With a collective gasp and puzzled looks, the world was recently introduced to Tesla’s newest vehicle. The so-called Cybertruck is an angular, stainless steel, all-electric pickup truck that quickly became polarizing.
The launch didn’t go very smoothly. The truck’s windows shattered when its lead designer smashed them with a metal ball, causing Tesla founder Elon Musk to curse under his breath. Some love its futuristic look. Others hate it. Even Lego made fun of it.
When Wendy Bedolla got into her Tesla Model 3 Thursday morning there was a message waiting for her.
“Stay Fully Charged,” the message on the car’s big computer screen said. “A utility company in your area announced they may turn off power in some areas of Northern California beginning October 9 as part of public safety power shutoffs, which may affect power to charging options.”
Most Americans aren’t interested in electric vehicles. That’s a cold fact.
I won’t cite a bunch of statistics (that may seem encouraging but actually are not). Just look around you.
2020 is almost here but it’s still wall-to-wall gas cars. And it’s not just inertia. All those new cars are gas too.
Self-driving cars are a shared ambition among Google, Tesla, Apple, Uber and Lyft, among other automotive, tech and ridesharing companies. For Uber and Lyft specifically, it’s a matter of cutting costs. However, fiscal expediency is not the main benefit of this emerging technology. Roughly 94 percent of traffic accidents are caused by human error, and to many, autonomous vehicles (AVs) seem to be our only path toward lessening related fatalities. In addition, driverless cars have other benefits, such as lower fuel consumption, lower CO2 emissions and a reduction in congestion. Here are the main ways they stand to change our lives and carve out a lane in the consumer marketplace, as well as the challenges this fledgling sector will need to overcome.
Tesla has streamlined its pricing on the Model S and Model X. And there’s something to be said for that.
The car company on Tuesday removed the Standard Range versions of its Model S and Model X, effectively eliminating the two cheapest versions of its popular cars. The move means the base model Model S now jumps from $75,000 to $79,990 and the base model Model X now costs $84,990, up from $81,000.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has proclaimed unfaltering adoration for his electric car company’s Autopilot feature on highways. But after a recent update meant to make it easier to use the semi-autonomous system, not everyone is so keen on the advanced-driving assistance tool.
Review service and publication Consumer Reports blasted Navigate on Autopilot on Wednesday following Tesla’s updates to the assistance tool last month. The automatic lane-changing and speed-suggesting system, which only works on certain highways, had several issues.
“We found that Navigate on Autopilot lagged far behind a human driver’s skill set,” the publication’s Keith Barry wrote.
THE DETROIT AUTO Show circa 2004: Gas prices are low. Auto sales are is good. Bigger is better. The only electrics on the floor are the hybrids brought along by the Japanese automakers like Toyota and Honda. Tesla is a Silicon Valley startup with big ideas, safely ignored. Cars are machines that people buy, own, and drive themselves. Automakers are taking the wraps off their latest machines, talking up power and comfort while the metal gleams in the spotlights.
Tesla has reported a quarterly profit for just the third time in its 15-year history.
The electric car-maker made a record $311.5m (£241m) in the three months to 30 September, as the pace of car deliveries accelerated.
The result is a victory for chief executive Elon Musk, who had promised a profit to investors earlier this year.
Tesla’s last profitable quarter came in 2016 and it had faced mounting questions about its finances.
Is Tesla taking merch too far?
Elon Musk has a knack for selling weird branded merchandise that has nothing to do with what his companies actually do — remember The Boring Company’s flamethrowers? Or the $400 leather jackets made from the same automotive grade leather that adorns Tesla interiors?
Tesla added surfboards to its gift shop on Saturday. The surfboards, which were briefly available for the perfectly reasonable price of $1,500, is a collaboration between Tesla Design Studio and Lost Surfboards.
The Hong Kong government’s decision to scrap a tax break for electric vehicles has had a dramatic effect on sales of Tesla cars in the city, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Data analysis from The Journal has shown that zero new Tesla Model S sedans and Model X SUVs were registered with the transport department in April, after the vehicle-registration tax waiver for electrics was discontinued at the start of that month.
Following that, just five privately owned electric cars were registered in May.
The Journal reported a sales surge just before the April 1 rule change, with 2,939 Tesla vehicles registered in March and nearly 3,700 entering the department’s books for the first quarter of 2017. The end of the tax break was announced in February.
Dispatches From The Front 