Insane? Perhaps. Evil? Possibly. Genius? Absolutely!

Reading through this thread was amusing.

 

This is really exciting stuff. It's important to clarify we're not talking cheaper than asphalt roofing here, but there's a shit ton of tile roofs/opportunity in these parts.

https://www.bloomberg.com/musk-says-tesla-solar-shingles-will-cost-less-than-a-dumb-roof

 

Cool.

I also find the spray on coating that converts regular glass (even on already installed glass) into photovoltaic cells is cool as shit.

 

If this is true, and available in three years, I'm putting one on.

 

Never mind 20x asphalt. Probably more for labor too.

Oh well. My grandchildren will own a home with this roof.

 

Loss leaders aren't a new thing but on the only offering you have it does seem like a huge risk.

 

Call me crazy, but I really don't think Musk is only about profit. Don't get me wrong, I fully realize that without profits, he doesn't last long, but from all I've read about him, I get a vibe that's he's got plenty of money right now. I also get the vibe that he wants to leave his mark by fundamentally changing the world, in a good way, I might add. I mean, he wouldn't attempt to do 90% of the things he's done with Space X if he was only about profits. There's a reason it took a massive govt program like NASA to get the whole space thing rolling. I'm sure that's a losing venture for him. Plus, I also get the sense that he's kind of a big kid with plenty of money. I think this kind of stuff is genuinely fun for him. If he's got the money to build a lot of cool sandboxes to play in, why not play hard? Plus, he's pretty diversified, so he can fund his "play projects" with legit profit-making ventures. I just don't think Musk fits the prototypical businessman that's singularly obsessed about making obscene profits continuously. He's a different cat & a genuinely good dude. At least that's how I see him. I very well could be way off base here, but I like to think there are guys out there that are like this.

 

Could not agree more, Jay. He believes things like sustainable energy and space exploration are key to humanity's long term survival, and advancing those technologies draws his focus and wealth.

 

I'll say that Musks diversification strategy took a huge hit when he combined and tied the fate of 2 of his companies together. I have plenty of faith that SpaceX will be self sufficient. I hope that Tesla will be as well, but I think that it and SolarCity were his 2 most high risk plays. I don't know if combining them raises the chances of success or will just make a failure that much more catastrophic.

 

No doubt there is risk, but the potential upside is Microsoft/Dupont/Ford kind of huge.

 

Elon tweeted "Tesla self-driving AI with the Benny Hill option package." Everything's better with Benny Hill.

[video=vimeo;192179726]https://vimeo.com/192179726[/video]

 

It never went faster than 35 mph or so, though...

 

The latest venture from everyone's favorite (mad?) genius involves human-AI interfacing of sorts. Will be interesting to see more detail next week.

http://www.npr.org/thetwo-way/elon-musk-seen-targeting-human-computer-link-in-new-venture

 

We are the Borg, you will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.

 

Haha. I enjoyed this quote:

 

These SpaceX webcasts are a hoot. Today's was a momentous mission in that a recovered stage 1 booster was reused successfully and recovered once again - pretty damn special. Those guys were going crazy!

 

Another successful launch this afternoon and absolutely beautiful first stage recovery. First reuse of a Dragon capsule.

 

Okay, this is awesome. Elon's really sending his roadster to space, assuming a successful launch. He's already stated there's a decent chance of failure in this initial launch, but how cool if it succeeds. I seriously love the guy.

 

Fantastic footage.