• Tesla Motors announced last week that they’ve filed plans for their Initial Public Offering.
• They are seeking to raise $100 million through the IPO.
• To date, Tesla has raised $240 million from investors and VC’s as well as a $465 million loan from the DOE.

• Fisker’s been all around the blogosphere lately.  Of course we all heard about the $529 million loan they just received from the Department of Energy.
• They just opened their flagship retail store in Los Angeles with 32 planned locations across the US.
• LA Dealer, Mike Sullivan says they’ve already had 120 reservations for the plug-in hybrid, of which 2/3rd of those he says “you would recognize on the cover of a magazine.”  Even with that being said, he’s confident he’ll be able to sell 15 per month once they’re in full production.  Sounds like wishful thinking to me, judging by all the hurdles Tesla’s had to go through thus far.  That being said, if all 32 locations could keep up with Mike’s forcast, that’d be 9600 Karmas in the first year.
• Even further on the celebrity tip, we just learned that, believe or not, the Karma was actually inspired by Leonardo Dicapprio.
• It’s also not much of a surprise to hear that Tesla CEO, Elon Musk has “some reservations about the feasibility of Fisker’s approach.”  He thinks “Fisker is very far from overcoming those [engineering obstacles to build an electric car].”
• Whether Musk’s statements are valid or not doesn’t take away from the fact that it’ll be exciting to see how everything pans out for Fisker.
• I want them to succeed, I mean, how else is the price going to get driven down so I can buy one?  Keep up the good work guys.

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5. Tata Nano increases production to keep up with strong demand.  Like I said, a carbon emissions nightmare.

• GM just sold 80% of the Hummer brand to Tengzhong and 20% to a private investor for $150 million.  They apparently have plans to manufacture a “green” hummer.  Good luck with that.

• Popular car sharing service, ZipCar, just made it that much easier for you techies out there with their new official iPhone app.
• You can find, reserve, and even control your ZipCar through the app.  Users are able to unlock and lock their car, and even beep the horn if you forget where/what car you were driving.
• The app’s free and is currently in the Appstore.  Go cop that ish!

• Electric Scooter manufacturer, Vectrix, is officially bankrupt.  They’ve just recently filed for Chapter 11 protection.
• The company plans to stay in business and will auction their assets of right over $5 million on or around Oct. 29th this year.

• EV startup darling, Tesla Motors, coming straight off a $465 million loan from the DOE, has managed to bring in an additional $82.5 million in private equity financing from London-based Fjord Capital Management.
• Although Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, confirmed that they weren’t looking for money, the investment, he explained will go towards an international build out of Tesla retail stores, mostly in European countries.

• Daimler’s done it again.  They’ve chosen another startup to partner with on the new EV version of the Smart Fortwo city car.
• Back in May, they teamed up with Tesla Motors for battery pack technology, and now they’ve chose Campbell California’s Coulomb Technologies to be their preferred U.S. charging station supplier for the Fortwo.
• Great news for a great startup with tons of potential.  Progress is great.

• Obama’s Cash For Clunker program, which allows consumers to turn in cars that receive 18mpg or less for a $4500 rebate towards a new, more fuel efficient vehicle, burned through its original $1 Billion cash infusion faster than a drunk in Vegas.
• No worries to all you low-mpg drivers though, the Senate just approved a $2 billion extension to keep the program going.
• So far, an impressive 220,000 vehicles have been turned in, amounting to right around $923 millions in rebates.

• The seemingly endless drama surrounding Tesla Motors ccontinues today with some fresh breaking news.  Co-founder, Martin Eberhard, who was kicked out of the company back in November 2007, by now CEO Elon Musk, is sueing Musk and Tesla Motors for slander, libel, and breach of contract.
• Tesla spokesperson. Rachel Konrad had the following to say “This lawsuit is a fictionalized, inaccurate account of Tesla’s early years — it’s twisted and wrong, and we welcome the opportunity to set the record straight. Incidentally, Tesla will also be filing counterclaims and in the process present an accurate account of the company’s history.”
• Check out the 146 page filing yourself here.  This one may get nasty, stay tuned as the drama unfolds.

• Not really sure why Tesla is publicly celebrating their 500th delivered roadster, considering that less than a week ago, they recalled 345 of them.  Nonetheless, yes, Tesla has delivered their 500th roadster to a New Jersey recipient.  Good work Tesla, hopefully the next time we hear from you, it’ll have something to do with the Model S?  Yes? Good.

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• Just after Tesla received some great news last week, some almost equally as bad news just came in.  Tesla is recalling 345 of its Roadsters made between March 2008 and April 2009.
• Here’s what the Office of Defects had to say: “Bolts on some of these vehicles may be under-torqued and may become loose. A loose hub could lead to degradation in vehicle handling, and a rubbing noise from the rear vehicle…If the problem is not addressed promptly, the driver could lose control of the vehicle, which could lead to a crash.”
• Here’s what Tesla had to say: “The rear, inner hub flange bolts on a small percentage of Roadster vehicles were improperly torqued during assembly by Lotus, the contract manufacturer of the Roadster chassis. Lotus is conducting a similar recall on some Lotus Elise and Exige vehicles…Tesla will make house calls to service cars at owners’ homes or offices or to pick up the car and take it to a repair facility if necessary. Service will be performed at no cost to the customer and will include a complimentary, full-vehicle inspection and software upgrade.”
• Considering that as of mid-May Tesla had delivered a total of 400 Roadsters, I’m sure you won’t find a very happy Elon Musk in his office today.

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• Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, announced in Stuttgart, Germany this morning that the bay area based, EV startup has sold 10% of the company to Daimler AG for a “double-digit million-dollar sum.”
• The partnership revolves around Tesla providing battery packs for Mercedes-Benz’s Smart EV’s, slated to hit the market in 2012.
• As a result, Daimler will now have a spot on Tesla’s board of directors.
• In the normal, we’re-so-much-more-solid-than-you-think-we-are tone that has become  consistent with Elon Musk’s public appearances, he mentioned that they could’ve received a higher share price from a private investor, but decided to go with the auto giant because “Daimler brings the expertise of everything else.”
• UPDATE: Michael Arrington, over at TechCrunch just did a little math of his own and according to him, Daimler paid $50 million for 9% of the company, implying the value of Tesla to be right around $550 million.  You guys think that’s a fair valuation?

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• Project Better Place just unveiled this 2-minute long video displaying their battery swap station technology.
• Looks awesome to me…..one slight problem: the battery swapping gadget costs right around $500k per station.
• Although many people are nay-saying the viability of Better Place’s subscription based business model, the efficiency shown in this video does put a little more credibility into Better Place’s battery swapping efforts.

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• The discussion revolving around the auto world’s newest emissions nightmare, the Tata Nano, is one that must happen.  First off, this car is a rear (gasoline) engine four-seater that costs $2,000, aiming primarly at the Indian market.  It’s without a doubt an amazing feat to see manufacturing processes get down to this level, but as this car unleashes on a Hot, Flat, and Crowded world, there’s no telling the damage it could cause.
• It’s quite obvious that demand is there.  This opens up doors to an international market segment that until recently was never tapped by the auto industry due to high cost of entry.  Back when the car was unveiled in January, the company informed they’d be able to produce 100,000 cars this year.  Well, it’s only May, and they’ve already received 230,000 orders.  It seems to me if what we’re seing right now is the first-mover, innovater period, then there won’t be just thousands of orders soon, there will be millions.
• I’m very interested to hear people’s take on this issue.  Do you think Tata’s cruising for a carbon emissions nightmare, or will it not play a big enough part to worry about?

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