BBC Newsnight (2013)
Questions on ElonsFAQ asked in this interview (3)
Transcript
0:03BBC Newsnight InterviewerNow, there was a very peculiar car launch in Britain today. It's the Tesla S electric car, which claims to be able to reach 60 miles an hour in just over four seconds.
0:12BBC Newsnight InterviewerFinally putting an end to the idea that electric cars are basically milk floats without the raw power of a lawn mower engine. Well, the Tesla S is the brainchild of the American billionaire Elon Musk.
0:23BBC Newsnight InterviewerHe made his fortune in PayPal and other ventures and is now spending it on the Tesla project and sending rockets into space. I went to meet him in West London.
0:34Elon MuskWhat we really tried to achieve with the Model S was to create a compelling electric car, something that was really different from people's prior experience because most people, last time they drove an electric car was probably a golf cart or maybe a milk float.
0:48Elon MuskA milk float. So they're used to their idea of an electric car as something that doesn't look good, isn't fast, doesn't have high performance, has low range. We wanted to break the mold of all of that and so produce something that was beautiful, had high acceleration, incredible handling, had tons of capability, lots of room, and really was better than any gasoline car.
1:12Elon MuskThat's what we sought to achieve. This is the front trunk.
1:19BBC Newsnight InterviewerWith nothing.
1:20Elon MuskYeah, with nothing in it.
1:22BBC Newsnight InterviewerNow, if somebody buys this car in the United Kingdom now, how many places are there where you can plug it in?
1:28Elon MuskWell, anywhere there's an electrical outlet anywhere. Yes, there's nothing special about the electrical outlet. The charger is built into the car so you can plug it in anywhere you go.
1:39Elon MuskYou can plug it in if you're traveling somewhere, if you're a cottage, at a hotel. In addition to that, however, we are going to be creating supercharged locations throughout the uk so you'll be able to charge anywhere at a Tesla supercharger location.
1:56Elon MuskAnd one of the things that we do with these supercharged locations is that they're free. So if you buy a Tesla, you'll be able to travel for free anywhere in Britain, and it's free forever.
2:07Elon MuskAnd I'll add one more thing to that, which is we're going to be installing solar panels at all of the supercharged locations, which are intended to develop or generate more electricity in the course of the year than the cars consume that charge there.
2:20Elon MuskSo the net result is that you'll not only be able to travel for free forever, but on pure sunlight.
2:25BBC Newsnight InterviewerWell, on this question of our energy bills, which is a huge political topic here now, have we got it wrong in terms of where we are sourcing our energy?
2:36Elon MuskMark my words, solar will be the single largest producer of energy in the UK long term. And you may say, well, isn't it rather maybe cloudy around here?
2:44BBC Newsnight InterviewerI was going to say yes.
2:46Elon MuskAnd even though it's cloudy, you still get probably 80 to 90% of the energy coming through the clouds. It's just that you don't have that bright point source of a sun.
2:56Elon MuskAnd a way to appreciate this perhaps is to look at the fact that plants are essentially a solar powered chemical reaction. And the UK is a very green country.
3:06BBC Newsnight InterviewerNow. You live in Southern California and Los Angeles. You travel a lot to San Francisco. And you're also interested as a big thought in whether it's possible to travel by what's called a hyperloop.
3:17BBC Newsnight InterviewerIn other words, you go at 800 miles an hour on the ground, essentially kind of like a train from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Do we suffer from generally a kind of low level of ambition?
3:28BBC Newsnight InterviewerShould we think bigger than HS2 and think about something like this?
3:34Elon MuskI think so. I mean, for reasons beyond the objective, oh, we'll get there faster. It's like you want to do projects that are inspiring and that make people excited about the future.
3:47Elon MuskLife's got to be about more than just solving problems. You want to get up in the morning and say, yes, I'm looking forward to that thing happening. And I guess that was my essential disappointment with the California so called high speed rail.
3:59Elon MuskIt's like I was looking at that, wow. And it's like, well, they've got better things. They did better things in Japan 30 years ago. They've got something way better in China.
4:08Elon MuskWhy are we doing this and spending so much money on it? It's going to take 20 years and by that time we'll be 50 years behind what they've got in Japan.
4:16Elon MuskI mean, this just doesn't make sense. That was my reaction.
4:20BBC Newsnight InterviewerThat was your reaction to what's happening in California? We are behind California.
4:24Elon MuskOh my God. Really difficult though, maybe to imagine so.
4:29BBC Newsnight InterviewerSo, I mean, that's brutal.
4:37BBC Newsnight InterviewerThe other big part of Musk's life is with his company SpaceX, which is committed to improving rocket technology and even getting the human race to other planets. You see, really the future must be in space for the human race.
4:55BBC Newsnight InterviewerYou really see this. This is not science fiction, this is action actually going to be a fact.
4:59Elon MuskAbsolutely. I think history fundamentally bifurcates in one of two directions. Either we are a multi planet species and out there exploring the stars, or we are a single planet species waiting around for some eventual extinction event.
5:13Elon MuskIt's really that. That I personally, I find more motivating, which is you're going. And setting up a base on Mars would just be the greatest adventure ever.
5:24BBC Newsnight InterviewerNot everyone's a fan back on Earth. Tesla sued the program Top Gear after it rubbished the Tesla Roadster. Tesla lost. So what does Musk think about Jeremy Clarkson?
5:38Elon MuskI think, well, Clarkson's show is much more about entertainment than it is about truth. I think most people realize that, but not everyone. And I've actually enjoyed a lot of his shows.
5:53Elon MuskIt's not as though I just hate Top Gear or anything. He can be very funny and irreverent. But he does have a strong bias against electric cars, and he particularly seems to hate American.
6:06Elon MuskHis two pet peeves are Americans, American cars and electric cars. And we're an American electric car. So we're in the worst possible situation for someone like Clarkson.
6:18BBC Newsnight InterviewerSo do you see this as missionary activity? You're over here trying to convert Jeremy Clarkson?
6:24Elon MuskI don't think there'll be any converting of Jeremy Clarkson. That seems quite unlikely.