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Tesla Motors has reported a net first-quarter loss of $89.9 million, considerably more than the $48.9 million loss it reported a year earlier. The company’s first-quarter revenue was $30.2 million, a statistic which marked a drop of 38 percent over the same time period last year.

The relatively negative results are attributed to the end of the Roadster’s career and to the cost of developing and launching the much-awaited Model S sedan.

The widening losses put Tesla in a risky situation but founder Elon Musk is confident that the company is not in any serious trouble. He described 2012 as a “year with two halves,” with the dividing line being the launch of the Model S. The all-electric sedan is expected to be the source of 90 percent of Tesla’s total revenues in 2012.

Tesla claims that it already has over 10,000 orders for the Model S. That is a significant number since the company has not opened any new dealerships in the first quarter of this year.

To deal with the growing demand Tesla plans on delivering the first Model S sedans next June, a full month ahead of schedule. The precise date depends on when the car will be crash-tested by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“I do not know where we are in the [NHTSA testing] queue,” said Musk in an interview. “We are very confident that it will be a five-star safety rating, the safest car on the road. We have certain architectural advantages, like a much longer crumple zone in the front because we don’t have to make room for an engine.”

Tesla’s future is also assured by partnerships with other automakers. The all-electric RAV4 that Toyota revealed in Los Angeles earlier this week was co-developed with Tesla. The California-based company has also signed a major agreement with Daimler.

“This program [with Daimler] is expected to exceed in value the sum of all powertrain agreements signed in Tesla history,” said Tesla in a statement.

The company’s bright future has led to it raise its annual revenue outlook by $10 million to at least $560 million.

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Tesla Motors will launch its smaller electric sedan in late 2016, with a range of at least 200 miles and a price point "half" of the flagship Model S, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said.

Musk's timeline, range and price announcement is the most definitive data so far regarding the so-called "Gen III" vehicle. The current Model S starts at $62,400, meaning the Gen III car will start at about the same price as the Nissan Leaf SV and have triple the real-world range.

Speaking at the annual meeting of shareholders on Tuesday in Mountain View, Calif., Musk said the Gen III will have a "family resemblance" in design to the current lineup. He hinted that the car might have "some autopilot or self-driving elements," but cautioned that those features might not be ready when the car first goes on sale.

"A significant improvement in technology is needed to have a compelling affordable electric car. To be compelling, it must have a useful range of 200 miles," Musk said.

Tesla is working with Panasonic on new battery-cell electrochemistry that is optimized for automotive use, Musk said. He added that he is "pretty optimistic" that advances in energy storage and energy density technology can be made "without any miracles happening."

Regarding current vehicle sales, Musk said that U.S. demand for the Model S is holding steady at 15,000 units per year through the second quarter. Tesla will begin shipping cars to Europe in late June, and to Asia in the fourth quarter. Including those markets, demand is about 40,000 annualized vehicles. A slide shown to investors said demand was about 30,000 units, but Musk said the correct number is 40,000 during his speech.

As for vehicle deliveries this calendar year, Tesla will physically deliver about 21,000 units, said Musk, sporting a casual maroon t-shirt with the Tesla logo vertically splashed up the torso.

Most of Musk's audience at the meeting has made a lot of money on Tesla stock. A year ago, the shares were trading for $27.91. They closed Tuesday at $94.84. At one point last week, the shares topped $110.

Strong cash position

Musk said Tesla's cash position, even after paying off the Department of Energy loan, is about $760 million.

"That is sufficient cash to survive a natural disaster, like an earthquake in California or a supplier going bankrupt, so as not to be flying at treetop level," Musk said. "Not that we want to be less cautious about our cash management, but the [extra cash] means, even if we suck at cash management, we'll be okay."

Musk believes that Tesla's gross margins can be about 25 percent for the Model S sedan and Model X crossover. The less expensive Gen III cars will obviously carry tighter margins, but with a higher volume over which to divide fixed costs.

"I would rather sell the car for less than get the highest gross margin," Musk said.

Supercharging network

Tesla recently announced that its Supercharger network has improved its recharging speed from 45 minutes down to 20 minutes to regain most of the battery's range. Musk suggested that a live demonstration on June 20 will show that advance is not the limit of recharging technology. He hinted that the Superchargers could recharge a car faster than a gasoline counterpart.

Musk said he is open to licensing Tesla battery and charging technology to other automakers.

"We would have to ask for some compensation, because cost of the Supercharging network is built into the price of the car," Musk said. "Others can join us, or copy us, or think of something better."

