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Tesla Motors has been spending way too much money building each Model S. That reality, and how the company is remedying the situation, was one of the main talking points during a conference call that followed the release of the automaker's fourth-quarter letter to investors and financial results. The discussion offered a great look inside a company that is moving from its start-up stage to becoming a full-blown, car-building, money-making operation.

Tesla could bump up production to 500 Model S EVs a week, but will focus on reducing costs first.

To achieve the first-quarter profitability target that CEO Elon Musk says he expects to hit, Tesla is focusing on improving production efficiency and increasing gross margin, rather than just increasing the rate at which they turn out cars. Tesla could build as many as 500 Model S vehicles per week – instead of the current 400 – but wants to reduce the cost per car before it turns up the production volume. Musk reiterated the precise goal during the call, saying, "I'm highly confident that we'll be above 25 percent gross margin, without considering zero-emission credits, by the end of this year"

"The amount of overtime required to achieve 400 cars per week was pretty extreme."

There are several ways to pursue that target, one of which is reducing the man-hours required to pump out each Model S. In December, at the height of its efforts to achieve a 20,000-vehicle annualized production rate, workers were averaging something like 68 hours a week, Musk said (and also participated in). Obviously, that's expensive in terms of paying additional overtime wages, and can lead to employee burn out if sustained. "The amount of overtime required to achieve 400 cars per week was pretty extreme. That has improved pretty dramatically," Musk said. That number is now down to about 50 hours a week and should drop to the mid-40's sometime next month, Musk said. At the same time, the company is working to greatly reduce the number of temporary workers it employs and increasing, somewhat, the ranks of its full-time team.

All eyes have been on Tesla Motors this past week as it disputed the veracity of an account of a long distance drive by The New York Times reporter John Broder. While it was somewhat amusing to watch NYT counter the original accusation of fakery made by CEO Elon Musk, only to be then publicly slapped with a handful of revelatory vehicle logs, today's release of Tesla's shareholder letter and fourth quarter financial results are certainly more relevant to the company's future. And, if Tesla manages to keep performing as it has these past few months, that future looks bright.

According to the letter, the California automaker ramped up its production to 400 units per week, building a total of 2,750 Model S sedans last quarter, bringing its yearly total to 3,100 vehicles. Of course, building cars is one thing and delivering quite another. The delivery process (in most States) involves buyers meeting with a specialist who explains the intricacies of owning and operating the car. The tricky logistics go some way to explain why Tesla delivered 2,400 units (100 units less than its target) for the quarter and around 2,650 for 2013. The next few months will see that number increase significantly with 4,500 deliveries planned for the 1st quarter of 2013.

"I'm quite certain we will deliver more than 20,000 cars this year."

Continuing at its current production rate, the company expects to build 20,000 all-electric machines in 2013, and CEO Elon Musk said on a conference call with analysts today that those are already sold. "I'm quite certain we will deliver more than 20,000 cars this year," he said, adding that if Tesla shut down all its stores and stopped taking orders, they'd still sell out for 2013. Tesla received an additional 6,000 new reservations in the 4th quarter of 2012, putting its net reservations – discounting deliveries and cancellations – at year end in excess of 15,000. Musk is happy about this, naturally, but is focused on figuring out, "how do we exceed the 20,000 number next year?"

Financially speaking, the numbers also look pretty positive. Tesla's quarterly loss shrunk to $90 million from $110 million in the third quarter, while revenue dramatically increased over 500 percent from the previous quarter to $306 million. That income was derived not only from Model S and a few Roadster sales, but also benefited – to the tune of $12 million – from its work on the Mercedes B-Class EV program and drivetrain shipments for the Toyota RAV4 EV.

"I don't want to be overconfident. I do think we'll be profitable in Q2, and subsequent quarters, too."

