Elon Musk's electric auto projects get $465M in loans

well thats 465M in positive cash flow using his accounting

Posted by anonymous at 06/23/09 15:38:24

"In July 2007, one of the new investors in Tesla sent in someone to help with supply chain issues. While he was doing that, he conducted a cost audit of the Roadster and discovered that the production cost after the first 100 cars would be about $120k – almost twice what Eberhard was claiming it cost. Several months later, that actually turned out to be an underestimate, as material cost alone was $140k. Given that we had been charging a price of $92k and had taken advance orders for hundreds of cars, this meant we had a life threatening problem."

They were selling for 100K what was costing around 400K to produce. Typical Internet Guy.

Didn't the same thing go on at SpaceX

Posted by anonymous at 06/23/09 17:36:13

For some more info, apparently the loans from the federal government for electric vehicles are as follows: $1.6 billion for Nissan, $5.9 billion for Ford, and $465 billion for Tesla, out of a total $25 billion fund for building fuel-efficient vehicles.

http://www.engadget.com/200...

Posted by Neil H. at 06/23/09 18:40:25

Um... s/billion/million for Tesla. Oops. ;)

Posted by Neil H. at 06/23/09 18:41:21

Neil, you don't work for the Government, do you? ;)

Posted by Stephen Kohls at 06/23/09 20:58:46

http://www.teslamotors.com/...

If you are going to slander Elon by posting paragraphs from his blog out of context, don't you think it fair we read the whole thing Mr. Anonymous?

Posted by Mike Puckett at 06/23/09 21:18:06

I give credit to Elon for his ability to acquire tax payer revenue to save his fiscally stressed company. However I'm not so certain that a car company which must exist on government incentives has a lnog range future. Ultimately to be considered a successful private enterprise Elon’s car company must create and market a car or technology that appeals to the public in general. All I currently see is a product which is now dependent and endeared towards the dictator Obama and the EPA’s progressive leaning vision.

Posted by Doug at 06/24/09 00:20:27

I cut a comment. Anonymous commenters have no standing to make nasty remarks about those who sign their comments.
- Clark

Posted by TopSpacer at 06/24/09 00:22:42

Doug,
"However I'm not so certain that a car company which must exist on government incentives has a lnog range future."
As can be read on the Tesla website, the loan will be to set up two large manufacturing facilities (1 for cars, 1 for powertrains). Once they have that set up and get economies of scale working for them, they can start making money. From this they can finance future developments. Note that they are only starting to make money on the Roadster now that they are churning out 100 cars a week. And I think the significant investment of Daimler (who have been around for a century) in the business gives them a lot more credibility.

"Ultimately to be considered a successful private enterprise Elon’s car company must create and market a car or technology that appeals to the public in general."
Isn't that what they are trying to do with the Type S and even more affordable cars beyond? Many people seem to be interested in their cars, as am I. Right now, because they are still a low volume manufacturer, they can inevitably only serve a smaller, richer segment of the market, but they certainly plan on reaching a larger group.

"All I currently see is a product which is now dependent and endeared towards the dictator Obama and the EPA’s progressive leaning vision."
I want a Tesla (don't have the money, but still). I you read the Tesla owners blog, the ones that do love the way it drives. So does for example John Carmack, who used to drive a twin-turbo Testarossa. If you don't like it, fine, but there definitely seems to be a real market out there.

And "dictator Obama", really?

Posted by Webkabouter at 06/24/09 04:51:18

A 100,000 dollar 2 seater is not going to appeal
to any main stream customer.
A 60,000 dollar four seater is not going to do
much better.

And any manager who isn't bright enough to keep track of the material cost of their product will piss away the funds son enough.

Posted by anonymous at 06/24/09 19:48:37

Bandwagon is rolling:

http://www.pehub.com/43036/...

Jurvetson Propelling $60 Million SpaceX Round

Rocket aficionado Steve Jurvetson and his DFJ partners have agreed lead a major investment in space transportation provider SpaceX, PE Week(peHUB’s sister publication) has learned. The round could be worth upwards of $60 million, and would include existing SpaceX backer Founders Fund.

Posted by Observer at 06/25/09 00:24:14

Anyone who claims Barack Obama is a "dictator" should be posting on UFO conspiracy websites, not a serious space development blog.

Posted by utrecht at 06/25/09 01:08:24

Hi Observer,
Thanks for the link!
- Clark

Posted by TopSpacer at 06/25/09 01:52:56

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