Retail update

On the retail front, despite recent setbacks in Texas, North Carolina and Virginia, Tesla will continue to battle national and state auto dealer associations regarding the automaker's factory-store model, Musk said.

"Auto dealers very influential among state legislatures. People think it's the Mom and Pop dealers who are doing this, but it's not. It's the giant auto dealers, the big national auto dealers that have the big money to spend," Musk said.

Citing poll data showing between 86 percent and 99 percent of those surveyed approving of Tesla's retail model, a suddenly emotional Musk said, "If democracy is working and legislators are implementing the will of the people, there wouldn't be legislation trying to restrict direct sales.

"Auto dealers are crowing how they were able to defeat us in Texas and how they are making progress in North Carolina. Crowing about the perversion of democracy is just wrong."

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LOS ANGELES -- A pending rule change by the California Air Resources Board could limit Tesla Motors' ability to earn money by selling zero-emissions credits -- a key factor in the company's first-quarter profit.

The agency is evaluating whether to eliminate the "fast-refueling" rule that allows electric vehicles with quick-swap batteries to gain bonus credits under CARB's regulations. Those zero-emissions credits are worth big money on the open market, bought by other automakers that can't comply with clean-air regulations because of the nature of their vehicle fleets.

Tesla's first-quarter profit -- the first in the company's history and key to the automaker's subsequent stock-price run-up -- resulted from being able to sell its ZEV credits.

Tesla's $11.2 million profit hinged on $67.9 million in ZEV credits, and "other regulatory credits" totaling $17.1 million. From operations, Tesla lost $73.8 million, compared with a first-quarter 2012 loss of $89.9 million.

The company declined to make an executive available to comment. But during the first-quarter earnings call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the emissions credits would decline during the year as more vehicles are sold overseas. He pledged that by the fourth quarter Tesla would be profitable purely on automotive operations.

October decision

CARB began discussions in May to eliminate the battery-swap rule. A decision should be made at the board's October meeting, said Analisa Bevan, chief of CARB's of sustainable transportation technology branch.

Earning the top level of ZEV credits requires an EV to achieve 300 miles of city-only range and refill to 95 percent capacity in 15 minutes. Tesla's 85kW Model S falls short of that requirement with its Supercharger plug-in network, but attains the top credit level by changing batteries.

"I won't presuppose what the outcomes are going to be," Bevan said in an interview. "We proposed eliminating the definition, but we have talked about a lot of possibilities in the interim."

Tesla's emissions credits would not be nullified retroactively, Bevan said. But should Tesla lose its bonus for quick-change batteries, the credits-per-car-sold would be worth substantially less.

In its first-quarter earnings statement, Tesla cautioned that "any inability to sell additional regulatory credits may negatively impact our ability to maintain profitability in the short term."

By 2018, the ruling will be moot, Bevan said, as all ZEV credits then will be based purely on range.

Battery swapping

"I don't think [Tesla] did this just to get credits," Bevan said. "It's to get an additional market advantage, another feature to their car to make it acceptable to consumers. To put in battery-swap stations, that's a longer view than just getting credits."

As for why CARB might change the ruling, CARB spokesman David Clegern said, "We were worried an OEM might make the battery swappable, but not have any supporting locations or infrastructure available to the user."

When Tesla originally filed paperwork with CARB to start producing cars in California, there was no rule in place regarding quick-change batteries, so Tesla appealed to CARB to include it under fast-charging guidelines.

Tesla's upgrade request was approved on Sept. 18, 2012. On Dec. 18, CARB granted the three Model S trim levels updated ZEV credit levels from their existing level worth four credits per car. The 85kW version was given Tier V status, worth seven emissions credits, the 60kW version was Tier IV, worth five emissions credits, while the base 40kW version would remain at four credits.

Although Tesla said the credits sold were worth $67.9 million in its SEC filings, it did not have to disclose to whom it sold the credits, how many it sold, or how many credits it still has.

Based on R.L. Polk registration figures from the first quarter, Tesla would have gained about $19,000 in emissions credits for each of the 3,537 Model S sedans sold in the 14 states that follow CARB's emissions laws under so-called "Section 177" rules.

First profits

Tesla's first-ever profit got Wall Street's attention. From a price that was in the low-$30 range per share for most of a year, the stock jumped to more than $100 within a month. A recent warning from one analyst that the stock was superheated drove the stock from $127 a share to below $110, but it soon recovered. Last Thursday, the stock closed at $133.55 a share.

