The connection between Tesla Motors and Daimler is certainly electric. Tesla supplied the batteries for the Smart Ed and Daimler invested about $50 million in Tesla. Now that Tesla has announced its plan to go public, analysts are taking a second look at the electric car start up and are trying to figure out what the future holds. It's not every day that an automaker files for an IPO, after all (it's been decades since one did in the U.S.). There's no recent precedent to look at here, especially one with an all-electric powertrain.

Green Car Advisor talked to a handful of automotive analysts about the situation and the general consensus is that Tesla's future is clouded. There is a decent chance, they say, that Daimler will one day straight-up buy Tesla, which is certainly something we've heard before. Considering Tesla's negative income stream - GCA calculates the company has lost $236.4 million since its founding in 2003 - and the fact that the losses will continue until Model S production is ramped up in like three years, there are more questions than answers in this case.

[Source: Green Car Advisor]  [ Source: green.autoblog.com ]