Tesla News

  • Three weeks ago, in a suburban park in Roseville, California--just outside the state capital, Sacramento--a community celebration of Earth Day served as a gathering of the greenest cars now available. Both participants and random park-goers were drawn to the cars, providing a chance for eager owners to educate members of the public one-on-one. They explained what plugging in to recharge was really like, compared the costs of driving on grid power (low) to those of gasoline (high), and generally helped familiarize citizens with the new and unfamiliar concept of electric cars. A familiar 2011...

  • 2010 Jaguar C-X75 Concept live photos
    The Fastest, Coolest, Sexiest Supercars Now Come With Plugs

    Supercars: sleek, blindingly fast, ultra-expensive objects of lust for 14-year-old boys and sober-suited executives alike. For decades, supercars were powered solely by gasoline. But now there's a new gang in town, and they've upended all the rules. The newest, coolest, most jaw-dropping supercars...

  • Sign on Vacaville, California, DC fast charger for electric cars, May 2011
    What Good Is Fast-Charging For Electric Cars If It's Closed?

    Vacaville, California, has the distinction of the very first public Level 3 or DC quick charging station for electric cars to be installed in the United States. It was first activated in late May 2010, and was used very soon after for a small fleet of Mitsubishi i-MIEV models to make a trip from...

  • Elon Musk
    Tesla Motors might seek additional funding for third electric car

    Tesla Motors, [NSDQ:TSLA] the company behind the Roadster electric vehicle, might look for additional funding from equity sales to help pay for development of its third electric car — the sport utility vehicle styled Model X — according to the company’s CEO Elon Musk. The company...

  • Saab 9-5
    Struggling Saab Now Valued At Just One-Fifth Of Tesla Motors

    Saab fans all over the world are looking anxiously at a company that says it's pulled itself back from the brink of death. Again. The latest rescuer is the little-known Chinese carmaker Hawtai Motor Group, which will invest 120 million euros ($177 million) in Spyker Cars NV, the Dutch company that...

  • Tesla Branded Kids Clothing
    Tesla Morphs into GAP With Branded Clothes for Kids

    Here’s a question. Would you put your kids in branded clothes for a $109,000 sports car? If you answered yes, then we think that’s the answer Silicon-Valley electric car firm Tesla Motors is hoping for after it has quietly launched a new line of clothing aimed specifically at those way...

  • J1772 Tesla Mobile Connector

    As those who purchased Betamax when everyone else was choosing VHS will tell you, being at the cutting edge of technology is sometimes very, very expensive. The latest victims of “early-adopter light-wallet syndrome” aren’t buying a new video collection though: they’re buying a $750 4-feet long adaptor cable to enable them to charge their $109,000 Tesla Sports car at J1772 compliant public charging stations. The cable consists of a J1772 connector on one end and the standard Tesla Roadster charge port on the other. Capable of supporting up to 70A of charging current it...

  • 'Revenge of the Electric Car' premiere: Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk on red carpet
    Elon Musk, Bob Lutz On Red Carpet At 'Revenge of Electric Car' Premiere

    Every movie has to have a premiere, and every premiere has to have a red carpet. When the red carpet is on a Manhattan sidewalk, with plenty of passers-by stopping to gawk, and many of the celebs are arriving in electric cars, things get a little more complicated. Still, last night's premiere of...

  • 2011 Tesla Roadster Sport. Photo by Joe Nuxoll.
    Tesla V Top Gear: Top Gear’s Track Record With Electric Cars

    It’s been two weeks since Californian electric automaker filed papers against the BBC’s Top Gear for libel in relation to a segment the popular entertainment show did on Tesla’s all-electric Roadster back in 2008. By now you’re probably familiar with the details of the case...

  • Golden Gate Bridge, connecting San Francisco and Marin County, California
    Why Silicon Valley Won't Be Detroit For Green Carmakers

    We don’t hear “death of Detroit” stories as often now as we did a year ago. When GM and Chrysler plunged into bankruptcy and the entire U.S. industry laid off tens of thousands of workers in one year, the effects on an already battered Detroit region were dire. And they led to a...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf plugged into an EVgo quick-charging station, Texas
    First Private Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Open In Texas

    NRG Energy has opened its first eVgo direct-current electric vehicle charging station in Dallas, Texas, as part of a privately funded 70-station network in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, the company announced. The chargers are designed to be “fast-chargers,” which use a 480-volt direct...

  • Smart ForTwo ED
    Daimler Adds Bosch To Electric Car Collaborative Projects

    You’d be forgiven for thinking that German automaker Daimler was trying to build its own little electric car empire. Not only does it have active electric car projects running with Nissan-Renault, BYD and Tesla, but it has now announced intent to work on a project with the automotive arm of...

