Musk: Tesla "will not be applying" for add. DOE loan [rec'd govt loans for SpaceX & SolarCity]

WIOT ^ | October 4, 2011

[Cincinatus' Wife]

A fuller account

Apparently after recent talks with the Energy Department, Musk decided he won't complete the loan application process seeking any more money. But he's still getting -- spending money from loans to his solar company and his rocket company. READ about his business track record excerpted after the break below, as reported yesterday in an investigative story from ABC news.

Obama fundraiser (and co-host with Ariana Huffington of an Obama inaugural bash in D.C.), Elon Musk: Tesla Motors, SolarCity and SpaceX CEO and/or investor and beneficiary of billions of dollars of government money.

This is the same man Obama's NASA heads have turned our U.S. national space program rocket building duties over to. What does he have to show for it? What has OUR money produced while our national space access capabilities are being dismantled??

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........"Its SEC filings offer a more sober assessment of the obstacles it faces on the road to profitability.

Tesla has yet to turn a profit and suffered net losses in each quarter. "Since inception and through the three and six months ended June 30, 2011, we had accumulated net losses of $522.8 million," its most recent 10-K form shows.

It has no experience in high-volume manufacturing of electric cars, its filings say -- the very project it sees as the road toward profitability. Tesla said it encountered "significant delays" in launching the Roadster - and acknowledges that developing the Model S will be a more complex undertaking. The newer car is the project financed by DOE.

"We have no experience to date in high volume manufacturing of our electric vehicles," Tesla's SEC filings say. "Our future business depends in large part on our ability to execute on our plans to develop, manufacture, market and sell our planned Model S electric vehicle."

The Roadster was produced in small quantities with the body assembled by Lotus in the United Kingdom and final assembly by the company at its facility in Menlo Park, Calif. The Model S, by contrast, will have much greater volume and be manufactured in Fremont, Calif. The company said production will begin next year.

Industry observers say Tesla's grand plan to launch the Model S is fraught with challenges.

"They want to scale up production from 1,000 cars a year to 20,000 cars a year, [and] that's going to be a very hard trick for them to do," said Alex Taylor, a veteran auto industry analyst and writer. "They want to make most of their own parts; Detroit can't do that because it's too inefficient. And Tesla wants to own its own dealerships. Henry Ford tried that back in the 1920s and gave it up because it was too difficult."...... Source

[de.rm]

“The Fancy Golf Cart Blues”

[DAC21]

Dead company walking, and another half billion down the sewer, thanks Bambi. You don’t have to read past the point that there going to build the car in California to know this Co. is DOA.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

This is the same man Obama's NASA heads have turned our U.S. national space program rocket building duties over to.

[maggief]

http://www.redstate.com/aglanon/2011/10/20/donors-bundlers-and-obama-allies-secure-1-billion-in-loans-export-jobs-to-finland/

Tesla has even more questionable connections:

Tesla brings political pull, as well. A former Tesla board member, Steve Westly, is an Obama bundler who raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the president in 2008 and for his 2012 re-election campaign. His Westly Group was also a financial supporter of Tesla Motors until Tesla went public in 2010, and Westly continues to back the company.

Tesla’s founder and CEO, Elon Musk, is a hearty political contributor who has primarily backed Democrats, including Obama. According to published reports, another Tesla investor is Nick Pritzker, a donor to Obama and a cousin of Penny Pritzker, the national finance chair of Obama’s 2008 campaign.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

THANK you for the Ping list BUMP!

[maggief]

Just curious why this is in “Chat”?

[penelopesire]

More proof that Obama’s first stimulus was nothing more than quid pro quo for his rich supporters and Chicago Political Machine thuggery on a massive scale!

Hey...Ocupiers...Cain was right..you should be camping in front of the White House...not Wall Street!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

All my topics were removed — I had it “news” and “front page.” I can’t re-add any topics.

[maggief]

Not sure I understand your issue, but you could pm or ping the mods to move the thread to “News/Activism”.

Thanks.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Moderator

Please add this to the News/Activism section and add topic - - Front Page or Extended so the forum can find it.

I had originally set it up that way and then things disappeared on the topics line and I’m told it wound up in “chat.”

Thank you for your help.

[maggief]

Related:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2794421/posts

Steve Westly: The Linchpin to Funny (DOE) White House Loans - Another Obama $500,000 bundler
California political news/pajamasmedia ^ | October 17, 2011 | Stephen Frank

Posted on Tuesday, October 18, 2011 9:01:54 AM by opentalk

“The most troubling transaction: a $465 million loan to California’s Tesla Motors. Tesla received a loan rate of 1.6% from DOE to manufacture an all-electric car that will sell for nearly $50,000. It will not exactly be the people’s car. Tesla also builds luxury sports cars that retail for $103,000 to $128,000.

Tesla also is no simple new age car company. It is owned and financed by big donors to the Democratic Party and to Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. Tesla’s principal owner is Elon Musk, the founder of PayPal. He has an estimated personal wealth of $672 million. His firm received venture capital from the The Westly Group, Daimler Chrysler, and from Abu Dhabi investors. The firm has partnerships with luxury sports car manufacturer Lotus and with Mercedes-Benz.