Perhaps the most interesting piece of the financial puzzle came in a prediction in the investor letter, and we quote, "... we expect to be slightly profitable (excluding only non-cash option and warrant-related expenses) in Q1 2013." Later, during the call, Musk expanded on that point saying that the only thing that could stop Q1 profitability is a "force majeure" event, like an earthquake. He is "cautiously optimistic" about Q2, but is waiting to see how things develop before he makes as bold a claim as he is with the Q1 prediction saying, "I don't want to be overconfident. I do think we'll be profitable in Q2, and subsequent quarters, too."

You can read the investor letter and financial results for yourselves below. We'll have more from the analyst call, including information on leasing in North America and a snazzy new "awesome red" color for the Model S soon.

Have you ever wanted to get in on a bit of electric two-wheeled racetrack action but aren't quite ready for a top-level series? Well, this might be for you. Zero Motorcycles dealer Hollywood Electrics has teamed up with M1GP to create a new 10-round series in Southern California.

The races are open to any electric motorcycle – brand-name or homebrew – and, best of all, it's inexpensive. A mere $120 gives you a full season membership and also (for Zero riders only and beginning at the second round) makes you eligible for Hollywood Electric store credits in the amounts of $500, $250 and $100 for placing 1st, 2nd and 3rd, respectively. They'll also reimburse that original fee if you compete in four events.

Race lengths are under 10 miles and charging is available onsite. Riders get track time for practice and qualifying as well as the main event. The rubber meets the road course this weekend at Willow Springs International Motorsports Park where, if you make it onto the grid, you'll find yourself lined up against one Brandon Nozaki Miller (pictured).

While this type of racing might not push the technology forward as quickly as some other series, it certainly raises the profile of modern battery-powered bikes at a grass-roots level, and just might convince some traditional riders to give it a go. Especially when they see quicker lap times. Check out the official press release below more details.

We got pretty excited when Zero Motorcycles announced its new and highly-improved 2013 lineup in October and have spent a good deal of time since looking at the pictures, poring over awesome numbers (54 horsepower, 68 pound-feet of torque and 11.4 killowatt-hours!) and daydreaming about excellent electric adventures. Now that it's actually 2013 however, we want more.

We want to see more pictures and video of the machines in action, we want to try them out for ourselves and, most importantly, we want to see them in stores available for customers. Well, two out of three ain't bad. While we've yet to throw a leg over any of its battery-powered bikes this year, Zero has come through on the other counts.

With the launch of its new website, the California company is providing plenty of visual candy to further fuel our electric motorcycle desires. Besides action-packed footage of all its models – in both natural sound and music-enhanced versions – it's also put together a number of engaging customer testimonials, including a pair from record-setters Terry Hershner and Brandon Nozaki Miller (AKA the Electric Cowboy).

Best of all, though, customers are starting to receive bikes. Hollywood Electrics, Zero's top dealer for the past two years, has posted pictures on its Facebook page of its first two 2013-model year customers and we understand that production at its Scotts Valley headquarters is in full swing.

Scroll down for the "natural sound" version of videos featuring each of the five Zero Motorcycle models and let us know which one (or two) you'd like to have in your garage. We lean towards the DS, ourselves.

Rimac Automobili has just accomplished what all startups in the electric vehicle space promise, but mostly never deliver on: Job One. That's right, the Croatian company has completed its very first all-electric supercar for a paying customer. There's just one problem: we can't see it yet.

According to a Facebook update released by the company, its customer "...wished to control what will be published about the project." So, all we know for now is that it should offer similar, if not better, tire-blistering performance as the original Rimac Concept_One but will look somewhat different as it not a copy of that prototype, but rather, a separate one-off design. Judging by the shrouded silhouette in the photo above, the proportions are similar to the Concept_One, but the bodywork has been significantly massaged.

The project took about four months to complete and was complicated by the lack of automotive-sector infrastructure in the company's Balkan homeland. With no pool of engineers to hire from and no supplier base from which to source parts, the team Rimac team had to be inventive and self-reliant whilst operating on a tight budget. The lessons learned should help them move forward with future production, though.

