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Need more cup holders for your Tesla Model S? 3D print some

What do you get for the car owner that has everything? Well, if it's the owner of a Tesla Model S electric vehicle, you can either get him or her a $500 cup-holder insert that sets atop the car's center console or, better yet, score him or her a 3D printer that can print one out. Street Insider directs us to this oh-so-technologically-advanced option for anyone with a bit of extra cash on hand. Apparently, there are blueprints circulating for a cup-holder insert that can be printed on a Stratasys MakerBot printer. Those printers run anywhere between $2,200 and $2,800 a pop, but, hey, that's nothing compared to the Tesla itself, right? The cool thing is that the 3D cup-holder inserts can be printed out in a myriad of colors for the EV driver who wants to make the ultimate fashion statement ... or faux pas. Of course, how that printed holder will handle that first spilled cup of scalding coffee after the Model S driver gets a little too frisky on a hairpin is anyone's guess. The good news? The driver can simply go home and print another one. Sure beats shelling out $500 for the factory version. News Source: Street Insider via Value WalkImage Credit: Thingiverse Green Tesla Green Culture Electric stratasys

Nissan edges out Tesla for most ZEV credits sold in California

When it comes to California zero-emissions vehicle (ZEV) credits last year, Nissan was selling and Mercedes-Benz was buying. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) put out its ZEV-credits numbers for the year that ended September 30, which is why we now know that Nissan, maker of the battery-electric Leaf, transferred 663.6 ZEV credits out of its account last year. That just edged out the 650.195 credits that Tesla sold. Chrysler's Fiat affiliate was a distant third, but its limited-production Fiat 500E was still able to generate some ZEV credits and then transfer out 235.2 of them. We don't know how much the buyers paid for these credits, since those details are kept private. It's an ever-changing rulebook over at CARB, anyway. On the flip side, Mercedes-Benz had to buy 663.6 ZEV credits in order to comply with clean vehicle-sales mandates in the most populous US state, indicative of the German automaker's gas-guzzling tendencies. Honda has cars that get better fuel economy than your average Benz, but its plug-in vehicles represent just a fraction of total sales and so it had to shell out for 542.5 ZEV credits. Chrysler-Fiat basically tread water, since the 237.8 ZEV credits it required for compliance canceled out gains on the other side of the ledger. Those Dodge Ram pickup trucks don't exactly help matters. Last year, Tesla sold the most ZEV credits while GM purchased the most. Overall, Californians bought about 3.5 million vehicles for the year that ended September 30, including 38,000 battery-electric vehicles, 30,000 plug-in hybrids and 570,000 conventional hybrids. The longstanding ZEV program means that California now has more than 100,000 ZEVs on its roads. Read this for more details on ZEV credit transfers in California. Featured Gallery 2013 Nissan Leaf View 55 Photos News Source: California Air Resources Board via Green Car Congress Government/Legal Green Mercedes-Benz Nissan Tesla Electric California zev credits

Tesla CEO Elon Musk expects 'hundreds' of battery gigafactories

Tesla Motors has officially announced it will build a massive electric vehicle battery factory, which it calls a gigafactory, to make a huge amount of cheaper lithium-ion pack for the EVs of the future. It says these packs are so important that it is working on plans for a gigafactory in two locations, just to make sure there is a Plan B if something goes wrong with Site A. But how many gigafactories could there one day be? According to Musk's vision, expressed at the World Energy Innovation Forum held at the Tesla Factory in Fremont this week (where he also said that using the Lotus Elise as the basis for the Tesla Roadster was not the best idea), the auto industry will one day need hundreds of battery gigafactories. Now, that's not hundreds of Tesla gigafactories, but he thinks there will need to be 200 just to supply the automotive industry. Throw in stationary energy storage and iPads that run all year, and the number climbs even higher. One benefit of all these cells coming to market will be cheaper electric vehicles. Originally, Tesla said that its gigafactory would be able to reduce the per-kWh cost of a Tesla battery pack by "more than 30 percent." Musk repeated that number at the Forum this week, saying, "I think we can probably do better than 30 percent." The groundbreaking of the first Tesla plant could take place next month. Oh, and as a side note: doesn't Michigan look odd in the image above? We are one with the lake, apparently.