Tesla Emissions Cars

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has revealed that the company’s headquarters will be relocated from California to Texas at the 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders event. The famed EV automaker was previously based in Palo Alto, in Silicon Valley. However, last year, Musk vowed to relocate the company’s headquarters to Texas in response to the closing of its primary facility in Fremont outside, San Francisco. He was dissatisfied with the factory’s temporary closure owing to Covid restrictions.

Carmakers across Europe are striving to meet a 2020 EU target of average car CO2 emissions of 95g per kilometer. To avoid the fines, the EU allows automakers to pool their fleets together and purchase credits from other automakers with a surplus. Last month, Financial Times revealed a deal between Tesla and Fiat-Chrysler (FCA) worth “hundreds of millions of euros”. According to the Financial Times, the understanding is now worth around €2 billion ($2.3 billion USD). The deal with FCA is expected to be an extremely great boost of money for Tesla but FCA should keep in mind that the sale of emission credits will not last forever. The new regulations while helping Tesla financially are pushing other carmakers to release their own all-electric vehicles as nobody in the industry is ready to keep dispensing billions to their own competitors.

The 2020 Tesla Model Y is close to making its big debut, but before it does, let’s take a moment to speculate on what it’ll offer in terms of range, output, handling, and acceleration!

Currently, there’s the shell of Tesla Model X that burned to a crisp sitting on a frozen lake in Vermont. That’s a sentence I never imagined I’d write. The situation certainly is odd. It raises a lot of questions. What sparked the fire? Why didn’t it melt through the ice? What was the car doing on the lake in the first place?

Tesla’s back in the news and, lo and behold, it’s again because they have to pay a few million dollars back. This time, the money will go to aggravated customers who bought the $5,000-worth Autopilot 2.0 suite only to find out that they have to wait months before it actually becomes available.

As part of the $5,400,000 settlement, which will see Tesla pay back customers anywhere between $25 and $280 depending on when they purchased the car. Basically, Tesla announced they will release the Autopilot 2.0 group of functions in December of 2016 in two separate packages: the ’Enhanced Autopilot’ package which was priced at $5,000 and the ’Fully Self-Driving’ package which cost $2,000 less. Sadly for customers, Tesla couldn’t keep up to its side of the bargain so lawsuits were filed aplenty.

This is the latest Autopilot crash; but it wasn’t the system’s fault. A couple, who was too busy engrossed in something else other than focusing on the road, rear-ended a Nissan SUV despite the system warning and chiming its brains out. How can one trust a machine blindly?

As the electric car market becomes bigger and more populated these days, Porsche is looking for a way to stand out from competition, and a big part of that approach is developing technologies that will allow it to claim the industry’s quickest charging times. The Porsche Taycan electric sports car — it’s Porsche’s first all-electric model ever — is expected to showcase that with the ability to charge 80 percent of its battery in just 15 minutes.

Tesla keeps on improving its Autopilot system and the new version is now able to overtake other cars in traffic with the "Navigate with Autopilot" function. It features a "Mad Max" mode for more assured passes.

Tesla cars have been driving themselves around and about for quite a while now, but passing hasn’t been anywhere near second nature for the American EVs. To initiate an overtake when navigating with the Autopilot system turned on, you had to toggle the turn signals yourself. Now, with version 9 of the system being available, this is no longer the case.

Despite nagging production issues, the Tesla Model 3 is fast becoming one of America’s best-selling sedans. Monthly and quarterly sales totals in the last three months ending in September revealed that the Model 3 outsold all but four of the top sedans sold in the U.S., regardless of their size and price. In that time span, Tesla sold around 55,800 units of the Model 3, outselling far more established models like the Nissan Sentra, Hyundai Elantra, Ford Fusion, and Chevrolet Malibu. The only four models that outsold the Model 3 are the Toyota Corolla, Toyota Camry, Honda Civic, and Honda Accord.

Elon ‘Controversy’ Musk is in the news yet again. This time, it seems serious. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accused Musk of fraud. What fraud, you ask? The agency says he made a series of “false and misleading” tweets about potentially taking Tesla private last month. They want him fired from Tesla.

The culture of open-source information just got a massive supporter. Tesla Motors has voluntarily revoked every patent the company previously held in the field of electric-powered vehicles, opening up other companies to use Tesla’s original ideas for free.

The unprecedented move comes as Tesla Motors’ founder and CEO Elon Musk released a statement citing his passion for zero-emissions vehicles and his belief in the growing need for such vehicles. “Given that annual new vehicle production is approaching 100 million per year and the global fleet is approximately 2 billion cars, it is impossible for Tesla to build electric cars fast enough to address the carbon crisis.”

With that, the company is now open to sharing its discoveries and innovations in developing, building, selling, and recharging electric vehicles. Well-established automakers like General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Toyota Motor Corporation, and others will now have free access to Tesla’s once-protected innovations.

Musk further elaborates in his candidly written letter that the electric car industry and eventually the world will benefit from having access to open-sourced and rapidly evolving technology.

