Elon Musk Shreds Bill Gates For Insulting Electric Semi Trucks

"He has no clue."

No Clue

Two of the richest men in the world are fighting again.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk didn't mince words in response to a blog post criticizing electric long-haul trucking penned by Microsoft co-founder — and fellow multibillionaire — Bill Gates.

"He has no clue," Musk responded to a Twitter user asking him on his opinion on the blog post.

Big and Heavy

In his post, Gates argued that "the problem is that batteries are big and heavy. The more weight you’re trying to move, the more batteries you need to power the vehicle."

That means "even with big breakthroughs in battery technology, electric vehicles will probably never be a practical solution for things like 18-wheelers, cargo ships, and passenger jets."

In short, "electricity works when you need to cover short distances, but we need a different solution for heavy, long-haul vehicles," Gates concluded.

That's certainly not Musk's line of thinking. Tesla has big plans for electrifying the long-haul trucker market with its own Semi, first unveiled back in 2017.

Underwhelming

Adding fuel to the fire — sorry — was the omission of Tesla in the list of automakers Gates gave credit to for the development of all-electric pickup trucks. Gates named Rivian and Bollinger instead, two Tesla competitors in the space. The Cybertruck? Gates never even mentioned it.

It's not the first time the two have faced off. The row comes after Musk claimed his "conversations with Gates have been underwhelming [to be honest]," back in February.

At the time, Gates was willing to acknowledge Tesla's achievements. "Certainly Tesla, if you had to name one company that helped drive that, it's them," the philanthropist told YouTuber Marques Brownlee in a February interview.

Gates, however, went with a Porsche Taycan instead.

READ MORE: Elon Musk shares his thoughts on Bill Gates. They're not pleasant [CNN]