Tesla Motors said its board had approved $40 million in convertible debt financing Monday in order to speed up production of its electric Roadster, Reuters reports. "Forty million is significantly more than we need," Musk said in a statement. "However, the board, investors and I felt it was important to have significant cash reserves."

The report called the Tesla Roadster a "symbol of both the promise of electric cars and the financial risks of rushing the new technology to the market." Last month, Tesla reported that it was changing its CEO for the third time in the past year, as well as scaling back production of its upcoming Model S sedan and laying off some employees.