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UAW sets up organizing committee at Tesla's Fremont factory

Tesla is happy to do things differently than other automakers, from the company-owned stores to the all-electric drivetrain. It also doesn't use union workers at its factory in Fremont, California (the former NUMMI plant, pictured). But now the United Auto Workers (UAW) is testing the waters for representation at the plant, according to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle. UAW President Bob King has revealed that the UAW has created an organizing committee in Fremont. How this would change things at Tesla – and whether it would be a good or bad thing – is not really known, but it would certainly make the EV company more like the Big Three in this one aspect. We heard rumblings of unions at Tesla in 2010, when Toyota and Tesla announced they were going to collaborate on developing EVs. At that time, the United Auto Workers said it wanted union workers back at the plant, especially some of the 4,500 who ended up unemployed after the General Motors/Toyota partnership that built cars at NUMMI was shut down. That didn't happen, but Tesla has called unionization a 'risk' to business in a financial report. Tesla CEO Elon Musk at least has a plan for running his shop both with and without a union. As he told Wired in 2009, "Most of our experienced factory workers come from unionized environments, and we asked them what benefit did they see in unions. They said, 'Well, if their boss was an asshole, they had recourse.' I said, 'Let's make a rule: There will be no assholes.' I fired someone for being an asshole. And I only had to do that once, actually." Tesla declined comment to AutoblogGreen about the new union rumblings, but when we spoke with Musk in 2012, he described the longer-than-average work hours: Right now we're working six days a week. Some people are working seven days a week – I do – but for a lot of people, working seven days a week is not sustainable. The factory is operational seven days a week but most people we only ask to work six days a week right now and, obviously, we want to get that to a more reasonable number. I think people can sustain a 50-hour work week. I think that's a good work week. If you're joining Tesla, you're joining a company to work hard. We're not trying to sell you a bill of goods. If you can go work for another company and then maybe you can work a 40-hour work week. But if you work for Tesla, the minimum is really a 50-hour week and there are times when it'll be 60- to 80-hour weeks.

Bond manager has odd advice for Tesla: stop making cars

Tesla Motors said in the release of its first-quarter earnings Wednesday that it will boost its quarterly production on its Model S luxury sedan to as many as 9,000 from the approximately 7,500 it made during the first three months of the year. Bond manager Jeffrey Gundlach doesn't believe that's a good thing. Gundlach, founder of DoubleLine Capital LP, told Bloomberg News that, while Tesla is a better investment than fast-growth companies like Twitter, the automaker would improve its financial results by halting production of its vehicles and dedicating itself to making battery packs for other automakers. A spokesman for Tesla, whose shares are up almost 40 percent this year, declined to comment to Bloomberg. We'll just sit here and imagine Tesla-powered Nissan Leafs and Chevy Volts. Back in the real world, aside from its own vehicles, Tesla makes battery packs for the Toyota RAV4 EV and for some versions of the Smart Fortwo ED and the B-Class EV. Tesla and Toyota first announced their collaborative effort in 2010, which included Toyota's equity investment in Tesla as Tesla prepared to take over the old NUMMI plant in the San Francisco Bay Area. Tesla said Wednesday that it took a $49.8-million first-quarter loss. Compare that to a year-earlier net income of $11.2 million. That's despite boosting revenue 10 percent from a year earlier to $620.5 million. That's largely because Tesla's selling, general and administrative costs more than doubled from a year earlier to $117.6 million.

Tesla Model S track tested at Buttonwillow raceway

Many television viewers will know about the concept of a seven-second delay that allows producers to bleep any loose profanity during live shows before they make it to air. And we're imagining the driver of a Tesla Model S shooting down California's Buttonwillow Raceway may have cursed a bit once the electric vehicle's power limiter kicked in to keep the battery's heat down, because that added about seven seconds to the typical lap time around the 3.1-mile course, Teslarati says. Power-limiter not withstanding, the luxury EV appeared to do pretty well around that circuit, which is located near Bakersfield and about 130 miles north of Los Angeles. One happy dude at Teslarati turned in laps as low as 2:19 and change, beat out a Porsche 911 in acceleration and managed to keep the car on the track. The Tesla topped out at 113 miles per hour, but all that speed consumed electricity at about three times the typical rate. That means that, for the first 10 laps (which were the fastest), the 33 miles of actual distance used up 90 miles worth of range. And with the track's 240-volt outlets working to various degrees and Tesla's nearest Superchargers 50 miles away, there were some potential problems making sure the car could do all the driver wanted. But they're problems we'd love to have. Check out the 11-minute video of the escapade below. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.