WEBVTT

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[sil.]

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[music]

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When you look at the 405
or the 101 or the 110,

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you see how much convenience, how much mobility, how
much economic activity those corridors support.

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It has built fortunes. It has saved lives.

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It has created communities.
It’s made untold numbers

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of businesses possible.

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See, now, this car right here, this Porsche Cayman S.
This is a stone-cold four-wheeled mother of a car.

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Look how nice that car is. Ho-ho-ho.
Look how cute that car is.

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Look how cute that car is. Look at
that Honda fit. Yes, baby. Cute.

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Awesome car. The problem is the gasoline
in the tank. Now, let’s kick this mule.

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My God. Whoa. Whoa. Come on. Come on.
I spent my childhood

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driving fast cars, working
on them, writing about them.

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I love gasoline horsepower, but
I’ve come to the conclusion

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that I’ll never buy another
gasoline-powered car as long as I live.

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The only way forward is electric cars.

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[sil.]

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[music]

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[music]

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[music]

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[sil.]

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It started with an email.

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The electric car was back from the dead.

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The car companies had lied to us before.

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Should we believe them?
The only way to find out

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was to go behind enemy lines.
For three years,

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we got access to some of the
world’s most secretive carmakers.

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Let’s start with the biggest and
baddest of them all, General Motors.

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Over the last century, GM has churned out

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over 400 million gas-burning
cars and trucks.

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In the 1990s, they introduced us to
the Joys of the 10-mile-per-gallon

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Hummer and the Escalade.
But they also tried

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something truly revolutionary, the EV1,

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the world’s first modern electric car.
It was fast, sleek,

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and powered only by electricity.

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First of all, it was the coolest car I ever had. I was
taking care of the planet. I wasn’t gunking up the air.

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It was a fantastic ride. It was fast.

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I’d be zipping along, man, 70, 80 miles an hour,
you know, just feeling like a million bucks.

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But GM lost faith. They rounded up the cars

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as drivers protested. GM, shame on you.

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Then they crushed them

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and left them for dead.

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Gm’s Chief Executive Rick Wagoner,
later called it his biggest mistake.

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When they took the EV1 away, I was
definitely, I went into a depression.

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I felt, like, really sad, because in the long
run, you look back at it, they made a deal.

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Somebody made a deal to kill
the electric car. And uh…

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you know, and it would’ve
been a cool thing to have,

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and I still would’ve been driving it now.
GM had a lot of haters

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and, interestingly, people with very long
memories. They would say they never would

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buy another GM again.

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GM got

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a lot of bad publicity for the
EV1, but here’s where we are now.

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There’s not only a business case for electric
cars. There is a compelling business case.

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There is an inevitability to this
technology. It has come so far so fast

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at a time when gasoline and the politics of
oil have become increasingly problematic.

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I think that when gas prices were high,

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there was a degree of excitement
around electric vehicles that we,

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we hadn’t seen before.

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I’m sick and tired of worrying about gas prices every six months. I’m sick and tired of these
failed wars in the Middle East. I’m sick and tired of breathing the air that we’re breathing.

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We have the technology. We have the know-how.
We are innovative. Let’s act like it.

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I do not believe this is a problem that
is gonna be resolved by regulators

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and bureaucrats. This is a problem that’s
gonna be solved by engineers, innovators,

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and entrepreneurs.

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Sometimes change

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starts with the most unlikely people.
How are you today, Bob?

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Pretty good, thanks. Can’t complain. Business is
lousy, but other than that, everything’s fine.

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I found out what kind of cigars you like.
This guy sure doesn’t look like a radical.

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I never one to turn down a bribe. Now,
where’s the… Where’s the Brandy Snifter?

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Meet Bob Lutz, Mr. Horsepower.

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We wouldn’t be doing this in California.
Bob is Vice Chairman of General Motors

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and their media front man. Yeah, right there.
Eyes are perfect. Chin up a little bit.

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We need to make you kind of look badass.
All right, so…

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Oh, \"bad.\" Okay. One of
the guys who was blamed

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for killing off the EV1. Great. You own fighter jets?
Everybody thinks well, that must cost a lot of money.

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I truly, they are fairly cheap. You mean,

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the Obama pose where you sort of…
Looking for divine inspiration?

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You’re gonna look kind of like…
Like that mean… A threatening pose.

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Not too threatening. We don’t want… That’s
the last thing we want to do right now.

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[sil.]

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Bob Lutz is a giant of a man.

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Like, he is just, he’s larger than life.
I mean, the just…

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Bob’s been a car guy all his life.

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He’s been Vice President of Ford

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and BMW and President of Chrysler.
Ever heard of the 3 series?

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The Viper? The Ford Explorer?

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That’s bob. He is has a brilliant
mind… He has a brilliant brain

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when it comes to what an
automotive enthusiast wants.

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In 2003, 2004, you could not find
a person who was more dismissive

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of electric vehicle technology than Bob Lutz. He thought that
there was no business case for it. He thought the people

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who supported it were lunatics. He did
not and probably still doesn’t believe

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in global warming. Then, I think,

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something happened to Bob Lutz.
I think he began

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to see some sort of light. Well, I do
consider myself an environmentalist,

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and I umm… but within reason.
In other words,

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I still realize the benefits of modern
automotive transportation. On the other hand,

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the flood of emails that I got
saying, \"You rotten S.O.B.

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You sold out to the oil companies,
and you’ve killed my grandchildren.

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I hope you rot in hell.\" No
one likes to be remembered

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as an evil or bad person, and certainly,
he’s enough of an egomaniac that he would,

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he, that would sting. We
were discussing how Toyota

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was running away with the technological image
and the environmental image and so forth.

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And I said, \"Well, why don’t we at
least do an electric prototype?\"

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And this was met with a
singular absence of enthusiasm

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on anybody’s part because the company
had lost so much money on EV1.

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So Bob’s electric car came
to a screeching halt.

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But in a world far away from Detroit,

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the real rebellion was already under way.

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[music]

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[music]

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[music]

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It’s launch day for America’s
newest car company.

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Drawing inspiration from one of the 20th
century’s most revolutionary inventors,

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the Father of A.C.
Electricity, Nikola Tesla.

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[music]

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It’s a very momentous day for us.

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It is our first car, and of course, it’s a car belonging to our
first customer, and that would be also our Chairman, Elon Musk.

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I’m ecstatic. This is fantastic.
Awesome day.

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It feels like victory.

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I feel great. It’s a great day for Tesla.
I got goosebumps

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as I saw the car roll in.

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We’ve been in development for so long. It feel like, they really our babies.
This is the first production roadster and a huge day for the company.

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Tesla’s gonna put thousands of these
cars on the road. But beyond that,

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really, what matters is, are we making a difference in the world? And for
us to make a difference in the world, we have to build a lot of cars.

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You know, until we see every car
on the road being electric,

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uh… you know, we will not stop.
So, you know, this is really just

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the beginning of the beginning. All right.

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[sil.] Elon Musk is a true believer,

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and he put, you know, a tremendous
amount of his personal prestige

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and personal wealth uh… into that company.
Well, so far, this is a very expensive car.

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Call this the $50 million car ‘cause that’s about
the amount of money that I’ve invested in Tesla.

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So it’s kind of expensive.

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Detroit is doing a lousy job making cars
and making money. I mean, it’s a disaster.

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So, you know, the idea that Silicon
Valley could do a better job making cars,

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especially electric cars, is a very powerful
one. Uh… we’ve got model two in development,

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which we’re planning to unveil probably in the second
quarter of this year, which is the, the Electric Sedan.

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Elon’s a career troublemaker.

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He’s taken on the banks, the space
industry, And now the car companies.

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Okay, sure you want me to drive it?
All right. Sweet.

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[music]

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It’s pretty awesome.

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For me, Elon Musk

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has always been not really so much
a car guy as an entrepreneur.

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He’s had lots of companies in the past.
He sold Pay Pal to Ebay.

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[music]

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I just look at what he’s accomplished, and I’m like, \"Jeez, I, I better start
working harder because I’m not making those kind of accomplishments in my life.\"

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It’s just a giant kick in the balls to
the people that said we couldn’t do it

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and that commercial space doesn’t work.

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Elon Musk is about as close as you’re gonna get in real life to, to
Tony Stark, and it shows you how one person can make a difference

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with a certain amount of smarts and
inspiration to change the way people think.

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[music]

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Suddenly, there was the Tesla announcement. 200-mile
range, 0 to 60 in 4-point-something seconds,

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140-mile-an-hour top speed,

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6,831 laptop batteries. And I, I basically
said, \"Well, now, wait a minute.

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I’ve accepted everybody’s arguments
of why we can’t do this,

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but here’s this small startup company
in California, and they think

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that they can get all of these figures.\"
Elon’s coup was just what Bob needed

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to drag Gm back into the race.
They weren’t going to be shown up

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by a bunch of Silicon Valley upstarts.
It was a powerful argument.

