埃隆·马斯克的故事几乎令人难以置信。他是一名工程师和企业家，身家超过150亿美元。他敢于押注高风险项目，而这些项目总能带来巨额利润。先是PayPal，一种在互联网上买卖商品的方式。然后是Tesla，他打造的电动超级跑车，还有NASA使用的火箭公司SpaceX。如今，他把目光投向了更遥远的地方：殖民火星。

如果你觉得他让你想起托尼·斯塔克，也就是钢铁侠，那你没想错，因为他也是这位好莱坞超级英雄的灵感来源。[掌声] 你好吗？祝贺你升职。非常感谢。和埃隆·马斯克一模一样。是的。电动喷气式飞机的好主意。你有。是的。如果你和现实生活中的托尼·斯塔克相处一段时间……感谢各位今晚前来……你就要做好快速行动的准备。

不过，这里将是我们的任务控制中心和发射控制中心。稍等一下。他是个火箭人。SpaceX猎鹰9号火箭升空。他自豪地展示自己与NASA签订的20亿美元合同，为国际空间站提供各种补给。这就像是朝那些说我们办不到的人裆部狠狠踢了一脚。转眼之间，他又在完善另一枚“火箭”：他的电动极速超级跑车Tesla。它是一头猛兽。它是个怪物。

691马力。呃，是的。而且它从0加速到100公里只需3.1秒。无论他做什么。也无论他以多快的速度去做，[音乐] 身边总有一大群崇拜他的马斯克拥趸。[掌声] 你的员工真正让我印象深刻的是，每个人对这种愿景都近乎怀有救世主般的信念。他们是埃隆·马斯克世界愿景的忠实信徒。确实。嗯，不过，顺便说一句，我通常会尽量劝阻这种类似个人崇拜的行为。

[音乐] 埃隆·马斯克在南非长大，在加拿大学习，之后移居加利福尼亚，并通过创办在线商务企业PayPal成为硅谷巨星。几年后，马斯克以一大笔钱卖掉了PayPal。随后，他勇敢地，或者说愚蠢地，把自己的巨额财富投入电动汽车初创公司Tesla，目标是击败汽油动力汽车。嗯，到目前为止，这是一辆非常昂贵的车。就叫它5000万美元的车吧。

如果真有什么办法能烧掉10亿美元，那就是这个。你知道，这其实只是开端的开端。好。那么，当人们告诉你这太疯狂时，你怎么说？嗯，我不想给人留下这样一种印象：我从一开始就认为Tesla会成功。事实上，我认为我们会失败。你真这么想？真的？哦，是的。是的。我认为成功概率也许只有，我不知道，10、20%。

我的意思是，初创公司通常都会失败，汽车初创公司尤其容易失败。确实。早期的Tesla是个耗资巨大的无底洞，而他对失败和个人破产的预测也险些成真。你知道，每过去一个月，我们实际上都要花掉数千万美元。我的意思是，我们需要认识到这一点。传统汽车行业把埃隆·马斯克当成笑话，也没有让情况有所好转。

眼下我们面临的问题是，客户中出现了某种信任危机。我们本来就该料到这一点，他们基本上是在说，啊，好吧，这就证明了。你看，这是个来自硅谷、不知天高地厚的家伙，自以为能造汽车。他会失败。对。确实。你在那个阶段是什么感受？嗯，老实说，我感觉非常糟糕。嗯，当时看起来我们的确就要失败了。公司几乎耗尽了资金。

事实上，到了2008年年底，我不得不把自己剩下的最后一笔钱投进公司。你押上了自己的财富，对吧？全部。是的。如果Tesla破产，我最后甚至会欠债。而我们设法在融资仍有可能完成的最后一天的最后一个小时敲定了这一轮融资。所以，那是2008年圣诞夜下午6点。电动汽车制造商Tesla Motors的股价正在上涨。

在最后关头，马斯克说服投资者再给他一次机会，并开始打造一种全新的电动汽车。是的。这是一个全尺寸模型。你能给我们看看是哪一部分吗？全部。整个东西。我觉得我们不能把整个东西都给你看，对吧？澳大利亚汽车制造业的消亡让埃隆·马斯克从中受益。所以，你从最开始就在这里工作。从最开始就在。

澳大利亚人本·伯内特，就是右边那位，过去在墨尔本为Holden工作。现在，他负责Tesla新车的油泥模型制作。我们本应在自己的国家做这件事。另一位澳大利亚人罗恩·帕隆斯基过去在Ford工作。我可以想象，从零开始设计一辆电动汽车具有巨大的吸引力，也让我们能够重新思考汽车的设计和制造方式。

