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Tesla Announces Details Of Proposed Gigafactory Battery Plant

It's another day and electric automaker Tesla Motors is in the news once again. Tesla announced Wednesday that they will be offering $1.6 billion in convertible senior notes to the public. According to the press release, Tesla will use these funds to assist in "the development and production of its 'Gen III' mass market vehicle, the development of the Tesla Gigafactory and other general corporate purposes." The "Gigafactory" is a proposed lithium-ion battery plant that will sit on an estimated 500-1000 acres of land, employ around 6,500 employees and have an estimated vehicle output of 500,000 units per year in 2020, according to the automaker. That amount of vehicles will require an estimated 50 gigawatt hours of energy per year in battery pack production. That's more energy in lithium-ion batteries than was produced globally in 2013. Construction of the Gigafactory is anticipated to take place during 2014 and all of 2015, followed by equipment installation in 2016. First production launch is scheduled for 2017. In keeping with the environmentally friendly theme, the Gigafactory will be "heavily powered" by both solar and wind energy, and according to our colleagues at Autoblog Green, "will also use older Tesla packs for storage." Tesla still hasn't announced in which state the factory will be built, but it has been narrowed down to four: Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and Texas. More details can be read in this PDF document released by Tesla and in the press release below. TESLA ANNOUNCES $1.6 BILLION CONVERTIBLE NOTES OFFERING WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2014 PALO ALTO, Calif., February 26, 2014 – Tesla announced today an offering of $1.6 billion aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes in an underwritten registered public offering. Of the total offering, Tesla will offer $800 million aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2019 and $800 million aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2021. In addition, Tesla intends to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional $120 million in aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2019 and an additional $120 million in aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2021, for a total potential offering size of up to $1.84 billion. Tesla intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to accelerate the growth of its business in the U.S.

Stellantis expects to hit emissions target without Tesla's help

Franco-Italian carmaker Stellantis expects to achieve its European carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions targets this year without environmental credits bought from Tesla, its CEO said in an interview published on Tuesday. Stellantis was formed through the merger of France's PSA and Italy's FCA, which spent about 2 billion euros ($2.40 billion) to buy European and U.S. CO2 credits from electric vehicle maker Tesla over the 2019-2021 period. "With the electrical technology that PSA brought to Stellantis, we will autonomously meet carbon dioxide emission regulations as early as this year," Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares said in the interview with French weekly Le Point. "Thus, we will not need to call on European CO2 credits and FCA will no longer have to pool with Tesla or anyone." California-based Tesla earns credits for exceeding emissions and fuel economy standards and sells them to other automakers that fall short. European regulations require all car manufacturers to reduce CO2 emissions for private vehicles to an average of 95 grams per kilometer this year. A Stellantis spokesman said the company is in discussions with Tesla about the financial implications of the decision to stop the pooling agreement. "As a result of the combination of Groupe PSA and FCA, Stellantis will be in a position to achieve CO2 targets in Europe for 2021 without open passenger car pooling arrangements with other automakers," he added. Tesla's sales of environmental credits to rival automakers helped it to announce slightly better than expected first-quarter revenue this week. The next tightening of European regulations will soon be the subject of proposals from the European Commission. The 2030 target could be lowered to less than 43 grams/km. Related Video: Government/Legal Green Alfa Romeo Chrysler Dodge Fiat Jeep Maserati RAM Tesla Citroen Peugeot Emissions Stellantis

Feds decide against investigating Tesla Model S fire

Despite earlier reports, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has announced it will not be filing a formal investigation into the fire that engulfed a Tesla Model S earlier this month, as the agency says there was no evidence to suggest the fire was due to a manufacturer defect or that the car was in violation of government-mandated safety standards, according to Automotive News.
The NHTSA's decision whether to investigate was delayed, as the fire happened on the first day of the US government shutdown. AN reports that as of October 22, the administration was still "gathering data," according to a statement by Administrator David Strickland.
The October 1 fire that torched the critically acclaimed EV was started after an impact with a "large metallic object," according to multiple sources including the driver/owner. As we reported on October 3, despite the car-destroying blaze, Tesla maintained that the battery pack acted exactly as designed, by containing the blaze to just one of the battery pack's 16 modules, rather than sending the whole lithium-ion unit up in flames.