'There's nothing at all concrete about his statements'
http://www.foxsports.com/motor/story/electric-cars-richard-branson-could-take-challenge-to-tesla-032115 Richard Branson hints at Virgin electric car March 19, 2015 [image http://a1.fssta.com/content/dam/fsdigital/fscom/MOTORS/images/2015/03/21/032115_motor_branson.vadapt.620.high.0.jpg Adam Warner / LAT Photographic Sir Richard Branson and the Miami Dolphin cheerleaders seen at the Miami ePrix on March 14. ] Richard Branson could be racing toward a showdown with Elon Musk. At the past weekend’s Formula E electric car grand prix in Miami, the Virgin brand’s founder was asked by Bloomberg News where he was going with his participation in the series. "We have teams of people working on electric cars," Branson answered. "So you never know—you may find Virgin competing with the Tesla in the car business as we do in the space business. We will see what happens." Branson was referring to his Virgin Galactic space tourism project, which suffered a setback last October when its SpaceShip Two suborbital aircraft crashed in the Mojave Desert during a test flight, claiming the life of one of the pilots on board and delaying the launch of customer rides indefinitely. Musk’s SpaceX builds rockets and cargo capsules for hire by government agencies and commercial customers, but also plans to expand to space tourism. As for cars, teams in the Formula E championship currently use a spec, F1-style open wheel vehicle built through a partnership between Dallara, McLaren, and Williams Engineering with help from Renault, but over the coming years teams will be allowed to design and use their own electric motors and battery packs. The Virgin Racing website proclaims that the reason it is competing in the series is to “accelerate the pace of development so that electric cars rapidly catch up with their petrol counterparts and replace them on the road.” Currently, Formula E drivers have to switch cars in the middle of races, which last for about an hour each, because batteries with a capacity to go the full distance would be too large and heavy. Halfway through the 2014-2015 season, Virgin Racing is third in the standings. [© foxsports.com] ... http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2015/03/19/richard-branson-hints-at-virgin-electric-car/ http://www.gtspirit.com/2015/03/21/richard-branson-confirms-virgin-is-developing-electric-cars/ Richard Branson Confirms Virgin is Developing Electric Cars March 21, 2015 by Brad Anderson [image http://www.gtspirit.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/e_racing_car.jpg ] Richard Branson has just revealed that Virgin is currently in the midst of working on a selection of electric cars to potentially rival the offerings of Tesla. While speaking with Bloomberg at the recent Miami round of the FIA Formula E championship, Branson said “We have teams of people working on electric cars. So you never know — you may find Virgin competing with the Tesla in the car business as we do in the space business. We will see what happens.” Branson and Virgin have managed to gain significant amounts of experience with electric cars as they compete in the Formula E championship which of course uses all-electric open-wheeled racers. Of course, making the leap to road cars is quite significant and it would see Virgin facing some stiff competition. Not only does Tesla offer two electric cars, the Model S and the Roadster, it will also introduce the model X SUV and the more affordable Model 3 sedan in the coming years. Beyond Tesla of course, most of the world’s large automakers already offer or are developing electric vehicles. [© gtspirit.com] http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/19/virgin-electric-cars-to-rival-tesla/ Richard Branson hints at Virgin electric cars to rival Tesla by Chris Velazco | March 19th 2015 [image http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/5aa8be537cdd754d68e5bb0cb2254803/201715216/virginformulae.jpg ] The Virgin giganto-brand already encompasses a media empire, a few airlines, wireless phone service, some hotels and an honest-to-goodness space program -- why wouldn't it churn out some electric cars for us, too? CEO Richard Branson hinted as much during a chat with Bloomberg, noting that Virgin's already got a team plugging away on high-speed electric car that'll participate in the Formula E racing circuit, but here's the bit that everyone's seized on: "We have teams of people working on electric cars," Branson said. "So you never know-you may find Virgin competing with the Tesla in the car business as we do in the space business. We will