If you have a brain, pulse, and/or soul, you probably missed "VH1's Fabulous Life Presents: Insane Celebrity Superspenders," which aired last night (12/10). "Celebrities are really loving the Tesla roadster," one of their hip-hack commentators said. A craptacular VH1 original show setting sail onto the sea of exaggerations? No surprise there. But it's a testament to Tesla's marketing that they effectively convinced the world that they've already launched an all-electric sports car. In fact all they've done so far is give a few celebs a ride around the block (as passengers, of course), take deposits, start construction of a showroom in LA, and put out reams of press releases. Nice job, Tesla. Bad job, VH1.

So Tesla has a new CEO: Z'ev Drori. Drori made his money back in the '70's founding and running Monolithic Memories, a producer of bipolar PROMS (nothing to do with Steven King's Carrie). Drori sold out and acquired Clifford Electronics, maker of car alarms. That worked out pretty well, with Drori eventually flogging the built-up biz to Allstate Insurance. We hear he's a pretty good race car driver. ANYWAY… Drori's appointment completes the ouster of Tesla founder Martin Eberhard, who's none too happy that his as-yet-unborn baby has been taken away by the suits. Although Martin's banned from saying squat about his predicament thanks to a "non-disparagement agreement," ships are sinking upon his loose lips. "I am not at all happy with the way I was treated," Eberhard whines on the unaffiliated Tesla Motor Club forum. "And I do not think this was the very best way to handle a transition – not the best for Tesla Motors, not the best for Tesla's customers (to whom I still feel a strong sense of responsibility), and not for Tesla's investors." And not for Martin's bank balance, apparently. "Ze'ev is a bright and experienced guy. Unlike me, he's made a zillion dollars from his past ventures…" In an ironic echo of his work for Tesla, Eberhard promises to post his true feelings on his new blog teslafounders.com– which doesn't even have a placeholder page. Meanwhile, no word from Drori when the first Tesla customer gets theirs (so to speak). 

So here we are, living large in the fourth financial quarter. Those of you keeping track of the thrice-revised date for the first delivery of an all-electric Tesla Roadster to a paying customer will note that the Silicon Valley start-up has 45 days to meet their last promise. To review: "While we expect to produce a limited number of production cars in the fourth quarter," Michael E. Marks wrote in a customer email back in September. "I have set a production goal of shipping fifty cars in the first quarter of 2008, with an additional 600 cars in the 2008 model year." Just today, we received our "requested update from Tesla Motors." This latest communication put the "miss" in "missive," making no mention of '07 customer deliveries. But hey, "nearly 90" (89? 85?) customers have logged some seat time in the prototype, including The Red Hot Chili Peppers' Michael "Flea" Balzary. And more great news! Despite having taken 600 orders from customers without delivering a single car, closing-out the order book for '08 model year Roadsters (last time we heard they were talking about producing one car per week), Tesla's now taking deposits for '09! While your money only puts you on the Wait List, where else can well-heeled eco-warriors buy a dream– and little else– for five grand?

After failing to ascend to the top slot at software maker SAP, forty-year-old Israeli entrepreneur Shai Agassi has decided to populate the world with electric car recharging stations. The International Herald Tribune reports Agassi's newly-founded "Project Better Place's" plans to "extend the existing electric-power grids with a wide network of intelligent recharging stations in urban areas." Sticking to the cellular phone biz model, Agassi wants to sell motorists juice on a subscription basis, and lease and/or finance the vehicles to end users (that's motorists to you and me). And here's the big difference between your silly ideas and his: the software maven has raised $200m to fund his ambitions. Investors include Israel Corp. (a transportation and technology holding company), Vantage Point Venture Partners (Tesla's backers) and private investors such as booze billionaire Edgar Bronfman Sr. and former World Bank head James Wolfensohn (uh-oh). As for the problem of waiting for a recharge, Agassi envisions a smaller number of "car wash style" automated battery-swapping stations. Meanwhile, it's worth noting that Tesla has yet to deliver a single electric roadster to a customer after multiple production delays, while iPhone has delivered over 1.4m units since its scheduled launch. 

