News

Elon Musk “Tempted” to Build Electric VTOL Jet

Not content with his fleet of Tesla electric cars, his astronautics startup SpaceX, and his attempts to revolutionise public transport with Hyperloop, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has revealed that he is “tempted” to build an electric vertical-take off and landing (VTOL) jet plane.

“I’ve been thinking about the vertical-take off and landing electric jet a bit more,” Musk said at a recent Hyperloop event, International Business Times reports. “I think I have something that might close. I’m quite tempted to do something about it.”

While the audience initially responded with disbelieving laughter, the statement was met with cheers and applause once it was clear that Musk was being serious. Though, it did prompt a question: “How do you convince people that your ideas aren’t crazy?”

“In starting SpaceX, they definitely thought I was crazy,” Musk replied. “One of my best friends compiled a long video of rockets crashing and made me watch the whole thing. Other friends involved in a rocket startup said it was a terrible idea, and I thought we had a really tiny chance of succeeding anyway, like 10%… and it was very close [to failure] but I think, ultimately, seeing is believing… that’s what convinces people.”

Musk has voiced his desire to build an electric VTOL jet before. “I do like the idea of an electric aircraft company,” he told Marketplace in 2015. “I do think one could do a pretty cool supersonic, vertical-take off and landing electric jet. That would be really fun.”

Ashley Allen

Disqus Comments Loading...

Recent Posts

New Ryzen 7 9800X3D Takes on Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, Promises 20% Performance Boost

AMD has finally lifted the curtain on the highly-anticipated Ryzen 7 9800X3D, putting an end…

3 hours ago

AMD Prepares AI-Powered Ray Tracing to Rival NVIDIA’s DLSS Technology

In the latest development of GPU technology, AMD is stepping up to challenge NVIDIA’s DLSS…

3 hours ago

Crucial Pro OC 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit

Push performance to the next level with the blazing speed and massive bandwidth of Crucial®…

7 hours ago

ASUS ROG Swift OLED XG27AQDMG Widescreen Gaming Monitor

ROG Strix OLED XG27AQDMG gaming monitor ― 27-inch (26.5-inch viewable) 1440p glossy WOLED panel, 240…

7 hours ago

LG 45″ 45GS95QE-B 3440×1440 OLED 240Hz 0.03ms Gaming Monitor

Its 45-inch 21:9 Ultra-WQHD display gives you a 34% wider view than a standard 16:9…

7 hours ago

Kolink Unity Code X Midi-Tower ARGB Gaming Case

The Kolink Unity Code X is a high-quality yet affordable showcase that’s ideal for building…

7 hours ago