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So whether Tesla is ever
hugely successful or not,

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I’ll, I’ll always owe them a debt of
gratitude for having kind of broken the ice.

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Bob Lutz being a champion of electric cars is
quite a switch from the Bob Lutz we used to know.

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He sold the board on the
fact that this technology

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would leapfrog Toyota, which had been
GM’s nemesis. The electric car was pushed

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all the way up the ladder by Lutz himself
in a, in a way that is very, very personal,

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a way that uh… suggests he regards

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it as his legacy at the company.

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But the Volt wasn’t going
to be a pure electric car.

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That was a step too far for Gm, so
the company bet on an electric car

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with a backup gas engine.
This would give it more range

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when the batteries ran out of power.
And then, Bob persuaded the company

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to put the Volt front and center
at gm’s 100th birthday party.

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We’re in the executive garage in the basement of the
renaissance center, and this is the most secure location

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uh… that we could find in the building.

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You’ll notice we have plenty
of security down here.

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And uh… here is our baby.

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It’s now my great pleasure
to present to you

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the production version
of the Chevrolet Volt.

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[music]

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How’d it feel driving in an electric car?
It felt great, Chris.

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I was… I’m surprised you would ask.

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Is the electric car back from the dead? Well, you
could argue, was it ever dead? Because I think

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people were, even after we recalled the EV1, so
there were still electric vehicles out there.

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But I think its back with a vengeance,
and I would say the electrification

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of the automobile is a foregone conclusion.
As an analyst and a long-time journalist,

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I, I was still cynical, because we’d seen a lot
of concept cars that had gotten all the hoopla at

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the auto shows and then faded and died.

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Some people aren’t going to
wait around for corporations.

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Around the world, an underground
movement is growing.

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These people are making
their own electric cars

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right here and right now.

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I’m gadget. Been living and working in this warehouse for 16 years,
and then for the last couple of years, I’ve been doing electric cars.

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What I do is, I take a car, and I
change it from gas power to electric.

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It’s a lot greener to take an existing car and
rather than making a new one from scratch.

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I’ve got a Triumph Spitfire, A GT6,

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and a ‘67 Camaro. My latest project
is a 356 Porsche Speedster.

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We got married. We were building our
future together in this building,

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and umm… We just finished
our prototype Lithium lon,

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over 120 miles of range. Finally,
we’ve got something real here.

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This is the future, you know? And it’s
attainable, and we can all have one.

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I can’t wait to drive this around
and show it off to people.

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There are thousands of
gadgets out there. Together,

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they’re a force which could potentially
rival the big car companies.

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[music]

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It’s 0 to 60

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in about six seconds, which
is good for commuter car.

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It’s half the price of a Tesla and not
as fast as Tesla but it would be really

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a good commuter car. But
for the big players,

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the stakes tonight are even higher.
This is the first time

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GM has faced the electric car
community since the EV1 disaster.

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This is the halo for us. Hopefully, we’re gonna use this to win back
and recapture the hearts and minds of the American car-buying public.

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We’ve got to. I’m not Darth Vader.
I’m not a bad guy. I’m not a liar.

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I’m a father. I’m a dad. Umm… I’m a…
I’m a husband that really cares about

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doing the right thing, and the only way to get
people to believe me is to talk like that, right?

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And now they’ve got Tesla

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biting at their heels too.

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Tesla is definitely the star of the show. Umm… They’re… You
look at the two cars, there’s not really any competition.

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The Tesla has a very high price point. I know
that there are some sort of battery issues

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going on with the Tesla, so it’s, it’s different. It’s in its own little category.
The Chevy Volt is gonna be something that’s much more affordable compared

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to the Tesla for, for everyday consumers
to, to purchase. That is gorgeous.

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It is gorgeous, but it’s 100 grand.
But we need something

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that everyone can afford. The
volt one, I think, speaks to me

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just because it’s practical, but that one
speaks to me because it’s fast and cool.

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Put me down for one of each.
It is very good to

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have something that is a
stopgap for General Motors

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to ultimately cut the umbilical
cord of fossil fuels

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and get really onto electricity, and if that
means that we have some competition, good.

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It’s good for us. I love having GM here.
You know,

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the fact that they’ve got a range-extended
electric… If people drive that car and find

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that they never fuel it up, that means that
they’ll realize that they don’t need a gas car.

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They can go pure electric.
So it’s a stepping stone.

00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
[sil.]

00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
By now, we were behind enemy lines.

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
Five years ago, we would’ve been
arrested trying to get in here.

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
Now we were Bob’s guests. The question was,

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
who was playing who? Had bob
become a true believer,

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
or was he just stringing us along?

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
This is one of the old Malibus, but
it was dimensionally close enough

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
that we could put all the Volt hardware
underneath it. Today I was supposed to drive it

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
a few feet and hit the start button
and nothing happened. Recycled it,

00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
they said, okay, now it will work and hit the start
button, again nothing happened. And then finally somebody

00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
hit upon the fact that
it was still plugged in

00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
and it is programmed not to run with
the, what, when it’s plugged in.

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
So we disconnected it, then it ran fine.
I’d driven a lot of things during

00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
my, my long career, and to
drive a fully electric car

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
lap after lap, after lap around
the grounds here, I really had

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
the feeling of it being a historic moment.
Certainly was in my career.

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
If a technology can win over
a doubter like Bob Lutz,

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
it can win over a lot of
people, a lot of consumers.

00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
[music]

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
I, I think what we’re witnessing now is, is
probably the most significant revolution

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
of our lifetime in autos.
These are not hobbyists.

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
These are people responsible to shareholders. They
can’t afford a hobby. They need to make this a winner.

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
This is real scale industrial
innovation and deployment.

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
The goal of Tesla is really to go to mass market
as soon as we can. We want to make this technology

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
and electric cars affordable to as many people
as possible. We’re going to have to get

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
the lithium ion technology together. We’re
going to have to work the integration between

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
the gas engine and the lithium ion battery
pack. We’re gonna have to do all of that

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:10.000
because we want to launch
in the fall of 2010.

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
Someone just has to get a car
out there and start selling it,

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
and then other companies will have to fill the void,
but somebody’s got to be the first one out there.

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
Well, we have copper wires coming from Finland. The
electric motor is made out of our facilities in Taiwan.

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
So my job is making sure
that we can produce

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
to our production schedule.

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
I have plans and backup plans and sometimes backup plans to those backup plans,
and I’m always worried about what I’m missing. What have I not thought of?

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
What has the team not thought of that’s
gonna trip us up in the next two years?

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
I try and keep as much of the entire car and as much
of the entire power train as I can in my head, so that

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
I can communicate with all the different groups and teams and direct
our work and where people are headed. From an automotive perspective,

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
uh… Tesla has an absolutely
brilliant idea, which is

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
creating a fast electric car.
Unfortunately, the reality is, is that,

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
it takes a lot of work to build a vehicle. You
know, you can’t give Tesla a pass just because

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
their product happens to be cute electric cars. I don’t know
if General Motors can make a desirable plug-in hybrid car.

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
The company has been damaged in so
many ways in terms of the brand

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
and in terms of their human capital. Uh… You know,
I don’t know what the volt’s gonna be like.

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
It’s a race. It’s a… It’s a total race,

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
and we know where GM is in the race. Looks
like it could be the winner in it, umm…

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:45.000
but we don’t know what
everybody else is up to.

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:58.000
[music]

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
Every revolution needs its Napoleon,

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
its master strategist.

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
The world’s most formidable car mogul
was about to enter the E.V. Race.

00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
It was time to meet the emperor.
There is no

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
give in that man. There
is no dream in that man.

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
He’s not a visionary. He is a
capitalist, an enormously controlled,

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
driven, desperately smart man

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
who measures success, indeed life,

00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
by dollars and euros. Uh… Carlos Ghosn

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
doesn’t get up in the morning
unless there’s money in it.

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
I recommend you go meet Carlos Ghosn

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
and administer sodium pentothal. I
want to know what this guy knows.

00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
I want to know how many chassis they’re going
to put this electric architecture into.

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
How flexible is it? How much does it weigh?
How scalable is it?

00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
I want to know exactly how
they plan to make money.

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
Okay, so who leading… Who’s
leading the meeting? I am, sir.

00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
Yeah. Just a quick recap on the progress we have made
getting the conversation started in the global marketplace

00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
for Nissan on zero emissions and electric
vehicles. When people express doubts about

00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
uh… electric car, I think we
should not go very heavy on this.

00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
We should say, \"Yeah, maybe there are some concerns. We are
working on them,\" and say… I don’t want to wake up competition.

00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
I don’t want to wake up competition. Because the more we are
progressing, we are investing in batteries, we are investing in cars.

00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
This takes a lot of time, a lot of money.
They didn’t start. So every day

00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
they don’t start is a good day for us. Out,
our big difference is, it’s affordable. Yes.

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
And it’s mass marketed. That means, you’re
gonna be able to find it in every country

00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
at every dealership you want. You know, the
Japanese are famously averse to saying

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
\"no\" directly. That is not Ghosn’s problem.