Tesla originally held patents on its developments out of fear the large automakers would copy the technology and snuff out Tesla’s small operation. However, now that Tesla has made a such a name for itself and has a well-established (yet still rapidly growing) network of Supercharger recharging stations, that likelihood has diminished. What’s more, Musk points out that out of the 100-million vehicles produced annually, less than one percent of those are zero emissions. Thus far, Tesla’s competition seems noticeably absent.

Click past the jump to read more about Tesla’s giveaway.

So, for anyone that watched the Debate last night – I did and I am suffering today thanks to the late evening – you saw presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney, hit our sector a few times. One time, he took a direct swipe at two alternative-energy car companies in one statement. If you missed the statement, here it is:

"Now, I like green energy as well, but that’s about 50 years’ worth of what oil and gas receives," Romney said during the first of three Presidential debates. "You put $90 billion — like 50 years’ worth of breaks — into solar and wind, to Solyndra and Fisker and Tesla and Ener1. I mean, I had a friend who said, you don’t just pick the winners and losers; you pick the losers."

Now, we’re not here to debate politics, but to call Tesla and Fisker “losers” is not quite fair. As a matter of fact, Tesla announced on Wednesday – the same day that Romney labeled it a “Loser” – that despite its struggles meeting delivery goals, which are due to supplier issues, it will become “cash-flow positive” by next month and will hit the 500-unit mark in just a few weeks.

Hitting that black in the ledger is a huge step for an upstart company and to see Tesla hitting it this soon is impressive. Musk also announced that despite criticisms of the DOE loan to Tesla, the company has always paid the loan installments on time and has never even given a thought to postponing the payments.

We are not too sure exactly what will come of Tesla in the long run, but it is already prepping the release of its second vehicle, the Model X SUV, and there is a light at the end of the very long upstart tunnel for Musk and Tesla. We’ll keep an eye on the ledger sheet and let you know if Tesla meets this anticipated milestone on time or not.

Click past the jump to read Mr. Musk’s blogged press release.

One of the few thorns in the side of the EV market place is the battery charging systems. The vast majority of them require upwards of six to eight hours to reach 100 percent capacity and at the quickest, most can reach 80 percent in about three to four hours. Well, Tesla has been at the forefront of EV engineering, especially with its 300-mile-range Model S, which screams to 60 mph in about 4 seconds.

The Model S, as delivered, is no different than any other EV when it comes to charging, as its 85kWh battery requires eight hours to charge, using its standard 240-volt charging system. Tesla plans to separate itself from the competition once again by releasing a 440-volt fast-charger, which Tesla has cheekily dubbed the “Supercharger” (obligatory rim shot).

Anywho, this new “Supercharger” will be able to get the Tesla S from full discharge to 100 percent in just about an hour. The catch is that this fast charger is not designed for everyday use, it is only for those emergency fill-ups on the road. Tesla is planning to have these stations installed in high-traffic areas for on-the-spot fill ups in just about a year.

Once Tesla releases this new charger for use in the States, it will firmly place itself in the driver’s seat in the EV market, leaving everyone else looking up at it wondering how this small company managed to pull off these stunts. We think the time for the other car companies to start investing more money in EV models is now, before Tesla runs away with it all.

In what was more of a publicity stunt than anything, Tesla delivered its “first” Model S to its “first” owner about two weeks ago. Well, said owner just so happened to be an executive with the company that likely didn’t pay much, if anything, for the car. Now we are ready to announce yet another milestone for this all-new electric-powered sports sedan, and that is its official EPA ratings.

Keep in mind, that these ratings are all based on the 85-kWh battery, not the smaller and less expensive batteries. The Model S came in at a respectable 88 MPGe in the city, 90 MPGe on the highway and 89 MPGe combined. MPGe is basically how far an electric car will travel on the electric equivalent of the energy contained in a gallon of gasoline.

The EPA didn’t stop there, as it also had to put the Model S’s claimed 300-mile range to the test. In this test, the Model S came up pretty short, as it could only hit 265 miles on a single charge, which is a pretty significant 11 percent drop. In overall scheme of things, the Model S trumps the other, less expensive, EVs, like the Honda Fit, Nissan Leaf, and Focus electric in total range. In combined MPGe, however, the aforementioned EVs beat it out, as they net 118 MPGe, 99 MPGe, and 105 MPGe, respectively. The “as tested” Model S also has a base price of $69,900, which is over $30,000 more than the most expensive EV of the group, the Focus Electric.

Then again, the “as tested” Tesla Model S also zips to 60 mph in under 5 seconds and looks flat out awesome doing it. None of the other EVs can boast that combined with impressive range and MPGe. So, even though the Model S came up a little short, it is still impressively economical.

We always see new little wrinkles in automotive dealerships to try and make the car-buying experience seem less stressful and forced. Two key examples are the “No-Haggle” promise offered by now-defunct Saturn and the “Sign-and-Drive” deals offered by several manufacturers now, but started by VW. These are less about making the process easier for the consumer and more about increasing the dealer’s profits while displaying the illusion of an easy-going sales force, which is an oxymoron for any commissioned sales job.