Whether Tesla remains a Wall Street darling could hinge on whether it continues to earn emissions credits. But Jefferies & Co. analyst Elaine Kwei noted that with alternative energy companies, "You have booms and busts when subsidies come and go."

She said that in pricing Tesla stock, analysts looked at more than the emissions credits. Hitting production targets and overcoming supplier inefficiencies, as well as bearish investors unloading a massive short position, have driven Tesla's stock price higher.

The company's shares closed today at $144.68, up 4.8 percent, or $6.68.

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Although Tesla said the credits sold were worth $67.9 million in its SEC filings, it did not have to disclose to whom it sold the credits, how many it sold, or how many credits it still has.

Based on R.L. Polk registration figures from the first quarter, Tesla would have gained about $19,000 in emissions credits for each of the 3,537 Model S sedans sold in the 14 states that follow CARB's emissions laws under so-called "Section 177" rules.

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Tesla may have a Model E vehicle in the works, or it may just want to call dibs on the name.

Earlier this month, the company filed three trademark applications for the name "Model E," according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Web site. The Aug. 5 applications refer to use of the name in "automobiles and structural parts therefore," automobile maintenance and repair services, as well as apparel.

A status message posted on each of the applications on Aug. 13 notes that they will be assigned to a patent office attorney for examination in about three months.

A Tesla spokeswoman declined to comment on the application.

In a Q&A on car enthusiast blog Jalopnik last year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk suggested the possibility of a Model E vehicle.

"There will definitely be more models after the S and X. Maybe an E :)," Musk wrote.

A coveted name

In 2000, Ford Motor Co. filed a lawsuit against Model E Corporation, an online automotive startup, alleging that "Model E" is too similar to the company's historic Model T car. A judge dismissed the case on the grounds that Ford failed to allege a proper basis for suing Model E in Michigan.

Ford also abandoned or cancelled trademark applications for "Model E" in 2001 and 2002, according to the USPTO site.

Earlier Thursday, Ford spokesman Jay Cooney said the company likely won't challenge Tesla's application.

But later Thursday evening, he said Ford will review the registration and the company would have no further comment.

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<header class="article-header"> How Tesla Batteries Are Powering an Energy Revolution

</aside>
<figure class="article-image">
http://rack.1.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyM.../cd3/tesla.jpg

</header> Those Tesla Motors lithium-ion battery packs aren’t just powering electric luxury sports sedans for the 1% any more.
They’ve started appearing in a small number of California homes to store electricity generated by rooftop solar panels, and beginning today SolarCity, the Silicon Valley solar installer, will start providing Tesla batteries for businesses that want to cut their utility bills. A big box retailer like Walmart could charge up a Tesla battery pack with cheap energy produced by its SolarCity rooftop photovoltaic array and then tap that power when demand — and electricity rates — spike.

That would let them minimize paying their local utility high “demand charges” for electricity when they need it most. And the cost of the SolarCity’s system, called DemandLogic, effectively zero, according to SolarCity, since the monthly payments for energy storage would be less than the money saved by not forking over cash to the utility.
And if that sounds like a threat to century-old monopoly utilities, it is.“Our business model is to become the energy company of the 21st century,” SolarCity chief executive Lyndon Rive told The Atlantic. “You’re still connected to the grid but the grid would be your secondary provider and the primarily provider would be your solar system and your storage device.” For now, though, it’s only a minor threat to utilities that levy high demand charges, such as those in California and parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut where SolarCity is offering DemandLogic. And to get the Tesla battery pack you have to sign up for a solar array, which means only businesses with low-rise buildings and flat roof — retailers, corporate campuses — can take advantage of going solar.

But the trend is clear. Another Silicon Valley company, Stem, has begun installing 54-kilowatt-per-hour lithium-ion battery packs for corporate customers, allowing them to store electricity from the grid when rates are low and use that power when demand charges spike.
While Stem is a startup, the utilities should be particularly wary of SolarCity and its partnership with Tesla Motors. (Tesla chief executive Elon Musk serves as SolarCity’s chairman and is Rive’s cousin.) Tesla and SolarCity’s combined market cap — $21.3 billion — exceeds that of the parent companies of Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison, the two big California utilities whose customers Rive covets.

And SolarCity is pioneering the securitization of solar — giving it the ability to dip into a potentially vast pool of capital by packaging leases for photovoltaic systems into asset-backed notes that are sold to pension funds, hedge funds and other deep-pocketed investors.
Rive says DemandLogic should save commercial customers 20% in demand charges. The system’s algorithms constantly monitor electricity supply and demand, charging and discharging the battery to minimize drawing expensive electricity from the power grid. The size of the battery pack will be customized for each business but would be able to store roughly 30% of the electricity generated by the solar array. And the Tesla batteries provide backup power if the grid goes down in an earthquake or storm — a key selling point as climate change spawns increasingly powerful hurricanes and tornadoes.

