Elon Musk is quite possibly the most admirable modern-day entrepreneur. In a landscape plush with green business ventures, Elon Musk has trudged through to make Tesla Motors the most competitive player in the industry. Musk is arguably the only guy with enough smarts, determination, and brass to not only keep the electric car industry alive, but help it to thrive as well. Last fall, presidential candidate Mitt Romney called Tesla a “loser” company. He likened Tesla to the now defunct solar company Solyndra and emphasized the massive government loan Tesla had received (which it just recently paid back in full).
After repaying his $465 million loan back to the Department of Energy nine years ahead of schedule, Musk has outlined an ambitious and awe-inspiring plan to expand Tesla’s Supercharger network: expand the current eight Supercharger stations to cover 98% of the US and Canada by the end of 2015. These stations provide about half a charge in 20 minutes and are free for Model S owners. In the short term, Tesla is tripling its coverage area this month and Musk predicts that Tesla owners will be able to drive from LA to NY solely using Superchargers by the end of this year.
What is so disheartening about Romney’s statement is that he genuinely would rather see Tesla (and all its environmental brothers-in-arms) fail than succeed. Opponents of Musk don’t care that he has brought a revolutionary, practical solution to the gas/oil crisis; instead, they would rather live in a world of denial and turn a cold shoulder to innovation instead of cheering it on.
To see a visual of Elon’s dream Supercharger network, check out this article from BuzzFeed.
