his first car. With a
degree in computer and electric engineering from the University of Illinois, he had founded
several companies.209
In 1996, Eberhard co-founded NuvoMedia together with Marc Tarpenning. He was born in 1964
in California and earned a degree in computer science from the University of California. After
graduating, he spent the next five years in the oil-rich nation of Saudi Arabia where he worked at
Textron - an American company involved in a wide range of products, including electric golf
carts.
It was when he was working in Saudi Arabia that Tarpenning discovered the oil industrys darker
sides. The amount of treasure that is sent to the Middle East to supply our oil addiction is
astonishing, he said. And it doesnt necessarily do good things there and it doesnt do good
things for us, and that got me thinking that oil is not so great.453
In 2000, Eberhard and Tarpenning sold their company to Gemstar for $187 million.71 Now they
wanted to create a new company. We knew we wanted to solve a real problem, Tarpenning
said. We just couldnt do another network widget. They researched a wide range of major
problems, including water scarcity and income inequality. So we looked at these big problems,
and there are a lot of big problems out there, but the one that we took was oil, Tarpenning
said.453
The reason why they thought oil was the major problem is because oil causes several other
problems, including global warming, political problems, and economical problems. If you can
reduce your dependency on oil everything gets easier, Tarpenning said.453
When US refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, Eberhard was embarrassed, and
he was concerned about how US had to import oil from troublesome countries. This was when
primarily US troops for the second time in twelve years invaded Iraq.205 To me, the only way
that I can be successful at something is to work at something I actually care about, Eberhard
said. This time around, the something meaningful I care about was oil consumption. It was clear
to me that we had to do something about our oil consumption, both from a global warming
perspective and from a national security perspective.355
To calm his nerves, he tried to buy an electric car. But he realized he couldnt find one to buy.
So I was considering some of the electric cars that were on the market, Eberhard said. I didnt
particularly like them, but I thought about maybe I would convince myself to get one. And just
about when I had talked myself into that, they disappeared from the market. He realized not a
single car company in America tried to design a decent electric car.200

While not petting his Siamese cat, Eberhard cruised around in California. He saw how wealthy
people, including actor Clint Eastwood, drove the environmental friendly Toyota Prius only
because they cared about the environment. The gasoline price was in 2003 low, so they didnt
drive it to save money.196 Every time I get into my Prius, I feel like Im demonstrating my point
of view on national security, the talent agent, Ari Emanuel, said when he replaced his Ferrari
with a Prius.346
When the Prius drivers returned home, they also had a Porsche or a similar expensive gasoline
car parked in their garage. Eberhard realized a market existed for a sports car with the same
performance as a Porsche and at the same time was more environmental friendly than the Prius
a Porschius as he called it.345 The average income of the EV1 drivers was above $200 000 per
year. Since they couldnt drive the EV1 anymore, maybe they would buy a Porschius? Or maybe
they needed an electric motorcycle? But the market for such as bike wasnt as interesting as the
market for electric cars.453
The Prius had both a battery and a gasoline engine, but the battery couldnt charge when the
owner parked the car. Without plug-in capability, a hybrid is just a gasoline powered car with
some fancy hardware, Eberhard said. He nicknamed the Prius dork mobile. Elon had the same
ideas. You could have the entire country driving the Prius and wed still be addicted to oil,
Elon said. When you create a hybrid, youre designing an amphibian and an amphibian is
going to be a worse fish than a fish, and a worse mouse than a mouse or whatever creature you
want to pick.197 Elon nicknamed the Prius gas-guzzling hog.
Eberhard and Tarpenning examined the electric car market, mainly with the help of a Google
search and by ordering brochures on eBay. They came to the same conclusions as Elon had when
he did a similar market research. Electric power is the future because electricity gives you the
highest efficiency and performance compared with other alternatives.345 Hydrogen fuel-cells,
natural gas, hybrid technologies, and diesel were all dismissed as competitive alternatives.196
What surprised me was that electric cars were substantially more efficient than everything else
out there, Eberhard said.205
The tzero did not only convince Elon, it also convinced Eberhard he could design a true electric
sports car. He had earlier invested money in AC Propulsion they had lost several contracts and
were about to go bankrupt and he also drove the tzero as a daily driver during three months.
The company was about to go out of business, Eberhard said. When I saw them, they had five
employees left and were not paying salaries. I paid their rent and commissioned them to build a
car.223
The drawback with the tzero wasnt the speed - it was the 60 miles [100 km] range. To increase
the range, Eberhard told AC Propulsion to replace the old batteries with thousands of lithium-ion
batteries the same battery as in a laptop or a mobile phone. Eberhard used these batteries at
NuvoMedia where he and Tarpenning developed the RocketBook an early e-book reader
similar to the Kindle and the iPad. Before Amazon developed the Kindle, NuvoMedia negotiated
with the CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, if Amazon wanted to invest in their company. But
Ebehard didnt agree to Bezoss demands.411

The RocketBooks batteries lasted for 20 to 24 hours. When they installed the new batteries, the
device became lighter but had the same performance.344 It turned out AC Propulsion already
experimented with the same batteries, and the new batteries worked as expected. The tzeros
range increased to 300 miles [480 km] and the acceleration improved to 0-60 mph [0-100 km/h]
in 3.6 seconds.196
In the summer of 2003, Eberhard co-founded Tesla Motors together with Tarpenning. When they
founded the company, they chose between if they should name the company after the scientists
Nikola Tesla or Michael Faraday.350 They agreed on Tesla Motors. Another fan of Tesla is Elon,
who even contributed with financial aid to a future Tesla museum. JB Straubel is also a fan of
Tesla and one of his favorite biographies is Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla by Marc
J. Seifer.215
Born in 1856, Tesla became a productive scientist, and has given name to the units of
magnetism, which are units of tesla [T]. At the end of his life, he went a little crazy. He became
fascinated by the pigeons in the park and he designed death-rays that would end all wars.
Teslas problem was that he wasnt entirely sane, and that got worse later in his life, Elon said.
Retaining sanity is important.128
In 1943, Tesla died poor and alone in a hotel room. The reason why he was poor was that he
could build his inventions in his brain he almost never made the physical products so he
couldnt make any money. When he finished the design in his head, he became bored, and
moved on to the next idea. I need no models, drawings, or experiments, Tesla said. I could
picture them all as real in my mind. I do not rush into actual work. When I get an idea, I start at
once building it up in my imagination. I change the construction, make improvements and
operate the device in my mind. It is absolutely immaterial to me whether I run my turbine in
thought or test it in my shop.
Tesla and Elon are quite similar to each other. As children, both of them read many books and
made experiments. Both studied physics and they moved from other countries to the US. While
Tesla decided not to join the military by living in the forest for a year, Elon moved to Canada to
avoid joining the military.
In February 2004, the founding team behind Tesla finished writing a business plan. Their idea
was to license the electric powertrain technology from AC Propulsion and to use an existing car
manufacturer to build the rest of the car. What they needed now was money, lots of money, so
they began looking for outside investors.
One interesting thing they did was to present Tesla in front of investors and friends they from the
beginning knew wouldnt invest in the company because they invested in other areas. We asked
them if we could pitch to them this goofy car company idea we had, Tarpenning said. We
wanted the feedback before we shot our silver bullets with the real people that might fund us.
Because of the feedback they received, they changed their business plan, including the entire
distribution model.453

