Tesla Motors Raises $40 Million for White Star & Roadster
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 02.22.08
Most of you are probably already familiar with Tesla's Roadster, the first model by the young electric car company. But there's also a second model coming in 2010, so far only its code name is known: "White Star". It should be even more popular than the two-seater Roadster, both because it is supposed to be less expensive (around $50k for the base model) and have enough room for a family.
Now Tesla is announcing that they have completed a new round of financing and raised $40 million to continue production of the Roadster and keep developing the White Star. That's good news for anyone who thinks we need practical and affordable electric cars as soon as possible.
Along with the all-electric version, there will also probably be a series hybrid version of the White Star. So within battery range (~50 miles/80 kilometers) the car would be powered completely by the electric motor, and after that a small gasoline engine would kick in and recharge the batteries. They call it a REEV (range extended electric vehicle)..
For those who can't afford the White Star, there's a compact electric vehicle that Tesla is planning to produce around 2013 for $30k. That's fairly inexpensive if you take into account fuel costs, and even less expensive if you count the benefits to the environment.
If you have deep pockets and want to be on the cutting edge of green(er) transportaton, know that the entire production run of the 2008 Tesla Roadster (pictured above) is sold out. The company is currently taking orders for the 2009 model year, so get in line.
Tesla Motors is establishing nationwide sales and service capabilities, beginning with flagship stores in Menlo Park and Los Angeles. Both stores are scheduled to be opened early this Spring.
For those curious about how clean an electric car that gets its power from the U.S. grid can be, see Tesla's white paper on the subject (pdf).
::Tesla Motors Completes $40 Million Financing Led by Valor Equity Partners and Elon Musk, ::Tesla Boosts Funding to Start Electric-Car Assembly (Update2)
See also: ::First Production Electric Tesla Roadster Delivered, ::BYD F6DM: Will the First Plug-In Hybrid be Chinese?, ::GM's Chevy Volt Price Goes Up; Stereo, Wipers to Blame, ::Tesla Motors: Affordable Electric Cars are Coming, ::
First photo: Ryan Anson/Bloomberg News
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"That's good news for anyone who thinks we need practical and affordable electric cars as soon as possible."
Really ?
practical and affordable . . . .
umm , disconnected reality anyone . . . .
" an intelligent and civil comment . . . . "
If only they'd design a right hand drive version of the roadster and release it in Asia.... Any idea if it's in the pipe?
No right-hand version in the pipeline as far as I know, but I could be wrong.
I guess it will depend on their success in the US.
I would expect right-hand EVs to first come from China, though.. Do a search for BYD on the Treehugger search engine.
30K is not very affordable for most of the population of this planet, and as far as the benefit to the environment goes, how much energy does it take to built these cars? As far as I know it takes a heck of a lot more energy to build a Prius that to build a regular car. And how do you dispose of the battery pack when it dies? How much to replace it?
Don't get me wrong, I am in support of the electric car, but I do not think they a quite the clean green machines they are made out to be.
I don`t think Tesla`s gonna make it. How many money injections has it received? All they have to show is an incomplete roadster (They haven`t figured out what to do about the transmission yet). I`d be pretty dissapointed if I were an investor.
"30K is not very affordable for most of the population of this planet"
You gotta start some where. How many thousands of dollars were cell or "mobile" phones when they first came out? Now they're free of close to it.
I'm still hoping for a wicked motorcycle.
Mayakovski... a Prius takes only marginally more energy to build than the average Toyota. Take away the battery pack, and you are left with a pretty conventional car, using the same manufacturing techniques.
The battery packs are recycled aa far as I know, so lifecycle energy costs are less than you might expect. And the electric motor is a relatively low cost item as well.
In the end. the energy savings over the lifetime of the vehicle vastly outweigh the bit of extra energy that went into making them, even accounting for a replacment battery pack during the car's lifetime.
The thing that will make this whole thing work is if people can charge there cars at home with PV and wind. We will get there but its a question of when.
Tesla's White Star and Blue Star are right on.
@ Mayakovski
"30K is not very affordable for most of the population of this planet . . ."
Electric cars should break into the car market at the top of the price range, because there is no way electric cars can compete on quality. This is Tesla's Mantra. Once a foot hold is made BEVs have a good chance of beating conventional commuter economy cars because they are so simple.
Another thing. How affordable should personal cars be? I think driving a car by yourself is too affordable in the US and it would benefit the environment if people were choosing bike commuting and mass transit to save hard earned money. Look at what is happening to China. The personal car is ruining its cities.
Transportation is cheap - its pride that's expensive.
No one expects a Kalahari Bushman to be hopping into a Tesla anytime soon. In the developed (and emerging) world, consumerism has advanced economies, health care, life expectency, and our luxuries. Consumerism will continue to create and fuel - drum roll please - A SOCIETY THAT CAN AFFORD TO BE GREEN.
Poor people don't care about being green, they are worrying about basic survival. Poor people will take whatever transportation they can get (and I am not talking about a "poor" Berkeley protester with a student loan rebelling against his parents, I'm talking about truly destitute individuals).
Besides, if you are complaining about affordability, then maybe you are one of those that cannot easily afford a $30k vehicle. Which means you have to drive an older, less efficient car. Which means you are less green than those of us that will by a Tesla sometime soon.... I guess money has its privleges.
Poor people don't need to care about being green, they are already more green than most of the world; especially Americans!
The non-poor developing 3rd world might be considered poor by some people who are looking down from up high (and are heavy consumers;) but the real concern is the middle and upper class of developing nations who are trying to have a wasteful unsustainable American life. Fact is such a lifestyle is not possible without the benefit of exploiting weaker nations. Also, when will people just admit China is not a "3rd world" nation? Chinese industry is now much of the worlds industry; just because YOUR junk is messing up somewhere else doesn't mean its not your mess.
Isn't Telsa still made in America? Externalize production and watch the price drop... oh wait, that is the cause of much of the worlds plight! We can't do that! but it costs more if we don't... Besides prices will just rise if we don't compensate for the dollar going down and who'd pay more money because of their ethics?
Its worse being able to afford being green and NOT be green. Also, market forces change industry all the time and do not greatly increase costs and being green has not yet become a market force so there is no reason to risk change.
I'm American but I'm not ignorant.