Technology
Elon Musk says building Teslas ‘makes World War 2 look TRIVIAL’ and says he’s ‘gone through hell’
TESLA boss Elon Musk has claimed that the challenges faced by his electric car company “make World War II look trivial”.
During a call with investors on Monday, the billionaire discussed the difficulties of building thousands of vehicles during a global pandemic.
Elon Musk has said that the problems faced by Tesla ‘make WW2 look trivial’[/caption]
He said that managing supply chain and production issues was a “logistical problem that makes World War II look trivial”, according to Insider.
“I’m not kidding. The scale is insane,” Musk added.
“We’re talking millions of cars, massive global supply chain, 50 countries, dozens of regulatory regimes.”
Tesla sold roughly half a million cars in 2020 and is scheduled to ship 750,000 this year, according to Insider.
Tesla sold roughly half a million cars in 2020[/caption]
The California firm is juggling a number of crises brought by the Covid-19 pandemic, including local lockdowns and a global microchip shortage.
Worldwide demand for automobiles also fell dramatically in 2020 as few people ventured further than a few miles from their homes.
Musk shared stories on the call about one day sending Tesla minions buy up every USB cable at retail stores across San Francisco due to a shortage.
“For a few days there, nobody could buy a USB cable in the Bay Area because we went and bought them all to put them in the car, literally,” Musk said, according to Insider.
“There’s hundreds of stories like that.”
The California firm is juggling a number of crises brought by the Covid-19 pandemic[/caption]
Musk’s mischievous quips have landed him in hot water in the past.
A Twitter post last May in which the billionaire remarked that Tesla’s stock price was “too high prompted a $13billion tumble in Tesla’s market value.
In August 2018, the billionaire and Tesla each paid $20million in civil fines following a tweet in which Musk claimed that he had “funding secured” to possibly take Tesla private in a $72billion transaction.
In reality, Musk was not close.
Who is Elon Musk?
Here’s what you need to know…
Controversial billionaire Elon Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa in 1971.
As a 12-year-old child he taught himself computer programming and sold the code of a video game to a PC magazine for $500 (£300).
At 17, he moved to Canada to study, before gaining two degrees in physics and business at the University of Pennsylvania.
At the age of 24 he moved to California to start a Ph.D. in applied physics and material science at Stanford University – but left the programme after just two days to pursue other projects.
Now 49, he is the founder and CEO of SpaceX, co-founder, CEO and product architect of Tesla Motors, co-founder and chairman of SolarCity, co-chairman of Opan AI, co-founder of Zip2 and founder of X.com, which merged with PayPal.
He’s also working on a human brain chip project called Neuralink.
Musk’s stated aim is to reduce global warming and save humans from extinction by setting up a colony on Mars.
The billionaire inventor is also working on the world’s largest lithium-ion battery to store renewable energy.
Earlier that year, Musk engaged in a spat with Vernon Unsworth, one of a team of divers who helped rescue 12 boys from a flooded cave in June 2018.
The feud began when Musk voiced plans to build a miniature submarine to assist in the mission, a suggestion dismissed as a publicity stunt by Unsworth, who said Musk should “stick his submarine where it hurts”.
Musk responded by labelling Unsworth a “pedo guy” in a tweet, later deleted, and a “child rapist” in a rambling e-mail to a reporter.
The slurs moved Unsworth to sue Musk for £145million in damages.
Musk was cleared of defamation in case brought to a US District Court in Los Angeles a year later.
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In other news, Musk recently claimed that his company SpaceX could land astronauts on the Moon within the next three years.
Musk has named himself the “Dogefather” in a tweet which appears to have sent the cryptocurrency Dogecoin soaring.
The billionaire recently warned that humanity may wipe itself out before his aerospace company SpaceX has a chance to colonise Mars.
What do you make of Musk’s remarks? Let us know in the comments!
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