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AutoblogGreen (www.autobloggreen.com) has great Tesla Motors news, photos, videos and more
Monday, Aug 10
VIDEO: Tesla Roadster vs Tesla Roadster at the drags
We now know that electric cars can be fast, that much is for certain. The next logical question, then, is just how fast are they? The record for an electric car in the NEDRA street production, 349 nominal volts and above class currently sits at 12.643 seconds at 102.89 miles per hour, set by Scot...
Tesla launches customer referral program to spur Roadster sales
If you already plunked down some cash for Tesla Roadster or Model S, now is your chance to earn some of that money back. All you have to do is convince one or more friends to buy and take delivery of a Roadster. It's only fitting that a Silicon Valley car company would follow in the footsteps of int...
Friday, Aug 7
Breaking News: Electric cars can be fast
If there's any one area that Tesla Motors seems to have succeeded above all others with its first electric car, the Roadster, it's changing perceptions about what an EV is all about. After all, electric vehicles have been around for a hundred years or more. Still, tell someone who's not awar...
Thursday, Aug 6
Fisker nabs ex-Maserati North America chief for sales and marketing duties
As we've seen, Fisker is not following fellow green luxury car maker Tesla down the independent store path. Instead, Fisker will license independent dealerships, hopefully to benefit from their expertise with selling expensive vehicles in local markets. Complete press release avail...
Breaking: Tesla marketing boss Michael van der Sande resigns
July was our best month in the past six months -- both for Roadster deliveries AND new Roadster sales. July also marked our first corporate net profitability month ever. " Initial pre-orders for the five-door Model S have reportedly been brisk, with somewhere over 5,000 deposits so far.
Eberhard's Tesla Roadster rapid charger, the RFMC, now available for order
The Roadster Foundry Mobile Connector comes with adapters that allow charging at 12, 16, 24, 32 or 40 amps. According to its maker, the RFMC allows even a fully depleted Tesla battery pack to recharge overnight when operating on 40 amps. Want to know more? Click here. Thanks for the tip, James...
Tuesday, Aug 4
Plug In America's 2nd annual benefit features lots of vehicles, internet auction
For starters, a pre-production 2e from Aptera will be on hand as well as that company's CEO Paul Wilbur. Other electric cars onsite will include Tesla Roadsters, the tzero from AC Propulsion, the MINI E from BMW and Commuter Cars Tango. While we don't have a copy of the complete guest list, it...
Report: VP Joe Biden to announce stimulus battery grants in Detroit on Wednesday
This grant program does not require any repayment and is targeted more at basic research on advanced battery systems. It's not known who the grant recipients might be or how much of the money will be doled out this week. The DOE is also expected to announce more ATVM loans to battery makers in t...
Monday, Aug 3
Is Nissan making a mistake with an overly optimistic range estimate for the LEAF?
Ex-Tesla SVP Marketing Darryl Siry has real world knowledge of the correlation between the EPA city range estimate that Nissan is quoting and reality. He has previously penned missives on the dangers of EV makers over-selling and under-delivering on range and his warning still holds tr...
Friday, Jul 31
Jesse James: loves H2, says all electric car fans "are Dungeons and Dragons freaks"
I like pistons and a crank shaft and putting fuel in something that you know there's a flame and explosion going on there. That's what I like. That's what I've based my whole life on. I think the internal combustion engine will live forever. We just have to figure out a way to make it environmental...
Thursday, Jul 30
Martin Eberhard "demonstrated a probability that he will prevail" in lawsuit against Tesla
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Tesla Motors Elon Musk Photo copyright (C)2009 Sebastian Blanco / Weblogs, Inc. Source: Tesla Motors, The Daily Green] Continue reading Martin Eberhard "demonstrated a probability that he will prevail" in lawsuit against Tesla
Wednesday, Jul 29
Tesla lawsuit update: Eberhard not declared one of two founders, case not dismissed
There aren't yet any news reports posted about the events in court today surrounding the Tesla Motors lawsuit filed by ex-CEO Martin Eberhard, but we know from a new statement put out by Tesla that the judge struck down Eberhard's request to be declared one of just two founders of the compa...
