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Elon Musk is leaving a trail of breadcrumbs to his ‘master plan’

Hint: It has something to do with solar power.

Tesla Debuts Its New Crossover SUV Model, Tesla X
Tesla Debuts Its New Crossover SUV Model, Tesla X
Justin Sullivan / Getty

Elon Musk has promised for days that the sequel to his 2006 “master plan” is coming. And it totally is. We think. But in the meantime, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has been dropping some breadcrumbs hinting at what that plan will be.

First, as Reuters pointed out, the company has changed its URL from Teslamotors.com to simply Tesla.com. The domain was updated on July 18.

But what does that mean? It means that it’s likely Tesla won’t just be a car company anymore and that has everything to do with the company’s offer to acquire Musk’s cousins’ company, SolarCity.

On June 21, Musk and the company sent a letter to SolarCity CEO (and Musk’s cousin) Lyndon Rive offering to buy the company for a stock-for-stock exchange. The company estimated that to be $26.50 to $28.50 a share.

While there was some doubt about the prospect of merging the two companies, Musk said he is confident the companies’ boards will approve the acquisition (originally he said it was the obvious choice) and in fact that he expects the vote to pass by a two-thirds majority.

How confident is he? Just a day after the company sent SolarCity the offer, Tesla Motors filed several new trademark applications for the name “Tesla.”

In the description of the company, one of the filings reads: “Monitoring of solar panels and other equipment for use in converting solar energy into electricity, monitoring of efficiency, production levels and other performance data of solar panels and other equipment.”

Tesla’s newest trademark filing
Tesla’s newest trademark filing

Another filing reads: “Installation, maintenance and repair of solar panels and other equipment.” And yet another: “Consultation in the field of energy efficiency pertaining to solar and renewable energy.”

These new filings are in stark contrast to the most recent filing for “Tesla” before that, filed on May 10, 2016, which describes the goods and services as “leasing of motor vehicles.”

Indeed, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Musk confirmed that his new “master plan” would include details of the proposed acquisition of SolarCity.

But it’s clear that Tesla Motors, at least in its original form, is no more: It’s Tesla and, in addition to being a carmaker, it’s a renewable energy company.


Elon Musk talks SpaceX and autonomous cars

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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