While we look forward to seeing what lies beneath the sheet in both high-definition stills and moving pictures, this is probably the perfect time to applaud Mr. Rimac for reaching this momentous milestone. Congratulations, sir.

Members of the National Electric Drag Racing Association (NEDRA) are getting ready to sizzle away the seasonal blahs at their Winter Florida Nationals this coming Sunday at the Palm Beach International Raceway. This year the event has been folded into a day of street racing set up by Brooks Weisblat, the man behind DragTimes.

It just so happens that this particular website-owning speed addict is also a Tesla Motors customer and has just received his 2013 Tesla Model S Performance. Naturally, he will be bringing it along to see if he can get results similar to those that the Motor Trend crew achieved last summer and possibly surpass the Tesla Roadster's record time (12.582 seconds) for a spot in the official record books.

He'll be joined on the track by the Lawless EV Racing crew with "Lemon Juice," a '94 Chevy S-10, billed as the "World's Quickest Street Legal EV." It uses four 7.5-inch GE motors chained together to rip down the strip in as little as 9.957 seconds. We should also see Miramar High School's Black Pearl, a converted Porsche 944, as well as an electrified 1987 TVR 280i and an AC Propulsion eBox.

We expect to see great things in electric drag racing later this year, so a couple new records here would certainly be a nice way of getting a good start. Speaking of good starts, it appears someone's new Model S isn't waiting until Sunday to take on some competition. A video has surfaced of it engaging with a 2012 E63 AMG BiTurbo on the street, and you can see the result by simply scrolling below.

"Big Daddy" Don Garlits is a legend in drag racing. Over the decades he's set a lot of records, and was the first to break hit 200 miles per hour in the quarter-mile (and the eighth-mile, for that matter). Now, at the tender age of 81, he's getting ready to do it again. This time, in an electric dragster.

Lawless EV Racing, the guys behind the world's quickest electric motorcycle, have put together Swamp Rat #37 for Mr Garlits with the express purpose of warping down the track in six seconds at speeds in excess of 200 mph.The elongated machine depends on three Zilla controllers to send 1500 kW – the equivalent of 2012 horsepower – from the custom High Tech Systems battery pack to the General Electric series DC motor.

The project arose after Big Daddy's previous electric dragster experience – some match races in cars with golf cart-like performance – had left him with the impression that EVs are slow. With a little preliminary testing under his belt, Garlits now knows this is not the case.

Scroll on down for video of one test run, along with footage of that match race that provided the impetus for this project. You can see other, slightly clearer, clips here and here. Though the wick wasn't turned up all the way and the vehicle was still incomplete, this latest Swamp Rat seemed to tear up the first 60 feet of asphalt faster than any EV that's come before it. We are looking to seeing the what this latest Swamp Rat will do once it's ready to play for keepsies.

We often throw the word "awesome" around when talking about certain electric vehicles with extraordinary capabilities. In the case of the EV1 desert race buggy from Strategic Recovery Institute (SRI) however, the descriptor seems somewhat inadequate. Fabricated by Strategic Racing Designs (SRD) using a Pikes Peak-proven drivetrain from EV West, this thing knocks your everyday "awesome" to the ground with a Chuck Norris reverse roundhouse kick, then chews it up beneath its BF Goodrich Baja T/A KR tires, kicking up a pair of rowdy rooster tails sparkling with tiny bits of awesome in the process. Seriously.

Created with the intention of competing in the SCORE Baja 1000, this beast of a machine carries a pair of swappable 41-kWh battery packs. Each of those sends power to its own Warp 9 DC motor via a dedicated Soliton 1 controller. The parallel power systems allows for mission-critical forward motion if a component happens to fail in flight.

The 400 kW (535 horsepower) from the twin motors is channeled through a four-speed sequential transmission causing mini sand storms to spontaneously erupt whenever the electrons are unleashed. Top speed is said to be 125 miles per hour and it should be able crush its competitors for about 100 miles before needing fresh packs.