One of their friends they practiced in front of was Ian Wright. He had met Eberhard in 1998
when they sat next to each other on a flight between San Francisco and Tokyo. They began to
talk and realized that both were interested in cars and they lived only a short distance from each
other. Wright worked as a senior director of engineering at Network Equipment Technologies
and was an amateur race car builder and driver.384
Wright was also an entrepreneur and he practiced to present his business idea in front of
Eberhard and Tarpenning. It turned out that Wrights idea never worked, but he thought Teslas
idea was so interesting that he joined the company. They were keen to get me to join up because
I used to build and race sports cars as a hobby in Australia, Wright said. I knew a bit more
about how cars worked than they did. The tipping point for me was when Martin borrowed the
tzero from AC Propulsion, and I got to drive it. That was the thing that persuaded me although
I wouldnt want to buy that car, I could certainly see how you could make something new and
interesting with electric drive.26
The NASDAQ stock market index was at an all-time low and most investors licked their wounds
from the dot.com bubble. They were not interested in financing heavy industry, especially not in
companies involved in environmental friendly technology when the price of oil was low. Back
then the only electric vehicles you could buy were golf carts, and the VCs couldnt imagine
themselves wanting to buy one of those, so it was a very uphill battle at that time, Wright said.
A few investors were interested, but only if Tesla found a lead investor.205
Eberhard had earlier met a person called Elon Musk at a conference arranged by the Mars
Society. He contacted Elon by e-mail when AC Propulsion told him Elon was interested in
electric cars. Elon replied with an invitation to a meeting at SpaceX.
In April 2004, after a two-hour meeting, Elon decided to invest $6.3 million in the company
Tesla Motors.196 Its kind of crazy, who in their right mind would start a car company? Elon
asked. But I guess I have more than my fair share of hubris. Ill do it. Im in, well draw up the
paperwork, but we have to close it in three weeks, because my wife is having twins and if we
dont get it done by then its not going to happen.205 Elon wasnt the only investor, but he
contributed with 98 percent of the funding. The other investors consisted of smaller venture
capital firms and individuals like Eberhard.199,209
But the founders of Tesla and Elon didnt agree on all points. The main difference was that Elon
had a larger vision. While he wanted to build a company as large as General Motors, the
founders wanted to build a small company. Well, there are a few things that I disagreed in what
they showed, Elon said. I didnt want to be a niche sports car company. I wanted it to be
something that would aim for the mass market as soon as possible.199 But Tesla didnt have any
other options. Tesla needed a deal with Elon far more than Elon needed an investment in Tesla.
You take money from the people who offer it to you, Eberhard said. People think Im some
kind of rich guy, but Im not. I still clean the bathrooms in my house, I wash my own laundry, I
change my childrens nappies.196,205

The total number of employees at Tesla was now five. Eberhard became the CEO, Tarpenning
became the CFO, Ian Wright became the VP of vehicle development, Elon became the chairman
and the head of product design. Straubel joined the company and worked as an engineer for
about a year before he became the CTO.199
To save the world from its dependency on oil, Tesla needed to manufacture many cars. But that
would have been impossible for a newly founded company. A better idea was to begin with an
expensive car that might not save the world, but it will start the snowball. Any new technology
on the market is expensive: the first computers, the first mobile phones, and the first gasoline
cars. You can look at the early days of the cell phone like when you look at the original Wall
Street movie where the guy is walking around with the brick phone with a lousy signal and 30
minutes of battery time and it was really expensive, Elon said. In those days, if you asked
people if eventually everyone would have a portable phone with the power of a supercomputer
you would be told no way. Thats how it is when you have a new technology you have to
look at where its headed. To quote Wayne Gretzky, skate to where the pucks going to be.
Thats how it is with electric cars.375
You need two things to make a technology available to the mass market and at the same time
make it affordable: economies of scale and optimize the design. Usually at the third version of a
product, it starts reaching mass market potential.322 Any car that we make at low volume, which
is the first version of technology will be expensive, Elon said. It didnt matter what that car
look like. We can make something that look like a very standard vehicle, such as a Toyota
Corolla, and it would have cost $70 000. But nobody would pay that for what looks like a midsize economy sedan. But people are willing to pay $100 000 for a fast sports car.339
So the strategy Tesla had was to begin with a high-price, low-volume car. This models
codename was DarkStar after a classic science fiction movie.272 You can only charge a high price
for a limited number of cars, and you can expect a customer to pay a high price for a sports car.
DarkStar would prove that the customers wanted a high-performance electric car. It would also
give the company credibility. The suppliers would be willing to write contracts with Tesla and
Tesla could find more money from investors who now trusted the company.
WhiteStar would be phase two. Thats a mid-price, mid-volume car. The profits from the
DarkStar would pay for the development of the WhiteStar. In keeping with a fast growing
technology company, all free cash flow is plowed back into R&D [Research & Development] to
drive down the costs and bring the follow on products to market as fast as possible, Elon said.247
Phase three would be the car with mass market potential. The high-volume, low-price car, with
the codename BlueStar. Our long term plan is to build a wide range of models, including
affordable priced family cars, Elon said.
Tesla thought it would cost $25 million before they could deliver the first DarkStar, but in the
end, they would need $140 million. We hugely underestimated the challenge the complexity
of supply chains, of manufacturing, of the battery design. It was like working through a maze,
Straubel said.59 Pretty much everything went wrong, Elon added. But no one outside of the
company knew what was happening because Tesla developed the DarkStar in secret. Silicon
Valley is a great place to run a secret car company, Eberhard said. Nobody expected
something to sprout up in Northern California, so no one came looking.272

2.Pagina online creata pentru a informa despre Elon Musk, accesat la data de 15.11.2014
http://elonmusk.com/about-elon-musk/
Elon Musk is an engineer and entrepreneur who builds and operates companies to solve
environmental, social and economic challenges. He co-founded PayPal and currently drives
strategy, development and design at two companies he created, Space Exploration Technologies
(SpaceX) and Tesla Motors, and is chairman of SolarCity, which was co-founded by Lyndon and
Peter Rive. He led SpaceXs efforts to be the first private company to successfully launch and
dock a spacecraft with the international space station
SpaceX
Musk is CEO and Chief Designer of SpaceX, the company he founded in 2002 to build the
worlds most advanced rockets and spacecraft with the ultimate goal of extending human life to
other planets. He designed Falcon 1, the first privately developed liquid fuel rocket to reach
Earth orbit, as well as the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft. SpaceX made history when its
Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial vehicle in history to successfully attach to the
International Space Station on May 25th, 2012. In 2008, NASA awarded SpaceX a $1.6 billion
contract for 12 cargo flights to and from the International Space Station, effectively replacing the
Space Shuttle. In 2010, SpaceX became the first commercial company to successfully recover a
spacecraft from Earth orbit; a feat previously only achieved by a few nations. In 2011, the
company started work preparing the spacecraft to carry astronauts under a NASA award. The
first manned flights are expected in 2015.
Tesla Motors
As CEO and head of product design at Tesla Motors, Musk oversees strategy for the all-electric
American car company he co-founded to design, engineer and manufacture affordable electric
vehicles for mainstream consumers. He currently guides development of the Model S, the
worlds first premium electric sedan, and Model X, an SUV/minivan. Previously, he spearheaded
design of the original Tesla Roadster, the first battery electric sports car. Musk developed the
business and sales strategy to deliver Tesla vehicles to consumers worldwide and forged
partnerships with Daimler and Toyota, through which Tesla Motors sells electric powertrain
systems to those companies.
SolarCity
As chairman of SolarCity, Musk provides strategic direction for the company he conceived to
help combat global warming and minimize air pollution. SolarCity is a national leader in clean
energy services.
PayPal
Musks early innovation and success in Internet technology paved the way for him to focus on
his lifelong passion for science, engineering and space. In March 1999, he co-founded X.com,
which pioneered online point-of-sale functionality for purchases and quickly became one of the
Webs leading financial institutions. In 2000, X.com bought Confinity, and formed PayPal, and
successfully made it the leading global payment transfer provider.