The secret to access to the DOE money is The Westly Group, run by California Democratic Party stalwart and big Obama campaign bundler Steve Westly. The former eBay executive wasn’t merely a prodigious fundraiser for Obama, raising $500,000 for his presidential campaign. He also served as the president’s California campaign co-chairman.

Another Obama $500,000 bundler was Solyndra investor George Kaiser and his foundation.”

(Excerpt) Read more at capoliticalnews.com ...

http://news.muckety.com/2011/04/04/obama-bundler-steven-westly-enjoys-white...doe-funding/31421

Obama bundler Steven Westly enjoys White House access and DOE funding

The Obama years have been good to venture capitalist and former California gubernatorial candidate Steven Westly.

Westly was a big help to the 2008 Obama presidential campaign, and now enjoys significant access to Obama administration officials

The Center for Public Integrity reports that four of the companies in which his venture firm, Westly Group, have invested have received more than $510 million in grants and loans from the Energy Department.

Two of those companies, Tesla Motors and Amyris Biotechnologies, have since gone public.

Westly, who refused to speak to the center, sits on a board that advises Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/obama-fundraiser-steve-westly/story?id=13250247

In 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy directed more than half a billion dollars in loans and grants to companies backed by Westly’s California venture capital firm. In 2010, the White House tapped Westly for a seat on a special energy advisory panel that gives him regular access to Energy Secretary Steven Chu. Westly boasts on his website that his firm is “uniquely positioned” to take advantage of the Obama administration’s interest in green energy.

[maggief]

See Cincinatus’ Wife’s post #11.

“Moderator

Please add this to the News/Activism section and add topic - - Front Page or Extended so the forum can find it.

I had originally set it up that way and then things disappeared on the topics line and I’m told it wound up in “chat.”

Thank you for your help.”

[maggief]

PING!

[penelopesire]

It’s just a huge money laundering enterprise using the American people’s taxdollars.

When is the media going to start reporting the truth? NEVER!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Thank you for those LINKS!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

http://news.muckety.com/2011/04/04/obama-bundler-steven-westly-enjoys-white...doe-funding/31421

That article is jaw-dropping — the networking and players.

Norm Augustine (Augustine Committee) was Obama’s appointed head that shut down the NASA’s moon program and replaced it with nothing. The U.S. national space program is basically on life support (and that’s being optimistic).

And Musk and SpaceX were given the “Job” and NASA $$$$ to make a rocket to replace shuttle instead of the rocket NASA was building.

He can’t even build a car.

[steelyourfaith]

Thanx for the ping maggief !

 

Beam me to Planet Gore !

 

The Difference Between Tesla and Fisker

October 21, 2011 9:05 A.M.

By&nbsGreg Pollowitz

Although there are a lot of similarities, Tesla is in a much better position for two reasons.

One, it’s already public and currently has a market cap of $2.84 billion. Not too shabby.

And two, more importantly, the company is more diversified than Fisker. For example, this deal with Toyota:

Woodstock, Ontario (August 5, 2011) — Toyota and Tesla Motors, Inc. (Tesla) confirmed today that their jointly-developed RAV4 electric vehicle will be built at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, Inc. (TMMC) in Woodstock, Ontario beginning in 2012.

“The Tesla-Toyota joint development team has agreed that building the vehicle at the Woodstock plant on the same line as the gasoline-powered RAV4, will streamline and simplify the production process and guarantee the highest level of quality control,” said Ray Tanguay, TMMC Chairman, who hosted Canadian officials at the plant today and thanked them for their support. “This is a great example of Toyota’s determination to collaborate with companies with leading edge technology.”

 

As previously announced, Toyota will pay Tesla approximately $100 million to supply the electric powertrain, which includes the battery, motor, gear box and power electronics for the RAV4 EV. Tesla will build the electric powertrains at its production facility in Palo Alto, California and then ship them to TMMC for final assembly into the vehicle.

 

The RAV4 EV will be sold at U.S. Toyota dealers through Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. (TMS). Details including pricing, volume and regional distribution will be determined and announced at a later time. 

In July of last year, Tesla and Toyota Engineering and Manufacturing, America (TEMA) collaborated to convert 32 conventional gas-engine RAV4 compact SUVs into fully functional RAV4 EV prototypes.

 

Toyota is committed to a broad strategy of sustainable mobility, incorporating products, partnerships, the urban environment, and energy. The RAV4 EV is one of several advanced-technology new products coming for Toyota. In addition to expanding the Prius family with the upcoming Prius v and Prius Plug-in Hybrid, Toyota will introduce an electric version of the Scion iQ in 2012 and a Hydrogen Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle by 2015.

Please don’t take this as an endorsement of the government playing venture-capital roulette, but it does look like Tesla spent its loot more wisely than the Disney-singing robots of Solyndra or the Finnish job stimulus of Fisker.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The proof is in the pudding and it can’t be found.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Someone needs to make an inventory of WHAT exactly has been delivered for these Billions — besides to Obama’s re-election (and other Democrat party politics).