2014 Tesla Model S P85 on 2040-cars

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Toyota's Lentz says fuel cells are the future, not EVs

Toyota is not bullish on EVs. That comes from the company's North American CEO, Jim Lentz, who said the company will focus not on electrification, but on continued hybridization with a long-term focus on hydrogen fuel cells.
Lentz questioned the long-range ability of EVs, saying that Toyota feels "there are better alternatives, such as hybrids and plug-in hybrids, and tomorrow with fuel cells." Lentz spoke about Toyota's focus on hydrogen following Forbes Brainstorm Green conference and barely a week after a battery deal between Tesla and Toyota ended, according to Automotive News.
That deal provided for 2,500 battery packs for the Rav4 EV. While valuable to Toyota, the deal "was never about open-ended volume," Lentz said. "It was time to either continue or stop. My personal feeling was that I would rather invest my dollars in fuel cell development than in another 2,500 EVs."

Tesla tidbits: Roadster getting 'exciting' upgrade in 2014

It's been quite a while since we've had news about the Tesla Roadster. The original Tesla electric vehicle hasn't been sold in the US for years and we're in a quiet period before the next-generation shows its face. We were fine with the status quo – it's not like Tesla Motors isn't keeping busy with other projects in the meantime – but something that CEO Elon Musk said during the annual shareholder meeting caught our eye this week: the Roadster will get some sort of update before the end of the year. Details were obviously not disclosed, but Musk did say that something cool is coming: We are planning on I think a fairly exciting upgrade to the Roadster. I'm hoping we can get it done later this year. I did say it would be this year and ... yes, we will get it done this year. ... So, we're going to do something cool with Roadster before the end of this year. Anyone want to guess what this upgrade might be? We know that Roadster batteries are performing better than expected, so we're going to discount that possibility that these older EVs will be made compatible with Tesla's Supercharger technology. But Musk did say at the meeting that this tech is available to other automakers, if they could somehow make an EV that can handle the Supercharger's 135-kW output (a number that Tesla hopes to increase in the future): There is no other electric car that can accept anything close to 135 kilowatts. We are more than happy to have other manufacturers do this. And I've said this publicly on a few occasions. No one's approached us and said they'd like to use it. We are happy to have them do so. They just have to contribute to the capital cost, so figure out what percentage of the time are their cars using the Supercharger network and then they can make a contribution proportionate to their customer usage of the Supercharger network. So, we're very open to such a thing. Musk also confirmed he is open to remaining at Tesla for another half decade or so, until at least when the company's lower-cost, third-generation car gets to "volume production." He said that's maybe four or five years away and that there is "a lot of time" to figure out who will replace him when he does finally step down. We know the car is not going to be the Model E (thanks to Ford's trademark, Musk said) and that the company's targets are for it to cost around $35,000 before incentives and have a range of more than 200 miles.

California could ease environmental mandate for Tesla Gigafactory

California may ease some of its decades-old environmental mandates for potential developments in an effort to get electric-vehicle maker Tesla Motors to build its gigafactory in the Golden State. There is a certain irony in that, but given that the $5-billion factory could bring 6,500 green jobs to the state, it's not surprising. State legislators and Tesla representatives are in talks about easing some portions of the California Environment Quality Act (CEQA) for the sake of expedience, the Los Angeles Times reports, citing state Sen. Ted Gaines (R-Rocklin). Additionally, the state may give tax breaks worth about a half-billion dollars to Palo Alto-based Tesla, whose current vehicle factory is in nearby Fremont. Tesla spokeswoman Liz Jarvis-Shean, in an e-mail to AutoblogGreen, would only say that California is "in the running" for the gigafactory site, though declined to comment further on negotiations. Not everyone would be happy with such an agreement, of course. The Sierra Club is already on record as crying foul for possible CEQA exemptions. There's been no shortage of speculation on the possible location for the gigafactory, which should be open by 2017 and has been talked about landing in just about every southwestern US state except California. Most recently, Nevada and its Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center emerged as the proverbial lead dog, with its lower taxes, cheap real estate and lithium-mining capabilities. Texas, New Mexico and Arizona are also being considered for the giant plant.