The news for Telsa is a lot worse than just the financial problems. They have real technical problems, again related to the temperature management issues related to lithium ion batteries that I have been harping on for some time now. Below is a very illuminating article based on a blog by former Tesla CEO Martin Eberhard.
(note that this is a long URL, and the two lines need to be stitched together to see the article)
http://teslafounders.wordpress.com/2008/10/12/wasting-energy-like-two-really-nice-refrigerators/
Basically, they have a cooling system for the batteries that needs to run CONTINUOUSLY if the batteries are at more than 1/2 charge. The power draw is equivalent to 2 large home refrigerators, causing the batteries to drain when the car is parked.
Gerry
