Green Options

Editor’s note: Jo is our newest addition to the Gas 2.0 team. He’s written for us before as a guest writer, but this marks his transition to full fledged writer status. We’re pleased to have him on board. Welcome Jo!

Envied worldwide for producing feather-lite supercars just itching to be made into electric torque monsters (even Tesla has borrowed heavily from the Lotus parts bin), Lotus has indicated it wants to enter the world of exotic electric cars itself - perhaps even as soon as late 2009.

Ever since the late Colin Chapman began building his own sportscars under the Lotus brand (way back in 1952!) the company has followed a simple philosophy for its go-fast racers: add lightness.  “Adding lightness” meant that Chapman’s cars were incredibly efficient - using less fuel and fewer tires than the competition.

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.

And the folks at Earth2Tech were there to snap some pictures (like the one above). A sweet ride that’s all electric…