Forget transforming your living room: There are a dozen or so automakers at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas proposing new technologies to transform your car, from Bluetooth health-monitoring to self-driving vehicles.
Despite today's high gas prices, it's been one piece of bad news after another lately from electric car makers. Last week it was Smith Electric Vehicles calling off its IPO. On Tuesday it was Tesla Motors lowering its near-term outlook.
Electric car sales are nowhere near what the auto industry -- or Washington -- hoped they'd be by now, though Tesla Motors' hot Model S sedan doing great, and the the Chevy Volt is finally getting some traction. But is the electric revolution stalled, or just accelerating too slowly?
Tesla Motors has some good news for fans of the American maker of electric cars. The Model S -- its first reasonably priced vehicle -- may hit the streets as early as June. Will this be the vehicle that jump starts electric car sales?
What will help shape the week that lies ahead on Wall Street? Video game companies will let us know the score; satellite TV providers will give us a signal; Tesla and Priceline are traveling forward; and Johnny Depp and Tim Burton could put some teeth in the year's box office numbers.
Tesla Motors, which went public with much fanfare last June, nearly tripled its losses for 2010 as it invested heavily to engineer and get ready for producing the Model S, its second offering and the first that targets a broader consumer market.
Tesla's electric cars have amazing acceleration, but the company's stock has been moving even faster since its IPO last week. It shot up 79% in its first two days, but has since fallen below the IPO price. Venture capitalists and cleantech startups are watching carefully.