Car Throttle

In January, it was discovered in a SEC filing for an IPO that Tesla would stop selling the Roadster, due to tooling changes at the Lotus plant in Hethel, England where it is built. The Roadster's production was contracted out to Lotus, and it shares some components with the Elise. The announcement was unplanned, and would have left Tesla with no vehicles to sell until the Model S comes into production. That is a dangerous position to be in, but it looks like Tesla has worked something out. The latest update broke in Tesla's March newsletter, where Tesla says that, "responding to customer demand" agreements with suppliers have been negotiated, increasing Roadster production by 40% in order to extend sales into 2012. With those agreements in place,

Tesla has been doing quite well for itself lately - new stores are being opened around the world, profitability was reached in July and biggest of all, the Department of Energy approved Tesla's loan for the Model S. Most recently though, Fisker has captured a lot of the attention - announcing Project NINA, getting DOE loans of its own and purchase of a former General Motors plant in Wilmington, Delaware. Despite getting the money first, Tesla's search has taken longer. Apparently, a site has been selected for production. Originally, a "greenfield" in San Jose was the planned location for Tesla's manufacturing facility and headquarters. Tesla narrowed down its search to California, as the state has provided incentives that make it  attractive. A former

Back in the old days, doctors used to make house calls routinely. But what about house calls for your car? With the Mobile Service Rangers those days could just be beginning, at least for Tesla owners. The new program is designed to offer Roadster owners peace of mind about getting their Roadsters repaired. Tesla Mobile Service Rangers can visit the Roadster where ever it is- owners’ homes, offices or parking garages and they are equipped to perform an array of procedures like annual inspections and firmware upgrades. The service isn't inexpensive - Tesla customers pay $1 per roundtrip mile from the nearest Tesla service center, with a minimum charge of $100. Tesla offers the example of a Tesla owner in Portland, Oregon paying $350 for a visit

Tesla Motors has been busy making the transition from well-funded startup to a full-fledged player on the automotive scene. The Model S is the company's first volume vehicle, a mid-sized sedan priced around $50,000 that is projected to sell around 20,000 units per year. Selling 20,000 units a year of the Model S is a whole lot different than selling a few hundred Roadsters per year. With the help of a (job security, anyone?) large government loan guarantee from the Department of Energy, Tesla is recruiting top talent and expertise in the automotive industry that will help it to make the transition. The two new hires are Peter Rawlinson and Henry Brice. Rawlinson is Tesla's new chief vehicle engineer, having worked at Corus Automotive, an engineering consulting firm. He

Companies specializing in alternative fuels are hitting some good times as of late, even in spite of the relatively low fuel prices. Bitter rival Tesla has taken a lot of new orders for the Model S, gotten a Department of Energy loan guarantee to produce it, and has hit profitability for the first time. Fisker on the other hand, has taken a different tack, forging ahead with it's Karma range-extended vehicle. It still has similar goals though to produce low-cost vehicle, and has applied for a Department of Energy loan to meet that. Henrik Fisker, Fisker's founder and namesake, has spoken a lot about his desire to produce one. Could we be near an announcement? We already know that Tesla has a model in the works that is

Tesla is on something of a roll lately - with announcements of new store openings all over the world, profitability reached in July, government approval of a $465 million Department of Energy loan, investment by Daimler. Could things be going any better? If you remember, less than a year ago the situation wasn't so pretty. The market had just crashed, a recession was upon us and money in the bank was running dry. What a remarkable turnaround! Thankfully Tesla was able to raise enough private funding to keep the company operating until profitability. I would assume that a successful public debut and resulting strong orders (deposits!) of the Model S have played a big part in Tesla's winning streak as well. The market is all about confidence,

Tesla is expanding! In more ways than one. The company has plans to open four new stores in the United States, as well as opening dealers internationally. Tesla has an unique way of selling it's vehicles that seems to be working out quite well for them. Each Tesla dealer is company owned and operated, which means they have the final say and control over everything. They set the prices, hire the salespeople, etc. There's nearly no downside to the "retail outlet" method for a high-end manufacturer like Tesla. The flagship store for Tesla's European foray is just being opened in London, a 5,000 sq. feet showroom in the high-end Knightsbridge district, not too far from the Heathrow Airport. Other planned European locations include stores in Monaco, Munich (home to

After months of speculation and waiting, the day has finally come. The U.S Department of Energy has announced it's approval of loans from the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program (ATVMP). The ATVMP is a bill passed by Congress that awards $25 billion in loan guarantees to auto manufacturers. It is intended to spur alternative fuel development. Originally, it was expected that the Big Three automakers would benefit biggest from the program. Given their state of bankruptcy, overall financial condition and the fact that  they received bailout loans, both were made ineligible to receive ATVMP funding. Out of the three automakers announced today, Ford will be getting the most. $5.9 billion has been approved out of the - whoa- $11 billion it applied for. Nissan got it's entire $1.6 billion request granted, and will use the funds to modify it's Smyrna, Tennessee, manufacturing plant to produce 150,000 electric vehicles and 200,000