[sammyg2]

$35,000 of every tesla model S is paid for by selling ZEV credits given to them by the gubmint. Credits that are sold ot other businesses, and that COST IS PASSED TO THE CONSUMER (YOU).

Add to that the $7500 tax give away, and that means THE TAX PAYER is paying for $42,500 of every tesla model S sold.

OH YEAH, THAT'S A GOOD IDEA AND A REALLY GOOD CAR!
****ing Einsteins.

Tesla Makes Money On Model S: $35K Per Car Selling ZEV Credits?
By John Voelcker 16 5,699 views May 7, 2013 Follow John

Tomorrow at 5 pm Eastern, Tesla will hold what may be its most eagerly awaited conference call to date.

The Silicon Valley startup automaker will discuss its first-quarter financial results--which will give the first clue to its financial viability as an operating automaker.

But Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] will have raked in revenue not only from selling electric cars, but also by selling those cars' zero-emission vehicle credits to other automakers.

Tesla sold "more than 4,750" Model S electric sport sedans last quarter, the company said on April 1 (no, it wasn't an April Fool's joke), and another 2,650 last year.

Selling credits since 2009

Now, as the Los Angeles Times reports, we learn that one analyst estimates Tesla could take in as much as $35,000 more from each Model S by selling its ZEV credits.

This is hardly new; the company has been doing so at least since 2009, when it sold ZEV credits to Honda and one other unnamed automaker.

Thilo Koslowski, an auto-industry analyst at Gartner Group, told the LA Times that the company might take in as much as $250 million this year from selling the credits.

Tesla communications manager Shanna Hendriks declined to comment on the article, noting tomorrow's earnings call. (SEC regulations discourage companies from commenting close to release of important financial information, including earnings.)

How much per car?

The math's a bit unclear, since if Tesla sells 20,000 Model S cars this year, that would work out to $12,500 per car.

Nonetheless, as the article notes, Tesla's ability to garner additional revenue beyond the sales price of its cars "highlights just how far California regulators have gone to promote the electric car."

More properly, that should be "promote zero-emission vehicles," since hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles also qualify for the same credits.

ZEV rules ---> compliance cars

California's ZEV sales requirement has produced the phenomenon of so-called compliance cars, which will be built and sold by five automakers in just enough volume to keep themselves within the law and avoid fines.

Those cars are the Chevrolet Spark EV, Fiat 500e, Ford Focus Electric, Honda Fit EV, and Toyota RAV4 EV.