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There are ways to sneak Tesla Model S into Russia for just 6.5M rubles

Tesla Fever has extended far and wide, winning over critics and everyday enthusiasts alike. The company is rapidly expanding its efforts both in its home market and abroad, but for some of its wealthy fans, that move isn't happening quite fast enough.
Dmitry Grishin is one such enthusiast. The 35-year-old multi-millionaire founder of Russia's Mail.ru is a big fan of Elon Musk's operation, so much so, in fact, that he's decided not to wait for sales to begin in the Russian Federation. Instead, he's gone off on his own and simply imported a Model S to get around Moscow.
The acquisition was not easy, as detailed by The Verge, and Grishin's car isn't quite as full-featured as a Model S sold in America - he's forced to use his phone's data connection rather than the car's . But, Grishin clearly has no regrets, spending a total of $180,000 to bring the EV to Moscow. In fact, Grishin has gone so far as to say he'd invest in the American EV manufacturer, if it hastened the brand's arrival in the motherland.

Recharge Wrap-up: BMW i app for Apple Watch, Tesla certified pre-owned web page

BMW has introduced ConnectedDrive and BMW i remote apps for the Apple Watch. The apps can show users battery and charging status, give service alerts, and control certain vehicle functions from the wearer's wrist. It can tell the owner if the doors are locked, or if the sunroof or trunk is open. Users can activate the climate control remotely from their watch, or honk the horn to help find the car in a crowded parking lot. It can even guide the owner back to the car using the navigation system. Read more in BMW's press release below. Higher octane gasoline could provide better fuel economy. According to a panel at the SAE World Congress that included folks from Ford, General Motors, Chevron and an ethanol group, a higher-octane fuel could boost fuel economy by three to six percent and reduce CO2 emissions by two percent. While higher octane fuel is more expensive, building cars calibrated to higher octane ratings could help automakers raise fuel economy and meet CAFE standards. Cars not calibrated to the higher octane levels would likely not see any significant benefit in fuel economy. Read more from Automotive News. Tesla Motors has added a Certified Pre-Owned section to its website. Tesla didn't make any announcement before it quietly added the CPO page. The used Model S electric cars sold by Tesla include a warranty good for four years or 50,000 miles. Plus, the cars have been inspected by technicians at Tesla to make sure everything is in working order and up to company standards. Explore the page yourself, and read more at Teslarati. BMW ConnectedDrive and BMW i Remote app. World premiere: Apple Watch controls functions of BMW i models. Munich. BMW is pressing its claim to automotive brand leadership in the world of mobile vehicle connectivity through its BMW ConnectedDrive technology. As the BMW i Remote app confirms, nowhere else is the link-up of driver, car and outside world raised to such an advanced level. The app can already be used to remotely check and control functions of BMW i models. It is an application that customers will also be able to use from day one on the new Apple Watch, due for imminent release. Apple Watch uses the BMW i Remote app – which can be downloaded free from the Apple iTunes Store – to keep users updated on the car's current battery status, for example, and alert them when the high-voltage unit is fully charged.

Tesla breaks 28-year-old monthly sales record in Norway

Someone may want to try to translate "Gigafactory this!" into Norwegian. Tesla Motors just set the all-time monthly sales record for a single model in Norway, The Wall Street Journal says, citing Norwegian transportation officials. And that's for any type of model, gas-powered or not. The California-based electric-vehicle maker, which is planning a massive Gigafactory battery plant in the US as it prepares to unveil a lower-priced model, sold 1,493 Model S sedans in Norway last month. The sales total more than doubled the No. 2 selling Volkswagen Golf (624 units) and beat a 28-year-old monthly sales record set by the Ford Sierra (1,454 vehicles). And March marked the second straight month an electric vehicle took Norway's best-selling crown, which was won by Nissan for its Leaf in February. That's heady stuff, and it gets headier when you factor in Norway's population of only about 5.1 million people. That means that on a per-capita basis, that'd be like Tesla selling about 94,000 Model S vehicles in a month in the US. By comparison, Ford sold "only" about 71,000 of its best-selling F-Series trucks last month. With cheap and abundant hydroelectric power, Norway heaps lots of incentives for its EV buyers, including perks such as free parking, an extensive recharging network, use of bus lanes and free ferries and road tolls. With EV subsidies tallied at about $8,000 per vehicle, the country reportedly may reach its limit of providing incentives for 50,000 EVs by mid-2015, or about two-and-a-half years ahead of schedule. And for that, Norwegians, blame Tesla.