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Tesla's 'D' Adds All-Wheel Drive, Safety Features

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk unveiled a new version of the luxury electric car maker's Model S sedan that includes all-wheel drive and self-driving "auto pilot" features. The open-to-the-public event Thursday night included free alcohol and test rides on an airport tarmac. With more than 1,000 Tesla fans in the audience, Musk explained that the current Model S is a rear-wheel-drive car with one motor, but a new version will have two motors - one powering the front wheels and one powering the rear wheels. All-wheel drive helps grip slippery roads and is standard on many luxury sedans. Analysts have said Tesla needed it to boost sales in the Northeast and Midwest, as well as Europe. The company sold 13,850 cars in the U.S. this year through September, down 3 percent from a year ago, according to Autodata Corp. Unlike all-wheel-drive systems on gas-powered cars, Tesla's system improves speed, acceleration and mileage by optimizing which motor is used, Musk said. The dual motor version of the P85 performance sedan will have a top speed of 155 mph, compared with the current 130 mph. It will accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 3.2 seconds, akin to exotic sports cars. "This car is nuts. It's like taking off from a carrier deck," Musk said at the municipal airport near Los Angeles where another of Musk's companies - the commercial rocket firm SpaceX - is based. The crowd obliged with cheers and applause. Tesla is also significantly upgrading its safety features through a combination of radar, image-recognition cameras and sonar. The Model S will right itself if it wanders from its lane and brake automatically if it is about to hit something. Those features are offered on luxury competitors, as well as mainstream brands such as Ford, Hyundai and Toyota. But Tesla is going a step further. Its new system will move the car over a lane when the driver uses the turn signal. It will also use cameras to read speed limit signs and decelerate accordingly. Volvo has a system that reads signs and alerts drivers if they are over the limit but does not change the speed. Musk said "auto pilot" does not mean the car could drive itself - as he put it, a driver cannot "safely fall asleep." Pulling together all the driver-assist features impressed Brian A. Johnson, an analyst with Barclay's. "It's a year ahead of the timeframe I was expecting," he said.

Tesla D is, as expected, an AWD Model S but new autopilot features surprise [w/video]

To say that the Internet was excited about the mysterious Tesla D before tonight's official announcements were made is a terrible understatement. Amid a bunch of excited tweets and frustrating attempts at getting a livestream from the event, USA Today published the first story that described some of the new D's features. Automotive News followed suit, but both of those articles were quickly taken down. On site at the Hawthorne airport in Los Angeles, CA, our friend Zan Dubin-Scott tweeted about an overheard comment before Musk took the stage, "What he's about to say - you need to feel, not just hear about." The 'he' here is Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Yeah, people were ready for something big. But the news didn't quite live up to the hype. How could it, really? People wanted to see the first glimpse of the Model 3 or even the production Model X, but all they got were improvements to the current Model S. Thankfully, these are interesting improvements. Here's what Elon's D is all about: The new all-wheel drive Model S – the "D" – will get 10 more miles of range to a max of 275 miles thanks to increased overall efficiencies in the powertrain that Musk called, "a huge improvement." All Model S EVs that have AWD will be designated with a "D," so the P85 "performance" model will become the P85D when it has AWD, for example. The D models will also have a higher top speed and a decreased 0-60 time of just 3.2 seconds. "Literally everything improves about the car with dual-motor," Musk said. The "something else" is the "A," which is the other letter that Musk said he was glad he didn't tease when he said he would "reveal the D." The A is a suite of Tesla autopilot autonomous driving technologies and it's been in production for the last two weeks (no kidding). The new technological bits include a long-range forward-looking radar, a camera with image recognition that can read things like signs and know where pedestrians are, and a 360-degree, long-range sonar. This will all be integrated into the GPS, navigation and real-time traffic, which means that the car is now capable of being semi-autonomous. But Musk said that there are not enough safety redundancies built in to the vehicle quite yet, so it's really just a tremendously advanced active safety system. Unfortunately, the new bits cannot be retrofitted into earlier Model S vehicles.

