A shoo-in for success was the Nissan Leaf. A Chevrolet Bolt that can’t be missed. The Audi e-tron, an EV to show Tesla what the big boys could do. Those electric models were praised early on as game changers, but they didn’t change the game. In the United States, hybrid cars have had a tough…
A complete teardown of a Tesla Model 3 was recently commissioned by Nikkei Business Publications. What they learned amazed them and made them announce that Tesla is at least six years ahead of the competition. Without significant disruptions to their supply chains, other automakers may never be able to keep up. And the reason? That…
Tesla has substantial influence on the automotive industry, and that’s pretty remarkable for a business that’s only been making cars for 12 years. The company has not only shown that cars can be driven by batteries and still be cool, but other, more subtle aspects are changing. For starters, cars don’t need buttons and knobs…
In the middle of September, a bug opened up charging on some of Tesla’s European Superchargers to vehicles from other manufacturers – for free. This led some to ask, if there was no technical impediment, why this couldn’t be a permanent arrangement, with a payment attached. After all, Tesla has one of the biggest charging networks in…
I’m a nerd, and I love data. I also do home energy efficiency for a living, so when I got my Tesla last year, my housemates asked me what kind of impact it would have on our electric bill, and I wanted to be able to provide some data to them — 1) to showcase…
A new report by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) shows that despite strong growth, the available charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in the EU still falls far below what is needed, and remains unevenly distributed across member states. ACEA today published the second edition of Making the Transition to Zero-Emission Mobility, an annual study which tracks…
This isn’t a typical, consistent Model Y range test, but instead, how many real-world miles you can expect before you’re stranded. In real-world everyday driving, can the Tesla Model Y Performance reach or exceed its EPA-estimated range? Here we are talking about mixed driving, not a traditional consistent range test like our norm of 70…
One of the greatest side benefits of climate action is that it creates a lot of jobs. Not only that — it creates a lot of well paying jobs. Solar installers, solar panel manufacturers, wind turbine technicians, electric vehicle engineers, electrical engineers, and the list goes on. But how many jobs? And how well do they pay?…
Tesla’s holistic, integrated approach has redefined the concept of an automaker. As Elon Musk put it on the company’s latest investor call, “Tesla is absurdly vertically integrated compared to other auto companies, or basically almost any company.” The innovator doesn’t just assemble cars: it produces many of the key components that give its vehicles an edge…
Solar energy already powers almost everything on Earth—including us. Fossil fuels, hydropower, wind—to a large extent, all of these so-called energy sources rely on stored energy that ultimately came from good old Sol. Converting the sun’s rays directly into electricity avoids the carbon emissions and many of the other environmental problems associated with other forms…