see what happens." To be absolutely clear, there's nothing at all concrete about his statements. Lots of things might happen. What's indisputable, though, is Branson's general distaste for more conventional, petrol-guzzling cars. The past few years have seem him tooling around in a Saab 9-5 BioPower station wagon, and he reiterated just today that he hopes "10 years from now the smell of exhausts from cars will be a thing of the past as much as the smell of cigarettes in restaurants." Still, there's an argument to be made that Branson (and his vast swimming pools of cash) is just the right person to take on this challenge. He's certainly got the resources to turn a kooky concept into an actual road-worthy machine, and some of the hires made for Virgin Galactic -- like former White House assistant director of space and aeronautics Richard DalBello -- mean that Branson and his ilk have the clout and drive to make key strategic hires. Hell, there's a sort of proud British history of electric scooting, too: The world's first electric car just might've been invented by a plucky British inventor named Thomas Parker in the late 19th century. Thing is, crafting a truly usable, desirable electric car is no small feat - just ask the folks at Fisker who tried that, failed and sold what was left of their company to a Chinese company that plans a grand resurgence for the brand in the years to come. [© engadget.com] ... http://www.worldcarfans.com/115031990831/richard-branson-hints-a-tesla-competitor ... http://www.ubergizmo.com/2015/03/richard-branson-hints-virgin-could-compete-with-tesla/ Richard Branson Hints Virgin Could Compete With Tesla By Adnan Farooqui on 03/19/2015 http://archive.pnj.com/usatoday/article/25049107 Virgin's Branson aims for Tesla on electric cars Mar. 19, 2015 | by Chris Woodyard, Virgin Racing Team owner Richard Branson prepares to present the second place trophy to Andretti Formula E team driver Scott Speed after the Formula E Miami ePrix auto race last Saturday in Miami / Wilfredo Lee, AP Watch out, Tesla. Now Richard Branson is getting into the electric car act. So far, the Virgin billionaire is confining his efforts to racing. His Virgin Racing is sponsoring a car in the Formula E racing series. It's Grand Prix-style racing for electric cars, which tear through the course at speeds over 150 miles an hour while emitting a high-pitched whine, many decibels quieter than piston-powered speedsters. But when Bloomberg TV caught up with him in Miami, Branson indicated he has bigger dreams ... Granted, creating a car business from scratch is a huge undertaking, one that Tesla undertook a decade ago. But never count out Branson, who has the same kind of entrepreneurial streak as Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Branson has made his mark from the music industry to the airline business ... [© 2015USAToday] http://jalopnik.com/richard-branson-cant-decide-if-he-wants-to-compete-with-1692428739 Richard Branson Can't Decide If He Wants To Compete With Tesla Damon Lavrinc [20150319] [image http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--rtEtO9CV--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/ki3juiia5839gzszr8of.jpg Photo: Damon Lavrinc ] Elon Musk and Richard Branson are already kinda-sorta competing in the private space race, but for delusional billionaires, that's not enough. Branson says he might want to compete with Tesla now, except he said the exact opposite the same day. Bloomberg got some face time with Virgin's head honcho at last week's Formula E race in Miami. When asked about how Branson could use his team's racing technology in the market he's quoted: "We have teams of people working on electric cars," Branson said. "So you never know — you may find Virgin competing with the Tesla in the car business as we do in the space business. We will see what happens." However, during a press conference earlier in the day, Branson joined Formula E's CEO Alejandro Agag to answer some questions. Included among them was whether Virgin and Branson had any intentions of competing with Tesla. I didn't get a quote, because his answer was a simple negative. But I thought I'd mark the occasion: [Tweet] BREAKING: @richardbranson has no plans to compete with @TeslaMotors on an electric car #breakingnotbreaking — Damon (@damonlavrinc) March 14, 2015 So, Mr. Branson, let's consider this a chance to clarify your statements. Do you want to make an electric car and go head-to-head with Tesla? Or is this just another attempt at drumming up some headlines to stroke your ego? The floor is yours. 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