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Is Tesla building a new skunkworks facility in Lathrop, California?

Tesla Motors has a secret. The California automaker has leased, and is now renovating, a 431,000-square foot former Daimler-Chrysler distribution facility in Lathrop, CA, but is not saying exactly what it will be using the space for. At least, not yet. About an hour's drive east from its Fremont, CA factory, the property is located just off the north-to-south Interstate 5 (I-5) and has extra acreage to expand the building by another 124,980 sq-ft, if needed. Designed to handle a lot of shipping in and out, one side of the structure is gifted with 32 truck docking bays. With no official word on the type of activities that are planned for the facility, it is only natural that we would want to speculate a bit. There is one clue out there that can aid our hypothesizing. The job section of the company's website lists a number of openings that would indicate manufacturing of some sort is intended for the space. We'll go ahead and rule out serial vehicle production, since the Fremont space still has ample room for that activity to handle the upcoming Model X and the more affordable future vehicle. It's far too small to be a battery gigafactory, so could it be instead a kilofactory ? Probably not. Of course, it could just be a new site for producing components for the Fremont production lines, but that doesn't sound nearly as exciting. It also doesn't seem to be worthy of secrecy. The coolest – though not necessarily most accurate – thing we can come up with is a skunkworks. A secret lair where new concepts are conceived and developed away from the prying eyes of the public. Yeah, we'll go with that. When we contacted Tesla for clues about the facility's purpose we got a boilerplate response, though interestingly, they might have thrown us another mysterious bone in the process. And we quote, "Tesla is continuing to invest and create jobs in California as part of our ongoing infrastructure expansion. In the last two months, we have signed leases for more than 625,000 square feet of Californian real estate, independent of sales and service centers. These recent investments reinforce our commitment to California and will help us continue to bring compelling electric vehicles to market at affordable prices." With a 194,00-sq ft discrepancy between the known Lathrop acquisition and the numbers given by the automaker, it seems that may be yet another decent-sized unknown building in the mix.

Recharge Wrap-up: Mazda, Subaru and Toyota PHEV, Nomadic Power grant

The next generation of the Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid looks to be important for Mazda and Subaru as well. Toyota will likely need to sell more of the new plug-in hybrid to meet stricter ZEV standards in California. That means it will get more extra electric range, as customers have been asking for. Subaru and Mazda will also have to adhere to the California standards beginning in 2018. Those two smaller automakers will likely license a plug-in hybrid powertrain from Toyota in order to fulfill compliance. Read more at Green Car Reports. Tesla is partnering with Dalhousie University to improve battery technology. Tesla signed a five-year research agreement with Dalhousie's Jeff Dahn, a lithium-ion battery researcher. Dahn and the 25 researchers in his lab will work with Tesla's Director of Battery Technology, Kurt Kelty, to increase capacity through improved materials. The collaboration could be important both for Tesla's automotive and stationary batteries. "Our research group's goal is to increase the energy density and lifetime of Li-ion batteries, so we can drive down costs in automotive and grid energy storage applications," says Dahn. Read more from Dalhousie University. Nomadic Power is receiving a European Commission grant worth ˆ2 million (about $2.26 million) for trailer-mounted mobile batteries. Nomadic Power's mobile batteries, called Nomads, have incorporated photovoltaic systems and can be used to extend the electric driving range of a plug-in vehicle, or to provide backup power to a home. The Nomads use an intelligent energy management system to learn and predict user behavior and manage the solar system based on weather forecasts. "We see a strong future in electric-powered mobility and an increasing use of renewable energy, photovoltaic power in particular," says Nomadic Power CEO Dr. Manfred Baumgaertner. "Our mobile batteries have great potential in these markets that recently got a significant shot in the arm by Tesla's announcements." Read more from Nomadic Power, and at Green Car Congress. Related Gallery 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In: First Drive View 24 Photos News Source: Green Car Reports, Dalhousie University, Green Car Congress, Nomadic PowerImage Credit: Nomadic Power Government/Legal Green Mazda Subaru Tesla Toyota Technology Electric recharge wrapup

Tesla leads and Infiniti bleeds in Consumer Reports' satisfaction survey

According to Consumer Reports, Tesla owners are more likely to rave about their vehicles than any other brand. And we're not surprised — Tesla has performed very well in past customer satisfaction surveys, despite the fact that the electric cars themselves tend to have more problems than most other automobiles. Second place went to Lincoln, which interestingly had a higher cumulative score than Tesla in individual category measurements like comfort and storage space. Ram, a truck-only brand, rounded out the top three. The consumer-focused magazine bases its owner satisfaction score on responses to a very simple question: Would you buy this exact car again? The higher percentage of owners who answer "definitely yes" to that question, the higher the satisfaction score. Further breakdowns are scored for other parts of the ownership experience, which is why brands that rank poorly in Consumer Reports' own reliability charts — like Tesla and Lincoln, for example — can still earn top marks for satisfaction. The lowest-ranked brands for satisfaction are Cadillac, Nissan and Infiniti. Interestingly, Cadillac performed better than average in Driving and Comfort and middle-of-the-road in the In-Car Electronics and Cabin Storage, but like most other brands, scored poorly in Value. In fact, only Subaru, Mazda and Volkswagen scored better than average in Value. Nissan and especially Infiniti earned comparatively low marks across the board to go along with the bottom-of-the-barrel satisfaction score. Here's the full list of automakers from Consumer Reports' satisfaction survey, ranked in order from best to worst: Tesla Lincoln Ram Chrysler Subaru Hyundai Porsche Dodge Mazda Toyota Kia Mini BMW Ford Audi Honda Volvo Volkswagen Lexus Jeep GMC Chevrolet Mercedes-Benz Buick Cadillac Nissan Infiniti It's worth diving into the individual category scores in addition to the official finishing order for a full look at the results. For instance, despite the fact that automakers like Lincoln and Ford use similar infotainment systems, their In-Car Electronics scores don't quite match up. Also, some automakers have full lineups with multiple cars, trucks and SUVs while others offer just a couple of nameplates. Head on over to Consumer Reports for all the details. Looking for a reliable car, truck or SUV? Check out the top 10 vehicles that owners keep the longest.