Items tagged with Tesla
The price of entry to get into a Model Y won't be as low as previously expected. When Tesla CEO Elon Musk first announced the Model Y, he revealed that the vehicle would be available in a Standard Range variant priced at $39,000 and that it would launch in Spring 2021. However, Musk announced over the weekend via Twitter that the Model Y Standard Range has been canceled. In his words, the 230-mile EPA range of the vehicle would be "unacceptably low" for consumers. That's definitely a bit disappointing for those that wanted more cargo space than the Model 3 sedan provides, but didn't want to pony up for the inflated pricing that comes with the even larger Model X crossover. We have...
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Sometimes I get a hankering for a juicy burger, and if I happen to pass by a Burger King, a Whopper (with extra pickles, don't @me) will suffice. It looks like I'm not the only one. Apparently the Autopilot feature in Tesla vehicles can confuse circular Burger King restaurant signs with stop signs, and will slow down accordingly. This is part of a new "Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control" feature that Tesla is beta testing, though to be clear, it's not supposed to slow down for restaurant signs, Burger King or otherwise. Burger King ran with the idea anyway, and for a brief period, was offering a free Whopper to Tesla owners who shared a picture of their smart car stopped at one of its locations....
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Back in early May, Tesla (and SpaceX) CEO Elon Musk got into a bit of a tizzy over the official Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) range figures for its latest variant of the Model S. Musk and Tesla had expected that the vehicle would be rated for 400+ miles of range, but it could only muster 391 miles in the hands of the EPA. That shortfall drew the ire of Musk, who accused the EPA testers of leaving the keys inside the vehicle which drained power overnight. The EPA calmly pushed back against those claims and added, "we are happy to discuss any technical issues with Tesla, as we do routinely with all automakers." Well, the EPA has apparently gotten around to retesting the 2020...
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Elon Musk first unveiled the Tesla Semi way back in November 2017, and plans for the revolutionary vehicle have been in a holding pattern since then. However, Musk revealed in an email that went out to Tesla employees over the weekend that it’s time to kick production into gear to start fulfilling the immense number of preorders that it has received. “It’s time to go all out and bring the Tesla Semi to volume production,” said Musk in the memo that was seen by CNBC. “It’s been in limited production so far, which has allowed us to improve many aspects of the design. Production of the battery and powertrain would take place at Giga Nevada, with most...
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The past few weeks have been somewhat of an emotional rollercoaster for Elon Musk. As the CEO of two high-profile companies -- SpaceX and Tesla -- Musk is under immense pressure to be at the bleeding edge of both the space industry and electric vehicles. And his "rock star" persona in the EV community comes with its ups and downs. Musk's latest escapade includes an escalation in his attacks on Alameda County, California, where's Tesla's headquarters and Fremont manufacturing facility is located. Tesla filed a lawsuit with the US District Court in the Northern District of California targeting Alameda County's current shelter-in-place order. Tesla's Fremont factory in Alameda County,...
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A security researcher that goes by GreenTheOnly on Twitter recently shared some information that impacts some of the most popular Tesla vehicles. According to Green, some Tesla hardware currently being sold on eBay retains a significant amount of personal information from previous owners even after a reset. The parts the security researcher tested include a Tesla Model 3 integrated media control unit (MCU) and Autopilot (HW) units. The MCU and HW units for a Model 3 along with a Model X MCU unit were acquired from eBay. All three of the units had been reset, but the researcher found that a slew of private owner information, including passwords, were still easily recoverable from the units. Among...
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Elon Musk has been on quite a bit of "wild streak" for the past week, starting off with Tesla's Q2 earnings call. While the company announced that it made a profit once again -- despite the shutdown of its Fremont factory because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic -- Musk drew attention for comments he made about EPA testing procedures. But let's back up a bit, shall we? Back in late January, Musk proclaimed that Tesla would soon be releasing a Model S with 400 miles of range thanks to improved core chemistry used in its 18650 battery cells. At the time, the Model S was rated for 373 miles for the "Long Range" variant and 348 miles for the "Performance" variant. However, when the EPA...
