Wrightspeed, a maker of fuel efficient, electric drive systems, has raised a $5 million Series A round from an unnamed private investor. According to the company’s press release, co-founder and EVP of Infinera, David Welch, will also join the company’s board.
The company’s founder and CEO is Ian Wright, one of the co-founders of Tesla. Although Wright was an important figure in Tesla’s early days, he left long before the IPO to found Wrightspeed. Wrightspeed doesn’t want to be the next electric automaker, instead, the company wants to build the best hybrid electric drive systems for high-performance cars and medium to large-sized trucks. → Read More
Consumer electronics maker Panasonic is cozying up to Tesla with a $30 million investment, in exchange for a 2% stake.
Although Panasonic and Tesla have worked together in the past, under the new partnership, the duo will closely collaborate on the development and marketing of new Tesla battery packs that feature Panasonic lithium-ion cells.
“Panasonic offers the highest energy-density cells and industry-leading performance with cutting edge Nickel-type cathode technology.” Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in a statement late Wednesday, “We believe our partnership with them will enable us to further improve our battery pack while reducing cost.” → Read More
Given all the apparent excitement surrounding electric vehicles and the billions invested by automakers, financial firms and government incentives, you would assume there was a groundswell of consumer support for hybrid and battery electric cars underlying this momentum.
Unfortunately, according to a J.D. Power and Associates report released this morning, we may be on the electric car bandwagon but once you get us to the dealership, we look the other way.
The firm predicts that in 2020, international sales of hybrid and battery electric cars will total 5.2 million, or 7.3%, of the 70-plus million consumer vehicles expected to be sold. This year, the world is on track to sell 954,500 electric units, 2.2% of all car sales. Thus, in a decade, consumers will only move the needle about 5 percentage points, from 2.2 to 7.3. If the future of the car is electric, it’s not happening in the next decade and— given the sluggish growth curve— not the one after that either. → Read More
Let’s talk about weird. There is a good weird, and there is certainly bad weird. Which category any particular “weird” falls into it highly subjective. On most accords this watch is weird. I mean look at it? It is unlike almost everything else out there. A one of a kind creation by Yvan Arpa’s Artya brand, this watch belongs to the “Coup de foudre” collection which is an ongoing series of watches that have “lightning struck” cases – hence the “Tesla” part of the name. Basically, Yvan’s shop employs the use of a large Tesla coil array. Electricity (which is basically lightning) travels between the two coils and the watch case is stuck in the middle. These pieces undergo wild transformative effects aided by artists who help engrave and colorize the metal. A lot of the cases that undergo this treatment are unusable, but the ones that survive are pretty interesting. Again, “interesting” if you can follow suit with that type of thing. → Read More
Tesla has released the details of their 2010 Q2 financial performance, and it looks like things are coming up roses for the nascent auto maker. Sales are up, with nearly $27m in sales coming in — translating to a total of around 250 Roadsters shipped. Their gross margins are up, though; their business is growing, and hopefully cash on hand will suffice to pay for R&D and manufacturing until they start eking out a profit.
Critically, the launch of the Model S sedan is on track, and much of the cost of development is already behind them. With a far lower price and larger target demographic, it is likely the first Tesla car many will actually see on the road, and not parked in some entrepreneur’s driveway in Mountain View. → 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 venture funding for the cleantech industry was reached since the third quarter of 2008 (i.e. two years ago). → Read More
Elon Musk certainly hasn’t been on the down-low lately. Well, with the Tesla’s IPO and then Toyota huge investment and manufacturing deals. Then there’s the lawsuits and his devoice. So yeah, it’s no wonder that Jon Favreau modeled his Tony Stark character after Elon — or so says Wikipedia.
But last night he had a friendly fireside chat with Stephen Colbert, where it was really nothing more than reading of the man’s resume and talking about his ventures. Of course Colbert talked circles around the PayPal co-founder as he tends to do. It’s not like The Colbert Report is known as a hard-hitting news program anyway. That’s more the style of The Daily Show. Click through for the video. → Read More
The electric sports car scene is heating up with Porsche‘s confirmation of a new all-electric sports car based on its Boxster. The company is conducting daily tests of three research cars to study battery systems and electric drive components.
Porsche President and CEO Michael Macht said in a statement that Porsche will “definitely be offering electric sports cars in the future,” but that the performance and cruising range must be comparable to existing sports cars. Greater efficiency and lower emissions are the company’s goals for the new vehicles. → Read More
The electric sports car scene is heating up with Porsche‘s confirmation of a new all-electric sports car based on its Boxster. The company is conducting daily tests of three research cars to study battery systems and electric drive components.
Porsche President and CEO Michael Macht said in a statement that Porsche will “definitely be offering electric sports cars in the future,” but that the performance and cruising range must be comparable to existing sports cars. Greater efficiency and lower emissions are the company’s goals for the new vehicles. → Read More
The all-electric RAV4 is set to make a comeback. But this time around Tesla Motors is going to provide the electric powerplant, rather than Toyota themselves. In fact, Tesla might even be doing the bulk of the assembling if this CNN Money report is correct.
