Tesla’s Week: No More Batteries For Toyota’s Hybrids, Potential Sales Ban In Missouri
Tesla has had an interesting week. First, the company talked about a political move in Missouri that would effectively prevent the company from selling its electric cars in the state, then in a quarterly filing, Tesla revealed that it will no longer supply batteries to Toyota for the latter’s RAV4 EVs.
To the first issue, the Tesla team penned a blog post describing the political theater that’s going on around sales in Missouri. “We have just become aware of a last-minute attempt by the auto dealers lobby, via pressure on legislators, to bar Tesla from selling its vehicles direct to consumers in the state,” reads the post.
Tesla Model S
This is an issue the company has faced in New Jersey, but Tesla seems particularly peeved that lawmakers tried to tack the amendment onto what it says is essentially an unrelated bill at the last minute, thus preventing the issue from being debated in the light of day. Tesla also says that the amendment doesn’t clarify existing statutes so much as it completely cuts against the current law that prevents franchises from competing against one another (eg, no Ford dealership vs. Ford dealership) by redefining “franchisor” to mean “manufacturer”. Somehow, this would prevent Tesla from selling cars directly to consumers.
Tesla already has a Service+ center in St. Louis, MO and plans to put another one in Kansas City, MO.
Bloomberg reports that Toyota is ending its deal with Tesla wherein the latter sold the former battery packs for the RAV4 EV crossover hybrids. As far as anyone outside of Toyota is aware, the RAV4 EV program itself is not ending. The deal was worth around $100 million over its three-year span, but Tesla is forging ahead with sales of its own cars, development of new Tesla vehicles, and a deal with Daimler AG for components for the electric Mercedes B-Class.
To the first issue, the Tesla team penned a blog post describing the political theater that’s going on around sales in Missouri. “We have just become aware of a last-minute attempt by the auto dealers lobby, via pressure on legislators, to bar Tesla from selling its vehicles direct to consumers in the state,” reads the post.
Tesla Model S
This is an issue the company has faced in New Jersey, but Tesla seems particularly peeved that lawmakers tried to tack the amendment onto what it says is essentially an unrelated bill at the last minute, thus preventing the issue from being debated in the light of day. Tesla also says that the amendment doesn’t clarify existing statutes so much as it completely cuts against the current law that prevents franchises from competing against one another (eg, no Ford dealership vs. Ford dealership) by redefining “franchisor” to mean “manufacturer”. Somehow, this would prevent Tesla from selling cars directly to consumers.
Tesla already has a Service+ center in St. Louis, MO and plans to put another one in Kansas City, MO.
Bloomberg reports that Toyota is ending its deal with Tesla wherein the latter sold the former battery packs for the RAV4 EV crossover hybrids. As far as anyone outside of Toyota is aware, the RAV4 EV program itself is not ending. The deal was worth around $100 million over its three-year span, but Tesla is forging ahead with sales of its own cars, development of new Tesla vehicles, and a deal with Daimler AG for components for the electric Mercedes B-Class.
