August 2009: Tesla Motors officially turns a profit

Big news - the electric car maker Tesla Motors is now making a profit. They were founded in 2003 and opened its first retail store in 2008, so a mere one year and four months later they have succeeded in becoming a profitable company, and this all on a single model. When the Sedan comes out then those that can't afford a $100,000+ car (but can still purchase cars with a fairly hefty price) will be able to purchase one as well.

I don't like the handle on that car though, to be honest:



Seems like a bit of a waste of time. Not a deal-breaker though.

The electric car that will have the largest effect on society as a whole though, IMO, will be the Nissan Leaf. Assuming it happens to be as cheap as Nissan is saying it will be, it may even end up being less expensive than a gasoline-powered car in many places with subsidies. If that happens then there will be almost no reason not to purchase one.

In related news, the Washington Post has an article here on the upcoming Chevrolet Volt. You can see from some of the disinformation in the comments that they're going to have to work hardest on getting the point across that the car doesn't have a total range of 60 km, it just goes that first distance on electricity alone and then switches to a gas-powered motor (technically electric and charged by gas, but a mode of propulsion utilizing gas nonetheless). A clever enough commercial might be able to do something about this misconception.