Tesla Energy: Electric car company creates subsidiary to market lithium ion power pack

I’m making this a separate post from my previous Tesla Motors at AABC post because it’s more business- than design-related: JB Straubel, CTO of Tesla Motors who gave the Tesla talk at AABC said that Tesla is forming a subsidiary called Tesla Energy in response to the many inquiries Tesla Motors gets about their lithium ion cell-based battery pack for the Tesla Roadster. According to Straubel, the hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) market is conflicted right now: Do customers want higher efficiency, or higher performance? Tesla is clearly coming down on the side of higher performance right now, at least with their initial offering, the 0-60mph in 4 secs roadster. But it’s interesting that their paper was titled, “Development of Advanced Li-ion Battery Pack for EV and PHEV Applications.” That “PHEV” (plug-in hybrid electric vehicles) in the title definitely leaves the door open for Tesla Energy to serve as a battery pack designer for to next-gen PHEV vendors.