Thread: Tesla Motors to produce electric cars for Toyota in Calif.

May 20, 2010

Tesla Motors to produce electric cars for Toyota in California

Electric-car maker Tesla Motors will help build a new electric vehicle for Toyota in California, according to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The governor is slated to appear this afternoon at Tesla headquarters to help announce the deal. He let slip some of the details during an environmental event this morning at Google headquarters in Mountain View.

"Today is a very exciting day for me because ... I am also going over to the Bay Area to talk about Tesla and Toyota forming a partnership, where they take one of the Toyota cars and make them electric," Schwarzenegger said.

"And again, they're going to do that here in California," he added. "Because in California, we have the laws in place, the laws are consistent and this is why one company after the other is coming into our state and producing those electric cars, and doing innovative stuff with solar, innovative stuff with windmills."

http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/ca ... rs-to.html

Too bad it'll probably cost $50,000, have a top speed of 45mph, only go 15 miles between charges and look like a dweebmobile.

Originally Posted by patbrunz

Too bad it'll probably cost $50,000, have a top speed of 45mph, only go 15 miles between charges and look like a dweebmobile. :twisted:

The Tesla does cost $49,900
0-60 in 5.6 seconds
120 m.p.h.
looks cool

Tesla Motors - Model S

With a range up to 300 miles and 45-minute QuickCharge, the Model S can carry five adults and two children in quiet comfort – and you can charge it from any ...

See it @

www.teslamotors.com/models/

$49,900 AFTER a $7,500 Federal tax credit.

I was actually referring to the prospective car to be built with Toyota mentioned in the original article. The link you posted is not the one talked about in the article. The one at the link is being built by Tesla themselves.

However, I am also skeptical about the one you posted the link to. If they can really manufacture it and sell it (they're taking reservations for it now - how many cars do they actually have built?), it will be a step in the right direction, but the price will need to come down to more affordable levels for the masses to buy it. It needs to be competitive in PRICE and performance with competing cars, or it aint gonna work. I hope they can make it go, but I doubt it. I also wonder about the battery system. How reliable and long-lasting is it (in reality, not what they post on their site)? Does it need to be replaced after two years at a cost of $30,000? The success record of startup car companies isn't that great, I'm afraid.

I'll believe it when I see it and when they start selling as many as are sold of other cars. After they've been selling them for a few years, all the bugs are out of them and the actual real-world reliability is known and turns out to be good, I might even buy one.

It would be a joke going on a long trip, if you wanted to get there in a decent amount of time.

Originally Posted by agrneydgrl

It would be a joke going on a long trip, if you wanted to get there in a decent amount of time.

They are for use around town not cross country trips.

Tesla to build electric cars at Northern California plant

Toyota invests $50 million in the venture. Unhappy Downey officials say Tesla had indicated it would put its factory there.

By Jerry Hirsch, Los Angeles Times

May 20, 2010 | 4:20 p.m.
E-mail Print Share Text Size la-fi-auto-20100521

Tesla Motors Inc., bolstered by a $50-million investment from Toyota Motor Corp., will start making electric cars next year at a recently closed plant in Northern California.

The move disappointed Downey officials who had been wooing the automaker, hoping the company would set up shop in a closed facility that had been used to manufacture the space shuttle.

"We are shocked, upset and betrayed. We can see why the public is so upset with corporate America," said Downey City Councilman Mario Guerra, adding that Tesla had told the city it would sign the lease for the Downey plant on Friday.

Tesla, based in Palo Alto, instead will make its cars in a factory that Toyota and General Motors Co. formerly operated in Fremont.

The investment from Toyota was a major coup for Tesla, which has built only 1,000 high-performance Roadster electric sports cars largely assembled in England. Tesla plans to start manufacturing a sports sedan in 2012.

"We look forward to learning and benefiting from Toyota's legendary engineering, manufacturing and production expertise," said Elon Musk, the company's co-founder and chief executive.

The deal was worked out by Musk and Akio Toyoda, Toyota's president and grandson of the Japanese automaker's founder.

"By working together with a venture business such as Tesla, Toyota would like to learn from the challenging spirit, quick decision-making and flexibility that Tesla has. Decades ago, Toyota was also born as a venture business," Toyoda said in a statement.