While energy-storage systems would cut utilities’ revenues, they would also help them balance supply and demand on the grid as increasing amounts of renewable but intermittent electricity are generated by wind and solar farms.
Lithium-ion batteries remain expensive, and Rive and SolarCity spokesman Jonathan Bass was sketchy on the details on how the economics pencil out when providing energy storage to customers for no money down.
But growing economies of scale are in SolarCity and Tesla’s favor. “In places with high costs of electricity, I think you’ll see up to 50% of solar systems will have energy storage,” says Rive.

"The economics and scale that Tesla has achieved in the automotive market now make stationary energy storage more cost effective and reliable than it has ever been in the past," JB Straubel, Tesla's chief technical officer and co-founder, said in a statement. "We expect this market to grow very rapidly now that we have crossed this economic threshold.”

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Tesla has delivered on its promise of an all-electric coast-to-coast trip being possible by this winter, activating the 69th and 70th Superchargers in its growing network. But, while it's technically possible to drive a Tesla Model S from New York to Los Angeles, the route itself is a bit... unusual. The Supercharger Trail as we'll call it (in a 21st century update to the Oregon Trail) takes a hard turn south in South Dakota as it progresses from east to west, down through Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and then on to California. At about 3,560 miles, it's not the most efficient way to get from NY to LA, and one will need to add charging time on top of the estimated 53-hour trip.

Back in the spring of 2013, Tesla made the announcement that it would install hundreds of superchargers across the U.S. and parts of southern Canada, with the goal of covering 98 percent of the U.S. by 2015. Just 21 Superchargers were installed by September of last year, but Tesla picked up the pace in recent months, installing the most recent ones just days ago.

A Supercharger can charge a Tesla Model S to 50 percent capacity in just 20 minutes, and up to 80 percent in 40 minutes; the rollout of the Supercharger network has been seen by Tesla as crucial in its goal of eliminating range anxiety. Speaking of range, the Model S has an EPA-rated range of 265 miles, though Tesla says 300 miles is possible if cruising at 55 mph.

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Tesla to Stop Selling Electric Cars in New Jersey

Auto Maker's Stores Violate New State Rules Against Direct-to-Consumer Sales

Updated March 11, 2014 7:50 p.m. ET

Tesla Motors Inc. will stop selling its luxury electric cars in New Jersey on April 1, after the state said Tuesday it wouldn't license the company to sell vehicles directly to consumers, bypassing franchised dealers.

The defeat for Tesla, which owns its own stores, came despite a furious 11th-hour lobbying effort. A senior Tesla executive had accused New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie of breaking a deal to hold off on a rule change requiring all car retailers in the state to have a franchise agreement with an auto maker. The New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission approved the rule change Tuesday.

Mr. Christie's spokesman countered that Tesla knew that it was operating outside state laws.

Tesla has been battling in New Jersey and other states to defend its direct-sales model against attacks by franchised dealers representing rival brands.

Tesla's problems have their roots in decades of mistrust between independent car dealers and auto makers. Over the years, dealers have fended off efforts by the auto makers to set up company-run stores that could compete with them. The dealers have pushed for—and won—state legislation to protect their franchises.

Dealers fear Tesla's model could cause directing selling to spread to other manufacturers, ending a century-old system that protects the sales territories and investments of many independent businesspeople.

Jim Appleton, president of the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers, said Tesla was well aware of the proposed rule change and submitted comments on it when the proposal was under public review.

"Tesla is making a big play today in trying to drag political and legal intrigue into this battle when none exists," Mr. Appleton said.

He added that the New Jersey vehicle agency made a mistake in giving Tesla a license in the first place, since its direct-sales model was illegal under state law.

Tesla officials have defended the model, saying that electric-car technology is new and requires the manufacturer to play a hands-on role in educating consumers. Tesla, which is based in Palo Alto, Calif., sells just one electric-car model, which starts at $71,000. Last year, it sold 22,400 cars globally.

Diarmuid O'Connell, Tesla's vice president of business development, said Tuesday that the New Jersey move amounts to a "death penalty" for the company's two auto stores in the state and could encourage dealers in other states to follow suit by attacking the company through regulation, rather than legislation.

"This is at the very least disappointing, if not outright outrageous what's going on with our business in N.J. right now," Mr. O'Connell said.

