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Tesla shares (TSLA) are getting a charge from a Bloomberg report that the company will unveil a home battery and a large-scale utility battery, at an event at its Hawthorne design studio next week. Bloomberg got a hold of an email from Tesla’s investor-relations chief saying the company will explain the benefits of Tesla’s solutions compared to battery options in the past. There has been speculation that Tesla will look to challenge the traditional utility power grid with home and utility batteries, and a research note from Deutsche Bank says Tesla could be at the forefront of an energy storage...

Tesla has just introduced a new entry level car, but before you fire up your laptop to order one, you should know it's even more expensive than Tesla's current starter vehicle. The car it announced on Wednesday is called the Tesla Model S 70D and it'll start at $75,000, although buyers are eligible for a federal tax credit that brings the price down to $67,500. The Model S starts at $70,000.

Jake Pultorak chuckles at the mention of “range anxiety,” the fear among some electric vehicle owners that their car's battery will run out of juice before the driver can find a charger. “I had that as a gas-car driver, but the anxiety was over how much I had to pay to get where I was going,” said Pultorak, 44, of Franklin Park, who has owned an all-electric Tesla Model S for about two years. Worries at the gas pumps have diminished over the past nine months as the global crash in oil prices brought the cost of gasoline to its...

While Tesla Motors continues to fight it out on a state level with dealership groups—most recently gaining ground in Georgia but getting shut out in West Virginia—one thing is for sure about the automaker's product: The Tesla Model S is, again and by far, the most-loved vehicle in the U.S. The Tesla Model S, according to the market-research firm Strategic Vision, boasts figures of ‘love’ from their overall vehicle experience that handily top those for much-loved sports-car models like the Porsche Boxster and 911. A whopping 92 percent of owners of the Model S summed their experience in the top...

Electric carmaker Tesla announced Friday it delivered a "record" number of vehicles in the first quarter, as it began more timely reporting of sales figures. The California firm started by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk said it sold 10,030 cars in the first three months of 2015. "This was a new company record for the most cars delivered in a quarter and represents a 55 percent increase over the first quarter last year," the company said in a statement. Going forward, Tesla said it would publish the number of new car deliveries within three days of quarter end. "We have decided...

Author provides inside look at Argonne National Laboratory’s efforts to build a ‘super battery’ By Laura Alessio March 27, 2015 So secretive were efforts to create the first self-sustained nuclear reaction in 1942 that physicist Enrico Fermi and his Manhattan Project team quietly toiled beneath the stands of Stagg Field and communicated with each other in code.That breakthrough ushered in the nuclear age, but also led to the creation of the country’s first national lab, Argonne National Laboratory. Some 70 years later, with 20 countries racing to achieve another world-changing scientific shift—to design and build a better rechargeable “super battery”—Argonne...

Another name for electric cars is "coal-powered cars." That doesn't sit well with those who want to demonstrate their green bona fides by driving a plug-in vehicle. But it is in many cases accurate. Anyone who begs to differ can take up the argument with Chris Kennedy, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Toronto. He told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. that, depending on the province, an electric car can produce more carbon dioxide than a gasoline-powered car.

Last year, New Jersey’s state legislature told Tesla its selling style wasn’t welcome. But now, Elon Musk’s electric car company is back in the Garden State’s good graces. On Wednesday, Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill that allows Tesla to sell cars directly to consumers, Bloomberg reported. The move is part of a bill that overhauls the state’s automobile franchise laws. Under the new law, Tesla has to meet some criteria, such as maintaining a service center in New Jersey where the electric vehicles can be fixed. ... But Texas lawmakers have refused to let the company sell directly to...

<p>RENO, Nev. (AP) -- Electric-car maker Tesla Motors is denying reports that construction has been delayed on its gigafactory about 15 miles east of Reno.</p> <p>The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, in an online job posting, says the project has been delayed.</p>

The European edition of The Wall Street Journal has said in an editorial that Tesla Motors should stop accepting federal and state subsidies. “Last year Tesla made a roughly $150 million killing from selling ZEV credits. That’s up from $130 million in 2013, $32 million in 2012, and $3 million in 2011. All told in 2014 Tesla sold about $216 million in credits,” the newspaper said. It goes on to say, Capitalism needs visionaries, but its reputation suffers when companies worth billions soak middle-class taxpayers for profits. Turn off the taxpayer tap, Mr Musk. It would earn you more friends...

