Tesla’s $350 Pickleball Paddle Still Can’t Save Your Backhand
KEY POINTS
- •On Friday, Tesla launched a limited-edition $350 pickleball paddle in partnership with Selkirk Sport, featuring carbon fiber and foam core design.
- •The paddle's design originated from a 2023 USA Pickleball National Championships conversation and was aerodynamically tested at Tesla’s Fremont factory.
- •The initial batch sold out in under three hours, amid mixed social media reactions debating its price and collaboration choice.
Elon Musk, the overlord of quirky merch, decided the world needed a $350 Tesla pickleball paddle made with carbon fiber, foam core, and an engineering love story between Tesla’s Fremont factory and Selkirk Sport. This collaboration involved 'more than a year' of stress-testing prototypes and aerodynamic experiments led by Tesla’s Javier Verdura, a pickleball zealot who probably won’t help your serve. The paddle sold out in under three hours Friday, leaving folks to debate if it’s a stroke of genius or just Silicon Valley’s latest overpriced status symbol. Meanwhile, lower-end paddles still linger under $50 for mere mortals. Silicon Valley sports—where inflated price tags mask emerging backhand regrets.
Share the Story
Only Tesla could turn a backyard paddle game into a $350 engineering saga, proving humans will overpay for hobbies nobody needed an algorithm for.
Tesla’s pickleball paddle costs more than most people’s tennis rackets but still won’t fix your aim—welcome to 2025.
What do you get when you blend Elon Musk, pickleball, and a year of airflow testing? A carbon fiber disappointment.
Source: Businessinsider | Published: 12/13/2025 | Author: Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert
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