Last January we landed an exclusive first drive of the Tesla Roadster. We were impressed, but well aware that the particular two-gear model we drove that wet afternoon wasn't identical to the version set to land in customers' hands later in the year. Last week, we were invited back to briefly test drive a genuine production model with the latest transmission and software updates (aka "powertrain 1.5").
Tesla is now on its fourth CEO in just 12 months as the fledgling all-electric automaker has announced today that chief fund-raiser, architect and Chairman Elon Musk will take up the mantle from current CEO Ze'ev Drori. Early this morning Valleywag reported that Tesla would be firing up to 100 of its staff and that Drori might be leaving. A call to Tesla SVP Darryl Siry revealed that the story was not entirely accurate. Drori is not leaving the company, but will move over to become Vice Chairman. Exactly what that means is not entirely known at this point, although clearly Musk intends to take a more hands on role now that his Space-X rocket finally managed to get into orbit. Tesla is also laying off some staff, although the extent of lay offs is unknown at this time. Siry promised an official announcement sometime this morning, but we're still waiting.
The 2011 Chevy Volt has been getting the lion's share of news on the EV front, but it could be jostling for attention in late 2010 with an all-EV sedan from Tesla. Tesla has secured $100 million in private equity and another $150 million in loan guarantees from the federal government to build a new factory in San Jose, CA. The company on Wednesday announced that the facility would build the $60,000 Model S sedan, which was originally dubbed Whitestar. The new Tesla plant will be able to produce 11,000 Model S sedans per year by the end of 2011, giving customers a much more mainstream EV entry than the $100,000 Tesla Roadster. We haven't heard too much about the Model S sedan, but earlier in the year Tesla co-founder Elan Musk said there could be a fully functioning prototype and a finalized design by the end of 2008. We're with you in hoping it looks as good as the Tesla Roadster while providing similar range in a more family-friendly package.
Two big British car magazines are reporting on some of Tesla's future product plans today following the latest promotional tour by SVP Marketing Darryl Siry. There isn't a whole lot new in the articles that hasn't already been reported here and on AutoblogGreen over the past year, but there were a couple of interesting items and errors. First of all AutoCar is reporting that Tesla is planning to use the platform of the Model S sedan (formerly known as WhiteStar) for future vehicles, which makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, they are also reporting that Tesla is planning an electric SUV off that platform, so we contacted Siry to check on this. Siry told ABG that there are in fact no plans to build an SUV. An SUV body style was just used as an example to demonstrate the flexibility of the platform. Helping to achieve that flexibility is a reconfigured battery pack that lays under the floor rather than upright behind the seats as in the Roadster. This will allow for a modular configuration so that that the Model S can be offered with different range options. The base model is expected to get a 160-mile range for it's $60,000 base price, while 220- or 300-mile options will cost extra. The magazines did get a chance to see design sketches of the Model S, but Siry wouldn't release them. For now he will only show them in the same room, but we do know the Model S will reportedly have a coupe-like profile on its four-door hatch body style. If Tesla can avoid the launch problems it had with the Roadster, the Model S will be on the road in 2010.
Tesla Motors continues its hiring spree by bringing on Deepak Ahuja to serve as the company's CFO. Ahuja comes by way of the Ford Motor Company, where he was heading up the project to bring small European Ford's to America. Prior to that, Ahuja carried various other important financial roles with Ford and Mazda. Tesla's goal of becoming "the next great American automobile company" is a brash one, but much more likely to pan out with the proper people at the helm. Considering the rate at which Tesla Motors has been bringing on talent, including the recent addition of Franz von Holzhausen as Design Director, it is clear that the budding automaker takes its goal rather seriously.
It's already on Wikipedia so it must be true. We've just received confirmation from Tesla Motors that the upstart electric car company has somehow managed to snag Mazda's top designer to become its new Design Director and head up a team of in-house designers at a new studio. Franz von Holzhausen is the current rock star of the automobile design world, having been the creative force behind the last few year's worth of Mazda concepts that include the Nagare and Furai, as well as overseeing the design of all Mazda production vehicles in North America since February 2005. von Holzhausen has also been a designer at both General Motors and Volkswagen.