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Origin PC is now accepting orders for its new "Ludicrous PC," a modified Radio Flyer Tesla Model S toy car with high-end PC gaming hardware that sits literally underneath the hood. Specifically, an AMD Ryzen 9 3900X processor and GeForce RTX 2080 Ti take this thing from 0 to fun for those who can afford this kind of luxury. The press release pegs the starting price at $13,370, an obvious play on 1337 ("leet"), though a visit to the semi-customizable product page comes up with a $13,432 sticker price. Either way, it's expensive. Some might even say it's a ludicrous amount to spend on a PC, though that's not where the name comes from—Model S vehicles have a pavement-slaying 'Ludicrous' mode...
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It is taking a cooperative effort on a global scale to stop the spread of COVID-19, of which there are now nearly 1.3 million confirmed cases and over 70,000 deaths. On the manufacturing side of the equation, technology companies like Apple and Tesla are stepping up to produce much needed equipment for medical workers. As it pertains to Tesla, the automaker provided an engineering update on its custom ventilator made from various car parts, including components from its Model 3. Ventilators are complex contraptions. They are also supremely important in managing and treating some patients with COVID-19, but are in short supply at the moment. Tesla is one of several automakers who are sourcing...
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Tesla Model 3 Pwned As Hack Disables Autopilot Notifications, Speedometer, Climate Controls And More
There’s no question that the Tesla Model 3 is one of the most advanced cars on the planet, thanks in part to its advanced EV powertrain, its heavy use of powerful computers for its Autopilot self-driving system, and its heavy software integration with numerous vehicle functions. Tesla is also a leader in the industry when it comes to over-the-air updates that bring new features or fixes for existing features (and in some cases, removing features altogether). That complex integration of software and hardware is coming to light in findings posted by “Jacob A” of SafeKeep Cybersecurity. Jacob describes himself as a veteran security engineer that has disclosed previous...
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Tesla announced that deliveries of its highly anticipated Model Y crossover have begun. Initially, only the higher-end Model Y is available, with the standard range version expected to enter production in early 2021. The Model Y deliveries occurring at the moment are for the Long Range and Performance versions of the electric crossover. Tesla says all of the Model Y EVs it's delivering currently have the premium interior and upgraded sound system. The Long Range version has a $52,990 base purchase price with the price of $46,690 after potential [future] fuel savings. The Model Y Performance has a $60,990 purchase price and costs $56,690 after potential savings. The Performance upgrade brings...
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The Tesla Cybertruck is the most "Bro" electric vehicle that we've seen so far, and it's got the specs to back it up. The vehicle will come with up to three electric motors, travel up to 500 miles per charge, and will accelerate from a standstill to 60 mph in just 2.9 seconds. But for those that don't want to cough up the $39,990 price of entry for the base model -- or simply want to have a scale model to go along with their life-sized purchase -- Mattel has teamed up with Tesla to release a 1:10 scale R/C Hot Wheels version of the Cybertruck. The Hot Wheels Cybertruck is a dead ringer for its full-size counterpart down to its angular shape, ginormous wheels/tires, and all-wheel...
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Imagine for a moment that you bought a used car from a dealership, and after doing so, the original manufacturer of the automobile came to your house and began stripping away features that do not come standard with the base model of whichever car you bought. Maybe you call the cops, or perhaps you take matters into your own hands (we don't condone the latter). Either way, it would be an unfathomable situation. Nevertheless, Tesla is under fire for allegedly doing something similar, only instead of physically removing a customer's radio or anything like that, it disabled features on a used car by way of an over-the-air (OTA) software update. These are not minor features, either—Tesla is...
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Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk are well known for using unconventional methods to both hire key employees and improve their electric vehicles. The latest hiring tactic that Musk and company are using to lure in new programmers for AI and Autopilot is to hold a party at Musk's house. Musk tweeted about the event, noting that Tesla is going to hold a Super Fun AI party/hackathon. The "house party" is specifically looking to recruit people for the AI/autopilot team. The tweet says that invites will be going out soon. We assume security will be tight to prevent people from sneaking in or making off with Musk's stuff. Reports indicate that Tesla has been known to frequent AI conferences and throw parties...
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When it comes to electric vehicle range and efficiency, there's Tesla, and then there's everyone else. Tesla first brought the Model S to market nearly a decade ago, and since then has followed up with the Model X, Model 3, and the soon to be released Model Y. Over the years, the company has worked diligently to improve its battery chemistry to improve efficiency, which makes newer rivals like the Porsche Taycan seem almost amateurish in comparison. But Tesla isn't standing still; CEO Elon Musk recently proclaimed that the its flagship Model S will soon be capable of traveling 400 miles per charge. Rather than switching to the newer 2170 format battery cells used in the Model 3 and upcoming...