Tuesday, Jul 28
VIDEO: Killacycle rider sets quarter mile record... in a Tesla Roadster Sport?
It was another record-setting weekend for Killacycle pilot Scotty Pollachek at the Wayland Invitational drag racing event at the Portland International Raceway. However, he wasn't mounted atop the world's quickest electric ride during the accomplishment. Instead, he sat behind the...
Tesla Motors' lawsuit update: Martin Eberhard, Elon Musk have a court date tomorrow
Gallery: Martin Eberhard's Founders Series Tesla Roadster Source: AP]Tesla Motors' lawsuit update: Martin Eberhard, Elon Musk have a court date tomorrow originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Friday, Jul 24
Killacycle vs Mini-Me Killacycle at Wayland Invitational
The Portland International Raceway should be a little quieter for the next couple of days as the Wayland Invitational kicks off with all kinds of electric vehicles ready to do battle on the drag strip. One of the more entertaining pairings may be a duel between the world's quickest electri...
Tuesday, Jul 21
Tesla Motors Seattle store sneak preview this weekend
Like mushrooms after a summer rain, Tesla stores are popping up all across the country. OK, maybe not all across but, hey, give them a few years. Anyhow, hot on the heels of last week's Manhattan debut, store number four will open its doors in Seattle this weekend to offer a sneak preview to the...
Friday, Jul 17
Fox Business newsflash: Tesla Motors not curing children's cancer! [w/VIDEO]
To his credit, Diarmuid handled the entire interview in an admirable fashion, refusing the bait and explaining patiently that Tesla hadn't borrowed money up until this point and was doing so now to help "collapse time" in order to speed more affordable electric cars to market. Kind of mak...
Toyota's Bill Reinert lets loose on ethanol, li-ion batteries, plug-in vehicles
Toyota's Bill Reinert should be better known. With so many quotable statements coming from GM's Bob Lutz and Tesla Motor's Elon Musk, perhaps Reinert, Toyota Motor Sales' national manager or the advanced technology group, is just overshadowed in the OMG series. But, during a recent conf...
Thursday, Jul 16
Greenlings: What's the difference between AC and DC? Which is better for electric cars?
Way back in the late 1880s, Nikola Tesla dared to challenge powerhouse American inventor Thomas Edison by suggesting Alternating Current (AC) was a more desirable method to transfer electricity from one place to another than Direct Current (DC). So, which genius inventor was right? Su...
Fresh from NYC: pictures of Tesla Motors's new store
reader Lennon went down to the opening of the new Tesla Motors store in New York City today and sent us a series of pictures so that those of us who were not able to check out the Apple-like showroom and fancy fruit plates (and, of course, the swag) in person can still see what it was like. More int...
Officially, Official: Mercedes to produce electric SLS gullwing
One of the reasons that Daimler said it was investing $50 million in Tesla Motors was the upstart's ability to move quickly and develop systems faster than could be done at Daimler. Given that, we may well see the electric SLS sooner rather than later. Check out our high-res gallery of (inter...
Tesla to use sales revenue, Daimler cash for DOE loans instead of new equity
It appears that the DOE has waived that equity requirement, at least for Tesla, in order to give approval for the loan. Tesla will apparently put up the cash from Daimler's investment and from revenues that it's getting from sales of the Roadster and pre-orders for the Model S. Musk has publi...
Wednesday, Jul 15
Renew America Roadtrip Roadster hits the highway
They're doin' it again. Over a decade after the first trip across America in an electric car was made in 1998 in an EV1, a similar odyssey has just kicked off. This morning, the gleaming white Renew America Roadtrip Tesla Roadster set off on a journey that will take it, and its support crew foll...
