Tesla fan files trade mark for the company to make electric motors for airplanes & boats [Updated]

Tesla is hinting at making electric motors for airplanes, boats, and more in a new trademark filing that went unnoticed.

Update: A Tesla fan filed the trademark on behalf of Tesla – seemingly without the company’s knowledge.

The automaker filed for a new trademark last week, but it went unnoticed until now.

Electrek spotted it today, and while it is for the name “Tesla” again, it still caught our interest because of the category it was filed in.

Tesla is extending its trademark to a new category to market electric motors “not for land vehicles.”

The definition of the category in the filing is a bit confusing, but it extends Tesla’s trademark on electric motors to “motors for airplanes,” “boat motors,” and “electric motors for toys.”

Here’s the filing with the United States Patent and Trademark Office:

TESLA™ trademark registration is intended to cover the categories of asynchronous motors not for land vehicles; Motors for airplanes; Motors, namely, synchronous motors not for land vehicles; Permanent magnet motors; Boat motors; Drive system having two or more synchronous motors coupled through clutches to drive a common load; Electric motors for toys; Linear motors.

In the filing, Tesla specifies that it does not currently use the trademark for those categories, but the company “intends to use” it in the future.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has long considered making an electric plane, and he even said that he has a design for an eVTOL aircraft, but he also always said that Tesla needs to focus on ground vehicles for now.

The CEO said that the automaker might venture into electric aircraft once battery energy density has improved enough to make them viable. Musk said that 400 Wh/kg would be needed, and some battery technologies are starting to get close to that, but they are not in commercial production yet.

As for boats, Tesla has not discussed any plan to make electric boats publicly, but there are already many electric boats on the market.

The “toy” category could mean many things. There’s the Tesla Cyberquad for kids, but that uses a generic electric motor not made by Tesla and the entire quad is made and marketed by Radioflyer.

The filing also includes “linear motors”, which are used in a lot of different products but are more famously used in trains.

Electrek’s Take

It’s important to note that some companies can at times file trademarks that they end up not using.

We don’t know if that’s going to be the case here, but it’s still an interesting filing – albeit a bit broad. It could mean that Tesla plans to use its electric motors in some or all of these products.

Either way, it’s exciting to think of Tesla potentially bringing its vast experience in making electric vehicles to making electric planes and boats.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below.

Featured image: Eviation’s Alice electric aircraft.