A reader named Lars H. sent this shot of a demolished Tesla to Autotopia, which is part of Wired. The Tesla collided with a VW Touareg and ironically a Toyota Prius. According to Lars the accident happened in Denmark.
For a larger and more complete version of the image, click here.
Alas, a pay-per-view fight night involving Tesla CEO Elon Musk (right) and former Tesla CEO Martin Eberhard (left) will never come to pass. Eberhard has settled the defamation lawsuit he filed against Tesla Motors and Musk.
In the lawsuit, Eberhard accused Musk of attempting to usurp his legacy as company founder and destroy his reputation in the media. He also blamed Musk for the Tesla Roadster's production delays and the company's financial instability.
But today that's all behind them, as Eberhard noted, "As co-founder of the company, Elon's contributions to Tesla have been extraordinary," while Musk offered, "Without Martin's indispensable efforts, Tesla motors would not be here today."
Also, Eberhard's attorney reports that his client is "very pleased" with the result. We can only imagine what sort of payout was required to reach the "very pleased" threshold. Also, is it strange that we know more about Eberhard and Musk personally than we do about how the Tesla Roadster and the Model S drive?
Green Car Advisor: Tesla Motors' Eberhard, Musk Reach Settlement in Defamation Lawsuit
Tesla has announced that it will move its powertrain assembly operations to a former Hewlett-Packard facility in Palo Alto.
"Silicon Valley and the Stanford Research Park are synonymous with innovation and entrepreneurship," said Tesla CEO and Product Architect Elon Musk. "It's an ideal place for a new car company trying to rethink many aspects of the traditional automotive business."
Can't argue with Musk on the innovation part, but it's hard to imagine that Tesla couldn't find a cheaper location for an assembly plant. High tech or not, seems like they would be better off moving manufacturing to cheaper locales while the rest of the business operations work out of Silicon Valley.
Tesla did note that it will make a separate announcement regarding a California assembly facility for the Model S sedan.
Tesla Motors announced that it is now offering financing on its electric roadster through Bank of America.
Ahh...the dream of electric motoring has finally arrived for the average American.
Well, not exactly. According to Tesla's own release, a customer who qualifies for a 5-year loan would have monthly payments of $1,700, provided that customer can also put down a $20,000 deposit. So, yeah, forget it.
GCA: Tesla Announces Roadster Financing by B of A
The U.S. Department of Energy announced today the first installment of loans to promote clean energy. A total of $8B will be handed out to Ford, Nissan and Tesla in hopes of jump starting efforts to produce electric vehicles as well as cleaner internal combustion drivetrains.
Ford will receive $5.9B to to "help finance numerous engineering advances to traditional internal combustion engines and electrified vehicles." The money will also be used to convert two trucks plants into car plants.
Nissan is getting $1.6B to help defray the costs of producing an electric car and battery packs at its Smyrna, Tenn. manufacturing plant.
And finally, Tesla will receive $465M to help develop and build its Model S sedan as well as the production of battery packs in a separate facility.
For the record, GM and Chrysler were not eligible for the program because of their bankruptcy filings. The loan program specifies that any company receiving money must first prove its viability as a stand alone company separate from the loans. How Tesla, which is currently not profitable, got around this provision isn't clear.
So what do you think? Is this a good way to spend federal stimulus money?
Elon Musk's foot-in-mouth disease appears to be progressing. In an interview at the Disruptive by Design conference in Manhattan, he told Wired magazine Editor in Chief Chris Anderson that he would like a crack at running Detroit.
"When the mess gets sorted out, I'd like to have a conversation with whoever's in charge at the time -- the car czar or whoever -- and say 'I'd like to run your plants, if you don't mind,'" Musk said
Musk probably thinks he can bring all sorts of "Silicon Valley efficiencies" to big auto plants, but he's about two decades behind in that regard. And let's face it, Musk has yet to build a single car on his own yet, so his ability to run even one auto plant is questionable.
Speaking of which, it's been nearly three months since Tesla announced that it was close to securing a site for the production of its Model S Concept car. It's been radio silence on that front since. Not a good sign given that Tesla is still telling people that the Model S will begin production in late 2011.
And for the record, despite the Wired headline, Elon Musk had nothing to do with the founding of Tesla Motors.
Tesla Motors Founder: Let Me Run Detroit
What's more lucrative than selling Teslas? Being Tesla's legal team of course. After unsuccessfully suing Fisker last year, Tesla's lawyers now have the chance to rack up some hours defending the company from Martin Eberhard, Tesla's co-founder.
Turns out Eberhard was none too pleased about the things current CEO Elon Musk said about him after Eberhard was ousted from the company. After mulling it over for some time, Eberhard finally decided to file suit for defamation among other things, a claim that Tesla calls "twisted and wrong." Well this ought to be interesting.
GCA: Tesla Motors Founder Sues CEO, Unidentified Other for Liber, Slander and More
Now that Tesla has backing from Daimler, it's moving aggressively towards an expanded lineup and more affordable models. At least that's what company CEO Elon Musk told Green Car Advisor.
Musk (pictured) said that in addition to the Smart EV, "there is also another major vehicle program that we will be doing with Daimler and that was part of the investment deal and would also fit into the 'everyman' category."