Tuesday, Jul 14
Tesla celebrates New York City store opening, Bank of America announces financing terms
Gallery: 2009 Tesla Roadster v1.5 Gallery: Tesla Motors Menlo Park Store Source: Tesla / Tesla Motors Club]Continue reading Tesla celebrates New York City store opening, Bank of America announces financing terms Filed under: Etc., EV/Plug-in, Tesla Motors, USA
Monday, Jul 13
Will Fisker's outsourcing produce results where so many others failed?
When Ford announced its tie-up with Magna International to build an electric vehicle earlier this year, there was a lot to learn about how the auto industry as a whole can benefit from these kinds of partnerships. Now, in a three-part series (I, II, III) about Fisker Automotive's strategy...
Refuel 2009: Laguna Seca lineup of electric vehicle entrants lengthens
When we first told you about next Sunday's alternative vehicle Refuel event at Laguna Seca, it wasn't clear exactly which machines would make it to the first-of-its-kind event. Speed Ventures, the outfit organizing the occasion, now has a list of participants posted and it's safe to say...
Sunday, Jul 12
REPORT: Daimler sells 4% of Tesla to Middle East investment fund just two months after acquiring it
Just two months after buying 9% of Tesla Motors, Daimler has reportedly sold nearly half of that stake. According to Reuters, a 4% percent of the electric car startup is now owned by Aabar Investments, an Abu Dhabi-based investment fund. In a way, the stake is still in the family, since Aabar...
Thursday, Jul 9
Rumormill: Mercedes-Benz working on electric SLS eDrive for 2015
According to the gossip-happy blokes over at Autocar, the electric SLS will share its lightweight aluminum body, gullwing doors, and most of the interior with upcoming SLS. The changes for the SLS eDrive will mostly be contained in the powertrain, which will use four 98 kW motors (one at e...
Wednesday, Jul 8
Evonik-Daimler Li-Ion battery JV to build factory this fall, applications in 2012
The next stage of Daimler's efforts to electrify road vehicles will start moving ahead this fall when construction begins on a new battery plant. The plant will be part of the joint venture announced last fall between Daimler and Evonik to develop and produce advanced lithium ion batteri...
Tuesday, Jul 7
REPORT: Tesla planning to launch 2011 Roadster in more right-hand export markets
According to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the long-anticipated right-hand-drive Roadster is coming in the first quarter of 2010 and will be available in both standard and Sport guise. The first market that's slated for electrification is, as you would expect, the United Kingdom, and Tesla's fi...
Monday, Jul 6
Get your Tesla Roadster with monthly payments from Bank of America
Since Tesla doesn't release the names of most of the people who purchase one of its electric Roadsters, we can only speculate about the financial wherewithal of most of them. However, it's probably reasonably safe to assume that most of them have considerable means and are mostly paying i...
Friday, Jul 3
Henrik Fisker distances his company from Tesla, GM
Considering the two fledgling automaker's past history, it's not terribly surprising that Henrik Fisker would want to distance his company from Tesla Motors. Recall that Fisker had originally been tasked with penning the design for the Tesla S electric sedan but later unveiled the Kar...
Wednesday, Jul 1
Elon Musk: Daimler's "golden handcuffs" mean I'll stay with Tesla through Model S launch
For a guy who allegedly wants a lot of the credit for creating Tesla Motors, Elon Musk certainly doesn't seem to like the job of heading the company. As part of Daimler's investment deal in Tesla, Musk needed to commit to staying on as Tesla's CEO at least until the Model S is launched in 2011. Mu...
Tesla files motion for dismissal of Eberhard lawsuit
And the battle goes on. Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk and his company are fighting back in court against ex-CEO Martin Eberhard. Tesla spokeswoman Rachel Konrad sent us copies of two motions filed on June 29 in California Superior Court in San Mateo. In short, the defendants are claiming that Eb...
Tuesday, Jun 30
Columnist: electric vehicle hype needs to be tempered
Is the Detroit News becoming a home for anti-electric vehicle advocates? Last week, the News published a mostly confusing article by Manny Lopez that criticized the DOE loan that Tesla received. Another column, this one by Neil Winton, is titled, "Electric cars attract hype, but realit...