你知道，我们会质疑一切，然后作出改变。[音乐] 我能暂时充当一下澳大利亚数据吗？这个国家是一个汽车迷之国。他们喜欢大型卡车、大型汽车和轰鸣的V8发动机。他们喜欢汽油。我看不出他们会很快摆脱石油。电动汽车为什么能在那个市场行得通？嗯，我认为，呃，澳大利亚人也欣赏先进技术和卓越工程。

嗯，而且这辆车被世界上最挑剔的评论家视为最好的汽车。[音乐] 3年前，Tesla凭借Model S的推出真正腾飞。[音乐] 这是一辆四门轿车，与大多数人想象中的电动汽车完全不同。[音乐] 我们想打造一辆漂亮的电动汽车，拥有令人难以置信的操控性和强劲的加速性能。

事实上，Model S的加速性能是有史以来所有四门汽车中最强的。这辆车开起来很棒。仿佛是为了强化自己作为汽车业叛逆者的形象，马斯克确保自己的新车拥有许多独特古怪之处。音响的音量确实能调到11。感谢《摇滚万万岁》。而在Tesla高性能车型中，还有一个奇特的选择项，名字也很贴切，叫作“疯狂按钮”。

它会立即向汽车的4个车轮释放令人瞠目的691马力。如果你按下按钮并踩下加速踏板，它就会展现出惊人的表现。哇。天哪，太惊人了。它直接把你推到座椅靠背上。我试驾这辆车时，它的加速感觉很疯狂。所以我当时想，嗯，我们或许应该在这里设置一个按钮，让人们决定自己是否想要疯狂的加速。

所以，它有速度、有外观，也有各种高科技装置。但一直阻碍电动汽车发展的因素是价格和续航里程。[音乐] 大多数车主都会谈到续航焦虑，但这辆车在需要充电前可以行驶约400公里。那么，我们现在正在从洛杉矶前往旧金山的路上。由于这是一辆电动汽车，在这样的旅程中，为保险起见，你大概得补充几次电。

不过，好处是他们沿途都设置了这些超级充电站。在那上面点几下，充电口就会打开，再把充电枪插进去。15分钟后，汽车的电量就全部补满了。更好的是，它是免费的，[音乐] 这有助于缓解汽车价格高昂带来的痛苦。尽管老板兼首席推销员表示，它会像所有不断发展的技术一样变得更便宜。

我们的第三代汽车Model 3，它是，它将是一款更小的汽车，嗯，而且产量会高得多，我们，我们的目标是大致有这辆车的价格，嗯，并且能够生产售价35000美元而不是75000美元的产品。现在这话有吸引力了。是的。Falcon 9升空。Tesla的境况好转，让埃隆·马斯克有机会追求他的另一个宏大愿景：太空。

他的公司SpaceX制造无人火箭，以比NASA更经济、更高效的方式为国际空间站运送补给。SpaceX Falcon 9火箭升空。正如马斯克上个月所发现的，这是一项高风险事业。我们似乎遭遇了运载火箭故障。但即便如此，这也只是通往他最宏大梦想的一块垫脚石。正在等待进一步消息。SpaceX是一项惊人的成就。

但是，呃，你也有自己的火星计划。想想未来就是，如果，如果我们能在外面探索群星，那会比永远被困在地球上的未来令人兴奋和振奋得多。还有火星任务。是的。那么，呃，要让火星计划成为现实，我们，我们需要某种下一代的、的火箭和航天器。我们认为自己已经有了一种方案，能让人们以大约50万美元的费用移居火星。

50万美元。是的。顺便说一句，这还附赠一张免费返程票。大多数人谈到你时都会说，你对未来的愿景相当惊人。而一路走来，有那么多次人们都表示反对，是吧？我想确实遭受过很多攻击。

嗯，近几个月和几年里，我，我注意到的一件事是，对许多既得利益者来说，已经变得，呃，显而易见的是，Tesla和SpaceX不会消失。嗯，以前他们觉得，好吧，他们基本上不是无视我们，就是嘲笑我们。现在，我们实际上开始取得真正的进展，他们也开始把我们视为真正的威胁。嗯，所以，这，它是，它是相当令人畏惧的。

