Tesla News
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The Los Angeles Police Department will buy 100 BMW i3 electric cars for non-emergency use. The LAPD announced plans for this order last year, when it took delivery of an i3 and a Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] Model S for testing. It turns out officers preferred the i3. ALSO SEE: 2017 Volvo S90 first drive review While some U.S. cities already operate small fleets of electric cars, the LAPD order likely represents the largest for electric police cars in the U.S. so far. The cars will be used for auxiliary functions, like transporting officers and community-outreach initiatives. All cars will wear...
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Musk: 37 of 40 Tesla Model S suspension complaints were fraudulent
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently examined the suspension of the Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] Model S after receiving a number of complaints about parts breaking. The CEO of the electric car company Elon Musk revealed in a Twitter post on Friday that NHTSA determined...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
NHTSA probes Tesla Model S suspension
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is examining suspension components on Tesla Motors’ [NSDQ:TSLA] Model S sedan after receiving dozens of complaints of parts breaking. According to The New York Times, NHTSA received 33 complaints, including one where a suspension ball joint...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Tesla Model S price dropped to $67,200 for new 60-kwh option
You can now buy a Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] Model S from as low as $67,200 thanks to a new entry-level model with a 60-kilowatt-hour rating. The car comes with rear-wheel drive (Model S 60) though for an additional $5,000 buyers can take home an all-wheel-drive version (Model S 60D). Until recently...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Model X accelerating out of parking spot was driver error, says Tesla
A Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] Model X owner while recently parking his electric SUV ending up crashing into a nearby building. The owner, who goes by the name “Puzant” on Tesla’s official forum, claimed the car, which was only five days old, accelerated by itself. Tesla on Monday...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Musk: Software fix coming for Model X doors
Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] CEO Elon Musk says a software update to be released by the automaker soon will fix a host of problems related to the "falcon wing" doors that are a signature feature of its Model X crossover. Since its launch, the Model X has been plagued with complaints from consumers...
Andrew Ganz -
One of the advantages of buying Tesla Motors’ [NSDQ:TSLA] Model S or Model X over a rival electric car is that it gives you free access to a growing network of high-speed charging stations, referred to by the company as Superchargers. However, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has made it clear the feature won’t be free for the upcoming Model 3, though he stressed there will be a package available to ensure owners will still be able to use the charging stations. READ: Smart, Tesla bottom of pack for software glitches “So it will still be very cheap, and far cheaper than gasoline, to drive...
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Smart, Tesla bottom of pack for software glitches
In a new study, findings revealed that Smart and Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA], which represent two very different ends of the automotive market, are both subject to the most complaints from consumers to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regarding defects in their software systems...
Andrew Ganz -
Data reveals BMW is most cross-shopped against Tesla
Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] buyers are generally pretty set in their ways, but research suggests some surprising buying habits that should have established German car brands on high alert as the electric car manufacturer readies its relatively inexpensive Model 3. Bloomberg, using data from Edmunds...
Andrew Ganz -
Tesla Model S to tackle Pikes Peak Hill Climb
Electric cars have proven to be the weapon of choice for many tackling the Pikes Peak Hill Climb in recent years. In fact, last year’s overall winner was powered solely by a battery and electric motor. The air gets thinner the higher you go up and this has a detrimental effect on the...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Startup teases new recruits with Tesla Model 3
Imagine your first day at scientific instruments manufacturer Practichem: You're issued a company badge, a laptop, and... a Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] Model 3. That's what the Raleigh, North Carolina startup is promising new employees. The company is looking to recruit 10 new employees and, according...
Andrew Ganz -
Tesla to raise $2 billion with stock sale
Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] has confirmed via a Securities and Exchange Commission filing it plans to sell new stock in a bid to raise as much as $2 billion. About $1.4 billion will be raised by the sale of new shares while the rest will come from the sale of CEO Elon Musk’s own shares to cover...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
A new investigation accuses Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] of using cheap Eastern European labor to expand its assembly plant in Silicon Valley, but it is the automaker's response to the situation that is garnering the most attention. The San Jose Mercury-News published a detailed report last weekend that alleges, among other things, that either Tesla or its contractors imported up to 140 workers from Croatia and Slovenia and paid them a mere $5 per hour to build a new paint shop vital to the company's expansion. The paint shop will be used in the production of the automaker's Model 3 compact...
