"A similar approach was used by the Apollo Lunar Lander," Tesla said in its statement.

Tesla: Our crash test score is better than perfect

By Peter Valdes-Dapena @peterdrives August 20, 2013: 11:18 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The Tesla Motors Model S electric car recently earned the highest possible rating of five stars in government crash tests.

But that announcement wasn't good enough for the image-conscious company and its charismatic founder, Elon Musk.

In fact, Tesla said Monday -- 11 days after the test results were announced -- that the Model S earned the highest crash test scores of any car ever tested.

"Of all vehicles tested, including every major make and model approved for sale in the United States, the Model S set a new record for the lowest likelihood of injury to occupants," Tesla said in its statement.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's five-star safety rating system operates like the letter grade system used in classrooms in which any score above 90 is an A. While one student might get a 92 and another a 98; both would be A students.

Tesla is saying, essentially, that it got an A plus in NHTSA's crash tests. And it got the best A plus ever.

Spokespeople for NHTSA were not immediately available to comment on Tesla's claims.

Tesla attributed its stellar performance partly to the lack of a gasoline engine under the hood, allowing the front end of the car to function as nothing but an enormous impact-absorbing "crush zone."

The Model S also outperformed other models in the government's side pole impact test that mimics a vehicle sliding sideways into a post or tree. This is one of the most dangerous types of impacts. The Model S did exceptionally well in this test because of aluminum rods placed in the side of the vehicle, Tesla said.

"A similar approach was used by the Apollo Lunar Lander," Tesla said in its statement.

The Model S also outdid every other model in rollover resistance, Tesla said, "with the other top vehicles being approximately 50% worse." During separate independent testing, the Model S simply refused to turn over during even the hardest turns and "special means" were needed to get the car to flip, according to Tesla.

The reason the car is so stable, Tesla said, is that its large, flat battery is mounted in the floor of the car, creating a very low center of gravity.

As you might expect by now, the Model S also topped other cars in the roof crush test. In a independent validation of the Model S's roof crush strength, Tesla said, the car's roof was so strong that it broke the testing machine. In fact, according to Tesla, four fully loaded Model S sedans could be placed on top of a Model S without crushing the roof.

Tesla also pointed out that, so far, no Tesla batteries have ever caught fire even after high speed impacts.

"While this is statistically unlikely to remain the case long term, Tesla is unaware of any Model S or Roadster occupant fatalities in any car ever," the automaker said.

Just earlier this week, Tesla received praise when it released a statement bragging that its Model S received a 5.4-Star crash test rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Turns out, however, it didn’t.

Here’s what the Tesla release said: “NHTSA does not publish a star rating above 5, however safety levels better than 5 stars are captured in the overall Vehicle Safety Score (VSS) provided to manufacturers, where the Model S achieved a new combined record of 5.4 stars.”

Here’s what the NHTSA said in response on its website: “NHTSA does not rate vehicles beyond 5 stars and does not rank or order vehicles within the star rating categories. In addition, the agency has guidelines in place for manufacturers and advertising agencies to follow to ensure that accurate and consistent information is conveyed to the public.”

Essentially, this is the NHTSA’s polite way of reminding Tesla that it A.) Didn’t get a 5.4 rating and B.) Should review the NHTSA guidelines surrounding the citing of its ratings.

Clearly, receiving 5 Stars and breaking some of the testing equipment wasn’t enough for Tesla, it had to go ahead and publish a 5.4-Star rating

Every year, about 180,000 vehicles catch fire across the United States, so a single car fire outside of Seattle on Tuesday that injured no one wouldn't usually catch much notice. Except that the blaze shown above was the first reported fire of a Tesla Model S — and for a company built around making electric vehicle tech mainstream, the fire sparked the old question about whether its batteries were to blame.

While the batteries were involved, the fire wasn't a spontaneous event. The driver of the Model S in Kent, Wash., reported running over a metal object; soon after, the Model S computer system warned of something wrong with the car. As the video below shows (warning: contains explicit language), the fire was contained to the front of the Model S, and according to Tesla, no one was injured. According to the fire report obtained by the Associated Press, the object punctured the front of the battery case, and firefighters had to use a dry chemical to extinguish the flames.

