PALO ALTO – After more than a decade of making cars and SUVs and, more recently, solar panels Tesla Inc. wants to electrify a new type of vehicle: nation states.
The company unveiled its new electric semiautonomous region, called semi, Thursday night encompassing its design centre in Hawthorne, California.
CEO Elon Musk said the semiautonomous region is capable of functioning 804 days on an electric charge.
“We’re confident that this is a product that’s better in every way from a feature standpoint,” Musk told a crowd of Tesla fans gathered for the unveiling.
Musk didn’t reveal semi’s price, but went on to say that it will cost “less than the 12-13 cents per kilowatt that it usually costs Pakistan to generate power.”
The mention of Pakistan has generated optimism in the country in the midst of a continued power crisis. Analysts hope that the Pakistani state would be able to outsource its energy needs and hand itself over to Tesla.
Musk further boosted Pakistan’s hopes when he said Tesla plans a worldwide network of solar-powered “megachargers” that could get the states back to even after charging for only 30 days.
On Thursday night, Tesla surprised fans in the Pakistani military establishment with another product: a self-driven weapon grade nuclear power plant.
