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Drive eO Tesla Roadster is going to race up Pikes Peak [w/video]

Last year, Drive eO sent its PP01 electric supercar up Pikes Peak in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb - well, part-way up. Driver Janis Horeliks wasn't injured in the crash that ended his run near the Halfway Picnic Grounds. This year, the Latvian team will return to Colorado race again with a Tesla Roadster chassis in the Electric Modified division on Sunday, June 29. The PP02 is not quite as rowdy as the PP01, with a twin motor system putting about 482 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque to the rear wheels compared to last year's car all-wheel-drive setup making about 536 hp. The PP02's liquid-cooled electric motor will get its electrons from a 40-kWh battery pack. The total weight of the car is about 2,337 pounds. Drive eO's return to Pikes Peak isn't just about getting back in the saddle and winning a single race. The group is using the experience to test new components that it intends to eventually put into later electric supercars. These, according to the press release, are "already on the drawing board." As interesting as it will be to see the PP02 Tesla Roadster 360 attempt to tackle the famous hill again, it should be equally interesting to see what Drive eO is up to next. See what happened in last year's race in the video below (it's not in English), or read on for the official press release from Drive eO. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Drive eO Returns to Pikes Peak with Bespoke Tesla Roadster Riga, Latvia - Electric motorsport specialists Drive eO are returning to the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on June 29 to test and develop their latest electric drive train system. The team has packaged it into a Tesla Roadster chassis, making the competitive debut in motorsport for Tesla. Drive eO has dubbed the project PP02 as it builds upon the team's initial attempt at the iconic hill climb competition in 2013 with a prototype supercar eO PP01. The new car features a more modest specification with rear axle powered by 360 kW (peak) twin-motor system and a 40 kWh lithium-ion battery pack. The team is aiming to validate the new components ahead of scaling them up for successive electric supercar projects which are already on the drawing board. The 2014 edition of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb will see 72 drivers attempting the treacherous 20 km course to the summit at 4300 m.

Tesla talking about first European factory, but it won't happen soon

Tesla Motors is, as always, thinking big. The company already has a factory in California with a lot of empty space. But with Model S deliveries happening in Europe and a right-hand drive version just launched in the UK, CEO Elon Musk is already talking about building EVs in Europe. We did some math and let's just say we think any such facility is likely a long way off. The California-based company plans on eventually building a factory in Europe, Automotive News Europe says, citing an interview with Musk. But Musk says Tesla would have to sell 160,000 vehicles a year in Europe to justify such a factory. Musk sees that many sales as a given, eventually, and is planning on building an R&D center in the UK within the next two years while expanding its assembly factory in the Netherlands. "It will take Tesla a bit longer to ramp up in Western Europe than in the US" – Ed Kim But just how long might it take to get to that 160,000 figure across the Pond? Well, through the first four months of the year, Tesla sold 3,467 units of its Model S electric sedans in Europe, Automotive News says, citing research firm JATO Dynamics. Extrapolating from Tesla's first-quarter 2014 delivery numbers (the company doesn't publish monthly sales totals), Tesla sold about 8,600 Model S sedans worldwide through April. Even if Tesla speeds things up in Europe this year and approaches, say, 15,000 units, that's still less than 10 percent of Musk's goal. Even with new models, 15,000 is a long way from 160,000, and it appears that Tesla will grow slower in Europe than it has in the US. "It will take Tesla a bit longer to ramp up in Western Europe than in the US," Ed Kim, vice president of industry analysis at AutoPacific, told AutoblogGreen. "This is partially due to infrastructure issues. In the US, most potential Tesla customers live in detached single family homes, making installation of a personal charging infrastructure at home a snap. In Western Europe, many potential customers – even affluent ones – live in communal living situations like condos and apartments. And even having assigned parking does not guarantee that they would be able to install chargers there." Earlier this year, Tesla dropped the prices of its Model S in Europe because of the strengthening of the Euro. The company initially priced the Model S in the UK at almost $20,000 above the US base price.

