From 2010-2011, Weintraub covered all things Google for Fortune Magazine, amassing an impressive rolodex of Google contacts and a love for Silicon Valley tech culture.
It turns out that his hobby – the 9to5Mac news site – was always his favorite, and in 2011, he went full time adding his Fortune Google followers to 9to5Google, in addition to adding the style and commerce component of 9to5Toys gear and deals site. In 2013, Weintraub bought one of Tesla’s first Model S EVs off of the assembly line, which began his love affair with electric vehicles and green energy — this, in turn, became Electrekin 2014.To cover the burgeoning world of drones and UAVs led by China’s DJI, DroneDJ was born in 2018, and then more recently, Connectthewatts and SpaceExplored were launched to cover connected fitness and space.
From 1997-2007, Weintraub was a Global IT director and Web Developer for a number of companies, with stints at multimedia and branding agencies in Paris, Los Angeles, New York, Sydney, Hong Kong, Madrid, and London before becoming a publisher/writer.
Seth received a bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Southern California with a minor in Multimedia and Creative Technology in 1997. In 2004, he received a Master’s from NYU’s Tisch School of the Art’s ITP program.
Weintraub is a licensed single-engine private pilot and a certified open-water scuba diver, and he spent over a year backpacking to 60 cities in 23 countries. Whatever free time exists is now guaranteed to his wonderful girlfriend, Alana, and two amazing sons.
Email receipt upon Tesla employee ordering Model 3
Last week we exclusively reported that employees would have early access to Model 3 reservations and this morning, employee sources have confirmed that the invitations went out at around 1am PT. Employees weren’t given a look at the Model 3 or any of the specs and are ordering it sight unseen. Two different sources say that almost everyone they knew in the company would make a reservation, again sight unseen, so Tesla should have a pretty good orders start with its 15,000 strong employee base… Expand Expanding Close
Tesla sent an email to Model S owners today to invite them to participate in a lottery to win an invitation to the Model 3 unveiling in Los Angeles on March 31. The email blast confirmed that the event will be fairly intimate, as we suspected, with only 800 people in attendance including the 650 owners who will be chosen through the lottery system. Expand Expanding Close
Update: We’ve updated the post with confirmation that Tesla will be offering employees early access to Model 3 purchases but will not be offering employee discounts.
A Tesla source has informed us that at least a few employees have been told that they will have first dibs on Model 3 reservations before the general public get access on March 31st. A guess would put this near the March 23-25th timeframe for employees. It isn’t clear if all employees would be eligible for the early reservations.
Currently, Tesla employees only get discounts on pre-owned and floor model Model Ses and will eventually on Xes as well – just like customers. And, just like for customers, Tesla doesn’t offer any kind of discount to its new vehicles other than through its referral program, which currently offers $1,200 credit for the installation of a charging station. Expand Expanding Close
Tesla last night posted 11 “howto” videos showing how to use the giant capacitive touch display in the middle of the center console as well as the smartphone app. Veteran Model S owners will find them mostly repetitive but there might be some nuggets of wisdom inside. However, new and prospective owners need to see all of them to understand how the car works. See all embedded below: Expand Expanding Close
Fortune is running a Koch Industry advertisement-as-commentary piece today ‘authored’ by Jim Mahoney, the employee signaled out in a Huffington Post article last month as leading a $10M campaign against EVs.
The piece doesn’t directly reference Tesla by name, but it does feature pictures of the Model S both in Fortune’s article and subsequent social media push by the publication (see above).
It looks like electric vehicles are still in the “fighting phase” as we learn today that billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch are planning to back a new group of lobbyists with a focus on “boosting petroleum-based transportation fuels and attacking government subsidies for electric vehicles”, according to refining industry sources talking to the Huffington Post….
According to the Huffington Post, the Kochs are teaming up with James Mahoney, a member of their company’s board, and lobbyist Charlie Drevna, who until recently was the head of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers. Their mission will be to “make the public aware of all the benefits of petroleum-based transportation fuels”.
