According to tech crunch, Elon Musk expressed his views on Tesla, SpaceX and many other companies (including the social media business he is trying to acquire) in an 80 minute interview on Tuesday, covering the demand for electric vehicles, raw materials, hydrogen and the most promising electric vehicle start-ups**
Although much of what musk talked about at the financial times conference "the future of cars" held in London has been shared before, several items are very prominent, including the possibility that Tesla may stop accepting customers' orders for its vehicles.
Tesla may stop accepting orders
For Tesla, the problem is not demand, but supply. "Now, demand exceeds production to an absurd extent. We may actually limit (or stop) accepting any order for more than a certain period of time," Musk said
The carmaker's goal remains to produce 20 million cars a year by 2030, which musk said he chose because it accounts for 1% of the global fleet.
"But this is not a commitment," he pointed out. "This is a wish. I think we have a great chance to achieve this goal."
Compared with 930000 cars produced by Tesla last year, reaching 20 million is "almost quite difficult".
Musk admires Volkswagen
When asked about the most impressive electric vehicle start-up company currently operating, musk gave the name of Volkswagen. Just a day ago, Volkswagen CEO Herbert dis said on the same conference stage that Tesla proved stronger than the German giant expected.
"I think the company that has made the most progress except Tesla is actually Volkswagen. It is not a start-up, but from the perspective of electric vehicles, it can be regarded as a start-up in some ways," Musk said
He also said that China has several powerful companies. The Chinese market will account for more than a quarter of Tesla's global sales, and Tesla plans to expand its Shanghai gigafactory in China.
"China has a lot of super talented and hardworking people who believe in manufacturing. They don't just stay up until midnight, they can stay up until 3 a.m. they won't even leave factories or something, and in the United States, people are trying to avoid going to work."
Tesla will keep patents open
Musk reiterated his long-standing invitation to automakers to use Tesla's patents to build their auto drive system.
"We only apply for patents for things to prevent others from creating such patent minefields that inhibit the progress of electric vehicles. But we will never really Sue those who use our patents. So we say you can use any Tesla patent for free, so I hope it will help others," he said
But musk said Tesla needs a year to prove itself before carmakers can consider it.
"Traditional car manufacturers will solve the problem of electrification. At this point, it is not difficult to manufacture electric vehicles at all. I think they may be interested in authorizing Tesla autopilot to drive completely automatically, which I think will save many lives."
Buying a mining plant is not impossible
As electric vehicle manufacturers face a shortage of raw materials for manufacturing lithium-ion batteries, Tesla has been signing long-term agreements with mining companies around the world to ensure its supply. But the carmaker does not exclude more involvement in the business.
"It's not that we want to buy mining companies, but if this is the only way to accelerate the transformation, we will do so. There are no arbitrary restrictions on what we need to accelerate. We will just solve any set of things we need to accelerate sustainable energy, rather than mining and refining or buying mining companies, as long as we think we can do it," Musk said
But scooters are impossible
When asked whether Tesla plans to build smaller and more affordable cars than model 3, such as scooters, musk talked about opposing micro travel devices.
"Scooters are very dangerous," he said. "I don't recommend anyone to drive a scooter. If one day there is a dispute between the scooter and the car, it will lose."