Tesla's (TSLA) Long-Term Strategy Isn't About the Cars

Tesla Motors (Nasdaq: TSLA) is notable for its high-performance, sports-luxury electric vehicles, but could a broader game plan be in the works for CEO Elon Musk and company?

Brian Halla, who was CEO of National Semiconductor from May 1996 to November 2009 and is currently a Cisco board member, wrote about this topic in Harvard Business Review, with the article being posted today. Halla has owned a Tesla Roadster and now owns a Model S.

Halla listed four challenges for Tesla:

• The limited range of the batteries;
• The time it takes to charge the battery packs;
• The need to emplace a sufficient number of battery stations;
• The requirement for owners to replace the battery pack, at huge cost, after several years of use and corresponding degradation.

Halla also noted that Tesla has been moving to expand its Supercharger network, building a huge battery factory, and opened its patents to the competition. Notably, Tesla also is still probably testing a battery-swapping initiative, which may still see a few years of testing before being rolled out.

All for what? With the U.S. planning to keep pushing "green" initiatives under the Clean Air Act and other legislation, Tesla might be working to form an energy giant of sorts, not unlike an ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, or ConocoPhillips of the oil and gas sector.

It may be a far-fectched theory right now, but seems sound at this point. Again, Halla's article can be found here.

Shares of Tesla are up over 2 percent.

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