Learn Tesla and SpaceX,
from zero.
Electric cars and rockets make sense when you read them in order. We read the patents, papers and official documents, and explain only what we could confirm, with figures.
Learning route
Follow the stations from the top and you will see the whole picture. Colored stations are published; pale ones are coming soon. If unsure, start at Part 0, Episode 1.
Part 0: Musk's journey
The history: from boyhood to rescuing both companies, struggles included.
- Ep. 1Boyhood and his first company, Zip2
- Ep. 2From X.com to PayPal
- Ep. 3Turned down in Russia, he founds SpaceX
- Ep. 4Falcon 1: three failures, then success
- Ep. 52008: the year both companies nearly collapsed
- Ep. 6Model S and Dragon
- Ep. 7The day a rocket came down upside-downComing soon
- Ep. 8Model 3's “production hell”Coming soon
Part 1: First-principles thinking
How did he do the unthinkable? Get the thinking tools.
- Ep. 1What is first-principles thinking?
- Ep. 2Why are batteries expensive? Start from materials
- Ep. 3Is a rocket really expensive?Coming soon
- Ep. 4Taking a car apart from first principlesComing soon
- Ep. 5First principles vs. reasoning by analogyComing soon
Part 2: The structure of a Tesla EV
Map the car with four flows: electricity, force, heat and information.
- Ep. 1How is an EV different from a gasoline car?Coming soon
- Ep. 2Flow of electricity: battery → inverter → motorComing soon
- Ep. 3Flow of force: motor → wheelsComing soon
- Ep. 4Flow of heat: cooling and warmingComing soon
- Ep. 5Flow of information: cameras → computerComing soon
- Ep. 6How the body is builtComing soon
- Ep. 7The whole mapComing soon
Part 3 onward: The details
Batteries, motors, body, charging, software, down to the design of a single bolt.
- Tabless cells (somewhat advanced)Coming soon
- Motor and inverterComing soon
- Thermal management (Octovalve)Coming soon
- Body: giga-casting and structural packComing soon
- Charging and NACSComing soon
- The design of a single boltComing soon
Latest articles
Articles published so far.
Model S and Dragon — Tesla and SpaceX After the Crisis, 2009–2012
After the 2008 crisis, Tesla unveiled the Model S, SpaceX flew Falcon 9, and the Dragon spacecraft reached the International Space Station. The moves of 2009–2012, traced through sourced facts.
2008: The Year Tesla and SpaceX Nearly Collapsed at the Same Time — Fundraising at 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve
Rockets failed three times, the electric-car company's cash was nearly gone, and the world was in a financial crisis. The crises of Elon Musk's two companies in 2008, traced through dated and sourced facts.
SpaceX's Falcon 1: Three Failed Launches, Then Success on the Fourth (2006–2008)
A fuel leak, a second-stage problem, a failed separation. After three failures in a row, SpaceX reached orbit for the first time on its fourth launch on September 28, 2008. A two-and-a-half-year brink, told with sourced facts.
Why Are Batteries Expensive? Thinking About the Price From Materials [With the Trend in Battery-Pack Prices]
The six materials inside a battery and how the price stacks up, with diagrams. The average battery-pack price fell from over $1,200/kWh around 2010 to $108/kWh in 2025.
What Is First-Principles Thinking? Elon Musk's Way of Thinking, Explained Simply With Examples
The difference between "copying what's around you" (analogy) and "building up from the root" (first principles), explained plainly with a curry example and diagrams.
Why Did Elon Musk Build Rockets? How a Man Turned Down in Russia Founded SpaceX
He went to Russia to buy a rocket. The talks fell through, and he chose to build one himself. The story of how Elon Musk founded SpaceX, told simply with only sourced facts.
Our three promises
Only what we could confirm
Numbers and dates come with sources. What we could not confirm is clearly marked as unconfirmed.
No investment talk
We study the technology and the history, not stock prices or fortunes.
AI figures are labeled
We use AI-generated figures to make things easier to grasp, and we label them as AI-generated illustrations.