I think electric cars are the future.  I’ve driven a Tesla Roadster and a Nissan Leaf.  There are virtually no moving parts, extraordinary torque and performance, no emissions, nothing to service except brakes, tires and windshield washer fluid. All this adds up to great transportation.  The big challenge is overcoming “range anxiety” due to the limited energy storage in today’s batteries.

Great advances are being made in this regard, however.  One report I saw recently said that the energy density in Teslas has improved by 40% since the company opened. Other materials systems are showing great promise.  Once the normal range of an electric car is around 300 miles, and can be sold for $30,000 or so, I think the market will take off.  It’ll be a gold rush.

But in a gold rush, it isn’t the miners who make the money.  It is the merchants who supply them, particularly if they corner the prospecting equipment market. That is what I see the Gigafactory as doing — cornering the battery market.

This will enable all sorts of other vehicle companies to pop up, offering all sorts of innovative designs and product, all built using Gigafactory-supplied parts. Looks like brilliance to me.