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Tesla begins selling in China, despite lack of formal company name

Car buyers in China can now start shopping for a new Tesla Model S. Only problem is, the California-based automaker doesn't seem to have hammered down a brand name for that market. According to Reuters, Tesla is still dealing with a trademark squatter for "Tesla" (or "Te Si La"), so in the meantime, it is a brand without a name.
Tesla has launched a website in China under the Tousule name, but it doesn't appear that will be the official nomenclature for cars sold in China. According to the report, a Tesla salesman in Beijing doesn't know when - or even if - Tesla plans to come up with a Chinese name for its brand. We reached out to Tesla for a comment on the matter, but we've yet to receive any response regarding this ongoing situation in China.

Aluminum body on Tesla Model S may raise repair costs

One line of questioning about Ford's move to aluminum for the F-150 centered on the cost of repair. Speaking on the topic, Mike Jackson, CEO of AutoNation, said, "It's expensive, and it's complicated and it's difficult to work with." According to Green Car Reports, Tesla Model S drivers are learning that the expensive way, with a list of repair estimates ranging from $7,000 to fix "a small dent and scratch" to $45,000 for "minor front-end damage." At least one comment on the article supports the terrifically spendy bills, user "bdwaters" saying he got an estimate for more than $6,300 to fix minor damage to a rear quarter panel. The elevated numbers are put down to a few reasons beyond the difficulties of working in aluminum: the tools and equipment required to fix it are expensive, with one shop saying it spent $100,000 to get fitted out to Tesla standards, and incidentals like rivets and bonding agents are pricey; one repair shop charged $35 for a single rivet, and the bonding agent recommended by Tesla is $100 per tube. Other commenters on the piece, however, provided their own evidence that ran contrary to the trend mentioned. With aluminum certain to figure in the necessary move to automotive 'light-weighting,' this will end up being an issue that affects huge numbers of drivers. Check out the story on Green Car Reports for the early take.

For Tesla, the energy-storage company, the magic is in batteries

Tesla Motors Chief Elon Musk has always been a big-picture guy, and the company's chief technology officer appears to be following suit. JB Straubel, who was a keynote speaker at the Joint Venture Silicon Valley symposium near the automaker's Northern California home base recently, says the company is just as much an energy-storage company as a car maker. And he said the rate of battery-technology improvement shows no signs of slowing down, according to Green Tech Media. Straubel estimated that battery performance has improved about 40 percent during the five years between the debuts of the Tesla Roadster and the Model S. Additionally, battery density has doubled during the past decade and continues to ramp up fairly steeply. He noted that further near-term improvements will come not from the size and shape of the cell, but from improved cathode and anode materials. Those energy improvements won't just help the cars. Tesla uses a two-megawatt-hour battery pack to supply as much as 10 percent of the peak energy used at the company's factory in Fremont, CA, and will double the size of that battery-powered energy capacity within the next few months, Straubel says. Automakers like Tesla and Nissan are licking their proverbial chops at the prospect of substantially improved battery performance paired with declining battery costs as more and more lithium-ion battery packs get produced. Late last year, Navigant Research estimated that lithium-ion battery costs would fall by almost two-thirds by 2020, down to a low $180 per kilowatt hour. That should make electrified powertrains price-competitive with conventional vehicles, as electric vehicles could then command a price premium as low as $2,000 compared to their gas-powered brethren.