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LAPD tests out Tesla Model S as patrol car
If Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] gets its way, the next set of flashing lights in your rearview mirror very well could be attached to a high-zoot electric car. The California electric car brand has loaned a pair of Model S P85Ds to the Los Angeles Police Department for testing purposes. ALSO SEE...
Andrew Ganz -
Turkey’s electric car will be better than a Tesla, says science minister
Turkey is working on a national car, one powered by an extended-range electric drivetrain. The development is led by Turkey’s Scientific and Technical Research Council (TÜBİTAK), and the country’s Science, Industry and Technology Minister Fikri Isik is so (over)confident of the...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
New Tesla Model S 75D arrives... with same battery as 70D
Depending on how you look at it, Tesla Motors' [NSDQ:TSLA] announcement that its new Model S 75D is really just a software update over the 70D is either great news or a shady move. The new 75D doesn't actually have a different battery than the 70D. Instead, 75Ds will simply contain software that...
Andrew Ganz -
Tesla targets 90,000 cars this year, 500,000 as early as 2018
Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] has said multiple times it plans to produce 500,000 electric cars per year by 2020, but now the company believes it may hit that goal a little earlier. In its latest shareholder letter, Tesla said it plans to move the 500,000-unit goal up to 2018. And in a conference call...
Stephen Edelstein -
Tesla's HEPA air filter "hundreds of times" more effective than standard units
Electric car brand Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] says it is developed a HEPA air filtration system designed to clear up the outside world before it enters a vehicle's cabin. The filtering system is so clean that Tesla claims you could "survive a military grade bio attack" using it. HEPA, an acronym for...
Andrew Ganz -
The hype surrounding the Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] Model 3 is undeniable. It has received an astounding amount of interest in the form of 400,000 or so pre-orders. People literally lined up just to fork over $1,000 for a car they had yet to see and have definitely never driven. Now the hype should get even more insane. CEO Elon Musk, responding to a question via Twitter, has confirmed the Model 3 will indeed be available with Ludicrous Mode. This is the crazy setting on the Model S and Model X that allows for exceptionally quick dashes from 0-60 mph. It sends all of the available power to the...
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Elon Musk says almost everyone will be able to buy next Tesla
Although about 400,000 people have already raised their hands to buy the not-yet-on-sale Tesla Model 3, company founder Elon Musk has an even wider audience in mind for his company's next act. Speaking last week at the Future Transport Solutions conference in Norway, a small market that has...
Andrew Ganz -
Tesla's upgraded Model S is the first 300-mile electric car
The first mass-production electric car to boast a highway range greater than 300 miles on a single charge is here. It's the 2016 Tesla Model S 90D. Tesla's updated Model S 90D is now rated at 303.2 miles of highway range, according to measurements taken by the EPA. CHECK OUT: How turbocharger...
Andrew Ganz -
Tesla to offer free Autopilot month-long trial for current owners
Owners of Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] Model S and Model X electric vehicles who didn't pony up for the automaker's Autopilot semi-autonomous system can test it out for a month for free. If they like it, they can add the software—the hardware is already there—for $3,000. The prize for...
Andrew Ganz -
Tesla Model 3 pre-orders approach 400,000
It’s now been two weeks since Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] started taking pre-orders for its upcoming Model 3. After the first week, CEO Elon Musk confirmed that 325,000 people around the globe had pre-ordered the car and placed a deposit, helping top up Tesla’s coffers by almost a third of...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Tesla upgrades Model X's base battery, raises price
The entry-level version of Tesla's new Model X crossover may have just hit the market recently, but the electric vehicle builder has already upgraded its battery—and its price. The Model X 70D is gone, replaced with the 75D. Actually, the 70D never existed as Tesla hasn't built the base model...
Andrew Ganz