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  • 2013 Tesla Model S electric sport sedan on delivery day, with owner David Noland

    It's now been more than five months and 5,000 miles since I took delivery of my 2013 Tesla Model S. The four-year wait after I put down my deposit in 2009 created a huge burden of pent-up hopes and expectations. With the initial glow of ownership now dulled by the daily routine of real-world driving, how has the Model S stood up to those grand expectations? Very well indeed. The car has basically changed my outlook toward driving. ALSO SEE: Tesla Model S Vs Chevy Volt: Owner Compares Electric Cars Getting behind the wheel used to be a chore I embraced reluctantly. I'd always been the type to...

  • 2013 Tesla Model S
    Plug-in Electric Car Sales In Canada, July 2013: Tesla On Top?

    July marked the 237th anniversary of the American Republic, and the 146th birthday of Canadian Confederation. While it could also have marked another month for the Chevy Volt as the best-selling Canadian plug-in electric vehicle, when the vehicle registration data comes out, we may see the Tesla...

  • 2013 Tesla Model S electric sport sedan [photo by owner David Noland]
    Tesla Model S: Canada's 2nd-Best-Selling Plug-In Electric Car

    Readers of our monthly analysis of the Canadian plug-in electric car market know two things well: a) the Chevy Volt dominates, with sixteen consecutive months of sales leadership; and b) Canadian plug-in figures are hard to come by. Our posts on June plug-in sales in the United States and Canada...

  • 2013 Chevrolet Volt
    Plug-in Electric Car Sales in Canada, June 2013

    This past June marked the 20th year since a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup, a dry spell even longer than the country's last World Series title. June also marked the Chevy Volt's 16th consecutive month atop the Canuck plug-in sales charts. Thanks to a June sales surge, the car GM designed to...

  • Tesla owners & supporters gather in Statehouse in Austin to support company [photo: John Griswell]
    Anti-Tesla Bill Backed By North Carolina Car Dealers Is Dead

    Tesla Motors has dodged two big bullets fired its way by New York and North Carolina legislatures and auto dealers. Last week, the New York State Senate and Assembly adjourned until January without acting on two bills pushed by state auto dealers that would have made it illegal to register a Tesla...

  • 2013 Tesla Model S in Queens, NY, service center, awaiting delivery to buyer David Noland, Feb 2013
    Life With Tesla Model S: Trying Out The Service Program

    Tesla's announcement last month of its new service program sounded almost too good to be true. If anything went wrong with my 2013 Tesla Model S, promised CEO Elon Musk, instead of schlepping to the nearest service center, I would simply await the arrival in my driveway of the Tesla service tech...

  • 2013 Chevrolet Volt 5dr HB Grille

    The Canadian plug-in electric vehicle market in May was a good news/bad news sandwich: Sales held roughly steady from April, but dropped 40 percenton a year-over-year basis. Rounding out the month with some good news, May almost certainly marked the sale of the country's 3,000th electric car from a major automaker. (The author has tracked 2,986 units through May -- not including sales by Tesla and similarly secretive manufacturers.) Chevy Volt: 15-month champion and counting The Chevy Volt completed its fifth quarter atop the Canadian plug-in sales rankings, moving 77 units--essentially flat...

  • 2013 Tesla Model S
    Does The Tesla Model S Electric Car Pollute More Than An SUV?

    Does the supposedly clean, green Tesla Model S really pollute more than a gas-guzzling Jeep Grand Cherokee sport-utility vehicle? That's what one analyst has claimed. In an exhaustive 6,500-word article on the financial website Seeking Alpha, analyst Nathan Weiss lays out a case that the Model S...

  • Better Place Renault Fluence ZE on the streets of Jerusalem
    One Year With Better Place: Electric-Car Driver's Report

    Today marks my first anniversary driving a Better Place Renault Fluence ZE battery-electric car. So it seemed appropriate to summarize my experience to date with the Better Place service, which has had some challenges but is still very much in operation. I paid around $45,000 upfront for my car and...

  • 2011 Chevrolet Volt and 2013 Tesla Model S [photo: David Noland]
    Tesla Model S Vs Chevy Volt: Owner Compares Electric Cars

    I've been leasing a 2011 Chevrolet Volt for almost two years now. And about three months ago, I took delivery of a 2013 Tesla Model S, the 60-kWh version. So I've gotten an extended first-hand look at arguably the two most technically advanced production cars in the U.S.--and the two best-selling...

  • Better Place user David Rose w/keys to Renault Fluence ZE electric car in Israel [photo: David Rose]
    How's Better Place Doing In Israel These Days?

    The Better Place electric-car system has not had a good run of news lately. But despite little attention, it has managed to boost the sales rate in Israel for its cars, along with subscriptions to its battery-switching service. Deliveries for all of 2012 were 518 cars. Roughly the first 100 were...

  • 2013 Chevrolet Volt  -  Driven, December 2012
    Plug-in Electric Car Sales In Canada, April 2013

    Most Canadians will remember last month for the introduction of the country's new $5 and $10 bills, which arrived just in time for the playoff-hockey betting season. Canadian electric vehicle enthusiasts may remember April 2013, on the other hand, as the month the Toyota Prius Plug-in fell into...

