CleanTech OC Daily - 11/6/12

Elon Musk: Tesla has made it through the ‘valley of death’
Though scaled-back, Tesla Motors has hit their Model S production and delivery goals. The company achieved an annual production rate of 10,000 cars per year and delivered 250 Model S cars after producing nearly 350 of them for the third quarter. Tesla CEO Elon Musk expects the company to reach the 20,000 per year milestone in the next four to five weeks.

Peter Thiel, Khosla, Bill Gates back air energy storage startup LightSail

LightSail Energy is a Berkley, CA-based startup that has a compressed air energy storage technology which essentially compresses air in a tank and releases it on command, creating an air-based battery for the power grid. The company just raised $37.3 million in a series D round led by Peter Thiel, and existing investors Bill Gates and Khosla Ventures.

Chevy Volt Broke Its Own Sales Record In October, And Leaf Sales Soared

Electric vehicles have had a solid past few months, especially the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf. From August to September, Volt sales increased by 20 vehicles and sales in October were 2,961. In June 2011, the Leaf reached 1,708 cars sold, and 1,579 in October. EV sales usually jump when gas prices increase, but even with prices at the pump coming down, EV sales are still tracking higher than usual.