He served as PayPals chairman and chief product officer, and was its largest shareholder until
eBay purchased PayPal in 2002 for $1.5 billion. Prior to PayPal, Musk co-founded Zip2, an
Internet software company that he sold to Compaq in 1999 for over $300 million.
Musks achievements in business and technology have been widely recognized. Time Magazine
included him on its 2010 TIME 100 list of 100 people who most affected the world. Esquire
Magazine named him one its 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century, and Forbes
Magazine named him one of Americas 20 Most Powerful CEOs 40 and Under. Based on his
work at SpaceX, Tesla Motors and Solar City, Research and Development Magazine named
Musk its Innovator of the Year and Inc. Magazine named him its Entrepreneur of the Year.
His focus on space exploration and his contributions to the field are also renowned. The world
governing body for aerospace records, Fdration Aronautique Internationale, presented Musk
with its Gold Space Medal for designing the first privately developed rocket to reach orbit. The
Kitty Hawk Foundation recognized Musk as a Living Legend in Aviation for creating the Falcon
9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft, and Aviation Week named him its 2008 Laureate for his
significant global achievements in the space industry. Musk has received the Heinlein Prize for
his contributions to the commercialization of space; the American Institute of Aeronautics and
Astronautics award for the greatest contribution to the field of space transportation; and the
National Space Society Von Braun Trophy for the most significant achievement in space.
Musk created and is chairman of the Musk Foundation, which focuses on aerospace, clean
energy, science education and pediatric health. The Foundation has donated solar power projects
to Soma, Japan a city devastated by both earthquake and tsunami and to a hurricane response
center in coastal Alabama operated by victims of Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf Oil Spill.
Facilitated by SolarCity, these projects bring much-needed low-cost, clean power to both regions
as recovery efforts continue.
Musk is a trustee of the X Prize Foundation, which promotes renewable energy technologies, and
sits on the boards of The Space Foundation, The National Academies Aeronautics and Space
Engineering Board and The Planetary Society. He is also a member of the Stanford University
Engineering Advisory Council.
He holds a physics degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a business degree from
Wharton.

3.Conferinta Caltech 2012, accesat 15.11.2014, pagina 6 din 31

https://commencement.caltech.edu/documents/15-2012_commencement_program.pdf
Elon Musk is a technology entrepreneur, business leader, and scientific innovator who is spearheading
revolutionary ideas in three global industries: automobiles, energy, and space exploration.
Musk is the founder and chief executive officer of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Tesla
Motors, and the chairman of SolarCity. He is most well known for helping to make mass production of electric
vehicles viable and for pioneering commercial spaceflight through the Hawthorne-based SpaceX, which sent
the worlds first commercial spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station in May. Prior to his more
recent ventures, Musk cofounded PayPal, the worlds leading Internet payment system, and served as the
companys chairman and CEO.
In February 2011, Musk was recognized by Forbes as one of Americas 20 Most Powerful CEOs 40 and
Under. In 2010, the Kitty Hawk Foundation honored him as a Living Legend in Aviation for creating the
Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft. That same year, Musk became the youngest recipient of the
Automotive Executive of the Year Innovator Award for his work at Tesla Motors and was named to the
Time 100. Earlier honors include being recognized for his work by R&D magazine in 2007 and receiving the
National Space Societys 2009 Von Braun Award, given for leadership of the most significant achievement
in space

4.Articol despre Tesla, Elon Musk si strategia de piata a companiei, accesat 15.11.2014
http://www.techcircuit.net/back-to-the-future-with-tesla/

Im going to delve into all-electric motor vehicles. Specifically, Im going to focus on Tesla
Motors and what makes this company, product, and just the very idea of an all-electric
automotive industry so geektastic.
Very Brief History of Tesla
Founded in 2003 by two groups of investors interested in commercializing AC Propulsions TZero prototype, Tesla Motors is a publicly-traded, Silicon Valley-based company that designs,
manufactures and sells electric cars and electric vehicle power train components (Wikipedia).
With cutting-edge, sports-inspired engineering and styling going into every car model Tesla
offers, Tesla challenges the premise that the world is not ready for all-electric daily drivers by
providing vehicles touting impressive horsepower, mpc (miles per charge), and elements of fun.
Geek Factor #1: Elon Musk
Serial entrepreneur and inventor, South African-born Elon Musk dared to go where none of the
Big Three thought modern society could go until 2018 or so. This sense of confidence and risk
has made Musk a shoo-in for several awards and recognitions, but more importantly also makes
him a prime contender for TechCircuits Tech Geek of the Yearand thats not even a real award
(yet). Kidding aside, Musk makes Tesla a tech geeks kind of company. He changes the
landscape of business. He opens new frontiers in the tech space. Paypal, SpaceX, and SolarCity
all are companies hes either founded or has had a large hand in making successful.

All are companies that have changed, are changing, or will change our very way of life. In short,
Musk has the vision and marbles to build great products and companies.
Additionally, with Tesla, Musk is building a product and company branded with just the right
amount of idealism. Its conjectured that Musks interest in electric-powered transportation
extends as far back as his college years. This makes sense, after all college is the colloquial
hotbed for ideals (among other things). If Musk was indeed thinking about electric vehicles
then and is continuing to further develop his ideas on electric vehicles now, even with all his
successes to lean on and retire with, its going to be tough to bet against Musk and all hes put
into building Tesla. The takeaway here is that hes truly passionate about his ideas and his
business.
Finally, Musks passion is coupled with a genuine interest to better the world and give people
what they want. Hes made it clear that one of Teslas missions is to make electric vehicle
ownership available to the masses at affordable prices.
The strategy of Tesla from the beginning has always been to start with a low volume, high
priced car, then go to a medium volume, mid-priced car, and then low priced, high volume.
Elon Musk
While words only go so far, I think Musk and Team Tesla are proving his words are not empty
and the ultimate goal (Teslas ideal outcome) is within reach. To understand Teslas ideal, you
only need to look at the business that is Tesla. Musk doesnt limit Tesla to the manufacturing of
cars. As a business, Tesla is more than that. Musk has created parts of his business to serve as
OEM distributors to other automobile manufacturers dipping their feet into the electro arena.
Yes, Tesla makes money off of these relationships with other competitors, but this is a win-win
situation for the consumer and thats what really matters. From an investors perspective, this
strategy is risky but well-founded. This strategy sets Tesla up to attain cash flow from various
parts of its business without a sole reliance on consumer acceptance nor actual demand for
Teslas cars. Obviously if consumers stop buying Tesla automobiles altogether, then Tesla will
fail. However, simply put, Musk isnt putting all Teslas eggs in one basket and this means Tesla
has fallback cash flow should demand ever slow. In my book, this diversification points to longterm, sustainable, and organic growth.
For Tesla, to have Musk at the helm during the bumpy roads theyve already faced and will
continue to encounter is a major plus. The coolest thing about all of this is we as consumers
stand to benefit if Musk is right (as he has been so many times before) and Tesla succeeds.

