When Everything Carbon Fiber Turns to Gold

1. When Everything Carbon Fiber Turns to Gold Many people in our industry are highly attuned to everything Tesla does. It's not that they are necessarily in love with the cars the company builds, but that Tesla continues to push the envelope. And recently it seems like everything they do involving composites pays off in a big way. Tesla seems to be the King Midas of carbon fiber. One touch and it turns to gold. Tesla's limited edition carbon fiber surfboard (courtesy of Tesla) The latest example of this phenomenon is the limited-edition Tesla surfboard. The well-known car maker partnered with a Southern California surfboard maker to create a slick, sexy surfboard based on the same Black Dart carbon fiber found in Tesla interiors. Tesla decided to make a mere 200 of the boards. It was a smart move. Even at $1,500 apiece, the boards sold out in a single day. We gather that Tesla doesn't much care about the revenue given the $3 million of surfboard revenue in is a drop in the bucket compared to their yearly investment. More important is keeping the Tesla name out there while simultaneously giving the company yet another avenue to test its composite materials and technologies. Carbon Fiber Is Everywhere What is so intriguing about all this is that carbon fiber is so prevalent in so many aspects of Tesla's business. When you look at both Tesla and its sister company, SpaceX, you see carbon fiber everywhere. Remember the launch that sent a SpaceX rocket into space carrying a Tesla roadster? There was a lot of carbon fiber in that set-up. As for the surfboard, it’s the real deal. Tesla's partner did about 80% of the work to manufacture the boards, according to The Mercury News. They shipped the partially finished boards to Tesla for completion; Tesla handled the finish and branding. Why is this important? Because it shows that Tesla didn't set out to make a demo piece. These boards are everyday boards owners can use in the water.

2. Composites Proving to Be Limitless So, what do we make of everything carbon fiber turning to gold when Tesla touches it? The first thing to understand is that Tesla is not the only company doing this. They make the news a lot, but there are companies across the country using composite materials to do tremendous things. Rock West Composites sells materials to a lot of them. The next big take-away here is that composites are proving to be just about limitless. Every day we are seeing innovative people with brand-new applications for carbon fiber, fiberglass, Kevlar, and a full range of other composite materials. We also have researchers working hard to develop carbon nanotubes. Thus far, there appears to be no end in sight. Creating a limited-edition surfboard is no big deal in the grand scheme of things. Surfboard layup is pretty refined at this point, so we are not talking about a terribly complex process requiring massive amounts of new engineering. Yet Tesla's project is just another demonstration of the versatility of carbon fiber. Today you can buy bicycles, tennis rackets, golf clubs, and literally hundreds of other sporting goods products that contain at least some composite materials. Composites are found inside our cars, in the airplanes we fly on, and in the ferry boats we take across the water. Carbon fiber is everywhere. Tesla's limited-edition surfboards are all gone. But don't despair if you didn't get one, something else is likely to come down the pipe in the very near future. Everything carbon fiber seems to turn to gold these days.