2015 Tesla Model S on 2040-cars

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Even hardcore Tesla fans can get stranded sometimes

Driving a few laps around the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in a Tesla Model S can be quite a treat. Driving between Los Angeles and Las Vegas? Sometimes, not so much. The fine folks at Teslarati had the good fortune of taking the all-electric luxury sedan for a few spins around the racetrack near Sin City, and found that the Tesla handled "quite well" and was able to reach a top speed of 110 miles per hour on one of the straightaways. And the car turned in a best time of two minutes and 17 seconds around the 2.4-mile circuit. Still, the car started limiting its own power as early as its second lap, and by the seventh lap or so, the car brought down its power capacity to about 25 percent in order to conserve juice. The drivers were able to make do because a Tesla Supercharger fast-charging station was 11 miles away and they could get a good charge in about an hour. Less of a treat was the car's performance between Vegas and Southern California. Despite being big Tesla fans (the driver writes for Teslarati, after all), the unexpected appearance of 35-mile-per-hour headwinds and the totally expected elevation changes between Las Vegas and Barstow, CA proved particularly problematic. The driver slowed down to 40 mph and dropped the Model S' power consumption to something in the 400-500 wh/m range, but still, our intrepid explorers ran out of juice and were stranded beside the road until Tesla kindly arranged for a tow. D'oh!

Fisker will adopt Tesla's NACS EV charging connector by 2025

Electric vehicle startup Fisker said on Tuesday it signed a deal with Tesla to adopt its North American Charging Standard (NACS), giving Fisker customers access to the automaker's Supercharger network by 2025. A plethora of automakers, including Ford Motor and General Motors, are moving away from the standard Combined Charging System (CCS) connector to Tesla's previously proprietary charging design, which is set to dominate the industry. Fisker said its vehicles made 2025 onwards will have the NACS port for charging, while other customers can use an adapter to access Tesla's 12,000-strong network of public fast chargers in the U.S. and Canada. The company will continue to provide an adapter for the CCS if customers wish to continue using the technology, the EV maker said. Tesla's recent deals represent major strides in displacing a rival standard, CCS, that earlier exclusively had the backing of President Joe Biden's administration. The government is offering $7.5 billion in funding to speed the deployment of EV chargers in the United States. Most automakers have shied away from building large charging networks as installing and maintaining chargers requires a substantial investment for still-limited returns. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Green Fisker Tesla Electric Infrastructure

Tesla completes cross-country Supercharger drive in Model S EVs

It wasn't without problems, but Tesla's record-setting electric drive attempt has crossed the finish line. The pair of Tesla Model S EVs that left Los Angeles late last week has made it to New York City using nothing but Supercharger power. Last week, Tesla said the cars would be trying to set a Guinness World Record prize for the "lowest charge time for an electric vehicle traveling across the United States." According to Tesla, the Guinness team is now looking at the data to assess if that record was actually set. We don't know how much time was spent charging during the drive, but Tesla said that the two cars each put on 3,464.5 miles and used a total of 1,197.8 kWh. The entire drive took 76.5 hours. Tesla CEO Elon Musk told CBS that the trip was an "important, historic milestone." The weather wasn't exactly forgiving during that time, but the 15-person team made it safely to NYC in the early morning hours yesterday. The biggest problem was when one vehicle broke down near Mitchell, SD. Fortunately for the record attempt, it was not one of the Model S EVs, but one of the gas-powered support vehicles. This hampered the rotation system the drivers had: eight-hour drive shifts, eight-hour navigator shifts, eight-hour sleep shifts in one of two support vans. Tesla quickly bought plane tickets for the drivers left behind, and you can read details about this and more in the official blog posts here. Related Gallery Tesla Supercharger News Source: Tesla Motors, CBS Green Tesla Electric