Cars

Time to start making some Model Xes.

Tesla Motors shut down its production line Monday as part of a long-scheduled plan to retool the factory to increase production of the Model S sedan and prepare for the introduction of the Model X crossover SUV. “We’ll be back at regular production Aug. 4,” Simon Sproule, Tesla’s vice president of communications, said in an interview. “We’ll be down for 128 hours of regularly scheduled production time.” The new production line, which will cost roughly $100 million, is on the ground floor of the factory off Interstate 880 and will be used for both the Model S and forthcoming Model X. “It improves the overall flow for the plant,” Sproule said. “We’re installing new lines, reconfiguring the plant and making more use of the available space in Fremont.”

Interesting we still don’t know what the final product will look like. CEO Elon Musk noted at the recent shareholder conference that the design had changed significantly for the better since the latest prototypes had been displayed.

Bloomberg

Qihoo 360 Technology Co. has found ways to remotely control the Tesla car’s locks, horn, headlights and skylight while the car is in motion, the Beijing-based Internet security company said in a posting on its Sina Weibo account. Wu Jing, a director of investor relations for the company, said its information technology department conducted the experiment, without elaborating.

These are all things you can control via the smartphone app while the car is in motion (fun trick to play on wife is cracking sunroof during rain) and maybe Tesla needs to rethink which of these things should be happening in motion.

So, it would appear that the hackers would be attacking the Brew API that the apps and third party apps use. That’s not terribly serious but obviously should be watched…as Tesla plans to do…

“While Tesla is not associated with the conference and is not a sponsor of the competition, we support the idea of providing an environment in which responsible security researchers can help identify potential vulnerabilities,” Palo Alto, California-based Tesla said in an e-mail. “We hope that the security researchers will act responsibly and in good faith.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2qtmKKt9-U

B-Roll of the E-Fan Electric Airplane Flying. Provided for press use by Airbus from official press source. If you think this is cool, Airbus is working on a 90-seat regional based on the electric technology. More here and here

From Wiki:

Airbus Group is developing an electric aircraft with Aero Composite Saintonge. The aircraft uses on-board lithium batteries to power the two electric engines and can carry two passengers. A test flight was conducted in April 2014 at Mérignac Airport, France, landing in front of a large audience, the French Minister of Industry Arnaud Montebourg being one of them. At the 2014 Farnborough Airshow, Airbus announced that the E-Fan 2.0 will go into production by 2017 with a side-by-side seating layout.[1] Airbus has stated that there are plans for development of a commercial regional aircraft in the near future.[2][3]
The E-Fan is an all-electric two-seat twin-engined low-wing monoplane of composite structure. It has a T-tail and a retractable tandem landing gear with outrigger wheels. The two engines are mounted either side of the rear fuselage.
Two production variants are planned, a two-seater E-Fan 2.0 for use as a trainer, and the E-Fan 4.0 four-seater. To increase the duration the E-Fan 4.0 will have a hybrid-electric system that will have a small engine to charge the battery, this will increase duration from nearly an hour to 3.5 hours.[4]
The E-fan is made of an all-composite construction propelled by two ducted, variable pitch fans spun by two electric motors totaling 60 kW of power. Ducting increases thrust while reducing noise, and having the fans mounted centrally provides better control. The motors moving the fans are powered by a series of 250 Volt lithium-ion polymer batteries made by South Korean company Kokam. The batteries are mounted in the inboard section of the wings and have enough power for one hour, and take one hour to recharge; an onboard backup battery is available to make an emergency landing if power runs out while airborne. The E-fan’s undercarriage consists of two retractable fore and aft wheels, with another two under the wings. They are powered by a 6 kW electric motor that not only taxis the plane, but is capable of accelerating it to 60 km/h (37 mph; 32 kn) for take offs; having the take off performed by the undercarriage relieves some of the burden from the flight motors.[5]

PALO ALTO, Calif., July 17, 2014 – Tesla announces that it will post its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2014, after market close on Thursday, July 31, 2014. At that time, Tesla will issue a brief advisory release containing a link to the Q2 2014 Shareholder Letter, available on the company website. Tesla management will hold a live question & answer webcast at 2:30pm Pacific Daylight Time (5:30pm Eastern Daylight Time) to discuss the Company’s financial and business results and outlook.

What: Tesla Motors, Inc. Q2 2014 Financial Results Q&A Webcast

When: Thursday, July 31, 2014

Time: 2:30pm Pacific Daylight Time / 5:30pm Eastern Daylight Time

Shareholder Letter: http://ir.teslamotors.com

Webcast: http://ir.teslamotors.com (live and replay)

Approximately two hours after the Q&A session, an archived version of the webcast will be available on the Company’s website for a period of one year.

