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 when the company heard from a customer with this problem:

[A] low voltage auxiliary cable in [the] vehicle chafed against the edge of a carbon fiber panel in the vehicle causing a short, smoke and possible fire behind the right front headlamp of the vehicle. This issue [involved the] 12V low voltage auxiliary cable and… not the main battery pack or main power system.

Tesla’s stock price, which remained steady immediately after the Oct. 1st recall, dipped more than 3% within the week as media and industry analysts discussed the Tesla Roadsters’ fire risk along with the company’s looming expenses and competitive outlook.

Tesla’s chief executive Elon Musk will soon have to cut checks for: recruiters to bring in hundreds of new engineers and their salaries; continued work on a new, Model S sedan; and production of new vehicles along with fixes for the recalled Roadsters, which numbered fewer than 500 vehicles.

Skeptics worry about how long it will take Tesla to generate more money than it spends on all of this in the name of the environmentally sound but still sweet ride.

Challenges to Tesla in the market are also varied, including other electric vehicles like the Nissan Leaf, and hybrids like the Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid.

Shortly after the smokey Roadster recall, PepsiCo Frito-Lay announced it would scale back the use of plant-based, biodegradable plastic packaging for SunChips due to complaints about the bags making noise.

All but one of the flavors of SunChips will now be sold in “traditional” plastic sacks instead of the non-petroleum, compostable stuff. That’s at least until the company comes up with or purchases another green alternative.

Back in April 2009, when Sun Chips introduced the biodegradable bags, the company ran extensive print, TV and digital advertising touting the green initiative (as MediaPost reported then). Now, PepsiCo Frito-Lay seems to blame the bags’ noise for the widely reported 11% sales decline in SunChips over the last 52 weeks.

Alexis Madrigal, a writer for The Atlantic went so far as to lament how much capital, human and otherwise, was invested in the SunChips sustainable packaging effort in the first place:

This is where we put our productive talents to work…The great machinery induced by billion dollar markets for everything (anything) can be reconfigured for any purpose, even something as mind numbing as flexible, lightweight chip containers.

Typical “flexible, lightweight chip container” materials — namely petroleum-based plastics — represent some 8% of the nation’s waste stream according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Other writers suggested that consumers should have tolerated the noise or poured their chips in a bowl if the idea of keeping petroleum-based (and quieter) plastics out of the waste stream mattered to them, really.

Will PepsiCo’s investors feel good about the company ditching the sad sacks in response to customers’ demands, or will they be inspired by the fact that PepsiCo Frito-Lay tried to actually do something game changing in the first place? Its stock price was dipping at the opening of the market on Thursday Oct. 7th following widespread media discussion about the bags. PepsiCo is, unlike Tesla Motors, such a massive global food and beverage business there’s a chance that SunChips’ sales didn’t even move the needle for investors.

Environmentalists will be watching both brands, hoping for improved sales and stock prices, and case studies that prove sustainable business can also be profitable and competitive, and these setbacks were just a price paid by pioneers.

Bad news for treehugging gearheads this morning. Tesla had originally planned on opening a new facility in San Jose to build the Model S electric sports sedan, but the financing fell through. (Welcome to America, Tesla) So as it stands now, the company is going to redirect a $450 million government loan that was originally going to help build the facility into the general budget which will help with the Roadster development.

Tesla still optimistically plans on building the BMW 5 Series electric fighter, but who knows when that will be. However, the company does plan on revealing a fully functional model on March 5. I wanna drive it. Can I drive it? Please?

What is it about this car that causes people to drive irresponsibly? One Tesla rear-ended a truck and this guy rammed another car at a stoplight. People don’t crash Porsches at this rate, do they? There are only fifty of these things and three are out of commission! At least it hasn’t been the car’s fault and no one’s been hurt.

When it was announced less than two years ago, many thought the Tesla Roadster was a hoax, or at best a vaporware concept that wouldn’t go anywhere. Thankfully, those skeptics have been proven wrong, with the Tesla in full production and the first lot sold out already.

But what is it about the Tesla that makes it so unusual? Not only is it fully electric, making it one of the most green cars you can drive, it’s also incredibly well made. Reviews from those who’ve driven it are almost universally positive.

Green Guts

It’s power conscious, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have power; indeed, the car goes 0 to 60 in less than four seconds, corners like a dream, and can get up to 221 miles on a charge.

It looks amazing, too. The car was designed by a group who’d previously worked on the latest generation Lotuses. This isn’t a Honda Element, this is a car you’d want to be seen in.

Making a Difference

The Tesla is being lauded as the first in what many are hoping is a long line of all-electric cars, vehicles one step beyond the hybrid concept.

There are problems with the Tesla, though. Despite its popularity, critics point out a few flaws in the auto, such as the fact that it requires a non-portable charging station. Unless a gas station-like network of them rolls out across the country, you’re looking at about a range of about 100 miles from your house. The car doesn’t have a back-up mechanism at all, so if you run out of juice away from home, you’re looking at a pricey tow.

Many find the almost $100k price tag too high as well, thinking a vehicle for only the rich won’t do enough to spark the revolution it’s expected too, which is a fair argument.

Still, personal computers were very pricey when they came out, and within two decades they’re now so common place we have debates on how to dispose of them.

Many of the designs being incorporated into the car — the one-speed transmission, carbon-fiber body, super-effecient headlights — can be reduced in cost for consumer models. Indeed, there’s rumor of a consumer version to debut sometime in 2010 that is expected to sell for half the price.

Competition from Chevy

GM has chosen 2010 as the time to debut its all-electric, the Volt. The Volt uses similar technology as the Tesla, relying on Lithium-Ion batteries for its power, and like the Tesla it’s a slick-looking, fast sportscar.

Unlike the Tesla, the Volt has a take-along power pack that plugs into any standard 110 volt wall outlet, meaning you can drive it pretty much anywhere. It doesn’t have the speed of the Tesla, but it should be far more affordable, likely coming in at between $30k and $40k.

What remains to be seen is if these are vanguards of a new generation of all electric cars or if they’re just good ideas that don’t have a market. We’re hoping for the previous, as the idea of going fast appeals to us, but not at $4 a gallon.