Gary Zhou 
In a new episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, Tesla CEO Elon Musk joined Joe Rogan for round three. The third interview between Musk and Rogan is available on Spotify.
Musk and Rogan discussed a number of subjects, all of which were linked to the CEO’s various business ventures aimed at improving renewable energy, revolutionizing passenger travel, and the possibility of providing people with the option of living on other worlds.
Rogan and Musk spoke about a wide range of subjects in the previous series, and the third appearance was no different. Rogan seemed particularly interested in Musk obtaining information about the upcoming product launches of Tesla, including the next-gen Roadster and Cybertruck. In addition, the two also spoke about SpaceX, Starlink, and some of Musk’s other projects beyond the production of electric vehicles.
SpaceX
Interestingly, Rogan said that he has never seen a SpaceX rocket land and has relatively little understanding of what goes into the production of rockets by Musk’s company. Musk did, however, cover several tidbits related to the design and production of SpaceX rockets, including the fact that, because of the Sasha Baron Cohen film, The Dictator, he requested Starship’s tip to be pointy.
Musk also detailed the SpaceX mission to Rogan, along with the need to continuously retrieve data from regular launches by the company.
“We’re trying to make life multi-planetary. We’re trying to extend life beyond Earth. In order to do that, you have to have high tonnage to Mars. That means you need a big rocket, and you need to fly a lot.”
Tesla
Musk outlined the Roadster’s upcoming update, along with the suggestion that when the car is paired with the SpaceX kit, it will hover. The current issue is that figuring out how to make the vehicle hover is not easy, obviously. Tesla can, however, need to restrict the height the vehicle can hover at, along with the amount of time it can stay off the ground. Security is of utmost importance to Musk, as he suggested that the height and length of time spent above ground would be most responsible for restricting it.
“I want it to hover. I’m trying to figure out how to make this thing hover, without, you know, killing people. I thought, maybe we could make it hover, but not too high. So maybe it could hover, like, a meter above the ground, or something. So, if you plummet, you blow out the suspension, but you’re not going to die. Maybe, I don’t know, six feet. If we put a height limit on it, it will probably be fine.”
Musk admits that this might ultimately not be feasible, but for some of the quickest acceleration speeds ever available on a vehicle, there will be cold-gas thrusters mounted behind the license plate.
Musk said:
“At a minimum, I’m confident we could do a thruster where the license plate flips down, James Bond-style, and there would be a rocket thruster behind it, and that gives you three tons of thrust.”
In addition, during the interview, the Tesla CEO also gave information about the design revisions of the Cybertruck. Musk has already confirmed that, during the Q4 2020 Earnings Call, the Cybertruck concept was finalized. Nevertheless, the car was subjected to size reductions of “around 3 percent.”
Musk said:
“That’s pretty much what it [the Cybertruck] will look like, with very small differences. You know, we adjusted the size a few percent. Like around 3% or smaller. You don’t want it to be a couple of inches too big for the tunnel.”
Later this year, production is expected to start in limited quantities, with volume production starting “hopefully” in 2022, Musk said.
Musk also detailed some early concepts that, if it actually becomes a manufactured car, could be added to the Tesla electric van. During the recent Earnings Call, Musk claimed that Tesla will probably build one in the future. Due to the flat and wide surface area of a vehicle, Tesla could also equip the van with solar panels. Musk predicts that with the design, if it ever comes to fruition, 30 additional miles of range will be offered every day.
Musk told Rogan:
“Now, a van, because you have a big, flat area, that’s actually where solar could start to make a little more sense. You know, because you have a lot of area. You could also have, maybe, a roof where it is solar, and then, when it is stationary, [the roof] goes out and provides shade, and maybe triples your area or something like that. Now, you triple the area, and you have a big, flat surface, you could maybe start charging enough where you start getting like 30 miles a day.”
The full episode of Musk’s third interview with Joe Rogan is available on Spotify here.
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