Is Tesla Just A Series Of Startups?

Musk On Tesla components: “There’s probably in excess of a dozen startups effectively in Tesla,” Musk said.

He referred to every major Tesla product line as a startup and every new plant as a startup.

Since other car companies don’t own their own sales and service, Tesla’s sales and service units could be startups, he said, adding: “The whole autonomy thing is a startup.”

Musk also termed the computer chip design and the Supercharger network as startups.

“We’ve maybe been a bit slow with some of the startups, but I don’t think we’ve had any of them fail,” Musk said.

Musk On Car Insurance: Musk called insurance “substantial” and said it could be worth 30% to 40% of the car business for Tesla.

“It’s going to cost less and be better,” Musk said of potential auto insurance from Tesla.

He mentioned having a better feedback group and said he believes “a lot of people” would select Tesla insurance.

Elon Musk On HVAC: Tesla announced improvements to the heat pump for vehicles, which led to Musk discussing the possibility of HVAC for homes.

“I think there’s potential for an integrated home system that kind of does power generation storage, heating, cooling, air filtration, water purification in a really tight package.”

Tesla does not have a prototype yet, but it’s “something that would be probably good to have,” Musk said.