Bill Gates picks the Porsche Taycan as his first electric car, Elon Musk is not pleased

Bill Gates might be the co-founder of Microsoft, might be one of the world’s leading philanthropists, he might even have a liquid hydrogen-powered superyacht but Tesla CEO Elon Musk still finds him underwhelming. All thanks to Gates choosing a Porsche over a Tesla.

Bill Gates might be the co-founder of Microsoft, might be one of the world’s leading philanthropists, he might even have a liquid hydrogen-powered superyacht but Tesla CEO Elon Musk still finds him underwhelming. All thanks to Gates choosing a Porsche over a Tesla. (AP)

Bill Gates might be the co-founder of Microsoft, might be one of the world's leading philanthropists, he might even have a liquid hydrogen-powered superyacht but Tesla CEO Elon Musk still finds him underwhelming. All thanks to Gates choosing a Porsche over a Tesla.

Gates mentioned in an interview recently that he had bought an electric Porsche Taycan and was enjoying it a lot. Musk was having none of it! It wasn't a Tesla after all.  

I wonder why Bill Gates decided to go with the Taycan instead of a Tesla.

— Tesletter (@tesletter) February 18, 2020

Chatting with Marques Brownlee, the interview saw Gates offering great praise for electric vehicles and for Tesla. "Passenger cars is actually one of the most hopeful [sectors]" when it comes to making the changes necessary to reduce greenhouse gases and battle climate change," he said.

"Certainly Tesla, if you had to name one company that helped drive that, it's them," he added.

Gates, however, added at this point that he's been enjoying his new electric Porsche.

"I've got to say - it's a premium priced car - it is very, very cool. That's my first electric car and I'm enjoying it a lot," he said.

On the tweet, the handle Tesletter, that was sharing the video, ended the thread with - "I'm disappointed because a lot of people are going to watch the interview and they are going to trust Bill's word for it and not even consider EVs. Why? Because Bill Gates is a really smart guy!"

To this, Musk replied - "My conversations with Gates have been underwhelming tbh"

Gates said in the interview that he "believes the premium in pricing between gasoline powered vehicles and electric vehicles will disappear in the next 10 years, and that when it does, not much will stop people from buying electric vehicles".

However, he also pointed out that one issue stopping people from moving to electric vehicles is the limited range. Even if charging stations are available, it takes more time to recharge an electric car than it takes to fill up a gas tank.

"The amount of energy going in per minute of filling your gas tank is kind of mind blowing. Gasoline is very dense energy," Gates explained.

While Gates has given Tesla credit for pushing carmakers to go electric, when it came to buying an electric car, he did not choose the company that pushed the innovation in the first place.

As The Verge reports, "the Taycan is also something of a sore spot for Musk, even though it has a smaller range than Tesla's comparable vehicles". The Taycan Turbo set the "four door electric sports car" lap record at Germany's Nürburgring (Musk suggested on Twitter that the use of 'Turbo' by Porsche is a misnomer) and, "apparently in response, Musk announced Tesla would run a Model S around the track. In November, Musk also picked a fight with Top Gear, a TV show that depicted a Taycan beating a Model S in a race".

This issue aside, Musk was at least impressed with Gates' giant leap.  

True, that was pretty impressive

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 18, 2020