The 10th Man: Übermensch

The 10th Man: Übermensch

By Jared Dillian

Elon Musk just unveiled something called the “Tesla Powerwall,” a means to store solar-created electricity in people’s homes… with the potential to put the entire utility industry out of business.

As you probably know, Musk also has these electric cars that people seem to like to drive… with the potential to put all the major car manufacturers out of business. Oh, and the dealerships too.

Musk also has a spaceship company. It is his stated goal to leave Earth and set up shop on Mars. He has already put the US government out of business when it comes to space.

How did he manage to do all this stuff? He made $34 million selling a software company when he was 24, which he freerolled into PayPal, which he made $165 million selling in 2002. He then freerolled that into SpaceX and Tesla.

Oh, and another thing. Musk thinks the state of California is incompetent to build a choo-choo train going from San Francisco to Los Angeles, so he drew up plans for a “Hyperloop,” basically a giant pneumatic tube that can get you there in 35 minutes for $20.

He said he didn’t have time to build it, so he gave the plans to the state for free. (Jerry Brown is going ahead with the snail rail. Unions need to get paid, you know.)

Feel Terrible About Yourself Yet?

I’m not done. He is chairman of a company called SolarCity, which is the second-biggest residential solar panel maker in the country. They will come to your house and install solar panels, so you don’t have to buy electricity from the grid.

Now—if you watch the video of Musk’s Powerwall speech, you’ll start to see the genius of his plan.

You have these giant batteries you keep in your house (which take up little space and hang flat on the wall).

You have solar panels on your roof to generate electricity.

You store the electricity in the battery when the sun goes down.

You charge your car off the battery.

Everything—every house, every car, every business–is now powered by…