Mahoney is a petroleum industry veteran who uses a few tired gems like: Expand Expanding Close
GULF OF MEXICO – APRIL 21: U.S. Coast Guard fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of offshore oil rig
The Bloomberg New Energy Finance report that came out last week (press release at bottom) says that in 25 years, electric vehicles will make up just 35% of new car sales. That means that in a generation from now, 65% of people will still be buying petroleum-based cars. It is hard to imagine a world where this few EVs makes any sense, even given BNEF’s own data.
The report and the numbers it presents are much too conservative for any reasonable circumstance. Take its own lede for instance:
“Continuing reductions in battery prices will bring the total cost of ownership of EVs below that for conventional-fuel vehicles by 2025, even with low oil prices.”.
Why would anyone buy a gasoline car when an electric or even a plug-in hybrid costs less than a gas car? Electric cars are cleaner, quieter, faster and safer than equivalent oil cars. Keep in mind that 2040 is 15 years after the cost of an electric car passes parity with oil in their scenario. Furthermore, by Bloomberg’s own estimates, batteries will reach less than one-third of today’s break-even prices.
At the core of this forecast is the work we have done on EV battery prices. Lithium-ion battery costs have already dropped by 65% since 2010, reaching $350 per kWh last year. We expect EV battery costs to be well below $120 per kWh by 2030, and to fall further after that as new chemistries come in.”
The US department of energy has a handy calculator (above, current prices) which shows that in every state in the union, even with insanely cheap gas prices, it is still on average 50% cheaper to run on electricity than on gasoline. That means once battery/electric engine powertrains reach parity with combustion, it is really game over for oil.
So somehow 65% of people in the year 2040 will want to pay a huge premium for a fossil fuel engine car? Even if the world weren’t heating up this makes no sense at all… Expand Expanding Close
A state Senate committee on Thursday effectively tabled a controversial proposal to prevent Tesla Motors Inc. from selling cars in Indiana under its current business model. The Senate Commerce and Technology Committee voted to send HB 1254 to a summer study committee. The House passed the same version of the bill Feb. 2. Sen. Jim Buck, R-Kokomo, the committee chairman, had supported a version of the bill that would have banned manufacturers from selling directly to consumers. That version of the bill would have caused Tesla’s dealer license to expire in 2018 and forced the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company to either adopt a franchise dealer model or stop selling cars in Indiana.
The bill was clearly aimed at Tesla and authored by GM according to Tesla and would have made it unlawful for a manufacturer to its own dealerships within the state. Tesla has been in Indiana for two years and has planned to expand operations in the state.
Buck on Thursday opened the committee hearing by saying he has been on the receiving end of “incivility” from Tesla supporters this week as the bill received national attention.
If I can be blunt for a few minutes here, I have to remark on how bad of a shit show the Indiana State Senate committee is. Having watched endured the hearing in full, (video below) it’s clear that these ‘representatives’ are both: Expand Expanding Close
We are delighted to welcome you again this year on our stand at the motor show in Geneva. In addition to the Model S we provide for the first time the safest, most versatile and fastest SUV in history before – the Model X.
It combines the practical advantages of an SUV with the high security and performance requirements of Tesla. The striking Falcon Wing-wing doors and seats for up to seven people make the Model X to a vehicle that is more practical in every respect than other SUVs.
Our Product Specialists will advise you on the latest product options and bring you the advantages of our technology closer.
A white Model X was also recently spotted in the Netherlands on Feb. 16th on the highway near Tesla’s Tilburg assembly facility as shown in the video below: Expand Expanding Close
As part of its shareholder letter posted ahead of its earnings call today, Tesla demonstrated its catastrophic affect on the US luxury car market with a simple table. If you start at the bottom, the market is at about 100,000 cars a year and it’s basically unchanged from 2014 to 2015.
