5 New, Must-Read Elon Musk Quotes

Elon Musk is undoubtedly one of the most interesting public figures in the world. He is, after all, the CEO of both Tesla Motors and SpaceX -- two billion-dollar companies aimed at disrupting their respective industries. And given that he is known to share quite a bit of information during his interviews, Tesla investors can often gain better insight into the business and the man behind it by listening to his public conversations.

Here are some new quotes from the CEO, taken from an earlier interview withVanity Fairthis month, worth mulling over:

Elon Musk.

Musk is as bullish as ever on electric vehiclesTesla's mission is to "accelerate the advent of sustainable transport by bringing compelling mass-market electric cars to market as soon as possible." And Musk has always believed in this mission, openly admitting he predicts all cars will eventually be electric.

The CEOs conviction about the future of electric transportation remains as strong as ever.

"All transport will electrify over time, with the exception of rockers," Musk said.

There are already self-driving Teslas on the roadWhen the company unveiled new autopilot hardware for its Model S in 2014, Tesla said the vehicle would eventually have the technology to enable hands- and feet-free driving on the highway. But while it began delivering cars with the necessary hardware for this technology in 2014, Tesla said cars would need software updates first.

Apparently, there are already some Model S owners who have received the required update for automatic steering on the highway.

"We have ... six or seven hundred Tesla owners that are testing the auto steer software [in a public beta program]," Musk explained.

Software is becoming increasingly importantVenture capitalist Sam Altman, who shared the stage with Musk during his Vanity Fair interview, noted that one of the reasons he owns Tesla stock is that he believes in the company's competitive edge in software.

Musk agreed that software is key for Tesla.

"I think we are a software and a hardware company, but the software does become increasingly important," Musk said.

Tesla vehicles include a computer with a 17-inch touchscreen running on software built in-house. Image source: Tesla Motors.

What is it like to be Elon?His life as a CEO of two companies probably isn't what people imagine it is, he said.

"Most of my time is probably spent on engineering and design. So, that's probably about 70% of my time," Musk said during the interview.

About 3% of his time he said was spent on press activities like this interview, but he noted he plans to reduce these activities to 1% of his time.

Tesla wants to deliver 1,000 cars per week in GermanyIn another recent interview -- this one in Germany -- Musk said the company has big hopes for the electric-car maker in the German market.

"We've been able to meet our global sales targets with no problem. But proportionately speaking, our sales in Germany are lower than in a lot of other parts of the world, in particular compared to the United States," Musk explained in an interview with Handelsblatt at the German capital. "A few hundred cars per week is a tiny drop in the bucket for the German auto market.But it is our aspiration to sell more than 1,000 cars a month in Germany. Do I think we'll get there? Yes."

The next key event for investors to find valuable quotes from the CEO will be the company's third-quarter earnings report. While the date of the earnings release and conference call has not been announced yet, it should take place sometime around the end of October or the beginning of November.

The article 5 New, Must-Read Elon Musk Quotes originally appeared on Fool.com.

Daniel Sparks owns shares of Tesla Motors. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Tesla Motors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.