tesla

The time for talk is over; electric cars are hitting the streets. Over the next few years, at least 14 electric car models are slated for mass production. Although Tesla took an early lead with its Roadster in 2008, the risky move by Nissan to put the Leaf on sale late last year appears to have opened the flood gates. Now, names such as Ford, Honda, and Toyota are ready to join the fray.

Many of the electric cars hitting the road in the next couple of years will first find their ways into testing programs, leased to utilities and … Read more

If you're in the market for a cheap thrill, add Getaround to your list. The start-up car-sharing program lets members rent a fusion red Tesla Roadster Sport for only $25 an hour.

Getaround is a new peer-to-peer car rental start-up that lets people offer their own vehicles for rent, including luxury exotics. Insurance is provided by the San Francisco-based company, and renters are responsible for gas. Its business model is similar to Google-backed RelayRides, but the company requires members to use Facebook Connect for sign-up and rental.

To rent a car, members use Getaround's Web site or its … Read more

Tesla Motors, manufacturer of the Roadster electric sports car and supplier of EV components, has released information about its upcoming Model S sedan's development cycle.

Tesla is breaking the S' preproduction testing into two phases, alpha and beta. Within each phase the automaker will be building multiple test mules as it attempts to home in on its targeted performance, range, and crash safety. Tesla also notes that the Alpha development phase has been in progress since last year, quoting its Vehicle Dynamicist Graham Sutherland when he states, "The first Alpha is amazingly agile for a car of its … Read more

Feeling that electric cars were getting a bad rap due to a BBC correspondent's four-day journey from London to Edinburgh in a Mini E, a Tesla driver took to the road and made the over 400-mile trip in a day, ultimately getting to Scotland before the BBC.

BBC correspondent Brian Milligan set out to drive the electric-powered Mini E from London to Edinburgh, with stops at public charging stations whenever necessary. It took him four days to complete the trip on his 484-mile route, and he reported an average speed--taking charging time into account--of 6 mph. Toward the end of the journey Milligan was shivering from the cold, as using the heater would have lessened the car's range. … Read more

LAS VEGAS--After dominating PC graphics, Nvidia set its sights on other industries, most recently getting into the automotive sector, powering navigation system graphics in Audi cars. Now Nvidia announces a partnership with BMW to power the graphics in all of its infotainment systems.

In Audi navigation systems, the Nvidia GPU allows rich 3D building and landscape rendering. BMW's current high-end navigation systems also employ rich 3D maps, but the Nvidia GPU should improve rendering speed. Nvidia says its GPU will enable 1280x600 resolution graphics in BMW's next generation infotainment system.

A prototype of the new infotainment system will … Read more

During practice sessions for the Race of Champions last week, two Tesla Roadsters got a real workout in the hands of such professional racing drivers as Michael Schumacher, Sebastien Loeb, and Alain Prost.

Video of one of the races shows Schumacher and Loeb battling it out on the parallel track, the cars taking the many curves in eerie silence. With the heavily designed indoor course and the brightly colored cars, they almost look like toys.

As they were run as an exhibition, no winners were declared for the races in the Tesla Roadsters.

The Race of Champions is a yearly … Read more

Tesla got a great deal on the NUMMI plant in its deal with Toyota this year, but what does Toyota get out of it? At the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show, Toyota let us know, pulling the wraps off of its RAV4 EV Concept powered by Tesla. However, the EV wasn't the production-bound model that many were expecting. Rather, what we were shown was more of a stepping stone to a more complete vehicle that may come later.

To call the RAV4 EV a glorified test mule would be understating things a bit. Then again, the concept is built … Read more

Japanese electronics giant and battery manufacturer Panasonic has invested $30 million in Tesla Motors, the U.S. automaker best-known for its all-electric luxury sports car, both companies announced Thursday.

Per the terms of the deal, Panasonic, which already has a working relationship with Tesla through their battery pack collaboration, purchased Tesla common stock at $21.15 per share, acquiring approximately a 2 percent stake in the company.

Tesla, which also builds power trains for use in electric vehicles in addition to manufacturing cars, has previously used battery components from a variety of companies. But the company announced Thursday that it &… Read more