Geek Factor #2: Timing (Gonna rock down to electric avenue)

Tesla entered the market at just the right time and has a long history of electric vehicle
manufacturing attempts, successes, and failures to keep its business moves in check. Electric
vehicles (EV) are nothing newthe first electric vehicle (carriage) was released in the early
1800s. Electric vehicles simply didnt have enough traction during their initial, phased releases.
Then, with mass-scale commercial oil drilling and the introduction of the more powerful internal
combustion engine in the 1850s, EV lost its golden sheen for investors. Timing wasnt right.
Now, as were well into the new millennium, the time is ripe for EVs reemergence. Media
reports, academic curricula, and social commentary over the last two decades have refocused
attention on fuel consumption, global warming, and the hazards of drilling. For EV, all the right
wrongs have finally reared their ugly heads to justify giving EV a long-awaited second chance.
At this juncture, Tesla is poised to cash in on the green craze taking over the world faster than
the Gangnam nonsense did in 2012 and definitely more gracefully than the Harlem Shake (yeah,
I went there). With tremendous government backing and more than $4 billion set aside to support
electric vehicle manufacturing and research, Tesla has set the stage for a fast and furious uptick
in green collar jobs which will eventually replace the blue collar automotive jobs of yesteryear.
Other manufacturers are following their lead, rocking down to our generations electric avenue.
Conclusion
The year is 2013 and electric vehicles have still not become staples in our everyday lives.
Earmarking 2013 as a year for positive cash flow, Tesla is speedily making moves which should
change that fact. Looking back upon the history of EV and Robert Zemeckis film, I chuckle. For
ideas that didnt seem far away several years ago, but are only now coming to fruition, it has sure
been a bumpy ride for proponents of EV. With Teslas unique power train, sophisticated lithiumion batteries, classy design, and a proven CEO behind the wheel of the EV charge, I have no
doubt the ride will be exciting and smooth going forward.

5. Articol al ziarului Telegraph despre Elon Musk, accesat 16.11.2014

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/10544247/Meet-tech-billionaire-and-real-life-IronMan-Elon-Musk.html
By the time Elon Musk founded the company that would become PayPal, in 1999, he had
already built and sold one internet business. But this time he hit the jackpot. Already wealthier
than most of us will ever dream of being, he netted close to $180 million from PayPals sale to
eBay, enough to retire at the age of 32, or to set up a venture capital fund and invest in hungry
young entrepreneurs such as he once was the conventional path for made men in Californias
Silicon Valley.

But this is not what Musk did. Since the birth of the public internet in the mid-1990s, there have
been complaints that, with the best minds of a generation focused either on finding new ways to
play the stock market or on tinkering with software, the big picture was being lost. With so much
novelty in the world, who has time to look up and dream of building moon bases or cathedrals?
The answer seems to be Elon Musk. In 2002 he launched SpaceX, a private company focused on
shaking up the moribund space industry. Then a year later came Tesla Motors, a start-up car
manufacturer that aimed to produce all-electric production cars, something mainstream
manufacturers had tried to do and failed miserably. By any rational assessment, both projects
were preposterous and doomed to fail, and when their originator voiced an ambition to colonise
Mars, even admirers began to mention the word hubris destroyer of many a rich young net
mogul. When Musks companies hit trouble, he was widely assumed to be through.
No. By the time we meet in late 2013, Elon Musk sits atop two billion-dollar corporations and
appears to stand on the brink of changing the world in significant ways. s first all-electric family
car, the Model S saloon, hit US streets with the highest ratings ever conferred by either the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or the influential Consumer Reports
organisation, and went on to win several significant awards, while SpaceX has been contracted
by Nasa to ferry cargo and ultimately people to the International Space Station, effectively
replacing the Space Shuttle. Whats more, Musk has reduced the cost of reaching the ISS by a
staggering 90 per cent, from $1 billion per mission to a mere $60 million, with more savings to
follow.
As if this werent enough, he is chairman of the board and largest shareholder at the solar energy
developers SolarCity, and recently made world news by publishing design studies for a solarpowered Hyperloop rapid transit system, capable of reaching Birmingham from London in
eight minutes (take that, HS2). He has just been named business person of the year by Fortune
magazine, and in August, the day after Tesla officially moved into profit, Bloomberg estimated
his personal wealth at $7.7 billion, making him the 162nd richest person in the world at the age
of 42. Everything about him is mind boggling.
So if Hollywood gossip claims Musk as the model for Tony Stark, the genius engineer played by
Robert Downey Jr in the Iron Man movies, it is easy to see why. If he succeeds with even half
his plans, he will have made a more profound impact on the world than any living politician: if
he doesnt, such high-visibility failures could set his chosen causes back decades. Married to the
British actress Talulah Riley, and with five young sons from his first marriage, Musk leads a life
as colourful as the comic books he might have sprung from. So who is this boyish-looking halfman, half-screenwriters fantasy and where on earth did he come from?
Needless to say, getting an audience with Elon Musk is akin to rocket science these days. In
addition to flying his own jet between the Tesla plant near San Francisco and the LA
headquarters of SpaceX, where he oversees a rapidly expanding launch schedule as CEO and
chief designer, he appears to make a real effort to father his sons. I had been sceptical of the
Musk is Iron Man story until I met the films director-producer, Jon Favreau, in the SpaceX
reception.

That Iron Man story is PR embroidery, right?

No, Favreau told me affably. It was the idea of this guy who could make anything happen.
Which is Elon, you know? So we came to see him. He likes to say engineering is the closest
thing to magic, and he really believes that.
Favreau further reveals that parts of Iron Man 2 were shot inside and outside SpaceX (Watch it
again and youll see), and that he is here to see Musk demonstrate a system for designing
machinery by waving ones hands in the air, like in the film.
So I am a little chastened as I step into the main SpaceX building, at which point the months of
waiting, the delays and last-minute schedule changes simply fall away. How to describe the
quirkiness of this place? The complex was once used for assembling jumbo jets and feels more
like a film set than any film set I have ever visited.
The first thing you see on being ushered in and warned off photography (by government decree,
this being classified US technology) is the enormous leg of an experimental vertical-take-offand-landing grasshopper rocket and, suspended above the shop floor, the seven-seater Dragon
spaceship, which made history as the first commercial craft to dock with the International Space
Station in May 2012. Beyond these, a large glass box houses the SpaceX mission control centre,
in which a dozen or so young people stare at screens and projected images of a gargantuan, 27engined Falcon Heavy rocket on its launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base. If the Heavy
succeeds in reaching space, it will be earths most powerful rocket by a factor of two.
But the big surprise is not the rocket, it is the people in the control room. These are not the cleanshaven, white-shirted technicians of aerospace convention: they are bearded men in camouflage
shorts and Pixies T-shirts; willowy young women in Indian skirts and sandals. Look around and
you will see others riding trikes across the shop floor or discussing engineering problems over
free frozen yogurt from an ice cream bar by the open-plan canteen. This is a rocket factory
straight out of Silicon Valley, where hierarchy is worn lightly and so long as the work gets done,
no one cares what you wear. Aerospace is notoriously shy of women, but Musks right-hand
man, Gwynne Shotwell, is a woman. More radically still, in an outsource-happy industry,
SpaceX claims that 70 to 80 per cent of its product is made here, under one roof, by its local US
workforce.
Musk occupies a corner workstation near the front entrance. Twice I am given a time to meet
him and twice urgent business intervenes. When eventually I am led over, I find him in a white
checked shirt, jeans and trainers staring intently at a computer screen. On his desk are scale
models of a SpaceX Falcon and a Saturn V moon rocket, as well as a samurai sword with a
stingray-leather handle, presented for services to space.
I have been warned that Musks manner can tend to be brusque, but my first impression is of
time seeming to accelerate alarmingly the moment he turns and starts to speak, with conversation
racing into the distance then abruptly pulling up, indicating that whatever might be said on a
particular topic has been said and youd better launch another into the space between you, fast,
before something else rushes into the void.