While its racing aspirations have not yet been realized, the team is continuing to test and further refine the EV1 with hopes of competing in the NOORA Mexican 1000 this April. You don't have to wait until then to see it in action, however; just scroll on down to watch it play in the giant sand box that is the Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area. You can also see lots of pics and follow their progress on the SRI Facebook page.

"It's been a long time coming – It's well worth the wait" – Tragically Hip

It seems whenever I think about the long awaited arrival of the Brammo Empulse electric motorcycle this chorus begins playing in my head. That's partly because I'm both covertly Canadian and old enough to have had this song seared into memory from extensive radio play in the early '90s, but also because it just fits the situation so well.

The Empulse was first announced back in July of 2010 and was expected to be within the grasp of customers anxious hands about a year later. People got excited. It was to be the world's first commercially available electric bike that could top 100 miles per hour and get over a 100 miles of range from a charge. It also looked sexy enough to hold its own when surrounded by scantily-clad Brammo babes. The reservations poured in.

Then, the company made a move that was simultaneously disappointing and breathtakingly daring. They went back to drawing board which displayed the drivetrain and trashed it. To hear insiders tell it, they decided the single-gear design lacked the performance they thought necessary, and so they took a big gamble by delaying the release and implemented a 6-speed gearbox with integrated motor instead. The price also soared from $13,995 to $18,995 for the top-end Empulse R.

So, was it a prescient business move or will it prove to have been a disastrous decision? Certainly the initial reviews (also here and here) have been quite favorable. With last weekend's delivery of the first bike to a paying patron (pictured above) however, that question can only now begin to be answered. So far, though, it's clear that customer #1 is quite pleased with his purchase and considers it well worth the wait.

Of course, Brammo's future depends on more than just its halo machine and one customer. To that end, the company just offered up more good news. It seems the product log jam has been somewhat cleared and it should also start shipping out it long-time-coming Enertia Plus next month. Game on, for real this time.

There is currently no distance record for electric motorcycle journeys recorded by Guinness World Records, but there will be soon and Terry Hershner will own it. The Florida resident set off for the Long Beach International Motorcycle Show in California with the dual purpose of attending the event and setting a world record. He appears to have accomplished both.

While most journeys begin with a single step, Terry began his epic expedition on the 21st of November with a 1,000-mile detour down to Miami for a Thanksgiving visit, his Zero S electric motorcycle loaded above the gunnels with all the imaginable gear one might need on this kind of adventure. Camping equipment? Check. Assorted electrical outlet adaptors? Check. Emergency stuck-in-the-middle-of-the-desert solar panel and spare battery pack? Double checkeroni.

Our moms always told us that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Sometimes, however, if you take that vinegar and mix it with a bit of olive oil and then drizzle it over some thickly-sliced ripe tomatoes adorned with rings of sweet Vidalia onions, and then sprinkle all that with a few pinches of crushed pepper and sea salt, well, you've got yourself a pretty tasty salad. We raise this culinary quandary to ask this: Is it ever okay to say horribly nasty things about people – or, in this case, a company, which is made of people – to make a good point?

Oil Change International has just released a satirical ad called "Exxon Hates your Children" and is seeking donations to have it broadcast on television. The video make the argument that oil conglomerate Exxon couldn't care less about the welfare of (your) children because it is dedicated to making short-term profits in the face of the long-term climate catastrophe that its products have been linked to. The graphics that accompany the ad bolsters the child-hating claim with graphics that connote the association of asthma with air pollution.

Is it all too much or is there just enough seasoning in there to make the message palatable? Can this kind of gut-punch negative ad produce positive results? Of course, it's not likely that the people who run oil companies really hate your children but, at the same time, the health of the planet – and everyone who lives there – is a serious issue. So, what to do? Should individuals support this kind of activism, or are there better, more constructive, alternatives?