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Here's a name we haven't though much about in the past decade or so: Hummer. Hummer was once a name synonymous with excess thanks to its big, burly lifted SUVs that were loathed for their immense girth and equally voracious thirst for unleaded gasoline. The brand was eventually shutdown in 2010, making it a victim of General Motors' bankruptcy and the economic downturn. However, Hummer is coming back from the dead in the most unlikely form. It is being resurrected as a fully-electric truck, rather than as a hulking beast powered by a V8 internal combustion engine. The vehicle will make its television debut this weekend in a 30-second Super Bowl commercial starring NBA superstar Lebron James....
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Tesla released its Q4 earnings report this afternoon, and needless to say, the company didn’t disappoint. For starters, it was Tesla’s second straight quarter of profit, coming in at $105 million for Q4 2019. This represented earnings of 56 cents per share for the quarter. However, Tesla posted an annual loss of $862 million, though investors seem unfazed by that figure. Two straight quarters in the black along with a steady increase in EV deliveries has investors rubbing their hands together. Tesla reported deliveries of 112,000 vehicles for Q4 2019, and a total of 367,500 deliveries for all of 2019 (a record for the company). Looking ahead, Tesla says that it will deliver...
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Elon Musk is known to make heavy use of Twitter to keep in contact with his flock. The most recent video that he has shared shows a Tesla car playing sound bytes as it pulls up to someone standing nearby. The video appears to show a Tesla event of some sort as two identical maroon Tesla cars are driving in opposite directions. Musk has promised that eventually, Tesla cars will be able to answer drivers like KITT from Knight Rider. The tweet from Musk, who now apparently goes by "Buff Mage" on Twitter, says Teslas will be able to talk to people if you want. In the video, the Tesla car uses an English accent to say, "Don't just stand there staring, hop in." The car says something else after that...
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The world collectively laughed at the Tesla Cybertruck when Elon Musk unveiled it in California nearly a month ago, but it appears that there is still plenty of interest in the odd-looking electric vehicle. The Cybertruck is billed as being the biggest and baddest half-ton pickup around, and Musk repeatedly compared the truck to the best-selling Ford F-150, and even used a sketchy (and disproven) tug-of-war video to show its skills (see the video further down in this article). Musk just revealed that Cybertruck preorders have ballooned, rising from 146,000 over the weekend to 250,000 as of last night. That means that the potential value of those orders -- if all of those customers...
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk definitely turned heads when he unveiled the long-awaited Cybertruck on Thursday evening. And it wasn't the fact that people were turning their heads to do a longing double take in amazement -- many were turning their heads to look for a puke bag. The controversial, angular styling of the Cybertruck looking nothing like mid-size or full-size trucks currently on the market, and many were just left mouth agape wondering if this was some sort of setup for the "real" truck that would be unveiled at a later date. Despite the talk of the Cybertruck's styling -- and the on-stage "fail" with the supposedly armored glass -- Musk is crowing about strong preorders...
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Well, this is definitely... interesting. Tesla CEO Elon Musk finally pulled the wraps off the highly anticipated Cybertruck EV, and it's definitely a different look for the pickup segment. While the Rivian R1T takes a [mostly] conventional approach with its looks, the Cybertruck looks like no other truck on the road with its wedge shape. Elon Musk said that inspiration came from the classic Lotus Esprit mid-engine sports car, and we definitely get that vibe. The looks are definitely polarizing and owe nothing to the more organically-shaped Model S, Model X, and Model 3 that came before it. Despite its looks, the Cybertruck is roughly the same size as the best-selling Ford F-150 and can seat up...
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Elon Musk has been teasing the release of a Tesla pickup truck for over two years. According to a tweet by Musk this morning, the so-called "Cybertruck" will be first shown to the public on November 21st. According to Musk, this will be a pickup like no one has ever seen before, and it will look like something straight out of the movie Blade Runner. In fact, the November 2019 unveil is even a thinly veiled reference to that cult classic Ridley Scott film starring Harrison Ford. Cybertruck unveil on Nov 21 in LA near SpaceX rocket factory — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2019 As is usually the case for a new Tesla introduction, some lofty claims are being made for the Cybertruck. Musk...
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