He is taller and broader than expected from his boyish good looks and geek-god propensities,
with the surprise build of a rugby player. I inadvertently make mention of his computer mouse
and get a three-minute meditation on the evolution of the mouse as a tool. Still reeling from what
Ive seen in my first rocket factory, I wonder almost involuntarily whether the scale of what he
has done ever scares him, and am surprised to see him relax at the ingenuousness of the question.
Yes. Yes, he smiles. We started with just me at SpaceX and now its 3,000 people It is kind
of crazy.
So how did he get here? Musk was born 42 years ago in Pretoria, to a South African electrical
engineer and Canadian model mother, Maye Musk. His childhood nickname was Genius Boy:
he wrote and sold his first video game at age 12, but was bullied at school for being a smartypants. No less out of step with the Silicon Valley mainstream, he has clashed with peers
including Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, whose FWD.us technology pressure group he left amid
accusations of cynicism. Often described as a disrupter the most coveted epithet among
libertarian-leaning techies such as Zuckerberg Musk bridles at the terms application to him.
In fact Im often introduced on stage as someone who likes to disrupt and Im, like He pulls
a surprised face. And then the first thing I have to say is, Wait, I dont actually like to disrupt,
that sounds disruptive! He laughs. Im much more inclined to say, How can we make
things better? And a lot of my motivation comes from me personally looking at things that dont
work well and feeling a bit sad about how it would manifest in the future. And if that would
result in an unhappy future, then it makes me unhappy. And so I want to fix it. That really is the
motivation for me. I certainly dont believe in disrupting things for the sake of it.
I mean, my original interest in electric cars and solar energy, which goes back to when I was in
university, was not based on environmental concern, it was based on sustainability, in the sense
of ensuring that civilisation can continue to progress. Were finding new sources of oil, but
theyre becoming increasingly difficult to access. That Deep Water Horizon disaster, the reason
it was Deep Water is because the Shallow Water Horizon was gone!
I have wondered whether this profoundly un-Silicon Valley desire to be socially useful stems
from a childhood lived in apartheid South Africa, which he left at the age of 17 rather than serve
in what he has called in the past a fascist army.
Ive never thought about that. Yeah, it probably did, he says. But dont forget that I also read a
lot of comic books as I was growing up, and I think that might have influenced me just as much.
I mean, theyre always trying to save the world, with their underpants on the outside or these
skin-tight iron suits, which is really pretty strange when you think about it. But they are trying to
save the world. His eyes crinkle in laughter, and lest this claim be taken for facetiousness, he
later gleefully confesses in an email to having named one of his sons after Professor Xavier of
the X-Men.
The year Musk became properly interesting was 2008. Until then, adult life had gone almost
embarrassingly to plan. Simultaneous degrees in physics and economics were followed by
marriage to the fantasy writer Justine Wilson and the mid-1990 web-rush. With his brother

Kimbal he founded Zip2, an online media services company which was sold to Compaq for $307
million in 1999, followed by X.com, which soon became PayPal, bringer of SpaceX and Tesla:
so far, so good.
But then in 2008 three failed launches left SpaceX hanging in the balance, just as Teslas
flagship Roadster hit every production problem under the sun. Footage of Musk addressing a
crowd of angry Tesla customers still makes me shiver after three viewings and his subsequent
admission that, Thats as close as Ive been to a nervous breakdown, rings uncomfortably true.
Worse, his marriage had unravelled into an acrimonious and very public divorce.
The sensible choice was for Musk to cut his losses and protect the $75 million he still had left.
Instead, he poured the remains of his fortune into his businesses as if shaking a fist at the world.
And as though from the same impulse, he met Talulah Riley in a London nightclub and proposed
six weeks later, meaning that at the age of 23 she found herself living in a 20,000sq ft Bel Air
mansion, part-guardian to five boisterous children and their disintegrating father, with an angry
ex-wife in the background. None of this looks like fun, and there was little surprise when he and
Riley parted a few years later (though they are now back together).
Musks nostrils flare as he contemplates that year, in which any rational observer imagined him
finished. He rocks back in his chair and exhales deeply when asked just how close he was to the
brink. Both Tesla and SpaceX were very close to dying. SpaceX had our third launch failure: we
just barely had enough resources to do a fourth, and if that had failed it would have been
curtains. Fortunately, it worked, but even then we werent quite out of the woods.
I find it hard to believe that he really had nothing squirrelled away.
No. Everything that Ive earned up to today is in this. Eventually we were awarded a big
contract from Nasa, but what a lot of people dont understand is that up to that point all the
funding had come from me.
So he really would have been back to square one? Yeah, absolutely, he smiles wearily. In fact
I would have been slightly worse than square one, since I would have owed money to my exwife, among others ha ha.
One of the things I most want to understand is why Musk didnt do what any business coach or
vaguely sane person would have advised, and walk away while he still had some personal
security, putting the failure down to experience? Was it the blind belief of the extreme
entrepreneur? Or pride? Or some entrepreneurial second sense? I wonder how much the
SpaceX/Tesla story was planned in advance?
The truth is, it sort of crept up on me, he says mildly. I didnt expect SpaceX or Tesla to be
successful. I thought theyd most likely fail.
You did?

Oh sure. There were no good examples of rocket companies starting up and succeeding at that
time.
So this wasnt a case of unshakeable faith in your ability to do this?
He actually laughs. No! But I had to try. Someone did.
So you knew the most likely outcome was you would lose everything, but did it anyway? Thats
not business.
Sure. Absolutely. And its not like I lack some sort of a fear gene, by the way, I feel fear quite
strongly. He smiles again. I just thought, these are important things. And if Tesla were to fail, it
would be held up as a warning for ever, a setback for electric cars in general. Same for SpaceX
and commercial rocket companies. Everyone would have said, That was pretty stupid because
everyone knows that rockets are just done by huge government organisations. And although I
wasnt running SolarCity, that almost came to an end in late 2008 too, because after the financial
crisis hit, Morgan Stanley could not honour their financing commitments to it, because they
literally did not have the money themselves. Many companies went under at that time such as
General Motors and Chrysler and its quite hard to raise money as a start-up car company if
General Motors is going bankrupt!
He issues a full, almost joyful guffaw and then shrugs.But for me, I wasnt concerned that I
wouldnt be able to eat. Living in America thats not likely. I guess the worst that could happen
would be that the kids had to go to public [state] school, which is not the end of the world I
mean, I went to public school, so
Musk is not the only member of his net-bred generation to be infected with the space bug. Fellow
tech moguls Jeff Bezos of Amazon and the celebrated game designer John Carmack are also
developing spacecraft, if on a less ambitious scale. Musk was born in 1971, as the Apollo lunar
programme was winding down, and I have often wondered whether he and his peers covet space
from a sense of having missed the party.
Actually, I think my generation does feel a bit cheated by that. Or rather, disappointed that
things didnt progress from there. Because the expectation was always that thered have been a
base on the moon and that wed have sent people to Mars by the time wed grown up. In 2001
Arthur C Clarke based his whole story on that. And yet here we are in 2013 and the United States
cannot even send a person into low-earth orbit. Nobody would have believed such an outcome
back in 1969.
What made him think he could change this?
It was probably just thinking that something needs to be done to advance the technology. I
wasnt sure how far wed get, but if we could move the ball forward, that would be a good
outcome. Now I think we ought to be able to improve it an awful lot. And maybe get all the way
there.

