Tesla Motors

Written by admin on May 20th, 2011

Elise. The two cars have a parts overlap of less than 6 percent.

In June 2009, Tesla opened its first store in Europe showroom in central London’s Knightsbridge district. In September 2009, Tesla opened its first store in continental Europe showroom in downtown Munich. Tesla opened a store in Monaco in November 2009 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony by CEO Elon Musk and car enthusiast Prince Albert II.

Regional sales and service centers

Tesla Motors dealership on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, California

Tesla has the following regional sales and service centers:

Menlo Park, California;

West Los Angeles, California;

Seattle, Washington;

Dania Beach, Florida;

Chicago, Illinois

London, UK;

Munich, Germany; and

Monaco.

Tesla opened the doors to its display showrooms at 511 W. 25th St. New York City’s Chelsea Art District in July 2009 and in Boulder, CO in October 2009. The company says it plans to open the following locations:

Washington DC

Toronto, Ontario

Marin County, California

San Diego, California

Milan, Italy

Paris, France

Copenhagen, Denmark

Tesla operates company-owned stores. Tesla showrooms include free Wi-Fi, beverages and snacks, coffee bars and couches. Prospective customers can test-drive cars with a salesperson. The company’s executives say they model showrooms after retailers such as Apple and Starbucks.

Tesla recommends that customers bring in their car for inspection and firmware updates every year or every 12,000 miles (19,000 km). Tesla operates mobile service squads for customers who do not live near the regional sales and service centers. There is minimal maintenance required of an electric vehicle. Because there is no internal combustion engine, there are no routine oil changes. Brake maintenance is minor due to regenerative braking. Transmission, brake, and cooling system fluid changes will be required roughly every five to seven years or as needed.

Partners

Tesla uses several domestic and overseas suppliers and partners. Although the Roadster is an American car according to its vehicle identification number, like virtually all production cars it uses parts from around the world.

Tesla’s carbon fiber body panels are made in France by French supplier Sotira. The panels are sent to England, where Tesla contracts with Lotus to build a unique chassis in Hethel, U.K. The cars are then sent to Menlo Park, California, where workers install all of the proprietary intellectual property of the car. The battery pack is assembled in San Carlos, California, using battery cells from Asia. The single-speed gearbox is built by Michigan-based supplier Borg Warner Inc.

When the company began in 2003, Tesla licensed AC Propulsion’s Reductive Charging(tm) patent, which integrates the charging electronics into the inverter in a way that reduces mass and complexity. Shortly after the company’s founding, Elon Musk convinced JB Straubel to join Tesla and ultimately lead development of the Tesla powertrain well beyond what the company initially licensed from AC Propulsion. The company no longer employs any of AC Propulsion’s original intellectual property.

Daimler

Starting in late 2007, Daimler and Tesla Motors began working closely to integrate Tesla lithium-ion battery packs and charging electronics into the first 1,000 units of Daimler electric smart car. The two companies are expected to collaborate further, including working together on the Tesla Model S sedan. The collaboration is not expected to result in co-branded cars or the sale of Mercedes vehicles in Tesla showrooms, or vice-versa.

On May 19, 2009, Germany’s Daimler AG, maker of Mercedes, acquired an equity stake of less than 10 percent in Tesla for a reported million, according to unconfirmed media reports. The investment deepened the relationship between the inventor of the automobile and the newest member of the global auto industry. As part of the collaboration, Prof. Herbert Kohler, Vice President E-Drive and Future Mobility at Daimler AG, took a seat on Tesla board of directors.

On July 13, 2009, Daimler AG sold 40 percent of their May acquisition to Aabar Investments PJSC. Aabar is an investment company controlled by the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), which is wholly owned by the Government of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. (In March 2009, Aabar purchased a 9 percent stake in Daimler for 1,95 billion EUR.)

Lawsuits

On April 14, 2008, Tesla Motors filed a lawsuit against Fisker Automotive, alleging that Henrik Fisker “stole design ideas and confidential information related to the design of hybrid and electric cars” and was using that information to develop the Fisker Karma, which was announced at the North American International Auto Show in January, 2008. Tesla had hired Fisker Coachbuild to design the WhiteStar sedan but decided against the design as it was considered “substandard” by Tesla chairman Elon Musk. On November 3, 2008, Fisker Automotive Inc. issued a press release indicating that an arbitrator has issued an interim award finding in favor of Fisker Automotive, Inc. and against Tesla Motors Inc. on all claims. Also in March 2008, Magna International filed a lawsuit against Tesla claiming that it was never paid for services rendered. Tesla hired Magna to help design a 2-speed transmission for its Roadster. The Magna-designed transmission is not in use for the current model.