A spokesman for Gov. Christie said that his administration made clear to Tesla when it began operating in New Jersey a year ago that it would need legislation to establish direct-sales operations under state law. The change made Tuesday was the final step in a rule-making process that began in October and has been open to public comment.

"They've been portraying this as sprung upon them, but that's just not true," the spokesman said. "Tesla has been aware of this position from the beginning."

New Jersey is now the third state in which Tesla is banned from selling cars directly to consumers. The other two are Texas and Arizona.

Tesla has been successful in knocking down legislative efforts in other states to block its direct-to-consumer sales.

Tesla operates two retail stores in New Jersey with 27 employees and had plans for more. It is unclear whether the Tesla stores would revert to "galleries," showrooms in which consumers can check out vehicles but not buy them.

Mr. O'Connell called the gallery option a "suboptimal" situation. A Tesla spokesman said it isn't certain whether the company can sell cars online to New Jersey residents.

Tesla also is facing new challenges in Ohio, where legislation has been proposed to prevent direct sales. Tesla officials worry that the approach taken in New Jersey could eventually be adopted by dealer groups in other states if it works in shutting down its stores.

"They've found it difficult to advance their arguments in the light of day," Mr. O'Connell said. "They have increasingly gone underground."

Tesla hasn't ruled out countering the state-by-state opposition with an appeal to the federal courts or pursing legislative action in Congress.

"Certainly that's one of the strategies we've discussed," Mr. O'Connell said. But no decision has been made, and the company wouldn't likely pursue action at the federal level unless it was shut out of one of its core markets, he said.

"We don't want to be in these dust-ups," he added. "We're fundamentally an engineering company."

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/...699054076.html

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Hutto aims to become home to new Tesla plant

HUTTO, Texas (KXAN) — Texas is one of four states vying to become home for a Tesla Gigafactory, and Hutto may be a contender.

Hutto Economic Development is trying to lure the electric car producer to town along with the 6,500 jobs and billions of dollars of investments for the plant which will produce batteries for Tesla vehicles.

On their website, Tesla lists Texas, Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona, as the four finalists for the plant that could stretch 500-1,000 acres.

KXAN tried to contact city leaders about specifics of a possible deal, but received no comment.

Tesla details their plans for the Gigafactory on their website.

The city of Hutto has seen a lot of growth in the last few years. In 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau says the city only had about 1,400 people. Nearly a decade later in 2009, they had a little more than 14,000. In 2012, the most recent year for Census Bureau data, they estimated Hutto had more than 18,000 people.

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All Our Patent Are Belong To You

By Elon Musk, CEO
TAGS: CUSTOMERS / MODEL S /

Yesterday, there was a wall of Tesla patents in the lobby of our Palo Alto headquarters. That is no longer the case. They have been removed, in the spirit of the open source movement, for the advancement of electric vehicle technology.

Tesla Motors was created to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport. If we clear a path to the creation of compelling electric vehicles, but then lay intellectual property landmines behind us to inhibit others, we are acting in a manner contrary to that goal. Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.

When I started out with my first company, Zip2, I thought patents were a good thing and worked hard to obtain them. And maybe they were good long ago, but too often these days they serve merely to stifle progress, entrench the positions of giant corporations and enrich those in the legal profession, rather than the actual inventors. After Zip2, when I realized that receiving a patent really just meant that you bought a lottery ticket to a lawsuit, I avoided them whenever possible.

At Tesla, however, we felt compelled to create patents out of concern that the big car companies would copy our technology and then use their massive manufacturing, sales and marketing power to overwhelm Tesla. We couldn't have been more wrong. The unfortunate reality is the opposite: electric car programs (or programs for any vehicle that doesn't burn hydrocarbons) at the major manufacturers are small to non-existent, constituting an average of far less than 1% of their total vehicle sales.

At best, the large automakers are producing electric cars with limited range in limited volume. Some produce no zero emission cars at all.

Given that annual new vehicle production is approaching 100 million per year and the global fleet is approximately 2 billion cars, it is impossible for Tesla to build electric cars fast enough to address the carbon crisis. By the same token, it means the market is enormous. Our true competition is not the small trickle of non-Tesla electric cars being produced, but rather the enormous flood of gasoline cars pouring out of the world's factories every day.

We believe that Tesla, other companies making electric cars, and the world would all benefit from a common, rapidly-evolving technology platform.