Meet the fast-charging, affordable ‘future’ car that Elon Musk hates By Drew Harwell February 25 at 8:00 AM The Toyota that runs on hydrogen fuel cells(3:23) Toyota's Mirai will be one of the first mass-market cars to run on hydrogen fuel cells, which convert compressed hydrogen gas to electricity, leaving water vapor as the only exhaust. (Toyota) Toyota this week officially rolled out what it's betting will mark "a turning point" in automotive history — a sleek, affordable, eco-friendly "future" car that can drive for 300 miles, takes less than five minutes to charge and comes with three years of free fuel.It's everything haters of gas-guzzling...

China’s electric car boom: should Tesla Motors worry? by  Levi Tillemann February 19, 2015, 7:00 AM EST   Up until recently, China has been an underperforming electric vehicle market, while Tesla has been an over-achieving electric vehicle company.Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk has threatened to fire key executives from his China team after weak sales of the automaker’s luxury electric cars. And last week, the company’s chief marketing officer in China resigned. Although the media widely covered the management shakeup, the press has largely ignored the context: a massive boom in China’s market for electric cars. For after years of...

War makes strange bedfellows. Over the past decade, the Koch Brothers have become a major political force, funneling money from their family company into organizations that support conservative politicians and causes--including the denial of climate change. So Charles and David Koch wouldn't seem like enthusiastic supporters of electric-car maker Tesla Motors. Yet the Koch-funded group Americans for Prosperity is one of 10 signatories on a letter sent to U.S. governors and legislators urging them to support Tesla's direct-sales business model.

... Based on 84 data points from the 85-kWh version of the Model S and six from 60-kWh cars, the study concludes that the Model S will retain about 94 percent of its capacity after 50,000 miles, with losses thereafter shrinking to about 1 percent per 30,000 miles. That means that after 100,000 miles, the typical Model S is projected to retain about 92 percent of its battery capacity and range.

Most of the debate over the building of the nation's first bullet train, in California, has focused on the economics of such a monumental undertaking and its projected $68-billion first-phase price tag. Largely ignored amid the excitement over the railway's recent official groundbreaking is the physical impact and design challenges that cities will need to grapple with as they prepare for high-speed rail. California should look to rail systems across Europe to fully understand the challenge of building a transportation hub that connects to the community. To make the most of California's once-in-a-lifetime chance at building a thriving transportation network,...

The smoke surrounding rumors of an Apple-branded vehicle has begun to thicken, as a new report says that Apple is indeed working on an all-electric vehicle that would take the shape of a minivan, with a huge team tasked to the project. Apple has given the project codename "Titan," according to the Wall Street Journal. The company is said to have "several hundred" employees working in the group. Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly green-lighted the project almost a year ago, and company executives have already begun to meet with potential contract manufacturers, including Canadian firm Magna Steyr. Apple iPod and...

Apple is recruiting experts in automotive technology and vehicle design to work at a new top-secret research lab, said several people familiar with the company, pointing to ambitions that go beyond the dashboard. Dozens of Apple employees, led by experienced managers from its iPhone unit, are researching automotive products at a confidential Silicon Valley location outside the company’s Cupertino campus, the people said. Sir Jonathan Ive’s team of Apple designers has held regular meetings with automotive executives and engineers in recent months, in some cases trying to hire them. Recent recruits to Apple’s team include the head of Mercedes-Benz’s Silicon...

31 car companies and counting. Apple is closing in on adding every major, or exotic, car manufacturer on the planet to their CarPlay solution. Third party makers such as Alpine and Pioneer are also making aftermarket CarPlay receivers. Kenwood said only months ago it really did not need CarPlay, but in early January at the Detroit Auto Show, Kenwood announced its forthcoming CarPlay decks, as did JVC. The four major aftermarket deck manufactures are now building for CarPlay. High-end smartphone market share was clearly going to shape which platforms auto makers would support, and Apple is dominating the U.S....

Go to the link for details, but herein I break it down for ya bruvva Introducing styluses Small iPads Large screen iPhones Lifelike-looking software/icons ("skeuomorphism") Restoring philanthropy

Though initially heralded by Elon Musk as Tesla’s biggest potential market after the United States, China is shaping up to be an enormous blind spot for the electric car maker. Tesla sold just 120 cars in China last month, according to Reuters -- a dismal figure that has Musk seeing red. He allegedly blasted out an email to managers in China in January threatening to fire and demote executives who were “not on a clear path to positive long-term cash flow.” And so it is. Today, June Jin, Tesla’s vice president of communications in China, has left the company, Bloomberg...