  • Nissan Leaf electric car with eVgo quick charging station. [courtesy eVgo]

    For the majority of the general public to consider purchasing a fully electric car, they first want accessible public charge points located at or near places they frequent in their daily life. It's also clear that most people won't end up using them nearly as much as they think they will. However, having them in place and available is necessary to ease the concern that charging has to be there when it may be needed. The proliferation of DC quick charge stations will also play a big role in electric-car adoption, as they will allow short-range battery-electric vehicles to reach destinations...

  • 2013 Tesla Model S
    How You Can Buy a 2013 Tesla Model S Now, With No Waiting

    Good news for rich, impatient, picky Tesla Model S electric-car wannabes! If you're looking to buy right now--but can't abide a car sullied by a few thousand miles of loaner-car duty under the recently announced buy-it-now program--Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] now offers a new but little-known option...

  • 2013 Tesla Model S electric sport sedan on delivery day, with owner David Noland
    Life With 2013 Tesla Model S: Some Bikes Don't Fit

    I've now had my 2013 Tesla Model S for six weeks since it was delivered in late February, and I'm getting used to living with it. I've recharged at the Supercharger network, measured its vampire current usage at night, tested the impact of speed on range, and even experienced my first software...

  • 2013 Tesla Model S electric sport sedan [photo by owner David Noland]
    Life With 2013 Tesla Model S: How A Software Update Worked

    One of the many cutting-edge features of my new 2013 Tesla Model S is the ability to download software updates over its cellular connection. With its touch-screen controls and electronic motor and battery systems, the Model S all-electric sport sedan is almost certainly the most highly computerized...

  • 2013 Tesla Model S electric sport sedan [photo by owner David Noland]
    Life With 2013 Tesla Model S: Range Penalty At Speed Is Lower Than Expected

    I've been surprised and delighted by how efficiently my new 2013 Tesla Model S has been running at higher speeds. Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] hammers home the message that high speeds can drastically reduce the range of any Model S. It cautions that its original range figure of 230 miles for my 60-kWh...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf and 2011 Chevy Volt, with charging station visible; photo by George Parrott
    Plug-in Electric Car Sales in Canada, March 2013

    If last month's U.S. plug-in electric car sales figures could be characterized as "March Madness" -- Leaf sales tripled, Tesla took the Q1 sales crown, but the Mitsubishi i-MiEV was down 90 percent -- the Canadian market was one of "March Modestness". Sales were up, and there were a few surprises...

  • 2013 Chevrolet Volt, Catskill Mountains, Oct 2012

    Americans and Canadians alike returned to work this week after a festive St. Patrick's Day. For sales of plug-in electric vehicles in Canada, the (idiomatic, good) luck of the Irish arrived for one U.S. automaker. General Motors sold 51 Chevrolet Volts in Canada in February, up slightly from its Canadian total in January (44), and good enough for its twelfth consecutive month atop the country's plug-in sales charts. Its leadership seems assured for the time being: At the time of writing, Nissan Canada had not even begun advertising the cheaper, made-in-America 2013 Nissan Leaf on its website...

  • 2013 Tesla Model S electric sport sedan [photo by owner David Noland]
    Life With 2013 Tesla Model S: 'Vampire' Thirst For Electricity At Night?

    A couple of weeks ago, shortly after I took delivery of my 2013 Tesla Model S, I noticed that my home electric meter seemed to be running a bit faster than normal. I keep a close eye on my meter, but that seemed odd. After all, the long-awaited new luxury sport sedan delivered to my house in...

  • 2013 Tesla Model S electric sport sedan on delivery day, with owner David Noland
    Life With 2013 Tesla Model S: The Good & The Bad At 600 Miles

    Two weeks and 600 miles ago, I took delivery of a 60-kWh 2013 Tesla Model S electric sport sedan. I won't dwell on the ear-flattening acceleration, nor the magic-carpet ride and handling, nor the mesmerizing 17-inch touch screen controls. Those features have been exhaustively analyzed and reported...

  • Tesla Supercharger fast-charging system for electric cars
    Life With 2013 Tesla Model S: Getting Supercharged In Winter

    As the brand-new owner of a 60-kWh Tesla Model S, I was eager to try out a Supercharger, the ultrafast 90-kilowatt DC fast-charging stations that Tesla is establishing along Interstate highways across the country. Model S owners--and nobody else--will be able to plug in and grab up to 150 miles of...

  • 2013 Tesla Model S electric sport sedan on delivery day, with owner David Noland
    My 2013 Tesla Model S Electric Sport Sedan: Delivery at Last!

    After 1,386 days of waiting, I first glimpsed my new 2013 Tesla Model S electric sport sedan at a local discount tire store. The Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] delivery rep who was bringing the car up from the New Jersey distribution center to my house in New York's Hudson Valley had called me from the...

  • 2012 Nissan Leaf winter test
    Plug-in Electric Car Sales in Canada For January 2013

    Earlier this month, we covered January's plug-in electric car sales in the U.S., noting that sales fell by about half from the last few months of the prior year. As a percentage, plug-in cars were 0.3 percent of the American market in January 2013--down from 0.5 percent in December, but still twice...

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