Why Elon Musk’s crazy plans for Tesla aren't crazy
Elon Musk recently laid out a “master plan” for where his company, Tesla Motors, is heading. The vision is undoubtedly ambitious: four new kinds of Tesla vehicles, solar initiatives, autonomous driving technologies and a ride-sharing program.
Judging by the subsequent 3 percent dip in Tesla’s stock price, the markets don’t appreciate Musk’s vision or the promise of these technologies. They don’t understand the exponential advances in fields such as artificial intelligence, storage and solar energy, or the scale advantages that come from building technology platforms.
Tesla may well stumble because it is trying to do too much too fast, but Musk’s vision is sound.
The most controversial part of Musk’s vision is his plan to integrate SolarCity’s photovoltaic technologies into Tesla’s Powerwall storage technology, the units that customers use to charge their electric vehicles at home. While there are valid corporate governance concerns about merging two companies with the same board members, the technology combination is a strategic winner.
At the rate at which solar technology is progressing, its cost per watt by 2022 will be less than half of what it is today. Prices of solar panels have been falling at more than 10 percent a year for the past 40 years and their cost is now justified without government subsidies. Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) estimates that the “learning rate” of solar panels — the fall in their price for every doubling in their global installation — is 26 percent. And solar installations are doubling every year or two. At this rate, by 2030, solar capture could provide 100 percent of today’s energy; and by 2035, it could be almost free.
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