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
Look at how he made his reputation. He was

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
the Axman at Nissan. When Carlos Ghosn
took over Nissan, Nissan was on its knees.

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
It was almost out of business. He
made a reputation as being this

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
sort of terribly, terribly deliberate,
driven, unsentimental guy.

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
You know, five years ago, Ghosn wasn’t talking about electric cars.
It’s remarkable the transition that has happened in the past

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
five or six years, when not
only have they decided to

00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
go into the E.V. market, they have based
their whole company strategy on it.

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
Well, we knew Nissan was working on lithium ion batteries,
and they have been working on them for many years,

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
but I think it came as quite a
surprise when Mr. Ghosn announced

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
their very aggressive
strategy in electric cars.

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
We didn’t have truth serum, but we did
have access and inside intelligence.

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
Carlos was going to outflank his rivals

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
with the leaf, a pure electric
car with a 100-mile range

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:35.000
priced for the widest possible market.

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
Everybody is talking about
the Leaf, not the E.V. or…

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
Yes. We are the only one on the offensive

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
with electric cars, And everything
we’ve seen is more defensive moves.

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
4.6 million yen.

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:08.000
It’s gonna be a massacre.

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
[music]

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
I don’t think, frankly that we are betting anything. It’s
not a bet in the sense that I don’t know what are the odds.

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
I’m very confident about what’s coming.
What I don’t know

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
is how fast it’s gonna come.
Somebody asked me the question,

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
\"What do you think about the theory that …\" \"…global warming is not the problem?\" I say
that’s not the issue. No matter how much I am convinced that global warming is an issue

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
or is not an issue that’s not the plan.
The public is expecting this from us.

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
It’s expecting this from us. It’s expecting that
car manufacturers step up, and present technology

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
in order to respond to these concerns.
We think it’s going to be

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:58.000
a huge return for the company
We’re gonna have to be patient.

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
We’re going to have to manage it. It’s
gonna change the face of the company.

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
It’s gonna change the face of the brand. And it’s going to change
probably even the image of our industry. So, what is at stake is huge.

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:18.000
[music]

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
[sil.]

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
Just as electric cars are
starting to catch on,

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
the economy collapses. Almost half of the

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
world’s financial wealth disappears
along with millions of jobs.

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
At that point, Lehman Brothers had
collapsed. Credit had totally dried up.

00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
That shut off the valve of car sales. Umm…

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
We didn’t know how many car companies would exist, and
including, would there be any Americans among them?

00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
GM is on the brink of bankruptcy.

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
Will the electric car be another
casualty of the recession?

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
No one, it seems, can
escape the turn of fate.

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
Can you show us inside? Yeah, come on.

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:33.000
[sil.]

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
This was our 100-plus-mile-range
electric car.

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
[sil.]

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
I woke up around 5:00 at the smell
of burning plastic, and I thought

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
to myself, \"I think there’s a fire.\" I came out.
Smoke was so thick and heavy, I wasn’t sure

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
how big the fire was. He came
running back in and said,

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
\"We’ve got to get out of here.\" I called
911. They were here within five minutes.

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
By then, it was, flames were coming
out the windows and out the roof.

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
Investigators say the fire was
arson and started by vandals.

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
$250,000 of tools with no insurance.

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
So here’s what’s left of the Camaro.

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
That’s gonna break a lot of hearts.
There’s my other two electric cars,

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
my GT6, my Spitfire. my Piano.

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
This was a charger at one time.

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
[sil.]

00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
Couple controllers that might
actually be repairable, maybe.

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
So this one may not have
had that much heat.

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
That could be the one saving grace.
Through all this,

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
the light’s still on. The controller’s
still good. That’s incredible.

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
With that, I can build a car.

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:28.000
[music]

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
Want some tea? Yeah, I’ll
put the kettle on. Okay.

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:43.000
[music]

00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
Losing billions of dollars each month,

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
GM and their Detroit rivals
come to Washington, D.C.,

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
to ask for help. They
arrive in corporate jets,

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
not the best way to plead poverty.

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
Well, do you know how they got down there? What? On private
jets. Yeah. What the hell? They zoom in, in a private jet.

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
What do you think the folks are gonna say?
\"Oh, yeah, let’s give them more money.\"

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
We’re here today because we made mistakes,
which we’re learning from, because some forces

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
beyond our control have pushed us to the brink. Can you just tell
me in absolute terms, how much money do you need to survive?

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
Give me your worst-case scenario. The worst-case
scenario, the amount of money would be significant.

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
I mean, we have, we have supplier variables… What is
significant? Of $4 billion or $5 billion every month.

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
My fear is that you’re gonna take this money and
continue the same stupid decisions you’ve made

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
for 25 years. I’m afraid we’re gonna do
this. It’ll be a short-term bailout,

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
and you didn’t get the message.
Give us the cars that we want

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
that other companies have been able to give us. How
much money do you need… As public outrage grows,

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
Bob is sent out to calm the mob.

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
You got a, you got a little pin on there.
It says \"GM.\"

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
Yes. That stand for \"grand
mason?\" Are you one of the…

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
Are you secretly controlling the world
economy? Oh, gee, I wish we were.

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
If you were controlling the world economy, You would
be doing a terrible job right now, I have to say.

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
[sil.] The crew is ready.
Yeah, I just dropped my…

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
I banged my thigh on the corner of the desk, and it’s gonna
take a, it’s gonna take a second for the pain to die down.

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
I’m trying to catch up on my emails.

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
I’m getting so many as a result of the
TV appearances. I think they were

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
worried I would say the wrong thing, you know,
because generally, our communications strategy

00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
is in the, is in the direction of
risk avoidance. In other words,

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
a TV interview where nobody
says the wrong thing

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
and you get off relatively
unscathed is considered a success,

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
but the problem is, you haven’t used the
opportunity to convey any positive information,

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
so I’m not a, I’m not a proponent of
the risk-free communications approach.

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
Mr. Horsepower has been cut down to size.

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
However Bob spins it, there’s
little to celebrate in Detroit.

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
Four of GM’S brands will
be axed, including hummer.

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
Hello, Mark. Hello, Mark. Hello, John.

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
Even their lunches are looking
a little less lavish.

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
Well, it’s sandwich surprise.
What we need to do

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
is just go over the North America auto show, the lineup.
Yeah, all right. I’ll show you what this looks like,

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
but this is the wall. And one turntable.
It’s radically de-blinged

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
from last year. Radically de-blinged. I
mean, it is… It would be a good time for

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
a little humility. It would be. Yeah. Yeah.

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
I’m very afraid

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
that GM’s gonna disappear in the next year. And I’m very afraid for
our entire economy. I’m very afraid for the automotive industry

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
in general if that happens. GM
represents such a huge chunk of jobs

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
in the overall nationwide
economy, that to see them fail

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
would be horrible.

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
People who say, uh… who needs the
American car companies. I don’t care

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
whether Chevrolet dealer is down the street or not
and I don’t car if the Dodge dealer goes away.

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
I’ll just buy… I’ll just continue buying Honda’s,
or Toyota’s or Nissan’s. We’ve already lost

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
way too much of our
manufacturing uh… capability.

00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
We’ve off shored everything. The last major manufacturing
industry if that’s left in the United States

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
is the automobile industry and to let
that go away, would be catastrophic for

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
the U.S. economy and would absolutely
plunges into a, into a severe depression.

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:15.000
[music]

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
One man tried to reinvent the auto industry

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
back in the 1940s. Preston Tucker,
started a car company from scratch.

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
Like Elon, he wanted to beat
Detroit at their own game.

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
But after making just 51 cars
at his headquarters in Chicago,

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
he went bankrupt. Preston tucker’s

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
biggest problem was, he underestimated the amount
of money it took to, to keep a car company going,

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
and then that led to him getting into
legal problems, and that was the end

00:39:55.000 --> 00:40:00.000
of maybe a very good idea.

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
The investment world has all of a sudden
sort of pulled back into their shell,

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
if you will, umm… and the fact that the money’s just not available
anymore, and they probably don’t have it available to them,

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
and thus, it’s not available to us.
It’s unfortunate.

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
I think it’s, it’s just part of the times
right now. And, you know, I lost some friends

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
that I worked with for many years, and that’s too bad,
but, you know, we… Hopefully, we can, we can move

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
on despite what has happened recently.

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
I got a message last week that if roadster
can’t sustain the company by March,

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
then that’s it, and that scares me. We need
to get the company to cash flow positive

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
in six to nine months, or we’re screwed.
It’s really pedal to the metal here.

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
Like, I mean, you know, each month that

00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
passes is literally it costs us tens of millions
of dollars. I mean, we need to appreciate that.

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
Tesla’s gone through More than
$100 million in two years

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
And made just over 100 cars.

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
It wasn’t until Zach and Doreen found the faults that we then realized that
we had substandard parts on those cars, which, quite frankly, pissed me off.

