Tesla Motors in Los Angeles, Calif.
(Credit: Tesla Motors)Tesla Motors has garnered $82.5 million in "Series F" funding for the purpose of expanding its chain of stores in North America and Europe.
The deal was first announced Monday by participating investor Fjord Capital Partners. Tesla Motors then confirmed the deal to several news outlets on Tuesday. Daimler, already a 10 percent investor in Tesla, and Abu Dhabi fund Aabar Investments also contributed to the fund.
The California-based electric-vehicle manufacturer has had stores in Los Angeles and Menlo Park, Calif., for some time. It recently opened stores in New York, Chicago, Miami, London, Seattle, and Munich. It has plans to open a store in Monaco before the end of the year, and has said it's scouting for locations in Washington, D.C., and Toronto.
But don't call them dealerships.
Because the electric cars are light on service work, and don't need things like oil changes, Tesla plans to forgo the traditional dealership/service business model of yesteryear's car industry. Instead the company plans to maintain full retail control over its cars and brand, Tesla announced in early September.
Tesla Motors in Menlo Park, Calif.
(Credit: Tesla Motors)"Tesla takes its showroom cues from Apple, Starbucks and other customer-focused retailers. Tesla stores provide a welcoming spot to surf the Web, test drive cars and learn more about Tesla, the only production automaker selling highway-capable EVs in North America or Europe," Tesla said in statement.
News of the latest funding deal also follows the unveiling of Tesla's production model of the Model S sedan, as well as a tuner version of its Roadster, at the 2009 Frankfurt auto show this week.
The prototype of the Model S was unveiled in March as a way to augment Tesla's lineup with a more "economical" option to its Roadster luxury sports car. The Model S is expected to cost around $50,000--about half the cost of the Roadster.
Tesla Motors' Elon Musk has a friend in David Letterman.
Musk, the CEO and product architect of electric car maker Tesla Motors, was a guest on the "Late Show with David Letterman" Wednesday night. Also making an appearance on the set was the prototype Model S electric sedan, which made its first trip to New York this week.
But even though Musk and the Model S were the main event (well, after actress Jennifer Garner), Letterman did most of the talking. Actually, "complaining" might be a better word.
David Letterman finds a sympathetic ear with Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk.
(Credit: Screenshot by Martin LaMonica/CNET)Letterman is frustrated, downright irritated, that electric motors, which have been around for 100 years, are still considered cutting-edge technology. The Chevy Volt's 40-mile range is "crap," good enough to get the paper at the end of the driveway, he joked.
"If (auto companies) were actually working on technolgies that were actually in showrooms, they wouldn't need to be closing down plants and filing bankruptcies," Letterman griped.
As for the electric Tesla Roadster sports car, Letterman called it "bulletproof" and said it drives like a "bat out of hell." He admitted, though, that the first time he charged the car he was nervous it would burn down his house and "magnetize his nuts."
Musk did manage to get a few words in. He reiterated that the company's long-term plan has always been to build a mass-market car. "Anyone who does buy the Roadster is helping pay for the development of low-cost cars to follow," he said.
The reason Musk is pouring his energy and much of his personal wealth into Tesla is to spur the electric car revolution. "I thought that the existing car companies would do it," he said.
Both Musk and Letterman took digs at General Motors and its decision to cancel its EV1 electric cars, which were crushed when the program was canceled despite loyal customers. "With the benefit of hindsight, I think that (GM) should have built an EV2 rather than crushing them," Musk said.
After a commercial break, a curtain lifted and the Model S electric sedan rolled out, welcomed by oohs and ahs from the studio audience. Tesla will open a showroom later this year in New York.
While Letterman opened the door and poked about, Musk tried to make an "important point" about the Model S, which he said will be ready in "a couple of years."
But we may never know what Musk had to say. Letterman grabbed the steering wheel and started yelling "I'm being electrocuted!"
"Late Show with David Letterman" airs on CBS. CNET News is published by CBS Interactive, a unit of CBS.
If produced, the Tesla Model S will be the first mass-produced highway-legal all electric car.
(Credit: Tesla Motors)More than 520 reservations for the Tesla Model S have been made since the all-electric car's debut on March 26, Tesla Motors announced Wednesday.
Since the car isn't slated for production until 2011, and Tesla is still waiting to hear if it'll be getting a $350 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy to build the car's California production plant, the company is not technically taking orders.
Instead, the carmaker says it is taking refundable $5,000 reservations to get in line for the anticipated $50,000 car (the price after receiving a $7,500 federal tax credit).
If it does go into production, the Model S will be the first mass-produced highway-capable car to run entirely on electricity.
The working prototype of the Model S was unveiled last week in Los Angeles. An East Coast premiere took place on Wednesday evening at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.
The Model S, which can go 0 mph to 60 mph in 5.6 seconds, has an electronically limited speed of 130 mph and can be recharged from any 120V, 208V, or 240V outlet. The car will be offered with a range of 160, 230, or 300 miles per charge, depending on which battery the buyer chooses, though Tesla has not yet said what the price difference will be for each package.
