Tag Archives: Automobile industry in California

Tesla Motors IPO Loses Fuel

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When Tesla Motors was first introduced as a public stock offering, the demand was so high that the size of the IPO was raised to 13.3 million shares up form the planned 11.1 million, and the price was set higher than the originally planned $14-$16. The stock did really well the first two days hitting a high of $30.42 only two days after it was offered.

But, investors hunger for Tesla faded fast as the IPO fell back quickly below its offering price. Whether it was the lack of long term investors, or the fact that the company will spend a lot more cash before their Model S will be mass produced in 2012, it is expected that the stock will go down even further before it stabilizes.

David Menlow, head of IPOfinancial.com in Millburn, N.J., said he believed that Musk had the “right formula” for an electric-car company in the long run. Interested investors should be patient, Menlow advised: “Let the momentum play itself out.”

Tesla Motors Goes Public

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The hype around Tesla Motors has certainly paid off. As Tesla went public, their stock prices have done better than originally planned. Under the ticker symbol TSLA, the Silicon Valley company’s stock opened at $17 (going up as high as $19), above the anticipated range of $14 to $16.

The company hoped to raise up to $178 million by selling 11.1 million shares, but has done better than anticipated by raising over $220 million in funding by selling 13.3 million shares. Including investments from Daimler and Toyota, and receiving a $465 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy to build a factory, Tesla is on its way to becoming a leader in electric cars.

Tesla is best known for their first and only electric car, the $109,000 Roadster, which was introduced in 2008. Selling only about 1,100 of the cars worldwide to the rich and famous. With the IPO proceeds, the company will fund production of the company’s new vehicle, the Model S sedan, which is expected to sell for about $57,000. A federal tax credit of $7,500 for electric cars would cut the price to just under $50,000. The commercial launch is planned for 2012.

Hydrogen Cars – Still An Option?

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It seems that lately there has been much talk about the electric car. The automobile companies have been investing large amounts of money into electric cars with the hopes of becoming the leaders in the industry. The installation of more charging stations has not only made it more convenient to charge an electric car, but the installation of solar charging stations has made the drain on the power infrastructure less of a problem.

Still, the hydrogen car lurks in the background. Tucked away on the Torrance campus behind a security guard and a locked gate, a system designed to power Honda’s limited-production FCX Clarity sedan and other hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles uses solar panels to power a machine the size of a mini-refrigerator. This system converts water into hydrogen and oxygen gases and then pumpes the hydrogen directly into the car. No fossil fuels, no pollution, no additional strain on the power grid — and all done at home. It’s called a residential hydrogen refueler, and only one currently exists. According to statements from automakers like Honda, General Motors, Toyota, and Mercedes they hope to begin selling hydrogen-powered production cars to consumers as early as 2015.

Other hydrogen fuel-cell cars, only available by lease, exist. Made by GM, Toyota and Mercedes, most of the lessees are in “station clusters,” specific geographic areas that have hydrogen fueling stations. It’s the scarcity of these hydrogen stations that’s seen as one of the biggest barriers to mass adoption of fuel-cell cars.

The installation of these residential hydrogen refulers would solve this problem, but at what cost? Honda won’t say, but it’s a promising technology that advances the trend toward consumers detaching from a fossil-fuel economy and becoming more self-sufficient. It’s a future in which American homes are less reliant on a large-scale infrastructure — power grids, and water districts — and provide at least some of the solutions themselves via solar panels, gray-water systems, rainwater harvesting and home-based car-refueling technology.

GreenRoad Technologies Saves Companies Money

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Launched in 2003, The California-based GreenRoad Technologies Inc.®, provides a cost-effective service that helps reduce emissions, vehicle wear-and-tear and helps save lives. While billions have been invested in building safer and more fuel efficient vehicles and roads, virtually nothing was being done to address what contributes to wasted fuel and 90% of all crashes… driver behavior.

After four years of extensive testing in more than one million driver trips, GreenRoad’s comprehensive service is proven to be effective, especially in the commercial fleet industry. GreenRoad responds to unsafe and inefficient driving by enabling commercial fleets, insurers and consumers to measure, improve and sustain safe and fuel-efficient driving behavior. GreenRoad continuously measures and analyzes maneuvers which most impact safe driving, fuel efficiency and emissions and positively motivates drivers to change their behavior behind the wheel. Constant reinforcement in the form of a simple red-yellow-green display encourages them to maintain improvements. Fleet management and risk and safety professionals gain complete visibility into driving behavior and have easy-to-use tools they need to help drivers achieve safety and fuel-efficiency goals. Customizable, Web-based and e-mail reports provide individual trip detail, risk analysis and coaching to help drivers maintain improvements.

More than 70 industry-leading fleets in trucking, public transit, telecommunications, service delivery and public safety, have implemented the GreenRoad service and are realizing sustained improvements in the safety and fuel efficiency of their fleets.

Regulations For Auto Dealers Financing

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Consumer advocates say more government supervision is needed when it comes to auto dealers financing automobiles for consumers. Next week, a joint congressional committee will be discussing exactly that, as they head into the final stages in overhauling financial regulations.

