Tesla Model S News

  • Tesla Model S after IIHS small-overlap frontal crash test, late 2016   [frame from IIHS video]

    Tesla slams IIHS after 'Acceptable' Model S test, cites older NHTSA ratings in response

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car at EVgo fast-charging station, Newport Centre, Jersey City, NJ
    Bizarre Swedish study claims electric cars are worse for the environment

    Electric vehicles shouldn't be considered all-out carbon footprint saviors, but they can legitimately be viewed as the great minimizers. The benefits of electric vehicles over those with internal-combustion engines are vast, but a strange new study is making rounds that claims electric cars are...

  • Tesla Model S at Supercharger site in Ventura, CA, with just one slot open  [photo: David Noland]
    Tesla extends free Supercharger use to all current owners (updated)

    Tesla has bestowed upon its current owners a sought-after perk previously reserved for early adopters: free Supercharging. Last year, Tesla announced it would begin charging for Supercharger station use for buyers of its electric cars after a certain date—but now it appears to have walked...

  • Electric motor, shown in 'How Does an Electric Car Work?' video by Learn Engineering
    Video explains how electric cars work, battery and motor technology included

    While many drivers generally understand the concept of an electric car, understanding generally stops there. It's a car, and you plug it in to get power to run it. That's fine as far as it goes. Beyond that, things get hazy pretty quickly, we've found. DON'T MISS: Plug-in hybrid problem: buyers...

  • Tesla Autopilot
    Tesla driver killed in Autopilot crash ignored repeated warnings, NTSB says

    The National Transportation Safety Board has published its first findings after investigating a fatal highway crash in 2016 involving a Tesla Model S and a tractor trailer. The crash occurred on last summer after 40-year-old Joshua Brown was driving with Tesla's Autopilot engaged. The system failed...

  • 2016 Tesla Model S
    Tesla changes warranty, cuts used Model S prices, to lure Model 3 buyers

    Tesla has given its used electric-car sales a jolt and sweetened the deals for potential buyers. CEO Elon Musk announced changes to the Tesla Model S sedan's warranty structure and major price cuts on used examples during the annual shareholder meeting held June 6. "Maybe somebody wants to buy a...

  • 2017 Tesla Model S

    It's never a good day to learn one's insurance rates are rising, but AAA has decided the Tesla Model S and Model X warrant 30 percent increases. AAA combed through its own data and found Model S and Model X owners had abnormally high claim rates. The claim rates were also much costlier than competing vehicles in the Model S and Model X's respected classes. DON'T MISS: Tesla Model S: Too Many Problems To Recommend, Consumer Reports Says After cross-investigating AAA's data with the Highway Loss Data Institute, AAA announced insurance rates could rise 30 percent for the vehicles. Tesla...

  • Tesla Model S P100D drag race
    South's good ol' boy drag racers whupped by Tesla, not happy about it

    For as long as there have been automobiles, drivers have had the itch to go faster than the guy in the next car. Throughout decades we've seen horsepower wars waged between giant, large displacement V-8 engines and even 4-cylinder engines with plenty of forced induction. The rise of the electric...

  • 2017 Tesla Model S
    Consumer Reports restores some points to Tesla electric cars for automatic braking

    Tesla had long been a darling of Consumer Reports magazine since the time the Model S electric car was first revealed, and it consistently scored well in the magazine's tests. However, when Tesla pulled its automatic emergency braking feature when it switched to all-new vehicle sensors and...

  • 2013 Tesla Model S owned by David Noland, Catskill Mountains, NY, Oct 2015
    Life with Tesla Model S: out with the old, in with the new

    Over the first three years of driving my 2013 Tesla Model S, there wasn't a single time when I looked at another car and said, “You know, I’d really rather be driving that car than this one.” Not once. The Tesla’s combination of performance, style, economy, technology, plus...

  • Tesla Model S lithium-ion battery pack in rolling chassis   [photo: Martin Gillet via Flickr]
    Tesla Model S battery life: what the data show so far

    Perhaps the biggest question in buyers' minds over electric cars is how long the batteries will last. Most new-car buyers have mobile phones whose batteries have only lasted a couple of years, perhaps less. Even as electric-car battery packs are warranted against outright failure for eight or 10...

  • 2017 Tesla Model S
    Used Tesla Model S values stay higher than expected

    A new report from Autolist says the Tesla Model S is faring well as a used car when compared to other luxury models. On average, the electric car sells in around 87 days, which is about 5 percent faster than competitors. The report compared the Model S to the Audi A7, Porsche Panamera, BMW 6...

