Musk's latest speech: Open overcharging is not good for business, and electric vehicles account for more than 50% before 2030

Last night, while everyone was not paying attention, Musk came to the EEI 2023 Annual Conference.

Note: The EEI (Edison Electric Institute) is the leading trade group for the U.S. electric power industry, representing approximately 70 international power companies. The organization provides a platform for exchange and discussion among its members and regularly hosts events, including this annual conference.

Not only Musk was present at the conference, but also other prominent personalities who spoke at the conference, including Bill M. Gates, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Jennifer M. Granholm, et al.

On stage, Musk presented a tribute to EEI Chairman Pedro Pedro J. Pizarro paints a picture of the future he envisions.

Here are Musk's main points.

1. Electrification of transportation

- We should expect electrification of transportation, especially passenger cars. Soon, the number of electric vehicles will grow exponentially, which is good news for most people.

- We are rapidly approaching a tipping point where electric vehicles will soon account for 50% of all cars, which may be achieved by 2030.

- To support the electrification of the entire economy, we need to roughly triple our power generation.

-Tesla's growth is as I expected, with an annual growth rate of about 50%, and it is the fastest growing manufacturing miracle since the Ford Model T.

- It's impossible to turn all trucks electric overnight, it will take many years, either really fast or really far away.

- It's unusual that we've opened up all our patents, and we do so primarily to clear the way for a sustainable future.

Open overcharging may not be good for business, but it is ethically correct and contributes to the electrification of the entire industry and the sustainability of electricity.

- We just want to do the right thing, and we will support GM and Ford on an equal footing.

2. The future of sustainable energy

- Three pillars of a sustainable energy future:

Production of sustainable energy such as solar, wind, hydro, nuclear, nuclear fission

Solid-state batteries

Electric vehicles

- I can't stress enough that we need more electricity than you think.

We are at a very exciting juncture for utility energy providers, demand for electricity will grow exponentially and we will do everything we can to keep up with the pace of demand growth.

- We are considering all the factors that are holding us down, trying to solve every problem.

- Everything in the future will be electric.

- We are working to transition the world to sustainable energy, and to achieve this we need many technical solutions.

Note: Tesla released a 41-page PDF document in April detailing the third part of their secret grand plan to wean itself off fossil fuels and switch to renewable energy. Click here to find out the full contents of the documentation.

Did the prophecy of 8 years ago come true?

In fact, Musk also attended the EEI annual conference as Tesla CEO in 2015.

Image courtesy of NOLA

At the time, he was regarded by the industry as a "killer of public energy suppliers" and believed that his SolarCity would change the landscape of the American power industry. But Musk denied that view at the time.

He believes that as consumers switch from oil-fueled vehicles to electric vehicles, global demand for electricity will double or even more – a huge new market where demand for power stations and grids remains high.

Tesla's Megapack

On the other hand, whether electric vehicle sales can really take off depends on whether the cost of energy storage can be reduced. Musk threw out one of his prophecies at the time:

Car companies' demand for batteries will promote the large-scale production of batteries, and the cost of energy storage will also fall, and its decline will exceed everyone's expectations.

"Tesla will be disappointed if battery costs don't come down to $100 per kWh before 2020." Musk said.

However, let alone 2020, this prediction has not yet been realized (the current average price of lithium batteries is $151 per kWh).

However, Miao Wei, a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and deputy director of the Economic Committee, expressed a similar view at the 2023 World Power Battery Conference last week, believing that the battery price of $100 per kWh will become a tipping point for the cost of electric vehicles and fuel vehicles.

Image courtesy of Car and Driver

In addition, Musk also mentioned the government subsidies that SolarCity received during the conversation at the time.

At that time, in order to encourage the development of renewable energy, the government provided a lot of financial assistance to related enterprises, the so-called "subsidies", and Musk did not fully agree with this approach.

In economics, carbon pollution is seen as a "negative externality," meaning that the actions that produce it negatively affect others that are not reflected in market prices.

For example, coal-fired power generation emits large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which is the main cause of global warming. However, power companies that produce electricity and sell it to consumers usually do not take this environmental impact into account.

That is, the market price of electricity does not reflect the real social cost, which is the "negative externality".

Musk believes that government subsidies are necessary, but only a delay. A better approach would be to solve the problem of negative externalities once and for all – a carbon tax.

Yes, Musk began calling for a tax on carbon emissions in 2015, so that the cost of coal-fired power generation will rise, and products and services that emit less or no carbon emissions will be more competitively priced.

The bad news is that this tax policy has encountered many obstacles around the world, and it is still difficult to implement today. But on the bright side, at least, Tesla has taken steps to open up overcharging this year.

"It's a strong commitment to sustainability." EEI President Pizarro said.

*Cover and other images not indicated are from EEI

The header image is from Twitter user @Apoorv_Bhargava