The market is for “large luxury” cars and includes not only the Model S but Audi’s A7 and A8, BMW’s 6 and 7 series, the Jaguar XJ, Lexus LS Mercedes CLS and S Class and the Porsche Panamera. Each of these models has fallen in sales from almost 5%-over 15% from 2014-2015. Where did these sales go? Expand Expanding Close
As part of a Reutersreport that Porsche wouldn’t be quite as profitable in the short-term, it was revealed that the German luxury automaker and part of the Volkswagon g Group will spend a whopping $1B Euros to retrofit its factories to produce Mission E and theoretically other electric cars and variants… Expand Expanding Close
It isn’t often that you get a look at the inside of Tesla’s Fremont factory, especially outside the roped off tourist factory tour area. However, San Francisco’s CBS affiliate took some Super Bowl weekend time to put together a short video, below:
Dragtimes has its first P90D Ludicrous 0-60/100 MPH video up and the numbers they got beat Tesla’s already impressive estimates… Expand Expanding Close
Yesterday AutoNews reported that Cadillac wasn’t going to be following up its ELR disaster with an upgrade to the 2016-17 Volt platform.
Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen confirmed last week that the brand plans no successor to the light-selling ELR.”I plan to continue admiring it as one of the most beautiful cars on four wheels” de Nysschen told reporters during a media drive of the forthcoming CT6 large sedan here. “But we don’t plan further investment” in the coupe.
I panned the ELR on its announcement and saw this date coming, especially with its initial $76,000 price tag. Instead of improving the Volt’s drive specs, Cadillac wrapped the Volt in a luxury design (which isn’t bad to my eyes) but with the original Volt’s lack of rear cabin space and 40-mile range limitations. This simply wasn’t going to get ‘Tesla Model S money’…
Paris, the city that pioneered the huge bike share Vélib’ system a decade ago and more recently began offering Small electric cars to rent via its Autolib’ program looks like it will begin offering an in-between electric scooter renting program operated by Cityscoot company. The company is said to offer 1000 of the quiet mopeds around Paris available to anyone over 20 with a moped license… Expand Expanding Close
Britain’s Car Magazine reports that Volkswagen’s BUDD-E electric vehicle has got the green light to go into production for 2020.
Volkswagen’s all-electric BUDD-e concept will make the jump into serial production, CAR understands. The VW BUDD-e concept, first seen at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), is an ultramodern take on the VW ‘Microbus’ theme, built upon Volkswagen’s upcoming MEB modular electric platform. Dr Volkmar Tanneberger, head of electronic development and the driving force behind the BUDD-e concept, told CAR magazine’s Ben Barry: ‘[The] basic idea is to develop a modular toolkit and take this flat battery idea into serial production, one motor on the front, one on the rear. The California [camper van] and Transporter [panel van and minibus line] will continue separately as combustion engines.’ ‘You will see a car that looks a lot like this, on the MEB platform, reach production. I can’t say exactly when, but 2020 or thereabouts,’ says Tanneberger.
I’ve got mixed feelings about this. On one hand, the more electric vehicle options the better and we all know that the electrical vehicle market is lacking in van options. Also, it is clear from the popularity of the amazing eSamba project that there is a huge market for electric VW Busses.
On a recent electric road trip to upstate New York, I realized that, with the cold weather, my snow tires and a car full of kids who like to be warm, I would need over 30 more miles of electricity than my batteries could hold to make it home. Hitting one of Tesla’s speedy Superchargers would require me to veer across the Hudson River twice and add over a half hour to my trip.
Along the fastest route, according to the helpful Plugshare App, there were a few Level 2 charging stations. I can get 30 miles per hour of charge from my default Tesla cable so I figured that I could get most of the extra miles I needed while we stopped for lunch. There was also a highly rated Level 2 charger within a mile of our destination we could use as a backup (it is good to have backups!). I figured we were all set…
Electrek has learned that Tesla this month quietly hired high-profile microprocessor engineer Jim Keller as Vice President of Autopilot Hardware Engineering. Tesla today confirmed the news and sent us the following statement:
Jim Keller is joining Tesla as Vice President of Autopilot Hardware Engineering. Jim will bring together the best internal and external hardware technologies to develop the safest, most advanced autopilot systems in the world.
