$10 per gallon gas and other oddities from Tesla CEO Elon Musk

Gasoline should cost $10 a gallon, with a built-in carbon tax, Tesla Motors chief executive Elon Musk told the crowd at the Wired Business Conference today — a move that would be gangbusters for his zero-emissions car company (if the U.S. survived the ensuing protests, of course). But even with that boost, it’s unlikely he could pull off his other claim: that he plans to take over a Detroit factory from a major automaker and ramp up Tesla‘s production to 100,000 cars a year.

Musk is considered one of cleantech’s — and even Silicon Valley’s — more colorful personalities, prone to making comments and promises that he seemingly has no ability to back up . . . at least at the time. He has equally been known to pull rabbits out of his hat, delivering Tesla’s hot little roadster, if not on time then at least to great fanfare, and now supposedly executing on a more practical and affordable four-door sedan, the Model S.

But despite the company’s hype and limited success (selling more than 500 roadsters for $101,500 a pop since their launch last fall), a production rate of 100,000 sedans a year still seems far-fetched, especially considering that it has yet to deliver a commercial-scale Model S on budget. Not to mention that Tesla’s financial situation, while much improved from last year, isn’t close to liquid, even with Daimler’s recent acquisition of a 10 percent stake. And it certainly hasn’t been helped by the lawsuit recently filed by its founder, Martin Eberhard.

While Musk didn’t go into much detail on plans for a full-scale factory, Tesla establishing at least somewhat of a presence in Detroit is not impossible. The city, which has embraced advanced battery manufacturers, would probably be ecstatic to catch business from the EV industry’s darling. But the company will probably have to make at least one more successful trip to the venture capital well before that can become a reality.

During the rest of his conversation with Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson, Musk dwelled on the shortcomings of hybrids, and advocated fully-electric models as the only true solution to the world’s carbon emissions problem. “The current Prius is like 2 percent electric,” he said. “It’s a gasoline car with slightly better mileage.”

He also diagnosed several problems he sees with the traditional American auto industry, which places too much emphasis on making money over innovation, in his opinion. Objecting to the way in which unions create divisive, unproductive work places, he suggested that the ailing city could use a shot of Silicon Valley corporate culture. And if all goes well, he implied, Tesla will playing a major role in the transition.

As for the unrealistic hike in gasoline prices, Musk has been a long-time proponent of higher carbon taxes on fuel — fees that take into the account the damage being done to the environment, he says. Along the same lines, he is currently dividing his attention between Tesla and another startup called the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX), which is focused on cheapening satellite launches and eventually space travel.