tesla

Tesla's model ramp-up is looking rapid indeed, as Franz von Holzhausen, the electric vehicle maker's chief designer, talked to British publication Autocar of a new model planned for 2015 to compete with the BMW 3-series. Tesla's Model S, the first car it built from the ground up, began deliveries to customers just last month. Tesla also showed off a new concept, the Model X crossover, earlier this year, which enters production at the end of 2013.

Von Holzhausen said Tesla would target a price of $30,000 for the BMW 3 competitor, and would experiment with more-radical … Read more

Few countries can boast as vibrant an auto industry as the United States of America. Our Henry Ford revolutionized how cars are built, while quite a few other start-ups participated in the early days of this industry. For decades, the industry was dominated by the Big 3: Ford, Chrysler, and GM. Now, of course, the story is a bit more complicated, with U.S. companies building some cars abroad and some foreign companies running plants here, employing thousands. But this selection of cars represents the most historic United States marques, and one all-American newcomer.… Read more

FREMONT, Calif.--Lined up before me were 10 examples of the Model S, newly off the production line, the result of years of investment and development. This silent herd awaited a group of journalists eager to finally get their hands on the wheel and foot on the accelerator. We were here to see if Tesla had fulfilled its promise of building an electric car that could compete with those from likes of Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz.

Certainly from the exterior, the car looked desirable. Although it's billed as a sedan, a hatch sat between the Model S' big rear … Read more

Friday, June 22, is a big day for Tesla, and possibly a landmark for the automotive industry as well. It marks the first deliveries of the all-electric Tesla Model S to customers.

With a range of more than 250 miles for the top-end models, the Model S comes out as the most practical electric car yet. Given its range and luxury sedan packaging, it is likely to become a daily driver for its owners, who will also benefit from the fact that the car costs about a tenth to run as a gasoline-engine car.

Tesla will hold an event at … Read more

Ahead of the first customer deliveries of the Tesla Model S electric car on Friday, Nvidia issued a press release detailing the use of its Tegra Visual Computing Module (VCM) in the car's dashboard. The use of the Tegra processor to not only run the graphics on the car's 17-inch LCD, but also power the 3D digital instrument cluster accentuates the cutting-edge technology embodied in the Model S.

The Model S will use two of the Nvidia VCMs, one for the infotainment system and one for the instrument cluster. The former includes all the processing needed to generate … Read more

You may not be one of the lucky ones picking up keys to a Tesla Model S this week, but at least you can watch how each of the electric sedans gets made.

Tesla uploaded to YouTube a "behind-the-scenes" video of the Model S assembly process in advance of the vehicle's delivery start date. The 2-minute video shows the electric sedan being built by uniformed plant workers at the company's Fremont, Calif., manufacturing facility.

Customer deliveries of the electric vehicle will begin on Friday, as will customer test-drives. So far, two are in the hands of … Read more

If electricity pioneer Nikola Tesla designed a weapon, it very well might look like Rob Flickenger's Tesla Gun.

The self-described "mad science" enthusiast dreamed up a Tesla rifle after reading the graphic novel "The Five Fists of Science," which features a cover image of a young Tesla wielding several weapons with a built-in Tesla coil.

Flickenger tapped "Seattle's many hackerspaces" to help design and build the Tesla coil cannon over the course of many months. The high-voltage gun balances seriously dangerous science and an array of everyday electrical components capable of firing off 20,000 volts of hair-raising power with a simple click of a trigger. … Read more

Tesla announced a goal of 300 miles for the range of its Model S electric sedan early in its development. As the company came closer to production, it said that only the top-trim Model S, with an 85-kilowatt-hour battery pack, would achieve the 300-mile figure. Less expensive versions of the car, with 60- and 40-kilowatt-hour batteries, would hit 230 miles and 160 miles, respectively.

Today, in a somewhat technical and involved blog post from Tesla founder Elon Musk and CTO JB Straubel, the company revealed that the 85-kilowatt-hour Model S only achieved a range of 265 miles.

The post initially … Read more

Toyota showed off its RAV4 EV, the electric version of the RAV4 compact SUV, as a concept about a year and half ago at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show. The wraps came off the production version of this new electric car this week, showing some speedy automobile development indeed.

More impressive is that the deal between Toyota and Tesla to develop the electric RAV4, on the heels of Toyota's decision to sell Tesla its NUMMI auto manufacturing plant, came less than two years ago. This is a car with a completely different drivetrain than that of the car on which it is based. Most model updates take longer to put into production.… Read more