Rumor: Tesla Co-Founder Eberhard Working with VW

[Wolfgang]

He’s an early pioneer and they are a latecomer to the market.


jalopnik

Martin Eberhard, one of the key figures in bringing back the electric car, is consulting with Volkswagen Group on its electric cars, according to various sources. Can't confirm it, but figured you might want to know.

Greentech Media: Rumor: Tesla Co-Founder Eberhard Working with VW

CAUTION. This is an unconfirmed rumor. CAUTION.

 

[Wolfgang]

Confirmed: Tesla Co-Founder Eberhard working with Volkswagen

by Sam Abuelsamid (RSS feed)

Volkswagen e-up! concept – Click above for high-res image gallery​

Way back in March of 2009, we first heard from a source who wished to remain anonymous that Tesla Motors co-founder Martin Eberhard might be back in the electric vehicle game. What we had been told was that Eberhard was doing some work with Volkswagen on electric vehicle projects. At the time, we contacted Eberhard, who told us that he wasn't ready to talk publicly about any new projects yet. Since we couldn't get any other confirmation, we let the story rest.

Green Tech Media is now reporting much the same thing we heard last year. Since that time, of course, Eberhard's defamation/breach of contract suit against Tesla has come and gone and in the last several months the Volkswagen group has unveiled three very different electric vehicle concepts. VW showed the E-up! city car in Frankfurt and Audi has shown two very different E-tron sports cars in Frankfurt and Detroit. VW has a research and development facility in Palo Alto, CA, not far from where Eberhard lives.

We've asked Eberhard for a comment on the situation and he has confirmed that he is indeed doing work with Volkswagen. Eberhard declined to provide any other details at this time other than to say, " my interests have not changed a lot." We certainly aren't surprised to see him involved because of his passion for electric vehicles. The U.S. is also a primary market for electrics being because of California mandates.

 

[Wolfgang]

Another bad day for Daimler?



electric VW built @ ERL Palo Alto, California, using Tesla batteries

http://translate.google.de/translat...n-ueberholen;2631577&sl=de&tl=en&hl=&ie=UTF-8

 

[Wolfgang]

The 500-Mile EV - Volkswagen's Eberhard Says It Is Coming Soon

If Martin Eberhard is right, the 500-mile electric car is a lot closer to reality than many in the EV industry think.

Eberhard, the co-fonder and former head of Tesla Motors, is now doing battery development work for Volkswagen at its Electronic Research Lab in Northern California's Silicon Valley. At Tesla, he advocated and helped direct development of a battery pack that used common commercial lithium-ion cells - the kind that look like AA batteries and are widely used in laptop computers and wireless telephones. At VW he's doing the same and in a recent interview with Britain's AutoCar magazine he dropped a stunner.

"The 500-Mile EV - Volkswagen's Eberhard Says It Is Coming Soon" Green Car Advisor