Scroll down to watch the ad for yourself and answer the poll that follows. If you have your own ideas about a more productive approach to the problem, feel free to drop some knowledge in Comments.

The Catavolt team has been developing its unique electric motorcycle drivetrain whilst duking it out on racetracks Down Under in the eFX/TTXGP championship for the past couple years. Now, they are bringing the battle to the Australian streets, announcing that the first Catavolt S6 street bike has found a home.

Like the track-going version, the S6 is based on the Daelim VJF250. The space where the gasoline-burning bits used to sit is now home to a 6.2-kWh battery and the motivating force – a single high torque motor from Enertrac – is located in the hub of the rear wheel, eliminating any need for chains and sprockets. Instead of a clutch, the bike uses the left lever to initiate regenerative braking.

This configuration offers a top speed of 120 km/h (75 miles per hour) and a range of 150 km (93 miles). As with all range estimates for electric vehicles (especially motorcycles), real world range will vary with speed and terrain. If that's not enough performance, Catavolt also offers the DU6 sport version, which uses the same dual-motor setup as the race machine and has upgraded suspension to help deal with the increased unsprung rear-wheel weight. That variant has, of course, improved acceleration and tops out at 160 km/h (100 mph).

As well as raw speed, the need for more range can also be addressed. The company offers an optional 6 kWh battery pack that comes in a pair of removable panniers and doubles the distance one can wander. Prices start at $18,000 Australian dollars ($18,860 US at today's rates) for the base model. Scroll down for video to see the S6 in action and meet the first owner. As a bonus, we've also thrown in footage of the race bike laying down a nice practice lap at Daytona International Speedway.

This morning, Honda announced a bunch of impressive numbers for the upcoming 2014 Accord Plug-In Hybrid at the Los Angeles Auto Show. To wit: 115 MPGe, estimated 49 city/45 highway/47 combined fuel economy and an MSRP of $39,780. During the announcement, the Accord PHEV was called the "highest fuel economy of any plug-in vehicle, period."

While for this may hold true for some customers, the fundamental nature of PHEVs means that actual mileage will vary widely, depending on the number of miles one can travel on the energy stored in the battery and the owners driving cycle.

For instance, the Accord with a cord can go about 13 miles before it starts burning gasoline, while the 2013 Chevy Volt – which is rated at "only" 98 MPGe and sports a similar $39,145 price tag – eschews running its internal combustion engine for around 38 miles. Of course, the Volt can only seat four, so perhaps a closer competitor might be the Ford Fusion Energi. It is rated at 100 MPGe, is said to be good for 20 initial gasoline-free miles and has a base price of $39,495.

The Accord plug-in will become the first production vehicle in America to meet the SULEV 20 requirements. The Accord Plug-In Hybrid goes on sale January 15, 2013 in California and New York. We recently got to drive the PHEV, and you can read all about that here.

If you've been saving up pennies to buy a Tesla Model S, you're going to need a bigger piggybank. The California automaker has just announced the price will be going up by $2,500 for US customers ($2,600 in Canada). That comes out to $59,900 for the base version with the 40 kWh battery and $94,400 for the top end Model S Performance with the 85 kWh pack.

Of course, that's before taking the $7,500 federal EV tax credit into account, so in the end those two examples would cost you $52,400 and $86,900, respectively. We had feared the increase might be higher when we first heard it was coming and possibly impact sales, but we don't think the additional dollars will deter many prospective buyers. Especially not since receiving its recent accolades.

Still, if you want to avoid paying the extra amount there's still time to get in on the original deal as the increase only impacts reservations taken after January 1, 2013. Deliveries are said to take place several months after reserving, though with approximately 16,455 already ordered (according to the Tesla-obsessed at Tesla Motors Club) and only about 1,000 of those delivered, it might be August before new customers see this ground-breaking all-electric hatch in their driveway. Scroll below for the official press release.