Items tagged with Tesla
It appears that Toyota still doesn't quite know what to make of electric vehicles (EVs). The Japanese auto giant was among the first to deliver a production hybrid vehicle to the public with the Prius. The Prius rode a wave of popularity starting with its first-generation and peaking with its third-generation. However, as traditional internal combustion engines (ICE) vehicles have become more efficient and the availability of hybrids has expanded, Prius sales have started trending downward. And according to Toyota Motor North America CEO Jim Lentz, electric vehicles are also starting to blunt Prius...
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It seems as though everyone is gunning for Tesla these days, and given the American EV company's success, it's understandable. Just yesterday, we reported that Nissan is actively developing the IMs to rival the Model 3 and Model S. Now, it's being reported that Audi has given the green light to produce the PB18 e-tron supercar that was first unveiled back in August. Bram Schot, who serves as Audi's chief in The Netherlands, told Auto Week NL that it will produce an extremely limited run of the vehicle. Just how limited? Schot stated that the German company will produce...
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When it comes to modern electric vehicles, Tesla has become synonymous with advancing the genre. The company really caught a lot of attention with its Model S and has lit up the sales charts with its more mainstream Model 3. Now, Nissan is looking past its own econobox Leaf EV so push forward with the IMs concept. The IMs features a brand-new car platform that was designed from the ground-up to be used for EVs. It is a mid-size sedan that at 190 inches in length is about 5 inches longer than a Model 3, but roughly 8 inches shorter than the Model S. It rides on a relatively long 114-inch wheelbase,...
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Elon Musk and the crew over at SpaceX have announced that the company will be shedding about 10% of its workforce, which currently totals over 6,000 employees. SpaceX said that it was going to "part ways" with some workers noting that it had "extraordinarily difficult challenges ahead." The cuts came despite a successful 2018 for the company. A SpaceX spokesman said in an email Reuters obtained, "To continue delivering for our customers and to succeed in developing interplanetary spacecraft and a global space-based Internet, SpaceX must become a leaner company. Either of these developments, even...
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Tesla has been making some changes to its pricing strategy over the past week, and the biggest change in quite some time comes today with the premium-market Model S and Model X. CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter to announce that the 75 kWh battery pack for both electric vehicles will be discontinued and that customers only have until Sunday night to place orders for vehicles with that battery option. For those that don't keep up with all things Tesla, the Model S 75D with the 75 kWh battery has a base price of $76,000 and can travel up to 259 miles with a full charge. The heavier $82,000 Model X 75D...
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The luxury electric vehicle sector is starting to heat up, years after Tesla turned the industry on its head with the Model S. Now, the competition is finally fighting back with new EVs of their own, with the latest coming from Nissan's Infiniti. The company first teased its QX Inspiration back in December, and now it has posted two renders of the vehicles from various angles (save for the rear). It's definitely a new design direction for Infiniti and is littered with numerous sharp creases all around. Although it’s a new look for Infiniti, it doesn't break any new design ground...
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When Elon Musk first announced the mainstream Model 3 electric vehicle from Tesla in mid-2016, he proclaimed that the vehicle would have a base price of $35,000. However, as is often the case with Tesla product launches, the company has instead pushed pricier trim levels and has yet to actually release its promised $35,000 car. As a result, up until this point, the cheapest Model 3 that you could purchase featured a base price of $46,000. Tesla announced today that it is now dropping the price of that particular Model 3 by $2,000, bringing it to $44,000. This move is in response...
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Tesla is ready to begin testing the next generation self-driving platform, which is called Autopilot Hardware 3.0. While Tesla's current-generation Autopilot 2.0 platform makes uses of NVIDIA hardware, Autopilot Hardware 3.0 will be using custom Tesla-developed AI neural net hardware with vastly superior processing capabilities. According to an internal email obtained by Electrek, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has put out a call to employees to help test Autopilot Hardware 3.0. Musk is looking for "a few hundred" internal participants to basically serve as beta testers for the hardware/software...
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Call it a sign of the times we live in, but even automobiles contain Easter Eggs, apparently. That's true of Tesla's Model 3, Model S, and Model X electric vehicles, all of which have a hidden game after applying the latest firmware update (9.0.2018.48.12). Fittingly, that game is Pole Position, a retro racing title. Tesla founder Elon Musk flat out said that some "super fun Easter Eggs" were headed to all Model S/3/X vehicles before the holidays. "Romance mode, toilet humor, and more video games," Musk promised on Twitter at the end of the November. Now just a couple of weeks later, he and his...
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There's a lot to like about Tesla's Model 3, but as with most things with prepackaged entertainment (or infotainment) systems, even this beautiful electric car leave people yearning for a bit more. In the case of one reddit user, Tesla's infotainment system didn't satiate his/her entertainment hunger, so they decided to do what's perhaps one of the most interesting dual-OS installs ever, installing Ubuntu alongside Tesla's OS in their own car. Explicit details about how this mod was pulled off are not clear, but it's not going to be one for the faint of heart you can be sure. Digging deep into...
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The move to electric vehicles seems inevitable, but we are slowly getting there as early adopters purchase vehicles like the Tesla Model 3, Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Bolt. However, there are three primary negatives that make the buying public skeptical of EVs at the moment: cost, range anxiety, and the widespread availability of quick-charging stations. With respect to charging infrastructure, the German National Organisation Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NOW), whose members include BMW and Porsche, have developed a prototype 450 kW charging station that uses a Type 2 Combined Charging System...
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California Highway Patrol officers pulled alongside a Tesla car cruising down the highway recently and were surprised to see that the man behind the wheel of the car was fast asleep. When they tried to pull the man over, they found he was unresponsive behind the wheel and suspected he was driving while intoxicated. The officers say that the traffic stop to determine if the driver was indeed driving while intoxicated turned into a seven-minute long ordeal since the driver was unresponsive to commands. The man fast asleep behind the wheel was Alexander Samek, a 45-year-old Los Altos planning commissioner....
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We all know that Tesla is working on a burly pickup truck to add to its electric vehicle family, but it isn't the only company that is looking to take on the titans in the industry. Rivian, a U.S.-based automotive startup, is hoping to turn a few heads with its new R1T. This is a mid-sized pickup that would compare favorably in size and capacity against the likes of the Toyota Tacoma, Nissan Frontier, Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon and the upcoming Ford Ranger. What's most mind-boggling about the R1T is its alleged specs. Being that this is an electric vehicle, it will come from the...
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When it comes to modern electric cars, your mind almost always wanders towards Tesla. Tesla is responsible for the rise in the modern EV, first with the Roadster and then with the groundbreaking Model S. Since that time, the company has released the Model X crossover and the entry-level Model 3. Volkswagen has of course watched as Tesla has made continual advances in the field, and even released its e-Golf in the United States. However, the e-Golf was not built from the ground-up to be an EV and has a driving range of just 125 miles. But as more European countries put plans on the book to ban diesel-powered...
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