Daily Debrief: California gets Tesla car factory Video

Daily Debrief: California gets Tesla car factory Video Transcript

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>> I'm Kara Tsuboi CNET News.com, welcome to the Daily Debrief. I'm here with Senior Editor of Car Tech, Wayne Cunningham. Thanks for joining us Wayne.

>> Thank you.

>> And we are here to talk about Tesla's announcement today, Monday, the 30th of June that they have decided to keep their sedan production here in California.

>> Right, which kind of make sense, I mean the headquarters are in California, in the Bay Area here and moving the sedan production here -- putting the factory here is actually a pretty big win for California to built because of a lot of technical talent here that they want and the headquarters and from what I understand is California did a lot to entice them to stay here.

>> Let's talk a little bit about the sedan first. It doesn't hit the market until 2010, is that right? So we've got to figure this out to wait.

>> Right and you know building -- signing the deal for where the factory is gonna be as sort of a milestone in the production, we know that the car is gonna come out in 2010 because we're gonna build the factory for it, so it's a good sign.

>> Right.

>> We'll actually see that car.

>> Absolutely. Is there any early comparisons we can make to the obviously very popular, much talked about Roadster.

>> Well, there's not -- I think there's a little only one or two Roadster on the road right now.

>> Sure.

>> The CEO of Tesla has one. I understand Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California has -- is on the list for one.

>> Right.

>> He doesn't have it yet, so we'll see when that comes about. I don't know. I've always been skeptical about the Roadster. They're claiming a range of 220 miles. No body with electric cars really got that kind of range yet. So, I'd like to see what happens when these cars are actually get on the road in people's hands.

>> Right.

>> And see what the results are. See what, you know the feedback is. So it's pretty early to say how the sedan compared to Roadster.

>> Right. It seems like the sticker price however is a little bit lower on the sedan...

>> Right.

>> That we know of.

>> $60,000 compared to that a hundred -- a hundred twenty for the Roadster.

>> Yeah.

>> The advantage of the sedan is it's a bigger car that you can put more batteries in it and therefore should be able to accommodate the weight of the sedan and weight of four occupants in which you don't have on the Roadster obviously.

>> Absolutely. Now you said earlier that the announcement to build the manufacturing plant here in California is a big win for California. And that has a lot to do with California has really aggressive emissions reduction plan, is that right?

>> Right, specifically green house gas emissions. Carbon dioxide emission is not regulated at all right now except for a lot of California passed and is getting -- got a new big pipe with EPA about getting to enact that law and so far I think the courts of rule that that law should go forward. The biggest issue there is the only way to reduce carbon dioxide is to reduce miles per gallon and the car. And if you reduce it to zero is with the electric car. Obviously reduces the carbon dioxide drastically.

>> Absolutely. And so the state is giving Tesla Motors a lot of financial incentives to keep their production here and to therefore kind of spur on this whole green development of Car Tech, is that right?

>> Right. It sort of kind of lead the way in green development and the idea of green industry can actually be financially, you know positive or that it isn't a compromise between losing money in going green. You can actually make money and go green too.

>> Yeah and like you said earlier, the fact that Governor Schwarzenegger and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom have already put their names on the list. To get a Tesla Roadster I guess it's putting their money where their -- I don't know, decisions are.

>> Exactly.

>> Thank you very much, Wayne Cunningham, Senior Editor for Car Tech. I'm Kara Tsuboi, CNET News.com. I'll see you on the next Daily Debrief. ^M00:03:37 [ Music ]