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Tesla applies for Michigan dealership license despite direct sales ban

In October 2014, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder signed a bill, which was initiated by the Michigan Automobile Dealers Association, to “clarify” an existing law banning automakers from owning or operating car dealerships in the state, ultimately forcing them to go through a third-party franchise model.

The new bill effectively banned Tesla from selling cars in the state due to the company’s direct sales model. Today we learn that despite the ban, Tesla applied for a dealership license in Michigan.
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Real World Opinion: Installing Level 2 chargers along roadways is a waste of time

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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…


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The chip guru who built Apple’s Ax microprocessors joins Tesla to lead the Autopilot Hardware Engineering team

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…


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Model 3 surprise: Tesla is preparing to announce 2 vehicles in March (Updated: Tesla Denies)

(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.)

We’ve seen the Chevy Bolt (not just seen, driven!) so, in March, it is Tesla’s turn to unveil its $30,000 long-range electric car. We’ve had a steady stream of whispers on the Model 3 but are unable to verify much of what we’ve heard.

The biggest tidbit I’ve heard from a second-hand source is that Tesla is readying at least 2 different versions of its Model 3 for the March launch. One version is a sedan and another is a small crossover built on the same platform. I can’t verify if the crossover is the Model Y that Elon Musk mentioned in a Tweetstorm last year, but that would make some sense. We’ve heard that this vehicle will be a smaller version of the Model X with its Falcon Wing doors. Again, it will have a premium price over the Model 3 similar to the $5,000 difference between the Model X and Model S. 

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.

We broke the news in March of 2014 that the Model 3 platform would be more than just a sedan with the leaked slide presentation below which first mentions “Crossover”.

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.

Other Model 3 info follows:
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Tesla Gigafactory is still ahead of schedule, but behind on job creation

According to a new report from the Reno Gazette-Journal, the Tesla Gigafactory is still ahead of schedule, but it is falling short on job creation and capital investment projections for the project. It would be important to note that RGJ is making these claims based on the most recent data available – dated September 30 and June 30 – while comparing the numbers to the state’s projections for the end of 2015.

In its analysis, RGJ assumes that Tesla is still falling short in the fourth quarter because it was lagging so far behind in September. 
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Obama administration proposes $4B spend to tackle legal barriers to rapid rollout of self-driving cars

When Tesla’s Elon Musk tweeted that he expected to the company’s cars to be able to drive themselves across the U.S. from coast to coast within two years, my response was that I might believe the tech could hit that deadline, but not the law. It seems I may be wrong.

The WSJ reports that the Obama administration wants to invest $3.9B in crafting rules and policies to facilitate the rapid rollout of self-driving cars. This would take place at the federal level, ensuring consistent national laws rather than a patchwork of state-by-state regulations …


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Tesla Supercharger Fire: Authorities are shutting down the investigation and report indications that the fire originated in the car

A Tesla Model S caught fire while charging at a Supercharger in Norway on New Year’s day. No one was in the car when the fire started and fortunately nobody was harmed, but the car almost completely burned down.

The authorities and Tesla launched investigations to determine the cause of the fire. Last week, the police released the scene of the Supercharger for the ‘crime technical examination’. Today we learn that the ‘Accident Investigation Board’ (AIBN) is shutting down the investigation, but not before disclosing that they found indications that the fire “originated in the car”.
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Tesla Model S is the best-selling electric car in Switzerland – sales are up 213% year-over-year

Switzerland continues to be an impressive market for Tesla where the company delivers just as many cars as in Germany, even though it’s a much smaller market than its neighboring country. According to registration data, Tesla delivered 1,556 Model S’s in Switzerland last year and 193 units in December alone.
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Tesla is ramping up Model X production, non-signature Model X’s are reportedly entering production

Tesla confirmed achieving a 238 units per week production rate for the Model X during the last week of December. The company produced just over 500 Model X’s in 2015, which represents about half of the ~1,000 US reservation backlog of limited-edition ‘Signature Model X’.