Toyota announced that the Japanese auto maker planned to invest $50 million into Tesla after a successful initial public offering. That took place a couple weeks back on June 29 and this is the first we’re seeing from the investment. → Read More
After a better-than-expected pop on the first day of its IPO, Tesla’s stock (under the ticker symbol TSLA) started to slide a few days after. It is now hanging 7 percent below its initial pricing of $17, closing at $15.80 per share today.
Only a week on the market, Tesla’s stock has fluctuated greatly, trading at a high of $30.42 and dropping to a low of $14.98. While some hoped Tesla would provide the “Netscape moment” for clean tech IPOs, Tesla seems to have the same struggles other greentech IPOs have experienced. Just last month, commercial rooftop panel maker Solyndra canceled its IPO plans. → Read More
Tesla unveiled its newest electric sports car today, the Roadster 2.5, just two days after its IPO. The Roadster 2.0 was released only a year ago, and existing customers will be able to buy upgrades to 2.5 features where feasible.
Pricing starts at $101,500 after a federal tax credit of $7,500.
The company says most of the updates are based on customer feedback. → Read More
With the Dow down more than 250 points, today is not the best day for an IPO. But Tesla shares are rallying after an initial scare. Tesla Motors rang the Nasdaq opening bell earlier this morning to commemorate its initial public offering under the ticker symbol TSLA The shares opened at $19, a 12% jump from its $17 pricing yesterday. But then they immediately dropped, dipping below $17.70 before rallying again. Currently, they are trading above $18, which gives Tesla a market cap of about $1.7 billion
The company was able to price the shares above its $14 to $16 range, and will collect $202 million from the IPO Tesla is selling 13.3 million shares, 11,880,600 through the company and 1,419,400 through selling stockholders, including founder Elon Musk. This is the first time an automotive company has gone public in more than 50 years. → Read More
Electric car manufacturer Tesla is pricing its IPO at $17 per share, according to a release issued this evening. We just wrote today that one day before its scheduled IPO, Tesla Motors increased 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. → 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 selling stockholders include VantagePoint Venture Partners (238,748 shares), Bay Area Equity Fund (88,586), Westly Capital Partners (72,625), Compass Venture Partners (22,931), as well as friends and family like Elon’s brother (and OneRiot CEO) Kimball Musk (12,692). Tesla itself won’t make any additional money from the bump in shares, but more shares will be available to the public.
If Tesla shares open at the high end of its expected range of $14 to $16, the Silicon Valley electric car company will debut with a $1.5 billion market cap (based on 93.5 million total shares outstanding after the IPO and a concurrent $50 million private placement with Toyota). After the offering, Tesla’s largest shareholder will still be founder Elon Musk, who will own 28.4 percent of the company (worth $426 million at that valuation, versus a potential windfall of $14.5 million for the shares he is selling). The second largest shareholder will be Daimler (through an investment arm called Blackstar Investco) with 8 percent of the shares, and the third largest will be the government of Abu Dhabi (through Al Wahada Capital Investment) with 7.8 percent of the shares. The two biggest VC shareholders will be Vantage Capital Partners with 6.6 percent and Valor Equity Partners with 5.25 percent. → Read More
Toyota and Tesla announced a new partnership at Tesla’s headquarters in Palo Alto today, the auto makers will collaborate on technology, the development of new electric vehicles and Toyota will purchase $50 million of Tesla’s common stock. The press conference featured the Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tesla CEO, Elon Musk and TMC President, Akio Toyoda.
Calling it an “explosion” for California (I think he meant this in the positive sense, not the Terminator sense) Schwarzenegger framed it as a victory for California’s environmental agenda and the economy. He predicts it will create 1,000 jobs for the state’s embattled economy. → Read More
Toyota and Tesla announced a new partnership at Tesla’s headquarters in Palo Alto today, the auto makers will collaborate on technology, the development of new electric vehicles and Toyota will purchase $50 million of Tesla’s common stock. The press conference featured the Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tesla CEO, Elon Musk and TMC President, Akio Toyoda.
Calling it an “explosion” for California (I think he meant this in the positive sense, not the Terminator sense) Schwarzenegger framed it as a victory for California’s environmental agenda and the economy. He predicts it will create 1,000 jobs for the state’s embattled economy. → 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 production engineering for Toyota in North America. Previously, Passin was vice president of manufacturing at Toyota’s plant in Cambridge, Ontario, which produces over 200,000 automobiles per year. → Read More
Electric car company Tesla Motors has filed for a $100 million IPO. There were rumors recently floating around that the company, which is led by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk, would go public “soon.” One interesting tidbit from the filing: Musk only takes $1 in yearly salary. → Read More
