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Recharge Wrap-up: Elon Musk talks autonomous cars, Renault to run ZOE in ZENN Monte-Carlo Rally

Elon Musk discussed the autonomous driving capabilities of the Tesla Model S with NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang. He said the car is already equipped with the hardware needed for highway driving. "Even with the current sensor suite, we could make the car go fully autonomous, but not a level of reliability that would be safe in, say, a complex urban environment at 30 miles an hour," says Musk. That would require "a bigger sensor suite, and you need more computing power." Huang and Musk also discussed car hacking and artificial intelligence during the interview at the 2015 GPU Technology Conference. See the video above, and read more at Teslarati. Renault will send four of its ZOE electric cars to the ZENN (Zero Emission, No Noise) Monte-Carlo Rally. The rally, which travels through the principality beginning and ending at the Port of Monaco, is open to electric cars with ranges of less than 250 kilometers (about 155 miles). Visitors can also explore an "electric village," which includes vehicle test drives and information about the future of automobiles. The race takes place from March 20 through 22. Read more in the press release from Renault below. A Seattle-area Nissan dealership has opened a "charging depot" with six fast chargers. Bellevue Nissan now claims to have a larger group of fast chargers than any other dealership in the country. The chargers are part of the NRG eVgo network, and will be available to drivers around the clock every day of the week. They'll also be part of Nissan's "No Charge To Charge" program for Leaf customers. Washington Governor Jay Inslee was on hand at the dealership for the opening, where he called such fast charging stations, "the backbone of our future transportation infrastructure." Read more at Hybrid Cars. A coalition of environmental groups and renewable energy advocates want New York to require all heating oil sold in the state to include at least two percent biodiesel. The proposal passed the Assembly's Committee on Environmental Conservation Tuesday. Its sponsor is Assemblyman Steven Englebright, a Long Island Democrat who says a biodiesel standard would reduce carbon emissions while boosting the state's agricultural industry. Supporters of a biodiesel standard include the New York League of Conservation Voters, the New York Public Interest Research Group and the state's Corn and Soybean Growers Association. Conventional oil companies are opposed.

There's a lot of odd, unauthorized Elon Musk gear out there

A strong personality like Elon Musk's, especially one that also happens to head some very successful companies, brings with it all kinds of perks and penalties and, well, some odd "benefits." What you're looking at above is a 12-gallon fish tank clock - called an "aqua clock" - that houses a picture of Musk, and you can get it on Zazzle for the eminently fair price of 48 British pounds ($77 US). A single Internet search turns up scads of results of Musk-associated merchandise, one of the most popular being Tesla's own apparel shop; in 2013 it was reported that the company pulls in millions just on jackets, shirts, and water bottles, and the SpaceX shop adds its own icing. A revenue stream like that is going to get some more personal company, which is why Zazzle also offers more than 100 different kinds of Musk-themed merchandise beyond that aqua clock, RedBubble has a couple of dozen offerings, Threadsquad throws in the singular "Elon Musk is my homeboy" tee and even Amazon rocks a poster page for the EV rock star. The man is also used to sell unrelated products. CosmeSys hair transplants, for example. All this for a man who needs no promotion assistance. If the Model 3 does what's promised, we're guessing it will lead to one piece of merch that is so far missing from the pile: the Mighty Musk action figure. News Source: Zazzle, RedBubble, Threadsquad, Tesla Motors Club Auto News Design/Style Green Marketing/Advertising Tesla merchandise t-shirt

Tesla could need another $6 billion to really change the auto landscape

Telsa Motors has some big plans. The electric car company is building its $5-billion Gigafactory near Reno, NV to guarantee a steady supply of lower-cost batteries, has plans to release two new models and is even talking about providing home energy storage on a large scale. The California automaker is ramping up EV production, and hopes to eventually be producing 500,000 cars per year. To do all this, Tesla is going to need a lot of cash, particularly if any of its cars becomes the "next big thing," so to speak. This is money Tesla would need in addition to the revenues it already pulls in. Patrick Archambault, an analyst at Goldman Sachs, said last week that Tesla could need at least $6 billion through 2025 to complete all of the plans listed above and any others, should Tesla become the automotive Apple. An increase in popularity that would see the company hit its production targets would create a need for capital to match that growth. Keep in mind, this is money it would need in addition to the revenues it already pulls in. Tesla has already secured a portion of the funds for its Gigafactory, but still needs to make up the rest. Some will come from its partner Panasonic and Tesla is receiving some serious tax incentives from the state of Nevada (to the tune of $1.2 billion). Archmabault predicts that most of the funds would be needed beginning in 2017, suggesting that Tesla has the financial means to reach its target of 100,000 vehicles by the end of next year. It's not until the Model III comes into play that Tesla might come to need the hefty sums suggested by the analyst. Whether Tesla will become more of a disruptive brand in the automotive world is still anybody's guess. Still, Archambault's suggestion of that possible $6 billion figure was enough to have an effect on Tesla's stock price, which fell after the estimate was released last week, and remains down as of this writing after a note from JP Morgan. Featured Gallery Tesla Model S View 24 Photos Related Gallery Tesla Model X View 15 Photos News Source: Bloomberg via Green Car ReportsImage Credit: Copyright 2014 Drew Phillips / AOL Green Plants/Manufacturing Tesla Electric gigafactory