Over the past couple days, Elon Musk has seemingly been more active on Twitter than he usually is. Ever since Investopedia has published a report stating that among the trending publicly listed companies investors have been placing more bets against Tesla.
The company’s stock has surged more than 65 percent in the present year, until date and is now valued above both General Motors and Ford. And yes, we know it may be over-valued but investors are seeing the immense scope and shift towards sustainable energy over the past couple odd years.
According to S3 Partners, a financial analytics firm, Tesla is now the largest shorted stock in the U.S. equity market with short interest of $10.4 billion
The said report (and statements) have caused Elon Musk to think about the work he has been doing to not only make people aware of the need of sustainable living but also make the necessary resources available to them. A couple days ago, he was speaking about Ambien and voodoo dolls, and he now seems to be in the nostalgic phase, where he is talking about how Tesla came into existence.
And the origin story we already know has some pointers missing. It was not only about hearing (or even testing) the electric vehicle which Musk heard about. Tesla was formed out of the need of making the world’s populace aware of the need for the shift towards a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. And also because the existing automaker’s instead of expanding on the same were crushing the electric vehicles — making them rot in the junkyard.
This is the real story of Tesla’s origin (who’s updating the company’s Wikipedia page btw!?):
Few people know that we started Tesla when GM forcibly recalled all electric cars from customers in 2003 & then crushed them in a junkyard
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 9, 2017
In the following tweet, Musk mentions that the dawn of the electric mobility revolution was crushed by General Motors before it even started. And the sad part of the same being that it was conducted even without the permission of the few owners who bought the vehicle. This action of the automaker pushed him to empty most of his savings or payout (around $180 million) from PayPal’s acquisition into an electric vehicle company. Thus, Tesla came into the picture.
They was done against the will of their owners, who held a candlelight vigil all night to protest the death of their cars
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 9, 2017
Back then, the populace recognized the need to make a switch to sustainable energy but they weren’t ready to accept the drastic change incurred in this process. Maybe that was possibly the reason leading automotive giants around the globe decided it was better to scrap their electric mobility ambitions. Or maybe it was a coordinated ploy to keep working and improving on the same technology.
This hurt Musk, who was then dreaming of reaching the Moon and Mars via his latest private space initiative — SpaceX, and then came the turnaround. Tesla came into being with the motive of making powerful electric vehicles, with extensive range and robust internals plus features to attract attention.
Since big car companies were killing their EV programs, the only chance was to create an EV company, even tho it was almost certain to fail
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 9, 2017
This revolution, which ha snow inspired every other automotive giant to rehash their electric mobility plans, kicked off with the Model X — the one with the Falcon doors. Tesla has, however, now looking to tap the masses with its affordable Model 3 electric sedan, which starts at just $35,000 (much lower than the other two variants).
And if you’ve been thinking that Musk stepped foot in the then flailing electric market in search of government incentives or just profits then you should be aware that it’s not really the case. Tesla almost failed (yes, it did) when it was getting off the ground to spread its wings and fly. But, they were clipped with the need for capital (this being quite the emotional and tough time for Musk).
Nothing to do w govt incentives or making money. Thought 90% prob of losing it all (almost did many times), but it was the only chance.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 9, 2017
Then, Musk had two options — he could either focus his attention or give his dying electric mobility efforts one last death wish. He could take the tough decision of running both SpaceX and Tesla alongside by pumping all of his remaining capital into Tesla and it was just what he did. And his final bet did pay off. We all know what the electric maker has now come to become.
Long way to go, but we’ve convinced most of the auto industry to start EV programs & gave them all our patents to help, so that’s something
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 9, 2017
I love Norway, which is the world leader in EV adoption! Great example for the rest of the world.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 9, 2017
