Elon Musk told Investor Day 2023 attendees at Tesla’s Austin, Texas Gigafactory that AI will boost output. It’s Musk’s Master Plan part 3.
Musk’s third Master Plan follows in 2006 and 2016. These have guided Tesla’s growth from a startup to the world’s top EV automaker over the past 17 years. “There is a clear path to a sustainable energy Earth by 2050 and it does not require destroying natural habitats,” Musk said in his keynote speech.
You could sustain a civilization larger than Earth. “I’m shocked and surprised by how few people realize that Earth could sustainably support much more than 8 billion people,” he said. He tweeted that the company would issue a “detailed whitepaper with calculations & assumptions” during the event.
Detailed whitepaper with calculations & assumptions to be released by Tesla shortly
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 1, 2023
The Master Plan seeks to create a sustainable energy economy by creating 240 terawatt hours (TWH) of energy storage and 30 TWH of renewable power production, which would cost $10 trillion, or 10% of global GDP. Musk notes that the figure is less than half what we pay for an internal combustion economy. He estimates we’d need less than 0.2 percent of the world’s land area to generate solar and wind power.
Musk again predicted that ICE vehicles will be as reviled as the horse and cart. He suggested electrifying ships and planes. “As we improve battery energy density, all transportation will go fully electric, except rockets,” he said. No details were given on when or how.
“A sustainable energy economy is within reach and we should accelerate it,” Tesla’s SVP of Powertrain and Energy Engineering Drew Baglino said.
After Musk’s introduction, Tesla execs Lars Moravy and Franz von Holzhausen discussed “production hell” and the Cybertruck’s stainless steel construction. Moravy claimed that the lessons gained from that will help Tesla build its Gen 3 vehicles more efficiently and in a smaller factory. von Holzhausen announced to applause that the Cybertruck will come later this year, much sooner than Musk’s previous estimate that production wouldn’t begin until next year.
Von Holzhausen said this event will not unveil a new car. “Later” is the announcement.
The firm teased a new video of the Tesla Robot walking without a frame, but there was no live demonstration. “We should bring an actual product to market at a scale that is useful far faster than anyone else,” Musk said.
He predicts that the company’s robots will soon outnumber people. “I think we might exceed a one-to-one robot-to-human ratio,” he added. “At that point, what’s an economy?”
