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Tesla appears on big guys' radar

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WarpedOne

Supreme Premier
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Aug 17, 2006
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http://environment.guardian.co.uk/travel/story/0,,1855609,00.html

"We have the big guys sniffing around, talking about buying technology, even hinting about buying the whole company," says Harrigan.

Ford, Chrysler and Nissan have all made the visit to Tesla's base in California and expressed an interest in the company. But for now, says Harrigan, the high-performance electric car market is probably going to remain in the hands of smaller, non-traditional companies.

"If we sold 2,000 cars in our second year that would be a huge success for us," he says. "For [the big companies] that would be a dismal failure."


Whit kinda worries me is the next sentence:

Eberhard agrees. "If the cheque was big enough and meant a real commitment from them to build the company then I think that's a good thing," he says.
 
Keep this in mind: Tesla are surely going to continue partnering with other car companies (as they have with Lotus) on their future projects.  So when Ford or DaimlerChrysler or Nissan come "sniffing around" it pays to be polite and amiable toward them.  You never can tell, the White Star four-door car might end up being assembled in a Nissan factory.

Hypothetically speaking, if Tesla were bought by a large auto maker that, as Eberhard says, is committed to build the company, they could bring a lot of resources to bear and greatly accelerate the growth and production of the product line.  BUT there would also be great risks.  Tesla's fate would really be at the mercy of the parent company.  A change in management, or financial stress, might cause the parent company to change priorities at any time.  They can always say, "Let's shift these resources to something more proven and profitable."  Then Tesla becomes another EV1.

Also, being independent gives Tesla total freedom to shop around for partners -- again, as they've done with Lotus.  There are a lot of established car companies in this world, large and small, who they could potentially work with.  Becoming a division of Ford or DaimlerChrysler would hamper that.
 
I don't see that as an awful thing, Tesla being bought out I mean.

If you look at it closely there's just not very much in the Tesla that's proprietary. If a big auto company wanted to they could build a car that looked just like the Tesla, same speed and range and style.

They've got the money to make a car out of light weight materials, they can buy the same exact batteries, they can buy the motor and they can program the computer to regulate the batteries.

What I worry about is big auto buying out the battery technology. That's the real key to the whole thing, as the battery goes, so goes the electric car.

If they get control of all the next gen battery technology there's nothing that anyone can do to break out. One of the areas I'm following a bit skeptically is the capacitor technology that MIT is developing where they increase the surface area with nano-tubes to get very close to standard lith-ion capability. MIT licensed their battery technology to A123, what's to stop them from selling it to big auto, who can shelve it for 15 years.
 
Thank god this stuff is out there more and alot more people know about it. I think it would be much more difficult to oppress the tech now as apposed to the EV1. But yes, this could be a really great thing for all of us. We could end up seeing the sedan come much quicker and cheaper than previously expected.