Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk reveals new masterplan

Tesla Motors unveiled its much-anticipated masterplan on Wednesday, with chief executive officer Elon Musk announcing plans to widen the company's scope from only cars to various other modes of transport, with a focus on green energy endeavours.

Musk's masterplan for Tesla, which is also currently in the process of acquiring SolarCity in a $2.8bn deal and is facing an investigation over its self-driving technology after a driver was killed when apparently using the autopilot system in a Tesla Model S car, includes moving into the production of sustainable fuel powered buses, taxis, and trucks.

South Africa-born Musk, who also outlined plans to move towards integrating solar-charging battery packs and advanced autonomous driving as part of his long-term vision for the company, said he hopes for the company to lead the development of sustainable energy technology.

"By definition, we must at some point achieve a sustainable energy economy or we will run out of fossil fuels to burn and civilization will collapse," Musk wrote.

He added: "Given that we must get off fossil fuels anyway and that virtually all scientists agree that dramatically increasing atmospheric and oceanic carbon levels is insane, the faster we achieve sustainability, the better."

Musk has faced criticism for the SolarCity deal, as he is also a major shareholder in that company, but he said he believes it would only be beneficial for Tesla.

Tesla, he said, needs to "create a smoothly integrated and beautiful solar-roof-with-battery product that just works", but insisted, "we can't do this well if Tesla and SolarCity are different companies".