Vroom, vroom, vroom: I was driving south on 280 from San Francisco late this afternoon and found myself following an ultra-cool dark-colored Tesla (I think it was dark green. Maybe black.) with a piece of blue duct tape on the rear bumper. And, oh my, that car was flying. I was following him in my Prius, the official car of Santa Clara County, trying to see who was driving it (there aren’t a whole lot of them on the road so far) and before long I was doing 90, and he was pulling away.

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With battery technology the biggest barrier to the proliferation of electric vehicles, companies like electric sports-car maker Tesla are constantly surveying their battery options. At the Clean Tech Investor Summit in Palm Springs, Calif., Tesla Chairman Elon Musk said the company is moving its battery-pack production from Thailand to California, and wants to one day buy battery cells produced domestically as well–potentially even getting into the battery cell business themselves.

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As the end of the year creeps closer, another well-known clean-tech start-up has parted ways with its CEO. The Friday before Christmas, biodiesel producer Imperium Renewables said its CEO Martin Tobias is being transitioned from his roles as CEO and chairman of its board of directors. Over recent weeks the CEOs of electric sports-car start-up Tesla and thin-film solar company Miasole have jumped ship (or walked the plank).

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