Tesla Roadster News

Tesla's Elon Musk Named Innovator of the Year by WSJ

Eric Loveday — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:25:51 +0000

Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk wins prestigious award.

Minnesota EV Group Hosts Region's First Major Electric Car Expo

Jukka Kukkonen — Thu, 19 May 2011 05:33:28 +0000

Minnesota has not been known as a hotbed of EV activity in the past, but things are starting to move forward here. A fairly new and fast growing public/private partnership, Drive Electric Minnesota, has over 20 organizational/business members including Xcel Energy, GE, and Best Buy, and we are getting more membership requests every month. When it comes to nationwide EV availability, the Midwest is considered to be a second-tier market, but even if we won’t be the first ones to get the vehicles, we are working hard to move things in the right direction to make Minnesota “EV ready.”

Protoscar Makes Electric Cars Faster and More Efficient with Two Motors

Laurent J. Masson — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:02:40 +0000

Protoscar Lampo 2

Many people still think of electric cars as new technology, but the men behind Protoscar have been working on EVs for more than 20 years. Protoscar is a Swiss company, located on the southern corner of the country, very close to Italy. (That's convenient for its Italian manager.) The company gained a lot of experience in the 90s during the VEL-1 project in Mendrisio, which was a live experiment of EV introduction in a small Swiss town. That started in 1994, when 400 electric vehicles (cars and motorbikes) were put into everyday use. The project was globally successful, but it didn't ended the way it should have, because the auto companies that were supposed to make electric cars cheap and available all failed to deliver on promises.

Protoscar Lampo

Tesla Sues Top Gear Over Roadster 'Lies'

Zach McDonald — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 01:13:57 +0000

Tesla has notified the BBC of its intent to sue the television show Top Gear for libel over what it says are misleading claims made about the Tesla Roadster in an episode that was first broadcast more than two years ago. In a blog post on its website, the carmaker said it was fine looking the other way when the show first aired, but that repeat broadcasts have persisted without any effort to correct what it called “lies and misinformation about the Roadster’s performance, behavior and reliability."

The specific charges, as quoted from Tesla's website:

1. The Roadster ran out of charge and had to be pushed into the Top Gear hangar by four men.

2. The Roadster’s true range is only 55 miles per charge (not 211).

3. The Roadster’s motor overheated and was completely immobilized.

4. The other Roadster’s brakes were broken, rendering the car undriveable.

5. Neither of the two Roadsters provided to Top Gear was available for test driving due to these problems.

Tesla Retail Store News: Packing Bags in Singapore, Opening in DC and Milan

Zach McDonald — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 18:45:31 +0000

Just six months after opening an office in the Singapore's downtown Suntec City commercial center, with the hope of selling its electric Roadster there soon, Tesla packed its bags last week. The departure stems from the carmaker's inability to secure lucrative incentives that could have pushed the price of its groundbreaking electric sports car from upwards of the equivalent of $400,000 down to about $250,000. Tesla had supposedly lined up about a dozen likely buyers in the market, but only on the condition that the tax breaks would be available.

British Tesla Owner Schools BBC in the Art of Electric Road Tripping

Zach McDonald — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 21:04:31 +0000

A BBC report in which a correspondent drove a battery-electric Mini E from London to Edinburgh, has managed to raise the ire of British plug-in car fans—and a surprise challenge from one proud Tesla owner. Reporter Brian Milligan set out to make the 484-mile, four-day journey using only publicly available charging infrastructure, making eight stops and spending about 46 hours of his total trip sleeping and waiting for the Mini E to refill its battery.

Upon reaching Edinburgh, Milligan calculated the average speed for his trip to be about 6 mph—having complained along the way about range anxiety and the cold temperatures he was forced to endure during stretches where he decided to keep the heater off for fear of running out of juice. “Despite the hype of the battery revolution, it is still not easy to drive an electric car any further than the supermarket and back,” the reporter concluded.

Tesla Stock Drops 15 Percent

Zach McDonald — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 17:19:47 +0000

Tesla stock dropped 15 percent Monday to $25.55 per share. Analysts blamed the decline on the end of a six-month lock on IPO shares, which allowed early investors to cash in for a healthy profit on the stock. Since going public in June, Tesla has gained nearly 40 percent—briefly trading for double its IPO price late last month—buoyed by growing relationships with Panasonic and Toyota.

But the fall can't be explained by profit-taking alone. The Wall Street Journal reported a high volume of put options being placed on the stock Monday, indicating that speculators may have been even more eager to speculate on IPO buyers jumping ship than those investors were to sell.

Hertz Details Hourly Electric Car Rentals Including Nissan, Chevy, Mitsubishi, Tesla, Smart, and Coda

Nick Chambers — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 19:57:22 +0000

Betting that curious consumers will want to spend some extended time behind the wheel before committing, Hertz will offer by-the-hour electric car rentals starting this month in select markets.

Does Panasonic's Tesla Investment Signify the Birth of a Three-Headed Monster?

Zach McDonald — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 20:20:52 +0000

Panasonic announced yesterday that it will broaden its ties with Tesla, buying a 2 percent share in the company at a cost of $30 million. Though the deal isn't earth-shattering in size, it has drawn new attention to an emerging green car alliance between two of the world's largest corporations and a young EV startup that has sold just 1,300 vehicles in its seven-year history.

Panasonic has been openly eager to extend its lead with advanced vehicle batteries for some time now. It already supplies NiMH battery packs for Toyota hybrids, including the venerable Toyota Prius, and will make the lithium ion batteries for the Prius Plug-in when it comes out next year.

Tesla Recalls 439 Roadsters in Response to Fire Report

Zach McDonald — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 00:04:44 +0000

Tesla Motors doesn't sell anywhere close to as many cars as Ford or Toyota, but that doesn't mean the EV startup is immune to the same recall headaches that cost the auto industry billions of dollars in lost revenue each year. Today, Tesla announced the second recall on its Roadster since the car went into production in 2008.

A 12-volt cable located behind the front headlamps and connected to several auxiliary systems including the lights, turn signals and airbags, is believed to be the culprit in at least one small vehicle fire, according to the carmaker. The incident is not reported to have led to any major injuries or damages, but nevertheless, Tesla no doubt decided that it was better off installing a new protective sleeve around for the cable than risking a more serious fire down the road.