雅思阅读丨你不知道的特斯拉

相信很多同学对特斯拉都不陌生，为了纪念尼古拉·特斯拉对科学的卓越贡献，特斯拉作为磁感应强度的单位，曾出现在我们的课本上。现在，特斯拉作为纯电动豪华跑车的代名词，更多的出现在我们的视野，今天的雅思阅读，我们就来了解一下这个充满“黑科技”的公司。

特斯拉尽管声名在外，但其实至今总共只生产了10万辆汽车。

Electric car maker Tesla surprised many this week when co-founder and CEO Elon Musk announcedthe company would buy solar installer SolarCity. Musk is the chairman of SolarCity and the largest shareholder in both Tesla and SolarCity (Musk is recusing himself from the vote).

While Wall Street has so far panned the deal—sending shares of Tesla TSLA -0.13% plummeting—some industry watchers see the two companies as an inevitable pairing, groomed to be joined from the start. Both have tried hard to own their own manufacturing, investing huge amounts building massive factories, and both are focused on the applications of how to use cleaner and more sustainable energy.

Was it always Musk’s intention to merge them? Perhaps. Here are five other things you may not know about Tesla.

1). Tesla Is Constructing One of the World’s Largest Buildings

The huge battery factory will sprawl across 5.8 million square feet, making it one of the largest buildings by footprint anywhere in the world. When completed, the facility is supposed to churn out enough batteries to power 500,000 electric cars per year, which is about the equivalent of the entire world’s lithium-ion battery production.

2). Tesla Is a Tiny Automaker

Despite the amount of attention and headlines that Tesla receives daily, the company still produces a very small volume of cars. Tesla has shipped about 100,000 cars to customers over the course of its lifetime. By comparison, the U.S. auto industrydelivered over 17 million cars last year, and it isexpected to ship a similar number this year. BMW, Lexus and Mercedes all sold over 340,000 luxury cars in just 2015.

3). Tesla Almost Died a Bunch of Times (And Was Nearly Bought By Google)

In an effort to build an independent electric car company—a feat that no one else has accomplished—Musk has taken some big gambles, some of which haven’t paid off. The company has been on a roller coaster ride throughout its life, which Musk detailedduring the company’s annual shareholders meeting recently. Tesla has run through cash and come perilously close to collapse. In 2013, Tesla only had two weeks of cash left after struggling with production of its Model S car, and Musk was close to selling his company to Google, which was co-founded by Larry Page, a Musk pal.

4). Tesla Makes Batteries for Buildings and the Power Grid

Tesla already packages batteries to power its electric cars, but last year Tesla launched a division that packages similar batteries to be used for buildings, homes and the power grid.

Connected together in big battery farms, utilities can use Tesla batteries to store solar energy produced during the day to be used at night, or use the batteries to help manage supply and demand of energy on the power grid. Some companies, like this winery in Northern California, are using the batteries to lower their energy bills by shifting their energy usage onto batteries when the cost of grid power goes up.

5). Tesla Already Has Nearly 400,000 Orders for its Model 3

Earlier this year, Tesla opened up reservations for its low cost Model 3 car, which won’t be delivered to customers until late 2017 at the earliest. Despite the long wait time, within a couple weeks of the unveiling of the Model 3, Tesla said almost 400,000 people had put down $1,000 (refundable) reservations for the $35,000 car. Musk called the response “the biggest one-week launch of any product ever.”

本周，电动汽车制造商特斯拉的联合创始人兼CEO伊隆·马斯克宣布，特斯拉即将收购太阳能厂商SolarCity。此消息令很多人感到惊讶。值得一提的是，马斯克本人既是SolarCity的董事长，也分别是特斯拉和SolarCity的股东。（所以可以说他是在自己收购自己。）

虽说华尔街对此次交易感到极为不爽——特斯拉股价一度出现骤跌，但有些行业观察人士认为，这两家公司的联姻是不可避免的，他们从一开始就势必走上合并的道路。无论是特斯拉还是SolarCity，他们都付出了艰辛努力以将生产抓在自己手里，并都斥巨资兴建了规模庞大的工厂，而且这两家公司都十分注重对清洁能源和可再生能源的应用。

马斯克是否一直都有将这两家公司合并的意愿？或许吧。不过关于特斯拉，还有以下五件事是你可能不知道的。

1.特斯拉正在建造全世界的建筑之一

这座超级工厂占地达580万平方英尺，是世界上面积的建筑之一。建成之后，该工厂每年生产的电池将足以驱动50万辆电动汽车，其产能大致相当于当前全球锂原子电池产量的总和。

2.特斯拉仍是一家很小的汽车制造商

图为一辆特斯拉Model S轿车在举升架上。照片摄于荷兰蒂尔堡市的特斯拉装配工厂。

虽然人们对特斯拉给予了极大的关注，围绕它的各种新闻报道也层出不穷，但特斯拉实际上仍是一家产量极小的汽车厂商。自从该公司成立之日起，它总共生产的汽车也不过10万辆左右。而相比之下，美国汽车产业去年的销售量超过了1700万辆，预计今年的汽车销量至少也与去年不相上下。去年一年，宝马、雷克萨斯和梅塞德斯奔驰等豪车品牌的在美销量都超过了34万辆。

3.特斯拉曾数次濒临，还差点被谷歌收购

为了建立一家独立的电动汽车公司（这个目标从来没有别人完成过），马斯克也做过一些极大的赌注，其中一些最终也以失败告终。特斯拉的创业经历就像坐过山车一样，经历过大起也经历过大落。马斯克在最近的年度股东大会上提起，特斯拉曾经一度面临过现金耗尽的窘境，并几乎到了崩溃的境地。2013年，特斯拉在生产其款产品——Model S汽车的过程中，公司账上的现金一度只够支撑两个礼拜，马斯克差点就顶不住压力，将公司卖给谷歌——谷歌的联合创始人拉里·佩奇也是马斯克的好朋友。

4.特斯拉也生产用于建筑物和公共电网的电池

众所周知，特斯拉生产的电池主要是为了给自家的电动汽车提供动力的。但去年特斯拉却成立了一个新部门，专门研究怎么用自家的电池给楼宇、家庭和公共电网提供电力。比如电力公司将电网与它的大型“电池农场”连接后，就可以将白天发的电力储存到特斯拉的电池组中，留待晚上进行使用；或者用这些电池来协助调控电网的能源供需。有些企业——比如加州北部的一家酿酒厂，虽然面临电网电费涨价的压力，但在使用了这些电池之后，其用电费用却呈下降趋势。

5.特斯拉的Model 3轿车已经收到了近40万份订单

今年年初，特斯拉开放了对其低价车型Model 3的预订。该车型最早也得等到2017年年初才能上市。再过几周，Model 3便将向车迷揭露其神秘面纱。特斯拉表示，虽然要等待很久才能提车，但目前已有近40万人掏了1000美元的订金（可返还），订购这辆售价为3.5万美元的电动汽车。马斯克称：“任何产品刚上市的周都没有这么火。”

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