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
I wanted… I want, I want names named.
So if someone’s always on the hot seat

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
and is always the root cause for problems, they
will not be part of this organization long-term.

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
Umm… It’s not okay to be unhappy
and part of this company.

00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
Right. Exactly.

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
What a solution. Yeah. Exactly.

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
At 38, Elon’s running SpaceX and Tesla.

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
He’s got five boys. He’s going through

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:55.000
a very public divorce, and
he’s got a new fiancee.

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
I do have… Dad, what’s this game?
What’s this game?

00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
Did you just take… Did you just
take that from your brother?

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
Yeah, but I wanted to see what game it is.
See, this is what I’m talking about.

00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:23.000
Somebody took somebody’s toy.
But I want to see…

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
I don’t know how he handles the stress. I mean, if I was him, I’d have died
of a heart attack. You would not wish that kind of pain on your worst enemy.

00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
Elon proposed really quickly. The idea of
being swept off your feet is appealing,

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
and I’d probably have said yes to anyone

00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
that seemed half sensible if they proposed after 10 days
just ‘cause it’s kind of an interesting thing to do.

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
Do that thing, dad.

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
You know, obviously moved straight into the house with the
children, and it became a very real thing immediately.

00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
My parents are traumatized by this whole
experience. Although there’s been so many times,

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
I’m like, \"Right, I’m getting on a plane to England,
and I’m never gonna see you again.\" Really?

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
No. Um… No. No, not really. No.

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:18.000
[music]

00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
All right.

00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
There are all kinds of things being said
about the Volt. A lot of questions about,

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
really, how much mileage will it get?
There have been rumors about

00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
spending a lot of time in the wind tunnel changing
the design, the battery having technical issues

00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
and really not being able
to deliver on GM’s promise.

00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
This is the latest version. No,
it’s not, because it’s still got…

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
It’s still got the, the screen that looks like it’s
removable. Well, and then, and we got the gears to be fixed…

00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
That gear shift.

00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
Ah, you are taking away the story. So this is the latest version. This is the latest version.
Almost the latest version. It looks like it’s removable, so you think people would want to grab it

00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
and pull it. And the second
thing is, think of all the dust

00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
and crud and cigar ash and everything that’s
gonna get down around behind those cracks.

00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
Well, I’m not the only cigar smoker in the world.
Are you guys gonna go in and make sure that…

00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
that thing actually has snap to it? Do you
think Bob Boniface of the design group

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
would leave a key transition
like that to a bunch

00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
of engineers and die makers? Well, but, you
know— Let’s put it… Let’s put it this way.

00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
It happened before, and now we’re scrambling around trying
to get it back again. These things keep coming along

00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
from people outside the car business uh…

00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
who have knowledge in some
area and, and frankly,

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
have a tendency to treat the car
business with disdain, because they say,

00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
\"Yeah, but that’s the old rust belt stuff, and they’re still
making these things in great big factories with a lot of workers.\"

00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
Umm… We believe in Moore’s Law, you know? And
by applying the principles of electronics,

00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
we can really revolutionize this thing,
and they all fall on their butts.

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
I mean, without fail. And I hope the best
for Tesla. You know, I like those guys.

00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
And, and I think we would all like to see uh…
successful production of electric vehicles,

00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
whether they’re ours or somebody
else’s, but I think Elon Musk

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
and the guys are learning what it means
to put automobiles into production.

00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.999
It ain’t easy. Yup.

00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.999
In 1920, in the U.S., there
were about 300 carmakers.

00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.999
Today there are two and a half.
It is a very demanding business

00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.999
that is constantly consolidating and
chucking the, the little guys out.

00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
[sil.]

00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
I’m just headed to the Menlo Store

00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
’cause I want to do a car-by-car walkthrough. I
wanted to get basically a rundown of each car.

00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
What’s its status, and what are the issues?
And I’m gonna do this every week.

00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:28.000
Of course it did.

00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.999
Yeah, this is, like, this is definitely
on the list of improvements.

00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:39.999
Holy mackerel. Jesus. Yeah, like,

00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:44.999
we have, like, an army of cars here. Like, Jesus. I’m
looking like we’re gonna be able to deliver four cars

00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
to the sales team… This is frightening. What’s going on here
is, the team has been doing a little bit of rework today.

00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
Remember, I was talking to you earlier
about the vehicle that had the noise?

00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
It had the transmission noise? I wanted to
point something out to you just kind of...

00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.999
You can see it looks like something got dragged over the hood. I mean, we should be
inspecting at this level. If it’s getting scratches in its shipment, then we need to get the…

00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:09.999
You know, either ding the shipping
company or find some way to stop that,

00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:14.999
you know? I agree.

00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.999
Jesus, the breather hose is
coming up that high? Yeah.

00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
What the… Why? Are there any other resources
we can apply to the problem? I mean…

00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
Right now, we’re using… I’d rather over-hire for this
situation. Like, damn it, we got to get these cars out.

00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.999
Let’s stock inventory. Let’s repair
chips here. I’m available 24-7

00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.999
to help solve issues. Call me at 3:00 a.m.
on a Sunday morning. I don’t care.

00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:44.999
This is Vin 23. This car had a drive
train issue, so we’re swapping

00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.999
in the new one right now. Let’s
not even wait for the analysis.

00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:54.999
Just put a new power train in, table it for analysis, and let’s get it
out there. Absolutely. Right now, we’re facing an issue, which is that

00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.999
it’s sort of a crisis of confidence among our customers
where you can only tell them \"delay\" so many times,

00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:04.999
and then they start to think, \"Man, is this
company ever gonna get me a car?\" This is my car.

00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:09.999
This is your car? This is
actually your car? No kidding.

00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.999
Yeah, 23, right? Number 23? Yes, it’s number 23.
Yeah. Okay. Well, you’ve heard the explanation now.

00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.999
So I guess hopefully, it’ll have a
power train tomorrow. yes, absolutely.

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.999
Okay. Umm… It’s a nice car. I was just thinking,
actually, it’s a nice choice of colors.

00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:30.000
[music]

00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:43.000
[music]

00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:59.999
Hello. How are you? When I think about
Carlos Ghosn uh… and his approach

00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:04.999
to the E.V. Market, I think of Sun Tzu,

00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:09.999
the art of war. Be where your enemy isn’t.
And so he has decided to build

00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:14.999
a million-vehicle market. They’re talking
about building, you know, 150,000 E.V.S

00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:19.999
in North America in the next three years.

00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.999
This is a big, strategic move.
And if it fails,

00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:29.999
there will be no Carlos Ghosn,
and there might not be a Nissan.

00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:34.999
That’s how high the stakes are.

00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:40.000
Good morning. How are you? Good morning. Yeah.
Anything special we need to feature on it?

00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:19.999
What’s the weight of the battery on it? 250 kilograms?
This one under 250. We have a normal trunk?

00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:24.999
Yes. Can we open the trunk or not yet?

00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:29.999
Very good. Okay. Anything else? That’s it?

00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:34.999
Yeah. Very good.

00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:39.999
After years of planning,

00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:44.999
Carlos is ready to launch his $6
billion offensive. The only question:

00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:49.999
Will his rivals get there first?
Honda entering an EV market

00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:58.000
with a \"K\" car. Okay.

00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:29.999
Can Carlos Ghosn

00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:34.999
and Nissan make money on the leaf and other electric vehicles?
‘Cause we don’t know how much the car’s gonna cost.

00:51:35.000 --> 00:51:39.999
We don’t know what the profit margins are and
don’t know what the production volume is.

00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:44.999
You know, there is that thing that GM talks about, that range anxiety,
and, you know, are people gonna buy a car that can only go 100 miles

00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:49.999
between really lengthy charges? The scariest part is,
can they really get the cost of these batteries down?

00:51:50.000 --> 00:51:54.999
And will it be something that’s sort of
viable long-term? Ultimately, Carlos Ghosn

00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:59.999
has to be the greatest salesman on
earth and convince consumers across

00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:04.999
the globe that they should buy electric
cars, otherwise, the risk does not pay off.

00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:09.999
It’s starting

00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:14.999
at 9:50. 9:50?

00:52:15.000 --> 00:52:19.999
But we’re gonna go straight into the
briefing right now. This way. Okay.

00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:24.999
The shortcut from the ongoing problem
to the solution is a breakthrough.

00:52:25.000 --> 00:52:29.999
The solution is mass-marketed
zero-emission mobility on a global scale.

00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:34.999
Our environment is changing, and
so is the way we are adapting

00:52:35.000 --> 00:52:39.999
to these new realities. Nissan is
bringing an electric vehicle lineup,

00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:44.999
designed for the mass market by offering
environmental benefits at the price

00:52:45.000 --> 00:52:53.000
people can afford. Our technology is real.

00:52:55.000 --> 00:52:59.999
[music]

00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:08.000
[sil.]

