After building electric cars and trucks and transforming space exploration, billionaire tycoon Elon Musk seems to have turned his eyes to vertical elevator electric planes. He said he was “dying” building supersonic electric jets that would use vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) technology. With Musk, who is known for making unconventional decisions that initially seem too outlandish, this should come as no surprise. He announced his desire to get into the aircraft industry, or rather to disrupt it, in a response to entrepreneur writer Peter H. Diamandis, who asked his followers what the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX should “do” next.
When Musk first talked about electric cars, not many were convinced they were feasible, largely due to technological and commercial challenges. Then Tesla happened. He also disrupted space exploration with SpaceX and built reusable rockets.
“Elon Musk has played a massive role in transforming payments, space exploration, automobiles, and the adoption of green energy. Which industry should he tackle next? My choice is aviation… what’s yours? ”Said Diamandis, founder of the XPRIZE Foundation.
Though Musk responded with his electric plane pitch, he also said that adding more work “makes my brain explode,” using emojis for the last two words.
I’m so dying to build a VOTL electric supersonic jet but adding more work will be mine ???? ????
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 7, 2021
In addition to running the multi-billion dollar companies Tesla and SpaceX, Musk founded the startup Neuralink, which develops implantable brain-machine interfaces, and the tunneling company The Boring Company. He is also a co-founder of the artificial intelligence research laboratory OpenAI. In addition, he often deals with topics of the crypto industry via his Twitter account. With SpaceX, Musk wants to colonize Mars and turn humans into a “multi-planetary” species.
This isn’t the first time Musk has expressed an interest in electric aircraft. He made a similar statement in July.
I’m dying to build a supersonic VTOL electric jet! But I already have way too much on my plate. Any more work and my brain will explode.
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 27, 2021
Previously, in 2018, during a podcast from Joe Rogan, Musk said he had great ideas for developing electric VTOLs.
