Tesla Motors Inc CEO Elon Musk On Failure Of Roadster

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Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO learned it the hard way. Elon Musk thinks the company should have designed an all-original electric car from the ground up right in the beginning. Speaking at the World Energy Innovation Forum at Tesla’s Fremont factory on Wednesday, Musk looked at the company’s not-so-bright beginning. Roadster was the company first product, which was launched in 2008 after a long delay.

Tesla Roadster was built on two false premises

Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) used a Lotus body and a powertrain from AC Propulsion. Musk said using Lotus body was a big mistake, and his team ended up changing most of the car. In the end, the finished car had only 7% of parts in common with the Lotus. Elon Musk told the audience that the company built Roadster on two false premises. One, Tesla thought that it could easily adapt the Lotus chassis. Two, the company believed the AC Propulsion powertrain could work as-is in Roadster.

Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO said that he wanted to show the world what electric vehicles can do with Model S, And the Model S proved to be a phenomenal success, receiving glowing reviews from users as well as critics. Musk designed it from the ground up as an electric vehicle. Besides the wonderful driving experience, the Model S has several other innovations that are specific to an electric car.

Tesla CEO dismisses fuel cell technology

Elon Musk believes that every type of transportation will go electric in the future, except space travel. He said the architecture of a gasoline-powered car is “absurd” and “ridiculous” from an engineering perspective. Once again, he dismissed fuel cell cars. Musk sees a future in the electric vehicle market, that’s why he is building a $5 billion battery production factory. Talking about his early life, Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO said that he spent much of his childhood playing video games or reading. Musk sold his first video game when he was just 12.

Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares inched up 0.10% to $190.63 in early trading session Thursday.

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