Technology leadership is not defined by patents, which history has repeatedly shown to be small protection indeed against a determined competitor, but rather by the ability of a company to attract and motivate the world's most talented engineers. We believe that applying the open source philosophy to our patents will strengthen rather than diminish Tesla's position in this regard.

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Tesla Motors Offers Open Licenses to Its Patents

CEO Musk Says Approach Will Expand The Market for Electric Cars

Tesla Motors Inc. is offering the proprietary technology at the heart of its Model S electric car to any company that wants to build vehicles, and its chief suggested BMW AG already is interested in sharing certain patents.

Chief Executive Elon Musk said during a conference call on Thursday the offer is intended to help spur wider development of electric vehicles. Mr. Musk said one topic discussed with BMW executives was sharing Tesla's technology for rapidly recharging batteries, part of the company's "supercharger" stations.

The Palo Alto, Calif., maker of $71,000 and up luxury electric cars decided to offer open access to Tesla patents out of frustration that electric vehicles remain less than 1% of new cars and light trucks sold each year.

A BMW spokesman confirmed the meeting. "Both companies are strongly committed to the success of electro-mobility and discussed how to further strengthen the development of electro mobility on an international level," spokesman Kenn Sparks said in an e-mail

Mr. Musk also hinted at another reason for the offer: achieving greater economies of scale. For example, Tesla's patents for its vehicle Supercharging stations could be shared with other auto makers, which could help Tesla spread costs and more quickly open more stations.

More manufacturers should use small battery cells, as Tesla does, Mr. Musk said. "That would be one thing I would recommend." He has outlined plans to build a large battery factory, which he calls the gigafactory, to produce more battery packs in the U.S.

Tesla has "several hundred" patents related to all areas of its electric vehicles, Mr. Musk said, including batteries and electric control systems. Tesla isn't worried a competitor could use its patents to undercut the company, he said.

"We wouldn't want someone to mimic our car to…trick people into thinking it's our car when it's not," Mr. Musk said. The company expects to continue to file patent applications, but won't enforcing its patents.

"If a company is truly relying on patents it means they aren't innovating, or not innovating fast enough," he said. "But this can be of some modest help to others."

Mr. Musk said he initially received some "wide-eyed looks" from members of his board of directors and other managers. He said open sourcing its technology can help attract top engineers who want to see their inventions spread and not just be bottled up into one company.

"This is actually good for Tesla and the electric vehicle industry. I really do believe that," he said.

Mr. Musk teased Thursday's announcement as a controversial move. But after promoting his decision, he described it on Thursday as "a modest thing." Patents, he said, shouldn't be so important. "You want to be innovating so fast [that] you invalidate your prior patents."

The auto industry has had its share of epic intellectual property fights, including a battle in the industry's earliest years over who held patent rights to the idea of the automobile. During the 1970s, General Motors Co. shared its breakthrough in developing the catalytic converter, which scrubs smog-forming pollutants out of exhaust.

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Tesla Motors plans to pay an average hourly wage of $25 at its huge battery factory under construction near Reno, Nev., the head of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada said.

That is higher than nearly all automakers in the U.S. are paying new hires and nearly double what most parts suppliers pay. It's also above the $17 starting hourly wage of Tesla workers who assemble its Model S sedan in Fremont, Calif., near San Jose.

Electric-car maker Tesla is building a massive battery plant called the Gigafactory in the desert east of Reno, and is planning to hire 6,500 workers over the next eight years.

In the Sunday edition of the Reno Gazette-Journal, Mike Kazmierski, CEO of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada, said Tesla's pay scale is driving up what existing and new employers in the area are paying.

"Three years ago, a support call center paid $10, $11, $12 an hour," Kazmierski said. "We're basically saying, if you're not paying $12 to $15 an hour, you probably will go somewhere else. That's part of the reason why we talk retention of workforce as a priority for us."

Last October, the Reno newspaper reported that the majority of Tesla workers -- about 4,750 -- will start at $22.79, while about 820 equipment and quality technicians will start at $27.88 an hour. Engineers and senior staff will be paid $41.83 per hour.

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Tesla Offers to Acquire SolarCity

Elon Musk is chairman, largest shareholder of both companies

June 21, 2016

Elon Musk proposed combining the electric-car and solar-energy companies that he backs, the latest in a series of financial shuffles among disparate firms of his empire.

Tesla Motors Inc., Mr. Musk’s Palo Alto, Calif., electric-car company, on Tuesday offered to acquire SolarCity Corp. in an all-stock deal valuing it at up to $2.8 billion. Mr. Musk is the chairman and largest shareholder of both companies.