Toyoda has been on a campaign to reinvigorate the automaker, saying that its drive to grow in recent years sacrificed the attention to quality that previously characterized Toyota. The company has recalled millions of autos in the past year for accelerator pedal and other safety defects and was fined a record $16.4 million by federal safety regulators for not disclosing information about problems promptly.

The companies said they would cooperate on the development of electric vehicles and parts as well as the production system and engineering support. Toyota already builds the Prius, the world's best-selling hybrid vehicle.

Restarting the factory is a major achievement for California economic development officials and a rare victory for a state that many business leaders say has become uncompetitive because of more regulations and higher labor costs than other states.

"I am thrilled with today's announcement and can't wait to see what this partnership brings next," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a prepared statement. "What we are witnessing today is a historic example of California's transition to a cleaner, greener and more prosperous future."

Tesla previously considered locating its factory in Downey, Long Beach and cities outside of California, but it said it settled on the Fremont property because of the amount of existing auto factory infrastructure that is still usable.

"It is a big loss. We really needed those jobs," said Gerald Caton, the Downey city manager.

Tesla did not disclose what it paid New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. for the parcel. It purchased only the factory from the company, a joint venture between Toyota and GM, leaving NUMMI still in control of a large parking lot and an adjacent parcel.

The auto plant closed in April when a red Toyota Corolla, the last of nearly 8 million vehicles built there, rolled off the assembly line. The closure displaced about 5,000 auto workers, many of whom were members of the United Auto Workers union, and brought protests from national labor union officials, community leaders and politicians.

When it reopens, the plant will employ about 1,000 workers who will assemble Tesla's Model S electric sedan, which costs about $57,400 (before a $7,500 federal tax credit).

The Tesla factory helps cement California as a center of independent electric automobile research, design and production, an industry that some economists say could become an important driver of economic development and jobs in the state.

Coda Automotive, a Santa Monica company, plans to assemble and launch sales of a four-door electric sedan based on a Mitsubishi platform in either Oxnard or Los Angeles next year.

Fisker Automotive Inc. is moving its engineering and sales center to its Irvine headquarters from Pontiac, Mich., creating as many as 100 jobs in the coming year. Fisker is working on the Karma, an $87,900 plug-in hybrid that will be assembled in Finland, using mostly U.S. parts.

Chinese electric carmaker BYD said last month it would establish its U.S. headquarters in Los Angeles, creating about 150 jobs over the next year.

Tesla is owned by Musk, a PayPal Inc. co-founder who made millions when he sold the online payment business in 2002. Musk then started Tesla and Hawthorne-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp., which is developing the Falcon 9 booster, a nine-story-tall private rocket expected to have its debut launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., in the next several months.

Toyota's investment in Tesla is particularly important because the electric vehicle company will be competing against far better capitalized and far larger traditional manufacturers. GM plans to start selling

its electric Chevrolet Volt later this year, and Nissan North America is about to launch its Leaf electric sedan.

"When an established manufacturer decides to partner with one of these newcomers it considerably increases their probability of success. It would give them manufacturing know-how and access to a distribution network," said Xavier Mosquet, a senior partner with Boston Consulting Group.

Although those automakers have not set their final prices, Tesla's Model S is expected to be considerably more expensive than the Volt or the Leaf. But it is also designed to compete with sportier, more expensive cars. Tesla said the Model S will accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in just 5.6 seconds, making it among the fastest four-door sedans on the road. It is expected to get 160 to 300 miles on a single charge depending on the version.

Tesla plans to raise additional funds in an initial public stock offering later this year and the Toyota transaction will be completed as a private placement to close at the end of the offering.

jerry.hirsch@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-a ... 5370.story

Originally Posted by patbrunz

If they can really manufacture it and sell it (they're taking reservations for it now - how many cars do they actually have built?) . . .

. . . Tesla, which has built only 1,000 high-performance Roadster electric sports cars largely assembled in England. Tesla plans to start manufacturing a sports sedan in 2012.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-a ... 5370.story

GM and American auto manufacturers could have been at the forefront of this industry, beginning in the late 1980's when they first developed a fully functional and affordable electric powered car. As a result of their development, California passed the Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate in 1990 requiring all auto makers to offer zero emission vehicles. But the U.S. government, car companies, and big oil sued the California Air Resources Board, so the mandate was revoked in 2003, while giant SUV's continued to corner the market. What a shame!