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Tesla puts emphasis on hiring military veterans

When we think of American car companies, brands that come to mind immediately are Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, and if you're an AutoblogGreen reader, Tesla Motors. The California-based maker of electric vehicles doesn't treat that lightly, as we find in an article from the San Jose Mercury News, which profiles the company's efforts to reach out to and hire US military veterans. "We want to be known throughout the veteran community as a great place to work," says Tesla's vice president of human resources, Arnnon Geshuri. Tesla appears to be achieving that goal, and is just getting started. Tesla has risen to the top among workplaces for veterans. Already, about 300 of Tesla's 6,000 or so employees are veterans, or about five percent, with another 600 vets currently involved in the hiring process. Tesla continues to seek out vets to fill its ranks, and for good reason. VetJobs CEO and president Ted Daywalt points out that veterans communicate especially well with each other, having experience in military speak, which is helpful in the workplace. Daywalt notes that "Tesla has risen to the top" among workplaces for veterans. Tesla works to recruit veterans directly, through word of mouth and veterans groups and at events like job fairs. For Tesla, veterans also bring special expertise that lends itself well to building electric cars. Besides their technical knowledge about mechanics and electronics, they also excel in teamwork, discipline and leadership skills. Tesla holds regular casual meetings for vets, where they can get to know each other and share their own ideas for how the company can improve itself. The relationship between Tesla Motors and its veteran employees is a mutually beneficial one. Tesla gets a disciplined workforce with unique qualifications, and the veterans have an easier time transitioning back to normal life when returning from duty. Having a job waiting for them when they get home is a benefit for vets, as is working for a company that is flexible with their schedules for those who are still enlisted. Tesla held employee Megan Gates' position while she was on duty for two years, and she remains comfortable balancing her National Guard service with her work. "I give Tesla my schedule and say 'these are the weekends I need to leave,' and they work around that schedule," she says. "Everyone here is so supportive." Remember the good old days, when Tesla made its employees work like 68 hours a week?

Tesla staring down California dealer ad probe request

Months after the confusing announcement of Tesla's lease-like financing program, the electric vehicle maker could face an advertisement probe that has been requested by the California New Car Dealers Association, Automotive News reports, which claims that consumers are being mislead by advertised monthly payments that are lower than what most people would experience.
The ordeal can be traced back to April 2, when Tesla made an announcement specifying tiered monthly payments for the three versions of the Model S assuming a 66-month term. But then Tesla revised the numbers upward overnight because, it claimed, it meant to say it offered a 63-month finance term, not a 66-month term. The automaker also claimed that factoring in the "true cost of ownership" of a Model S compared to a conventional fuel-burning car could drive monthly costs to below $500.
In May, it added an available finance term of 72 months, which, factoring in only gasoline savings, the company said could lower monthly payments to $580. But the underlying issue at hand is that the means which can potentially lower monthly payments from $1,000+ dollars (depending on the model) to under $600 can't be realized by the majority of Americans, the CNCDA says.

More speculation about Tesla Gigafactory announcement

Should we all be laying our chips down on Nevada for Tesla's proposed Gigafactory? At least a few news sources are saying yes, though another says there's a remote chance of a San Francisco Bay Area site getting the nod. Real remote. The frontrunner appears to be the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center, which is about 20 miles east of Reno proper and includes warehousing sites for Walmart, Dell and Petsmart, Transport Evolved says. Compared to other states in the running, Nevada has the advantages of lower taxes, lots of cheap real estate and some lithium-mining capabilities, while the specific site has very good highway and rail access. There's also already a li-ion company there, Dragonfly Energy. Feeding that belief is the sight of about 50 earthmoving trucks recently spotted at that site, says ValueWalk, Greentech Media and Jalopnik, in addition to Transport Evolved. But then we heard that the site had been shut down. Nobody involved is giving any clues, but the site is plenty big enough for a $5 billion, 10-million-square-foot plant that would support about 6,500 jobs. Meanwhile, Tesla may also be considering the former Concord Naval Weapons Station about 35 miles northeast of San Francisco and 45 miles north of Tesla's Fremont headquarters, says KTVU, the NBC affiliate for the San Francisco Bay Area. The problem is that's a Superfund site in need of some remediation. But that sort of cleaning project could be a good fit for a company focused on "clean" energy. Tesla is, of course, declining to comment. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said early last month that it was in "quite advanced" stages of planning for the plant, or perhaps two plants, and that the company was meeting on a daily basis with partner and battery-supplier Panasonic. The company is expected to officially announce the location of the Gigafactory later this year, and it could be up and running by the end of 2016.