Of all Musks innovations, this might be the most radical: developing reusable rockets. Among
other things, that Falcon Heavy on the pad at Vandenberg will be testing some rudimentary
elements of a system that will allow rocket boosters to land back on earth rather than tumble into
the ocean after one use. Many aerospace engineers consider this impossible to do costeffectively, but Musk thinks theyre wrong. If so, SpaceX will be able to reach earth orbit for the
cost of fuel alone, or about $200,000 a step change in the conquest of space. And a vantage
point from which Mars looks a lot closer.
Even so, his talk of colonising the red planet within 20 years looks fanciful even to believers.
One Nasa employee speaks of a giggle factor in relation to such talk.
If theres a giggle factor, maybe its because Nasa have made so little progress in that direction,
he retorts. But I dont think this is inevitable. If we can send a piece of machinery the size of a
car to Mars [the rovers], we should be able to send people.
At which point the question becomes why?
The overarching reason is that I think humanity needs to be on the path to becoming a multiplanet species, and to establishing life as we know it in more than one place. Fundamentally
there are two reasons to go to Mars. One is defensive, as a form of life insurance, of preserving
life, which we know can be wiped out by catastrophic events [such as comet strikes]. And the
other is that it will be the greatest adventure ever. I personally am motivated more by the second,
that it would be a fantastic and exciting adventure even for individuals who dont want to go.
Just as when we went to the moon, it was only a handful of people who went, but in a sense all of
humanity went there with them. And Im hopeful that we can do it with considerably better life
expectancy than the original English colonists in America. I mean, you did not want to be part of
Jamestown! It was awful they died of every conceivable thing you could imagine and were
obliterated. But eventually we got America. Which, you know, is far from perfect, but on balance
a force for good.
6. Cifre despre Elon Musk, accesat 16.11.2014
http://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/
7. Scurt video de prezentare a lui Elon Musk
http://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tesla-spacex-career-family-2014-7
8.Conferinta TED 2013, accesat 16.11.2014
http://www.ted.com/talks/elon_musk_the_mind_behind_tesla_spacex_solarcity/transcript?langua
ge=ro#t-13297 Video+ subtitrare sau transcriere in limba romana
9.Fortune despre Elon Musk si Tesla, accesat 16.11.2014
http://fortune.com/tag/elon-musk/

10.Situatia pe bursa a lui Elon Musk si a companiei Tesla, accesat 16.11.2014

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-02-26/as-tesla-shares-hit-250-ceo-elon-muskmakes-1-dot-1-billion

Elon Musk made $1.1 billion on paper yesterday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires
index, as shares of Tesla Motors (TSLA) gained nearly 14 percent. The haul brings his net worth
to $11.7 billion, up 47.8 percent since the start of the year.
This chart shows the vertiginous climb in Musks net worth since springand especially since
the end of 2013:

As big as Musks 2014 has been, two billionaires have outpaced him this year. With a gain of
$7.8 billion, Jack Ma, founder of Chinas Alibaba Group, has leapt into the worlds top 100
richest people ahead of an expected initial public offering. And Mark Zuckerberg has ridden a 27
percent surge in Facebook (FB) shares to pad his $31.2 billion fortune by $6.5 billion.

11. Hyperloop Alpha, un proiect Elon Musk, accesat 16.11.2014

https://www.teslamotors.com/sites/default/files/blog_images/hyperloop-alpha.pdf
12. Articol despre omul din spatele Tesla si un scurt interviu, accesat 16.11.2014
http://www.technologypartners.com/press/CARElonMusk.pdf
Do not be jealous of Elon Musk. Sure, Teslas 38-year-old co-founder might have made two

multi-million dollar dot-com fortunes by the time he was 31, including selling PayPal to Ebay in
2002 in a $1.5bn deal. Yes, this tall, lean, South African-born physicist might have reinvested his
fortunes in glamorous new ventures, with his own sports car, solar energy and space exploration
firms. And yes, he might have the Bel Air mansion, the private jet and the skinny 24-year-old
English actress fiance. But you shouldnt be jealous, and for three good reasons.
The first is that Musk isnt merely a profit-seeker. He founded Tesla and Solar City,
whichdevelops high-efficiency solar panels, primarily to break our dependence on fossil fuels.
Should our pillaging of the environment prove terminal, Musk plans, in all seriousness, to
establish a human colony on Mars, and he founded SpaceX to develop reusable rockets thatll
make interplanetary travel affordable. Theres something of a benign Bond villain about him.
The second reason you shouldnt be jealous is that you dont cash out of the dot-com bubble
twice and start three new businesses in wildly disparate fields without being annoyingly brainy.
Musk is no bean counter hes actively involved in the engineering of both his cars and his
rockets
And lastly, doing all this isnt easy. Trying to establish Americas first successful new carmaker
since Jeep in 1941, in the midst of a recession and using a radical new form of propulsion, isnt
rocket science; its harder than that. Im working about a hundred hours a week, he tells me.
People often ask, are you having fun? I say I should be, but it wouldnt be true to say that I
am. But Im not asking people to feel sorry for me.
Teslas birth has been traumatic, with engineering problems, massive cost over-runs and lawsuits
involving former employees. In late 2008 Tesla was down to its last $9m; Musk had to lay off 80
staff, shut his Detroit engineering centre and stump up half of two further $40m financing
rounds, bringing his total investment to $74m. Its been quite the soap opera. It certainly got
very hairy there for a while. Ive invested more than Id expected and it has certainly strained my
finances personally. But I was faced with a choice of either letting Tesla die, or doubling down.
So of course I doubled down.
The gamble worked. Daimler has taken a 9% stake for $50m. Tesla will equip a trial fleet of
1000 electric Smarts, with affordable, production electric Smarts and A-classes following within
three years. In June Tesla announced that its Roadster was now profitable, and that it would be
one of the first three companies to receive a slice of the US governments $25bn fund to
encourage green cars. Tesla will use its $465m loan to make the 50,000 Model S, a seven-seat
electric hatchback capable of 60mph in 5.5 seconds, with a range of up to 300 miles and a
charging time as low as 45 minutes. Tesla plans to build 20,000 cars a year at a new factory in
Los Angeles.