00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:19.999
Well, after the fire, Charlotte and I
were living on the bus for two months,

00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:24.999
and with the fire, it made me really look around, made me open my eyes and
see what else is available. Thanks to a loan from family and friends,

00:53:25.000 --> 00:53:29.999
gadget starts over. This
is the new building.

00:53:30.000 --> 00:53:34.999
The thing that I really didn’t like about
this is that this is a disposable building.

00:53:35.000 --> 00:53:39.999
It’s just a sheet-metal shed. I’m gonna build a new
building inside of it, and as my building comes up,

00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:44.999
I’ll slowly tear this one away, so it’ll be sort of the
old shedding away and the new coming up through it.

00:53:45.000 --> 00:53:49.999
There’s no electricity at all.

00:53:50.000 --> 00:53:54.999
There were homeless people living in here with
fires, so the whole place is covered with soot.

00:53:55.000 --> 00:53:59.999
I want to take this roof and take it up higher.
We’ll have a couple of car lifts in here.

00:54:00.000 --> 00:54:04.999
And then in the back part of the building,
this will be a nice little place for a garden.

00:54:05.000 --> 00:54:09.999
[music]

00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:14.999
The first thing I want to do is rebuild the
Porsche. And if I can get this thing from L.A.

00:54:15.000 --> 00:54:19.999
to Palm Springs and prove I have over 100 miles of
range, I’ve got a viable business. So very quickly,

00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:24.999
I need to put together some tools and
get the car together and get it out,

00:54:25.000 --> 00:54:29.999
and then we’ll be back in business.

00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:38.000
[music]

00:55:10.000 --> 00:55:14.999
After a year of delays,
Tesla roadster number 23

00:55:15.000 --> 00:55:19.999
is finally delivered.

00:55:20.000 --> 00:55:24.999
Several hundred more are still on order.

00:55:25.000 --> 00:55:29.999
[sil.]

00:55:30.000 --> 00:55:34.999
Sometimes I feel like I’m writing

00:55:35.000 --> 00:55:39.999
the same story about Tesla over and over again, which
is that Elon Musk has said this unbelievable thing

00:55:40.000 --> 00:55:44.999
about Tesla Motors’ financial condition
or their product plans or what have you,

00:55:45.000 --> 00:55:49.999
and it turns out not to be true.
Which leads us to Martin Eberhard,

00:55:50.000 --> 00:55:54.999
one of the founders of Tesla.
He is now suing Elon for libel,

00:55:55.000 --> 00:55:59.999
slander, and breach of contract.

00:56:00.000 --> 00:56:04.999
Martin was the original visionary
of the Tesla Roadster.

00:56:05.000 --> 00:56:09.999
He’s been sort of airbrushed out
of the corporate history of Tesla

00:56:10.000 --> 00:56:14.999
much like a Kremlin official.

00:56:15.000 --> 00:56:19.999
When I started Tesla Motors, there were just two
things that everybody knew about electric cars.

00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:24.999
One of them was that they sucked, and two was
that they were dead. And this is the car that

00:56:25.000 --> 00:56:29.999
changed the way people think about electric cars. This is Tesla’s first
business plan. This is the first copy of the first business plan.

00:56:30.000 --> 00:56:34.999
Tesla at that point wasn’t… It was just basically
a business plan and three guys working part-time.

00:56:35.000 --> 00:56:39.999
It’s quite comical in the amount of money
that… I think it said, like, $35 million

00:56:40.000 --> 00:56:44.999
or something like that was the total that
would be needed to get to production,

00:56:45.000 --> 00:56:49.999
rather than $195 million, which is what it actually took. It didn’t… It didn’t work very well. There comes a
point in the history of most startup companies where the entrepreneurs that started the company have to move on,

00:56:50.000 --> 00:56:54.999
and sometimes that’s done in a very smooth way, and sometimes
it’s not. He was fired from the company at that point

00:56:55.000 --> 00:56:59.999
and from the board. And it was a
unanimous board decision, by the way.

00:57:00.000 --> 00:57:04.999
Martin withdraws his lawsuit

00:57:05.000 --> 00:57:09.999
after Elon threatens to counter sue.
To this day,

00:57:10.000 --> 00:57:14.999
the two men disagree about
the history of Tesla Motors.

00:57:15.000 --> 00:57:19.999
Elon’s becoming better known for feuds
and firings than for making cars.

00:57:20.000 --> 00:57:24.999
And now the company is out of money.

00:57:25.000 --> 00:57:29.999
I mean, it’s pretty hard fighting a two-front
war in the middle of a Siberian winter

00:57:30.000 --> 00:57:34.999
and both fronts are really frickin’ hard.
Between Space X and Tesla,

00:57:35.000 --> 00:57:39.999
Elon’s burned through almost
his entire pay pal fortune

00:57:40.000 --> 00:57:44.999
and is down to his last $3 million.
Just to keep Tesla alive,

00:57:45.000 --> 00:57:49.999
I had to wire $3 million personally with no guarantee
of anything, basically wire the funds and say,

00:57:50.000 --> 00:57:54.999
\"use it.\" Otherwise, we wouldn’t be
able to make payroll. To generate cash,

00:57:55.000 --> 00:57:59.999
Tesla raises prices on people
still waiting for their cars.

00:58:00.000 --> 00:58:04.999
Even the true believers
are starting to doubt.

00:58:05.000 --> 00:58:09.999
I put a deposit down two years ago.
$50,000.

00:58:10.000 --> 00:58:14.999
That’s a lot of deposit. And a lot of
friends who are a lot of naysayers.

00:58:15.000 --> 00:58:19.999
\"You’re silly. You’re stupid.\" You are
just another one of the dumb doctors

00:58:20.000 --> 00:58:24.999
who fall for the boneless
chicken ranch kind of schemes,

00:58:25.000 --> 00:58:29.999
and you’ll never see your money.\"
So when this came along,

00:58:30.000 --> 00:58:34.999
all of a sudden, I took a big gulp. And I’m
like, \"wow, my friends might be right.\"

00:58:35.000 --> 00:58:39.999
I cannot understate the degree of grief
that I’ve personally gone through

00:58:40.000 --> 00:58:44.999
and that many of the other people at Tesla have gone through
to make this work. When I say it was like eating glass,

00:58:45.000 --> 00:58:49.999
I mean, glass sandwich
every bloody day, okay?

00:58:50.000 --> 00:58:54.999
I wish we didn’t have to raise prices. It sucks.
But I can’t carry Tesla entirely by myself.

00:58:55.000 --> 00:58:59.999
It’s just… I just don’t have the resources to do it. We
took faith in you, and now you’re just turning around

00:59:00.000 --> 00:59:04.999
and changing the price on us, not telling us,
and then we find out about it backwards,

00:59:05.000 --> 00:59:09.999
and now, well, kind of… Everyone’s hurt because
we weren’t told. We can’t sell cars for,

00:59:10.000 --> 00:59:14.999
you know, less than they
cost us to produce.

00:59:15.000 --> 00:59:19.999
If, if anything, what we had, more than
that occurred, then it was an accident…

00:59:20.000 --> 00:59:24.999
Well, that’s why there was a bunch of comments after it that all got… Okay.
There seemed to be a little bit of anger from some people in the room

00:59:25.000 --> 00:59:29.999
uh… who felt that we’d kind of done a bait
and switch. And I mean, that’s sort of

00:59:30.000 --> 00:59:34.999
a little bit true that there was a bit
of a bait and switch. I mean, it’s… Uh…

00:59:35.000 --> 00:59:39.999
That, that’s, I mean, kind of
what happened. It was very tough.

00:59:40.000 --> 00:59:44.999
I never thought I was someone who
was capable of a nervous breakdown,

00:59:45.000 --> 00:59:49.999
umm… but I think I came as
close as I’ll ever come

00:59:50.000 --> 00:59:54.999
on December 22nd. And then I think,

00:59:55.000 --> 00:59:59.999
once you’ve snapped, you probably don’t
realize it because you’ve gone insane.

01:00:00.000 --> 01:00:04.999
And your ability to sort of look
in the mirror psychologically is,

01:00:05.000 --> 01:00:09.999
is substantially impaired. Probably, most insane
people don’t think they’re insane. So uh…

01:00:10.000 --> 01:00:14.999
I don’t know. It was just like,
\"jeez.\" If Tesla Motors were to fail,

01:00:15.000 --> 01:00:19.999
it would be, it would be a dramatic
comeuppance for Elon. It might be

01:00:20.000 --> 01:00:24.999
the thing that sort of shakes him awake,
that he can’t just imagine a new world

01:00:25.000 --> 01:00:29.999
and will it into being, that he actually
has to solve all of the everyday problems

01:00:30.000 --> 01:00:34.999
that everyone else in the business
world has to solve day in, day out.

