12 interesting things we learned from Tesla's Elon Musk this week

1) It's tricky dining with vegans

"I tried being a vegetarian but I don’t really think we’re designed to be vegetarians. Some of my best friends are vegetarians, even vegans, which is tricky when you’re trying to go out for dinner," he told me, laughing.

2) Tesla will make cars in Europe

Asked if he foresaw manufacturing in Europe (the cars are currently made in Fremont, California, with some assembly in the Netherlands), he said:

Yes, absolutely. Full manufacturing in Europe long-term, definitely. It’s a bit silly transporting cars across the Atlantic. Probably in five years.

3) He thinks the Nissan Leaf and GM Volt are "not great products"

What Nissan’s doing with the Leaf is sincere. I think Nissan ought to be applauded for its efforts, and GM also for the Volt. That’s not saying those are great products, they’re not great products, but just because product’s not great doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be applauded for those efforts, because they just need to iterate and iterate to make a better electric car. It’s a step in the right direction, and they need to keep going in that direction.

4) Tesla's UK "superchargers" will be solar-powered

The network of fast-charging stations planned for the UK, which will top up the Model S in less than 30 minutes, will eventually be solar-powered and should produce more electricity than the cars take from the grid, Musk said.

What we’re trying to convey is if you have Tesla Model S you’ll be able to drive for free, forever, on sunlight.

5) The company's mass market car will cost less than £35,000 in the UK

The car dubbed "Gen3" or "Bluestar" will be less than £35,000 when it goes on sale "probably three years from now". It will be 20% smaller than the Model S, he added.

6) The Spy Who Loved Me underwater car that he bought for nearly $1m is going to get a Tesla motor

We're going to upgrade the powertrain with lithium-ion batteries and a Tesla motor, and we’re going to try to make it transform for real, while staying true to the car itself.

Having a car like that was a boyhood dream, he said:

When I was growing up I thought it was the coolest car I’d ever seen. So if we could make it transform for real that’d be really neat.

7) Fully self-driving cars won't happen soon, he thinks

I think we’re many years away from truly self-driving. I think we can begin to cover 90%+ of driving time [with "assisted driving" features such as lane holding]. I think that can happen soon, in the next one or two years, three at most.

But does he think the switch from humans to computers driving our cars is inevitable in the long term?

Eventually probably true.

8) Obama can be proud of his environmental legacy

I think he’s done a lot, he really has. I think the US is doing pretty well [on supporting electric cars].

Asked if Obama could be proud of the environmental legacy he'll leave, Musk said "I think so."

9) It's difficult to make reusable rocket boosters

It's really difficult. We came close on this last launch [in September]; we managed to re-enter the atmosphere, not break up like we normally do, and get all way down to sea level.

10) The BMW electric car, the i3, looks odd and doesn't go far enough

My initial impression of the i3 is it looks a bit funny and the range is not high enough. It seems to have been made intentionally weird, as opposed to letting the form follow function. Form should not be artificially weird.

11) The US might be better off spending more on science and less on aircraft carriers

I’m pro science-funding. I don’t think it’s terrible but it's probably not as high as it should be, we probably spend a little bit on defence and not enough on science. The defence-spending is more than the rest of the world combined, which is quite high for 5% of the world’s population.

12) Norwegians are massive Tesla fan-boys and -girls

We knew the Tesla Model S had been the best-selling car in Norway, in September. But why are they so keen, aside from the attractive incentive that Norway doesn't tax electric cars?

There’s been a core group of really enthusiastic Norwegians who are just gung-ho for electric cars, and they’ve been an incredible fan group.