Elon Musk Says He's Dying to Make Supersonic Electric Jets Using VTOL Technology

After making electric cars and trucks and transforming space exploration, billionaire tycoon Elon Musk appears to have set his eyes on vertical lift electric planes. He said he is “dying” to make electric supersonic jets that would use vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) technology. With Musk, known for taking unconventional decisions that initially seem too outlandish, this should not be surprising. He disclosed his desire to enter, or rather disrupt, the aircraft industry in a response to entrepreneur-author Peter H Diamandis, who had asked his followers what they would like the Tesla and SpaceX CEO to “tackle” next.

When Musk first talked about electric cars, not many were convinced about their feasibility, primarily due to technological and commercial challenges. Then Tesla happened. He also disrupted space exploration with SpaceX, building reusable rockets.

“Elon Musk has played a massive role in transforming payments, space exploration, cars, and green energy adoption. What industry do you want him to tackle next? My choice is aviation… What's yours?” said Diamandis, the founder of the XPRIZE Foundation.

Though Musk replied with his electric plane pitch, he also said adding more work will “make my brain explode”, using emojis for the last two words.

Apart from heading the multi-billion firms, Tesla and SpaceX, Musk has founded the startup Neuralink, which is developing implantable brain-machine interfaces, and a tunnel-digging venture, The Boring Company. He is also the co-founder of the artificial intelligence research laboratory OpenAI. Other than that, he often delves into issues related to the crypto industry via his Twitter account. With SpaceX, Musk has said he wants to colonise Mars and make humans a “multiplanetary” species.

This is not the first time Musk has expressed his interest in electric planes. In July, he had made a similar statement.

Before that, in 2018 while on Joe Rogan's podcast, Musk had said that he has great ideas on how to create electric VTOLs.