01:00:35.000 --> 01:00:39.999
Elon’s dream of taking on Detroit
with a publicly traded car company

01:00:40.000 --> 01:00:44.999
is falling apart. Desperate for money,

01:00:45.000 --> 01:00:49.999
he’s reportedly talking with big car companies
and has applied for a $465 million loan

01:00:50.000 --> 01:00:54.999
from the Department of Energy.
Well, we’ve been told

01:00:55.000 --> 01:00:59.999
by the D.O.E. that we are uh…

01:01:00.000 --> 01:01:04.999
likely to receive the money
in about four months.

01:01:05.000 --> 01:01:09.999
So if we were to take them at their
word, then that’s what will happen.

01:01:10.000 --> 01:01:15.000
[sil.]

01:01:25.000 --> 01:01:29.999
Eight mile was always the dividing line.

01:01:30.000 --> 01:01:34.999
South of eight mile was Detroit. North
of eight mile were the suburbs.

01:01:35.000 --> 01:01:39.999
Regardless of how bad the economy
got, it never went north

01:01:40.000 --> 01:01:44.999
of eight mile. And then
in maybe the early ‘80s,

01:01:45.000 --> 01:01:49.999
it never went north of 12 mile, 13 mile.

01:01:50.000 --> 01:01:54.999
Now you can go up to 16 mile, 17 mile,
and you’ll see a multiplicity of

01:01:55.000 --> 01:01:59.999
\"for sale\" signs, and never
had you seen that before.

01:02:00.000 --> 01:02:04.999
And I think that really
demonstrates the dire time

01:02:05.000 --> 01:02:09.999
that we’re in.

01:02:10.000 --> 01:02:14.999
[music]

01:02:15.000 --> 01:02:19.999
We have seen the rise and, yes,

01:02:20.000 --> 01:02:24.999
the decline of what is
known as the big three:

01:02:25.000 --> 01:02:29.999
General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler.
Lives are hanging

01:02:30.000 --> 01:02:34.999
in an abyss of uncertainty.
As both houses of Congress

01:02:35.000 --> 01:02:39.999
will decide on whether they will
or will not extend a helping hand.

01:02:40.000 --> 01:02:44.999
All of you that work for
the automotive industry,

01:02:45.000 --> 01:02:49.999
come to the altar.

01:02:50.000 --> 01:02:54.999
We’re gonna make it.

01:02:55.000 --> 01:02:59.999
Come on, I know somehow…

01:03:00.000 --> 01:03:04.999
I know somehow. And I know someway…

01:03:05.000 --> 01:03:09.999
I know someway… We’re gonna make it.
We’re gonna make it.

01:03:10.000 --> 01:03:14.999
It looks like the only way to save GM,
will be to let the company go bankrupt.

01:03:15.000 --> 01:03:19.999
Okay, everybody back in the vehicle.

01:03:20.000 --> 01:03:24.999
Bob’s good humor is wearing thin.

01:03:25.000 --> 01:03:29.999
This is probably the first picture
of me ever in the New York Times.

01:03:30.000 --> 01:03:34.999
From yesterday? Yeah, it was yesterday.
Well, the gist of the article is,

01:03:35.000 --> 01:03:39.999
\"Could we please tell the truth about
General Motors?\" And the whole tenor

01:03:40.000 --> 01:03:44.999
of the congressional testimony
and the questioning has been,

01:03:45.000 --> 01:03:49.999
we just insisted on making big trucks,
and we failed to see the change,

01:03:50.000 --> 01:03:54.999
we failed to see the handwriting
on the wall, and the wise Japanese

01:03:55.000 --> 01:03:59.999
in their infinite foresight saw this coming

01:04:00.000 --> 01:04:04.999
and concentrated on small cars. And, you know, that
is wrong on so many levels. The American public,

01:04:05.000 --> 01:04:09.999
environmental sentiment aside,
goes where the gas prices are.

01:04:10.000 --> 01:04:14.999
There is a risk at current
gasoline prices that the Volt will

01:04:15.000 --> 01:04:19.999
experience the same fate as the EV1.
That is, everybody looks at it and says,

01:04:20.000 --> 01:04:24.999
\"That’s nice, but why should I pay all that money for
that thing when I can buy gasoline at a $1.50 a gallon?\"

01:04:25.000 --> 01:04:29.999
And this is kind of my role,

01:04:30.000 --> 01:04:34.999
because I don’t mind taking a little
personal risk in communication,

01:04:35.000 --> 01:04:39.999
and given my age, this is another
good thing. See, given my age,

01:04:40.000 --> 01:04:44.999
if I really say something
that is unfortunate

01:04:45.000 --> 01:04:49.999
and has the potential of causing
the company some embarrassment,

01:04:50.000 --> 01:04:54.999
they can always say, \"Well, that’s, that’s Lutz.
You know, what I mean? He’s a good guy, but he is,

01:04:55.000 --> 01:04:59.999
he is getting on a bit.\" So…

01:05:00.000 --> 01:05:04.999
I recognize

01:05:05.000 --> 01:05:09.999
that today’s news carries a particular importance
because it’s not just any company we’re talking about,

01:05:10.000 --> 01:05:14.999
it’s GM. It’s a company that’s
not only been a source of income

01:05:15.000 --> 01:05:19.999
but a source of pride for generations
of Americans. Earlier today,

01:05:20.000 --> 01:05:24.999
GM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
and will mark the end of an old GM

01:05:25.000 --> 01:05:29.999
and the beginning of a new GM.
That’s why our government

01:05:30.000 --> 01:05:34.999
will be making a significant additional
investment of about $30 billion in GM.

01:05:35.000 --> 01:05:39.999
But I want to be honest with you.
Building a leaner GM

01:05:40.000 --> 01:05:44.999
will come at a cost.
More jobs will be lost.

01:05:45.000 --> 01:05:49.999
More plants will close. We are
acting as reluctant shareholders

01:05:50.000 --> 01:05:54.999
because that is the only
way to help GM succeed.

01:05:55.000 --> 01:05:59.999
But I want you to know that what
you’re doing is making a sacrifice

01:06:00.000 --> 01:06:04.999
for the next generation.

01:06:05.000 --> 01:06:09.999
It’s been extremely frustrating and
disappointing. Since we moved in, umm…

01:06:10.000 --> 01:06:14.999
we just haven’t been able
to move forward at all.

01:06:15.000 --> 01:06:19.999
We’ve learned that the building has… We knew it had pigeons,
but it turns out the infestation goes back for years,

01:06:20.000 --> 01:06:24.999
so there’s this airborne yeast and
mites, which has affected me.

01:06:25.000 --> 01:06:29.999
I’m not really supposed to be here. I can’t stay for long, got to wear a
respirator. Turns out that all this paint that’s peeling has got lead in it.

01:06:30.000 --> 01:06:34.999
The dust on the floor is toner
because there was a business

01:06:35.000 --> 01:06:39.999
that recycled toner cartridges here, and they
also did mercury bulb and battery disposal here.

01:06:40.000 --> 01:06:44.999
So none of this was disclosed, and it apparently,
that’s the dust that’s on the floor.

01:06:45.000 --> 01:06:49.999
It’s sort of a toxic waste in here,

01:06:50.000 --> 01:06:54.999
and people should not be inside.

01:06:55.000 --> 01:06:59.999
The whole time that we’ve
been here has been hard,

01:07:00.000 --> 01:07:04.999
feeling angry, frustrated, and just
completely at a loss as to what to do

01:07:05.000 --> 01:07:09.999
and where to go and how to move on. It’s
just taken the wind out of my sails.

01:07:10.000 --> 01:07:18.000
[music]

01:07:20.000 --> 01:07:24.999
So gadget abandons his home

01:07:25.000 --> 01:07:29.999
and stops work on his electric car.

01:07:30.000 --> 01:07:34.999
Like Bob and Elon, he’s discovered
that revolutions don’t come easy.

01:07:35.000 --> 01:07:43.000
[music]

01:07:50.000 --> 01:07:54.999
[music]

01:07:55.000 --> 01:07:59.999
With his competitors in disarray, Carlos
dispatches the leaf On a cross-country

01:08:00.000 --> 01:08:04.999
U.S. campaign. Will his vision of
an affordable electric car survive,

01:08:05.000 --> 01:08:09.999
or will it perish under the long shadow

01:08:10.000 --> 01:08:14.999
of the gasoline car?

01:08:15.000 --> 01:08:19.999
I think this definitely is act two of the
electric car saga, where you don’t know

01:08:20.000 --> 01:08:24.999
if the hero’s alive or dead. You’re not even sure
who the hero is anymore. Yeah. But you know that…

01:08:25.000 --> 01:08:29.999
You saw his car drive off a cliff. Was he in it?
Right, is he alive? Is he clinging to the cliff?

01:08:30.000 --> 01:08:35.000
I guess we’ll have to tune
in to act three to find out.

01:08:45.000 --> 01:08:49.999
President Obama fires
GM’S CEO Rick Wagoner,

01:08:50.000 --> 01:08:54.999
and Bob goes into exile.
The Volt is in jeopardy,

01:08:55.000 --> 01:08:59.999
along with bob’s legacy.
We have two white swans,

01:09:00.000 --> 01:09:04.999
and she’s been sitting on eggs for weeks
and weeks, and the cygnets hatched.

