Musk reveals preferred Tesla models, autonomy and charging station of the future

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has revealed which of his company’s electric vehicles he prefers to drive, just as Tesla unveiled the first of its new range of super-fast charging stations, including solar and battery storage.

The question about Musk’s driving preferences has been an intriguing one for Tesla fans, and his response to a question on Twitter probably held no surprises, as it included a version of each of the main models, S, X and 3.

Musk, who famously sent his, or at least a, Tesla Roadster into space last year, said his first preference was a Model S performance, with the latest full self driving computer. No surprise there, as Musk and Tesla see full autonomy, robo-taxis, and their own technology as a key advantage going into the electric future.

He also likes the Model 3 performance version, but is happy to hop into the Model X if he is driving around with his children. He seems to like the instant torque and acceleration.

In an interview with Motor Trend, Musk expresses surprise at the slow response to Tesla’s success, and says he reckons rival company vehicles have no soul. But he has no doubt about the future. It will be electric, and autonomous.

‘I think the autonomy is really going to transform automotive … I mean since the major innovations in production that Henry Ford and others came up with, the next two massive disruptions for cars are electrification and autonomy, and electrification and autonomy are happening at the same time very basically,” Musk said.

“So the future will be all electric, all autonomous. I don’t mean some electric, some autonomous, I mean all electric, all autonomous. And in fact, I would really caution someone against buying a gasoline or diesel car or truck because it will have poor resale value in the future.

“‘Let’s say it is 100 years ago, 1919, and a lot of people were still buying horses, and there was like this new radical thing called cars. Essentially you have this Model T or whatever, and people are like, “That’s weird automobile technology that will never catch on,” and they bought a horse, so that was a mistake.

“So trust me when I say the future is electric autonomy. So you want to buy a car that is electric, and you want to buy a car that is capable of autonomy, which a Tesla is. This will, I think, become very obvious within a few years.”

Musk’s comments came as Tesla unveiled the first of its V3 super-charging stations in Las Vegas, with 250kW charging, and powered by solar on station roof and with storage from Tesla power packs.

The 24 charging stations will be able to add 180 miles (280kms) of range in 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, Musk has been interviewed by Time magazine about SpaceX, and his ambitious for the Moon, and Mars. These lines about re-usability stuck out, because it explains the success of Musk and SpaceX where others have failed.

And the answer seems so simple. Use rockets more than once, as SpaceX does. Another example of how inspired thinking has taken Musk and his companies where others feared to tread.

“It’s so insane the way rockets work today,” Musk said. “It would be like if you got a plane and the way you get to your destination is you bail out with a parachute over the city in question and your plane crash lands somewhere. That’s how rockets work today—with the exception of Falcon 9. This is completely bonkers.

In order for us to be a multi-planet species we must solve full reusability of rockets. In the absence of that…. It would as though if in the old days if ships were not reusable.

“The cost of an ocean voyage would be tremendous. And you’d need to have a second ship towed behind you for the return journey. Or you can imagine if airplanes were not reusable, nobody would fly, you know, because airliner costs a couple hundred million dollars.”