Getting ready for the Tesla D tonight means reading some tea leaves

Today is D-day. We will know all of the details about the Tesla D and the mysterious "one other thing" – well, all the details that Tesla is willing to give – later tonight, but for now we're going to try and piece the story together based on whatever rumors and hints we can find. We've already speculated that the D stands for an all-wheel drive version of the Model S, which is an update that CEO Elon Musk has long talked about. But what else could be announced tonight, since the 'one other thing' apparently won't be the reveal of the production Model X? Could it be the first prototype of the Model 3? That's one rumor. Vanity Fair got to ask Musk directly, since the magazine invited him to its New Establishment Summit. While Musk didn't exactly spill the beans, he did give us a little something to chew on. "One of the things is already there, and people just don't realize it," he said (see video below). When pressed for more details, all Musk said was: "The Internet is very good at guessing these things. [They're] directionally connect, but the magnitude is not appreciated yet." Could he be talking about better driver assistance features? Some sources say that's exactly what he's hinting at, with the D standing for Driver or something else that means autopilot. There's also an unconfirmed report out there that the AWD Model S, which might be called the P85D, will be noticeably quicker – with a 0-60 time of under three seconds, compared to 4.2 for the current quickest model – but this sort of thing has been suggested and then denied before. So, any other guesses? This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Tesla wants Massachusetts direct sales ruling to mean more

The approximately 8,300 square miles of Massachusetts may be a relative speck on the US map, but Tesla Motors is hoping a recent court decision there could have a big impact on potential sales and the legality of Tesla's distribution system throughout the rest of the country. Tesla, writes Automotive News, says that the reasoning behind a judge's decision to throw out a lawsuit against the company is broadly applicable. Now, the California-based automaker has New Jersey in its sights. Because Tesla doesn't have any existing distribution set-up in Massachusetts involving a third-party franchisee, the company isn't violating any statutes by opening a factory-owned dealership, the Massachusetts judge ruled. Tesla is saying that the judge's interpretation is applicable to other states such as New Jersey, which has outlawed Tesla's direct-to-consumer sales of its electric vehicles. And for that reason, the decision that forced Tesla to convert its New Jersey sales stores to Tesla galleries where sales are prohibited should be reversed. Of course, dealer representatives in New Jersey said the Massachusetts decision has no bearing in their state. Meanwhile, Texas, Arizona and Maryland are among other states where Tesla has been prohibited from selling vehicles direct because of existing dealership laws. This should get interesting.

Tesla loses top communicator Simon Sproule to Aston Martin

Looking for a new job? Have experience working in a frenetic environment, promoting cutting-edge mobility products for a demanding boss determined to change the way we travel on this planet, as well as how we trek to others? We hear Tesla Motors just might have an opening for such a person. Again. Simon Sproule, the electric automaker's vice-president of communications and marketing is vacating his cubicle after a mere six months in order to become the chief marketing officer (CMO) over at Aston Martin. That position had gone begging for a year until this appointment. Once he's settled into his new digs, Sproule will again be breaking rock with former Nissan associate Andy Palmer who himself recently took the top spot at the British luxury marque. The move comes at what seems like an inopportune time for Tesla. It has a big D product announcement – suspected to be an all-wheel-drive update of the Model S – scheduled just two days from now and the reveal of its "mass market" Model ? early next year. The company declined our offer to comment on the situation. Aston Martin, on the other hand, should be happy to finally have someone at the marketing helm, what with the recent dropping of the veil from its Lagonda sedan and what's likely to be a bevy of new product built on its forthcoming platform. News Source: PR WeekImage Credit: Haruyoshi Yamaguchi / Bloomberg via Getty Images Green Marketing/Advertising Aston Martin Tesla simon sproule

