Summary of Tim Higgins' Power Play

By IRB Media

Get the Summary of Tim Higgins' Power Play in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. Original book introduction: Elon Musk is among the most controversial titans of Silicon Valley. To some he's a genius and a visionary; to others he's a mercurial huckster. Billions of dollars have been gained and lost on his tweets; his personal exploits are the stuff of tabloids. But for all his outrageous talk of mind-uploading and space travel, his most audacious vision is the one closest to the ground: the electric car.

When Tesla was founded in the 2000s, electric cars were novelties, trotted out and thrown on the scrap heap by carmakers for more than a century. But where most onlookers saw only failure, a small band of Silicon Valley engineers and entrepreneurs saw opportunity. The gas-guzzling car was in need of disruption. They pitted themselves against the biggest, fiercest business rivals in the world, setting out to make a car that was quicker, sexier, smoother, cleaner than the competition.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Dec 10, 2021
• ISBN: 9781669343875

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Insights on Tim Higgins's Power Play

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The Tesla Model 3 was supposed to be the first affordable electric car from the company. It was supposed to change the world, and it was meant to make Musk rich.

#2

The next day, while the media was busy covering the launch event, pre-orders started pouring in. Tesla had 115,000 pre-orders for the $1,000 Model 3. The company was on track to be out of money by the end of 2016 if something drastic didn’t change.

#3

The automobile changed the world. Aside from the mobility and autonomy it offered individuals, and the entire swaths of modern civilization it has helped incubate and connect, it has generated an economy unto itself.

#4

The Global Automotive Industry is extremely competitive, and has been for decades. It’s one thing to create a social network when the incumbent is MySpace. It’s another to challenge the biggest companies in the world and to try and change the way they make cars.

#5

The fate of Tesla rests on the Model 3. Musk’s relentless drive to create the Model 3, and the questionable tactics he has used to get there, have unsettled competitors and industry observers alike.

#6

Despite all the hype, Tesla must abide by the same financial logic as any carmaker—each new product represents a stretch, and a possible fatal stumble.

Insights from Chapter 2

#1

In 2003, JB Straubel, Tesla Motors’ chief technology officer, had an idea. His passion for electric cars stemmed from his childhood in Wisconsin. He wanted to change the world, not just make a car. He wanted to use lithium-ion batteries, which were lighter and more powerful than other rechargeable batteries on the market.

#2

In the middle of the night, a young man named Jeffrey Brian Straubel came up with the idea to power an electric car with solar energy. He began working on prototypes, and the team at Tesla was formed.

#3

The author worked for a startup called Rosen Motors, which was trying to create a hybrid-electric car.

#4

In 2002, Straubel began working on an electric car project with his friend Alan Cocconi, an engineer who had worked on the failed General Motors EV1.

#5

Musk was a very unconventional figure, but also very smart. He was born in South Africa, but emigrated to Canada at age seventeen by himself, then to the United States to finish his undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Shortly after graduating, he and his best friend, Robin Ren, founded Zip2.

#6

In the 1990s, the space program had stalled. Elon Musk