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Tesla Recalls Wall Charger Adapters To Prevent Overheating

Tesla Motor Company, maker of the Model S electric car, is recalling 29,222 wall charger adapters following reports of overheating in owners' garages. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced the recall Tuesday morning. Tesla said the problem lies in the Universal Mobile Connector (UMC) adapters, which can lead to the adapter, cord or wall outlet overheating during charging. The danger was discovered when a garage caught fire in California in November. It has since resulted at least five incidents that were reported to NHTSA's complaint database. "These are very rare events, but occasionally the wiring isn't done right," Tesla CEO Elon Musk said, according to Bloomberg. "We want people to have absolute comfort, so we're going to be providing them with an upgraded adapter." The new adapter will include a thermal fuse that will shut off charging if overheating is detected, Musk said. Tesla sent a software update to its customers to deal with the overheating issue back in December, which was designed to trigger a 25 percent reduction in charge current when it sensed a potential overheating. Tesla said about 2.9 percent of Model S buyers have returned their UMC adapters because of defects. Related Gallery Electric Cars And Hybrids Don't Have To Be Frumpy Recalls Tesla

Tesla attempting LA-NY Guinness record using Superchargers

Right now, two Tesla Model S EVs are crossing the US from Los Angeles to New York, hoping to be a big deal. Sure, a father-daughter team already claim they've made the cross-country drive, but this time, it's an official Tesla event and the company has its eyes on a Guinness World Record prize. The drivers left the Tesla design studio in Hawthorne, Los Angeles at midnight last night, and the plan is to use the company's just-completed Supercharger network to achieve the "lowest charge time for an electric vehicle traveling across the United States." We didn't know that was a category, either. Tesla now has over 70 Supercharger stations in the US and all of them are free-to-use for Model S drivers, which is why you can follow along on this record attempt via Twitter using the #DriveFree tag. As of early this morning, the teams made it to the Supercharger station in Kingman, AZ and posted this sunrise pic. We wish them safe travels – they will soon reach the snowy northern parts of the country since the current Supercharger route will take them through the upper Midwest on the way to the East Coast.

Elon Musk says yes to The Oatmeal's $8M request for Nikola Tesla museum

Matthew Inman is known for his lengthy, often wordy online comics called The Oatmeal. He's also a huge fan of Nikola Tesla, and helped gather $1.37 million via crowdfunding in 2012 to buy up Tesla's laboratory and set the stage for a Tesla museum, the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe. It was such an Internet hit that Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk even chipped in $2,500 and Tweeted that he "will do more in the future." Well, Inman is getting ready to call in that favor. Yesterday, The Oatmeal published a glowing review of sorts on how great the all-electric Model S is (slightly NSFW). In it we learned that Inman is bonkers in love with his EV, calling it his "intergalactic spaceboat of light and wonder" and saying the acceleration is "freaky." He adores the door handles, the frunk, the advanced powertrain and pretty much everything else. In fact, part one is so positive it reads like an over-the-top Tesla advertorial. But then comes part two, where Inman gets down to business. Musk simply said, "I would be happy to help." See, the $1.37 million was used to buy Nikola Tesla's property but was not enough to actually, you know, build the museum. To do that, the Science Center needs another $8 million. And guess who has those kinds of funds? How about a billionaire who is using the Tesla name and is already a fan of the museum idea? That's right, one Elon Musk. And part 2 of The Oatmeal's comic is an argument for why Musk should fork over the $8 million to help pay for the museum. Inman says it is, "A polite request from a humongous fan" and adds that, "You owe us nothing, and you've done nothing but good things in the name of Nikola Tesla. But the fact remains: Tesla Motors, a company now worth billions, is using Nikola Tesla's name, and they're using his technology, and all we want in return is a little bit of help." Inman says that $8 million is "the bare minimum to build, staff, and maintain a Nikola Tesla Museum," and that the number was reached after getting "countless estimates from site planners, architects, and museum curators from all around the world." Something like $6 million would be good, he writes, but, "any less than $8M would pretty much leave us in the same boat we're in now." Tesla hasn't offered up an official statement, but on Twitter, Musk simply said, "I would be happy to help." Not sure what that means, exactly, but it's probably not going to make Inman hate his car any time soon.