Without proper care batteries can wither and die like a delicate tulip roasting in the bright sun from an unseasonably warm spring day — a fact made exponentially worse when the battery in your $60k vehicle no longer functions properly.
With that in mind, Tesla just unveiled an impressive new warranty for the Model S battery pack. With the notable exception of a vehicle accident or a curious… → Read More
The 102-year-old car company General Motors (GM) is set to go public on Thursday after a government-forced bankruptcy and bailout in November 2008. The bailout cost taxpayers about $50 billion. Analysts estimate the stock price would need to hit $53 dollars before the government can recoup its investment. GM plans to sell about half-a-billion shares for $33 each in its IPO. The company stands to… → Read More
Advocates for environmentally sustainable business are having a rough week. Two products beloved by the movement, the Tesla Motors Roadster, an all-electric vehicle, and PepsiCo Frito-Lay’s SunChips, the snacks sold in biodegradable bags, are suffering setbacks.
Tesla voluntarily recalled Roadster models 2.0 and 2.5 due to a fire risk… and PepsiCo Frito-Lay announced it would scale back the… → Read More
According to an Ernst & Young analysis based on data from Dow Jones VentureSource, venture capital investment in US-based cleantech companies hit $1.5 billion for the second quarter, in 68 financing rounds. That translates to an increase of 63.8 percent in capital and a 4.6 percent increase in deals compared to the same period last year.
The $1.5 billion mark also means the highest level of… → Read More
SolarCity today announced that it is taking a $21.5 million round of funding led by Mayfield Fund, and the company’s previous investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson, DBL Investors and Generation Capital. The company’s prior funding totaled approximately $134 million, and included investors First Solar, JP Morgan and Elon Musk.
SolarCity helps businesses, home owners and government agencies adopt solar… → Read More
Tesla Motors Founder and CEO Elon Musk isn’t a man that backs down when facing the press. When the New York Times wrote an error-filled article, Musk lashed out at the author, saying “What is he doing picking on an electric car company? Why would he pick on the little guy who is trying to do good when you’ve got egregious waste of money in the tens of billions occurring in Detroit?” He added… → Read More
One day before its scheduled IPO, Tesla Motors is increasing the allotment of shares that will be sold to the public from 11.1 million to 13.3 million, according to an amendment to its S1 filing. The additional shares are being sold by existing shareholders looking to cash out at the IPO, including Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk who is selling an additional 909,212 of his personal shares. Other… → Read More
A small Cessna twin-engine plane crashed in East Palo Alto today, killing three Tesla Motors employees and taking out power in parts of the city. The plane took off from Palo Alto airport and reportedly hit some electrical lines. The names of those who were on board have not been released. The plane was registered to Doug Bourn, a senior engineer at Tesla. It is not clear if he was the “high… → Read More
Last month SecondMarket published data on private company stock sales that they helped complete in 2009. They’ve now released last month’s data as well.
A total of a little more than $13 million in sales occurred, with the average transaction size of around $2 million. There continues to be very strong demand for consumer products and services startups (which includes companies like Facebook… → Read More
Right off the heels of filing for a $100 million IPO, electric car company Tesla Motors this morning announced that it has hired former Toyota production engineering GM Gilbert Passin to lead the company’s vehicle manufacturing operations as Vice President of Manufacturing.
Passin has 23 years of international automotive experience under his belt, most recently serving as general manager of… → Read More
SecondMarket opened up its private company stock marketplace in early 2009 and gave employees at hot startups something they never had before – an organized place to sell their stock even before the company went public or was acquired. For the first time the company is releasing information on private company buy/sell demand and completed transactions.
Most companies don’t like SecondMarket one… → Read More
It’s been a long drought for IPOs, but venture capitalists and tech entrepreneurs are hopeful that 2010 will be the year they rain down on the Valley once gain. Earlier this year, a handful of IPOs trickled out, such as OpenTable, Rackspace, and A123Systems. But what people are really waiting for is another Netscape moment—an iconic IPO which will whet investor’s appetites and open the… → Read More
Tesla Motors is planning an IPO soon according to a Reuter’s report. However at this point it’s still not clear when that will be although the company had previously stated it won’t happen in 2009. In fact, this rumor has been around for sometime, but in case you didn’t notice, the stock market wasn’t doing that well until recently.
Tesla has been ramping up development of its all-electric Model… → Read More
Remember that whole sour grapes law suit filed against Tesla Motors and Elon Musk by co-founder and former CEO Martin Eberhard? According to Eberhard’s lawyer, he has dropped the suit but doesn’t give any clarification as to why Eberhard dismissed the legal action, according to the San Jose Business Journal.
We reported earlier this summer that Eberhard filed a lawsuit against Tesla and Tesla CEO… → Read More
Silicon Valley’s electric car company, Tesla Motors, says that it hit profitability in July. The private company reports that it made “approximately $1 million of earnings” on revenues of $20 million, and that it shipped 109 Roadsters, its $109,000 all-electric sports car. The revenues reflect GAAP accounting standards and are only for the month of July.
Founder and CEO Elon Musk predicted in… → Read More
Tesla, which has now delivered 500 Roadsters, will be opening several new sales showrooms this summer, the company says. Currently the company has showrooms only in California. Three of the new showrooms will be in Europe – London, Monaco and Munich. New York, Seattle, Chicago and Miami are also on the list.
