Cars

One of Tesla’s main advantages over other automakers is its capacity to send significant software updates over-the-air. Model S and X owners wake up in the morning and ta-da! They have new features in a vehicle they bought weeks, months or even years go, and Tesla’s next update will have something for everyone, whether you have Autopilot hardware in your car or even if you own a ‘classic’ pre-Autopilot Model S.

Electrek has learned all of the so far unreleased details of Tesla’s upcoming update 8.0 — one of its biggest to date. The automaker started testing the latest build with a limited number of owners and it features the most important UI refresh since the launch of the Model S, new Autopilot features and more…
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Tesla and Ruby Tuesday, a popular chain of restaurants in the US, announced a partnership to open a series of new Supercharger Stations at its locations along important routes across the US. The news comes just a few days after Tesla acknowledged being in talks with gas station and restaurant chains about expanding its network of fast-charging stations.
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Just a few weeks after we learned that BMW is putting its electric vehicle programs on the “back burner” in order to focus its ‘i’ brand, under which the German automaker has been releasing its electric vehicles, on self-driving cars instead. We now learn that the automaker is reportedly about to announce an important partnership with Intel and Mobileye to develop its self-driving cars.
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Faraday Future, an electric vehicle startup, is about to make an announcement tomorrow ahead of the Formula E event in London. It will likely have to do with the all-electric racing championship, which will hold the last races of the season over the weekend.
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Until now Tesla had only 3 stores in Australia, two in Melbourne and one in Sydney, but today the automaker is expanding its presence in the country and opening a new flagship location in the heart of Sydney (pictured above).
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Last year, we reported that Norway’s Consumer Council was now acting as a mediator between Tesla and over 150 Model S P85D owners in the country because of issues over how Tesla was advertising the power rating of the vehicle or its motors.

Tesla says that the Consumer Council agreed with the automaker, but the complaint has since been moved to the Consumer Disputes Commission, which recently released its verdict in favor of the Model S owners.
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The Tesla Gigafactory 1 is the Chocolate Factory and Elon Musk is Willy Wonka!

Tesla quietly created a ‘Golden Ticket’ drawing for all the Model 3 reservation holders who placed a pre-order during the first day and randomly selected 12 winners to receive an all-expenses paid trip to the Gigafactory Grand Opening.
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Tesla manufactures its drive inverter for the Model S/X in-house at its Fremont factory, but the automaker is using proven off-the-shelf products — primarily TO-247 transistor packages. The company used this approach from the start when working on the Roadster. Like what it has been doing with battery cell technology, the automaker saw an opportunity to attach its product to improvements in transistor systems to gradually allow more powerful and efficient powertrains.

While the strategy served it well so far, Tesla is moving away from it with its third generation platform and consequently, with the Tesla Model 3. The company will be using new battery cells manufactured at its Gigafactory in Nevada and as it turns out, it also started from a blank sheet for its new inverter architecture. Electrek has learned new information about the system which has some interesting implications for the upcoming $35,000 all-electric sedan.
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Following Tesla’s (TSLA) acquisition offer to SolarCity (SCTY) last week, the automaker’s stock price fell sharply, but while the market tumbled after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union the next day, the stocks of both companies outperform the market – indicating some resistance.

Now we learn that Wall Street is betting big against the companies as short interest is close to all time high and short sellers are out of shares to borrow.
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After the Tesla Model S conquered the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb last weekend, now it’s time for the Model X to race up a hill, but an ocean away at the Goodwood Festival of Speed hill climb.
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In a future where the world’s car fleet is rapidly transitioning to electric vehicles, gas stations will be forcefully downgraded to simple convenience stores and consequently, they will lose a significant revenue stream brought in by people stopping for gas but buying something at the convenience store. Now it looks like Tesla is offering a lifeline to the industry as we learn that the electric automaker is talking with gas station chains about installing Superchargers at some of their stations in the US.
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A new research report from Lux Research looked into the projected growth of the battery sector for electric vehicles (BEVs and PHEVs) and concluded that the market will rise to $10 Billion in 2020 with six large carmakers led by Tesla accounting for 90% of the demand.
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You might remember when we reported on biker Joseph Neuman crashing a Tesla Model 3 photo shoot in the Marin Headlands in San Francisco not long after the unveiling event. Now the official pictures of the shoot are finally emerging.
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The Maserati dealership of Kirkland marketed a page listing several comparisons between its vehicles and competing models. One of the top comparisons was of a Maserati Ghibli versus a Tesla Model S and the organisation had to take it down yesterday after Tesla fans claimed the automaker was lying about the performance of the vehicles in order to paint the Ghibli in a better light.
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Yesterday, Tesla inaugurated its 100th Supercharger in China located at its ‘Tesla experience center’ in the business district in Beijing, and for the occasion, the automaker announced the official launch of  ‘Tesla Public Charging Partner Program’ in the country.

Under the program, Tesla is inviting hotel groups, commercial real estate companies, industrial parks, office buildings, banks, resorts, and other businesses across the country to participate in Tesla’s Supercharger and Destination Charger networks.
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Barrett Lyon, a three-times Tesla owner, filed a lawsuit against the automaker last month for issues with his Model X under California’s lemon laws. We now learn that Tesla accepted to buy back his Model X and now Lyon is left with his Model S and Roadster.
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Mitsubishi issued a press release today to tease a new plug-in hybrid (PHEV) concept to debut at the 2016 Paris Motor Show in September. The company describes the concept as a ‘high-end SUV coupé’ based on what the automaker has been developing lately in the electric SUV segment like the crossover eX concept unveiled last year.
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Earlier this month, Bloomberg came out with a report claiming that signed a “non-binding memorandum of understanding” with Jinqiao Group, a Shanghai government-owned company, to invest in a $9 billion electric vehicle factory in the region. At the time, Tesla didn’t comment on the report, but now CEO Elon Musk denies that a deal was signed:

@mashable We haven't signed anything for a factory in China

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 27, 2016

Earlier this year, Musk confirmed that the automaker plans on securing a location and a local partner for a manufacturing facility in China by the middle of the 2016, but now we learn that there’s a possibility that Tesla will not have to create a partnership as the government is exploring the a lift of the cap on joint-ventures for automakers.
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When Tesla inked a deal with the state of Nevada to build its giant battery factory near Reno, it was widely reported that Tesla received $1.3 billion in tax incentives. While the deal could be worth close to the amount over a 20-year period, it is not clear how much Tesla is currently getting from the state because it was awarded as sales and property tax abatements, transferable tax credits (TTC) and discounted electricity rates.

Through documents recently released by the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED), we now learn that Tesla started profiting from transferable tax credits by selling around $20 million worth to MGM Grand Casino.
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