Tesla News

  • Tesla Store Los Angeles [photo: Misha Bruk / MBH Architects]

    Since Tesla began selling electric cars directly to customers throughout the U.S., the electric-vehicle maker has had to play franchise-law whack-a-mole in multiple state courts. On Tuesday, Tesla scored a decisive victory when the Missouri Court of Appeals reversed a lower court's ruling that would have left Tesla without a state dealer license. In the court's ruling, the judge criticized the tactics of the Missouri Auto Dealers Association, Tesla's opponent. DON'T MISS: Tesla can still sell cars in Missouri stores, pending appeal, after dealer lobby lauds victory According to the St. Louis...

  • 2017 Tesla Model 3, 2017 Los Angeles Auto Show
    How many Model 3s will Tesla deliver by Dec 31? Twitter poll results, again

    What a difference a few months makes. In June, one month before the delivery of the first 30 Tesla Model 3, we polled our Twitter followers on how many of the lower-priced electric cars Tesla would deliver by the end of this year. The view then was pretty rosy, with more than half the respondents...

  • Tesla Semi
    Tesla Semi, Roadster battery claims prove puzzling: beyond current knowledge?

    Since Tesla’s reveal of its new Semi and Roadster models, many technical analysts have been left scratching their collective heads. How can Tesla promise performance metrics far exceeding what’s currently physically and economically possible? According to one analyst, it may not be a...

  • 2017 Tesla Model 3 electric car online configurator
    Configuring a Tesla Model 3: buyer walks through the process with us

    Very few of the 455,000 people who put down $1,000 to reserve a place in line for the Tesla Model 3 electric car have received the opportunity yet to configure their cars online and place a firm order. The volume of Model 3s is still apparently at low numbers—a few hundred last month...

  • Hyundai Heavy Industries' 50-megawatt ESS
    Tesla's huge Australia battery won't last as world's largest: Hyundai in the wings

    As Elon Musk basks in the glow of meeting his 100-day challenge to install the world's largest utility battery in South Australia, another company is looking to take his crown. Hyundai Electric & Energy Systems Co. announced on November 23 it took an order for an industrial energy-storage...

  • 2020 Tesla Roadster
    Life with Tesla Model S: musings on new Tesla Roadster

    Like almost everyone else, I was blown away by Tesla’s surprise introduction of a second-generation Roadster at the recent semi-truck reveal event. Zero to sixty in 1.9 seconds, a 620-mile range, gorgeous sleek lines, and a price of $200,000. Mind-blowing indeed. But a few of the new...

  • 2017 Tesla Model 3

    Within the last week, we wrote that not one major automotive media outlet had independently tested the less-expensive and higher-volume Tesla Model 3. That changed on Monday, when Motor Trend published the first instrumented test of Tesla's affordable electric car. This gives us the first independent look at the performance and specifications of the Model 3 Long Range, the version tested. DON'T MISS: Tesla Model 3 video review compares lower-priced electric car to Model S The first test took the Model 3 Long Range through a standard battery of tests: acceleration, braking, roadholding on a...

  • 2017 Tesla Model 3, in photo tweeted by Elon Musk on July 9, 2017
    How many Model 3s will Tesla deliver by Dec 31? Take our Twitter poll, again

    More than five months ago, before the 2017 Tesla Model 3 officially launched, we published the results of a poll asking how many of the lower-priced electric cars would be delivered by the end of this year. Survey respondents on Twitter were optimistic, with more than half suggesting Tesla would...

  • Chinese electric-car startup SF Motors headquarters
    Chinese electric-car startup SF Motors bought Tesla founder's battery-tech firm

    Although Elon Musk is the name now associated with Tesla, the current CEO was not a founding figure in the electric-car startup. That honor goes to two men, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. Eberhard subsequently sparred with Musk in and outside of court. Following his time at Tesla, Eberhard...

  • Video review of 2017 Tesla Model 3 electric car by Matt Pressman, Evannex [frame from YouTube video]
    Tesla Model 3 video review compares lower-priced electric car to Model S

    There have been no full reviews of the 2017 Tesla Model 3 to date by automotive media outlets, meaning professional test drivers spend a few days with the car putting it through a standard battery of tests. A few early video reviews, apparently by owners, have also vanished from the Internet...

  • Tesla South Australia lithium-ion battery storage
    Tesla builds world's largest lithium-ion battery, for utility use, in Australia

    Tesla CEO Elon Musk made a bet that he'd build the world's largest lithium-ion battery in Australia in 100 days. If his company failed, Musk would personally pay for the project, but the battery is now ready for its first test ahead of full operation—and on schedule. The massive...

  • Tesla Semi
    Tesla Semi, new Roadster distract from Model 3 production problems

    Never let it be said that Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his event producers are not masters of showmanship. Last night's launch of the Tesla Semi heavy-duty commercial truck tractor came with a surprise: a new Tesla Roadster emerged from the back of the trailer. The wow factor was ... high. DON'T MISS...

