Elon Musk wins again
Score one more for Elon Musk.
The entrepreneur behind such high-tech ventures as Tesla (TSLA), SolarCity (SCTY) and SpaceX can claim another victory today-- his idea for a futuristic tube transportation device known as “Hyperloop” is taking a big step forward. The aptly named Hyperloop Transportation Technologies is now working on the project, striking a deal with the developer of a model city in California’s Central Valley to build a 5-mile stretch of the Hyperloop there.
Yahoo Finance’s Jeff Macke says Musk’s reputation as a visionary is the only reason the Hyperloop could even get off the ground in the first place.
“He has high idea euphoria,” he notes. “He comes up with a lot of different thoughts. And so he can get things done. That’s why people are even believing in this Hyperloop in California.”
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Yahoo Finance Senior Columnist Michael Santoli notes Musk is causing a buzz even though he really isn’t involved in actually building the Hyperloop.
“He’s just the intellectual father of this idea,” he explains. “He’s the one that gave it any kind of momentum.”
Santoli also points out that while today’s news might be impressive, when it comes to Musk’s bigger vision for this futuristic mass transit system, the devil is in the details.
“What you’re seeing in this development is exactly why people scratch their heads and say ‘How is this going to be possible?’ OK, you’re creating a new town in the farmlands of Central California, maybe you can do that from scratch. But if you want to get one from San Francisco to LA, which is his other idea, there’s some stuff in the way,” he explains.
But even with those obstacles, Macke isn’t surprised at the enthusiasm. He says some people just fall under a spell when Musk is involved.
“That’s the thing with Musk,” he notes. “He’s got that charismatic thing which worked really well for him until he started tweeting about space launches while Tesla was blowing up last quarter.”
And Santoli notes that, like he’s doing with Tesla, Musk has a knack of finding ways to eventually accomplish what he envisions.
“If he just came out and said ‘I want to make the best batteries in the world and the grid can ultimately run off them or store power off them,’ that’s hard to do,” Santoli says. “If you say ‘I have this car that everybody wants and is magical and futuristic,’ that gets you the batteries made. So it seems like all of it is working together in a very, very, very long term.”