Tesla appears to be going into a realm where car buying is a simple and stress-free environment. How they are achieving this is by beginning with the elimination of the traditional dealership and replacing it with smaller stores in local malls. The second step is to eliminate all commissions and pay the employees a salary. The third step is to not require car sales experience as a prerequisite for hiring, which eliminates the high-pressure “Sell now or sell never” mentality. To get a good picture of what to expect, walk into an Apple store in a local mall and see how laid back it is. You can walk in and play with all of the gadgets without a single sales person bothering you until you ask.

You may be wondering about the floor models and demo models. Keep in mind that all Teslas are built to order, so stores only need a handful of models on the floor and a few test vehicles in the mall’s parking lot. The biggest focus of these stores is to simply educate the customer about Tesla models, and what better place to get plenty of people to educate than a traffic-heavy mall?

Our hats go off to Tesla in its new approach to vehicle sales, but we have a sneaking suspicion that we will see Tesla dealerships and commission-based sales in the near future. Especially if sales start taking off and more models have to be kept on hand for the I-want-it-now customer. So we’ll see exactly how long Tesla can hang onto this low-pressure buying experience before converting into your typical high-pressure dealership.

The anticipated release of the Tesla Model S is nearly here. It began just a few days ago with the launch of the Tesla Model S design studio, so customers could customize their own Model S and place an order. Just a few days later, we are now set to announce that the first Model S has been handed over to its owner over two weeks before the car’s official release date of June 22nd.

You may be wondering how exactly a customer got his hands on one of the hottest new cars available so early. Well, the first Model S went to Tesla board member, Steve Jurvetson. When you’re one of the bosses, we assume that you can pull a few strings to get your ride a little early.

What’s even better is that there is a video of Mr., Jurvetson taking delivery and you can honestly see that he is excited to get his hands on the first Model S and one of the already sold out Signature Series trim levels. Despite some minor audio issues around the midway point of the video, it is all pretty clear. What’s pretty funny is when Jurvetson hops in his Model S for the first time at the 1:47 mark, fires up its completely silent motor, and pulls away, you will notice that he obviously pressed the accelerator a little too hard, as the car launches forward a few feet before he releases the pedal.

That would have been an interesting story to tell had he lost control the first ever Tesla Model S on its inaugural run. Fortunately, he kept it under control and we are left with a cool video of the first model S to hit the streets. In about two weeks, all of you folks not associated with Tesla will start getting notifications that your car is finished and ready for delivery. Until then, just enjoy the video.

Tesla has yet to officially launch its latest EV, the Model S, and already the upstart automaker is setting up some pretty lofty goals. In an interview with CEO, Elon Musk, it was made clear that the company is confident that it will achieve 20,000 total models sold in 2013. With the Nissan Leaf eclipsing just 9,500 total sales in the U.S. in 2011, those are some pretty stratospheric goals.

This is especially difficult considering that Tesla is not expected to infiltrate the European and Asian markets until mid-2013. We do see the logic behind this though, as the base $57,400 price is relatively affordable, considering what you get at that level. Also add in the fact that the Model S is more stylish and ego-massaging than the very odd-looking and soft-feeling Leaf, and Tesla just may be able to hit those numbers.

Once Tesla debuts the Model X SUV, the automaker anticipates a huge upswing in sales at the tune of 75 percent. Yup, Tesla anticipates 2014 sales to eclipse the 35,000 mark thanks to its newest EV SUV, which means the Model X’s sales are expected to hover around 15,000 for the year.

Overall, these are very high goals to achieve for an automaker that really has no reputation or customer base to attach its wagon to yet. However, there are tons of enthusiasts out there that would love nothing more than a 300-mile-per-charge supercar that hits 60 mph in 4.4 seconds and still hauls the family around. So, if Tesla remains true to its promises with the Model S, we could all see this new automaker well exceeding its projected goals.

We’ll be closely monitoring the sales of the Model S to see if the demand is there and if this upstart can provide ample supply if the demand is high.

Tesla is starting the beginning phases of production for its Model S sports sedan and it is easier than ever to order a model custom fitted just for you. Tesla’s new design studio allows you to dive right in and add in the options that you prefer, ranging from performance altering battery packs to interior color and accents.

Even if you aren’t looking to snag up a new Tesla Model S, the system is pretty cool nonetheless. There are loads of features to choose from, even on the base Model S, which starts out at $57,000 and ranges up to $97,000 when fully stocked with every available option. These options include high-powered wall connector and twin chargers, an 80kWh battery for 4.4-second 0-60 time and 300 miles per charge, a 580-watt audio system, and loads more.

The highest price we could build comes in at $110,550. This is the range-topping model S Signature Performance model with optional rear-facing seats, paint armor, panoramic glass roof, and a high-power wall connector. That’s still not too shabby for a car that goes up to 300 miles on a charge, hits 60 mph in just 4.4 seconds, and looks sexy doing it.

Unlike other car designing sites for more popular manufacturers, Tesla doesn’t need to find a model that is the closest to meeting your selected options; Tesla builds your Model S with all of the options you selected. Pretty cool, huh? So, have a look at the Tesla Model S design studio and see what the options are. You will likely be pretty amazed at what these electric cars can offer you, even at the base level.