The founding of the company and who can rightly be called “founder” was the subject of a lawsuit filed in May 2009 and later dropped after an out of court settlement. On May 26, 2009, Eberhard filed suit in San Mateo County, California against Tesla and Elon Musk (Chairman and CEO of Tesla) for slander, libel and breach of contract. Musk wrote a lengthy blog post that included original source documents, including e-mails between senior executives and other artifacts demonstrating that Eberhard was unanimously fired by Tesla’s full board of directors. On July 29, 2009, a judge in San Mateo County, Calif., Superior Court struck down a claim by former CEO Eberhard, who asked to be declared one of only two founders of the company. Tesla said in a statement that the ruling is “consistent with Tesla belief in a team of founders, including the company current CEO and Product Architect Elon Musk, and Chief Technology Officer JB Straubel, who were both fundamental to the creation of Tesla from inception.” In early August, Eberhard withdrew the case, and the parties reached a final settlement September 21. Some provisions are confidential, but the agreement includes a provision that the parties will consider Martin Eberhard, Elon Musk, JB Straubel, Marc Tarpenning, and Ian Wright to be the five co-founders.

Recall

In May 2009, Tesla issued a safety recall for 345 Roadsters manufactured before April 22, 2009. Tesla sent technicians to customers’ homes to tighten the rear, inner hub flange bolts. Using common verbiage from the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, Tesla told customers that without this adjustment, the driver could lose control of the car. The problem originated at the Lotus assembly line, where the Roadster is built. Lotus also recalled some Lotus Elise and Exige vehicles for the same reason. Tesla reminded customers that millions of cars are recalled every year.

Board of directors

Elon Musk — Chairman of the board of directors, CEO and Product Architect of Tesla; former President of Paypal, founder, CEO and CTO of SpaceX; Chairman of the board, SolarCity

Steve Jurvetson — Managing Director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

Ira Ehrenpreis – General Partner, Technology Partners

Antonio J. Gracias – CEO and Chairman of the Investment Committee at Valor Equity Partners

Brad W. Buss — Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Secretary and Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration at Cypress Semiconductor Corp.

Kimbal Musk – CEO of Medium, Inc., Elon Musk’s brother

Herbert Kohler – Vice President E-Drive and Future Mobility at Daimler

Larry W. Sonsini – Outside counsel and non-directing board member of Tesla; Chairman, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

References

^ links for 2009-07-09 Cairene Nilometer (2009-07-09). “Tesla Motors Moving Quickly to Commercialization of an Electric Car”. GreenCar Magazine. http://www.greencarmagazine.net/2009/07/tesla-motors-moving-quickly-to-commercialization-of-an-electric-car/. Retrieved 2009-08-01. 

^ “well-to-wheel”. Tesla Motors. 2007-07-06. http://www.teslamotors.com/efficiency/well_to_wheel.php. Retrieved 2009-08-01. 

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^ a b “Press Releases”. Tesla Motors. 2009-05-12. http://www.teslamotors.com/media/press_room.php?id=1347. Retrieved 2009-08-01. 

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^ “Why the Name “Tesla”?”. Tesla Motors. http://www.teslamotors.com/learn_more/why_tesla.php. Retrieved 2008-06-10. 

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^ a b c “Press Releases”. Tesla Motors. 2009-06-04. http://www.teslamotors.com/media/press_room.php?id=1405. Retrieved 2009-08-01. 

^ Garthwaite, Josie (2009-01-13). “Tesla Has At Least One Smart Deal: Daimler”. Earth2tech.com. http://earth2tech.com/2009/01/13/tesla-to-supply-powertrains-for-daimler-smart-evs-surprise/. Retrieved 2009-08-01. 

^ “Bob Lutz: The Man Who Revived the Electric Car | Newsweek Next 2008”. Newsweek.com. http://www.newsweek.com/id/81580. Retrieved 2009-08-01. 

^ Friend, Tad

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