Tesla shares tumbled 12% in after-hours trading following Mr. Musk’s announcement, while SolarCity shares surged 15%.

Tesla, in a letter to SolarCity Chief Executive Lyndon Rive — also Mr. Musk’s cousin—said its offer represented a value of between $26.50 and $28.50 a share, or a premium of roughly 21% to 30% over SolarCity’s Tuesday closing price of $21.19. The mothers of Messrs. Musk and Rive are twin sisters.

Mr. Musk, who has borrowed money and shuffled funds among his companies, recused himself from voting on the deal at the Tesla board meeting at which it was approved and will do so for any vote on the SolarCity board as well, the offer letter said. Antonio Gracias, a director on the boards of both companies, also recused himself, the letter said.

Tesla said the deal is subject to approval of “a majority of disinterested stockholders” of both companies.

The acquisition aims to create a company employing nearly 30,000 people with all products renamed “Tesla” that will package electric cars, batteries and solar panels for customers, Mr. Musk said.

But it would also add to the growing complexity and vertical integration of Tesla and add an unprofitable operation to its already-strained finances. Tesla, in a huge growth effort that includes building a $5 billion battery factory in Nevada, isn’t expected to be profitable until 2020 at the earliest and recently launched a share sale to raise $1.7 billion for capital expenses.

Tesla, with a market capitalization of $32.7 billion is a much larger company than SolarCity, whose market value is $2.1 billion.

The proposal is also likely to draw further scrutiny of Mr. Musk’s dealings with multiple companies he owns and helms, and their financial viability. In addition to Tesla and SolarCity, Mr. Musk is the largest shareholder and chief executive of rocket maker Space Exploration Technologies Inc.

SpaceX in 2014 was the largest buyer of $214 million in bonds SolarCity offered.

Mr. Musk has purchased shares of both Tesla and SolarCity when they have needed capital, and secured $475 million in personal credit lines with his own shares in the companies. Mr. Musk has disclosed the risks of margin calls related to the loans that can risk destabilizing the companies’ stocks.

Tesla’s proposed takeover comes amid significant struggles for SolarCity, which has suffered stock-price declines exceeding 60% over the past 12 months and lost $283 million during the first three months of this year.

Mr. Musk said the proposed takeover wasn’t motivated by SolarCity’s declining stock price.

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Master Plan, Part Deux

Elon Musk

July 20, 2016

The first master plan that I wrote 10 years ago is now in the final stages of completion. It wasn't all that complicated and basically consisted of:

1. Create a low volume car, which would necessarily be expensive
2. Use that money to develop a medium volume car at a lower price
3. Use that money to create an affordable, high volume car
   And...
4. Provide solar power. No kidding, this has literally been on our website for 10 years.

The reason we had to start off with step 1 was that it was all I could afford to do with what I made from PayPal. I thought our chances of success were so low that I didn't want to risk anyone's funds in the beginning but my own. The list of successful car company startups is short. As of 2016, the number of American car companies that haven't gone bankrupt is a grand total of two: Ford and Tesla. Starting a car company is idiotic and an electric car company is idiocy squared.

Also, a low volume car means a much smaller, simpler factory, albeit with most things done by hand. Without economies of scale, anything we built would be expensive, whether it was an economy sedan or a sports car. While at least some people would be prepared to pay a high price for a sports car, no one was going to pay $100k for an electric Honda Civic, no matter how cool it looked.

Part of the reason I wrote the first master plan was to defend against the inevitable attacks Tesla would face accusing us of just caring about making cars for rich people, implying that we felt there was a shortage of sports car companies or some other bizarre rationale. Unfortunately, the blog didn't stop countless attack articles on exactly these grounds, so it pretty much completely failed that objective.

However, the main reason was to explain how our actions fit into a larger picture, so that they would seem less random. The point of all this was, and remains, accelerating the advent of sustainable energy, so that we can imagine far into the future and life is still good. That's what "sustainable" means. It's not some silly, hippy thing -- it matters for everyone.

By definition, we must at some point achieve a sustainable energy economy or we will run out of fossil fuels to burn and civilization will collapse. Given that we must get off fossil fuels anyway and that virtually all scientists agree that dramatically increasing atmospheric and oceanic carbon levels is insane, the faster we achieve sustainability, the better.

Here is what we plan to do to make that day come sooner:

Integrate Energy Generation and Storage

Create a smoothly integrated and beautiful solar-roof-with-battery product that just works, empowering the individual as their own utility, and then scale that throughout the world. One ordering experience, one installation, one service contact, one phone app.

