Transportation and Automotive Sector Ideas

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>>> Elon Musk Will Revolutionize the World


BY Bret Kenwell

08/12/13


http://www.thestreet.com/story/12005524/1/elon-musk-will-revolutionize-the-world.html



NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Elon Musk, founder, CEO and head of product design at Tesla Motors (TSLA_), has been filling the headlines in the technology and financial worlds for the past several months.

It was a short timeline of events that caused Tesla's stock price to almost quadruple in the last couple of months. When Consumer Reports rated the Tesla Model S with a 99 out of a possible 100 points, it went down as the publication's top score for an automobile, ever.

Coupled with the financial package guarantee, the company's huge expansion of charging stations around the country, and apparent exponential increase in demand, Tesla -- and its stock -- have been making some serious waves.

The charging stations alone could be the first step in actually changing the world. It may seem ludicrous now since we're in the early stages, but it's not far-fetched to say the country could be covered with these new stations in several decades. Whether they're from Tesla or not doesn't really matter, Musk was the one who actually made it a reality, regardless of how many people have talked about it in the past.

The South African native made his name early on when he merged his financial payments company with PayPal. Eventually, PayPal was acquired in 2002 by eBay (EBAY_) for $1.5 billion in stock.

Musk, still at the ripe age of 31, founded another company, this time bent on space exploration and rocket technology. SpaceX, started the same year that eBay acquired PayPal, was the first private company to launch a rocket into space and dock at the International Space Station.

Although the company has secured approximately $4 billion in long-term contracts, Musk doesn't plan to IPO any time soon. In fact, for as much as SpaceX has completed, the company is still in its infancy when looking at what Musk plans to do with it.

Mars is ultimately in his mind and I don't think he'll stop until he finds a way to conquer it. Musk has repeatedly reminded Earthlings that we need to "expand life beyond our little blue mud ball," or face extinction.

While his plan does included landing on Mars, that's not the final goal. Nor is simply getting human life there either. He wants sustainable life on Mars, allowing it to become another planet for our civilization. He's even joked (sort of), "I want to die on Mars... just not on impact."

As if top-rated electric sports cars, space exploration and electronic payment methods weren't enough, the Revolutionist has his hands in two other places -- at least, that we know about: Solar and the Hyperloop.

We'll get to the Hyperloop in a minute and to be fair, his cousin is actually the CEO of SolarCity (SCTY_), not him. But Musk was part of the brains behind the original plan at SolarCity, which is the largest provider of solar system units in the United States. He is also a chairman for the company and the largest shareholder with a 28% stake.

As we all know, solar has become an alternative -- and perhaps more importantly, clean -- method for obtaining electricity. While solar might not power the entire home yet, powering some of it -- such as the refrigerator or thermostat -- is both efficient and clean.

As solar gets cheaper for both commercial and residential use, it will become more populous, and thus, the world -- or at least the United States -- will begin to consume cleaner and more efficient energy. After all, one of the main reasons Musk pushed SolarCity and Tesla was to reduce the global greenhouse footprint we've stamped into our atmosphere over the past several centuries.

Now for the Hyperloop. While there hasn't been a lot of confirmed chatter about the specifics of the Hyperloop yet, we'll find out more today when Musk is set to reveal his plans. He sums it up best by saying, "What you want is something that never crashes, that's at least twice as fast as a plane, that's solar powered and that leaves right when you arrive, so there is no waiting for a specific departure time."

In fact, the Hyperloop could likely generate more power than it needs, allowing it to save the excess energy, which of course, Musk already has a way to do. I'm sure plenty more details will be released but suffice to say this hypothetical mode of transportation could become the fifth alternative, joining planes, trains, boats and automobiles.

Either way, one thing's for certain: Musk is a game-changer. A pioneer. A visionary. He's that guy we've always needed. Someone who has the brains, work ethic, and charisma to get something done that will substantially benefit the entire world.

At this rate, it doesn't matter how far his ideas go. It's the foundation for continued revolution. When Ford changed the way automobiles were produced, I'm sure he never thought robots would build the cars. Or when the first computer was made, I'm sure it was never expected to fit in your pocket in the form of a smartphone.

How far Musk will get or what he still has left to uncover remains unknown. Perhaps neither he nor the rest of us will live long enough to see to what extent in which mankind takes his incredible work, his building blocks of bettering the world. But we'll likely look back (possibly from Mars) and say, "This is because of Musk."

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