Tesla News

  • 2012 Tesla Model S beta vehicle, Fremont, CA, October 2011

    At last, my number's been called. As the holder of reservation number P 717 for a 2012 Tesla Model S, I've waited more than three years after putting down a $5,000 deposit on the sleek, all-electric sport sedan. Since then, Tesla has kept my interest percolating with e-mail updates and promotional swag, including a coffee mug, a T-shirt, and a remote-control Roadster model. But last month came the news I'd been waiting for: my production slot has been scheduled, and it was time to place my order and specify the color, battery size, and options I wanted. Delivery is slated for November or...

  • Rafael de Mestre's Crashed Tesla Roadster (via Facebook)
    Globe Trotting Tesla Tragically Crashes 600 Miles Short Of Finish

    Back in July, we told you about Frenchman Rafael de Mestre, and his Verne-inspired attempt to travel around the world in just 80 days in his all-electric Tesla Roadster. Using some clever social media, and a few video cameras to boot, de Mestre has live blogged his trip in detail, giving us the...

  • Solar Panels by Flickr user Chandra Marsono
    Elon Musk: Solar Really Is The Future For Electric Cars

    Electric cars are only as green as the means by which they get their power. While producing zero local emissions and propelled using efficient electric motors, ideally that electricity would be from a renewable source, rather than by burning fossil fuels or even using nuclear. That's not always...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S, brief test drive, New York City, July 2012
    Why Low, Zero Emission Automakers Win With New Gas Mileage Rules

    On Tuesday this week, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray La Hood and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced new gas mileage targets that will require the average fuel economy of all new cars and light-duty trucks sold in the U.S. to reach 54.5 mpg by 2025. We’ve already covered what the new...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S, brief test drive, New York City, July 2012
    2012 Tesla Model S Electric Sedan: 238 Miles Of Range, Says Motor Trend

    Whether you drive gas, electric or anything else, there are dozens of different factors that affect your car's efficiency. That's why, even though Tesla Motors claims a range of 265 miles for its 85 kWh Model S, we've been eager to see how far it can go in realistic day-to-day driving. Thanks to...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S beta vehicle, Fremont, CA, October 2011
    2012 Tesla Model S 'First-Rate Car': AutoNation CEO

    While many are in agreement that lower prices will be a major catalyst for tempting people into electric cars, some things are worth paying that little bit extra for. Could the 2012 Tesla Model S be one of those things? For Mike Jackson, CEO of auto retail company Autonation, then the answer is...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S display screen [Photo: Flickr user jurvetson]

    If you've got a brand new 2012 Tesla Model S sitting in your garage--or you're soon to have one delivered--then life is probably pretty sweet right now. Not that it can't be improved, of course. Drivers of Model S cars in Signature trim, denoting the first models delivered, also get a year's worth of mobile data at no extra cost, says Tesla (via Engadget). When your car has a massive, 17-inch internet-connected touchscreen dominating the center console, that's pretty useful. Those first owners won't have to pay a penny to use the screen's Google maps facility, nor listen to music via the...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S
    2012 Tesla Model S Update: 100 Built, 74 For Delivery

    Tesla Motors may have been initially cagey about its production figures while the first few cars were being delivered, but as production gathers pace the company is revealing more details on Model S deliveries. In one of his regular Inside Tesla features on the Tesla Blog, Tesla vice president of...

  • Tesla Model S Alpha build
    2012 Tesla Model S: Electric Luxury Sedan Ultimate Guide

    Finally, after several years of teaser images, videos, clips, auto show appearances and more, there are finally production examples of the 2012 Tesla Model S driving around on the streets Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] has been working tirelessly to put the Model S on the market, and CEO Elon Musk even...

  • Famed electrical engineer Nikola Tesla, scanned image from postcard c. 1890.
    Tesla Motors CEO Musk To Support Tesla Museum Project

    Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors, has quite a lot on his mind these days. Among his tasks: making sure production of the 2012 Tesla Model S electric sport sedan ramps up quickly enough, while maintaining superb quality, to let Tesla build 5,000 units before the end of the year. But Musk still...

  • Tesla Model S undergoing assembly
    Tesla Model S: Production Must Be Perfect To Avoid Financial Failure

    As far as many people are concerned, Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] has done the hard bit already. They've started a company from scratch. Built and sold a sports car. Developed a new model. Put it into production. Started selling it to an adoring crowd. No vaporware to see here, folks. However, even...

  • Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk at the wheel of a Tesla Roadster
    Tesla CEO Gets More Stock Options, Fisker Seeks More Cash

    We’ve said it many times before, building an auto company from scratch is extremely hard, and expensive. That’s probably why only two major plug-in car startups have made it to the point of building and selling cars globally: Tesla and Fisker. In order to continue, both firms are...