It's the kind of story Tesla has been anticipating for years. Much of Tesla's run from a start-up to a major automaker has been driven by the idea of getting buyers comfortable with putting electric vehicles in their homes. It's why the Model S was designed to look like a typical sedan rather than an electric-powered spaceship, and why many of Tesla's patents involve ways to make its lithium-ion batteries fire-resistant. Just last month, co-founder Elon Musk told Yahoo Autos there had not been a single reported fire in a Model S, and when Boeing needed help redesigning lithium-ion batteries in its Dreamliner passenger jet after a few reported fires, it turned to Tesla.

There's no sign in the video of a widespread battery fire; the battery pack in the Model S runs from roughly the front to rear axle on the bottom of the car and the fire in the video above never breeches the passenger compartment. The front of the Model S is mostly empty space; its electric motors are in the rear, and the flames appear strongest around the carpeted front trunk compartment.

The word of the video, coupled with a stock downgrade from one Wall Street analyst sent Tesla's shares plunging, but investors had clawed back some of those losses by the time the New York Stock Exchange closed Wednesday, with shares rallying to $180.95. That was still enough to lower Tesla's market value by $600 million to just under $22 billion, making it one of the costliest car fires ever — although Tesla shares are still up 400 percent this year. Lithium-ion batteries pose a new kind of fire risk, but for now there's nothing in this case to suggest there anywhere near as flammable as the gallons of gasoline millions of drivers rely on daily.

Tesla: A trap for small investors?

By Hibah Yousuf @CNNMoneyInvest October 1, 2013: 9:20 AM ET

Investors have sold nearly $620 million worth of stocks and exchange-traded funds this year to buy Tesla, according to SigFig.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Tesla is one of the hottest stocks of the year, but individual investors may be about to get burned.

According to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, hedge funds, pensions and other big money managers have been shrinking their stakes in Tesla in recent months. Institutional investor ownership in the stock is down to 66% in September from 84% in January. The most significant drop-off came in July following the best monthly performance ever for Tesla's stock.

But Tesla (TSLA) shares keep flying. The stock hit an all-time high of $194.50 Monday. It is now up 470% so far this year. The Bank of America analysts suggested that the stock's continued rise must be due to more individual investors buying it.

Data backs that up. Investors have sold nearly $620 million worth of their investments in stocks and exchange-traded funds this year to buy Tesla, according to SigFig, a financial advisory start-up that tracks over $100 billion in assets among its users.

Related: What are people selling to buy Tesla?

They've been pulling the most money out of well-known companies such as Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500), Netflix (NFLX), Facebook (FB) and LinkedIn (LNKD) to boost their exposure to Tesla, according to SigFig, which is a partner in CNNMoney's Portfolio tracking feature.

Recent data show about 6% of SigFig's monthly active users own Tesla. On average, Tesla shares make up about 9% of their portfolios.

Online broker TD Ameritrade has also said that individual investors continued to buy the stock through mid-August.

Individual investors are notorious for chasing stock market returns, and Bank of America's analysts are particularly worried about their pursuit of Tesla, as they believe the stock is "vastly overvalued." The stock trades for more than 100 times 2014 earnings estimates.

The analysts have a $45 per share price target on the stock, down more than 75% from current levels. They say individual investors "could be at risk when a correction, which we believe is long overdue, ultimately occurs."

Tesla surprised investors and analysts last month with its second-ever quarterly profit, thanks to a record number of 5,150 Model S deliveries and improved profit margins.

But the Bank of America analysts think investors may be too optimistic about the company's future prospects. According to them, Tesla's current share price implies about 628,000 car sales in 2020, up from an estimated 21,000 this year. They added that generating "luxury margins on a mass market vehicle" may prove to be challenging.

While Bank of America is particularly bearish on Tesla, some other Wall Street analysts also think the stock price may be too high.

Tesla's substantial run-up has sparked plenty of bubble chatter, and the average price target among Wall Street analysts is just under $145 per share. That's about 25% lower than where it is now.

The most bullish analysts aren't forecasting a lot more upside for Tesla stock either.

Deutsche Bank analysts recently raised their price target to $200 per share, up less than 3% from its record high.

Even Tesla CEO Elon Musk has expressed some concern about the company's lofty stock price.

In an interview with CNBC in August, Musk said investors are being "very generous" with their valuation of Tesla.