While the company has faced a mountain of start-up hardship, including a battle over trade secrets, a class action lawsuit, and a major leadership change, it has so far been able to deliver 320 of its Roadster models, its all-electric luxury sports car.
After wowing the auto press with the sleek design of Tesla Motors' all-electric Model S, company CEO Elon Musk is now making an economic argument to consumers--and, perhaps, the U.S. government--for buying the luxury sedan.
Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET)After months of anticipation, Tesla on Thursday took the covers off the Model S, an electric sedan priced at $56,400 but that qualifies for a $7,500 federal tax credit.
In a newsletter to customers on Friday, Musk, who is also product architect at Tesla, touted the many benefits of electric vehicles over gasoline cars, including price.
"The ownership cost of Model S, if you were to lease and then account for the much lower cost of electricity versus gasoline at a likely future cost of $4 per gallon, is similar to a gasoline car with a sticker price of about $35,000," he wrote.
Because they have fewer moving parts and don't require oil changes, electric vehicles should also have lower maintenance costs. "Model S costs roughly $5 to drive 230 miles--a bargain, even if gasoline were $1 per gallon," Musk wrote.
He also indicated that Tesla believes that it is close to receiving $350 million in loans from the U.S. Department of Energy to build a plant in California that would manufacture the Model S. Production is slated to begin in late 2011, with deliveries starting in 2012, according the Web site launched to take orders for the car.
The Department of Energy has revamped its process for approving loans to approve them quicker. Even with a streamlined process, though, some observers worry that it will be very challenging for the Energy Department to dispense loans as quickly as many loan applicants hope.
The Model S show car was made at the Tesla Design Studio in Hawthorne, California at the rocket factory of SpaceX, where Musk is CEO. The powertrain was made in San Carlos, California, where Tesla is based.
Cost is often cited as one of the biggest barriers to electric vehicles, particularly the batteries.
Musk said the Model S will have three battery options providing a range of either 160, 230, or 300 miles per charge, but it did not disclose the prices. He said the "floor-mounted" battery pack is designed so that it can be changed in battery-swapping stations.
"Tesla is relentlessly driving down the cost of electric-vehicle technology, and this is just the first of many mainstream cars we're developing," Musk wrote.
View more leaked photos of the Tesla Model S on Flickr.
(Credit: Tesla Motors)Digg.com co-founder Kevin Rose has a bit of a penchant for being uncannily accurate with his Apple predictions. Is it possible that he now has some sort of inside information on Tesla Motors' upcoming Model S electric sedan?
Via Twitter, Rose announced, "someone leaked me some Tesla Model S (electric car) pics, seems to have a huge touch-screen display."
Rose finishes his post with a link to his Flickr page containing photos of the interior and exterior, including the aforementioned "huge touch screen" (which I must say is a bit of an understatement; that thing is MASSIVE).
With the Model S launching on Thursday, he's got at best a few hours' head start on the official release, but an early look is an early look, so pop over and take a peek.
Note: Rose's Flickr photo set for the Model S has been set to private, but we've reposted the images below.
A sneak peak at the Model S
(Credit: Tesla Motors)Tesla Motors announced on Thursday that the Department of Energy was given the green light to disperse $350 million in loans over the next few months to help the all-electric automaker build a new manufacturing plant in San Jose, Calif.
Company chairman Elon Musk applied for the loans when the company was unable to secure private funding, stalling development of the new facility and casting even more doubt upon the ambitious start-up carmaker.
The announcement should help quell the death knell rumors spawned from recent mass layoffs, canceled orders for its $109,000 electric sports car, and delayed plans to build the Model S sedan.
... Read moreTesla Motors on Wednesday is expected to announce a planned $250 million investment in a facility in San Jose, Calif., to manufacture its Model S all-electric luxury sedan.
The company plans to break ground on the installation next summer and begin to deliver cars in late 2010, a company representative said Tuesday. It has scheduled a news conference for Wednesday to detail the move.
The Tesla Roadster
(Credit: Tesla Motors)The Tesla Roadster, a $109,000 all-electric sports car which began shipping earlier this year, is made at a Lotus plant in the U.K.
The San Jose operation will house a factory, research, and development center, and become Tesla corporate headquarters, the representative said.
The plant will be capable of turning out 15,000 Model S sedans a year, which can be ramped up to 30,000 units, she added.
The Model S will be a five-person luxury car with a range of 240 miles per battery charge. The projected cost is about $60,000.
To pay for the operation, Tesla intends to raise $100 million in a series E round, which the company plans to announce in the coming months, according to the Tesla representative. It also expects to get a loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy worth $150 million, she said.
People eager to buy a Tesla Roadster now can get on a waiting list, but the company has not started a waiting list for the Model S.
The city of San Jose is expected on Wednesday to list the incentives it offered Tesla to locate its headquarters there.
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