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EV WORLD EXCLUSIVE ARTICLE |
Despite its stunning good looks and early claims of 250 miles (later revised to 200 miles) of electric drive range, development of the Tesla Roadster has had its share of teething problems.
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EV World's West Coast reporter investigates personnel trouble at Tesla
Open Access Article Originally Published: January 27, 2008
Many electric vehicle enthusiasts have pinned their hopes for an EV future on the startup company, Tesla Motors. When Tesla recently began a drastic “staff restructuring” effort which some have called a “bloodbath,” many fans grew anxious to say the least. Is Tesla in trouble? Are they changing the company goals and priorities? Or are they simply taking the painful steps required to transition from a startup to a full blown manufacturing company? I desperately wanted answers to these questions, so I did a bit of research and made a few phone calls.
On January 10, 2008, the Tesla Founders Blog published a list of employees who had recently been terminated from Tesla. This list included multiple vice presidents, lead engineers, and a variety of other folks from all areas of the Tesla organization. The blogosphere erupted in speculation about the future of the company. A few days later, an unidentified individual contacted the blog owner, ex-Tesla CEO Martin Eberhard, and convinced him to remove the names from the termination list he had published. On January 19, the blog removed the entire entry, stating that “it was explained to me that Tesla and its financial backer(s) can spend far more than I can on a lawsuit.” Websites which had reprinted the original list were also contacted and asked to remove the names on the list.
I contacted Darryl Siry, Vice President of Marketing, Sales & Service at Tesla, and asked him point-blank if Tesla is going down in flames. “Quite the contrary!” he replied, “Tesla is in great shape and we will be the first company to offer a production EV in a long while… Everyone at the company is working very hard to achieve our mission and focused on delivering cars to customers.”
I asked him, “What and who is motivating the employee purges?” He declined to answer, but stated that “the question is a mischaracterization of what went on.”
Regarding the company’s corporate philosophy, Siry commented, “The corporate philosophy is the same as it has always been. We are committed to building an independent car company that produces the best EVs that combine great design, performance and the best possible efficiency. I would also point out that the vast majority of the staff remains the same as it was before - we are a company of well over 200 employees and continue to grow.”
In order to get an alternative viewpoint, I contacted an ex-Tesla employee who wished to remain anonymous. Over the course of the phone call, I got the distinct impression that company chairman, Elon Musk, has adopted a firm “my way or the highway” attitude toward staff relations. Having a visionary like Musk at the helm certainly has its benefits, but my anonymous source expressed concern that the recent staff changes had eliminated many of the members of Tesla’s management team with real-world experience in designing and building products for mass production. My source did not doubt that those left were smart and capable, he simply pointed out that they had much to learn in terms of accomplishing the manufacturing goals Tesla has set for itself.
Throughout these events, rumors have been circulating that Tesla is on the verge of canceling its program to develop an electric sedan, code-named “Whitestar.” Siry denied this speculation, assuring me that the project is “still active.”
Thank goodness! To me, the Tesla Roadster is a wonderful toy with just enough “bling” to get the company into the media spotlight. However, if the company is really going to change the future, it is going to have to give us a viable replacement for the Toyota Camry/Honda Accord/Chevy Malibu-type family sedan. The Whitestar represents Tesla’s first major step in that direction, especially if rumors that it will be a plug-in hybrid are true. The day I hear confirmation that Tesla is killing the Whitestar is the day I will believe that Tesla has given up hopes of becoming a viable automobile company.
Until then, I will keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best.
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15 comments so far...
12-Feb-2008
60333
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Regarding the eBox, there is at least one ACPropulsions eBox on the east coast...the east coast of Florida that is:
http://floridaeaa.org/modules/xcgal/index.php?cat=10008
I got to test drive it last fall, and it's a great car. The owner has driven it all over the state to prove to people that it is practical. I don't know of any eBoxes that have been delivered besides the one that went to Tom Hanks and the one in South Florida. I'm sure ACP would deliver one to Pittsburgh for the right buyer, but I vaguely remember reading somewhere that the new model of the Scion xB will not be used because Toyota/Scion increased the curb weight.