Monday, Jun 29
Former Tesla marketing chief headed to Coda Automotive?
Could it be that the former head of marketing and communications at Tesla Motors is heading over to a similar position at the company formerly known as Miles Automotive's new Coda Automotive brand? If 2 + 2 still equals 4 then we're pretty sure that's the case, at least for a little while. Dar...
Sunday, Jun 28
David Vespremi on Tesla's relevance in bringing EVs to the masses
While things have been quiet on the official legal front in the battle for recognition between Martin Eberhard and Elon Musk, some of the bystanders in the saga are continuing to come forward with their takes of the story. Earlier this week we heard from Tesla's former SVP for marketing Dar...
Friday, Jun 26
Invading Britain: Tesla opens new flagship store in London, right hand drive Roadsters coming soon
What sort of location is fitting for a new dealership for a new iconic electric car in London? One good choice would be in the Knightsbridge. Specifically, on Cheval Place, within walking distance from the high-class department store Harrods and in a building was, until recently, used by...
Thursday, Jun 25
Ex-Tesla CMO weighs in on founder controversy: They're both wrong!
As the legal battle between Elon Musk and Martin Eberhard continues to percolate, a new/old voice has chimed in publicly on the controversy for the first time. Current Peppercom clean-tech analyst and ex-Tesla SVP of Marketing Darryl Siry has penned a piece for Wired that gives a differe...
Huh? Detroit News columnist criticizes Tesla loan, but not exactly in a brilliant manner
Manny Lopez does not appreciate Tesla Motors getting $465 million from the Department of Energy. The Detroit News columnist wrote an article published today that calls the money "an all-out gift to Tesla, the Silicon Valley startup that makes cars for the rich and famous" and said that Te...
Wednesday, Jun 24
Tesla to keep laptop cells until 3rd-gen car, new Roadster sales pace lagging
The other, more worrying news was about Roadster sales, or rather the lack of them. For about a year, now Roadster sales have been stuck at about 1,300. Musk was asked what the current backlog of Roadsters was and he responded with "about 700-800." Added to the 500 delivered so far, that implie...
Monday, Jun 22
Wike Electric Sun = bike + WTF?
Wike's first foray into electric cars was the Yike, an electric-powered recumbant bicycle with a 20-mile range. Wike financed the Yike with money won in a settlement over a bike trailer patent infringement. The Electric Sun is an evolved version of the Yike, sort of a DIY version of GM's PUM...
Elon fires back at Eberhard in Tesla lawsuit's latest twist
Gallery: Martin Eberhard's Founders Series Tesla Roadster Source: Elon Musk / Tesla Motors]Continue reading Elon fires back at Eberhard in Tesla lawsuit's latest twist Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Tesla Motors, Legislation and Policy
First ZeroTruck goes to the city of Santa Monica
Electric drive seems to be a big thing in Santa Monica, California. Drive around town for a while and you will likely see more Tesla Roadsters running around than anywhere else in the world. Now, the city itself is getting in on the act by placing the first order for a medium duty truck from Zero...
Sunday, Jun 21
Drive your green vehicle at Laguna Seca during Refuel
While we don't know who exactly will be in attendance (there are rumors that an electric motorcycle from the recent TTXGP will be present), we wouldn't be surprised to see a Tesla or two considering that they are native to California and some Roadster owners are just a little competitive. W...
Envy alert: cruising in a Tesla Roadster in Hawai'i
Finally. It's been a few years since we made the case that Hawai'i is one of world's best places to introduce electric cars. Since then, we've seen the state begin to make moves in an EV direction through a partnership with Better Place and got to learn about the first ever electric car in Hawai...
German test with certified biodiesel shows great results
A recent test in Germany attempted to test claims by Neste that its biodiesel is sustainable. The tests involved 14 Daimler vehicles, DHL, the German Post, OMV and the Stuttgart bus company. The test involved about one million kilometers driven with NExBTL biodiesel that were produced fr...
