PATREONItems tagged with Tesla Motors
SpaceX excited fans and upset scientists at the same time when it launched the first Falcon Heavy rocket over a year ago. The launch itself was spectacular as the company used the Falcon Heavy launch to push Elon Musk's own Tesla Roadster into space with a stuffed SpaceX spacesuit behind the wheel that was dubbed Starman. Keeping with true Elon Musk style, the Roadster had "Don't Panic" written on the navigation screen as a nod to the iconic "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" book. We have now learned that the duo has completed their first orbit around the Sun. It has been about 557 days since the launch of Starman and his Roadster into space, and so far it has traveled about 762 million...
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Amidst all the negativity that has been swirling around Tesla Motors in the past month, the company has skipped a lot of the usual fanfare to introduce a cheaper variant of the Model X crossover. But even though the new Model X 60D is $9,000 less expensive than the previous entry-level model, the Model X 75D, it’s still a vehicle reserved for well-healed Americans with a starting price tag of $74,000. Given its 60D nomenclature, we can easily determine that this vehicle has all-wheel-drive (AWD) and a 60 kWh battery. However, the battery is 60 kWh in name only — Tesla has likely installed a 75 kWh battery that has been “crippled” via software. In the case of the Model S 60D, it actually comes...
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Ever since the fatal Model S crash that occurred back in May, it looks as though every driver that has a serious accident with their Tesla EV is looking to blame Autopilot. Such was the case last week when a Model X flipped over on its roof on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. And now, a Model X driver that crashed on a dark two-lane road in Whitehall, Montana at 2AM is also looking to blame Autopilot. Now before we starting pointing fingers, we should note that Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk has stated that Autopilot actually works better at night than it does in the day time:@elimelechweiss actually works best at night— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 15, 2015 This because the reflective paint and markers...
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It seems as though Tesla Motors just can’t catch a break these days. Last week, the company reported that it was under investigation by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) after a driver was killed using Autopilot in a Model S EV. While blaming fingers quickly pointed to Tesla, it was shortly thereafter revealed that the driver of the vehicle was in fact watching a Harry Potter movie when he collided with a big rig (which neither he for obvious reasons nor the Model S’ forward-looking cameras managed to notice). Now it’s being reported that Autopilot was enabled in another recent Tesla EV crash, although luckily, this accident wasn’t fatal. The driver of a Model...
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Tesla can’t seem to catch a break. On Sunday the company revealed that it had only delivered 14,370 out of the promised 17,000 cars for the second quarter of 2016. Tesla was simply unable to ship out all of the cars in time. The company remarked:Due to the extreme production ramp in Q2 and the high mix of customer-ordered vehicles still on trucks and ships at the end of the quarter, Tesla Q2 deliveries were lower than anticipated...In total, 5,150 customer-ordered vehicles were still in transit at the end of the quarter and will be delivered in early Q3Last quarter, Tesla did not have enough of the parts needed to build the Model X. The company was out of the necessary supplies for two months...
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We have some rather tragic news to report in the world of autonomous driving. Via a blog posting on its site, Tesla Motors reported that the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened a preliminary investigation into the company after a fatal crash involving a Model S EV that was operating semi-autonomously via Autopilot. According to reports from the Levy County Journal and from Tesla itself, the vehicle was traveling along a divided highway when a tractor trailer that was initially traveling in the opposite direction made a left turn perpendicularly in front of it. According to Tesla, “neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer...
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It looks as though the state of Colorado is welcoming electric vehicles (EVs) with open arms. The state just took the wraps off what it is likely the country’s best state-based incentive with respect to EVs: a tax credit that is worth a whopping $5,000 [PDF]. Unlike previous EV tax credits from the state, which relied on often complicated calculations based on battery size, this is a flat tax applicable to all light-duty EVs. Georgia’s EV credit also used to top out at $5,000, but it was discontinued as of July 1st 2015. What makes Colorado’s incentive even more attractive is that the $5,000 can be assigned to a dealership or finance company at the point of sale. That means that you’d effectively...
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When automobile accidents happen, the first thing anyone wants to do is assign blame. Who was driving? Who was texting instead of paying attention to the road? Who was speeding and blew through a stoplight? But how do you assess blame if no one was in the driver’s seat at the time of the accident? Well, for one Model S owner, he is laying the blame at the feet of Tesla Motors for an accident involving his pricey EV and a parked trailer. Jared Overton claims that on April 29th, he parked his Model S on the side of the road and ran some errands. He just so happened to be parked behind a trailer, which he didn’t pay too much attention to at the time.Credit: KSL A worker from the business he was...