Investor Relations Contact:

Jeff Evanson

Tesla Motors

ir@teslamotors.com

Press Contact:

Simon Sproule

Tesla Motors

press@teslamotors.com

For additional information, please visit ir.teslamotors.com.

Props to this guy

Mr. Zong lives in the southern Chinese boomtown of Guangzhou, where he founded a business that makes energy-efficient equipment like water heaters for swimming pools. In April, Tesla Motors Inc. delivered its first cars to customers in China in Beijing, about 1,300 miles to the north. Tesla doesn’t operate enough charging facilities between the cities to allow him to drive his car home.

Undaunted, Mr. Zong decided to build his own charging network. With the help of partners found online, he bought 20 charging pillars from Tesla for 5,000 yuan (about $800) each and put them in 16 cities along the way.

“I thought it would be cool if I could build China’s first electric-car-charging road,” said Mr. Zong, who completed the installations last month. A Tesla spokeswoman said the company is aware of, and approves of, Mr. Zong’s ambitions.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7xfuuHNO_g]

Menga and his client collected $126,836 in the lawsuit. This includes the cost for the company to buy the car back, all the accessories for the car and $18,500 in attorney fees

It’s unfortunate but settling for a relatively small amount is a lot easier than giving this guy a courtroom platform, though it does set a worrisome precedent and this guy clearly is trying to use his 15 minutes of fame to get more business.  Asshat.

Not the Model III

Tesla and CEO Elon Musk told AutoExpress that the name of the third generation car would be called the Model III

“We had the model S for sedan and X for crossover SUV, then a friend asked what we were going to call the third car,” Musk told us. “So I said we had the model S and X, we might as well have the E.

“We were going to call it model E for a while and then Ford sued us saying it wanted to use the Model E – I thought this is crazy, Ford’s trying to kill sex! So we’ll have to think of another name.

“The new model is going to be called Model III, we’ll have three bars to represent it and it’ll be S III X!”

Tesla confirmed this via Tweet but didn’t like the images that AutoExpress used and in fact denied that these were the models for the III

FYI, the Model 3 images used by @AutoExpress were mock-ups based on their own speculation.

— Tesla (@Tesla) July 16, 2014

Confirmed: Our Gen III car, due out after Model X, will be named Model 3. http://t.co/PLhUzycSlp pic.twitter.com/noZf17LXre

— Tesla (@Tesla) July 16, 2014

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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86pcTLJTvUw]

A hilarious ad planned by the NADA above highlights their attempt to block automakers from selling direct to the public like Tesla.

Already blocked in many states, NADA plans an aggressive campaign to thwart Tesla’s attempts to sell direct to consumers.

Tesla today opened up a slew of new Superchargers throughout Europe but most notably in France where vacationers will now be able to hit the Riviera from just about anywhere in the central and East of the country. Today Tesla opened 3 in Norway, 3 in Sweden, 3 in Denmark and 5 in France which makes 34 total.

Also this week, Tesla opened its first Supercharger in Canada near Vancouver in Squamish BC.

Sounds a lot like Chris Christie’s response to New Jersey. “Not my job!”

OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE RESPONSE TO
allow Tesla Motors to sell directly to consumers in all 50 states.
Response to We the People Petition on Tesla Motors
By Dan Utech

Thanks for your We the People petition. We’re excited about the next generation of transportation choices, including the kind of electric vehicles that Tesla and others have developed. These companies are taking steps to help spur innovation in the promising area of advanced batteries and electric automobiles. Vehicle electrification and other advanced technologies are vital components of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, and his commitment to addressing climate change and reducing carbon pollution, in addition to reducing our dependence on oil.

But as you know, laws regulating auto sales are issues that have traditionally sat with lawmakers at the state level.

We believe in the goal of improving consumer choice for American families, including more vehicles that provide savings at the pump for consumers. However, we understand that pre-empting current state laws on direct-to-consumer auto sales would require an act of Congress.

We are already making significant progress in promoting vehicle efficiency: new vehicle fuel economy has increased by 12% since 2008 and consumers now can choose from five times more car models with a combined city/highway fuel economy of 30 mpg or more, compared to just five years ago. In December 2013, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that model year 2012 vehicles achieved an all-time high fuel economy, after increasing seven of the last eight years.