Tesla autopilot could offer 90 percent autonomous driving next year

Those Tesla Model S electric vehicles look good, but anyone worried about computers taking over our roads may want to steer clear of them starting next year. That's because 2015 may be when such vehicles will have autonomous-driving capabilities, according to an interview Tesla Chief Elon Musk conducted with CNN Money. Never one to shy away from bold statements, Musk says his vehicles will be "90-percent capable of autopilot" by next year. The combination of the cars' cameras, sensors and other tools that have made Silicon Valley the tech capital of the US will allow the vehicles to fully function most of the time without the aid of us silly humans. Tesla may also announce a feature that will keep the vehicle in its proper lane later this week, Bloomberg News says, citing a person familiar with the process. Whether most of us would rather actually refrain from driving a Model S than being fully engaged is another question altogether. The company's declining to comment beyond what was said in the CNN Money interview. Of course, automakers have been talking about autonomous driving for years, though the prevailing wisdom is that the technology won't be readily available until at least the end of the decade. Still, companies are making strides. Last month, Germany's Audi became the first automaker to receive one of California's autonomous-driving permits. Meanwhile, not too far from Tesla's headquarters, Google has been testing out its own autonomous-driving vehicle, though that one's of the hands-free, no-steering wheel, no-pedals variety.

Tesla Model S EVs now come with lane departure, speed assist AI

When a car's built on such a technology-heavy platform like the one used by Tesla Motors, there are going to be a lot of bells and whistles. More of those little "noisemakers" are being rolled out, as previewed by a new software update. What's most interesting to anyone paying close attention to the slow evolution of the Model S is that the new features are not going to be possible without new components. Tesla Model S sedans will likely need a new camera mounted on the front mirror, but it's not for selfies. Instead, it's there to keep the driver from having too much of a lead foot or straying into another lane thanks to the electric vehicle's software and hardware update that adds Lane Departure Warning and Speed Assist. Other luxury vehicles have long had lane departure warnings, but if you're unfamiliar with the idea, it's when the car emits a vibration through the steering wheel to let the driver know to straighten out if one of the wheels crosses a lane divider. Speed Assist lets the car use a combination of new camera and GPS system to record a particular road's speed limit. At that point, there are a number of signals, including a gray line on the speedometer or an audible chime, to warn the driver that he or she is running the risk of attracting the attention of a Smokey (for you Burt Reynolds fans) and a possible speeding ticket. Tesla has released an official statement that says: Starting recently, some Model S being delivered in North America come equipped with two new features. The features are lane drift detection, which will deliver a warning via vibration in the steering wheel if the driver starts to drift from the lane without signaling, and speed limit display, which will inform the driver of the speed limit and alert them when it is exceeded. These features are necessary to meet the latest standards in the European market, but we have decided to integrate them into Model S delivered worldwide. Whether these features will be an option or included standard is not yet known, but Tesla has said that it is not possible to retrofit the new tech into existing vehicles. The new technology is also vital to make autonomous driving possible.

Leilani Munter loves her Energy Freedom Race Car, Tesla Model S

Leilani Munter is putting a red, white and blue spin on green at the Kansas Speedway tonight. That's where the eco-minded racer is debuting her Energy Freedom car with the message that people should be able to choose how clean they want their energy to be. Tonight is the last race of the season for ARCA, a stock car racing series a level below the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Munter told AutoblogGreen this week that this is the perfect time to bring up the energy freedom issue, since the media is already paying attention. She's no stranger to this sort of thing, either, having driven a race car with solar power assistance at a race at Chicagoland and running a 100-percent renewable energy car at Daytona earlier this year. "I wanted to show people that [EV] technology that is available to us now." – Leilani Munter "My degree is in biology, so I've always been eco-minded," she said before recounting a story about driving her personal Tesla Model S from Charlotte, NC to that race in Chicago. "I wanted to show people that this is a technology that is available to us now and that you can make long trips," she said. She used the burgeoning Supercharger network to fill up along the way and even announced her stops ahead of time in order to meet fans, both of her racing and EV technology. She said some people asked about running out of electricity, but answered them with a laugh and explained that she's got this thing on her dash board that shows her how many miles she has left, just like a gas gauge. Regular readers might remember Munter from the "Eco Dream Team" of race car drivers she put together in 2008 or when she saw the effects of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 first hand. She also had a previous life in Hollywood as a stand-in for Catherine Zeta-Jones. She said that she used the money she made from working on movies to go racing school. That was 14 years ago, and she's used her racing skills to not only promote green energy but also to bring more green to the track since then. She adopts an acre of rain forest or donates to coral reef protection after each race. As for the new Energy Freedom car, Munter said that, "As Americans we should have the right to choose where we get our energy. Utilities are getting a little nervous about people choosing renewable energy, and this car is meant to bring that topic up. I have solar panels on my roof and I can drive off of sunshine every day.

