Tag Archives: New York Times

2 Fisheries Collapsed Unnoticed, Study Says

Two popular Southern California fisheries have collapsed right under the noses of management agencies that had inadequate data, a new study suggests. In an article in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, the authors say the population of barred sand bass and kelp bass began to shrink in the early 1980s amid regional changes in ocean conditions, including warmer temperatures.

But as I’ve reported in a post for The New York Times Green blog, a combination of environmental factors and fishing in seasonal spawning areas appears to have “pushed the species over the edge.” Read the full story here.

RelayRides Gets a Lift from G.M.’s OnStar

General Motors and RelayRides, a peer-to-peer car-sharing service that allows private car owners to rent their vehicles, announced a partnership and possible investment this week. Under an exclusive two-year agreement, RelayRides users will be able to unlock G.M. vehicles that are registered with the car-sharing service and subscribed to OnStar, the automaker’s communication service, with a mobile phone app. In this post for The New York Times Wheels blog, I explain the deal and why some people see the growing amount of computing power in cars as a “natural fit” for car sharing. Read the full story here.

Reimagining Auto Retail for Electric Cars

For independent electric car companies, it’s so long, automobile row. Some electric vehicle manufacturers have jettisoned the old model of franchise auto dealerships in an effort to change not only how we drive, but also how we buy cars. Continue reading

Tesla Prepares for a Gap as Roadster Winds Down

Tesla Motors has spent eight years building a new kind of car company — one with Silicon Valley roots that makes slick electric vehicles and takes its retail cues from Apple rather than from traditional dealerships. As I wrote in this article for The New York Times, Tesla is now undergoing a makeover as it tries to evolve from a niche maker of expensive sports cars that has never turned a profit into a money-making provider of electric cars for the masses and a technology supplier to bigger automakers. Continue reading

Car Sharing Startups Bask in Zipcar’s I.P.O. Glow

Zipcar, the car-sharing provider, raised $174.3 million in an initial public offering Thursday morning, marking a first for a segment once dominated by nonprofits and local community organizations. In this piece for The New York Times Wheels blog, I report how the strong showing could be a boon for new companies aiming to make money through alternatives to vehicle ownership. Continue reading

Tesla Sues ‘Top Gear’ Over Show About the Roadster

Tesla Motors, the electric vehicle manufacturer based in Silicon Valley, filed a lawsuit this week in Britain against the BBC’s popular “Top Gear” television program.

Suing for libel and malicious falsehood, Tesla took issue with a December 2008 episode that depicted problems with the brakes, cooling system and limited range of its Roadster sports car. I asked industry analysts and one of London’s leading experts in media litigation and libel cases about likely outcomes for the lawsuit. As one expert commented, the lawsuit stands to “call attention to certain details” that for Tesla might be better forgotten. Continue reading

Tesla IPO: Will Tesla See a Powerhouse Public Offering?

Tesla Motors, the Silicon Valley electric car startup gunning to raise $185 million next week through an IPO and sales of shares to Toyota, has won over members of the Silicon Valley, Capitol Hill and Hollywood elite. But will the company, which has never turned a profit, charge up Wall Street with a blockbuster IPO?

I dove into Tesla’s regulatory filings and interviewed several analysts to weigh the comany’s prospects for a blockbuster, lackluster or middle-of-the-road IPO. Written originally for Earth2Tech, this article also appeared on Salon.com and NYTimes.com, and was featured in the New York Times’ DealBook blog.