Remember when Musk was committed to saving the environment?

Musk Manifesto

Tesla has quietly pulled its 2006 "Secret Master Plan" climate manifesto from its website, as first spotted by Forbes.

The now-deleted document laid out how the Elon Musk-led company was hoping to fight climate change by electrifying cars and powering them with solar energy.

Almost two decades later, Musk's dedication to saving the environment has eroded greatly. The mercurial CEO recently even endorsed infamous climate change denier and former president Donald Trump.

During a chaotic chat on X-formerly-Twitter earlier this month, Musk told Trump "I don’t think we should vilify the oil and gas industry and the people that have worked very hard in those industries to provide the necessary energy to support the economy."

That's a far cry from Musk's 2006 promise of helping to "expedite the move from a mine-and-burn hydrocarbon economy towards a solar electric economy, which I believe to be the primary, but not exclusive, sustainable solution."

Elon Take the Wheel

Musk's "Secret Master Plan," as laid out in the now-deleted blog post, was surprisingly simple.

"Build sports car, use that money to build an affordable car, use that money to build an even more affordable car," he wrote, and "while doing above, also provide zero emission electric power generation options."

But the last couple of years haven't been kind to the EV maker. While its prices have come down considerably, Tesla arguably has yet to release a truly "affordable car."

As Musk continues doubling down on his extremist beliefs, alienating plenty of would-be customers in the process, Tesla's sales have plummeted, kicking off what has been described as a "nightmare" year.

In 2020, Musk made some characteristically lofty promises, predicting that Tesla would deliver 20 million vehicles a year by 2030. In May of this year, however, Tesla left out the goal in its impact report, highlighting Musk's new priority of solving autonomous driving and building a so-called "robotaxi."

Tesla has also deleted a follow-up "Master Plan Part Deux" — alongside everything else published before 2019 — which laid out the company's autonomous driving ambitions and the development of a self-driving car that can "make money for you" when not in use.

But despite Musk's promise that "Full Self-Driving" is right around the corner, the carmaker's driver assistance software is still causing plenty of mayhem on the streets and has repeatedly proven highly dangerous.

In short, Tesla's ambitions in 2024 look dramatically different than what Musk laid out in his 2006 manifesto. Now that the billionaire has thrown his weight — and money — behind a former reality TV host who's called global warming a "hoax," it's unclear where Musk even stands on the climate.

While it's still unclear why Tesla has purged its website from any blog posts before 2019, Musk's commitment to moving on from a "mine-and-burn hydrocarbon economy" has waned regardless.

More on Musk deleting stuff: Tesla Quietly Deletes Claim That Old Teslas Will Be Capable of Self-Driving


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