Tesla Model S P85D details leaking out

When the cat pokes its nose out of the bag, sometimes you can see a bit more than the cat intended. This week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk Tweeted a tease about "revealing the D" and promised to show more on October 9th, giving us a week to prepare for the big surprise. This ignited a debate over at the Tesla Motors Club and user Adelman has now posted a picture that a friend took of a Model S with P85D branding [UPDATE: Image removed from this post, but you can see it here]. This doesn't help us know exactly what we're looking at, but it does make the picture a bit clearer, since we can eliminate the idea that there's a Tesla Model D coming. And things come even more into focus when we put Musk's Tweet into context with not only previous company statements about an all-wheel drive Model S based on work being done on the AWD-only Model X but also a new Tweet by Edmunds' Mike Magrath that says, "According to the guide there's supposed to be an all-wheel drive Tesla here at the Paris Motor Show. There is not." See the Tweet and pic below. Given these pieces, it's looking pretty clear that the "D" Musk mentioned will be the AWD Model S. Now, about the "something else" he hinted at. What could that be? This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Recharge Wrap-up: New "2-in-1" electric motor increases range, Gulf offers isobutanol blends

A new electric motor with integrated air-conditioning compressor increases the range of EVs in hot climates, where much of the battery power is used to keep the car cool. Developed by scientists at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and the German Aerospace Centre, the "2-in-1" motor uses regenerative braking to help operate the AC compressor, and could increase range by 15 to 20 percent with some modifications. "By integrating the refrigerant compressor directly into the electric motor, we save components, weight and cost," says Dr. Michael Schier of the German Aerospace Centre. "Simultaneously, the more regenerative braking part of the kinetic energy is passed directly to the refrigerant compressor and thus the efficiency is further increased." Read more at Green Car Congress, and in the press release below. Elon Musk has been chosen as a Eurostar winner by Automotive News Europe. The publication chose the Tesla CEO for exceeding expectations in entrepreneurship, saying, "Musk has proved that he's capable of doing what seems impossible." Other Eurostar winners include Dieter Zetsche of Mercedes-Benz, Ralf Speth of Jaguar Land Rover and Marco Tencone of Maserati. Read more at Automotive News Europe. GreenTech Automotive has raised $47 million in a round of equity funding. The company, which was formerly run by Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, received the contributions from a total of 94 investors. GreenTech Automotive has plans to produce the small MyCar neighborhood electric vehicle at a newly built factory in Mississippi. The company also has a deal with Jianghuai Automobile Company to sell cars for the Chinese automaker in the US. Read more at Bloomberg. Gulf Racing Fuels will offer fuel blended with renewable isobutanol for marine use and off-road vehicles. The ethanol alternative is approved for sensitive environments, produces fewer emissions, is resistant to moisture and has a lower vapor pressure, making it suitable for boats and ATVs. Gulf will offer a new line of fuels with 16.1-percent isobutanol for these special applications. Gevo, the company supplying Gulf's isobutanol, produces the additive in biorefineries converted from ethanol facilities. Read more in the press release below.