Yahoo Autos North Carolina Biotech Startup Promises a Tesla Model 3 to Every Employee
Working at a startup, the cliche goes, is all about the perks: Free gourmet coffee, a ping-pong table in the conference room, maybe an in-office drinking culture that rivals your local sports bar.
One North Carolina startup wants to up the perks ante significantly-by offering to cover the lease on a brand-new Tesla Model 3 for each and every current full-time employee.
Practichem, a biotechnology firm developing advanced, internet-controlled scientific instruments for cutting-edge research laboratories, announced its electric car perk this week. "Our vision shares similarities with Tesla Motors; both companies positively impact humanity with real change," said Nick DeMarco, founder and CEO, on the company's website. "People driven to solve big issues share core values. Many of our employees have marveled at Tesla's approach. Their compelling all-electric vehicles drive us to make real change in our field."
If you're sitting in your corporate cubicle calculating how many millions your company would have to shell out to offer this perk, it's not quite like that: As the Tesla enthusiast blog Teslarati reports, Practichem's offer extends to 16 current full-time employees; CEO DeMarco told The Raleigh News & Observer that he's interested in hiring 10 more people, and he sees the Model 3 offer as being cheaper and potentially more enticing than using a headhunter.
It's also not the first time a tech company has offered a Tesla perk: Last month, Canada's Traction on Demand offered to cover the $1000 reservation for a new Model 3 for each of its nearly 200 employees.
Of course, all of this hinges on the alignment of a few uncertain future possibilities. First, nobody, not even Tesla CEO Elon Musk himself, is certain whether the electric car company will be able to meet its ambitiously swift production goals for the Model 3. Second, it's unclear what it will cost to lease the Model 3 whenever it comes out-Tesla promises a $35,000 purchase price without tax incentives (which are likely to run out soon), but it hasn't mentioned a leasing scheme yet.
And to be sure, there is the reality of startup life. Practichem could become wildly successful in the next few years, and expand to employ hundreds of people by the time the Model 3 hits the streets-or it could fall to the fickle finger of fate, as have so many countless startups before it.
All that said, if both Practichem and the Tesla Model 3 still exist in 2017, or 2018, or whenever Musk's midrange sedan finally arrives in dealerships, the biotech startup's parking lot could be dotted with the affordable EVs.
Let's just hope the company perks include free charging at work.