01:09:05.000 --> 01:09:09.999
And the day before yesterday, there were
four. Last night, there were three.

01:09:10.000 --> 01:09:14.999
And this morning, D says
he can only count one.

01:09:15.000 --> 01:09:19.999
And it’s uncertain whether it’s the
large catfish that we have in the pond

01:09:20.000 --> 01:09:24.999
or whether it’s the snapping turtles.
But it’s…

01:09:25.000 --> 01:09:29.999
It’s a, it’s a, it’s a dog-eat-dog
world out in that pond.

01:09:30.000 --> 01:09:34.999
[sil.]

01:09:35.000 --> 01:09:39.999
I think you have to start slowing down at some
point and enjoying life a little bit more.

01:09:40.000 --> 01:09:44.999
Denise frequently complains
that, \"you’re always gone.

01:09:45.000 --> 01:09:49.999
You’re never available.\" So at some point,
I am going to have to force myself to stop

01:09:50.000 --> 01:09:55.000
and let total boredom take over.

01:10:00.000 --> 01:10:04.999
Tesla gets a $90 million
lifeline from Daimler.

01:10:05.000 --> 01:10:09.999
But the D.O.E. loan has
still not come through.

01:10:10.000 --> 01:10:14.999
So Elon plays his last card.

01:10:15.000 --> 01:10:19.999
He launches the more affordable Model S,

01:10:20.000 --> 01:10:24.999
hoping to wow Washington and pull in
fresh money to keep Tesla afloat.

01:10:25.000 --> 01:10:29.999
But behind the scenes,
the Model S prototype

01:10:30.000 --> 01:10:34.999
isn’t quite ready.

01:10:35.000 --> 01:10:39.999
[music]

01:10:40.000 --> 01:10:44.999
Hey, can somebody kick me that flashlight? I, I really
believe that the Sedan is, is absolute vaporware.

01:10:45.000 --> 01:10:49.999
There is no way that Tesla has the cash on hand in order to be able to truly
develop their own sedan. Need to get a 1/2 inch torque wrench, please.

01:10:50.000 --> 01:10:54.999
They’ve got a prototype that they’re going to
show, and they’re going to start taking deposits,

01:10:55.000 --> 01:10:59.999
which I find just an amazing act of gall.

01:11:00.000 --> 01:11:04.999
[music]

01:11:05.000 --> 01:11:09.999
[sil.]

01:11:10.000 --> 01:11:14.999
The last few days…

01:11:15.000 --> 01:11:19.999
Uh… The last few months… Umm…

01:11:20.000 --> 01:11:24.999
Just been a very, very high workload.
And then

01:11:25.000 --> 01:11:29.999
between Space X, Tesla,

01:11:30.000 --> 01:11:34.999
and, and kids, there’s just really not enough
time in the day, so not enough time to sleep.

01:11:35.000 --> 01:11:39.999
Am I looking forward…

01:11:40.000 --> 01:11:44.999
You know, the honest answer is, I’m not
looking forward to the party tonight.

01:11:45.000 --> 01:11:49.999
[sil.]

01:11:50.000 --> 01:11:54.999
All night long, I’ll be selling cars, for five hours, after
sort of selling cars for, you know, five hours before that.

01:11:55.000 --> 01:11:59.999
It won’t be fun for me.

01:12:00.000 --> 01:12:04.999
I hope it’s fun for others, though.
You can actually put a 50-inch TV,

01:12:05.000 --> 01:12:09.999
a surfboard, and a mountain
bike at the same time.

01:12:10.000 --> 01:12:14.999
Extremely good handling. Umm… You’d
need a spatula to turn this thing over.

01:12:15.000 --> 01:12:19.999
I hope you consider buying one. Okay, yeah, well, definitely.
I think it would be well suited, you know Definitely.

01:12:20.000 --> 01:12:24.999
In his final years,

01:12:25.000 --> 01:12:29.999
Nikola Tesla was ridiculed for
making outlandish claims.

01:12:30.000 --> 01:12:34.999
Is Elon facing the same problem?
Oh, Elon’s gonna lose his shirt.

01:12:35.000 --> 01:12:39.999
Yeah, Elon’s gonna get crushed.

01:12:40.000 --> 01:12:44.999
People said he’d never get the rocket in space. He did
that. People said the Roadster would never get delivered.

01:12:45.000 --> 01:12:49.999
He did that. People said he’d never get 100 of them done. He’s
got 200 done. I think it’s ridiculous to criticize somebody

01:12:50.000 --> 01:12:54.999
who’s actually creating a change. As an
entrepreneur, you can’t listen to the noise.

01:12:55.000 --> 01:12:59.999
And you certainly can’t listen to losers who
have never accomplished anything with their life

01:13:00.000 --> 01:13:05.000
who are obsessing about you. Please.

01:13:10.000 --> 01:13:14.999
[music]

01:13:15.000 --> 01:13:19.999
Yeah, I’d love to have an opportunity to
walk around the event and see all the cars.

01:13:20.000 --> 01:13:24.999
You know, I don’t actually pay close
attention to what others are doing,

01:13:25.000 --> 01:13:29.999
’cause I have so much to
do at Tesla and Space X.

01:13:30.000 --> 01:13:34.999
Did you see that one? That looks
like a, very much a concept car.

01:13:35.000 --> 01:13:39.999
Um… sorry.

01:13:40.000 --> 01:13:44.999
That’s all right. Just chase us around. Oh, hey. How you
doing? Hi, Elon, how are you doing? Good, how are you?

01:13:45.000 --> 01:13:49.999
Fine, thanks. Are you enjoying the show? Uh… Yeah, I just
got here early this morning. Where… $Where’s your vehicle?

01:13:50.000 --> 01:13:54.999
Do you have it displayed?
Yeah, it’s just that way.

01:13:55.000 --> 01:13:59.999
Okay. So you’re not in electric alley? We’re
close. Yeah, well, we’re not in electric alley

01:14:00.000 --> 01:14:04.999
either with the Volt. If
you had a look at the BYD?

01:14:05.000 --> 01:14:09.999
No, I, I haven’t actually had a look at anything
yet. I’ve just been in meetings all morning.

01:14:10.000 --> 01:14:14.999
There’s some really strange
stuff here in electric alley.

01:14:15.000 --> 01:14:19.999
Oh, that’s cute. I’ll tell you what.
I’ll go ahead in my Corvette ZR1,

01:14:20.000 --> 01:14:24.999
and you can chase me down with this thing.

01:14:25.000 --> 01:14:29.999
All right, it’s a deal. We got a deal. But the
Nissan Leaf certainly… What do you think of that?

01:14:30.000 --> 01:14:34.999
Uh… It sounds like it could be successful.

01:14:35.000 --> 01:14:39.999
I mean, it’s… I think it seems
like a good way to go. Yeah.

01:14:40.000 --> 01:14:44.999
Yeah, I kind of… Yeah, I kind
of… I mean, I kind of like it.

01:14:45.000 --> 01:14:49.999
They don’t tell you very much,

01:14:50.000 --> 01:14:54.999
100 miles per charge. \"Actual range
may vary based on conditions,

01:14:55.000 --> 01:14:59.999
weather, and battery age.\" Hmm.

01:15:00.000 --> 01:15:08.000
[music]

01:15:15.000 --> 01:15:19.999
Well, we’re gonna go for the
groundbreaking of the facilities

01:15:20.000 --> 01:15:24.999
they’re gonna build the batteries
and, and electric cars

01:15:25.000 --> 01:15:33.000
for the United States. It’s an
important investment for us.

01:15:35.000 --> 01:15:39.999
It’s been described as the largest deployment of electric
vehicles and charging infrastructure ever undertaken.

01:15:40.000 --> 01:15:44.999
I’m very proud that Tennessee is
an integral part of this effort.

01:15:45.000 --> 01:15:49.999
Everybody’s gonna come to the game when their
electric car will be ready. Do you feel like

01:15:50.000 --> 01:15:54.999
you’re ahead of the game?
I don’t feel, I am.

01:15:55.000 --> 01:15:59.999
Carlos sounds confident. The truth is,

01:16:00.000 --> 01:16:04.999
he’s gambling with billions of dollars
and tens of thousands of jobs,

01:16:05.000 --> 01:16:09.999
and the sharks are circling.
I’d like to know if the

01:16:10.000 --> 01:16:14.999
Leaf will be affordable enough. The Leaf, the shift to
electrification of vehicles as a risk for Nissan or not?

01:16:15.000 --> 01:16:19.999
What… What was the personal thought
process? Was there a certain \"aha\" moment?

01:16:20.000 --> 01:16:24.999
The \"aha\" moment, it is every day.

01:16:25.000 --> 01:16:29.999
I mean, I would not be driving all of this if I saw a
risk. Obviously, there is no guarantee. People say,

01:16:30.000 --> 01:16:34.999
you know, \"how about the guy who’s making\" you
know, \"driving very long range?\" We don’t care.

