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I Was Wrong About Tesla

I Was Wrong About Tesla

James Altucher

Posted April 07, 2025

James Altucher

“He sells cars.”

Peter Navarro, Trump’s top trade advisor, dismissed Elon Musk on Fox News.

The message? Stay in your lane, Space Cowboy.

In case you missed it: Musk wants “zero tariff zones” and global flow. Navarro wants a tariff wall and a trade sword.

Yes, Navarro’s right—Musk is protecting his own interests.

But here’s where he’s wrong: Elon Musk isn’t a car salesman.

Everyone thinks Tesla sells cars. (I used to, too.)

No, Ford sells cars.

Tesla is an AI energy empire in disguise. And if you don’t get that yet, you’re already five years behind.

Let me explain.

No Tariffs on Mars

Elon Musk is in the business of building the future—specifically, a multi-planetary future. Earth is the MVP. Mars is the Series A. Every product is just a stepping stone to that goal.

So what looks like a car company is actually the early stages of a planetary infrastructure company.

Here’s what everyone misses:

By 2027, Tesla will make more money from AI energy than from cars.

You read that right. The real money is in AI energy infrastructure. And they’re already way ahead.

Let me break this down like a startup pitch from the future:

DOJO – Tesla’s supercomputer. This isn’t ChatGPT for Teslas. It’s the brain. It trains itself. It powers autonomy in cars, robots, energy systems. It’s building its own intelligence, every day.

OPTICASTER – Sounds like a Pokémon, but it’s smarter. It’s Tesla’s AI that manages energy distribution in real time. It knows when to store energy, when to use it, and when to trade it. It’s like having a hedge fund manager for your electricity bill.

AUTOBIDDER – This one’s nuts. Imagine AI trading electricity the way Wall Street trades stocks—except with 100% uptime and no emotion. It’s already being used by energy companies and even Supercharger networks to buy and sell stored energy in real-time markets. (Translation: free money.)

POWERHUB – Think of it as the command center. It’s an AI dashboard that tells you where your power is going, where it should go, and how to make your grid smarter.

But wait, here comes the robot army…

OPTIMUS – This is the twist ending. The AI-trained humanoid robot that will literally install the future.

Picture this: Optimus building solar farms in the desert. Optimus repairing wind turbines in a storm. Optimus cleaning and maintaining your entire energy infrastructure without sleep or pay raises.

And Optimus isn’t even on the books yet. They’re not including it in the financials. It’s the hidden ace.

So What’s the Bottom Line?

  • In 2023, Tesla’s energy profits were 6.5% of gross.
  • In 2024? 25%.
  • Energy revenue up 67%. Auto revenue down 7%.

And at this growth rate? By 2027, Tesla will become the Amazon Web Services of energy.

Except instead of selling server time, they’re selling electricity... AI... autonomy... robots... and maybe even the keys to Mars.

None of this includes the upside from:

  • Selling AI chips (the A15 chip)
  • Offering AI-as-a-service from Dojo
  • Scaling Optimus

If you’re still thinking about Teslas as cars, you’re using a flip phone in the iPhone era.

My guess? At today's price, $TSLA is trading at 5–10x what 2029 earnings will be. That’s without even pricing in the robot army.

I’ll say it again: Tesla is not a car company.

It’s the foundation of the next civilization.

Mars is optional.

But profits aren't.

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