So has Musk saved the electric car? I feel like Im emerging from a long, dark, nasty period, he
says in his odd, unplaceable, neutral accent. Weve really turned the corner. I dont want to get
over-confident, but things are looking pretty good. We will need to raise some money down the
road, but markets will have picked up so I dont expect it to be too much trouble.
Musk can now get on with his mission of making electric cars both available and affordable, and
he insists that having Daimler as an investor wont stop him working with other carmakers.
With all the companies Ive been involved in, no investor has ever lost money. But were not
going to hold back this technology for ourselves and not give it to anyone else. Daimler knows
this, and all the other investors know it too. I have non-economic motives as well as economic
motives and if they dont like that they shouldnt invest.
But Tesla is still tiny; it has just built its thousandth car and will be stretched by its work for
Daimler, getting the Model S into production and working on new models. And the third Tesla
might be a pick-up. The Model S sits on a flat platform, and you can put almost anything on top
of that skate, says Musk. You also have the advantage that the torque-rpm curve of an electric
motor is almost flat, so you dont have the dichotomy between a sports car and an SUV or a
truck. A truck needs the torque at the low end, where a sports car or sedan needs power at high
rpm. The same electric powertrain serves both.
I have some ideas for doing a crossover SUV, for the next-generation roadster and for a delivery
van, but also some very neat ideas for a pick-up truck with very low drag. Most trucks are like
barn doors. With trucks its very much a business decision; how much is gasoline, whats the
capital cost of the truck? Theres much less room for subjectivity so if gasoline gets back up
there theres going to be very high demand for electric trucks and vans. Its conceivable that if
things go really well we could have another variant in 2012 but 2013 is more likely. We gotta
learn to walk and chew gum at the same time.
Daimlers investment already values the company at $550m nearly half what GM was worth
just before bankruptcy. Musk says an IPO is likely within two years. Tesla will definitely be
worth north of a billion dollars. If weve done well executing the Model S and our powertrains,
maybe up to two billion.
Musks share of Tesla is currently around a third; even if it slips to a quarter with further
funding rounds he could end up with a stake worth half a billion for his $74m investment. But
like we said, dont be jealous. If Tesla goes public at that value it will be because Musks gamble
has worked, and he has achieved affordable, emission-free electric cars that cost pennies to run.
Meanwhile hell probably be busy designing the loo for your new home on Mars.
13. Articol al gazetei Universitatii din Pennsylvania despre Elon Musk, accesat 17.11.2014
http://www.upenn.edu/gazette/1108/PennGaz1108_feature4.pdf
14. Biografia lui Elon Musk, accesat 17.11.2014
http://www.biography.com/people/elon-musk-20837159#synopsis

Synopsis
Elon Musk was born in South Africa and became a multimillionaire in his late twenties when he
sold his start-up company, Zip2, to a division of Compaq Computers. He went on to more early
success launching PayPal via a 2000 merger, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) in

2002, and Tesla Motors in 2003. Musk made headlines in May 2012 when SpaceX launched a
rocket that would send the first commercial vehicle to the International Space Station.

Early Life
Elon Musk was born and grew up in South Africa, buying his first computer at age 10. He taught
himself how to program, and when he was 12 he made his first software saleof a game he
created called Blaster. At age 17, in 1989, he moved to Canada to attend Queens University, but
he left in 1992 to study business and physics at the University of Pennsylvania. He graduated
with an undergraduate degree in economics and stayed for a second bachelors degree in physics.
After leaving Penn, Elon Musk headed to Stanford University in California to pursue a PhD in
energy physics. However, his move was timed perfectly with the Internet boom, and he dropped
out of Stanford after just two days to become a part of it, launching his first company, Zip2
Corporation.
An online city guide, Zip2 was soon providing content for the new Web sites of both the New
York Times and the Chicago Tribune, and in 1999, a division of Compaq Computer bought Zip2
for $307 million in cash and $34 million in stock options.

An Earnest Entrepreneur
Also in 1999, Musk co-founded X.com, an online financial services/payments company. An
X.com acquisition the following year led to the creation of PayPal as it is known today, and in
October 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in stock. Before the sale, Musk
owned 11 percent of PayPal stock.
"If Im trying to solve a problem, and I think Ive got some elements of it kind of close to being
figured out, Ill pace for hours trying to think it through."
Never one to rest on his laurels, Musk founded his third company, Space Exploration
Technologies Corporation, or SpaceX, in 2002 with the intention of building spacecraft for
commercial space travel. By 2008, SpaceX was well-established, and NASA awarded the
company the contract to handle cargo transport for the International Space Stationwith plans
for astronaut transport in the futurein a move to replace NASAs own space shuttle missions.
Another Musk venture is Tesla Motors, an automobile company dedicated to producing
affordable, mass-market electric cars, which he co-founded in 2003. With a stake in the company
taken by Daimler and a strategic partnership with Toyota, Tesla Motors launched its initial
public offering in June 2010, raising $226 million.
The boundless potential of space exploration and the preservation of the future of the human race
have become the cornerstones of Musk's abiding interests, and toward these he has founded the
Musk Foundation, which is dedicated to space exploration and the discovery of renewable and
clean energy sources.

Preparing for Lift-Off

On May 22, 2012, Musk and SpaceX made history when the company launched its Falcon 9
rocket into space with an unmanned capsule. The vehicle was sent to the International Space
Station with 1,000 pounds of supplies for the astronauts stationed there, and it is the first time a
private company has sent a spacecraft to the International Space Station. Of the launch, Musk
was quoted as saying, "I feel very lucky. . . . For us, it's like winning the Super Bowl."

Hyperloop
Musk has continued his work in attempting to make his innovative ideas a reality. In August
2013, he released a concept for a new form of transportation called the "Hyperloop." The new
invention is intended travel at speeds greater than 700 miles per hour to commute between major
cities while severely cutting the time of travel. As opposed to using railroads, the Hyperloop
would use tubes for transportation, creating travel options between Los Angeles and San
Franciscothe original proposed locationthat would take a shorter amount of time than a
flight. Musk says that the Hyperloop could take from seven to 10 years to be built and ready for
use.
Although he introduced the Hyperloop with claims that it will be safer than a plane or train, with
an estimated cost of $6 billionapproximately one-tenth of the cost for the rail system that
California has been planning to makehis concept has still drawn skepticism. California HighSpeed Rail Authority Chairman Dan Richard has stated that he will show Musk "what it really
takes to build a project in California" if the Hyperloop project begins to gain momentum.
15. Citate si detalii despre companiile lui Elon Musk, accesat 17.11.2014
http://inventors.about.com/od/mstartinventions/p/Elon-Musk.htm
Elon Musk Is Best Known for:
Elon Musk is best known for being the co-founder of PayPal, a money-transfer service for Web
consumers, for founding Space Exploration Technologies or SpaceX, the first private company
to launch a rocket into space, and for founding Tesla Motors, which builds electric cars."
Quotes from Elon Musk:

"Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough."
"It is where great things are possible" [Musk on moving to the USA]

Elon Musk Background & Education:

Elon Musk was born in South Africa, in 1971. His father was an engineer and his mother a
nutritionist. An avid fan of computers, by the age of twelve Musk had written the code for his
own video game, a space game called Blastar, which the preteen sold for a profit.

