Issue 37
Model S
Tesla Gains Ground in Direct Sales With Signing of Maryland Bill
"Tesla Motors Inc. won another battle to bypass auto dealers as Maryland Governor Larry Hogan signed a bill allowing the electric-car maker to sell directly to consumers. The new law permits manufacturers and distributors with 'only electric or nonfossil-fuel-burning vehicles' to be authorized as auto dealers, according to a statement from the governor’s office. Known as the Tesla bill, it takes effect Oct. 1, allowing approved manufacturers to operate as many as four locations."
Direct-to-consumer auto sales: It’s not just about Tesla
"A fundamental principle of competition is that consumers – not regulation – should determine what they buy and how they buy it. Consumers may benefit from the ability to buy cars directly from manufacturers – whether they are shopping for luxury cars or economy vehicles. The same competition principles should apply in either case... Our point: States should allow consumers to choose not only the cars they buy, but also how they buy them."
Who’s Responsible when a Driverless Car Crashes? Tesla’s Got an Idea
"The Palo Alto, Calif., electric-car maker soon will begin activating semiautonomous features, including the capability to pass other cars without driver intervention, in its Model S sedans. A driver can trigger the passing function by hitting the turn signal, according to people familiar with the technology. That action not only tells the car it can pass, but also means the driver has given thought to whether the maneuver is safe. While it might seem a minor detail, having drivers activate the turn signal could help auto makers like Tesla avoid a regulatory pile up."
Top Gear: Tesla Model S P85D
"Brain-rewiringly quick. Even that bruising - and entirely believable - 0-60mph stat doesn't capture the manner in which the P85D picks up off the line. There's no wheel-spin, no traction control stutter, no driveline shunt. With its full 686lb ft of torque available from standstill, the instant you mash the throttle, the Tesla simply hooks itself into the tarmac and Millennium-Falcons off down the road. Top Gear, as you'll know, is not one to blithely embrace the latest, shiniest fad, particularly when it comes to alternative fuels. But the P85D truly feels like a paradigm shift in motoring, the point at which the electric car moves from interesting theory into petrol-pummeling reality."
Car and Driver: 2015 Tesla Model S 70D Car of the Century?
"The recent expansion of the lineup to provide four distinct Model S, er, models warrants an award grander than the 10Best Cars recognition we bestowed upon the S earlier this year: our nomination for 'Car of the 21st Century' honors. Combining the aforementioned virtues with significant new features and a modest increase in price makes the Tesla Model S 70D reviewed here the new ultimate in four-door sedan engineering and technology."
Norway reviews car taxes, reaffirms electric subsidies after boom
"Norway's government said on Tuesday it would review high taxes on cars but reaffirmed some of the world's most generous subsidies for electric vehicles, which mean one in five cars sold in the Nordic nation so far in 2015 is battery-powered."
Gigafactory
Tesla Motors hiring for 30 gigafactory positions
"Tesla Motors' gigafactory workforce is starting to take shape as the company posted 30 job openings for its $5 billion lithium-ion battery plant being built just east of Reno. The job openings cover the gamut of responsibilities ranging from technical positions such as engineers and technicians to work involving supply chain development and facility management."
Tesla Energy’s goal? Changing the “energy infrastructure of the world”
"In 2013, Tesla approached Jackson Family Wineries through the vintner's electricity management software provider, EnerNOC (also a Tesla Energy partner), and pitched the idea of battery storage. Over the following two years, Tesla performed energy load analysis at the various vineyards and created a tailored system for the company, finally delivering the 21 power pack units in January and February of this year. Currently, Jackson Family Wines uses the battery storage to perform 'peak-shaving,' opting to use battery-stored energy for power-intensive tasks. But Gervreau says the batteries have the software to be 'smarter,' and they will eventually automate the conversation that PG&E has with Jackson Family Wineries on the handful of days during summer months when the power grids get overloaded."
Tesla Powerwall Price DOES = $3,000 (Retail)
"As you all know, I’ve been having a lot of fun working with a few readers to dig into the price of Tesla’s Powerwall a bit, and how it compares to competing products. However, something we’ve been assuming, and that I’ve seen all over the interwebs, is apparently wrong. The assumption has been that the $3,000 price for a Powerwall is the wholesale price. I reached out to Treehouse this week, one of the initially listed Powerwall partners, to find out what kind of markup it would be putting on the Powerwall. I was informed that the Powerwall will actually retail at $3,000 on the site. Wow."
TSLA
Tesla hires head Apple recruiter after losing own recruiter to Apple Car team
"Tesla has taken its recruiting of Apple employees to the next level: the electric car and energy company has hired away Apple’s Senior Director of Corporate Recruiting, Cindy Nicola, to become Tesla’s new Vice President of Global Recruiting. Nicola has already noted her new role and start month of May on her LinkedIn profile."
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s Space Dream Almost Killed Tesla
"As for Tesla, Musk made a last-ditch effort to raise all the personal funds he could. He took out a loan from SpaceX, which NASA approved—Musk did not want to mess up his chance for a contract—and earmarked the money for Tesla. He went to the secondary markets to try to sell some of his shares in SolarCity, a solar panel installer where he served as chairman. He lucked into about $15 million that came through when Dell acquired a data center software startup called Everdream, founded by Musk’s cousins, in which he had invested. Musk finally put together about $20 million and asked Tesla’s existing investors—since no new investors materialized—to match that figure."
Google's secret apartment for meeting with Elon Musk
"George Zachary, a venture capitalist and friend of Musk, was present for one of these meetings and described it to Vance saying the following: I was there once, and Elon was talking about building an electric jet plane that can take off and land vertically. Larry said the plane should be able to land on ski slopes, and Sergey said it needed to be able to dock at a port in Manhattan. Then they started talking about building a commuter plane that was always circling the Earth, and you'd hop up to it and get places incredibly fast. I thought everyone was kidding, but at the end I asked Elon, 'Are you really going to do that?' And he said, 'Yes.'"
Network Trailblazer: Elon Musk
"Another thing is the attention to detail. I don’t know if I would want to live how he lives, but if I was running a company and wanted to be the best at it. He knows everything that’s going on, with the products, with the business, with the marketing. I guess you could argue that it goes too far with micromanaging, but he knows everything that is going on in his companies. He essentially out hustles everybody else."