He predicts almost no AC infrastructure will remain.
Many users agree with Elon Musk's prediction that DC power will replace AC as solar and EVs rise because panels, batteries, and vehicles already run native DC, while others dismiss it with personal insults toward Musk.

@elonmusk Makes sense, maybe I got brainwashed by videos hating on Edison 😂

@elonmusk @brivael Elons take on Edison vs Tesla (2015)

@elonmusk @brivael Speaking of brilliant

@elonmusk @brivael High-voltage AC is still vastly superior for long-range transmission. Until we commercialize room-temperature superconductors, a pure DC grid is just an expensive pipe dream.

@elonmusk @brivael Fun fact: One of Elon’s key senior engineers at Tesla, Drew Baglino, left not too long ago to found Heron Power which will make solid state transformers to better integrate with DC systems like data centers and solar systems.

@elonmusk @brivael Elon is both the Tesla and Edison of our time 😎🔥

@elonmusk @brivael Personally I love both!
AC DC were absolutely BRILLIANT!
🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘

AC transmits better long range. Nuclear is all AC. Even the small neighborhood-sized reactors are AC. Dams, wind… All AC.
Maybe, years from now, there won’t be much AC left at the user end, but there will be at the source end.
That means huge transformers, rectifiers, heat exchangers and poisonous dielectrics. Right now.
I hope he knows of a breakthrough in DC that I don’t. I hope he’s right. I don’t see it yet.

@elonmusk @brivael Dude, you can't fool an electrician. AC has range, more controllabillity.

Es principalmente porque ahora podemos convertir fácilmente AC a DC con electrónica de potencia (tiristores) sin los problemas de inductancias y capacitancias de la AC. Antes la única solución fácil y escalable fueron los transformadores de AC, simplemente bobinando núcleos. Pasivo, robusto y eficiente. La cosa ha cambiado para largas distancias y ya hay tramos HVDC.

@elonmusk @brivael Elon is Tesla of our time!

@elonmusk @brivael Elon totally lost me here. How does he think long-range power transfer is going to work? AC is undoubtedly more efficient. He usually has a good reason for saying ts but I’m curious.

@anomsiiwa @elonmusk @brivael Long range transmission is mostly DC for a reason 😉

High voltage OF ANY TYPE is superior for long range transmission. That's simple Ohms law and power loss. The only reason AC was chosen (correctly for the past, incorrectly for today) is that increasing and reducing voltage to usable levels was easier for AC. But now that voltage change is easily done in DC, the many disadvantages of AC make it the worse choice.

@elonmusk @brivael Bro forgot his entire car company is literally named after the guy who spent his whole life fighting Edison

@elonmusk @brivael Since AC remain efficient for distributing power over local grids, powering large motors, and integrating with existing infrastructure, I'm rooting for a hybrid system

@brivael @elonmusk “publicly electrocuting dogs and even a horse to convince the public that Tesla's alternating current was lethal”
- Elon, Edison was brilliant.
- Brivael, makes sense, I got brainwashed.
🙄

Long-range power transmission increasingly uses high-voltage DC (HVDC) because it has much lower losses than AC over distance: no skin effect, no reactive power, and only active power flows.
For overhead lines beyond ~600-800 km (far shorter for cables), HVDC is more efficient and economical. It needs fewer conductors, offers precise power control, and easily connects asynchronous grids or undersea links where AC charging currents cause big problems.
Advances in power electronics made efficient conversion practical. AC still dominates shorter distances thanks to simple transformers. This shift supports remote renewables feeding DC-native loads like solar, batteries, and EVs.

@elonmusk @brivael Minerals, @elonmusk 🤝

@brivael @elonmusk DC is more efficient to generate and use “directly”. AC is more efficient to transmit across distance. DC generator is monopole with no counter friction in assembled magnets/coils. This also removes the pull/push nature found in AC.
He predicts almost no AC infrastructure will remain.