Elon Musk attended Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and transferred to the
University of Pennsylvania, where he earned two bachelor's degrees, economics and physics. He
was admitted to Stanford University in California, with the intention of earning a PhD in energy
physics, however, Musk's life was about to change dramatically.
First Company - Zip2 Corporation:
In 1995, at the age of twenty-four, Elon Musk dropped out of Stanford University after just two
days of classes to start his first company called Zip2 Corporation. Zip2 Corporation was an
online city guide that provided content for the new online versions of the New York Times and
the Chicago Tribune newspapers. Musk struggled to keep his new business afloat, eventually
selling majority control of Zip2 to venture capitalists in exchange for a $3.6 million investment.
In 1999, the Compaq Computer Corporation bought Zip2 for $307 million. Out of that amount.
Elon Musk's share was $22 million. Musk had become a millionaire at the age of twenty-eight.
That same year Musk started his next company.
Online Banking:
In 1999, Elon Musk started X.com with $10 million dollars from the sale of Zip2. X.com was an
online bank, and Elon Musk is credited with inventing a method of securely transferring money
using a recipient's e-mail address.
Paypal:
In 2000, X.com bought a company called Confinity, which had started an Internet moneytransfer process called PayPal. Elon Musk renamed X.com/Confinity Paypal and dropped the
company's online banking focus to concentrate on becoming a global payment transfer provider.
In 2002, eBay bought Paypal for $1.5 billion and Elon Musk made $165 million in eBay stock
from the deal.
Space Exploration Technologies:
In 2002, Elon Musk started SpaceX aka the Space Exploration Technologies. Elon Musk is a
long-standing member of the Mars Society, a nonprofit organization that supports the exploration
of Mars, and Musk is interested in establishing a greenhouse on Mars. SpaceX has been
developing rocket technology to enable Musk's project.
Tesla Motors:
In 2004, Elon Musk cofounded Tesla Motors, of which he is the sole product architect. Tesla
Motors builds electric vehicles. The company has built an electric sports car, the Tesla Roadster,
the Model S an economy model four door electric sedan, and plans to build more affordable
suncompacts in the future.

SolarCity:
In 2006, Elon Musk co-founded SolarCity, a photovoltaics products and services company with
his cousin Lyndon Rive.
16. Primul roman care detine masina Tesla S, accesat 19.11.2014
http://www.gandul.info/gandul-live/primul-roman-care-si-a-cumparat-tesla-s-cea-mai-luxoasamasina-electrica-din-lume-la-gandul-live-12266867
17. Interviu cu Elon Musk despre Modelul Tesla P85D, motivatia din spatele Space X,
de inspiratia science-fiction, si despre importanta ajungerii pe Marte. Accesat 19.11.2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPsHN1KyRQ8

18.Elon Musk lasand pilotul automat si cele 2 motoare 4x4 pentru Tesla Model S, accesat
19.11.2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ6lZJWL_Xk
19. Interviul revistei GQ cu Elon Musk, accesat 19.11.2014
http://www.gq.com/news-politics/newsmakers/200901/elon-musk-paypal-solar-power-electriccars-space-travel
The Believer
As a founder of PayPal, Elon Musk made $250 million in an Internet minute. But then he got
bored. He wanted a bigger challenge. Much bigger. So he asked himself: What are the three
largest, most important, most difficult challenges of our time? The answer: solar power, space
travel, and electric cars. Then he tried to tackle all three at once.
By Andrew Corsello
ONCE IN A WHILE, this planet gives birth to a child with freakish talentfreakish not only
because it is vast, but because it is ready upon arrival, with batteries included and no assembly
required. One need only open the box and step back.
In this case, the talent belongs to a 6-year-old boy with a rather odd name. The year is 1977, and
Elon Musk lives in the most odious country in the world: South Africa. It's summertime, and
Elon, his kid brother and sister, and their cousins have been playing outside their grandmother's
suburban Pretoria home for hours. Now it's getting dark. The other children head for the house.
Come on, Elon. Let's go.
But Elon doesn't want to go inside and doesn't understand why the others do. It's beautiful out
here in the dark.

Elon and his siblings and cousins start to argue. Come on, Elon. No! Come, Elon! I won't!
Please, Elon.
Tosca, the 3-year-old, starts to yell, then cry. Then she blurts out what the other children are
thinking.
"Elon, I'm scared!"
Tosca's mummy has come outside to see what the tears are about. Huddled there on the porch are
Tosca and Kimbalthe middle sibling, fifteen months Elon's juniorand the cousins. And there
at the tree line is Elon. The light has mostly waned, but Elon, he's so white, skin as pale as a
fish's belly, and Maye Musk can see his face so clearly. Beaming. Euphoric. Because he knows.
Elon hasn't been bickering with his sister and brother; he has been evangelizing. And now he
raises both arms to make sure they can see, as well as hear, the good news.
"Do not be scared of the darkness!" Elon Musk calls out to them from the wilderness. "There is
nothing to fearit is merely the absence of light!"
Though Elon has been issuing such pronouncements for several years, it seems to Maye Musk
that the distinct way her son has of inspecting the world around himso precise, so soberwas
fully formed even before he could speak. A carefulness was evident, a stillness. Now, at 6, he is
creative and imaginative, but not in a fanciful way. Other than a fondness for comic books and
Tolkien, he doesn't engage in make-believe, doesn't make things up. There are no imaginary
friendsa surprise, since he doesn't have many real onesor monsters in the closet. Elon
simply isn't interested in things that are not there. Only in things that are, or plausibly could be.
Facts. Elon needs facts the way he needs air.
And so he reads. Four, five hours a day, even as a first grader. He forgets nothing he reads. Tosca
will say, "I wonder how high up in the sky the moon is!" and Kimbal will respond, "A billion
kilometers!" And Elon, smiling, sharing, will say, "Actually, it is 384,400 kilometers away." His
siblings will stop and look at him then, and Elon, interpreting the silence as an invitation, will
add, "On average."
Just the facts. They're all Elon needs. What he doesn't seem to need is a mentor, or even
encouragement. Sometimes he fires questions at his father, an electrical and mechanical
engineer. Problem is, many of his questions involve computers, which Errol Musk dismisses as
"toys that will amount to nothing." His son calls this opinion "very silly" and, at the age of 10,
buys his first computer and begins teaching himself how to program it. Two years later, he sells
his first piece of softwarea video game called Blastarfor $500.
Intelligence like Elon'sself-originating, self-sustaining, seemingly parentlessprovokes a
reflexive question from everyone who encounters it. Where does such a child come from? It's
also a rhetorical question. The better thing to ask is: Where does such a child go?

This is the more relevant question not only because it is answerable but because it can and must
be asked and answered now. Nowwhen we are more uncertain about one another, and about
ourselves, and about our direction, than we have been in decadesit is important for us to hear a
story like Elon Musk's. As a reminder. And as a bracing slap to the face.
Because when children like Elon Musk attain the kind of self-awareness that leads to questions
about environmentWhere in the world can I go for the license and the room to do what I must
do? Where in the world are my peers?they always, and still, come to the same conclusion.
Elon Musk knew when he was a child. A remarkable conviction for a child to have, and all the
more so because there was no specific dream attached to it. There was no "to build rocket ships"
or "to make millions" or "to design computer software." Instead, Elon (pronounced ee-lon) had
this thought, consciously, literally, and at the age of 10: America is where people like me need to
go. That is where people like me have always gone. A place that was the photographic negative
of apartheid South Africa, a place less encumbered than any in the world, ever, by fear.
"It is as true now as it has always been," says Elon Musk, the man who is endeavoringas
preposterously as he is crediblyto give the human race its biggest upgrade since the advent of
consciousness. "Funny how people seem to have forgotten that. But almost all innovation in the
world takes place in the United States."
20. Documentarul despre intreprinzatorul Elon Musk facut de Bloomberg din seria Risk
Takers, accesat 19.11.2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mh45igK4Esw