Elon Musk, the fourth richest man in the world, has gone through controversies and craziness in the Twitterverse. The self-made billionaire recent crazy antic was when he begged his Twitter followers to trash him on Wikipedia.
Well, aside from these hullaballoos, his fans have also witnessed how he tweeted about some of his bold ideas and made them a reality, bringing him at least $8 billion of wealth. Here are some of his fancy ideas that came true.
The Safest Flamethrower
Needing some capital for his construction project, Elon Musk tweeted in December 2017 that his Boring Company would sell the "world's safest flamethrower" if it sold 50,000 hats. And it did!
After 50k hats, we will start selling The Boring Company flamethrower — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 11, 2017
So they started to sell a $500-flamethrower starting in January 2018 and quickly sold all its 20,000 units. However, due to some regulations banning the sale of flamethrowers, Musk had to change the name to Boring Company Not a Flamethrower.
Commercial space travel
On June 19, 2012, while firing up the engine of the Superdraco, the SpaceX CEO tweeted that he "needed to carry astronauts on Dragon." It was a crazy idea then since NASA Kennedy Space Center just launched its last space shuttle flight in 2011.
Just fired our Superdraco escape rocket engine at full thrust! Needed to carry astronauts on Dragon pic.twitter.com/ef86qbWF — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 18, 2012
After eight years, on May 30, Musk launched the Space Crew Dragon, carrying two astronauts to the International Space Shuttle. It was the first time that astronauts are being launched to space from American soil for almost a decade.
It was the very first time that a private company to launch humans in space. The crew orbited and returned to Earth on Aug. 3. Musk is optimistic that this may make commercial space tourism possible.
Read also: Elon Musk Creates School With No Grades Required, Saying Regular Schools are 'Torture'
Battery-powered homes
Musk wanted to extend his dream of switching to sustainable energy to having battery-powered homes. In 2015, Tesla Motors launched its home battery product, the Tesla Powerwall.
Tesla will get the system installed and working 100 days from contract signature or it is free. That serious enough for you? — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 10, 2017
Musk tweeted that he will build its dedicated battery farm in Australia within 100 days only or give it for free. Musk was able to fulfill its 100-day promise, and the battery can now power 30,000 homes.
Tunnels that ease the heavy traffic
Remember the flamethrower project? It was actually made to finance the tunnel that Musk's Boring Company was building. In 2017, Musk tweeted that he did not like the heavy traffic and vowed to build tunnels to avoid it.
In 2018, it completed a test tunnel that stretches to 1.14 miles and allows vehicles to drive for 150 miles per hour. Meanwhile, in 2022, Boring Company will open the Dugout Loop to the public. It is a tunnel infrastructure that would allow fast, comfortable, and safe transportation without the hassle of heavy traffic in California.
Self-driving vehicles
As one of the frontrunners in the electric vehicle industry, Tesla has been pushing the automotive industry to switch to sustainable energy. In one instance, Musk thought of being able to produce self-driving cars.
Since 2016, all Tesla vehicles are equipped with an autopilot feature, and Musk will continue to explore, probably having vehicles with no steering wheels in the future.
Read also: [VIRAL] Elon Musk Says "Please Trash Me on Wikipedia" to His Twitter Followers
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Written By CJ Robles