RE:Smoke eaterI would be exceptionally surprised if Tesla is doing a deal with Thane but I like everyone here am not privy to any insider knowledge so I can only make a personal guess
If you research Thane and his invention, he has been at this for a long time. If you go back 10 years, it was very much like today. He was marketing the earlier version of his invention. There were multiple companies that were interested including some big ones. They wanted to set up meetings with him. He was also selling licenses for his invention in numerous places like the US and India. As far as I know, his earlier version was not a commercial success.
I also find from 2017 a slideshare from Thane saying that his company had been approached by South America to provide 1000s of taxis and buses using his technology. I can find no record of this moving forward.
Fast forward to today. Today is a newer version of what didn't seem to work well a decade ago at least in the commercial sense. And like a decade ago Thane is selling licenses globally and companies want to see what he has. Will this be a commercial success now ? We shall see.
And it is only speculation that HRH is doing a deal with Thane but based on wording used by Thane and the CEO of HRH I am fairly certain that it is Thane.