Tesla Motors seeks cash to keep moving forward

High-profile electric car company Tesla Motors has a bit of a money problem, but CEO Elon Musk says he has a plan.

In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, Musk said he expects to raise more than $20 million in the next week to bolster its cash reserves and make the company cash-flow positive.

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk in a Roadster

(Credit: Tesla Motors)

The company had been seeking to raise $100 million but failed, Musk told Reuters.

"We didn't raise the $100 million but we still need to raise some money to get to cash flow positive," Musk said. "We actually probably only need on the order of $20 million to do that. We're going to raise more than that, but we only need about $20 million."

The luxury car upstart, maker of the $109,000 Tesla Roadster sports car, is going through a rough patch.

Two weeks ago, Musk replaced the previous CEO and announced that it would have to delay introduction of its second car, the Model S, which will be a luxury all-electric sedan.

In an employee meeting, Musk shared the company's finances, which indicated that Tesla has about $9 million in cash.

The disclosure of that low cash position for an auto maker apparently prompted one employee to e-mail a variety of blogs and say that Tesla is at risk of not fulfilling orders for the Roadster.

Musk, who become wealthy after selling PayPal to eBay, said that he will personally ensure that all Roadsters on order will be delivered. So far, 60 customers have received them, out of more than 1,000 orders.

To finance construction of its corporate headquarters and Model S manufacturing plant, Tesla intends to secure government-backed loans worth $200 million.

VentureBeat speculated that current investors have grown cautious about putting more money into Tesla and that the company could be a takeover target by Ford.

[42istheanswer]

LOL. Couldn't see that coming! Look, this whole electric thingy IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Big Oil will see to that. $109K for this car! Noway! Say goodbye to the rest of the American auto industries electric plans too. They can barely stay in business with the status quo.

[mmntech]

It's not so much big oil that's stopping it. Battery technology hasn't caught up to the point where electric vehicles can compete with the internal combustion engine. While you can get equal or better performance out of an electric motor, there are major issues with range, battery longevity, and refuelling. What you have is a car that can barely manage half the range of its gas powered counterpart and requires several hours to recharge. Maintenance costs are also significantly higher since battery packs may only last maybe two or three years with average driving and would cost several thousand dollars to replace. In short, battery powered electric vehicles like Tesla's sports car are impractical, at least with current battery technology. Hydrogen fuel cells are the future of electric vehicles as a replacement for ICE powered ones. That's where investments should be going.

[PopTech]

Nothing like unsubstantiated ridiculous comments. Please explain how Big Oil prevents anything. I love how big oil and not the technology is always blamed for people who don't understand it. Electric car technology is expensive and not market competitive with petroleum powered cars, electric cars have limited range + carrying capacity + ridiculous refueling (recharge) times. Thank god for free markets otherwise we would be stuck with idealogically based crap products instead of what works.

[bob1xxxx]

The sooner tesla folds the better. Maybe then the veneture captial squander on tesla and their insainly over price "sports/luxury" cars will go to a company that will create a plug in hybrid on a platform that works for real americans (not just 90210 fools) car the size of a corrolla or camery and not a useless tesla go cart. Die Tesla die! If you tree huggers want electric cars the sooner the tesla goes away the better.

[Manhattan2]

We have the answers to many of these question. Elon Musk you can reach us at solartransfer.com

[kwhsy82]

This article doesn't make a lot of sense and/or shows the company's problems.
1. Raising money doesn't make a company cash flow positive. Sales greater than costs do that.
2. They have to deliver 1,000 cars. Some quick math: 1,000 cars times $100,000 to build a car = $100,000,000. (If you don't like my guesstimate of $100,000 to build a car, fill in your own number).
3. Hence, their desire to raise about $100,000,000. Or buyers all willing to put very very large deposits down (not in escrow) to fund building 1,000 cars.
4. Or some paypal wealth really will go to buying the basic pieces of a car.

[NowComeOn]

I think Elon Musk spread himself too thin and wasted 2 much $ in SpaceX. The other company he co-founded SolarCity is a good idea and probably making $. Tesla, though call but if he can pull it out will be great for not only US but the whole world.

Oh by the way the "Manhattan2 solartransfer guy", BEWARE Great SCAM technology they have, been seeing him on Cnet comments everyday spreading his Scam-Tech on daily basis.

[William Schnippert]

What you just heard was the sound of the alternative energy bubble bursting. With VC at a premium and Oil below $75/barrel, it's all over for half baked business models that only make sense when viewed through Greenpeace sunglasses.

[bob1xxxx]

No alternative energy care are coming in the future even with cheaper oil, but the solutions need to be real products that appeal to more folks than the peeps who want to drive a 150000.00 usd go cart. Mix tech cars like plug in hybrids, natural gas for fleet applications , etc..... It just tesla was doom to die due to its tiny market share it was going for thats all, but as battery tech advances more mix tech cars will be on the road it just takes time to work out the change.

[bobby_brady]

I never understood how this company thinks it could create an all electric vehicle that would sell. Add to all the government regulations.

I can't imagine driving around in an all electric car. I would be nervous all the time about trying to make it back home to recharge. That alone is a major blow. I think the plug in hybrids have it right, where at least you got the gas engine as a backup. In addition, what if you are driving around and need to recharge? Then what? find a gas station and hope they let you recharge and have to wait several hours???

[PopTech]

Wow the car that needs 32 hours to charge = joke.

32 hours needed to charge Tesla using 15-amp 110 volt outlet (Edmunds)
http://blogs.edmunds.com/straightline/2008/07/32-hours-needed-to-charge-tesla-using-15-amp-110-volt-outlet.html

[michaelo1966]

Have one of the Big Three use 1/250th of their $25B that's earmarked for alternative fuel vehicles. If they build the Tesla in an existing plant, and use employees that actually know how to build cars, they might even get a vehicle out the door.

[gordianknots]

I've heard that Tesla's goal is to become the next GM; that's not gonna happen. Could they become a niche manufacturer like Lotus? Sure. If tens of thousands of people are willing to buy Ferraris and Lamborghinis because they go stupidly fast or BWMs/Mercedes because they are "well made" (whatever that means; they do terribly in Consumer Report's reliability survey), I suspect there are at least an equal number of people willing to pay a premium for a car that doesn't burn gas, has great acceleration, goes acceptably fast (but only twice the legal limit) and is advertised as "well made".

That said, if Tesla has any success at all, mainstream manufacturers will start copying them. One rule in business is that you cover competitors' moves even if they seem to be long shots, so I'm surprised no one has reacted to Tesla yet. At this juncture, someone like Porsche could shut Tesla down by announcing a competing vehicle. After all, would you rather own a car from cash strapped Tesla that's been around for a couple years and founded by software guys or an established sport car brand name like Porsche?