Tesla’s electric car dominance to be tested by German rivals

Matthew Field and James Titcomb

TESLA’S woes are set to intensify over the coming weeks as deep-pocketed European rivals unveil a string of electric cars that are likely to go head to head with its models.

Mercedes is set to reveal its EQC sports vehicle, which can cover 300 miles on a single charge. Porsche is preparing its luxury Taycan, and Audi is set to unveil the e-tron in San Francisco. Jaguar Land Rover launched its I-pace electric SUV this summer. The new models also compete with Tesla on price. The I-pace starts at £63,000, while the Tesla Model X costs £78,000.

Tesla, meanwhile, has debt worth $10.5bn and analysts have estimated it needs to raise $2bn more by the end of the year to remain fully operational. The company’s billionaire founder Elon Musk abandoned a plan to privatise Tesla at the weekend after investors pressured him to keep it listed. However, Wall Street regulators are investigating the tweet he wrote on Aug 7 revealing the plan, in which he said he had funding secured to take Tesla private. Tesla shares jumped 11pc after the tweet, sparking allegations Mr Musk had violated market rules when it emerged a funding deal had not yet been reached.

Last night Mr Musk renewed his attack on a British caver involved in last month’s rescue of a group of young Thai footballers, whom he had previously accused of being a paedophile. Mr Musk later apologised, saying his words were “spoken in anger” after Vernon Unsworth had called his proposal to use a submarine to rescue the boys a “PR stunt”, but yesterday returned to the topic in a Twitter exchange with a tech executive, pointing out that Mr Unsworth had not taken legal action against him.