Posted by: steve e
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12-Feb-2008
60335
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this shelly carson person is a fuel cell scam proponent, after reading her comment i was agast but i read some other spew from this person that has been posted on the net and its plainly obvious she does not know what she is talking about, in another article she stated that we can produce hydrogen at home for free! that fuel cells are the answer, batteries are junk, yeah right, i guess the hydrogen generator equipment does not cost anything, what a joke, another person who needs a lobotomy
Posted by: henry h
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12-Feb-2008
60340
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I really want this to work and it sounds like
Tesla is geting close. Guess what? It really is diffcult to design a EV battery pack. Everone who has designed one has burned one or two down some by accident. It's the reality of the game. Storing 20-30 kwh in a small box is hard to do. It can be done, it has been done and Tesla will do it, but not without paying there dues. It's one of the most changling engeering jobs there is. Battery engeering and politics don't mix. you can't guess, you have to know what your doing by having done it and haveing it fail.Then not doing it that way again. The failures are spectacular but they also pave the way to success. This panic about not being able to have failures is an unrealistic biz manager dream that is some how gotten rampant in America. Do you know why the shuttle's main engines don't fail? It's because they blew up many of them in there test bunckers. Reliability come from extreme testing, the insueing failures, and post test analysis not from a CAD/CAM drawing and wishfull thinking. Read the Findman report on the shuttle desaster.
Posted by: Lin Higley
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26-Feb-2008
60548
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" Lithium ion batteries developed by the German company called Li-Tec, which is taking part in a development program with Bosch, "take up 30% less volume than those from Toyota" and "allow you to go three times further for the same weight than French models, " according to Li -Tec director Tim Schaefer."
Germany: Li-Tec Reports Lithium-Ion Battery Breakthrough
http://puregreencars.com/Green-Cars-News/Technology/Li-Tec-Reports-Lithium-Ion-Battery-Breakthrough.html
Posted by: r06ue1
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28-Feb-2008
60592
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Where does Shelly Carson validate or not validate her information? From what I know of and have seen at the facilities manufacturing and testing these Tesla vehicles, nothing is broken related to the batteries. Can Shelly explain how you weld a battery? If she can, I would next like to watch her weld on a battery, while I maintain a safe distance away from this activity. I have yet to hear or find as public record any instances related to batteries, the Tesla facilities or the Tesla vehicles regarding instances related to the battery.
Shelly's comments related to the FAA making it illegal to bring Li-Ion batteries on a plane due to Tesla are incorrect and were not put in place by the FAA. A policy was adopted by the parent organization of the FAA, the TSA. This policy was put in place as a better way of managing devices containing Li-Ion batteries. Again she mis-speaks of what the TSA states. It is not against the law to bring Li-Ion batteries on a plane; however the TSA does have some guidelines that they would like everyone to comply.
http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/assistant/batteries.shtm
Maybe Shelly Carson can explain the cost effectiveness of Hydrogen? More and more data is being produced about the cost of production, infrastructure and maintenance of supporting a hydrogen fleet. Example, bus fleets. It costs some fleets as much as $52.00 per mile to operate a hydrogen bus. The equivalent diesel bus cost approximately $1.70 per mile. I am not supporting the on going use of diesel buses; however there are cleaner and less expensive ways to achieve the goal of fewer and no emissions. LPG. CNG, Hybrid, EV, REEV, etc. All one has to do is look at the Los Angeles bus fleet. The third largest municpal bus fleet in teh nation and the cleanest in the nation. They started using CNG buses in October of 2004. What about the Tindo bus being used in Adelaide, Australia. A pure EV bus that is recharged at the bus depot via energy from a PV system. This system is carbon neutral.
Unfortunately in the end, everything has a cost or presents a different opportunity that needs to be solved. Example: CFL’s. They are energy efficient; however disposal presents a challenge, mercury.
Posted by: Crete S
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08-Mar-2008
60694
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Any company that manufactures a product will do something called destructive testing, and indurance testing. In destructive testing a item is pushed until it fails. The item is then examined to determined why it failed. Then changes are made to improve the product. With out this type of testing defective products could go into production, and cause all sorts of legal problems.
Example: Tesla performed sustained high speed testing on the car. From this testing data Tesla deamed it nessary to reduce the top speed of the car. This was most likly done to improve reliabity of the product.
