In June this year, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk made a seemingly random comment on Twitter: though a certified billionaire, he was living in a towable tiny home that he didn’t even own. That tiny home is now the stuff of (tiny home) legends: the Boxabl Casita.
We covered the Casita in a previous story, including materials used for the construction, features and how it’s a complete living unit for one or even an entire family with one of the larger models. The Casita, despite its diminutive size, is a complete living solution, with Musk’s rental including even a washer and dryer combo, and a dishwasher. According to him, the Casita is SpaceX property and he’s renting it from them when he's in Boca Chica, even though he could very well afford it because it costs a hair under $50,000.
The association between Boxabl and Musk first came to light in November 2020 but was officially confirmed last June. Since then, business has been incredible for the startup, even though founder Galiano Tiramani is quick to point out that Musk doesn’t get all the credit. Before Musk tweeted about the Casita, Boxabl had a 40,000-client waitlist, he tells Business Insider. With Musk’s tweet, that number jumped to 47,000.
If you think these figures are impressive, this just gets better: Boxabl also has 2,000 paid reservations, and total orders for over 100,000 units. Should all of these get built, they will amount to over $1 billion in revenue, which, let’s admit it, is not half-bad for a company that only got started in 2017 and has, so far, only put together three such units. Musk’s is one of those.
Now for the bad news, as per the same media outlet. Boxabl has only recently moved in a new factory, where it plans to put together a Casita every 90 minutes by the end of next year. Ultimately, production will ramp up to 3,600 units a year, so nearly 28 years will have to pass before the current pre-orders roll off the production line. Boxabl also has a $10 million contract with the government for military housing, and it takes priority over the waitlist.
In the end, living in a rental tiny home like the Boxabl Casita remains a luxury only the likes of Elon Musk can enjoy, even if it's cheap.
My primary home is literally a ~$50k house in Boca Chica / Starbase that I rent from SpaceX. It’s kinda awesome though.
Only house I own is the events house in the Bay Area. If I sold it, the house would see less use, unless bought by a big family, which might happen some day.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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