这实际上是人类有能力做到的事情，而且，而且我认为这是某件，那，那是我们必须做的事情。埃隆·马斯克努力追求别人或许认为不可能实现的目标。他走在时代前面，希望技术能改善后世几代人的生活方式。你是否感觉到，目前有很多关于世界的反乌托邦作品？关于未来的。未来被描绘得非常黯淡，不是吗？是的。

我想，黯淡的故事更有戏剧性。但你是个乐观主义者，对吧？你怀有希望。我怀有希望。我努力做的是尽可能提高未来变得更好的概率。所以，这有点利他主义的意味，但我想，如果你将成为未来的一部分，为什么不努力让未来变得更好呢？大家好，我是汤姆·斯坦福。感谢收看《澳大利亚60分钟》。

立即订阅我们的频道，每周观看全新报道和独家片段。也不要错过我们在9ow.com.au和N Now应用上播出的“额外一分钟”片段及《60分钟》完整节目。

The story of Elon Musk is almost too incredible to believe. He's an engineer and entrepreneur worth more than $15 billion. He backs himself on high-risk ventures, which invariably lead to huge profits. First, there was PayPal, the way to buy and sell on the internet. Then Tesla, the electric supercar he built, and SpaceX, the rocket company NASA uses. Now, his sights are set even further a field, colonizing Mars.

And if he reminds you of Tony Stark, Iron Man, you're right, because he's also the inspiration behind the Hollywood superhero. [Applause] How are you? Congratulations on the promotion. Thank you very much. Exactly like Elon Musk. Yeah. Good idea for an electric jet. You do. Yeah. And if you spend any time with the real life Tony Stark, thank you all for coming tonight and you be prepared to move quickly.

But this is where our mission control and launch control will be. One moment. He's a rocket man. liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Proudly boasting his $2 billion contract with NASA, varying supplies to the International Space Station. It's just a giant kick in the ball from the people that said we couldn't do it. Next minute, he's perfecting another rocket, his electric superfast supercar, the Tesla. It is a beast. It's a monster.

691 horsepower. Uh, yeah. And it'll go to 0 to 100 km in 3. 1 seconds. Whatever he does. And at whatever speed he's doing it, [Music] there's always a legion of adoring musketeers on hand. [Applause] What really strikes me about your staff is everyone is almost messianic with their vision. They're true believers in Elon Musk's vision of the world. Sure. Um, well, I mean, generally I try to discourage cultlike behavior, by the way.

[Music] Elon Musk grew up in South Africa, studied in Canada, but then moved to California and became a Silicon Valley superstar by creating the online commerce business PayPal. A few years later, Musk sold PayPal for a packet. He then bravely or stupidly poured his great fortune into Tesla, an electric car startup company that aimed to beat petrol-powered vehicles. Well, so far this is a very expensive car. Call this the $50 million car.

If ever there was a way to blow a billion bucks, this was it. You know, this is really just the beginning of the beginning. All right. So when people were telling you this is insane, what did you say? Well, I don't want to give the impression that I thought Tesla would be successful from the beginning. I actually thought we would fail. You did? Really? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I thought would maybe have a I don't know 10 20% chance of success.

I mean, startups in general fail and auto startups especially fail. Sure. In the early days, Tesla was a hugely expensive money pit and his prediction of failure and personal bankruptcy came perilously close to true. You know, each month that passes is literally cost us tens of millions of dollars. I mean, we need to appreciate that. It didn't help that the traditional car industry treated Elon Musk as a joke.

Right now we're facing an issue which is that it's a sort of a crisis of confidence among our customers. We should be expecting it this basically saying ah well this proves it. You know here's this cheeky bloke from Silicon Valley who thinks he can make a car. He's going to fail. Right. Sure. How did you feel at that stage? Well I felt pretty miserable honestly. Um it did honestly look like we were going to fail. It almost ran out of money.

In fact at the end of 2008 so I had to invest the last money that I had in the company. You staked your fortune, didn't you? Everything. Yeah. I would have ended up owing money if if if Tesla had gone bankrupt. And we managed to close the financing round on the last hour of the last day that it was possible. So, it was Christmas Eve 2008 6 p. m. Shares of the electric car maker Tesla Motors are up.

At the 11th hour, Musk convinced investors to give him a second chance and set out to build a completely new type of electric car. Yeah. This is a full-size model. Can you show us which part? All of it. The whole thing. I don't think we can show you the whole thing, right? The death of Australia's car manufacturing industry was Elon Musk's gain. So you've been here from the very beginning. From the very beginning.

