Hasta La Gadget!

Elon Musk is being interviewed tonight at the D11 conference, and gave an early preview of news coming tomorrow: his company’s Supercharger EV stations will be available in more areas soon. The network will triple its coverage area this month, and he predicts Tesla owners will be able to drive from LA to NY using only Superchargers by the end of 2013. As he mentions, the company is adding more density to “well-traveled routes”, as well as increasing overall coverage, but we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to get a map. That’s all consistent with promises made at the network’s launch, when he said it will allow the Model S to drive across the country for free. Another thing making that easier is an incoming software patch for the cars that will let drivers route directly to the nearest Supercharger — perhaps Tesla can get John Broder to give it a shot first.

There’s going to be a dramatic acceleration of the supercharging network. By the end of next month, we’ll triple the supercharger coverage area. There’s a map that’ll go live tomorrow, obviously.

By the end of this year — you’ll be able to drive from LA to NY just using the supercharger network. We’re improving the density of superchargers in well-traveled routes, as well as the overall coverage area.

Follow along with our liveblog right here.

Update: The full video of Musk’s interview at D11 is now available after the break. Enjoy!

Filed under: Transportation

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Elon Musk is a busy man. He’s also a man who isn’t afraid to speak his mind, as we found out during his SXSW keynote earlier this year. This evening, he’s capping off a day of interviews at D11 with one of his own. As CEO of both Tesla Motors and SpaceX, he knows a thing or two about transportation — both within this atmosphere and beyond. Grab a cup of cocoa and join us after the break as we cover it live, won’t you?

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Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week’s most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us — it’s the Week in Green.

News that Amazon will add three large biospheres to its downtown Seattle headquarters had the tech world buzzing this week. The domed structures will feature a mix of workspaces and gardens, and they’ll be flanked by a public park. Amazon’s big announcement wasn’t the week’s only surprise, though. A multinational consortium announced plans to develop a Dubai-style artificial island with a space hotel and a zero-gravity spa off the coast of Barcelona. And new research finds that “pinkhouses” — vertical farms that use only pink light — are much more efficient than those that use the full light spectrum.

Filed under: Misc, Science

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In an announcement let loose today by Tesla Motors, they’ve made it clear that they’re claiming to be “the only American car company to have fully repaid the government.” As over the past several years it’s been a big subject of controversy that the government gave “bailout” funds to companies in many different industries, it’s important to note that this particular loan was not part of the so-called “bailout” rounds given to GM and Chrysler.

Instead, Tesla was part of the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program, a program signed into law by Bush in 2008. The loan funds were awarded under the Obama administration in 2010 as well as “in the years that followed”. Tesla has made clear that both GM and Chrysler were given bailouts because they were bankrupt, while the ATVM program was only available to Tesla Motors because they were in good financial health.

According to Elon Musk:

“I would like to thank the Department of Energy and the members of Congress and their staffs that worked hard to create the ATVM program, and particularly the American taxpayer from whom these funds originate. I hope we did you proud.” – Musk for Tesla

This move to repay the loans given to Tesla by the Department of Energy has made Tesla once again a totally privately funded organization. This is the first time since 2003 that the company has been funded entirely with private funds, mind you, and and this final payment was made using “a portion” of the approximately $1 billion raised last week by the company.

UPDATE: Clarified by a helpful reader, it’s not since 2003 that the company was entirely privately funded – instead it was privately funded from 2003 until 2010, then between 2010 and 2013 (now), it was funded in part by this government loan – now again it’s entirely privately funded.

This $1 billion came from a concurrent set of offerings of common stock and convertible senior notes – and $100 million of common equity was purchased by Elon Musk himself. Today’s payment – the final one, at that – equaled nearly a half-billion at $451.8M in all. This repays Tesla’s loan cash in full, with interest.

For those of you wondering – both GM and Chrysler have paid back their loans, too. But that’s not all the cash they got from the government, depending on how you look at it. Back about a year ago, President Obama mentioned that both company’s loans had been repaid in full.

According to Politifact, while the companies that were formed when the bailouts were made did, indeed pay that money back, the “old” Chrysler and “old” GM have not necessarily made that move – it may be that, all things considered, there will be no complete payment by the auto industry back to the government. But again, it’s all about your point of view.

Tesla becomes “only American car company to have fully repaid the government” is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Consumers in North Carolina have welcomed Tesla Motors with open arms, having purchased 80 cars and having reserved another 60, such a quantity that Tesla has opened a servicing center in the state. While consumers have been receptive, it has been a different story with state dealerships and the accompanying salespersons, both of which are side-stepped by Tesla’s direct retails sales methods.

Tesla sells its popular electric vehicle via its own website, as well as its expanding series of retail stores. Such is the nature of Tesla Motors, and it is working well for them, doing all the work – right down to delivering the vehicle – on its own. Consumers don’t seem to mind. That hasn’t stopped North Carolina from going after the company – and others offering direct vehicle sales – via a legislative proposal.

Under the bill, which is being pushed heavily by the North Carolina Automobile Dealers Association, no car maker would be allowed to directly sell its own vehicles within the state, thus eschewing traditional conventions of dealerships. Late yesterday, the NC Senate’s Commerce Committee approved the proposal – unanimously – to block such actions. Despite its unanimous approval, the resulting bill will be reduced in some ways, such as removing wording that designates any service providing a computer that is used to order a Tesla Model S as a dealership.

Not surprisingly, Tesla Motors isn’t happy about the approved proposal, nor the thought of being forced to offer its vehicles through state dealerships. The direct sales method of offering the buying public its vehicles is part of Tesla’s image – it gives the vehicle purchase that little something extra, a feel of being super special or getting something that transcends the normal.

In fact, Tesla Motor’s VP of Corporate and Business Development Diarmuid O’Connell compared being forced to sell through dealerships as being like selling a fine wine in a mall’s food court. “They’re trying to insulate the dealer franchise model from any competition. It’s a protectionist move to lock down the market so we have to go through the middleman – the dealer – to sell our cars.”

SOURCE: News Observer

Tesla Motors direct retail sales challenged in North Carolina is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.