Tesla Motors in Slow Lane Toward Profitability

Electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors is still losing money, but losing it more slowly -- $236 million so far, and only a scoch over $32 million last year. Unfortunately, the company predicts it will keep losing money "for the forseeable future."

Now who wants to buy some Tesla Motors stock!

The company announced on Friday that it was planning an initial public offering, and the information about the company's bloody books comes from the required regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company is looking to raise $100 million in cash from the sale of common shares in order to finance the manufacture of the still largely theoretical Model S sedan, sales of which it hopes will turn the books around -- once it's designed, parts supplies are arranged, and a factory located and built out.

Venture capitalists and wealthy individuals -- including Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin -- who invested in the company early are also likely to cash out their shares.

The company hopes to sell 20,000 of the new model a year, though reportedly it took Toyota three years to reach that number with the Prius, and at half the price -- and you didn't need charging stations for the Prius.

Maybe the best news from the deal is that Tesla is considering stopping the practice of essentially accepting loans from customers in the form of "reservation payments" for cars that don't actually exist yet.

Jackson West still prefers bicycles and trains to cars, electric or otherwise.