  • 2013 Tesla Model S owned by David Noland, Catskill Mountains, NY, Oct 2015

    Back in 2014, Tesla had a spate of problems with the drive units in early-production versions of its Model S electric sedan. (The drive unit is essentially the car’s power train: electric motor, inverter, and gear box.) High-profile multiple failures occurred in long-term test cars driven by Motor Trend magazine and the automotive website Edmunds. DON'T MISS: Tesla recalls 53,000 Model S, Model X electric cars for parking-brake issue Dozens of owners also reported multiple failures; one guy says his drive unit had to be replaced five times in the first 12,000 miles. Fortunately, my 2013...

  • 2017 Tesla Model S
    2017 Tesla Model S pricing, feature changes: breaking them down in detail

    As its owners know, although much of the car-buying world doesn't, Tesla doesn't believe in the idea of model years. Rather than updating its electric cars each autumn, to correspond to a new model year, it simply changes them when it feels the updates are ready. This can lead to some confusion...

  • 2015 Tesla Model S 70D in new Ocean Blue color
    Tesla Model S at 36,000 miles: Car and Driver's long-term Midwest test

    We're long past the days when car enthusiast publications sneered at electric cars as underpowered golf carts. Much of the credit for that goes to Tesla, the first all-electric carmaker, whose Model S won the hearts of 'buff-book' writers everywhere for its speed and shape. Now electric cars...

  • 52 prototype x pedals
    What IS 'one-pedal driving' in an electric car?

    One-pedal driving is rather like the experience of owning an electric car: it can be hard to appreciate until you've spend time doing it. The phrase "one-pedal driving" refers to the ability of some electric cars to be driven almost entirely with the accelerator pedal alone. It's a feature much...

  • 2017 Tesla Model S
    Tesla electric cars have quality issues, but owners love them regardless

    Tesla electric cars have many notable and pioneering qualities. Faultless reliability has not necessarily been one of them. Since the Model S launched in 2012, multiple quality issues have been documented by both owners and media outlets like Consumer Reports. The Model X debuted with a...

  • 2017 Tesla Model S
    Tesla Model S lineup slims down as 60, 60D versions end

    The ever-shifting Tesla Model S lineup has gone through another change. It will slim down as Tesla discontinues the electric car's current base models—the rear-wheel drive Model S 60, and the all-wheel drive Model S 60D, both with 60 kilowatt-hours of battery capacity. Both versions are being...

  • Tesla Model S battery pack teardown: frame from YouTube video by JehuGarcia, Feb 2017

    The lithium-ion battery pack is at the heart of any electric car. Its cost, energy density, and safety features do as much as any other feature of an electric car to determine its success. And battery packs from Tesla Motors differ from those built by virtually any other electric-car maker in at least one key aspect. DON'T MISS: Tesla Model 3 timing confirmed: first cars in July, 5K a week by next year That is the use of thousands of small "commodity"-format cells, similar to those made in the tens of millions each year to power smartphones, laptop computers, tablets, and numerous other...

  • Engineering Explained talks about how the Tesla Model S can do the 0-60 run in 2.28 seconds
    Video explains how Tesla Model S P100D takes just 2.28 seconds to hit 60 mph

    The Tesla Model S, now into its sixth model year, just keeps getting quicker. When Tesla introduced the current P100D version, it quoted a 0-to-60-mph time of 2.5 seconds. But then it released a "Ludicrous Plus" software upgrade, cutting that time to 2.4 seconds. DON'T MISS: Tesla P100D 'Ludicrous...

  • 2017 Tesla Model S
    Tesla updates maintenance plans; higher fees now include hardware updates

    Electric cars may require significantly less maintenance than internal-combustion cars, but even they will break down eventually. So the Silicon Valley automaker offers maintenance plans, which allow owners to prepay for annual inspections and other routine work. Early in the life of the Model S...

  • Nikola Tesla drives a Tesla Model S in fan-made video
    Nikola Tesla drives Tesla Model S: amateur fan video imagines

    As an auto company that exclusively produces electric cars, Tesla Motors has a very appropriate name. It is, of course, named after Nikola Tesla, a famed engineer who pioneered technologies related to electricity. So what might Nikola Tesla think of his namesake? DON'T MISS: Pilot production of...

  • 2017 Tesla Model S
    BMW i3, Tesla Model S electric cars miss top IIHS safety ratings

    Two of the most prominent electric cars have missed out on the highest award given for vehicle safety by the influential IIHS: Top Safety Pick+. Funded by the insurance industry, the IIHS—which operates independently of the federal government—says that neither the BMW i3 nor the Tesla...

  • 2016 Tesla Model S
    Even top German minister for environment prefers Tesla

    Government officials in Germany seeking to express national pride in their choice of vehicle have no shortage of options. The established German luxury brands offer many models that frequently serve in the capacity of official vehicle for an elected official. Indeed, given Germany's considerable...

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