The Department of Energy awarded Fisker $528.7 million in low-interest loans (subject to certain benchmarks) back in September 2009, and Fisker used funds from the loan to buy the Wilmington plant from Motors Liquidation Co., or “the old GM.” Fisker said it expects to invest $175 million over a three-year period in retooling the facility, and the company has planned to have the plant cranking out 75,000 to 100,000 vehicles a year by 2014.

— Fisker to use BMW engine for second electric car — Cleantech News and Analysis

The Russian polymath Mikhail Bakhtin, one of the titanic minds of the twentieth century, though too neglected now, believed that in a dialogue the position of primacy is with the person who listens rather than the one who first speaks. After all, he said, we do not speak unless we anticipate a response; and we shape what we say in light of possible reactions. If the listener, even if only an imagined listener or our own image of our Self, were not there, we might not speak at all, and if we did we would speak very differently than in fact we do.

— The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction by Alan Jacobs

from: Frank Chimero’s Tumble

We’ve sold about 1,850 Roadsters worldwide and we’re going to make 2,500 in total. We’ve sold out of custom Roadsters in the U.S., but still have a number of spec cars left.

— How many Roadsters does Tesla have left to sell? Not many, that’s for sure