A new patent that surfaced on Tuesday (via Qz) suggests that Google/Alphabet could have plans to use its self-driving car technologies for a truck-based delivery service. The patent describes an “autonomous delivery platform” for an autonomous truck with lockers (not unlike an Amazon locker), driving to a customer’s location to deliver a package…
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At a news conference with Tesla representatives today, Connecticut Senate majority leader Bob Duff unveiled a new bill to allow Tesla’s direct sales model in the state.
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As part of a Reuters report 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…
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Autocar is out with a new report today claiming inside information on Volkswagen’s first electric car to be built on the new MEB platform. MEB is the platform unveiled at CES last month and showcased in the company’s microbus concept: BUDD-e.
The platform will allow VW to bring to market electric vehicles made to be electric from the ground up. It is based on the now familiar concept of a large battery pack extending flat between the axles.
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Last month we reported exclusively that Tesla hired high-profile microprocessor engineer Jim Keller to lead the company’s Autopilot hardware team and today Electrek has learned of a significant addition to this team; the hire of a sensor expert from Apple.
For the past 3 years, Andrew Graham was a Motion Sensor Engineer at Apple before joining Tesla’s Autopilot engineer staff last week.
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Credit Suisse analyst Dan Galves jumped in the pool of Wall Street analysts weighting in on Tesla ahead of earnings this week and it looks like Galves is swimming against the current with a note reiterating an outperform rating and $325 price target on the company.
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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:
Tesla is set to release its fourth quarter 2015 financial results on Wednesday, February 10 after market close. As usual, the release of the results will be followed by a conference call and Q&A with Tesla’s management at 2:30pm Pacific Time (5:30pm Eastern Time). Now here’s what to expect on Wednesday:
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Building on the momentum Tesla is currently experiencing in Sweden with 271% growth in sales in 2015 based on registration data, the automaker is announcing an interesting partnership with Swedish electric utility Skellefteå Kraft to supply the Supercharger network in Sweden with 100% renewable energy and offer Tesla owners completely free charging at home.
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Since the “Dieselgate” scandal, the Volkswagen group has promised to introduce several new electric vehicles in the coming years. CEO Matthias Müller is said to announce a new strategy this summer that will see the company bring to market 20 new electric vehicles (all-electric or plug-in hybrid) through the group’s 12 brands by the end of the decade.
The company also plans to build on its current limited lineup of electric cars, including the e-Golf, which should see a significant increase in range with the introduction of its next generation.
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Tesla has been updating the drivetrain options for the Model S since the beginning of the year. The company removed the rear-wheel-drive option for the 90 kWh Model S across all its markets last month and just two weeks ago, it removed the 85 kWh battery pack option in Canada.
At the time, we suggested that the decision to remove the 85 kWh battery pack from the Canadian design studio likely indicates that Tesla will discontinue the option entirely. This weekend we learned that Tesla is indeed discontinuing it.
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Charging protocols and standards are fuelling an ever evolving debate in the electric vehicle industry. Some are calling for a global standard, while others are just fine with multiple infrastructure efforts using different adapters. Where does Tesla fit in this debate? The company has been developing its own charging infrastructure called “Superchargers“, while offering a range of adapters to let Tesla owners use other charging networks.
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According to some FCC documents recently unearthed, Alphabet’s X division (formerly Google[x]) has its sights set on disconnecting the cute fully-electric self-driving car prototypes from their wall chargers. Yes, we’re talking wireless charging, the kind that could beam up energy through the bottom of the car using a technology called resonant magnetic induction…
The White House announced today its plan for a proposed “21st Century Clean Transportation System”. The President’s plan will be part of the final proposed budget next week and will include over $300 billion in investments in mass transit systems, high-speed rail, self-driving cars, and other transportation systems aiming to reduce carbon emissions over the next 10 years.
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Last month Tesla released its latest ‘Autopilot’ update (v7.1), which we covered intensively, but if you are not up-to-date with Tesla’s latest software, the Model S’ Autopilot now includes a new feature called ‘Summon’, which allows Tesla owners to remotely move their vehicle without anyone in it.
At the moment, it is primarily used to get the Model S in and out of a garage easily, but in the future, Tesla CEO Elon Musk says you will be able to summon your car from across the country and it will come meet you while charging at Tesla Superchargers along the way.
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’…
In his latest letter to reservation holders, Lit Motors CEO Daniel Kim confirmed that the startup has been granted 9 unique patent applications in the U.S. for its auto-balancing electric vehicle (AEV) technology.
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Tesla Model S owner and battery tinkerer Jason Hughes published this week some of his findings following his tear down of several Tesla battery packs. Hughes is best known among the Tesla community for salvaging two Tesla Model S battery packs in order to create a massive energy storage system for his off-grid residential solar installation even before Tesla introduced its own line of stationary energy storage products.
Now Hughes’ new findings raises a few questions about the actual capacity of Tesla’s battery packs.
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Last week we told you that four more mysterious cities are set to get Alphabet’s self-driving cars in the relatively near future, and now the California company has said (via Reuters) that the next city on the list—following Mountain View, CA and Austin, TX— is Kirkland, Washington…
Tesla’s last few earnings were relatively uneventful, but next’s week results are shaping up to be quite interesting. Not only because Tesla managed to achieve a record number of deliveries last quarter, but also because of the peculiar action around the company’s stock leading up to the earnings, which are set to be published on February 10.
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Based on registration data, Tesla’s Model S sales were exactly flat in Norway last year versus 2014 – 4,039 units each year. The company’s overall sales in the country are likely to grow this year when it starts delivering the Model X later in the year, but in the meantime, it is interesting to see how Model S sales are doing in one of Tesla’s most important market and one of the rare market in which the company didn’t grow last year.
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Faraday Future lost its high-profile ‘Chief Battery Architect’ right before its CES unveiling last month, but today we learn the company scored a big hire for its battery team: former A123 Systems lead engineer Saeed Uzzaman.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Uzzaman was a research engineer before he joined Bosch’s NiMH battery manufacturing effort in 2005. He left Bosch to join A123 System in 2010, where he held several senior engineering roles.
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Nissan released today its January sales report for the U.S. and revealed that LEAF sales are down 29.4% versus the same period last year. Until late in 2015, the company had the excuse of the upcoming 2016 models, which were affecting sales negatively as potential buyers were waiting for the upgrade, but the new cars arrived at dealerships and December was still a very disappointing month for Nissan’s all-electric vehicle.
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Today, Tesla Motors opened the Chinese online design studio and order book for the Model X in China. Until now, Tesla had only allowed reservation holders in the US and Canada to configure and place an order for the new all-electric SUV, which makes China the first non-North American market to be able to order the car.
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