Friday, Jun 19
It's Friday: you, too, can buy a $300 Tesla Roadster with exhaust pipes
This isn't the first time we've seen a toy representation of the Tesla Roadster, but it is the strangest. First, the good news: it's all-electric (mega points for authenticity) and it's quite cheap, at least comparatively, at just $229. It's fully remote controlled and even has an ipod/MP...
Tuesday, Jun 16
Elon Musk: "What Me Worry?"
Oh, and WIRED might be giving Eberhard's lawsuit more ammunition. One of Eberhard's charges is that Musk falsely claims that he is the founder or creator of Tesla Motors. WIRED's headline: "Tesla Motors Founder: Let Me Run Detroit." Whoops. Gallery: Tesla Model S: LIVE REVEAL
Monday, Jun 15
Elon Musk: "Gasoline should probably be $10 a gallon"
Speaking at the Wired Business Conference that's currently taking place in New York, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk had some rather interesting things to say. For instance, Musk believes that gasoline "should probably be $10" per gallon. While that doesn't sound like a popular sentiment for...
What's "a dead end from a technological, practical, and climate perspective"? Hydrogen fuel cell cars
Joe Romm has long battled with vocal hydrogen vehicle proponent Gerg Blencoe on the value of H2 vehicles. They've made bets, given suggestions, and just plain disagreed about everything when it comes to hydrogen vs. plug-in electric vehicles. I doubt Romm's latest missive is going to chan...
Saturday, Jun 13
Martin Eberhard: Blogs built the Tesla Roadster
Martin Eberhard has obviously been busy these last few weeks. With a lawsuit currently pending in court against Tesla Motors and its CEO Elon Musk, Eberhard has apparently still had enough time to write an interesting article on the effects of blogging and how it helped build the Tesla Roa...
Tesla Motors says Martin Eberhard's lawsuit "will not have any effect on Tesla's considerable momentum"
If you are sick of hearing about the lawsuit filed by Tesla Motors co-founder Martin Eberhard against the company and current CEO Elon Musk, we're sorry. There's a lot to know about the case (like what's in the complaint), and we're going to dig as deep as is reasonable as things move forward....
Friday, Jun 12
All-electric smart ed gets green light in UK for 2012
According to Channel 4 in the UK, the electric smart fortwo will be storming that country in full force by the year 2012. For what it's worth (which is probably a lot to Daimler), that date coincides perfectly with the UK government's plan to begin promoting electric vehicles with a range of...
Tesla lawsuit, first read: learning more about the fight between Martin Eberhard and Elon Musk
Elon Musk There are 146 pages in the complaint filed by Tesla Motors co-founder Martin Eberhard against the company and current CEO Elon Musk (download the PDF here and read more background on the story here). It'll take a while to go through and understand the whole thing (we're not lawyer...
Wednesday, Jun 10
BREAKING: Martin Eberhard sues Elon Musk and Tesla for libel, slander and breach of contract
The only thing surprising about Martin Eberhard's latest move is that it took so long to happen. Eberhard was co-founder of Tesla Motors along with Mark Tarpenning, and he was ousted from the company in November 2007 by then-chairman Elon Musk. Musk has never been one to hide his feelings ab...
Electric vehicle "glut" might be coming, so watch these five companies
Here's an interesting concept: too many electric cars. While even the most optimistic EV proponents don't see electric cars making a huge dent in the number of traditional ICE vehicles any time soon, a powertrain analyst for J.D. Power and Associates, thinks that there soon (within the nex...
Martin Eberhard building mobile charging units for Tesla Roadster
Could we be watching the birth of the Tesla equivalent of Mopar? Inside Line thinks so, what with the news that one of the founders of Tesla Motors, Martin Eberhard, is one of many who are interested in creating aftermarket products for the iconic roadster. Specifically, Eberhard is worki...