  • Tesla Semi

    The long-awaited Tesla Semi electric truck was unveiled Thursday night and it promises to shake up the shipping industry by significantly reducing the cost of transporting goods from point-to-point. Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled the Semi at a private event in California, where he touted a 500-mile range when loaded to 80,000-pound maximum weight allowed under federal highway regulations for Class 8 trucks. DON'T MISS: Tesla Roadster returns with ferocious power Musk said that the Semi's battery can be topped off to a 400-mile range in 30 minutes. That 500 mile figure is about half the range of...

  • 2020 Tesla Roadster
    Tesla Roadster is back: 0-60 in 1.9 seconds, 620-mile range

    What's old is new again. The Tesla Roadster is back, company CEO Elon Musk revealed Thursday night at a special event in California. Forget about the old, Lotus-derived Roadster. This latest 2020 Tesla Roadster is shapely, sprints from 0-60 mph in just 1.9 seconds, 0-100 mph in 4.2 seconds, and...

  • Dutch "Hesla," a hydrogen fuel cell-powered Tesla Model S
    A Tesla Model S that runs on hydrogen fuel cells? Dutch firm claims it built one

    Tesla has never built anything but battery-electric cars. Now a Dutch gasoline company believes it's improved upon the Silicon Valley automaker's design with a hydrogen fuel cell—so much so that it wants to sell its solution to the general public. The Holthausen Group, a Dutch gasoline...

  • Tesla Motors, Palo Alto, California
    Odds for auto startups are incredibly high; can Tesla beat them?

    Much of the energy and growth in the U.S. economy comes not from large corporations but from small startup companies, as economic data shows. By now, the model of a young, energetic entrepreneur with a bright idea who turns it into a world-changing business is well established. Think Facebook or...

  • Tesla Model 3 via Model 3 Owners' Club video
    Tesla Model 3 owners' club video offers new details on electric car

    First-hand details about the Tesla Model 3 remain almost as rare as the cars themselves; Tesla has built only a few hundred Model 3 electric cars since its launch in July Now a new video provides an incredibly in-depth look at Tesla's mass-production car, though we suspect it may have been approved...

  • 2017 Tesla Model 3 "first production" car, in photo tweeted by Elon Musk on July 9, 2017
    Just 260 Tesla Model 3s built in three months, volume production delayed: Q3 results and call

    Only one topic really mattered in the Tesla third-quarter financial results call for analysts held Wednesday afternoon: Model 3. In light of far lower September deliveries than promised as late as July by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, all interest focused on the more-affordable, higher-volume electric car...

  • 2017 Tesla Model 3, in photo tweeted by Elon Musk on July 9, 2017

    Relatively few auto-company CEOs would publicly mention sleeping on the roof of one of their factory buildings. But Tesla CEO Elon Musk is not like most other chief executives of auto companies. Most also don't break news via tweet, for instance. A tweet by Musk Thursday evening referred to the eighth circle of Hell and suggested he'd slept on the roof of the Tesla Gigafactory outside Reno, Nevada. DON'T MISS: Tesla: Model 3 production problems prompt electric Semi delay Now comes more concerning news over the pace of rollout of the company's critically important Tesla Model 3, the...

  • Tesla Supercharger for city centers
    Tesla Model 3 fast-charging at Superchargers will not be free

    Before production of the Tesla Model 3 began, company CEO Elon Musk promised Tesla would offer owners some sort of free Supercharger use. Specifically, Musk said, "free long-distance charging is [included]," which led many reservation holders to believe they would receive free Supercharger credits...

  • Polestar 1
    Polestar's second, third cars will be all-electric, one to challenge Tesla Model 3

    While Tesla works out the production bottlenecks that plague the Model 3, rivals continue to gear up to challenge the Silicon Valley maker's more affordable electric car. Specifically, Tesla's latest announced competitor comes from the new brand at Volvo Cars Group, named Polestar, which has become...

  • 2017 Tesla Model 3 "first production" car, in photo tweeted by Elon Musk on July 9, 2017
    How will Tesla Model 3 do over the next year? Poll results

    If ever a car were in "production hell"—to use Tesla CEO Elon Musk's memorable phrase—the Tesla Model 3 is, right around now. From the first hand-built Model 3s delivered in late July through the end of September, fewer than 300 cars have gone to buyers—far short of the 1,500...

  • 2014 Tesla Model S in China
    Tesla to build electric-car factory in Chinese free-trade zone: report

    China is the world's largest car market, and the country plans to phase out sales of new vehicles with combustion engines in the future. Tesla makes and sells only electric cars, and it aspires to become a volume automaker, meaning China is key to its future. The Chinese government effectively...

  • 2017 Tesla Model 3 "first production" car, in photo tweeted by Elon Musk on July 9, 2017
    What's ahead for Tesla Model 3? Take our Twitter poll

    Auto-industry CEOs virtually never admit that the new product that could make or break the company is "in production hell," but that's now obviously the case for the Tesla Model 3. Deliveries last months totaled just 220 units, far below Tesla CEO Elon Musk's July projection of 1,500 during...

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