Elon Musk has been behind many innovations. The billionaire entrepreneur is making headlines with its electric car models and he is also part of a company that wants to send people to space soon. You’d think that with such a high profile portfolio, this would be a man whose plate is full. But Elon Musk is known for his surprises. Over the years, we have come to learn not to put anything past him.
Well, Tesla’s CEO is now selling flamethrowers. His tunneling startup The Boring Company unveiled a flamethrower on Saturday. The device is available to preorder and will cost $500. The flamethrower will also come with a small fire extinguisher that costs $30.
For those of us who have followed Musk online over the last few months, the news didn’t come as a surprise. Last month, the entrepreneur announced that his startup The Boring Company would start selling flamethrowers. He said at the time that the flamethrower was a little bit off-brand but kids love it. Most people thought that this was just a joke. But it turns out that indeed he meant everything he said.
At the moment, The Boring Company is selling 20,000 of these devices. 24 hours after the product launched, Musk confirmed that the company had already received more than 4,000 preorders. Going by the $500 price tag, this would translate to about $2 million in revenue. Musk updated his fans on Twitter on the sales and said that the rumors going around that he was starting a zombie apocalypse in order to drive up demand for the flamethrowers were false.
This was obviously a joke, right? Elon Musk has always been an out-of-the-box kind of guy. We don’t really think that he is starting a zombie apocalypse but if anyone could do it, then you just have to put your money on him.
The flamethrowers will start shipping in spring. The Boring Company has also released a series of videos demonstrating how the device works and the kind of excitement it’s likely to generate. A flamethrower is not a product that you’d normally associate with daily life. It’s something that most people only see on TV and the idea of shooting one definitely gets the blood running.
Well, Musk is offering you the chance to give it a try for $500. The company says that this price doesn’t include taxes and shipping costs. It also noted that other customs charges may apply to international customers. So by the time the flamethrower reaches you, it could be way more than that.
But it’s an interesting product. A product that is perhaps meaningless, but at the same time, it’s exciting and quite innovative. We don’t know what The Boring Company will launch next. The company has now set a very high standard with the flamethrower. We will not be surprised if something as exciting and as audacious as this one comes out next.
