Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger held a joint press conference today in which they announced that Toyota would be teaming up with Tesla to produce the Model S electric car in California.

Tesla Model S production will take place in the recently closed NUMMI factory in Fremont. Toyota, the previous owner of the factory, will invest $50 million for a private placement of Tesla common stock and will a production system and possibly some of Toyota’s suppliers.

Schwarzenegger, for his part, offered a sales tax abatement to Tesla for all capital equipment expenditures in retooling the factory. Tesla estimates put the value of the abatement at approximately $20 million over the course of three years or so.

Tesla stated that the Model S production will likely see the return of about 1,000 of the former Toyota factory employees as they look to produce about 20,000 Model S electric cars per year. Tesla also hinted at the possibility of increasing production to a point of requiring  10,000 workers.

California Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger is covertly trying to get rid of his Tesla Roadster. There’s nothing wrong with the car – but the sheer mass of Arnie is giving him grief. Yes, you read correctly. Arnold is having trouble getting in and out of his sporty, all-electric vehicle and is hoping to quietly return it without giving the Tesla bad press. Because of the company’s financial troubles, Tesla executives have asked Schwarzenegger to hold off on returning the vehicle, fearing bad publicity.

Gawker reports, “So why doesn’t Schwarzenegger like the Roadster? Built on a Lotus Elise body, the car is not easy to get in and out of, especially for someone with the former bodybuilder’s robust frame. ‘He’s more of a Hummer guy,’ one tipster tells us.”

A big advocate for Tesla and even appearing with Tesla CEO at various events, Arnie probably should have taken the cute, sporty electric car on a test spin before getting one.

President Obama looks to be making good another of his election pledges by signing a presidential memorandum that asks the Environmental Protection Agency to grant 14 states the power to impose stricter standards for automobile emissions and fuel efficiency.

It’s a promise that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had asked President Obama to make good on in a letter he sent the president the day after his inauguration.

The move hopes to overrule the decision of the EPA in 2007 which denied 14 states, including California, the right set their own, stricter automobile standards.

President Barack Obama wasn’t done there though. He also signed a memorandum that directs the Department of Transportation to come up with fuel-efficiency standards for the automotive industry for 2011 model vehicles.

In 2007 U.S. Congress approved the Energy Independence Act which was supposed reduce American dependence on foreign oil and make a push to develop more of an infrastructure for clean energy like electric vehicles and wind power. But as you probably know the Bush Administration wasn’t big on following through with the act and preferred the philosophy of “Drill, baby, drill.”

In reference to that President Obama stated today, “For the sake of our security, our economy and our planet, we must have the courage and commitment to change. We need more than the same old empty promises.”

Considering the recent study showing clean air provides longer life, these memorandums might have just extended the lives of millions of people.

California Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger is not wasting any time in approaching the President Obama with his concerns over state-level rights to implement strict car emission standards. He sent him a letter yesterday, the day after Obama’s inauguration, which asked him for the power to impose such restrictions.

Schwarzenegger wrote to Obama that his administration “has a unique opportunity to both support the pioneering leadership of these states and move America toward global leadership on addressing climate change.”

The issue that Schwarzenegger is referring to is the 2007 Bush administration’s ruling that states can not impose greenhouse gas emission standards on new cars, trucks or SUVs. It happens to be a decision that Obama has sated he would re-examine.