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Tesla Motors rolled out a refreshed Model S EV a little less than a month ago with minimal fanfare (at least compared to the blockbuster reveal of the $35,000 Model 3). Tesla gave the Model S a nose job, upgraded some interior materials, added new LED elements to the headlights, and upgraded the onboard charger to 48 amps. Over the past few days, however, we began hearing word that Tesla would also be introducing a new 75 kWh battery option to replace the existing 70 kWh battery. A listing for a Model S 75D showed up on the California Air Resource Board (CARB) website, and Tesla later confirmed the that a 75 kWh option would soon be arriving. Today, we’re learning just how existing customers...
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One of the most high-profile features of the Tesla Motors Model S (and its Model X sibling) is the fantastic Ludicrous Mode option. The discontinued Model S P85D in Ludicrous Mode was capable of hitting 60 mph in a neck-snapping 2.8 seconds, while the newer P90D accomplishes the same feat in just 2.6 seconds and ripped off a 1/4-mile time of 10.9 seconds in independent testing. Given that that upcoming $35,000 Model 3 will have less powerful electric motors and smaller battery packs than its pricier big brother, the standard vehicle will hit 60 mph in less than six seconds. This is compared to 5.2 seconds, 4.2 seconds, and 3.1 seconds for the Model S 70D, 90D and P90D (without Ludicrous Mode)...
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It looks as though Tesla Motors and General Motors are about to get some competition in the 200-mile electric vehicle (EV) arena from an unlikely competitor: Ford. We say “unlikely” because just last week when announcing that the 2017 Ford Focus Electric will get a range boost from 76 miles to even 100 miles, Kevin Layden, Ford's director of electrification programs and engineering, shot down the notion that the company would produce a 200-mile EV. "I think right now with the launch of the Focus Electric at 100 miles, it is going to satisfy a big chunk of the population," said Layden. He went on to say that the 100-mile range allowed Ford to hit targets for weight (by using lighter batteries)...
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Tesla Motors knows how to stay in the headlines, be it with the “mainstream” Model 3, the refreshed Model S, or by touting the capabilities of its technology-laden Autopilot system. However, it’s the latter tech that getting attention today, because one of its competitors is throwing some ID4 City Destroyer-level shade on Autopilot. In an interview this week, Trent Victor, Volvo’s senior technical leader for crash avoidance, took the time to call out Tesla Autopilot by name. "It gives you the impression that it's doing more than it is," said Victor in an interview with The Verge, before going on to say that Tesla Autopilot “is more of an unsupervised wannabe." Tesla defines its Autopilot as a...
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When it comes to electric vehicles, Tesla Motors is always at the forefront of the discussion. There’s Tesla, and then there’s everyone else. Look no further than the $35,000 Model 3, which has racked up over 300,000 reservations despite the fact that the vehicle won’t be available until late 2017 at the earliest. And when it comes to self-driving technology in production vehicles, Tesla’s Autopilot is usually the first to pop into the mind of techies around the globe. With that in mind, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been talking up the virtues of Autopilot, and its superiority to human drivers in dealing with potential collisions on our highways. “The probability of having an accident is 50% lower...
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There is no love lost between General Motors and Tesla Motors. If the companies aren’t battling it out over the merits of the dealership model, the two are throwing barbs at one another over the emergence of electric vehicles. When GM CEO Mary Barra revealed the production version of the Chevrolet Bolt EV earlier this year at CES, she took thinly veiled swipes at Tesla, touring GM’s vast dealership network, its support of CarPlay and Android Auto, and the fact that GM was beating Tesla to the punch with a mass-market 200-mile EV. Rather than lash out at Barra with equally dismissive barbs, Tesla at the time issued the following statement: Commitments from traditional car makers to build electric...
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We were tipped off last week that Tesla Motors would be making some front-end tweaks to high-end electric sedan to keep things fresh, and the company delivered today with an updated Model S. The styling tweaks ditch the faux black grille that has been present on all Model S EVs since its introduction in 2012 in favor of a design more reminiscent of the Model X crossover that was introduced last year. The new front end leaves a small opening below the leading the edge of the hood which houses the Tesla emblem, but that’s about it. We hope that Tesla transfers this design tweak to the Model 3, which has been criticized for its odd-looking, expressionless front design. The Model S also now features...
