Model S
85D First Impressions from TeslaMotorsClub
"The car is supposedly faster but I'm not sure if I can tell or not. The S85 felt pretty quick to me and it's been a rather long time since I drove a P85. My gut tells me this isn't a hidden replacement for the P85. However, put this thing on a curvy road and it's going to destroy a S85 and probably a P85. Like people said about the P85D this thing drives like it's on rails. It does what you tell it to do. My S85 I had some uncomfortable moments in various places where I'd hit the gas a little too hard on a turn and it'd want to keep going wherever the car was pointed. That just doesn't happen with this thing. I haven't had a ton of time or opportunity to push this car but I'm am very glad I got paid the $4k for the D. I said the other night I'm not sure if I'd have paid $5k. I can say that if I'd driven them and compared I'm pretty sure I would just pay the $5k."
This Chinese startup is giving its employees Teslas
"With the lunar new year starting Thursday, WiFi Master Key is reportedly giving every employee with more than four months with the company a Tesla for their traditional year-end bonus, according to Tech Node, a blog that follows the Chinese tech scene. That's dozens of employees, an unidentified company representative is quoted as saying. The blog said the employees will be receiving the Model S Tesla, costing the company $4.8 million. Tech Node also said eight employees have already received the cars."
Tesla Model S Battery Life: How Much Range Loss For Electric Car Over Time?
"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. That translates to a range loss of only about 21 miles, from 265 to 244 miles. The highest-mileage car in the study, which had about 52,000 miles on it, still retained about 94 percent of its battery capacity and range."
Tesla Energy
Gigafactory costs to date reach $53 million
"So far construction costs total at least $34 million through the first week of January, according to permits obtained by the Reno Gazette-Journal from the Storey County Building and Planning Department. The number does not include costs for ground clearing, retention basins and pad creation, which would further increase the amount projected for site work through the beginning of the year."
"An analysis done for the Reno Gazette-Journal by a local estimator shows pad creation at the Tesla site likely cost around $16 million. With the estimates added, construction costs to date at the gigafactory site go up to $53.1 million."
TSLA
Morgan Stanley bullish on TSLA
"In a report dated Feb. 19, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas and his team said Tesla will be capable of so much disruption in the auto industry that they’re not too worried about all the cash that will be spent this year. The report is the latest on the topic of the automaker’s insane amount of capital expenditures that are planned for this year. 'Who would you rather give $1.5bn to invest in 2015: [Tesla CEO] Elon Musk or your average auto company?' the report begins. 'The answer is clear to us. If the Model X launches in August and does the things we think it can do, we believe this stock can set new highs by year end.'"
Other News
Noted Apple blogger John Gruber chimes in on Apple car
"Why poach Tesla’s lead recruiter unless you were building an electric car? I’ve been pretty skeptical about this Apple car rumor, but where there’s smoke, there’s fire. And all of a sudden there is a lot of smoke in the air on this one."
Apple Wants to Start Producing Cars as Soon as 2020
"Apple Inc., which has been working secretly on a car, is pushing its team to begin production of an electric vehicle as early as 2020, people with knowledge of the matter said. The timeframe -- automakers typically spend five to seven years developing a car -- underscores the project’s aggressive goals and could set the stage for a battle for customers with Tesla Motors Inc. and General Motors Co., both of which are targeting a 2017 release of an electric vehicle that can go more than 200 miles on a single charge and cost less than $40,000."
"Apple may decide to scrap its car effort or delay it if executives are unhappy with progress, as they’ve done before with other secret projects, the people said. The car team, which already has about 200 people, began ramping up hiring within the past couple of months as the company sought out experts in technologies for batteries and robotics, said one of the people."
Revealed: The experts Apple hired to build an electric car
"In addition to the several notable hires from Tesla on the list, the hiring of Mujeeb Ijaz and claims that Apple is poaching A123 employees for a large scale battery operation would seem to corroborate reports that Apple is researching building a vehicle rather than just getting its software platform on the road. The scope of Apple’s new hires goes well past the level of expertise needed to provide one or two components for a vehicle, and when combined with the increasingly public testing of camera-equipped vehicles, it’s clear that Apple’s ambitions now extend well beyond CarPlay."
Former Apple exec Jean-Louis Gassée says Apple Car is fantasy
"An Apple car feels good: design, quality, service, trust. A winner. I’ll buy two. It’ll work because it’d be really great if it did… but a small matter of implementation – actually the larger Moore’s Law intrudes. The fantastic Apple Car is a fantasy."
Electric vehicle sales heat up in China
"But during the last four months of 2014, China’s electric vehicle sales skyrocketed. In December alone, monthly sales of passenger and commercial electric vehicles hit 27,000. According to data from the China Automotive Technology Research Center and the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, sales of electric cars in China surpassed sales of electric cars in the U.S. for the first time. In fact, China’s electric vehicle sales in December 2014 were almost 30 times higher than January 2014 sales."
"Many analysts say that the last four months of 2014 will be remembered as the stretch when China’s electric vehicle market finally turned a corner. If this growth continues, China may surpass the U.S. as the world’s largest market for electric vehicles in 2015."
Japan Has More Car Chargers Than Gas Stations
"There are more electric-car charging points in Japan than there are gas stations. That surprising discovery comes from Nissan Motor Co., which reported that the number of power points in Japan, including fast-chargers and those in homes, has surged to 40,000, surpassing the nation’s 34,000 gas stations."