Elon Musk Was Right About Boeing

When Elon Musk offered to helpBoeing with the 787's high-profile battery problem, it looked like a publicity stunt. Now it looks as if Musk may have been right all along in his assessment.

In a late January interview with the car site Edmunds.com, Musk called the 787's battery pack "inherently unsafe" for how it packs lithium-ion cells close enough together to create a "domino effect" that could lead to just the sort of electrical fire that forced a Japan Air Lines 787 to make an emergency landing last month.

Now The Wall Street Journal reports that Boeing is working on a new battery design that would include more space between cells. Point, Musk. And possibly, point to Tesla Motors , which already licenses its electric powertrain technology to Mercedes-Benz and Toyota.

Might Tesla's battery designs be next to get picked up elsewhere? Tim Beyers of Motley Fool Rule Breakers and Motley Fool Supernova addresses this question and more in the following video. Please watch, and then be sure to leave a comment to let us know what you think.

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Fool contributor Tim Beyers is a member of the Motley Fool Rule Breakers stock-picking team and the Motley Fool Supernova Odyssey I mission. He didn't own shares of any of the companies mentioned in this article at the time of publication. Check out Tim's Web home and portfolio holdings, or connect with him on Google+, Tumblr, or Twitter, where he goes by @milehighfool. You can also get his insights delivered directly to your RSS reader.The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Tesla Motors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't 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.

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