Dealers that offer financing say they are helping buyers secure the best loans, and that abuses are rare and covered by anti-fraud regulations enforced by state officials and the Federal Trade Commission. But, Tom Domonoske, a Virginia attorney who works on auto financing issues says that while dealers are shopping for the best rates, they often don’t pass the savings on to the consumer. Dealerships have been giving good deals on purchase prices, but have been trying to boost their incomes through service contracts and auto financing. Some say, resorting to questionable tactics.

Auto dealers are fighting back saying it is unnecessary and will add to their costs, ultimately driving up prices for consumers. Last year they successfully persuaded the House to exempt them from oversight by the proposed consumer protection agency, but with strong opposition from the Obama administration, who said members of the military often complain about getting ripped off in buying cars.

After settlements in a series of auto financing discrimination lawsuits in the 1990s, dealers say they agreed to cap their cut at 2% of the amount financed. California is one of the few states with a legal cap on that difference — 2.5% for loans up to 60 months and 2% for longer loans.

Consumer advocates argued that auto dealers are similar to mortgage brokers — making deals with consumers, pocketing a profit and then selling the loans to banks. Mortgage brokers would be covered by the new agency and so should auto dealers.

Networked Charging Stations For California

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Coulomb Technologies, a leader in electric vehicle charging station infrastructure, has announced that they will be spending $37 million installing networked charging stations throughout the United States. The program will provide almost 5000 charging stations in Austin, Texas, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, Fla., Sacramento, Calif., the San Jose/San Francisco Bay Area, Redmond, Wash., and Washington DC.

A wide network of charging stations is expected to help quell fears that future electric car owners won’t be able to drive far beyond their home charging base. In support of the ChargePoint America program, three automakers have committed to deliver electric vehicles in designated US regions. The Chevrolet Volt, the Ford Transit Connect Electric and Ford Focus Electric through the “Ford Blue Oval ChargePoint Program”, and the smart for two electric drive will be introduced along with this program.

ChargePoint America will offer both home and public charging stations to individuals and businesses. Charging stations owners can set their own prices for charging through the Flex Billing™ system. The Flex Billing system enables station owners to set pricing as a function of time of day, calendar date, and driver – much like a parking meter. Those same stations can also be configured to provide “free” access to EV drivers.

Coulomb’s ChargePoint® Network, is open to all drivers of plug-in vehicles and provides authentication, management, and real-time control for the networked electric vehicle charging stations. The network of electric vehicle charging stations is accessible to all plug-in drivers by making a toll free call to the 24/7 number on each charging station, or signing up for a ChargePoint Network monthly access plan and obtaining a ChargePass™ smart card. Other future payment options include using any smart (RFID) credit/debit card to authorize a session or using a standard credit or debit card at a remote payment station (RPS) to pay for charging sessions. To locate available charging stations, visit mychargepoint.net and click “Find Stations”.

Good News For The Auto Industry In California

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An automobile plant recently close by Toyota in California will be opening up their doors again for Tesla Motors Corp. Backed by a $50 million investment by Toyota, Tesla will start making electric cars within the year, at the same plant that was shared by a Toyota/GM venture. “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.

Restarting the factory is a major achievement for California’s economic development 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.

But not everyone is happy. The move is a disappointment for Downey officials who had been in talks with the automaker, hoping the company would set up shop in a closed facility that had once been used to manufacture the space shuttle.

Toyota’s investment in Tesla is particularly important because the electric vehicle company will be competing against better capitalized and larger traditional manufacturers. When an established manufacturer decides to partner with newcomers it will considerably increase the probability of success by giving them manufacturing know-how and access to a distribution network

Cars That Run on Sunshine

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The electric car has been around for a long time. In the late 1930’s Robert Anderson (A Scottish inventor) built the first crude electric carriage. Over the years the car has been improved to a point where it could be a practical mode of transportation for many people. One of the main reasons we don’t see many on the roads is because charging a large number of electric cars will require huge upgrades to the nation’s infrastructure

SolarCity and Tesla Motors hope to change the amount of electric cars on the road by installing solar-powered car charging stations in Rabobank locations along California Route 101. These quick charging “gas stations” delivers up to 70 amps (240 volts) of electricity which would charge a Telsa Roadster in about 3.5 hours. SolarCity has also installed over 100 in home-charging stations throughout the state.

The Beautiful Earth Group, a solar and wind farms company started last year, has paired up with BMW and the mini, to build solar charging stations in the Red Hook, Brooklyn area. These stations are truly “green”. Built out of recycled shipping containers the station can provide enough energy to charge the Mini E in three hours. Lex Heslin, chief executive of Beautiful Earth, claims two firsts: He got the keys to the first electric version of the Mini Cooper in New York and his company is operating the city’s first solar E.V. charging station.

Silicon Valley based company, Coulomb Technologies, have been building charging stations around the world since 2007. Their recent partnership with Envision Solar has allowed them to integrate their ChargePoint technology into a “solar grove” at Dell headquarters in Round Rock, Tex. This system provided 131,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually, and doubles as shade for 56 parking spaces.

With the environmental issues we face today, solar charging could become big business. Ideally, solar charging stations will be connected to the grid so they can feed electricity back when the power is not needed for car-charging. When the sun isn’t shining, cars can be charged on grid power.