{"id":971,"date":"2009-06-22T18:07:32","date_gmt":"2009-06-22T23:07:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.majik.org\/cruxenrose\/?p=971"},"modified":"2009-06-22T18:12:16","modified_gmt":"2009-06-22T23:12:16","slug":"tesla-motors%e2%80%99-musk-let-me-run-detroit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.majik.org\/cruxenrose\/tesla-motors%e2%80%99-musk-let-me-run-detroit\/","title":{"rendered":"Tesla Motors\u2019 Musk: Let Me Run Detroit"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entryDescription\">\n<ul>\n<li class=\"entryAuthor\"> By Eliot Van Buskirk                          <a href=\"mailto:eliotvb@gmail.com\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/epicenter\/wp-content\/themes\/wired\/images\/envelope.gif\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Email Author\" width=\"14\" height=\"11\" \/> <\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"entryDate\"> June 15, 2009                        \u00a0|<\/li>\n<li class=\"entryTime\"> 12:55 pm                        \u00a0|<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry\">\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5859\" title=\"anderson_musk\" src=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/images_blogs\/epicenter\/2009\/06\/anderson_musk.jpg\" alt=\"anderson_musk\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Elon Musk has tackled electric cars, space ships and modular renewable energy stations. Now he wants a real challenge: running Detroit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen the mess gets sorted out, I\u2019d like to have a conversation with whoever\u2019s in charge at the time \u2014 the car czar or whoever \u2014 and say \u2018I\u2019d like to run your plants, if you don\u2019t mind,\u2019\u201d Musk said, starting that conversation Monday at Wired\u2019s first-ever business conference, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/wiredbizprogram\/index.html\">Disruptive by Design<\/a> in Manhattan.<\/p>\n<p>What would he do? Hint: he doesn\u2019t think much of\u00a0namby-pamby hybrids. In the future, Musk said, only electric cars will make sense.<\/p>\n<p>He characterized cars like the Toyota Prius as \u201csplitting the baby\u201d in the style of King Solomon \u2014 a compromise that delivers neither the perfect gas-driven or electric-driven experience, due to the duplicate equipment required to harness dual energy sources.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[The electric car] is an inevitable thing,\u201d Musk said in a conversation with Wired editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson. \u201cThe reason I\u2019m putting so much time and effort into helping create Tesla is because I\u2019m hoping we can accelerate that transformation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Paypal co-founder, who made nearly $200 million when eBay acquired that company in 2002, now focuses his energy on three quasar-hot topics: electric cars (at Tesla, the only company that currently sells one), space exploration (at Space-X, which won the contract to replace the Space Shuttle), and new energy technologies (at Solar City, which builds solar power systems for single-family homes and corporations).<\/p>\n<p>Gossip mongers hoping for dirt in the <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/vXScA\">ongoing lawsuit between Musk and Tesla founder Martin Eberhard<\/a> will have to look elsewhere \u2014 with one possible exception.<\/p>\n<p>Part of the problem with Detroit, he says, is the union system. \u201cIt\u2019s not out of the question to have unions, but if there\u2019s going to be a union, they\u2019d better understand that they\u2019re on the same side as the company,\u201d he added. \u201cI\u2019m against having a two-class system where you\u2019ve got the workers and then the managers, sort of like nobles and peasants\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost of our experienced factory workers come from unionized environments, and we asked them what benefit did they see in unions,\u201d he added. \u201cThey said, \u2018Well, if their boss was an asshole, they had recourse.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI said, \u2018Let\u2019s make a rule: There will be no assholes.\u2019 I fired someone for being an asshole. And I only had to do that once, actually.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Pictured: Chris Anderson (l) and Elon Musk (r). Photo by James Moran<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/epicenter\/category\/wiredbiz\/\">Full coverage of Wired\u2019s Disruptive by Design Conference <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>See Also:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/autopia\/2009\/06\/eberhard\/#previouspost\">Tesla\u2019s Founder Sues Tesla\u2019s CEO<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/autopia\/2009\/03\/leaked-photo-te\/#previouspost\">S Is For Stunner: Tesla Reveals New Model S<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/autopia\/2009\/05\/brusa-spyder\/#previouspost\">Watch Out, Tesla. That\u2019s a Brusa In Your Mirror<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/autopia\/2009\/03\/first-look-of-t\/#previouspost\">First Look at Tesla\u2019s Stunning Model S<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/autopia\/2009\/01\/tesla-motors-jo\/#previouspost\">Tesla Motors Joins Daimler On a Smart EV<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/autopia\/2009\/05\/daimler-tesla\/#previouspost\">Daimler Takes 10 Percent Stake in Tesla<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/autopia\/2009\/01\/tesla-deal-help\/#previouspost\">Tesla Deal Helps Daimler \u201cBridge\u201d Its Battery Gap<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/autopia\/2009\/05\/daimler_tesla\/#previouspost\">Share in Tesla Electrifies the Teutons<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/autopia\/2009\/06\/tesla\/#previouspost\">Next-Gen Tesla Roadster to Have Four Seats<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/science\/space\/magazine\/15-06\/ff_space_musk#previouspost\">Elon Musk Is Betting His Fortune on a Mission Beyond Earth\u2019s Orbit<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/science\/space\/news\/2008\/08\/musk_qa#previouspost\">Now 0-for-3, SpaceX\u2019s Elon Musk Vows to Make Orbit<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/video\/foratv\/foratv\/13312836001\/uber-entrepreneur-an-evening-with-elon-musk\/22809685001#previouspost\">Uber Entrepreneur: An Evening with Elon Musk &#8211; Video &#8211; Wired<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/wiredscience\/2007\/08\/spacexs-elon-mu\/#previouspost\">SpaceX\u2019s Elon Musk Talks Up Tesla on NPR<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/wiredscience\/2007\/03\/musks_rocket_it\/#previouspost\">Musk\u2019s Rocket, It Does Not Go<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry\">\n<h1><a title=\"Permanent Link to Tesla Motors\u2019 Musk: Let Me Run Detroit\" rel=\"bookmark\" href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/epicenter\/2009\/06\/elon-musk-on-the-inevitability-of-the-ev-running-detroit-and-firing-a-certain-someone\/\">original article:<\/a><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Eliot Van Buskirk June 15, 2009 \u00a0| 12:55 pm \u00a0| Elon Musk has tackled electric cars, space ships and modular renewable energy stations. Now he wants a real challenge: running Detroit. \u201cWhen the mess gets sorted out, I\u2019d like to have a conversation with whoever\u2019s in charge at the time \u2014 the car czar [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[357,456],"tags":[833,832,834,835,836],"class_list":["post-971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-eclectic-bits","category-green-revolution","tag-chris-anderson","tag-detroit","tag-disruptive-by-design","tag-elon-musk","tag-tesla"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.majik.org\/cruxenrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.majik.org\/cruxenrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.majik.org\/cruxenrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.majik.org\/cruxenrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.majik.org\/cruxenrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=971"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.majik.org\/cruxenrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":973,"href":"https:\/\/www.majik.org\/cruxenrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/971\/revisions\/973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.majik.org\/cruxenrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.majik.org\/cruxenrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.majik.org\/cruxenrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}