Bloomberg: Elon Musk Had a Deal to Sell Tesla to Google in 2013
In the first week of March 2013, Elon Musk reached out to Google's Larry Page, say the two people familiar with the talks. By that point, so many customers were deferring orders that Musk had quietly shut down Tesla’s factory. Considering his straits, Musk drove a hard bargain.
He proposed that Google buy Tesla outright -- with a healthy premium, the company would have cost about $6 billion at the time -- and pony up another $5 billion in capital for factory expansions. He also wanted guarantees that Google wouldn’t break up or shut down his company before it produced a third-generation electric car aimed at the mainstream auto market. He insisted that Page let him run a Google-owned Tesla for eight years, or until it began pumping out such a car. Page accepted the overall proposal and shook on the deal.
NDTV: Self-Driving Cars Hold Key to Future Highway, Says Google's Kurzweil
Self-driving vehicles hold the key to reducing traffic fatalities and will transform the automobile industry, a top Google executive predicted Tuesday.
Ray Kurzweil, a leading expert in artificial intelligence who joined Google in 2012, told the annual conference of the Society of Automotive Engineers that the rapidly declining cost of computing power and the advances in artificial intelligence will make autonomous driving a reality.
Kurzweil told the audience that autonomous driving, utilizing artificial intelligence, is definitely coming.
Business Insider: Toyota Is Taking On the Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Car Haters
Elon Musk doesn't have a high opinion of the hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered car. Back in 2013, in Germany, he infamously called the technology "so bullshit." He's also referred to fuel cells as "fool cells."
In a new ad campaign produced by the agency Droga5 and tagged "Fueled by Everything," Toyota is taking the direct approach. The company is showing, quite literally, how a Mirai can run on bullshit.
Newsweek: HSBC Warns Clients of Fossil Fuel Investment Risks
Global banking giant HSBC has warned investors of the growing risk of their fossil fuel assets becoming useless, in a private report seen by Newsweek.
In the report ("Stranded Assets: What Next?"), analysts warn of the growing likelihood that fossil fuel companies may become “economically non-viable” as people move away from carbon energy and fossil fuels are left in the ground.
El Pais: Tax Agency Uncovers Alleged Wind Farm Payoff Scheme in Spain
Private renewable energy firms may have paid more than €110 million in commissions to government officials and local businessmen in Castilla y León to help them obtain licenses and push through paperwork to install wind farms across the region between 2004 and 2007, tax inspectors said.
In a December 30 report obtained by El Pais, seven transactions detail how energy firms paid local businesspeople and others connected to the regional Popular Party (PP) government, either directly or through stocks in companies created to build and operate wind farms.
Corporate Knights: Top 100 Energy and Environment Twitter Feeds
To determine the top 100, more than 100,000 Twitter users actively posting on green issues were studied, including mainstream individuals who have built a large following within the global environmental audience and professionals who work with and tweet about environmental issues. Each was awarded a “Green Score” on a scale of 1 to 100, calculated according to three different measurements: Authority, Audience and Activity.