It's normally good to stay impartial and objective about things, but sometimes you can't help rooting for particular people, companies and causes... So having visited Tesla Motor's San Carlos HQ in September 2006 - when the world was going ga-ga for the new electric sport car darlings who were going to revolutionise the auto world, we've not made much of a secret of the fact that we're big fans of the company and are really hoping they succeed.
Sadly, Tesla has been going through a rocky few months. First founder and CEO Martin Eberhard moved aside to 'focus' on Tesla's 'energy' group, to be replaced by an interim CEO. Then it was rumoured that both this energy programme, and Tesla's second car - dubbed 'whitestar', were going on hold (or worse) - with all hands to the pump to try and get the Roadster (original deliveries promised mid 2007) into the hands of customers - which still hasn't happened.
Although it might be too soon to jump on a press bandwagon suggesting disaster looms at Tesla (the problems with the roadster relate to the transmission and not the batteries, for instance), it does seem that these are very troubled times for the electric car start up. Eberhard has now been completely removed from the company he set up, and having originally bowed out in as dignified a manner as possible, he's now set up his own blog to comment on the goings on - apparently because of his disgust at the new management regime, which has apparently set about getting rid of half the original VPs and key figures in the cars development, including the brainchild of Tesla's electric motor. Entitled 'Stealth blood bath', it makes fairly grim reading...
In the meantime, it can only be hoped that things improve, and that Tesla get to the bottom of their problems, and start delivering cars soon. Here's what Chairman Elon Musk has to stay - the most recent posting on Tesla's once fab, but increasingly cagey and defensive blog.
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Images: Tesla charging port by rnair on Flickr under a creative commons license
Posted by Joseph Simpson on 13th January 2008
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