2024 Tesla Cybertruck Cyberbeast on 2040-cars

Auto blog

FTC officials question 'bad policy' that stops Tesla's direct sales

It looks like Elon Musk has a new group of allies over at the Federal Trade Commission. Writing on the FTC blog, three high-level FTC officials came out against the "protectionist" network of laws in the US that govern automotive dealers and prevent, in some cases, Tesla Motors from selling its cars directly to customers. They called the rules, "bad policy for a number of reasons." They write: [The legal] protections expanded until in many states they included outright bans on the sale of new cars by anyone other than a dealer-specifically, an auto manufacturer. Instead of "protecting," these state laws became "protectionist," perpetuating one way of selling cars-the independent car dealer. The post is not a call to arms, but more of a position statement co-authored by Andy Gavil (director of the Office of Policy Planning), Debbie Feinstein (director of the Bureau of Competition), and Marty Gaynor (director of the Bureau of Economics). "The collective [cost] impact of [the state-by-state battles] is one of the major concerns here. [Tesla is] just trying to sell their cars" – Andy Gavin Gavil told AutoblogGreen that the main goal was to bring attention to the issue, which the post has certainly done. There are so many of state fights going on, he said, that this was a way to reach a lot of people at once. "We've been watching this for months," he said. "It's very clearly a state-by-state battle. We are concerned about Tesla litigating state-by-state. The collective [cost] impact of that is one of the major concerns here. They're just trying to sell their cars. The way the industry is reacting shows that it's about more than that." Gavil wouldn't go so far as to say that there should be new national rules – it's up to Congress to do that, he said - but he has also been looking at the taxi industry and the upstarts like Lyft and Uber. The competition angle sometimes doesn't get the attention it deserves, he said. "If there's a more open debate about it, that can only be a good thing." One of the groups opposed to Tesla's direct sales is the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), which represents 16,000 new car and truck dealerships with about 32,000 domestic and international franchises.

What to do if you run out of juice in your Tesla Model S

After writing about their Tesla Model S running out of juice on the side of the road between Las Vegas and Barstow, CA recently (read about it here), the fine folks at Teslarati figured they had some 'splainin' to do. The brief explanation is headwinds. Yes, headwinds. A Model S has about 10 miles of range even after it shows a big fat "0" on its dash. Thankfully, the drivers took notes about what to do if your Model S is about to shut down like C-3PO in A New Hope. Step one is to know that the EV has about 10 miles of range (maybe 20) even after it shows "0" on its dash. Once that distance is used up, it's time to pull the car over, and even then there is enough reserve juice to power the screen for a half hour. After that, all that works are the door handles and the flashers. So, before everything goes completely dark, it's best to remember to put the car into "tow mode" and get it into neutral so that the EV doesn't have to be jumpstarted just to get it onto a truck. Also, once the Model S has been recharged from empty, it needs to be powered off in order to reset the system and not keep it in "depleted power" mode. Now you know. The way Teslarati learned all of this was that, after using a Las Vegas supercharger to give their Tesla Model what they thought would be about 240 miles worth of range for the 160-mile drive, the car unfortunately provided them with just 157 before shutting down. The culprit was a sand storm that sent 35-mile-per-hour headwinds (and probably a bit of grit) into the car as it maintained a 75-mph cruising speed. Teslarati also said elevation changes were part of the problem. Las Vegas and Barstow are both about 2,200 feet above sea level, but there are a bunch of hills in between, and we guess the declines giveth less then the inclines taketh away. Happens to the best of us.

Revozport ready for Tesla Model S with R-Zentric line of mods [w/video]

If you're going to drop $15 grand or so boosting your Tesla Model S's output to 691 horsepower (as if the all-electric sedan doesn't have enough guts as it is), what's another $6,000 to blow on a really cool spoiler kit. Because you do want to keep that car as low to the ground as possible, right? Hong Kong aftermarket specialist Revozport, which has worked with McLaren, Lamborghini and Nissan on various aftermarket kits, is offering drivers of the Model S its so-called R-Zentric product line to sport things up further with touches such as side skirts, front splitters and trunk-lip spoilers. Prices start at $765 for the trunk spoiler and work their way up to $5,690 for the "complete aerokit." Then, there's the option of blowing $11,000 for Klassen 22-inch forged wheels. Sporty. Take a closer look at the Tesla options here and see an animated video (no shots of the car in action, sadly) below. We last reported on Revozport in 2012 with its Mini Targa Raze, which, depending on the option, tuned up the little droptop's motor by 69 horsepower to 250 horsepower while pulling 66 pounds off the little car thanks to kevlar and carbon parts. The company has also worked on customization kits for the Volkswagen Golf GTI. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.