Green Options

Three more car companies received sizeable loans from the federal government yesterday, but don’t worry; it’s not another bailout. In fact, the$8 billion is just the start of a larger $25 billion project called the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program (ATVM for short) that was thought up back in 2007 and funded by Congress in late 2008 during the Bush administration. The project, overseen by the Department of Energy, is a federal grant and loan initiative bent on providing [...]

Dr. Lyle Dennis of GM-Volt.com reported today that Tesla Motors’ CEO Elon Musk is not a fan of the plug-in hybrid concept—specifically the Chevy Volt—saying that it is “neither fish nor fowl and ends up being worse. . .than either a gasoline or pure electric vehicle.”

Just last week, Tesla officially announced their Model S 4-door electric sedan. The Model S has a range of about 300 miles and costs roughly $49,000 after Federal Tax Credits.

What does a Tesla Model S really cost to operate? Crunch the numbers and the results may be a bit surprising.

By now we’ve all heard about the new four door, seven seater (5 adults + 2 kids), all electric eco monster from Tesla — the Model S. We’ve seen the pictures of the gorgeous beast and we’ve had our chance to let the lust settle.

But the thing that’s been bothering me, and surely many of you, is that it still feels like Tesla is making cars with a decidedly un-populist bent. Tesla has been claiming for a long time now that their business plan is to start with the high end market, make some money, learn some lessons, and subsequently release cars that the rest of us can afford — using that money and those lessons to get there.

About 7 hours ago (even though pics were leaked a bit earlier), Tesla Motors finally took the wraps off their electric sedan, the Model S. 

The sedan—which will cost about half as much as the Roadster—is intended to be a more practical and affordable alternative to their $109,000 sports car. Tesla anticipates a base price of about $49,900 after taking into account the electric vehicle federal tax credit of $7,500. If you include the cost of buying gas (at $4 per gallon of course) the price drops down to about $35,000.

Tesla fans, you’ve got a friend in Digg founder Kevin Rose. He managed to get his hands on what look to be three press photos of Tesla’s upcoming Model S sedan, and proceeded to leak them out to the public.

Gearing up for an offical public debut at the 2009 North American International Auto Show next month, Fisker Automotive has released photos of what they’re calling the final production version of the Fisker Karma luxury plug-in hybrid electric sedan set to start rolling of the production line at the end of next year.

After the big three Detroit auto makers essentially had their rear-ends handed to them in a bag by Washington politicians last week, they have been scrambling to find ways to get the money they feel they need to stay alive — and their proposed solutions are making Tesla cringe.

Last year, when the US congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA), a $25 billion fund called the “Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Incentive Program” (ATVM) was established to help new and existing auto makers re-tool their operations to bring next generation car technologies to market quickly. Just this month, the program started accepting applications for funds from interested parties.

After announcements last month that Tesla will be laying off some employees, scaling back the release schedule of the upcoming Model S, and restructuring the company’s management, Tesla has now announced that they have secured an additional $40 million of funding from “almost all current major investors.”

In a major coup for the city of San Jose, CA, Tesla Motors — of Roadster fame — has chosen a 90-acre lot in an industrial area of the city as the site of its new manufacturing facility and headquarters.

Back in June, the Governator himself was lamenting about the prospect that Tesla Motors — one of the state’s own shining green corporate stars — might pass up California in favor of New Mexico as the location for its future facilities.

But, after some serious wheeling and dealing, Schwarzenegger convinced Tesla that California was the right place to build by promising beucoup tax incentives and major financial help. His package included a government-funded lease-to-own option that would save Tesla from purchasing $100 million of equipment up front, and waive $8 million in taxes to boot.

Above and beyond the state’s financial incentives, the deal with San Jose involves a 40-year lease in which Tesla has the first 10 years rent-free and all development fees rebated in the form of tax credits. Gotta hand it to Tesla, they certainly know how to work the system.

While the kinks are worked out, Tesla is starting to move Roadsters off the production line slowly.

27 Roadsters are currently in various stages of assembly, and the company hopes to reach a monthly production rate of 100 cars by this December.

In a blog post on the company website, Tesla CEO Ze’ev Drori has reprinted the content of a note he sent to customers last Friday in which he states that Tesla has finally “broken the logjam” and already delivered 9 Roadsters to California.