This is a major coup for Tesla, as its current Roadster was designed entirely by Lotus. The company's chairman, Elon Musk, reportedly hand-picked von Holzhausen to design the rest of Tesla's electric car range that will include both a mainstream sedan and sport compact.
Their plate may be filled with churning out Tesla Roadsters and developing the Model S sedan, but Tesla Motors can't seem to get a break from the lawsuits. First there was the tiff with transmission supplier Magna, followed by potential development partner Fisker, and now Tesla is facing a class action (it's not a class action lawsuit until a judge deems it so) lawsuit from former Director of Public Relations, David Vespremi. Vespremi ended up on the cutting room floor during the tornado that swept through the company ranks at the end of 2007 was let go prior to the layoffs in January of this year. Vespremi is trying to connect his firing to the layoffs, but according to Tesla's Darryl Siry, that's not the case -- his termination was a separate matter. The details of the lawsuit allege that Tesla Motors did not practice good faith or fair dealing, violated labor codes with unpaid wages and waiting periods, and utilized unfair business practices. The document also listed libel and slander due to the harsh words spoken from the mouths of executives to the media when referencing the former employees.
If Tesla has learned anything from the development of the Roadster over the past five years, it's that building a production car that meets present day regulations is a lot harder than anyone in Silicon Valley guessed. The process is filled with all kinds of potholes and having some people on the team with experience navigating those craters can be a big help. During AutoblogGreen's recent conversation with Tesla Chairman Elon Musk, he revealed that the company would have several experienced auto industry people coming aboard soon. The first of those new recruits has now been revealed as Mike Donoughe, Tesla's new Executive Vice President for vehicle development and manufacturing. Donoughe is a 24-year veteran of Chrysler who resigned from his VP post there three months ago, and was instrumental in the effort to redesign Chrysler's mid-sized cars. At Tesla he will be responsible for vehicle engineering for the Roadster and Model S except for the drivetrain. Initially, Donoughe will focus on getting the Model S' engineering and manufacturing sorted out.
A few months back, Tesla Motors sued Fisker Automotive for allegedly stealing information related to the production of its upcoming plug-in electric sedan named Whitestar and using it to develop its series-hybird, the Karma. Yesterday, a judge ruled in favor of Fisker Automotive by allowing the case to go into arbitration outside the courtroom, which was apparently part of the original agreement between Tesla and Henrik Fisker in the first place. It appears that Tesla went outside that original agreement by bringing forth its lawsuit in the first place, though Tesla may have considered that contract void as the original lawsuit alleged that it was signed merely to gain access to confidential information.
Although the arbitration is to be handled outside of court, the judge has scheduled a management conference this August, perhaps to be sure that negotiations are moving along. This is good news for Fisker, which is currently working to get its Karma PHEV sedan to market by the fourth-quarter of 2009.
Much has been made of the issues that Tesla Motors encountered with its original two-speed transmission. The fledgling EV automaker was unable to find a supplier that could engineer a two-speed gearbox capable of allowing the Tesla Roadster to hit 0-60 in four seconds and meet specified targets for its range. The two-speed box was eventually dropped in favor of what has been called "powertrain 1.5", which uses a single-speed gearbox and other improvements to the electric motor and inverter to achieve Tesla's seemingly incongruous goals of performance and efficiency.
JB Straubel, Chief Technical Officer Tesla Motors, recently posted an update on the progress of powertrain 1.5 on the company's blog, and be warned, if you're not up to date on how highly complex electric motors and transmissions work (like us), you'll probably get lost. The basic nuts and bolts of it amount to a Tesla Roadster that will have both a 33% higher peak torque output and an additional 10 miles of range versus the 1.0 car. According to our own Sam Abuelsamid who has followed the Tesla Roadster's development from gestation, these two seemingly irreconcilable accomplishments were achieved mainly through lowering resistance at every point along the powertrain. This was done by redesigning some components, using low resistance materials and switching to a new, shorter gear ratio of 8.27:1. You can read Sam's nitty gritty explanation of the changes over at AutoblogGreen, but it seems the little EV company that could is finally getting back on track after some major set backs.
