It's not all bad news at Tesla, LA store construction starts
With a co-founder being shown the door and nagging issues with the transmission, these are trying days for the team at Tesla Motors. Rumors swirl from a notoriously unreliable source that the WhiteStar sedan has been killed, although Darryl Siry explained during our ride a few weeks ago that design of the vehicle hasn't been finalized and all the focus is on getting the Roadster into customer hands right now. Besides getting cars built, the company needs to establish sales and service points. To that end a construction curtain has sprung up this week on Santa Monica Blvd near the 405 freeway. Behind the wall is the site of one of Tesla's company-owned stores. Opening day hasn't yet been set, but expect it to be sometime around when cars start getting turned over to paying customers.
[Source: Tesla Motors]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rgseidl 7:21PM (12/10/2007)
A start-up that bares its soul to quite the extent Tesla has done risks getting into PR trouble as the introduction of its initial product approaches. Martin Eberhard had a great vision and a lot of engineering expertise but ultimately, he was perhaps just too nice a guy to crack the whip in the home stretch the way the VCs wanted him to.
I would not be surprised if the new CEO has indeed suspended the WhiteStar project for the time being. Given the problems with the transmission, it would only distract from the critical launch of the first product and the associated sales infrastructure. However, for a start-up, suspending a project does not mean cancellation as it tends to for the auto industry majors. Don't be surprised if WhiteStar is revived down the road, provided that Tesla delivers a high-quality product in the Roadster.
Reply
Smith 8:18PM (12/10/2007)
Telsa should have absolutely went with an existing, proven transimission instead of building something like that from the ground up. Would have saved a whole lot of time.
http://www.wintersperformance.com/catalogs/FalconRaptor/default.html
Reply
Kardax 12:04AM (12/11/2007)
rgseidl: I don't think that WhiteStar has been suspended at all. Most of the Roadster's design is finalized; it's not good business sense to have 250 engineers just sitting around :)
Of course, I do believe that any engineers that are still in a position to assist with the Roadster are doing so.
Smith: I don't think a conventional design would help much. I really don't know of any transmissions that are proven capable of dropping from 12000 RPM to 6000 RPM quickly, daily, for 100000 miles, without breaking. I'm sure they're _basing_ it on an established design, but some innovation is required to get it done right.
Reply
GenWaylaid 5:29AM (12/11/2007)
Wow, the roadster sure looks smaller in person. Looks like they'll have plenty of room for batteries. ;)
Reply
Clark Snyder 8:38AM (12/11/2007)
Looks like Toshiba might have the battery Tesla so sorely needs!
"TOKYO--Toshiba Corporation today announced the commercial launch of the SCiB the Super Charge ion Battery a breakthrough rechargeable battery primarily targeting the industrial systems market that can recharge to 90% of full capacity in less than five minutes. The battery offers excellent safety and a long-life cycle of over 10 years, even under conditions of constant rapid charging. Toshiba aims to make this high potential battery a mainstay of its industrial systems and automotive products businesses, with global sales of 100 billion yen targeted for fiscal year 2015. The first SCiB will be shipped from March 2008."
http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2007_12/pr1101.htm
Reply
Kardax 12:34PM (12/11/2007)
Clark Snyder: There are lots of quick-charge battery designs out there, but they always seem to have less energy capacity than standard lithium ion. Additionally, since there's no quick charge infrastructure in the U.S.... you end up with an EV that charges at the same rate as any other, but has less range.
Reply