"I really feel like the valuation we have right now is more than we have any right to deserve honestly," noting that the company's stock price was too high based on historical and even current financial results.

"We'll do our best to honor the faith the market has placed in us," he added. "We need to make sure we really knock the ball out of the park in the coming years."

Tesla sold more green car credits in California over the last year than any other automaker, a new report from the California Air Resources Board reveals.

California, the strictest states in terms of tailpipe emissions, requires a certain percentage of auto sales to be zero-emissions vehicle, with automakers earning credit for each green car they sell. Those credits can then be transferred or sold to other automakers in order to comply with California regulations.



According to CARB, Tesla lead all automakers with 1,311.52 ZEV credits transferred from October 1, 2012, through September 30, 2013. Over the first six months of the year those credit sales earned Tesla $119 million, or 12 percent of its first-half revenue.

Suzuki was second with 40.985 ZEV credit transfers during the period.

Partial zero-emissions vehicle credits are also traded in California, with Toyota racking up the most transfers in that category with 507.5. GM is believed to be the biggest buyer of PEV credits with 507.5 acquired over the last year.

Prices of the credits are not tracked by California as they are done privately between companies, but Dave Clegern, a spokesman for CARB, told Businessweek that automakers covered by the program are “in compliance and that to us is the goal.”

Of note, Suzuki's place on the list is a little confusing as the automaker didn't sell an electric vehicle at the time it departed the United States market in 2012. However, credits for the program date back to 1990, so it could have just been a case of Suzuki cashing out on all of the credits it has accumulated over the last two-decades.

Electric carmaker Tesla says that the driver who wrecked one of its Model S sedans in Merida, Mexico, is interested in buying another vehicle even though his caught fire after the crash.

News reports out of Mexico indicate that the Model S crashed and, after a series of explosions, went up in flames on October 18 in the Yucatan city. The name of the owner and the exact cause of the crash has not been announced.

Despite the dramatic video, Tesla doesn't seem especially concerned with the wreck and it expressed that the car's owner remains confident in its products.

"We were able to contact the driver quickly and are pleased that he is safe," the automaker said in a statement. "This was a significant accident where the car was traveling at such a high speed that it smashed through a concrete wall and then hit a large tree, yet the driver walked away from the car with no permanent injury. He is appreciative of the safety and performance of the car and has asked if we can expedite delivery of his next Model S."

This latest wreck follows up on a highly-publicized incident early this month in Washington state, when another Model S caught fire after road debris punctured its battery pack. The federal government's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration briefly researched the accident but eventually agreed with Tesla CEO Elon Musk that it was not cause for undue concern.

Regardless, shares in Tesla dropped slightly after the Washington wreck and, once again, they slid about 3 percent after today's news.

A report today of the third post-accident fire in in less than six weeks for a Tesla Model S prompted another big drop today in the electric car companies share.

The third crash was near Smyrna, Tenn. -- ironically where Nissan makes its battery-electric Leaf -- a came for a second time after the car hit road debris, according to the Associated Press report.

Previous reported crash fires came in Seattle, after the driver hit road debris that pierced the battery shield, and in Mexico, where the car hit a wall in a traffic circle. Neither driver was hurt.

According to the AP, the latest blaze came Wednesday afternoon and, as in the first two, burned the front of the car according to photos posted on Jalopnik.com and Valuewalk.com. A spokeswoman for the Tennessee Highway Patrol told the AP that the Model S was headed east on Interstate 24 when it ran over a tow hitch. The hitch hit the undercarriage, causing an electrical fire. The driver also was not hurt and escaped after pulling off.

Tesla spokeswoman Liz Jarvis Shean told the AP that the company has sent a team to Tennessee to investigate and that the driver told the company he believes the car saved his life.

Nonetheless, shares of Tesla, which plunged from the $170s Tuesday to the $150s yesterday following analysts disappointment with the company's third-quarter earnings, fell as low as $137.62 this morning.

High-flying Tesla trades more like a speculative report tech stock than an automaker, and its high valuation is vulnerable to the slightest perception of a misstep. Share rose this year by more than 400% before a correction last month, rebounded some and then fell again this week after the earnings report raised analysts concerns about costs, battery supplies and production estimates.