We can't do this well if Tesla and SolarCity are different companies, which is why we need to combine and break down the barriers inherent to being separate companies. That they are separate at all, despite similar origins and pursuit of the same overarching goal of sustainable energy, is largely an accident of history. Now that Tesla is ready to scale Powerwall and SolarCity is ready to provide highly differentiated solar, the time has come to bring them together.

Expand to Cover the Major Forms of Terrestrial Transport

Today, Tesla addresses two relatively small segments of premium sedans and SUVs. With the Model 3, a future compact SUV and a new kind of pickup truck, we plan to address most of the consumer market. A lower cost vehicle than the Model 3 is unlikely to be necessary, because of the third part of the plan described below.

What really matters to accelerate a sustainable future is being able to scale up production volume as quickly as possible. That is why Tesla engineering has transitioned to focus heavily on designing the machine that makes the machine -- turning the factory itself into a product. A first principles physics analysis of automotive production suggests that somewhere between a 5 to 10 fold improvement is achievable by version 3 on a roughly 2 year iteration cycle. The first Model 3 factory machine should be thought of as version 0.5, with version 1.0 probably in 2018.

In addition to consumer vehicles, there are two other types of electric vehicle needed: heavy-duty trucks and high passenger-density urban transport. Both are in the early stages of development at Tesla and should be ready for unveiling next year. We believe the Tesla Semi will deliver a substantial reduction in the cost of cargo transport, while increasing safety and making it really fun to operate.

With the advent of autonomy, it will probably make sense to shrink the size of buses and transition the role of bus driver to that of fleet manager. Traffic congestion would improve due to increased passenger areal density by eliminating the center aisle and putting seats where there are currently entryways, and matching acceleration and braking to other vehicles, thus avoiding the inertial impedance to smooth traffic flow of traditional heavy buses. It would also take people all the way to their destination. Fixed summon buttons at existing bus stops would serve those who don't have a phone. Design accommodates wheelchairs, strollers and bikes.

Autonomy

As the technology matures, all Tesla vehicles will have the hardware necessary to be fully self-driving with fail-operational capability, meaning that any given system in the car could break and your car will still drive itself safely. It is important to emphasize that refinement and validation of the software will take much longer than putting in place the cameras, radar, sonar and computing hardware.

Even once the software is highly refined and far better than the average human driver, there will still be a significant time gap, varying widely by jurisdiction, before true self-driving is approved by regulators. We expect that worldwide regulatory approval will require something on the order of 6 billion miles (10 billion km). Current fleet learning is happening at just over 3 million miles (5 million km) per day.

I should add a note here to explain why Tesla is deploying partial autonomy now, rather than waiting until some point in the future. The most important reason is that, when used correctly, it is already significantly safer than a person driving by themselves and it would therefore be morally reprehensible to delay release simply for fear of bad press or some mercantile calculation of legal liability.

According to the recently released 2015 NHTSA report, automotive fatalities increased by 8% to one death every 89 million miles. Autopilot miles will soon exceed twice that number and the system gets better every day. It would no more make sense to disable Tesla's Autopilot, as some have called for, than it would to disable autopilot in aircraft, after which our system is named.

It is also important to explain why we refer to Autopilot as "beta". This is not beta software in any normal sense of the word. Every release goes through extensive internal validation before it reaches any customers. It is called beta in order to decrease complacency and indicate that it will continue to improve (Autopilot is always off by default). Once we get to the point where Autopilot is approximately 10 times safer than the US vehicle average, the beta label will be removed.

Sharing

When true self-driving is approved by regulators, it will mean that you will be able to summon your Tesla from pretty much anywhere. Once it picks you up, you will be able to sleep, reador do anything else enroute to your destination.

You will also be able to add your car to the Tesla shared fleet just by tapping a button on the Tesla phone app and have it generate income for you while you're at work or on vacation, significantly offsetting and at times potentially exceeding the monthly loan or lease cost. This dramatically lowers the true cost of ownership to the point where almost anyone could own a Tesla. Since most cars are only in use by their owner for 5% to 10% of the day, the fundamental economic utility of a true self-driving car is likely to be several times that of a car which is not.

In cities where demand exceeds the supply of customer-owned cars, Tesla will operate its own fleet, ensuring you can always hail a ride from us no matter where you are.

So, in short, Master Plan, Part Deux is:

• Create stunning solar roofs with seamlessly integrated battery storage
• Expand the electric vehicle product line to address all major segments
• Develop a self-driving capability that is 10X safer than manual via massive fleet learning
• Enable your car to make money for you when you aren't using it

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