Elon Musk On The Colbert Report  

Elon Musk recently appeared on the Colbert report - it was amusing watching him gently refuse to dumb his answers down - Elon Musk on The Colbert Report. The rocket landing again after take-off is pretty cool too.

Tesla Motors has broken ground in Reno, Nev. for its $5 billion Gigafactory, according to their earnings report. But, Tesla Motors says it is a 'potential' location for the lithium-ion battery factory and the automaker is still looking at other possible sites.

Tesla Motors built 8,763 Model S electric cars and delivered 7,579 of them to customers during the second quarter, according to just-released second-quarter results. It expects to build about 9,000 cars this quarter, and deliver 7,800, largely due to a two-week production shutdown for retooling at its factory in Fremont, California--which cost it about 2,000 cars, it said. ...

Tesla still expects to be delivering at a rate of more than 100,000 cars by the end of 2015, when capacity expansion has been completed and its Model X crossover has joined the Model S in full production.

The good news, said the shareholder letter, is that demand for the Model S continues to grow. "Average global delivery wait times increased because our production growth was unable to keep pace with increased demand."

Bloomberg also has a look at Tesla's growth in foreign markets, noting China is becoming increasingly important - Tesla Seen Reporting Record Deliveries on China Expansion.

Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA) will probably report record electric Model S deliveries in the second quarter after it accelerated output and began shipping its flagship sedan to China and the U.K. ...

“Initial deliveries into China appear to have been successful,” said Andrea James, a Minneapolis-based analyst for Dougherty & Co. who rates Tesla a buy. While the company is contending with a trademark dispute there, that “may be the cost of doing business in China, which is a key market for Tesla,” she said.

Tesla is racing to boost international shipments of the Model S, priced from $71,000 in the U.S., until it can begin delivering the already-delayed Model X sport-utility vehicle in early 2015. The next challenge for Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk, who is set to appear in an episode of “The Simpsons,” is deciding where to build the world’s largest lithium-ion battery plant to start making cheaper cells needed for the less costly Model 3 sedan due by 2017