The President has taken historic action to spur more consumer choice — saving consumers money at the pump and reducing our dependence on oil. Here are some of the ways we’re helping to encourage the future generation of energy-efficient cars:

In 2012, the Obama Administration finalized groundbreaking standards that will increase fuel economy to the equivalent of 54.5 mpg for cars and light-duty trucks by Model Year 2025. These standards will save consumers more than $1.7 trillion at the gas pump and reduce U.S. oil consumption by 12 billion barrels. And this spring, we also released standards for medium- and heavy-duty trucks, a move that will save vehicle owners and operators an estimated $50 billion in fuel, and save a projected 530 million barrels of oil. You can learn more about that here.
The Department of Energy (DOE) has a loan program to help spur the kinds of innovation needed to create the future of transportation. In fact, Tesla’s electric car won the 2013 Motor Trend Car of the Year while repaying its DOE loan 9 years early and earning the taxpayers about $17 million in profit. And DOE’s loan to Ford Motor Company to upgrade 13 factories across six states and to upgrade the fuel efficiency of a dozen popular vehicles has supported 33,000 jobs across the United States.
In September 2013, DOE awarded $45 million in funding for 38 new projects that to improve fuel efficiency, lower transportation costs, and protect the environment. The 38 new projects support the goals of the EV Everywhere Grand Challenge, a public-private initiative to make EVs as affordable and convenient to own and drive as gasoline-powered vehicles within 10 years. Also as part of EV Everywhere, DOE has launched the Workplace Charging Challenge, with a goal of achieving a tenfold increase in the number of U.S. employers offering workplace charging for plug-in electric vehicles in the next five years.
As these initiatives show, the Administration is in favor of fostering competition in the market to help spur the kinds of innovation needed to support ongoing U.S. leadership in vehicle manufacturing and a potential range of new technologies.

Again, thank you for your petition.

Dan Utech is Special Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change

Tell us what you think about this petition and We the People.

Great stat:

In June, Tesla’s Supercharger network passed a charging milestone, delivering more than 1 GWh of energy to Model S vehicles in a single month. That energy accounts for a collective 3.7 million miles driven, 168,000 gallons of gas saved, and 4.2 million pounds of carbon dioxide offset. That’s like driving to the moon and back seven and a half times, and nixing a day’s worth of CO2 from 73,684 Americans.

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Update: Here it is:

Within a few hours of posting my review, Elon Musk tweeted that he’d be happy to help. Earlier this week I got to speak to the man directly, and he promised two things.
1. He’s going to build a Tesla Supercharger station in the parking lot of the museum.
2. He’s donating $1 million dollars to the museum itself.
Elon Musk: from the deepest wells of my geeky little heart: thank you. This is amazing news. And it’s Nikola Tesla’s 158th birthday.
Happy Nikola Tesla Day.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQkdMw4TVjY&feature=youtu.be]

An 85 kw Tesla Model S Performance Package takes on Mazda Miata with an Electric Motor Conversion in a 1/4 mile drag race. The Miata is powered by a 333-volt lithium-ion battery pack controllers that drive a pair forklift motors at the wheels. The Miata runs an incredible 9.27 @ 142 mph to the Tesla’s very respectable 12.72 @ 102 mph.

If Tesla didn’t seem like the most awesome company ever, they are now hoping to hire more and more military veterans:

“We want to be known throughout the veteran community as a great place to work,” Arnnon Geshuri, Tesla’s vice president of human resources, said in an interview. “Veterans are a great source of talent for Tesla, and we’re going after it.”

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE_u731EmYA]

KTLA reports that a Tesla got into a huge wreck last night in LA.

The incident began when police received a call from a Tesla dealership stating that an individual was “tampering or messing with” one of the vehicles, according to Sgt. Campbell with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Pacific Division.

Officers responded to the dealership and a pursuit began at about 12:45 a.m., Campbell said.

During the pursuit, the Tesla reached speeds of up to 100 mph, according to Campbell.

The pursuit ended on La Brea Avenue between Fountain and Lexington avenues a short time later when the driver of the Tesla hit two other cars and a lamp post, Campbell said.

A witness told KTLA that the Tesla hit the pole and split in half, and that part of the vehicle landed on top of a white car.

“There were fires after that that broke out,” he said. “I saw the firefighters — like 25 firefighters – standing around the white car with the Jaws of Life.”

At some point, he said, explosions could be heard.

It is nuts that the two drivers even have a chance to live after the car split in half at such high speeds.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4llKKe3c8E]

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9NQkbZcbJI&feature=youtu.be]

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqZwmgvPmxk]

If you were wondering how people got themselves into a Tesla Model S, here are a few stories and their experience after.

Seems like a fun place to work.