Electrification of cars and trucks is just the beginning of the global electrification of everything. One of the next steps will be the electrification of aircraft, which has so far been held back by the battery’s insufficient energy density and high costs.
Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk is aware of this and over the years already a few times hinted at electric aircrafts, but such a project was never launched neither by Tesla nor SpaceX.
Nonetheless, Elon Musk is dreaming about a supersonic vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) electric jet. He said that recently when he was asked about the Solar Impulse 2 solar aircraft that completed a round-the-world flight in 2016.
Unfortunately, Elon Musk does not have much capacity to oversee another ambitious project on top of the multiple EV projects, battery technology, autonomous driving, rockets and other things:
“I’m so dying to do a supersonic vtol electric jet! But I already have way too much on my plate. Any more work and my brain will explode.”
We would be very happy to see a battery-electric aircraft from Tesla, as this is a segment that also could use a high-profile project to jump-start the industry.
Let’s recall that even much simpler things than an aircraft, like the Tesla Semi, has been delayed multiple times. The company is clearly overwhelmed with the projects right now.
Maybe in the next few years, technology, and the capacity for new endeavors, will be better to try to build a supersonic VTOL electric jet.
