<story><title>Tesla is raising up to $1.5B through convertible note and share sale</title><url>https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/02/tesla-1-5-billion/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>yingw787</author><text>I was on Jeju Island in South Korea and apparently it&amp;#x27;s where the South Korean government tests renewable technologies like electric vehicles. Our tour guide had this electric Hyundai that was indistinguishable from the gas-powered version. It was quiet, and that&amp;#x27;s about it.&lt;p&gt;I remember thinking that this is the future of electric vehicles. Boring. Reliable. No drama or shenanigans about CEOs doing weed or pissing off regulators or stiffing suppliers or &amp;quot;production hells&amp;quot; or falcon wing doors and touchscreen dashboards or getting rich people to adopt it first and making everybody else wonder if the price will ever come down. Everything just works.&lt;p&gt;China&amp;#x27;s already there with electric buses and electric scooters. I think they own those markets now (well-deserved based on their execution BTW).&lt;p&gt;If you haven&amp;#x27;t been paying attention to renewable tech in East Asia, you should definitely explore more; I think it would be valuable experience for the rest of the world&amp;#x27;s big-volume automakers. At least I learned a lot.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>swamp40</author><text>The imitators always catch up to the innovators.  Eventually.  And everyone downplays the innovation, as if it were just part of some natural evolution of things.&lt;p&gt;But some people know the truth: That it could have easily been another 50 or 100 or 200 years before some OTHER innovator came along to lead the pack along.&lt;p&gt;The story is timeless.</text></comment>
<story><title>Tesla is raising up to $1.5B through convertible note and share sale</title><url>https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/02/tesla-1-5-billion/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>yingw787</author><text>I was on Jeju Island in South Korea and apparently it&amp;#x27;s where the South Korean government tests renewable technologies like electric vehicles. Our tour guide had this electric Hyundai that was indistinguishable from the gas-powered version. It was quiet, and that&amp;#x27;s about it.&lt;p&gt;I remember thinking that this is the future of electric vehicles. Boring. Reliable. No drama or shenanigans about CEOs doing weed or pissing off regulators or stiffing suppliers or &amp;quot;production hells&amp;quot; or falcon wing doors and touchscreen dashboards or getting rich people to adopt it first and making everybody else wonder if the price will ever come down. Everything just works.&lt;p&gt;China&amp;#x27;s already there with electric buses and electric scooters. I think they own those markets now (well-deserved based on their execution BTW).&lt;p&gt;If you haven&amp;#x27;t been paying attention to renewable tech in East Asia, you should definitely explore more; I think it would be valuable experience for the rest of the world&amp;#x27;s big-volume automakers. At least I learned a lot.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>barake</author><text>In the US, Hyundai sells the Ioniq with ICE, hybrid, and EV drive trains:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.hyundaiusa.com&amp;#x2F;ioniq&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.hyundaiusa.com&amp;#x2F;ioniq&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hyundai is taking a smart approach, making sure new platforms support electrification to varying levels. Take the Kona for example, it was introduced as an ICE vehicle and is shaping up to be an intriguing EV.&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately they&amp;#x27;re limiting EV model sales to certain states. Hoping they expand beyond compliance car status soon. The Kona EV is _actually on lots_, around $40k before any rebates&amp;#x2F;credits&amp;#x2F;incentives, and has a ~250 mile range.</text></comment>