Electrification of our vehicle fleet seems to be one of the most popular segues to lowering greenhouse gas emissions. It still might take 20 years for electric cars to take a considerable marketshare away from internal combustion engines, but it does seem that the curve is bending back that away after a decade or more of false starts.
The reason? Elon Musk and his Tesla Model 3. Within a week of announcing it, over 300,000 consumers plopped down $1000 to reserve a car that won’t be available until late 2017. Tesla isn’t the only game in town (Chevrolet is releasing the Bolt next year for a similar $35,000 price tag), but Tesla has really captured the imagination.
I’ve become enough of an Elon fanboy that he might be getting his own tab on my site soon. As a high school teacher, I can say that no other living tech entrepreneur comes close to Elon’s ability to excite teenagers.Take, for instance, Elon’s recent announced a trip to Mars might be as low as $200,000. He has shown his knack for capturing an environmentally-conscious, economically feasible vision of the future that is noticeably adventuresome. Not only is he building a loyal following for his brand, he is doing more to inspire a future in science and tech than any educator I know.
Keep it up, Mr. Musk!
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