First Elon Musk took on Big Oil, and then the trillion-dollar auto industry. Then it was the turn of the legacy energy utilities. Musk launched the first models of his Tesla electric vehicles, and followed that up with a home-based Powerwall and a grid-scale big battery, and promised to de-carbonise the world.
How they laughed. And how they bet against him. Suddenly, though, it is dawning on many that Tesla and Musk are not quite the jokes they hoped they would be.
Over the last couple of months, and in particularly the last few days, the Tesla share price has gone into orbit. After jumping 20 per cent on Monday, it did the same and better on Tuesday, leaping to a peak of $US960 in early trade before settling at $US887, still a 13 per cent, or a $US16 billion gain in value on the day.
It’s jumped five fold in less than a year, but this is no penny dreadful. It’s now a $US160 billion ($A237 billion) company.
To be sure, this is not a market gain based on the traditional fundamentals of corporate structure and quarterly earnings.
There is not a hint of the current market value in conventional metrics. What we are seeing now is the growing realisation that Musk really might change the world for the better, and in ways they have not wanted to imagine.
To read the full story, please go to RenewEconomy’s dedicated electric vehicle sister site, The Driven, click here…
