Author: Liu Hong
Introduction
In the era of clean technology revolution, Elon Musk will never stop, and neither will Tesla. Tesla cities are now open for reservation, with model houses completely utilizing green energy technology. It is said that hundreds of Tesla cities are currently being planned.
Endless gimmicks, perhaps to become reality
With electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles in the mass market, the lowest historical prices for batteries and solar roofs, dozens of super factories, mind-boggling accelerations, electric semis and Cybertrucks, reusable rockets, tunnel boring machines, Starlink satellites, and missions to Mars, Musk still feels it is not enough. Now he has decided to build clean technology cities.
Musk said that there are several unique features to these “Tesla cities”. First, all buildings in these cities will have solar roofs. For the remaining power needs, most will come from community solar fields and wind farms built in the area. In some cases, geothermal and hydropower may be used. In order to ensure that power supply meets demand, a certain number of battery storage units will be installed: Tesla Powerpack and Powerwall. These are products of Tesla’s energy company, and a single building will need them, let alone a whole city. Although the total number has not been specified, just thinking about it is terrifying.
He said that they will start with one such city, and if everything goes well, the number may exceed hundreds.
In addition, Tesla cities will have a variety of aesthetic guidelines. This is not surprising, as Musk has always put great emphasis on good aesthetics in Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter, etc. – a new urbanism with a Musk-style.
It is reported that the new cities will focus on solving key human/social challenges. However, it is currently unclear how such uses will be evaluated or perhaps approved. One can assume that bureaucracy will be minimized and processes will be simplified as much as possible.
What are the requirements for city citizens?So, what are the requirements for living in such a city? Residents who choose to drive in the city must operate a purely electric car – this is a requirement of HOA. “HOA” is an important part of the US real estate market – the abbreviation of Home Owner Association, which is composed of homeowners and is mandatory to participate. If you invest in real estate in the United States, you will often encounter this term.
Musk has lived in the traffic environment of Los Angeles for longer than anyone else, and he plans to improve the city center of Tesla City with mixed land use (residential, commercial, government, etc.), allowing residents to walk and ride (electric) bicycles.
In December 2020, Tesla released a conceptual electric bicycle MODEL-B, which was designed by designer Kendall Toerner. It can make riding faster, safer, and more convenient. Unlike traditional bicycle structures, MODEL-B draws on many automotive designs, so its appearance does look like the Tesla style.
Residents here are not allowed to pollute the environment. However, if residents so prefer, they can choose a non-Tesla model they like. Self-driving electric minibuses, trams, and subways will also be deployed on certain lines. However, as one of Tesla’s planned products in 2016, there is still no news on electric minibuses.
Perfectly Presenting Comprehensive Travel
For the last mile delivery, robots will be used to save costs and further test and develop hardware and software that Musk hopes to use in other applications for Tesla and SpaceX. Traditional shippers such as FedEx and UPS only need to deliver the packages to the central delivery hub taken over by the Tesla City robots.
Will Tesla City use Hyperloop? Some of them seem to be. Hyperloop is a tube-based system of high-speed trains at near-supersonic speeds. In November 2020, the first manned Tesla Hyperloop test drive was successful, with a maximum speed of 240 miles per hour (386 kilometers per hour) on a 500-meter test tube. It is expected that higher speeds will be achieved when the second, even longer Hyperloop facility is completed in West Virginia.
Of course, these cities will also design tunnels for Tesla’s autonomous vehicles. In July 2020, Musk’s Boring Company began tunneling with the aim of using autonomous electric vehicles to transport passengers between hotspots in Las Vegas. The three vehicles used are the Model S, Model 3, and Model X, all of which will run automatically within the loop system.
Tesla has always had enthusiastic supporters who are eager to sign up for one of the Tesla cities as soon as possible. However, this does not mean that Tesla will give up its incentives: early bookers will have priority access to Tesla electric pickups and undisclosed future Tesla models. Early bookers will also participate in a lottery to win Tesla Powerwall 3 or the next generation of solar roofs. By the way, booking the 1st Tesla City requires a hefty $420,000 deposit.It’s not surprising that DFJ, a top Silicon Valley venture capital firm, partners Steve Jurvetson, Kimbal Musk, brother of Elon Musk, and Elon Musk himself have their own reservations for the Tesla City No.1, which is rumored to have been reserved by musician, composer, actor, music producer, and entrepreneur, Akon, Jon Favreau, the youngest presidential inaugural address writer in U.S. history, Stephen Colbert, actor Don Cheadle, actor, director, and producer Morgan Freeman, Robert Gaskill, Morgan Freeman’s former driver and founder of MOTEV, actor and talk show host Oprah Winfrey, talented couple Beyonce and Jay-Z, actor Jaden Smith, internationally renowned software expert Dr. Roger Pressman, and actor, musician, and writer Anthony Kiedis.
Tesla City No.1 is located near Cambridge, England, in honor of Douglas Noel Adams, author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and his portrayal of the upcoming age of superintelligence in his works with extravagant style.
Back to reality, despite the controversial style of Elon Musk, he is still greatly admired in the United States. In March of last year, Musk revealed that Tesla would build a third super factory in the country to specifically produce its conceptual Cybertruck pickup. Many cities in the United States reached out to Musk, hoping that Tesla would build its super factory in their own cities. Ultimately, Musk narrowed the candidate cities down to Austin, Texas, and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
To attract Tesla’s investment, Tulsa replaced the iconic sculpture “Golden Driller” with Musk’s face, and sprayed Tesla’s classic logo “T” on the body of the sculpture. The mayor of Tulsa told the media, “Tesla and Tulsa have the same creative spirit.” He even said that if Tesla could build its super factory in the city, the police department would replace all its police cars with Cybertrucks from Tesla. Nevertheless, Musk decided to build the factory in Austin, Texas.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.