Posted by: Jeff Anderson
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29-Jan-2008
60161
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As one person who has put down $50k, I was initially 80/20 in favor of going through with buying the Roadster. As I recently stated on one of the forums, now I'm around 20/80 or perhaps 18/82 as I write this. The reasons are actually more personal. I recently purchased a commercial property in a slightly depressed part of Pittsburgh which I plan to make as green as humanly possible without raising rents too high. Clearly, the 50k could go towards that. The 'bloodbath' that is going on at Tesla also is not helping in my decision to go through with it......
......this just in, the number is at 17/83! I can't help but think that Jim is right. These changes will take time and also that perhaps doing conversions may be the way to get this done. I may have space to facilitate EV conversions.
Hey Jim, have the eBox folks considered expanding their operations to the east coast somewhere?
Posted by: Brett Boye
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29-Jan-2008
60162
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Oh, I should make it clear that no matter what I decide, I WANT TESLA TO SUCCEED ULTIMATELY especially with the Whitestar program. As I have stated before, IF THERE IS NO TESLA Motors, there would be NO CHEVY Volt. The head of GM recently validated this in a conversation he recently had with Martin Eberhard.
Posted by: Brett Boye
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27-Jan-2008
60146
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Ok , so when are they going to be on the road then ?
This sounds more and more like the Ballard Fuel Cell every day.Soon , In the near future , This Spring , This Summer , By Fall , etc.
Posted by: Keith Tomilson
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28-Jan-2008
60155
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TERM-OIL , seems you had spelled it wrong.
If you can't wait for your Tesla buy the ACPropulsion xBox. It seats more people, carries more stuff and have V2G. Oh it also costs less and they started delivering last year and haven't stopped for anything.
Tesla will deliver perhaps in March from recent stories. Quality and changing the World is not a fast thing. It's also not cheap. But like the PC and Cellphone will cost less and do more each year we use them.
It's like REnewable Energy, the more buy the equipment and learn the lower the cost. Fossil Fuels are just the opposite , the more we use then more it costs. Just look at the huge subsidies for them 25 Billion a year, and Oil 13.1 Billion a year.
STOP all subsidies and the answers are clear !
Posted by: jim stack
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28-Jan-2008
60156
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I think $100k cars miss the mark. The people that can afford these vehicles can afford a $50k car and just pay through the nose for gasoline. What we need is a CHEAP, mass-produced, no-frills, hybrid gas-electric vehicle available to first-time buyers which does not currently exist. Once GM or Ford realize this and can put something together for under $10k that seats two and gets 25 miles per charge (covers 80% of passenger vehicle trip distance) we will see a dramatic change in the vehicle landscape.
Posted by: Sean Costello
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06-Feb-2008
60261
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i truly believe the new ceo was getting rid of personnel that was leading the company down the wrong road, what was it the one article said? tesla was top heavy. now that they are leaner they can get on with production of the roadster and finalize the design of the whitestar.
Posted by: henry h
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07-Feb-2008
60272
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Lotus Engineering designed the car and then walked away from the project because Tesla Engineers had screwed it up. Lotus is now building other, better electric cars for many, many companies in stealth mode. The other cars will blow the Tesla away. Tesla welded the batteries into a too heavy system that crushed Lotus's famous suspension and the batteries blow up all the time, this is the most closely guarded secret of Tesla. The whole power plant has failed because the batteries failed. the FAA has now made it against the law to carry the Tesla batteries, or any lithium batteries, on airplanes because they are so dangerous. Tesla was advised by their former strategy directors to use a fuel cell, which would have saved the company but they went with batteries, which have almost killed the company.
Posted by: Shelly Carson
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08-Feb-2008
60281
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White star sounds grate but is point less to comuntiers u drive 65 on the freeway not 35 win you use electric power if the wightstar gos on shoud be all electric
for me no highbred ill stick with my geo metro 45mpg
Posted by: don trigg
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29-Mar-2008
60979
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while Im all excited as you all at the prospect of driving a clean all electric car,theres two things Id like to know before buying this.
HOW long will those batteries last,and HOW much will they cost to replace?
now my cellphone battery costs 50$ and it lasted only 3 years.
this car has 6800 of laptop style Li-ion batteries,
HOW much do those cost?
anyone know?
Posted by: jan horns
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