The company says that the first Roadsters will be delivered to European buyers this… → Read More
Silicon Valley electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors got another shot in the arm today from German auto giant Daimler, which took a 10 percent stake in the company and expanded its partnership with Tesla to equip future Mercedes-Benz vehicles with electric lithium-ion batteries. Mercedes has been testing Tesla’s batteries in a fleet of 100 smart cars, and is already moving into limited… → Read More
Mike and I were the first journalists to ride in the new Tesla Model S sedan yesterday and we were captivated by the massive 17-inch touch screen (so was Gizmodo) featured in the center console of the car. Both Tesla CEO Elon Musk and chief designer Franz von Holzhausen didn’t say much about the on screen system, except that it does have touch capability, it is an “entertainment center” and that… → Read More
PayPal cofounder, SpaceX Founer and Tesla CEO Elon Musk takes the stage today at the Web 2.0 Summit to talk with John Battelle.
What do space flights and electric cars have to do with Web 2.0? Absolutely nothing. Still, there will be lots to talk about. In September SpaceX put a Falcon rocket into Earth orbit, the first privately developed launch vehicle to reach earth orbit from the ground. More… → Read More
Don’t pull the plug quite yet on Elon Musk’s electric sports car startup Tesla Motors. After laying off 18 percent of its workforce two weeks ago (69 people out of 384, we have confirmed with the company) and reportedly burning through all but $9 million in cash, Tesla is getting another lifeline in the form of a $40 million convertible. That is convertible as in debt, not convertible as in… → Read More
Tesla Motors has been hit hard with credit crunch of late, but the billionaire founder of Telsa and PayPal has personally guaranteed that all of the 1,200 battery-powered Tesla Roadster pre-orders will be filled. So far, only 60 of the 1,200 cars have been delivered and the company seems to be consolidating after shutting down and laying off 90% of the Detroit, MI office. However, with this… → Read More
Companies itching to IPO are braving the markets again. This morning, Rackspace had its IPO, and today nanotech battery company A123 Systems filed its IPO registration document (an S-1) with the SEC. The Boston-based company is hoping to raise $175 million in an IPO. (It’s already raised $132 million in venture funding from Sequoia, General Motors, Motorola, Qualcomm, and others). A123… → Read More
Tesla Motors, the automobile startup with backers that include Sergey Brin and Larry Page, held a party tonight to mark the launch of its Menlo Park storefront. The store, which is the company’s second, will be open to the general public beginning this Tuesday. Despite Tesla Motors’ well deserved reputation as a high-end car manufacturer, it is still very much a startup – the… → Read More
Tesla Motors has hired former Chrysler Executive Michael Donoughe to oversee the company’s engineering and manufacturing processes as executive vice president. The 220 miles-per-charge electric Tesla Roadster that sells for more money than most people make in a year will soon be joined by a more consumer-friendly four door sedan. Donoughe should be well-suited for his new role, as he… → Read More
With all the news yesterday around Tesla Motors signing a deal with Governor Schwarzenegger to manufacture its next electric sedan in California instead of New Mexico (see video), a potentially much bigger deal slipped by almost unnoticed. German magazine AutomobilWoche is reporting that Tesla will be supplying lithium ion batteries to Mercedes. The German car maker plans to make electric versions… → Read More
http://blip.tv/scripts/flash/showplayer.swf?enablejs=true&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Ftechcrunch%2Eblip%2Etv%2Frss&file=http%3A%2F%2Fblip%2Etv%2Frss%2Fflash%2F1043862%3Freferrer%3Dblip%2Etv%26source%3D1&showplayerpath=http%3A%2F%2Fblip%2Etv%2Fscripts%2Fflash%2Fshowplayer%2Eswf Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s announced earlier today a deal California had made with Tesla Motors to… → Read More
We’re just minutes away from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s joint announcement with Tesla Motors, but we already hear that he will discuss how Tesla plans to build its electric sedan factory in the Bay Area, not New Mexico as previously expected. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear as though Tesla will actually unveil the sedan itself. While New Mexico offered a $7 million incentive… → Read More
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is holding a press conference tomorrow with Tesla Motors, makers of some of the coolest electric cars on the planet, to announce a 4 door, 5 passenger sedan slated for release in 2010. Not much information right now but rumor has it that it will be called the Whitestar and should be as efficient as the Roadster model now making the rounds. The Roadster… → Read More
With oil prices so high, how much would it cost to convert every registered car in America to an electric vehicle? Nothing, according to computer scientist Philip Greenspun. Well, nothing more than we are spending already in oil. He figures that if we took the $400 billion that Americans spend every year on oil that goes into cars, we could use that money instead to pay the interest on an $8… → Read More
Tesla motors, the company that gave us Roadster and EV1 super-fast all-electric cars, is planning a gas-electric hybrid soon. The car, called the Whitestar, should cost between $50,000 and $70,000 and will also come in an all-electric version. The car, called a REV (Range-extended Vehicle) will go considerably farther on one charge than the 150-200 mile range of the all-electric models. Tesla to… → Read More
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