If the company maintained its production rate during the past two weeks, it means the company is starting the production of its regular production Model X, and the first report of a production Model X reservation holder having his car entering production is corroborating the assumption.
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Demonstration of Tesla Model S saving owner from the rain by picking him up with new ‘Summon’ feature [video]

In its latest video, Drag Times demonstrated a potential application for Tesla’s latest feature. Drag Times used the new ‘Summon’ feature to  autonomously move the Model S a few dozen feet to “save” the owner from the rain by picking him up under a porte-cochère.
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Tesla’s sales were flat in Norway in 2015, but December looks encouraging

Tesla had an incredible year for sales and deliveries in 2015. The California-based automaker delivered 50,580 vehicles last year, which represents a 60% increase over the previous year. It’s hard to find any weaknesses with such an incredible sales performance. Yet the company increased its deliveries in almost all markets but Norway, where according to registration data, Tesla delivered the exact same number of Model S’s in 2014 and 2015: 4,039 units.
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Tesla reportedly in talks to build a Gigafactory in South Africa

When Tesla CEO Elon Musk first announced the Gigafactory project, he said that even though the planned capacity of the factory is equal to the entire global production of lithium-ion batteries in 2013, the world would sill need around 200 more giant factories of similar size to support the auto industry’s transition from fossil fuels to electric.

Tesla named the factory in Nevada: “Gigafactory 1”, implying that the company plans to eventually introduce “Gigafactory 2” and so on. Late last year, German Vice-Chancellor and Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel confirmed being in contact with Elon Musk over the possibility of building a battery factory in the country. Now we learn that Tesla is also reportedly in talks to build another Gigafactory in South Africa.
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From 39 feet to 3,000 miles in 2 years: Elon Musk says Tesla will soon let you summon your car from across the country

After the well-documented release notes of the 7.1 update for the Model S and X Saturday, Tesla published a short blog update on Sunday and held a press conference to reveal its ambitions for the future of the ‘Summon’ feature, while Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter to describes what he calls the “first baby step” of the ‘Summon’ capability and its potential for the future.
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Now the Model S can REALLY drive itself, Tesla pushes update v7.1 with “summoning” feature [Video]

Tesla released today the version 7.1 of its software for the Model S and X. The new update includes everything we told you about when Tesla started testing the build with beta testers last month: UI improvements, a new self-parking feature, ‘Driver Mode’ and Autopilot restrictions, but the automaker is also introducing the “Summon” feature, which enables the Model S to drive itself without anyone in the car.
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Denmark’s best-selling car in December was for the first time an electric car: the Tesla Model S

In December, the Tesla Model S not only outsold every other electric car in Denmark, but every single car model regardless of if they are gas-guzzling or battery-powered.

Tesla delivered 1,249 Model S’s in December in Denmark, easily beating the second best-selling vehicle; the Peugeot 208 with 903 vehicles sold during the month.
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Tesla confirms the Model 3 is on track and reaffirms unveiling in March

According to Tesla Senior Design Executive Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla first planned to unveil the Model 3, its upcoming mass market electric car, at the Detroit Auto Show 2015, but that deadline passed almost a year ago.

Last year, Tesla updated its timeline to March 2016 and EV enthusiasts are anxious to know if the automaker will stick to the new target. So far so good, a Tesla official confirmed today that the Model 3 is on track for a March unveiling.

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Tesla gets some free advertising on Jimmy Kimmel, Iron Man director Jon Favreau talks about the Model X

Iron Man director Jon Favreau not only had the chance to get a personal walkthrough of the Model X with Tesla CEO Elon Musk just a few days after the unveiling of the vehicle, but he also arrived at the Star Wars: The Force Awakens premiere with Musk in his Founder series Model X VIN #1.
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Tesla Supercharger fire: Police can’t find a problem with the charger and “released” it, but it’s still offline

Five days ago a Tesla Model S caught fire while plugged-in at a Supercharger in Gjerstad, Norway. When we first reported on the event last week, Tesla said that nobody was harmed and they are undergoing a full investigation.

The investigation is not over, but today we learn that local police released the scene of the Supercharger after not being able to find a problem with the fast-charging station.
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