  • Tesla Model S Inside Line

    The 2012 Tesla Model S is the most anticipated all-electric car of 2012, but it is also the most enigmatic. That’s because even though it launched back in late June, access to -- and time behind the wheel of -- the Model S has been strictly controlled by Tesla. Our own 1-hour test-drive proved to us that the Tesla Model S was a viable, impressive car, but because of our location -- the busy streets of Manhattan -- we were unable to push the luxury sports sedan to its limits. Edmund’s Inside Line was a little luckier, persuading Tesla to ship a Model S to the Auto Club Speedway in...

  • Six 2012 Tesla Model S cars at "Get Amped" introductory drive event [photo: George Parrott]
    Tesla Model S 'Get Amped' Tour: 5,000 Test Drives In Sight

    Fourteen of the planned sixteen cities have been completed on the “Getting Amped Tour,”

  • Tesla's retail store concept
    Tesla Gets Back $157K From Electric Utility For Energy-Efficient Tooling

    You only need to listen to Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk chat for a while to understand that there's more to Tesla than just electric cars--efficiency permeates through the company. That extends to the manufacturing process, and as production of the 2012 Tesla Model S continues, Telsa has just...

  • 2014 Tesla Model X all-electric crossover with 'Falcon Doors' open
    2014 Tesla Model X Vs. 2012 Toyota RAV4 EV: Electric SUV Showdown?

    The 2012 Toyota RAV4 EV is unique, the only all-electric compact sport-utility vehicle sold by a major automaker in the U.S. Behind the wheel, its Tesla-developed powertrain makes it peppy but quiet, while it maintains all the cargo and people space of the original gasoline version. There's really...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S, brief test drive, New York City, July 2012
    2012 Tesla Model S: 50 Cars Built, 29 Delivered, Maker Says

    Tesla likes to do things its own way. So while the company still refuses to report sales in the usual manner--at the end of every month like every other automaker--it does release bits and pieces of data on its corporate publicity site. On Thursday, Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] said that since June 22...

  • Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk at the wheel of a Tesla Roadster
    Tesla's Elon Musk Has More New Business Ideas & A Lot To Say

    If you had a mediocre superpower, what would it be? If you're Tesla CEO Elon Musk, "always beating the traffic" would be your power of choice, though given Elon's ideas past, present and future, some would argue that it's a long way off what he's actually capable of. Musk sat down for a "fireside...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S beta vehicle, Fremont, CA, October 2011

    Tesla Motors’ decision to purchase the former NUMMI automotive manufacturing facility in Fremont, California might have been one of its shrewdest business decisions to date. Not only did Tesla Motors [NASAQ:TSLA] obtain a pre-built facility --complete with the essential machinery it needed to build its 2012 Model S Sedan -- at the heavily-discounted fire-sale price of $59 million, but it helped offer skilled jobs to those who had previously been made redundant when the factory closed under General Motors’ bankruptcy. But now a developer in New Mexico, where Tesla had originally...

  • Tesla Store  -  Portland OR
    Tesla Dodges Traditional Dealerships—And Questions Remain

    Tesla Motors [NSDW: TSLA], by nearly all accounts, is an automaker that’s doing things differently. It’s based in Silicon Valley, not Detroit. And it’s transitioning from making a very modest number of Tesla Roadster models to, it plans, tens of thousands of all-electric Model S...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S, brief test drive, New York City, July 2012
    Tesla Buoyant After 2012 Model S Launch, Despite Losses

    After nothing to sell for nearly six months, an age of anticipation, media hype and short, chaperoned rides, Tesla began official deliveries of its all-electric 2012 Model S sedan just over a month ago. So its hardly surprising that the fledgling car company has just posted net losses of $105.6...

  • TuneIn streaming radio integration  -  2012 Tesla Model S
    Tesla Model S Gets First Direct TuneIn Internet Radio Integration

    Deliveries for the 2012 Tesla Model S have started, and in case you missed editor John Voelcker's first drive of the Model S this past week, one point of note was how calm and quiet the cabin remains even when accelerating. That said, while we've spent more time sitting in the Model S than driving...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S Signature
    2012 Tesla Model S: Seven Little Things A Buyer Doesn't Like

    Let's make one thing clear right up front: I think the 2012 Tesla Model S is the coolest freaking car in the history of Western Civilization. I put down my $5,000 deposit more than two years ago. I've chugged the Tesla Kool-Aid, extra-large size. But after a 7-minute spin in a dark green Model S...

  • Tesla Store  -  Portland OR
    Tesla Opens Portland Store, Passes A Million Visitors So Far In 2012

    By the sales numbers—even if you consider the 20,000 Model S sedans (which Green Car Reports drove this week, with a first drive review and video post) the company hopes to sell annually—Tesla Motors [NSDQ: TSLA] is a small niche automaker. But based on what the upstart electric...

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