Tesla Motors raises $40 million (U.S.) more
What do ex-eBay billionaire Jeff Skoll, Paypal founder Elon Musk, and Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have in common? They all want to see electric cars become the vehicles of the future.
These four Web pioneers have contributed to a $40 million (U.S.) Series C financing announced yesterday by Tesla Motors, which is aiming to lead the transition from gasoline-fuelled to electric cars.
Musk, chairman of Tesla Motors, co-led the financing along with VantagePoint Venture Partners. In addition to Skoll, Brin and Page, institutional investors that contributed include Draper Fisher Jurveston and JP Morgan Bay Area Equity Fund.
So what’s Tesla’s gameplan? Musk says the company has the potential to be one of the great car makers of the 21st century. “The starting point is a high performance sportscar, but the long term vision is to build cars of all kinds, including low cost family vehicles. Tesla is one of those rare opportunities to change the world in a positive way and build a valuable company in the process.”
I guess we’ll soon see exactly what they’re working on. The 70-employee company plans to reveal more details of its business and, more importantly, its cars in early July — Hmmm…. just in time for Nikola Tesla’s 150th birthday on July 10.
Classy guys, very classy.
Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.
June 1st, 2006 at 3:14 pm
“The starting point is a high performance sportscar, but the long term vision is to build cars of all kinds, including low cost family vehicles.”
I heartily applaud the sentiment, but why in the world are they starting with the high performance sportscar? Oh. I forgot. The investors live in Silicon Valley, where the size of your *#$% is measured by the car that you drive…
June 2nd, 2006 at 1:15 pm
If starting with a sportscar will make the business case, then I’m all for it. They clearly want to move towards a company that makes everyday cars.
I’m curious as to which battery technology they will be going with. I’m guessing advanced Li-ion. Being able to start from the ground up with an all electrical design should give them the ability to break the design model of combustion engines.
Looking forward to see their first anouncement.
Stephen
June 4th, 2006 at 9:11 am
Wonder how it’ll compare with Feelgood/EEStor?
June 4th, 2006 at 12:20 pm
There won’t be much comparison. Feel Good Cars, for now, is focused on low-speed electric vehicles using ultracapacitor tech for storage. Tesla is developing a high-performance car using some kind of advanced Lithium-ion system. But certainly, it would be interesting if Tesla experimented with EEStor’s technology. Who knows what’s happening behind the scenes, or who’s talking to who. Between EEStor and Tesla, there will be some exciting announcement this summer.
June 11th, 2006 at 1:00 pm
Tyler have you heard when EEstor might come out with some news?