False economy What’s in it for me? Understand what makes the

Musk aims to further transform the 
aerospace, automotive and solar industries 
with the Hyperloop and other projects.
Musk has always had grand plans – so grand 
that people often find them a little far-fetched. In 
August, 2013, he unveiled more of these plans: 
the Hyperloop, as well as other developments at 
Tesla and SpaceX.
The Hyperloop is a new mode of transportation 
for fairly short distances. It’s a large-scale 
pneumatic tube, just like the ones used to send 
mail around offices, but, in this case, it’s for 
transporting people and cars in pods.
Similar ideas have been proposed before, but 
Musk’s is different. His design runs under low 
pressure, while the pods float on a bed of air. 
Each 
pod 
is 
thrust 
forward 
by 
an 
electromagnetic pulse, and motors throughout 
the tube give the pods an added power-boost 
when needed.
These solar-powered mechanisms could keep 
pods going at 800 miles per hour; at that speed, 
you could get from Los Angeles to San 
Francisco in 30 minutes.
For Tesla and SpaceX, Musk has other plans. 
Tesla’s primary focus in 2015 will be bringing the 
SUV Model X to the market. Then, planned for 
2017, is the highly anticipated Model 3. This car 
will cost just $35,000, instead of over $100,000 – 
the price of a typical Model S.
In 2014, Musk also announced plans to build a 
Gigafactory, the world’s largest lithium-ion 
manufacturing facility. That will increase the 
batteries available in the marketplace, a crucial 
part of the strategy to make Tesla cars driveable 
over long distances, even without access to a 
recharging station.
In the near future, SpaceX will begin testing its 
ability to take people into space. SpaceX aims to 
perform a manned test flight by 2016, and to fly 
astronauts to the International Space Station for 
NASA in the following year.
SpaceX is also likely to move into building and 
selling satellites, one of the most lucrative areas 
in the industry. Musk is reportedly daydreaming 
about perhaps becoming the first man to set foot 
on Mars!