Now that Tesla's delayed the delivery of their $100k lithium-ion-powered Roadster for the third time, and lowered production expectations again, you'd think that the automotive media would begin to share TTAC's skepticism about this Silicon Valley venture. Not so. Perhaps that's because A) The media really want it to happen and B) Tesla's wrapped the delay in [increasingly familiar] hyperbole. In a letter to Tesla Club Members ($50k and you're in!), Tesla's freshly-minted CEO apologizes for the delay and resets customers' expectations. "While we expect to produce a limited number of production cars in the fourth quarter," Michael E. Marks writes. "I have set a production goal of shipping fifty cars in the first quarter of 2008, with an additional 600 cars in the 2008 model year." (In case you're not a lawyer, "expect" and "goal" are not legally binding terms.) And then the really good news: "Range: 245 miles on the EPA combined cycle, confirmed!" Confirmed by… Tesla! Although the company feels free to use the term "EPA" in their claims, nothing about the Roadster is government certfied. And there is still no independent confirmation of the Roadster's safety, range or recharge time. Yet the press continue to repeat Tesla's claims as if they were gospel. Rest assured, the Devil's Advocate will keep you posted.

CBS' Sunday Morning program has joined the caravan of love for Tesla Motors' not-ready-for-prime-time electric car and GM's not-ready-for-prime-time electric car. New York Times correspondent David Pogue's report leads with the usual "gas sucks" mantra, and then gets down to business: repeating Tesla's oft-repeated (never proven) claims for their LiIon-powered electric roadster. Ah, but doesn't the electric car simply shift the energy problem to powerplants? The recently demoted Martin Eberhard demures: "If you do the math, you'll find that an electric car, even if you use coal to make the electricity, produces less pollution per mile than burning gasoline in the best gasoline-powered car." After gasping at the Tesla's sticker, Pogue trots out GM Car Czar Maximum Bob Lutz, who promises a user-friendly price tag for the Volt: "My personal target still is to bring this car into the market at, you know, nicely below $30,000." Yeah, well what about the EV1? "Now, it turns out that from a PR standpoint probably the dumbest move we ever made," Lutz said. "It was done for all the right legal reasons, but PR-wise it was dumb. So, now I'm getting e-mails saying, 'I hope you rot in hell.'" After revealing that the first Teslas will hit the streets this fall and promoting the forthcoming film "Who Saved the Electric Car?" (really), Pogue gives Maximum Bob the last word. "…I think the future for electrics is absolutely unlimited." At least the PR is.

As Tesla prepares to miss another deadline release its electric sports car to its customers, there's a chance competitors may get there first. Or at least do it better. We've already reported Danish designer Henrik Fisker's ambitions. The Telegraph reveals that another upstart start-up is aiming at Tesla's target market. The UK's Lightning will be powered by four wheel-mounted electric motors hooked-up to Nano Titanate batteries. According to their maker, the Lightning's power pack won't explode or catch fire, charges to 90 percent of capacity in 10 minutes, doesn't mind extreme temperatures ("think mobile phone left in freezing car") and lasts 15 years. All that and a Kevlar and fiberglass body sexy enough to give the great Dane wood. The Lightning will cost £150k. We find that fact strangely reassuring, as well as MD Chris Dell's refreshing realism about his progeny's prospects. "I'm quite confident that Lightning will have a car running by the end of the year and that it's likely to do pretty much what is claimed. Whether anything like it will ever be affordable while there's oil on the planet is another matter. If nothing else, it might make people realise there are alternatives and, if they really want to walk as green as they talk, governments need to start encouraging them. The political challenges might prove tougher than the technology."

Tesla Motors is set to send its lithium-ion battery-powered prototype Roadster on a 200-mile road trip. According to Green Wombat , it's a "publicity stunt designed to demolish the perception that electric cars are short-range put-put mobiles more suited to suburban cul-de-sacs than the open road." Tesla PR wonk David Vespremi claims it's no biggie; Tesla has already "put the car through its paces during long-distance testing." The trip is sponsored by the Hyatt hotel chain and will include several stops at Hyatts along the route. Even though Tesla claims a 200-mile range for the Roadster and they're taking it on a 200-mile road trip, AutoBlogGreen reports they'll be stopping at a Hyatt in Sacramento "to show off the charging capability (and charge the batteries)." According to Vespremi, this was "the plan all along." Funny that this plan doesn't show up in any of the news stories about the jaunt before now. TTAC has been questioning their range claims from the start; too bad the company can't won't use this opportunity to prove us wrong.

You may recall that TTAC took Tesla to task over its range claims for their all-electric Roadster– which the company stoutly defended, then revised downwards from 250 miles to 200. We also warned that Tesla wasn't likely to meet their already once-postponed summer delivery date– which they didn't. And now the erstwhile automaker has announced that they'll start releasing cars to customers in October. Or November. Forbes reports that Tesla CEO and co-founder Martin Eberhard is adamant: "We will definitely ship in that time frame." Eberhard attributes the company's third delay to a "late change in the transmission vendor." No word yet on whether the Tesla Roadster has passed federal crash tests. And you'd kinda think the company would have a working press car by now, less than three months from its [alleged] launch. Rest assured that we'll be following this developing story as it develops. Or not.