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How Elon Musk and Obama both argue for cleantech despite political uncertainty
In spite of tremendous obstacles, Elon Musk has changed the way the world thinks about energy usage. He has defied odds with his rocket company SpaceX despite having to face-off against government-funded competition. He has pushed Tesla’s direct sales model even when hit with major lobbying blockades from the Big Three car manufacturers in Detroit. Musk’s Master Plan Part Deux outlined a vision for the future of sustainability and its necessity for the planet. It’s an argument that many pundits have rejected as too costly, complicated, or just plain crazy.
On Monday, President Barack Obama wrote in the journal Science that a national policy to embrace renewable energy over a continued focus on fossil fuel production makes economic sense. President-elect Trump has decried calls for the U.S. to transition to alternative fuels.
Both Musk and Obama speak to energy policies that would change the way people heat their homes, commute to work, and depend on big utilities for energy provision. In his first Master Plan, Musk offered offered a pathway in which a low volume, expensive car would create a profit that would eventually be directed to create an affordable, high volume car. That first plan also emphasized the importance of solar power provision. He reiterated in Master Plan Deux that “we must at some point achieve a sustainable energy economy or we will run out of fossil fuels to burn and civilization will collapse.” Increasing atmospheric and oceanic carbon levels threatens life on the planet, and Musk has said all along that the faster we achieve sustainability, the better.
Obama noted in the Science article that many businesses have come to the independent conclusion that reducing emissions is good for the environment and for profitability. He noted that millions of U.S. citizens already are employed in jobs related to energy-efficient technologies, adding that the cost of renewable energy has continued to decline, partly because of government incentives but primarily due to market forces. “Although our understanding of the impacts of climate change is increasingly and disturbingly clear,” Obama states, “there is still debate about the proper course for U.S. policy.” Obama goes on to say that the United States is showing that greenhouse gas mitigation “need not conflict with economic growth. Rather, it can boost efficiency, productivity, and innovation.”
Musk’s successful and sustainable business practices correlate with President Obama’s conclusions. Tesla’s commercial Powerpack system, alongside solar company SolarCity, combines integrated energy generation and storage. Tesla production goals include improved factory efficiency 5X to 10X by 2022, which will, in turn, make Tesla’s vehicles more affordable. With radar, sonar, and advanced AI, Tesla’s Autopilot may end up 10X safer than human drivers. Tesla’s vision for the future is not limited to cars, as Musk wants to reinvent all kinds of vehicles such as massive electric 18-wheelers, which would dramatically reduce cargo shipping costs and could have revolutionary economic and environmental implications.
These types of alternative fuel innovations are just what Obama has outlined in his Science article. “The business case for clean energy is growing, and the trend toward a cleaner power sector can be sustained regardless of near-term federal policies,” he writes, adding, “I believe the trend toward clean energy is irreversible.”
“There is always tension between the visionary and the day-to-day, but that’s what causes things to happen as you figure out how the world is going to be,” offers Ian Wright, whose startup, Tesla, has propelled Musk toward uber success. “It’s really hard to imagine how Elon does it all. He’s human like everyone else. It hasn’t been smart to bet against him.”
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The Tesla Roadster unveiling is getting hyped up by the company’s CEO Elon Musk, who has been a big reason the product has such high expectations due to delayed timelines and a constant need to make it even more insane than before.
Tesla announced on September 12 that it would officially unveil the Roadster in Waco, Texas, on October 1, ending years of patience for fans and reservation holders who have waited for the all-electric supercar to enter production since 2017.
Musk has said that this event will be well worth the wait on several occasions, and last year on the Joe Rogan Experience, he said that there should be a closing chapter to supercars- the end of cars that aren’t focused on safety.
He said:
“Whether it’s good or bad, it will be unforgettable. My friend Peter Thiel once reflected that the future was supposed to have flying cars, but we don’t have flying cars. I think if Peter wants a flying car, he should be able to buy one. I think it has a shot at being the most memorable product unveil ever. This is some crazy technology in this car. Let’s just put it this way: if you took all the James Bond cars and combined them, it’s crazier than that.”
Musk’s teases have continued, and now that the event is roughly two weeks away, it seems like Roadster is finally going to show up and blow some minds:
It’s out of this world
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 13, 2026
Excitement guaranteed
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 13, 2026
Tesla has definitely dragged out the development of the Roadster, but there is a good reason for it.
Tesla has been working on many other projects, most notably self-driving efforts to increase passenger safety, and those simply took priority over the Roadster, a low-volume, high-performance sports car that has a lightning-fast acceleration rate of 0-60 MPH in just 1.1 seconds, could potentially fly, and contributes very little to the company’s mission.
