Worst Day in Tesla History

Three high-ranking Tesla Motors employees were killed in a private plane crash east of Palo Alto, CA today. After taking off in thick fog, the twin-engine Cessna 310 clipped power lines and crashed into the residential neighborhood at 7:55 this morning. No one on the ground was injured.

What does this mean for the green automaker? Having just closed a deal on a nearly half-billion dollar loan and preparing to go public in the near future, all systems looked to be go at Tesla until now. It looks like none of the victims we C-Suite employees (CEO, CMO etc), so the IPO should go off as planned. But, how will a company that bills itself as green defend its use of fuel-gluttonous private planes? Only time will tell.

For the record, we LOVE Tesla Motors and everything they’re trying to do. Our thoughts go out to the victims, their families and the entire Tesla operation.