Australian Ben Bernett, that's him on the right, used to work for Holden in Melbourne. He now manages clay modeling of new Tesla cars. We should be doing it in our own country. Fellow Aussie Ron Palonsky used to work at Ford. I can imagine that there's a huge attraction in designing an electric vehicle from the ground up and that that allows us to to kind of rethink how the cars designed and manufactured.

You know, we challenge everything and then we change. [Music] Can I be the Australian data for a moment? This country is a nation of petrol heads. They love their big trucks, their big cars, their throbbing V8s. They love their gasoline. I don't see them getting rid of oil anytime soon. Why would an electric car work in that market? Well, I mean, I think uh Australians also appreciate advanced technology and great engineering.

Um, and this car is uh regarded by by the most difficult critics in the world as the best car. [Music] Three years ago, Tesla really took off with the launch of the Model S. [Music] It's a four-door sedan that looks nothing like what most people would assume an electric vehicle to be. [Music] We wanted to create an electric car that was beautiful, had incredible handling, great acceleration.

In fact, the the Model S has got the the highest acceleration of any four-door car ever. It's a beautiful car to drive. As if playing up to his credentials as an automotive renegade, Musk ensured there were plenty of idiosyncratic quirks in his new car. The stereo does go up to 11. Thanks, Spinal Tap. And in the performance Tesla, there's a curious selector, appropriately called the insane button.

It immediately unleashes an eyewatering 691 horsepower to the car's four wheels. And if you push it and put your foot on the accelerator, it does amazing things. Wow. My god, that's amazing. It just pushes you back into the back of your seat. When I was trying the car out, it it the acceleration felt insane. So was like, well, we should probably have a button there so that people could decide if they want to have insane acceleration or not.

So it has the speed, the looks, and the gadgetry. But the issues that have always held electric cars back have been price and range. [Music] Most owners talk about range anxiety, but this car can travel around 400 km before it needs recharging. So, here we are on route from LA to San Francisco. And this being an electric car, on that sort of journey, you've got to top it up probably a couple of times to be safe.

The nice thing about this though is they've got these supercharging stations all along the way. Couple of clicks on that, it opens it up, plugs it in. In 15 minutes, the car's energy is all topped up. And better still, it's free, [Music] which helps ease the pain of the car's high cost. Although the boss and chief salesman says like all evolving technology, it will get cheaper.

Our third generation car, the Model 3, which is it'll be a smaller car um and at much higher volume, we're we're aiming to approximately have the price of the car um and be able to produce something for $35,000 instead of for $75,000. Now you're talking. Yeah. Lift off of the Falcon 9. Having Tesla's fortunes improving gives Elon Musk the chance to pursue his other great vision, space.

His company, SpaceX, builds unmanned rockets which resupply the International Space Station more economically and efficiently than NASA. Liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. It's a risky business as Musk discovered last month. And we appear to have had a launch vehicle failure. But even this is just a stepping stone to his most ambitious dream of all. Standing by for some information. SpaceX is an astonishing achievement.

But uh you've also got your plans for Mars. Think about the future is just if if we're out there exploring stars, it's so much more exciting and inspiring than one where we are forever confined to Earth. and a Mars mission. Yeah. So, uh, in order to make Mars work, we we need kind of the next generation of of rockets and spacecraft. And we think we've got something that will enable people to move to Mars for approximately half a million dollars.

Half a million dollars. Yeah. And you can get a free return ticket with that, by the way. So, the thing that most people say about you is the vision of the future that you have is quite breathtaking. And so many times along the way, people have naysayed, haven't they? I guess there's certainly been a lot of attacks.

Um, one thing I've I've noticed in recent months and years is that it's become uh obvious to a lot of the entrenched interests that that Tesla and SpaceX are not going to die. Um, and previously they thought, well, they just basically ignored us or laughed at us. Now we're actually starting to make real inroads and they're treating us as a real threat. Um and so the it is it is quite daunting.

This is actually within the power of humanity to do and and I think it's something that that it's we must do. Elon Musk strives for what others might think impossible. Thinking ahead of the curve, he wants technology to improve the way we live for generations to come. Do you get the feeling that there's a lot of dystopian writing about the world at the moment? The future. It's very bleak the way the future's cast, isn't it? Yeah.

I guess bleak stories make for better drama. But you're an optimist, aren't you? You're hopeful. I am hopeful. What I'm trying to do is maximize the probability that the future will be better. So, it's sort of altruistic, but I think why wouldn't you try to make the future better if you're going to be part of it? Hello, I'm Tom Steinford. Thanks for watching 60 Minutes Australia.

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