Good to see that Tesla is aiming to bring down the price of its electric cars, but given how much work it has left to do on the Model S, it seems a little premature to be thinking about additional cars down the road.
GCA: Tesla Chairman Says His Company, Daimler To Launch Two Affordable EVs Soon
Will the Model S Cost Just $49,900
Here's one problem that needn't be blamed on Elon Musk, Tesla Motors or electric cars in general. One of the roughly 400 owners of a Tesla Roadster noticed that his car had a "wobbly feel" when turning. When he took the car in for service, technicians discovered that the bolts on the rear hub hadn't been properly tightened.
Tesla then notified Lotus, which supplies the roadster's chassis. Turns out some Lotus Elises and Exiges have the same issue. As a result, separate NHTSA recalls were issued on May 22 for 345 Tesla Roadsters (MY2008) and 29 U.S.-spec Lotus Elises and Exiges (MY2009).
For Tesla owners not living near the automaker's California, New York, Chicago or Seattle service centers, Business Insider reports that Tesla technicians will be flown out to make the necessary repairs.
Inside Line News: Lotus Recalls 2009 Elise and Exige after Tesla Roadster Problem Reported
In a joint press conference from Stuttgart, Daimler announced that it will take a 10% stake in Tesla Motors in return for help with development of the electric Smart car. Tesla will receive product development help with its upcoming Model S sedan.
With Daimler on board, development of the Model S should accelerate although there are still many questions as to how far the collaboration will go. Elon Musk reiterated the goal of building the Model S out of aluminum, but Daimler's expertise in that area is somewhat limited.
And of course, Tesla shouldn't forget that Chrysler once collaborated with Daimler and we all know how that worked out.
Edmunds' Green Car Advisor's Scott Doggett picked up an interesting story on Darryl Siry, former head of marketing for Tesla Motors, today. In a lengthy entry on his personal blog
, Siry writes that the EPA's mileage range estimates for electric cars are way off base.
He points out three big problems with the current methodology:
--Range estimates reflect upper-end limits and don't take into account varying driving styles and conditions. Obviously, this affects cars with internal combustion engines, too, but electric cars are more sensitive to aggressive throttle use.
--These range estimates are often developed with a full state of battery charge, something a normal owner will rarely if ever experience.
--As batteries age, their maximum charge capacity decreases, resulting in reduced range over the life of the car (or at least the life of its battery pack).
These problems will have to be resolved, says Siry, to avoid widespread disappointment among future electric car owners.
Green Car Advisor: Ex-Tesla Spokesman: EPA's Electric-Vehicle Range Figures Are Grossly Inaccurate
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, is a smart guy. He made a billion or so dollars off of PayPal and started his own rocket company after all. Seems strange then that he would be so misinformed about the Chevrolet Volt.
In this video, Musk dismisses the Volt because he thinks the gasoline engine is too small to propel the car after the batteries run out of power. You would think he would know that the Volt never actually runs on the gasoline engine alone, but apparently he's too busy trying to turn his Model S concept into a reality. Fast forward to the 27:23 mark to hear his comments.
Tesla Model S: More Concept Car Than Prototype
We've been skeptical of the Tesla Model S sedan since day one. It promises the world, but the engineering behind it is still very much a work in progress.
You wouldn't know it from listening to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, however, as he's touted the car as if it's a finished product. He got a nice plug on Letterman recently, and is once again taking the Model S on tour to drum up business.
Not everyone is convinced. Dan Neil from the Los Angeles Times recently got some seat time in the Model S and was hardly overwhelmed.
Continue reading Will the Tesla Model S Cost Just $49,900? .
Nothing you haven't heard before from Mr. Musk, but Letterman's opinions on electric cars and the industry in general hold some entertainment value if you didn't watch last night (although picking on GM and fuel cell cars isn't exactly an intellectual leap). Well, at least it's another chance to get a look at the concept car known as the Model S, right?
A few potential seeds of controversy:
Musk: "Even if 100 percent of the electricity comes from coal, the Tesla roadster, which is a sports car, produces less CO2 per mile than a Toyota Prius."
Letterman: "The Chevrolet Volt has a range of 40 miles [in all electric mode]. That'll get you down the driveway and back. I'm going to go pick up the paper and take the electric car. Call me if there's trouble at the curb."
Letterman: "Those fuel cell cell cars. That's a load of crap, too. Oh, it's going to make its own hydrogen. They're talking about 20 years from now, maybe 20 years from now. These automobile companies, they're just shining people on. If they were actually working on technology that was going to be in showrooms, they wouldn't have to be closing down plants and filing for bankruptcy."
Tesla will continue its public relations blitz for its proposed sedan with an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman tomorrow night. A noted car enthusiast, Letterman has never had any vehicles on the show because regulations don't allow internal combustion engines inside the studio.
Tesla has been showing off a concept version of the Model S sedan in hopes of spurring interest that might help the company secure government funding to complete the project. Just last month, company CEO Elon Musk said he was close to finding a plant to build the Model S in Southern California.
Yesterday, the District blog posted information that suggests Tesla may be angling for some space at the former Boeing assembly plant in Long Beach, California. Tesla wouldn't confirm the report.
Inside Line News: Tesla Model S To Appear on Late Show With David Letterman
Green Car Advisor: Is Tesla Talking to Boeing in its Hunt for an EV Plant?
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