However, many people have the Roadster on pre-order through the referral program or with their own money, and it is time that Tesla delivers on that.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s Boring Company has big plans for Las Vegas by year’s end
Elon Musk’s Boring Company says Vegas Loop stations will double by year end once again.
The Boring Company says the Vegas Loop’s station count will double by the end of the year, tying the target to a hiring push for drivers and operations managers in Las Vegas. “Vegas Loop is getting bigger – the station count will double by end of year!” the company wrote in a post on X, attaching listings for a Loop driver and a senior Loop operations manager.
The number checks out against what’s already public, with the Vegas Loop currently running 14 operational stations, while the Boring Company’s own project page lists 28 as the target for the end of 2026.
Vegas Loop is getting bigger – the station count will double by end of year!
Urgently hiring exceptional and enthusiastic Drivers and Ops Managers.
Apply here!
Driverhttps://t.co/ZUPXBYTONb
Senior Loop Ops Managerhttps://t.co/mV6V22V8jH pic.twitter.com/IZ9FqIw8WY
— The Boring Company (@boringcompany) September 14, 2026
Much of that growth is tied to tunnels that are already built and waiting on an opening date. A roughly two-mile dual tunnel system under Paradise Road, connecting Westgate to a planned station at 4744 Paradise Road, is expected to open in stages over the coming weeks, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority chief executive Steve Hill told the Review-Journal last week. New stations at 4744 Paradise, Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, and the former Gordon Biersch site would come online with it, several of them built to speed up rides to Harry Reid International Airport ahead of Formula 1’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Clark County entitled Vegas Loop for 123 stations after approving 19 more in August, as Teslarati reported at the time. Entitlement and construction move at different speeds on this project, so county approval alone does not guarantee a station opens on any particular schedule.
Clark County approved 18 additional stations back in 2023, part of a plan that pushed the system’s target to 69 stations across 65 miles, doubling the network on paper for the first time. The target kept climbing after that, to roughly 93 stations by the end of that year and 104 by last year, before August’s vote pushed it to 123. This week’s announcement is the first time that doubling language has been attached to stations actually running rather than stations merely approved on a county map.
Ridership gives some sense of what a denser network could carry. Boring Company executive Mike Baier said in July that the Vegas Loop already moves around 40,000 passengers on busy convention days, a total that tops most light rail systems in the country despite the system running on a fraction of its planned tunnel mileage. Company leadership has projected ridership could triple or quadruple once the airport connector tunnels fully open.
Boring Company did not say which stations beyond those already under construction would open by year end, or whether the hiring push points to a fleet expansion alongside the new stops.
Tesla is looking to expand into a new Asian market, strengthening its presence in a region that has been bullish on electric vehicles as a whole.
Tesla officially filed to establish a subsidiary of its business in Vietnam, a report from Reuters suggests. Tesla named the entity “Tesla Motors Vietnam Limited Liability Company.”
The planned entrance into the Vietnamese market is a good sign and move for Tesla, as it has become one of the fastest-growing EV markets in Southeast Asia. It is already among the leaders in the region in both volume and electrification rate. In the first half of this year, Vietnam led Southeast Asia in battery-electric passenger car sales at about 116,000 units, up about 71 percent year over year.
Currently, Vietnamese EV drivers rely on VinFast’s V-Green network, which has about 150,000 ports, but these are primarily reserved for VinFast vehicles. Public third-party charging is fragmented and unreliable for those who do not own chargers that are dedicated to a certain manufacturer’s vehicles.
Tesla has had mixed results in Asia as a whole, and as China remains the core part of its story in Asia, the company is evidently working on expanding its footprint on the continent. Tesla’s domestic retail deliveries fell about 12 percent year over year through the first eight months of 2026.
Model Y remains a standout individual product, holding its position as one of, if not the, best-selling vehicles in the world. However, Model 3 has been weaker than it has been in past years.
Gigafactory Shanghai, the company’s Chinese production facility, still performs very well. Wholesale volumes in terms of exports have more than doubled and now exceed domestic retail sales; Giga Shanghai builds vehicles for Europe, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and other markets. South Korea has been an explicit bright spot, with registrations doubling year-to-date and Tesla frequently appearing as the top imported brand.
Tesla just did something in South Korea that no foreign carmaker has ever done
Tesla’s entrance into Vietnam signals a broader effort to take over the Asian market and grab more market share from rivals.
Tesla Roadster unveiling is getting hyped up by Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s Boring Company has big plans for Las Vegas by year’s end