Keller left chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices(AMD) late last year after leading the team developing the upcoming Zen processor architecture for the past three years. Before that he had a very high-profile role at Apple…
(Update: A Tesla Spokesperson called this report “wrong” and that only 1 of the vehicles would be announced in March. Tesla is indeed working on [at least] 2 different Model 3 platform vehicles which we reported previously. Here’s something they were able to verify.)
I decided to hold off on publishing this info until I saw Tesla’s Hong Kong presentation this week, which included two cars under wraps (pictured above). Yes, obviously, the artwork is simply a Model X and Model S under digital covers, but the fact that there are two cars to be unveiled adds a little more credence to what I’ve heard.
My source believes that the plan around Christmas of last year was to launch at least two vehicles or configurations at the same time, but obviously things could change. Also, Tesla could have two projects happening simultaneously to contain/isolate leaks.
Without even trying out (not available in US yet) a Gogoro scooter I love the idea. It is a 2-wheeled vehicle that runs on two Lithium battery packs which contain the same Panasonic 18650 batteries that line the bottom of the Tesla Model S and X. While a Model S contains about 7,000 of these to hit about 70-90kWh, the Gogoro’s battery packs are only 1.3kWh each (so around 100+batteries/ea) and can be exchanged in a charging bay. The 2.6kWh, according to Gogoro’s specs will take the good looking scooter about 60 miles at 60mph (0-31 in 4.2secs). While solid specs, that’s not at all what makes Gogoro a gamechanger…
(Thanks to Zac Hall for images and video and checking out the back seats/CarPlay)
I have two electric cars at home – a plug-in Prius and a base model 2013 Tesla Model S. Yesterday, I drove the car that felt like their natural offspring: the compact crossover Chevy Bolt… Expand Expanding Close
With the Paris climate talks taking place this week, I thought it fitting to share an idea I came up with a few years ago while visiting the French capital. ‘Moulin Eiffel’ is taking the 130-year old Eiffel Tower, the iconic symbol of Paris, and outfitting it with a vertical axis wind turbine. The idea is that the tower seen around the whole world would genuinely (not BS) become energy neutral and a symbol for a sustainable energy future.
I had originally considered the option of placing a traditional “windmill” on top of the tower like you increasingly see in farms around the world, but with all of the equipment located up there already plus factoring changing wind patterns and the all important aesthetics, the vertical model works the best. This is how: Expand Expanding Close
According to Reuters, Tesla issued a voluntary recall for all of its Model S sedans on Friday. The cause of the recall appears to be a seatbelt assembly.
Nov 20 (Reuters) – Tesla Motors Inc said Friday it is recalling all 90,000 Model S sedans produced to check for a possible defect in the front seat belt assemblies.
The cost of the worldwide recall will be “immaterial,” the company said. The problem was discovered after a single report to the company in early November of a seatbelt assembly breaking when a customer in the front passenger seat of a Model S on the road in Europe turned to talk with passengers in the rear seat.
TSLA’s share price is dipping 5 points or 2.5% currently as a result. Expand Expanding Close
A new source with connections at Tesla’s design group has informed me that late stage tweaking of the Model 3 is being done with an eye towards extreme minimization of wind resistance. The Model 3, which of course is the renamed Model E, is scheduled to be shown off for the first time publicly in March of 2016. The mass market Tesla is expected to be a smaller sedan/crossover platform that resembles the BMW 3 series in size. The range of the vehicle is expected to start at 200 miles and go up from there with various size batteries and drivetrains. The majority of Tesla employees are now working on this car.
What I’m hearing internally is that CEO Elon Musk is intensely driving the engineering designers to deliver a design with a drag coefficient lower than .20 which would make it the lowest of any mass production car in the world and close to extreme vehicles like GM’s EV1 and Volkswagen’s XL1 (pictured above), – both cars that have flat rear wheel covers… Expand Expanding Close
(Thanks to 