Monday, Jun 1
Next Tesla sportscar to have back seat, AWD, rear seats and storage
With all of the attention garnered these days at Tesla's Model S sedan, it may be easy to forget all about the fledgling EV-maker's current product, the Roadster. As cool as the Tesla Roadster may be - which is to say, very, very cool - it's not a particularly useful vehicle for the vast majori...
Thursday, May 28
BYD looking for more partnerships with Ford, unnamed European automaker?
Now, who might the unnamed automaker be? There aren't any obvious choices. Daimler just announced a partnership with Tesla, but did say that Tesla would not be its only electric vehicle partner. BMW uses AC Propulsion packs in the MINI E. Opel (GM) is using batteries from South Korean compan...
Thursday, May 21
VIDEO: Letterman gives ground on Volt, asks Lutz for first production model
Last night, GM's Bob Lutz went to New York to rebut the thrashing that David Letterman gave to the Chevy Volt a few weeks ago. That criticism from the comedian came during the course of an "interview" with Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk (details here). The more forceful Lutz certainly didn't allo...
Thursday, Apr 9
Tesla will move to London for first of three European stores
Tesla says they're planning on starting European deliveries of the Roadster in late June and that, eventually, just as many Tesla vehicles will be sold on one side of the Atlantic as the other. Gallery: Tesla Motors Menlo Park Store Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Tesla Motors, Green Daily
Sunday, Mar 29
VIDEO: First Tesla Model S buyer takes first ride
When the Tesla Model S was revealed the other day, the car on hand was not a clay styling buck or some car show concept with glued-on buttons (actually, it has no buttons) but an actual pre-production prototype. Therefore, after the presentation was made, rides were given. Paying customers...
Tuesday, Jan 27
Tesla holds customer town hall to explain price increases
Tesla Motors held the first of a series of customer town hall meetings at its Menlo Park store on Tuesday to try and assuage anger over recently announced price increases. A couple of attendees have posted their thoughts about the meeting around the web. As usual, CEO Elon Musk was forthcomi...
Monday, Jan 12
Clarkson explains himself in written Tesla review, loves hydrogen
Just when we thought the whole sordid ordeal was over and done with, Jeremy Clarkson has stirred the pot again, this time in print for his regular column at the Times. We're referring once again to the Top Gear review of the Tesla Roadster, which sparked controversy after showing a scene of t...
Saturday, Jan 3
Tesla CEO comments on Lotus EV report
Following the report on Friday that Lotus was planning to introduce an electric car of its own, we contacted Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk for a comment. Tesla and Lotus collaborated on development of the Roadster and Lotus builds the rolling chassis at its Hethel factory. The FT story did not c...
Thursday, Jan 1
Lotus set to challenge Tesla and Fisker with extended range EV
Lotus Engineering consults with many automakers around the world on a wide variety of projects, most of which we never hear about. However, in the past two years, the company has been prominently involved with both Chrysler and Tesla Motors. Lotus developed the chassis of the Tesla Roadst...
Thursday, Dec 25
Clarkson finally comments on Tesla review
The internet has been abuzz ever since Top Gear aired an episode where the electric Tesla Roadster was put through its paces. At this point, it's prbably redundant of us to recap the whole story, but we'll do it really quickly anyway. Jeremy Clarkson's review strongly suggested that the Roa...
Monday, Dec 22
Why'd they push that Tesla into the garage? Top Gear responds
The internet was abuzz after Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson performed the British show's first test of the Tesla Roadster. As expected, the video was full of beautiful images and that distinctly British form of humour. Tesla Motors response to Top Gear's review once again sent the interwebs a...
Tuesday, Dec 16
Opinion: Tesla clarifies some of Top Gear's "mischaracterizations"
A second issue that Clarkson had with the Roadster is with the brakes. Apparently, all of that race track flinging managed to blow a fuse in what we're assuming must be the regenerative braking system. After the fuse was replaced, there were no more problems. Our take on this is that a blown fus...