01:16:35.000 --> 01:16:39.999
We, we are not addressing the car for these people.
Talk about your model for profitability for Leaf.

01:16:40.000 --> 01:16:44.999
Frankly, I can’t give you any answer. Any
answer. You need to predict the future,

01:16:45.000 --> 01:16:50.000
prepare for it. You don’t know if it’s gonna
happen, But if it happens, we’ll be ready.

01:17:00.000 --> 01:17:04.999
A few blocks from the hotel room

01:17:05.000 --> 01:17:09.999
where Nikola Tesla died penniless 60 years
earlier, Elon faces his final challenge:

01:17:10.000 --> 01:17:14.999
Selling Tesla to Wall Street.

01:17:15.000 --> 01:17:19.999
The omens are not good.
The NASDAQ is down 2%

01:17:20.000 --> 01:17:24.999
and falling.

01:17:25.000 --> 01:17:29.999
Everybody’s talking about one of the most
hyped IPOS in recent memory, Tesla Motors.

01:17:30.000 --> 01:17:34.999
It sold 1,063 cars. I myself
have sold 1,063 cars.

01:17:35.000 --> 01:17:39.999
You don’t want to own this stock. You
shouldn’t even rent the darn thing.

01:17:40.000 --> 01:17:44.999
Well, big losses on Wall Street today as we’ve been reporting,
and it’s just the same for just about any U.S. stock,

01:17:45.000 --> 01:17:49.999
except one, Tesla Motors.

01:17:50.000 --> 01:17:54.999
It is up. It priced above the range. It sold 20% more
stock than it thought it would, and it is still up.

01:17:55.000 --> 01:17:59.999
Shares of the electric car
maker Tesla Motors are up.

01:18:00.000 --> 01:18:04.999
The electric carmakers surged nearly 41%,
the second best Ipo gain of the year.

01:18:05.000 --> 01:18:09.999
So this is a very big indicator to some,
not to all, that Tesla is for real,

01:18:10.000 --> 01:18:14.999
a real car company that’s going
to usher in the future of cars.

01:18:15.000 --> 01:18:19.999
You know, for a while there,
we had a lot of bloggers

01:18:20.000 --> 01:18:24.999
maintaining a Tesla death watch. A day-by-day
count of how long before Tesla would die.

01:18:25.000 --> 01:18:30.000
Right, it, it, it seems that that
may… They may be waiting for a while.

01:18:35.000 --> 01:18:39.999
June 29, 2010.\" Look! My name!
My name! My name!

01:18:40.000 --> 01:18:44.999
Your name. You know, sometimes
success is the best revenge.

01:18:45.000 --> 01:18:53.000
[music]

01:18:55.000 --> 01:18:59.999
GM’S restructuring seems to be working.
The company begins to pay back

01:19:00.000 --> 01:19:04.999
its government loan. Bob’s plug-in
Volt goes into production.

01:19:05.000 --> 01:19:09.999
It’s a thrill.

01:19:10.000 --> 01:19:14.999
It’s a thrill. I just wish there
were more of them. There we go.

01:19:15.000 --> 01:19:19.999
In goes the battery.
Ultimately, every single car

01:19:20.000 --> 01:19:24.999
in the line will be a Volt.
My own personal prognosis

01:19:25.000 --> 01:19:30.000
for Volt sales is way, way, way beyond
what General Motors currently says.

01:19:40.000 --> 01:19:44.999
Okay. Gentlemen, how are you? Hi. Well, good to see you. How
are you? It’s good… It’s good to see that the line is very,

01:19:45.000 --> 01:19:49.999
very busy. Please sign my book for me.
Thank you, Mr. Ghosn.

01:19:50.000 --> 01:19:54.999
It was an honor to meet you.

01:19:55.000 --> 01:19:59.999
For an all-electric vehicle, it makes me feel like I’m on the front end of something new. It’s
a new wave. I can look back years from now when it becomes popular. I can tell my kids, \"Hey,

01:20:00.000 --> 01:20:04.999
we were one of the first that came
up with the new electric vehicles.\"

01:20:05.000 --> 01:20:10.000
It’d be astounding to be able to
tell them that in years to come.

01:20:15.000 --> 01:20:19.999
So the toast is to creating the greatest car company of the
21st century and making a real difference to the world

01:20:20.000 --> 01:20:24.999
and moving us off fucking
oil as fast as possible.

01:20:25.000 --> 01:20:29.999
[music]

01:20:30.000 --> 01:20:34.999
And gadget finally finds a new home.

01:20:35.000 --> 01:20:39.999
This is a rally big New Year for us

01:20:40.000 --> 01:20:44.999
because last year we lost everything. And so
we are just now putting it back together.

01:20:45.000 --> 01:20:49.999
It’s our new studio… new shop,
new hope, new everything.

01:20:50.000 --> 01:20:54.999
So this is a fresh start for us. Ten, nine,

01:20:55.000 --> 01:20:59.999
eight, seven, six, five,

01:21:00.000 --> 01:21:04.999
four, three, two, one. Midnight!

01:21:05.000 --> 01:21:09.999
What does it take to get a
picture just you and me?

01:21:10.000 --> 01:21:14.999
[music]

01:21:15.000 --> 01:21:19.999
What’s needed for the real revenge
of the electric car? Time. Uh…

01:21:20.000 --> 01:21:24.999
It’s just… It’s just a matter of time.

01:21:25.000 --> 01:21:29.999
Right now, we have a dirty grid,

01:21:30.000 --> 01:21:34.999
but the cool thing about the electric car is that it’s
the only car in the world that gets cleaner over time,

01:21:35.000 --> 01:21:39.999
because as we clean up the grid, and
there’s every indication we will.

01:21:40.000 --> 01:21:44.999
The more you clean up the grid, the cleaner your
car gets. It’s the only vehicle in the world

01:21:45.000 --> 01:21:49.999
that actually gets cleaner
the longer you own it.

01:21:50.000 --> 01:21:54.999
What we’re proving in Israel is that we can actually
put a system in place, an extension to the grid,

01:21:55.000 --> 01:21:59.999
that would get a country off oil.
See, that’s the difference between

01:22:00.000 --> 01:22:04.999
having a gas-guzzling car and an
electric car. That’s like the dark ages.

01:22:05.000 --> 01:22:09.999
This is the new age. This is gonna happen.

01:22:10.000 --> 01:22:14.999
Everybody’s gonna want it. You wanted the
internet. You’re gonna want an electric car.

01:22:15.000 --> 01:22:19.999
Hi. Hey, there. Hey, how you doing? Good.

01:22:20.000 --> 01:22:24.999
Thanks for coming. Beautiful.

01:22:25.000 --> 01:22:29.999
So this is it. Oh, yeah, that. That is a beautiful car. That’s the volt? That’s the
volt. Okay, look at that baby. This is a Chevy. It’s a Chevrolet, yup. Oh, man.

01:22:30.000 --> 01:22:34.999
This better be good. Who’d have thought, right?
Who’d have thunk I’d be driving a Chevy?

01:22:35.000 --> 01:22:39.999
Did you drive our EV1?

01:22:40.000 --> 01:22:44.999
Yeah. Yeah. Was that yours? that was GM, yup. Oh,
man, I loved that car. That was a fantastic car.

01:22:45.000 --> 01:22:49.999
Oh, my God. You’re not gonna take
this one away from me, are you? No.

01:22:50.000 --> 01:22:54.999
That’s the most solid Chevy
I ever drove in my life.

01:22:55.000 --> 01:22:59.999
Seriously.

01:23:00.000 --> 01:23:04.999
I don’t want to wait another 60,
70 years before we catch up

01:23:05.000 --> 01:23:09.999
to the reality that, that it’s here now.
These innovations are here.

01:23:10.000 --> 01:23:15.000
Bring them to me. I want to play.

01:24:10.000 --> 01:24:14.999
[sil.]

01:24:15.000 --> 01:24:19.999
There comes a point

01:24:20.000 --> 01:24:24.999
when you know too much. For
me, knowing what I know

01:24:25.000 --> 01:24:29.999
and having been where I’ve
been, gasoline-powered cars

01:24:30.000 --> 01:24:34.999
started to become very, very bittersweet for
me. And I’ve been saying good-bye in my head

01:24:35.000 --> 01:24:39.999
for about a year now. What I want
is a car that I can live with,

01:24:40.000 --> 01:24:44.999
that goes fast and is fun and is clean,
‘cause that’s where the imagination is.

01:24:45.000 --> 01:24:49.999
That’s where the inspiration is at.
That’s the future.

01:24:50.000 --> 01:24:58.000
[sil.]

01:25:00.000 --> 01:25:08.000
[music]

01:26:30.000 --> 01:26:34.999
Yay! Well, 121.5 miles.

01:26:35.000 --> 01:26:39.999
Fantastic.

01:26:40.000 --> 01:26:48.000
[music]