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After unveiling its entry-level Model 3 EV over a week ago, Tesla Motors is set to deliver some more goodies for its existing product portfolio this week. The popular and incredibly expensive Model S will reportedly crib a feature found in its larger Model X sibling: the Bioweapon Defense Mode. The Bioweapon Defense Mode is activated using a button on the dashboard, creates positive pressure within the cabin and relies on a massive HEPA filter (10 times larger than those found in typical vehicles) to fend off any unwanted, harmful particles. During the Model X unveil in September, Tesla CEO Elon Musk jokingly claimed that his company was “trying to be a leader in apocalyptic defense scenarios.”Tesla...
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Given that Tesla Motors already has a lot on its hands addressing supply issues with the Model X (namely parts related to its Falcon Wing rear doors) and figuring out how to meet demand for 325,000 preorders of the Model 3, you’d think that the company wouldn’t have much time to focus on much else. Well, you’d be wrong, because a new report claims that the breakthrough Model S is about to be receive what could be described as a mid-cycle refresh. At the top of the agenda for Tesla is to add more “luxury-minded appointments” to the interior. The interior of the vehicle will also receive the ventilated seats from the Model X crossover and more storage compartments. The interior updates address...
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It’s been an amazing week for Tesla Motors. Last Thursday evening, CEO Elon Musk took to the stage to reveal his company’s fourth ever EV: the Model 3. While Tesla's previous offerings have been aimed at well-heeled buyers, the Model 3 is going after the heart of the mainstream market with a price tag of $35,000 before credits and rebates (the average selling price for a new car in America in 2015 was $33,000). By the time Musk had finished his presentation, preorders for the Model 3 had already far surpassed 100,000 units. The next day, orders topped 200,000 and a few days later approached 300,000. Today, Tesla confirmed that preorders for the Model 3 have now crossed the 325,000 mark. That...
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In case you been living under a rock for the past 24 hours, Tesla Motors unveiled its electric car for the masses, the Model 3, last night. As the follow-up to the award winning Model S and the eccentric Model X, the Model 3 has some big shoes to fill and customers are eagerly forking over down deposits to secure their place in line to purchase one. Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter to give some updates on the status of Model 3 preorders, and the numbers are quite staggering. According to Musk, 198,000 reservations had been placed as of 1PM EST today. Given that it’s close to 9PM EST now, it’s fair to say that orders have probably now topped 200,000. And we have to remember that each one of...
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Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk has been hyping up what will likely be the most important model ever for his decade-old electric car company for over a year now. Today, after much anticipation, we get our first look at the Model 3 in the flesh, and oh boy is it a beauty. If you were already enamored with the looks of the handsome Model S, the Model 3 caries on the same design theme in a slightly shrunken package. Perhaps the biggest difference in styling is up front — while the Model S has a faux grille to create the illusion of a more conventional internal combustion-engine vehicle, the Model 3 avoids the false pretenses by ditching the accessory. It may look a little odd at first, but we have the...
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Folks, the wait is almost over. After initially piquing our interests with the Roadster, and then revolutionizing the EV market with the Model S, Tesla Motors is going “mass market” with its Model III EV. Today, we’ve learned that the company will lift the veil on the vehicle at a Los Angeles event on March 31st. Whereas the Model S starts at $75,000 for the based 70D model and can top $108,000 for the high performance P90D, the more plebian Model III will start at just $35,000 before any incentives are applied. "We can confirm it's $35,000 before incentives," confirmed a Tesla spokeswoman early last month. "We haven't changed our minds." As we’ve stated before, that $35,000 price will likely...
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On Earth, Elon Musk is conquering the electric car market with Tesla Motors. In Earth’s orbit, the Musk-helmed SpaceX is revolutionizing commercial spaceflight and aiming to send U.S. astronauts into space with its Falcon rockets and Dragon crew capsules now that the Space Shuttle has been mothballed. But this is Elon Musk that we’re talking about here — he of course has even higher aspirations. Later this year, we’ll get a taste of what SpaceX is cooking up as it aims to go past Earth’s orbit onto a more ambitious destination: Mars. While visiting Hong Kong this week, Musk indicated that he plans to reveal this September preliminary information on SpaceX spacecraft architecture that will take...
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