Elon Musk was in Stavanger, Norway today to speak at the Offshore Northern Shore (ONS) 2022 conference, considered to be one of the world’s most important oil, gas and energy conferences.
Musk spoke during the opening session of the conference, and during a wide-ranging interview with Xenia Wickett covered a number of topics including the need for more oil and gas as the world transitions to a sustainable energy future, what his two biggest goals for 2022 are, and when he hopes to announce the location of the next Gigafactory.
More Oil & Gas
Reiterating a point he made earlier this year, Musk said oil and gas production needs to continue. Showing his pragmatism even though his company’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy, Musk said this is needed to prevent the world from crumbling as that transition will take decades to complete.
“Realistically I think we need to use oil and gas in the short term, because otherwise civilization will crumble. One of the biggest challenges the world has ever faced is the transition to sustainable energy and to a sustainable economy. That will take some decades to complete,” he said. (via Reuters)
Musk even said exploration for more oil and gas should continue, but noted however that offshore wind power generation in the Norwegian Sea “could provide a strong, sustainable energy source in winter,” especially when combined with battery energy storage.
FSD Beta Wide Release & Starship
Musk also spoke about the two things that are at the forefront of his mind for 2022, one of those being the wide release of Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta to all owners who have purchased the optional suite of driver-assist features with their car.
According to Musk his goal is to have FSD Beta in wide release “at least in the US” by the end of the year. Musk also gave hope to Tesla owners in Europe, saying it could be released there before the end of the year as well. Both timelines were of course pending regulatory approval.
Musk’s other priority for this year is to get Starship into orbit. This is a crucial goal for SpaceX as Starship will be used to launch the company’s next generation Starlink satellites that will also provide cellular coverage in dead-zones.
Next Gigafactory Announcement
While Musk didn’t speak about Tesla’s next Gigafactory during his talk, he was asked about it afterwards, saying he still hopes to announce the location of the next Gigafactory later this year. (via TheStreet)
Musk first hinted at an announcement coming this year during Tesla’s Annual Meeting of Stockholders earlier this month. At the time he strongly suggested it could be in Canada, saying “I am half Canadian, maybe I should?”
The hint wasn’t much, but it was later revealed Tesla has been lobbying the Canadian government to set up an advanced manufacturing facility in the country.
Next up for Musk will be a trip to Giga Berlin to check on the progress at the new factory.
You can watch a few videos of Musk at ONS below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF5-lBdU-GQ
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) August 29, 2022
