TESLA ELECTRIFIES WALL STREET

Tesla Model S If you've been following the Tesla's financial news, you saw how well the company did this week. The electric car company's initial public offering (IPO) climbed as high as 41 percent over the initial asking price. Even in the midst of the overall market slump, investors are clearly excited about the future of electric cars. The initial public stock offering from Tesla is the first IPO for an auto company since Ford went public in 1956. And some experts, including Marketwatch, are saying Tesla stock is a good buy. "Yesterday's IPO performance proves Tesla is tailor-made for this kind of overcast environment on Wall Street," reports Marketwatch. "This electric vehicle company is a cleantech innovator--a...'game changer' that has what it takes to succeed despite a particularly volatile environment on Wall Street right now." In addition to their current offering (the Roadster) the company plans to use the funds raised in the IPO to produce a five-passenger sedan--a more affordable "Model S" for 2012, and to expand overall production.

Tesla Roadster The company's success also should be welcome by those who have supported the green vehicles. "The outcome, indirectly, amounts to a small measure of private-sector validation for Congress and the Obama administration, which has invested billions of government dollars in electric-car technology, including a $465 million loan commitment to Tesla," according to Marketwatch. On a related note, is the U.S lagging in providing the infrastructure needed for plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles to succeed? Both Israel and the U.K., among others, are in the process of updating their infrastructure to be more electric-friendly. In order to allow for the success of these environmentally-friendly vehicles, Michael Valocchi, the global energy and utilities industry leader for IBM Global Business Services, suggests that the U.S. needs to do more infrastructure work. - Ailis Aaron Wolf, Hybrid Owners of America