Cars

While some (including myself) were disapointed when Hyundai confirmed that its first all-electric vehicle, the Ioniq, will only have about 110 miles of EPA-rated range, we can now find some comfort in the fact that the Korean automaker plans for its next all-electric vehicle to have almost twice as much range as the Ioniq.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Tesla’s Facebook account now has the keeping it 100 emoji (💯).  While the emoji means “To Keep Or Stay Truthful Or Staying The Same” most folks are seeing it as a hint that Tesla is about to release its much anticipated 100kWh battery option.

We had heard some false reports that the battery was going to launch with the Model S update but if this is it it seems like it would have been delayed, possibly by certification or safety inspections or just plain old development/scarcity.

Expand
Expanding
Close

As we previously reported, the German government is currently in the final stages of establishing a new plan to boost the electric vehicle market in the country. The plan is rumored to include tax breaks for the development of EV technologies, investments in charging infrastructures and finally a much-anticipated €5,000 discount at the purchase of an electric vehicle.

The government is reportedly in negotiations with the German auto industry to figure out the financing of the initiative, but apparently the industry is only willing to pay for about a third of what the government is asking.
Expand
Expanding
Close

At the Beijing Auto Show today, Volkswagen unveiled the new electric SUV it was teasing in a press release last week. The new plug-in hybrid SUV is called the T-Prime concept and it appears to be VW’s answer to the success of Mitsubishi’s Outlander PHEV.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Last year, Tesla announced a restructuring of its sales leadership after it reassigned its Vice President of Global Sales and Service, Jerome Guillen, to a new role leading customer-satisfaction. Guillen later took a leave of absence from Tesla and the company hired Jon McNeill as President of Global Sales, but Tesla kept looking for new executives to lead sale operations in each of its main markets (NA, EU and Asia).

While Tesla filled the North American and Asian roles last year by hiring former Burberry executive Ganesh Srivats as Vice-President for North America Sales, and Ren Yuxiang as Vice-President for Asia-Pacific, now Electrek has learned that Tesla just filled the European role by hiring Willem Haitink, O’Neil CEO and former long-time Nike executive, to lead sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
Expand
Expanding
Close

We have been talking about its imminent launch for weeks now, but finally it’s here. Tesla officially launched the ‘Destination Charging’ program in Europe with 150 new chargers this morning. You can see an excerpt of the new map above or the interactive map here.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Ahead of the Beijing Auto Show this week, Toyota announced that it will create an electric plug-in hybrid (PHEV) version of the Corolla for the Chinese market. While the automaker’s announcement appears to limit the vehicle’s availability to China for now, it does open the door for a possible global launch of a PHEV version of Toyota’s flagship midsize sedan.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk made an interesting comment that went mostly unnoticed during a talk in Norway. While talking with Minister of Transport and Communications Ketil Solvik-Olsen, Musk said that based on early data from the Autopilot program, Tesla’s semi-autonomous driving system, the probability of an accident happening is about 50% lower when the system is activated.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Jon McNeill, Tesla’s President of Global Sales and Services, was in China this week for the Model X’s Asian debut in Beijing. Tesla organized an event with hundreds of Model X reservation holders ahead of the Beijing Auto Show next week.

The production version Model X was officially launched in the US in September last year in Fremont, California. Last month, the SUV made its European debut at the Geneva Motor Show, and this week it was China’s turn.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Motor Trend is still teasing its exclusive photoshoot with a Model 3 prototypes at the Gigafactory and released another behind the scene live video of the shoot. Who can blame them since it’s obviously working.
Expand
Expanding
Close

I was in China this week to witness the unveiling of many new products from a huge Chinese conglomerate you may or may not have ever heard of — LeEco. The company, which recently changed its name from LeTV, took to its own LeSports stadium in Beijing to announce not only several new phones, but a VR headset, some new TV sets, and to top it all off, a concept car.

Follow after the break for a full look at the announcement in less than 5 minutes…

Expand
Expanding
Close

The California legislature is worried that the CA DMV is running off potential business from the state with its draft rules on self-driving cars.  A bill was proposed to force the CA DMV to allow driverless operations and testing of cars like the ones Google has created with no steering wheel or pedals. The bill recently was approved in the transportation committee 14-0 to move to the appropriations committee. Now, assembly member Mike Gatto of Los Angeles — sponsor of the legislation — has provided comments on the legislation:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Bjørn Nyland, a Tesla vlogger based in Norway, won a free Founders series Model X through Tesla’s referral program. The limited edition status of his car will make him one of the first owner in Europe and he now reports that his SUV finally entered production this week.

Several other European Model X reservation holders are now reporting having received confirmation that their vehicles entered the production phase this week.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Baidu, China’s most popular search engine, like its US-based counterpart Google, is heavily investing in autonomous driving technologies and today it officially announced the launch of a self-driving car R&D center in Silicon Valley, right in Google’s backyard.

The company expects its team will grow to over 100 researchers and engineers by the end of the year. The company already moved several of its staff from its newly-created Autonomous Driving Unit (ADU) to Sunnyvale and recently hired a Tesla Autopilot software engineer.
Expand
Expanding
Close

There’s no denying that the Model 3 is already having an important impact on the auto industry even 18 months before it is set to enter production. The staggering number of reservations it received is sending a clear message to the industry that there’s demand for a compelling long-range electric car in the mid-luxury market.

Apparently, Nissan thinks that the LEAF fits the bill. Don’t get me wrong, the LEAF is an interesting car, but it is also the same price as the Model 3, clearly not a mid-luxury vehicle and the current version shouldn’t be considered “long-range”.

Nonetheless, Nissan just launched a new national ad campaign with a clear goal to try to convince some of the close to 400,000 Model 3 reservation holders to buy LEAFs instead.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Today is the 46th Earth Day. Though from the perspective of the earth, it’s probably closer to its 1.6 trillionth day. Nonetheless, Earth Day is supposed to be an occasion to demonstrate your support for environmental protection.

You can show your support in very simple ways like using less energy or finally recycling those dead batteries that have been piling up in your junk drawer, or you can try to pick up some new habits and initiate yourself to new and greener technologies.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Now that everything appears to be set in motion for Faraday Future’s factory in Nevada, it would be convenient for the electric car startup to have a product to build in its $1 billion plant. While the company unveiled a concept earlier this year, the vehicle is not intended for production.

Not much is known about Faraday’s first production car, but it is expected to be an all-electric luxury crossover with a shape similar to the outline in the picture above. The company is not sharing a lot of information, but this week gave us a glimpse of its engineering mule tests.
Expand
Expanding
Close

It looks like Motor Trend is trying to redeem itself following last week’s Apple car fiasco. The car review magazine managed to convince Tesla to get a few hours with a Model 3 prototype for a photoshoot at the Tesla Gigafactory in Nevada.
Expand
Expanding
Close

For obvious safety reasons, most jurisdictions across the US and the world prohibit someone from driving a car if a “video monitor” is clearly visible from the driver’s seat. Hence why even though Tesla’s 17-in center display could certainly be capable of playing videos, the automaker disabled any video playing capabilities other than the video feed from the rear camera.

It didn’t stop a hacker who recently managed to install Gentoo, a Linux-based operating system, in her car and can now play videos directly from her Model S’ 17-in display.
Expand
Expanding
Close