No comfort, just cold: There’s no evidence Elon Musk invented the ‘Cosmo Heater’

Loreben Tuquero
·3 min read
Facebook posts falsely claim that Elon Musk, CEO of Austin-based Tesla, helped develop a product called the "Cosmo Heater."
Facebook posts falsely claim that Elon Musk, CEO of Austin-based Tesla, helped develop a product called the "Cosmo Heater."
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Facebook posts

Statement: Elon Musk developed “Cosmo Heater,” a product that would cut heating costs “to basically $0.”

Winter brings holiday cheer, New Year’s resolutions and something less pleasant — costly utility bills from turning on the home heater. You may want to believe social media promotions of a new energy cost-cutting product, but they are not legitimate.

Facebook posts styled as testimonials link to articles about billionaire Elon Musk developing a product called "Cosmo Heater" that reduces heating bills to "basically $0." The articles said Musk used technology created for NASA for the heater.

"Thanks to Elon Musk’s heater invention, my winter heating costs have dropped by almost 80%," a Dec. 26, 2023, Facebook post’s caption read.

The posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed.

A heating device developed by Musk, who runs companies including SpaceX and Tesla, might sound legitimate. But this product is not linked to Musk.

The Facebook posts contained two different links, but both led to articles with nearly identical text.

The texts said Musk and Cosmo Heater were "featured on national news over the holidays," but a Google advanced search showed no such news reports nor any statements by Musk about the product. Instead, search results included one video and other articles warning users that advertisements touting Musk’s endorsement of the product were false or a scam.

Two March 2023 Bloomberg News reports said Musk teased a technology that Tesla might be exploring: heat pumps. These are already used in some Tesla models and could be used to circulate heat in homes. But these are not connected to the product called "Cosmo Heater."

The product’s website doesn’t mention Musk.

The product’s origin story contains red flags for misinformation. The articles tell a story of Musk running into Tom Musashi, an old friend "who was an enginneer on the moon mission," with "engineer" misspelled. Musashi supposedly created a heating technology for NASA that was declassified "just before (former President Donald) Trump left office." But NASA’s website didn’t mention Musashi, and a Google search of the name yielded no results about a NASA engineer.

Also, a photo of Musk holding the product in one of the articles was altered from a Sept. 13, 2023, Reuters photo.

This is not the first time Musk was falsely linked to a power-related product. PolitiFact previously debunked a claim that he invented "Slash Watts" that would reduce power bills.

Musk did not invent the "Cosmo Heater." We rate that claim False.

Our sources

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: PolitiFact: There’s no evidence Elon Musk invented the ‘Cosmo Heater’