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 Systems makes next-gen lithium ion batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles, as well as for smaller portable devices. It is working closely with GM and Black & Decker. The company, which came out of MIT, already employs 1,100 people (150 in R&D alone), and has been manufacturing batteries for two years. The company’s revenues in the first quarter of 2008 was $10.3 million, and its sales for all ofg 2007 was $41.3 million. It’s also been eating through a lot of cash. Last quarter it had a net loss of $14 million, and last year it lost $31 million. And those losses are not going to end anytime soon. From the S-1: We have had negative cash flow before financing activities of $17.0 million for 2005, $29.1 million for 2006, $56.1 million for 2007 and $13.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2008. We anticipate that we will continue to have negative cash flow for the foreseeable future as we continue to make significant future capital expenditures to expand our manufacturing capacity and incur increased research and development, sales and marketing, and general and administrative expenses. But A123 Systems is going to be a story stock. If you believe in a future of electric-powered vehicles, it is one way to invest in that future. Of course, other company’s are trying to create batteries for electric vehicles as well, such as Aptera and Tesla Motors (which, in addition to creating its own electric cars, has a deal to supply Mercedes-Benz with electric batteries). But they are still private. Here’s A123 Systems’ income statement: → 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 company’s $150 million in funding pales in comparison to coffers held by large automobile companies like Ferrari. As a result, Tesla has strived to create a atmosphere of style and sophistication at its showrooms without breaking the bank. The new dealership is situated in Menlo Park, about 5 minutes away from downtown Palo Alto and Stanford University. The interior of the building is designed to be “industrial chic” – a strange mix of luxurious furniture (white leather sofas, marble tables) and the trimmings of a basic garage (concrete walls, exposed wooden ceilings). It works surprisingly well, keeping the store’s high-end customers at home without distracting from the showroom’s main attraction: the cars. Ah, the cars. Tesla has half a dozen of their Tesla Roadster electric car on display, and they don’t disappoint. It’s hard to put into words how ridiculously sexy the Tesla Roadster is in person, so we’ve grabbed a lot of pictures. Suffice to say, as soon as you walk in the store, you’re going to want one. Unfortunately, actually buying a Tesla Roadster is an involved and lengthy process. To reserve a car, first you’ll need to make a $5,000 deposit, which is mostly just to show you’re serious. To actually get a place on the 1,100 person long waiting list, you’ll need to pony up another $55,000 – making a grand total of $60,000. Of the 1100 people on the waitlist, 600 are for the 2008 model, which had a base cost of $98,000. The remainder of the list is for the 2009 model, which has been upped to a $109,000 base value, mostly to account for the weakened dollar. Tesla is currently telling customers that the waitlist is one year long, but production is only just ramping up so that time frame may slip a bit. By weeks end there will be around 12 cars on the road, most of which are owned by company boardmembers and investors. For the time being, cars are being assembled at a rate of about → 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 “previously headed the global mid-size vehicles program at Chrysler,” according to San Jose Mercury News. Tesla also announced that it’ll build a new production factory in the San Francisco area instead of New Mexico, citing tax incentives offered by California. → 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 of its A- and B-class vehicles, as well as its Smart cars as soon as 2010. When I called Tesla for confirmation, the spokesperson there had “no comment,” but did not deny the report either. I guess that extra $40 million infusion that founder Elon Musk poured into the company last December is paying off. If Tesla can supply the drive trains for electric cars made by major auto manufacturers like Mercedes that not only would be a huge vote of confidence in its technology, it could also lead to a bigger business than selling its own cars. Are the Tesla Roadster and its upcoming sedan merely demo products for Tesla’s real business—supplying the electric “engines” for the world’s future gas-free vehicles? What will be a bigger business for Tesla in five years? ( polls) CrunchBase Information Tesla Motors Information provided by CrunchBase → 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 bring that electric car company’s manufacturing to the Bay Area. Watch above as he is joined by Treasurer Bill Lockyer and Tesla Motors President Ze’Ev Drori to deliver a few words about the significance of keeping Tesla in California. CrunchBase Information Tesla Motors Information provided by CrunchBase → 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 package to locate the factory there, California upped the ante by offering sales tax exemption for the purchase of manufacturing equipment, and by providing