Born and raised in South Africa, 43 year old Elon Musk (now a Canadian-American) is considered one of the leading forward-thinkers of our time, but the poor guy’s career seems to be following a downward trajectory.
To prove my case, I put it to you that it can be condensed into three main phases:
1. An astronomical rise to fame.
2. Coming back down to Earth.
3. Now he’s just looking for somewhere to make himself at home. Your place, my place... anywhere will do.
Musk first captured the public’s imagination when, in 2002, he founded SpaceX with $100 million in spare change from the fortune he made from the sale of PayPal (of which he was the largest shareholder) to eBay. Established with the dream of creating a “true spacefaring civilisation”, SpaceX has now been flying resupply missions to the International Space Station for three years.
Next, he tried his hand at electric cars, co-founding Tesla Motors in 2012, where he still holds the positions of both CEO and product architect.
Now, Musk has unveiled a concept that may spark a revolution in energy storage for the home. Powerwall, launched under the Tesla brand, is a home battery that charges using electricity generated from solar panels, or when utility rates are low, and then powers the home in the evening. By providing a backup electricity supply, it also mitigates against power outages.
Requiring a not inconsiderable upfront investment, these home energy savers are never an easy sell, but Powerwall looks to be the most promising candidate to date for gaining large-scale traction on a global scale. This can only be helped by the fact that Musk is making the patents behind the technology available open-source.
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