Elon Musk isn't one to take criticism lightly, especially when it's aimed at his main company's core value: environmentalism. That's why he revealed a potentially very big piece of information in response to a tweet questioning the de facto cleanliness of Tesla vehicles.
A man called David Kennedy tagged Musk in his message and wrote: "Unfortunately I can stand at the Tesla superchargers and see the coal power plant. Play the shell game all you want these are coal powered."
And David is partially right. As long as most of the grid electricity comes from coal-burning power plants, the electric vehicles, despite their zero tailpipe emissions, are not as non-harming to the environment as they should be.
There has been tremendous progress in the use of renewable energies lately with several countries able to cover their entire needs using only solar- and wind-generated electricity, but throughout the world, this still represents the exception to the rule.
Of course, Elon Musk isn't a stranger to solar power and he has always advocated its merits, but that didn't change the fact Tesla vehicles sucked their juice from the grid, and the company has no power over how that electricity was produced.
In response to David's message, Elon Musk said that all Superchargers are being equipped with a combination of solar panels and storage batteries that would make them completely independent. That's not something new, given how that was the plan from the start of the charging network back in 2012.
However, the second part of Musk's message included a very bold statement. He claimed that "almost all" Superchargers would eventually be disconnected from the electricity grid, leaving them to fend off on their own relying only on solar power.
Elon Musk failed to give a timeframe for when this will happen, and we suspect we're still a few years away from the moment, but just everybody knows, that's the mid to long-term plan.
And David is partially right. As long as most of the grid electricity comes from coal-burning power plants, the electric vehicles, despite their zero tailpipe emissions, are not as non-harming to the environment as they should be.
There has been tremendous progress in the use of renewable energies lately with several countries able to cover their entire needs using only solar- and wind-generated electricity, but throughout the world, this still represents the exception to the rule.
Of course, Elon Musk isn't a stranger to solar power and he has always advocated its merits, but that didn't change the fact Tesla vehicles sucked their juice from the grid, and the company has no power over how that electricity was produced.
In response to David's message, Elon Musk said that all Superchargers are being equipped with a combination of solar panels and storage batteries that would make them completely independent. That's not something new, given how that was the plan from the start of the charging network back in 2012.
However, the second part of Musk's message included a very bold statement. He claimed that "almost all" Superchargers would eventually be disconnected from the electricity grid, leaving them to fend off on their own relying only on solar power.
Elon Musk failed to give a timeframe for when this will happen, and we suspect we're still a few years away from the moment, but just everybody knows, that's the mid to long-term plan.
All Superchargers are being converted to solar/battery power. Over time, almost all will disconnect from the electricity grid.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 9, 2017