grants for the training of new employees. We’ll have a recording of the webcast here once the event finishes. In the meantime, head over to the Office of the Governator to see it live. Most people know Tesla for its fancy electric sports car (seen above), which can be glimpsed driving down highway 101 near its discreet headquarters in San Carlos. But with $146 million in the bank, Tesla plans to expand into a more mainstream market with a $60,000 sedan, slated for production in two years. CrunchBase Information Tesla Motors Information provided by CrunchBase → 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 costs $109,000 but the sedan should be slightly less given its “green family” appeal. We’ll be there tomorrow for some on the scene reporting. Here’s hoping Gov. Schwarzenegger screams “Come with me if you want to live” to the assembled press and then says “Do it, do it now” to the plan to increase the number of electric cars on California roads. Update: The new sedan will not be called Whitestar. Also, this is some sort of partnership with the state of California, it isn’t just an endorsement or random appearance by Schwarzenegger. Update 2: The announcement is that Tesla will manufacture the sedan in California, instead of going to New Mexico, thanks to a $9 million incentive package. CrunchBase Information Tesla Motors Information provided by CrunchBase → 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 trillion loan. That would be more than enough to swap out the 250 million registered cars in the country with electric vehicles, and still have trillion of dollars left over to start building new power plants based on renewable or nuclear energy. (But even if we stick with coal plants, they are still more energy efficient than car engines). Here is his math: * total oil consumption in the U.S.: 21 million barrels every day (CIA Factbook) * cost per barrel: $130 * days in year: 365 * total spent per year: $1 trillion * percentage of oil consumed by passenger cars: 40 * total spent per year on oil for passenger cars: $400 billion * at 5 interest, how much we could we borrow and pay $400 billion every year in interest: $8 trillion * number of registered cars in the U.S.: 250 million (Wikipedia) * cost of a new electric car, if mass-produced: $20,000 * value of a used car, if exported to Latin America or China: $5,000 * cost to upgrade average existing American car to a brand-new electric car: $15,000 * number that could be converted for $8 trillion: more than 500 million cars (i.e., twice as many as we have now) Okay, so that wouldn’t pay for the $100,000 Tesla electric sports car pictured above (even assuming that it fixes its transmission problems). But with a $15,000 to $20,000 subsidy, we should get electric cars that are a little bit sexier than the one pictured at left. Why he wants to export our carbon-spewing junkers to China and Latin America, though, is beyond me. That’s just a recipe for speeding up global warming. They need electric cars too. CrunchBase Information Tesla Motors Information provided by CrunchBase → 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 make gas-electric car [News.com.com.com] → Read More
Would you drive a beta? That’s not the name of a new car. It’s how Elon Musk characterizes the first version of the Tesla electric sports car that is due to come out in the next few months. Musk is Tesla Motors’ chairman and biggest investor. He tells Earth2Tech that a transmission snag is going to cost another $40 million, on top of the $100 million already poured into the company. He and other existing investors are putting up the extra cash in an internal round. Excerpt from Earth2Web’s Q&A: Q. So you guys are on schedule with the car, first quarter of 2008? Elon: The primary schedule driver is the transmission. We had two suppliers in a row fail to deliver and so we are on our third now, actually we are running multiple paths, so that is driving our schedule. We will have limited production of cars in the first half of next year, but it will be quite limited, a very small trickle of cars, and then full production in the later half of the year. Q. What is limited vs. full production? Elon: It is a little too early to say, but it will not be a large number. Those cars will have a transmission which is not the final transmission. It will have an interim transmission. It will still be safe, but it won’t have the performance characteristics that we promised. And there may be some durability issues, not something that is made to last 10 years, but it should be fine for several months. We’ll have to swap that out, and we don’t want to make a whole bunch of cars with that transmission. But it will give us some good feedback for real-world driving conditions. All the crash tests and safety tests are done. One might think of this as a public beta, if it were software. Q. Will that swapping out those transmissions take a significant amount of investment that wasn’t planned on? Elon: It will require more investment than expected, yes. And so myself and other current investors are doing a substantial internal round right now. It will be $40 million dollars. It will close next month. Tesla is also on its third CEO. If it weren’t for Musk’s deep pockets, Tesla might already be in the deadpool. But nobody ever said trying to make an electric car would be easy. → Read More
San Francisco, CA