  • DBM Energy Audi A2 Electric Car

    Remember the controversial 2010 Audi A2 converted by German battery firm DBM Energy? The car hit the headlines last year when it apparently travelled 375 miles on a single charge. Powered by the latest battery technology, the car’s creators even claimed a 6 minute recharge time. But before any official tests were carried out on the car or the battery pack to back up the seemingly outlandish claims, the car was mysteriously destroyed in a warehouse fire. Luckily, the ‘wonder battery’ - a Kolibri alpha-polymer battery pack was not present in the vehicle during the fire, and...

  • 2012 Toyota RAV4 EV Prototype
    2012 Toyota RAV4 EV Prototype: First Drive

    Just a year ago, seeing the 'RAV4, Powered by Tesla' startup greeting would have been almost unthinkable. Yet last May, Toyota and Tesla inked a deal that took the industry by surprise—and left a lot of observers scratching their heads. And nearly eleven months since that deal—and nine...

  • Erik Comas Wins Fifth Monte Carlo Alternative Energy Rally for Tesla
    Tesla Electric Roadster Triumphs in Monte Carlo For Second Year Running

    There’s something quite fun about winning a competition two years in a row, especially if you’re preoccupied with impending court cases. So when its sexy two seat all-electric Roadster sport romped home in first place at the Fifth Monte Carlo Alternative Energy Rally Tesla’s board...

  • Mexico Flag
    Untouchable? Top Gear Exonerated For Racist Comments, What About Tesla?

    The popular U.K. motoring entertainment show Top Gear just can’t stay out of the spotlight at the moment. Just six days after Californian electric car automaker Tesla filed a legal case against the primetime Sunday night show for libel and malicious falsehood a broadcasting watchdog in the...

  • Tesla versus Top Gear
    Top Gear Producer Says Tesla's Libel Suit Is Bogus

    Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla says BBC TV show Top Gear falsely stated that the Tesla Roadster could only travel 55 miles before needing to recharge, according to Top Gear executive producer Andy Wilman. Wilman said the team behind Top Gear, a show that touts the latest and greatest cars...

  • Tesla Model S workshop - wiring is installed in VIN # 13, a crash-test vehicle
    2012 Tesla Model S Prototype Workshop: Photo Gallery

    Some of the loudest of the skepticism over Tesla's plans to design and build an all-electric luxury sports sedan have died down after the company showed an all-aluminum body-in-white at the Detroit Auto Show in January. Even Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda checked it out. Tesla is continuing its campaign to...

  • Tesla versus Top Gear

    About two years ago BBC’s Top Gear aired a test drive of the then relatively new Tesla Roadster. While this was seen as a major boon for Tesla, the light shone on its all-electric sports car by the popular show was somewhat less than flattering. In fact, it was rather downbeat. What makes the matter so hard to swallow for Tesla are facts, which the electric car company claims, are simply unfounded. Tesla has since sent a lawsuit to Top Gear for libel and malicious falsehood against its Roadster. The Californian startup claims that it had no other recourse, issuing a statement that it...

  • 2011 Tesla Roadster Sport. Photo by Joe Nuxoll.
    Tesla Triumphs with Ten Million Miles Travelled Since Launch

    Ten million miles. That’s the achievement being celebrated by Tesla Motors after its customers have clocked up 10 million miles of low emissions, all-electric driving since the Tesla launched its two seat sportscar in 2008. Since delivering its first Roadster in 2008, Tesla has sold over 1500...

  • Back To The Future II DeLorean - by Flickr user popculturegeek.com
    Does The Future Of Electric Cars Lie In Capacitors?

    Back to the Future may have been right: The cars of tomorrow will be powered by capacitors (they will not, presumably, be able to time-travel). At least, that’s what Tesla CEO Elon Musk said at yesterday’s Cleantech Forum in San Francisco, unleashing a torrent of speculation that the...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S interior, prototype
    Tesla CEO: Model S Will Support Third-party Apps

    Does your car have an app for that? If Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk has his way, it will. The electric-car maker’s CEO said at a conference today in San Francisco that the much-hyped Model S electric sedan will support third-party apps and text-to-voice capabilities. Musk made the announcement...

  • 2011 Tesla Roadster 2.5
    Tesla Says “G’Day” to Australian East Coast With 1,864 Mile Trek

    Eighteen months after Australian Tesla roadster early adopter Simon Hackett broke the world record for the longest distance travelled in a production electric vehicle Tesla Australia is planning a 3,000 kilometer (1,864 mile) trek along the country’s east coast After receiving official...

  • Tesla Model S prototype on the road, January 2011, screen capture from video
    What You Need to Know About Tesla's Future

    Electric-car maker Tesla Motors announced this week an update to its plans to deliver its Model S sedan, a hotly watched launch for the company. It’s not just electric-car fans who are itching to hear the progress on the Model S (pictured), which starts at $57,400 before federal tax...

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