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Tesla dropped to 'junk bond' status by S&P

While Tesla Motors' Model S is a piece of pristine, well-designed metal, the company's bonds have now been rated as "junk." But maybe that's better than the other way around. We'll let the investors decide. Standard & Poor's gave Tesla's bonds a 'B-' rating this week, indicating so-called "junk status," Automotive News says. That means investors are saying the company has a relatively high chance of defaulting on its loans. S&P cites Tesla's short history, competition from some very large companies and relatively narrow product line (none of which are new facts), and estimates that investors would be able to recover 30 to 50 cents on the dollar should the company default. Tesla has been issuing billions of dollars in bonds this year to raise funds for its planned gigafactory somewhere in the southwestern US, a project that Tesla estimated will cost $5 billion ($2 billion from Tesla, $3 billion from partners). Tesla said earlier this month that it took a first-quarter loss of $49.8 million, compared to year-earlier net income of $11.2 million. While revenue rose 10 percent to $620.5 million, selling and administrative costs more than doubled while research and development costs jumped 48 percent. And while Tesla's share price has doubled during the past 12 months (it's at around $209 today), the company's liabilities doubled to $3.52 billion from the beginning of the year to the end of the first quarter. There's a short video on the situation from CNN Money below.

How to get incredibly accurate information on your EV's charging power

One would think that paying about $300 to receive a bit of bad news about electric-vehicle charging would be counterproductive. But the fine folks at Teslarati believe that truth is beauty, and they're willing to pay a little extra for the straight dope. There are always losses when taking power from the grid and shoving it into an EV's battery pack. The question is how big are these losses. Teslarati calculated digital read-outs from the dashboard of their Tesla Model S all-electric sedan and found that Tesla builds in about a nine percent efficiency loss when it comes to recharging the car. But the blog thought the Tesla couldn't know exactly what was transpiring between the wall and the battery, so it footed the bill for about $300 to install a digital submetering unit from EKM Metering. With a little calculation, Teslarati was able to figure out after a couple of recharging rounds that the efficiency loss per recharge was closer to 15 percent than nine percent. That means that, instead of paying about 48 cents on the dollar relative to filling up an economy car (factoring in the AAA average price of $3.66 per gallon), Tesla owners are paying about 52 cents on the dollar. Not much compared to paying upwards towards $100,000 for the vehicle itself, but, hey, every cent counts, right? Get all of the details here. Featured Gallery Tesla Model S View 10 Photos News Source: Teslarati Green Tesla Electric recharging

AAA says Tesla Model S is the best green car available

AAA has released its 2014 Green Car Guide (PDF), a 140-page document that discusses what it means to be green, how to be a greener driver, how to shop for green cars, what choices are available and what green cars are on the horizon. Most importantly, the guide evaluates and ranks 83 different green vehicles, from high-mileage gasoline vehicles to battery electric cars, and everything in between. This year's king of green vehicles, according to AAA, is the Tesla Model S. Despite some interpreting this to mean that AAA is calling the Tesla Model S (with 85-kWh battery) the greenest car, the scoring system only includes two "green" categories out of the 13 evaluated: emissions and fuel economy; the Tesla earns 10 out of 10 in both, but so do every other EV on the list. The other categories include braking, crashworthiness, visibility, slalom handling, ride quality, interior noise, acceleration, ease of entry and exit, interior size, turning circle and luggage capacity. The Model S scored very well (more than 7 out of 10 points) in every category except the last four mentioned. So, this isn't about whether the Tesla is the greenest of the lot. Instead, it's about the AAA deeming it the best all-around car of the green bunch. The best green car value is the gasoline-powered Chevrolet Spark 1LT at $229 per point. AAA also calculates the cost per point for the 83 cars tested. The best green car value, according to this evaluation, is the gasoline-powered Chevrolet Spark 1LT at $229 per point. The Tesla Model S is in the bottom five, at $953 per point. So while the Tesla might be AAA's best green car, those points don't come cheap. In terms of the greenest car available, there are other evaluations out there. For instance, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) released its own list earlier this year, using broader methods for evaluating what makes a car green, including emissions, fuel economy, curb weight and battery weight (the latter two are used to inform environmental impact of production and disposal). Their top three green cars are the Smart Fortwo Electric Drive, Toyota Prius C and Nissan Leaf. The Tesla Model S isn't even in the top 10. Oh, and let's not forget Green Car Journal's Green Car Of The Year, the Honda Accord. Still, which car would you rather drive every day?