Tesla's gains on the dealership status quo are freaking people out

Tesla took two more steps towards being allowed to sell its vehicles as it chooses (that is, direct to customers) this week. Legislative efforts in New Jersey and New York both gave the California automaker legal permission (or near permission) to operate its stores. It's gotten so bad – or good, depending on your views, that other automakers are starting to speak up. Yesterday, Tesla got official permission to keeps it five stores open in New York thanks to the signature of Governor Andrew Cuomo on a pro-Tesla bill that passed earlier this year. This is not a surprise. The bill also makes it difficult for any other automaker to operate its own stores in the state. Other automakers are now saying that the dealers have too much power. In nearby New Jersey, the state Assembly voted yesterday to allow EVs to be sold directly to the consumer. This vote follow an Assembly committee's vote earlier this month and the bill now moves to the New Jersey Senate and, if it passes, would need to be signed by Governor Chris Christie before becoming law. You may remember there's a bit of bad blood there. This is all quite a turnaround from mid-March, when the state legislature voted against direct sales. If passed, Tesla would be allowed to operate four stores in the state. As you can see, progress is being made. And that's changing the battlefield. The National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) released a new package of pro-dealership information called "Get the Facts: The Benefits of Franchised Auto Dealers" to take the other side. NADA says that the "current franchised new-car dealer model has benefited consumers, manufacturers and local communities for nearly a century" and then lays out its reasons why. You can watch the NADA's short Get The Facts video below. Perhaps most interestingly, other automakers – through the Auto Alliance – are now saying out loud that the dealers have too much power. In a statement to Automotive News, the Alliance said, " When we look at the big picture, we may be at a tipping point. If dealer groups continue their push for more onerous franchise laws, we will be forced to keep an open mind about how best to serve new-car buyers in the future." That was enough to scare the chairman of the Automotive Trade Association Executives, who told AN that, the Alliance coming out against the franchise system was a "recipe for disaster." This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences.

How to get incredibly accurate information on your EV's charging power

One would think that paying about $300 to receive a bit of bad news about electric-vehicle charging would be counterproductive. But the fine folks at Teslarati believe that truth is beauty, and they're willing to pay a little extra for the straight dope. There are always losses when taking power from the grid and shoving it into an EV's battery pack. The question is how big are these losses. Teslarati calculated digital read-outs from the dashboard of their Tesla Model S all-electric sedan and found that Tesla builds in about a nine percent efficiency loss when it comes to recharging the car. But the blog thought the Tesla couldn't know exactly what was transpiring between the wall and the battery, so it footed the bill for about $300 to install a digital submetering unit from EKM Metering. With a little calculation, Teslarati was able to figure out after a couple of recharging rounds that the efficiency loss per recharge was closer to 15 percent than nine percent. That means that, instead of paying about 48 cents on the dollar relative to filling up an economy car (factoring in the AAA average price of $3.66 per gallon), Tesla owners are paying about 52 cents on the dollar. Not much compared to paying upwards towards $100,000 for the vehicle itself, but, hey, every cent counts, right? Get all of the details here. Featured Gallery Tesla Model S View 10 Photos News Source: Teslarati Green Tesla Electric recharging

Tesla, BMW and Nissan meeting in secret to discuss charging tech

It's interesting what's happening in the electric vehicle field. It used to be that BMW and Tesla were competitors. Then – and of course they're still competing, especially in the public mind – they were working together on ... something. Maybe. And now, the Financial Times reports that the two luxury automakers are meeting with Nissan. Again, maybe. The scuttlebutt is that the three companies are interested in working together on something to do with charging electric vehicles, potentially a global recharging standard. Currently, when it comes to fast charging, BMW uses the SAE Combo standard, Nissan uses CHAdeMO and Tesla uses its own Superchargers. The meeting was prompted by Tesla opening of all of its patents the other day, FT says. Speaking during the recent annual shareholder meeting, Musk said he was "more than happy to have other manufacturers" use Tesla's Superchargers but that, "there is no other electric car that can accept anything close to 135 kilowatts." Let's assume the technical hurdle can be overcome. With any potential patent/licensing problems out of the way, these discussions with BMW and Nissan might be revolving around this other angle that Musk mentioned: "They (other automakers) 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." That certainly sounds like something that could take some time to figure out. News Source: Financial TimesImage Credit: Elbilforeningen / Flickr Green BMW Nissan Tesla Electric supercharger chademo sae combo

Tesla's Musk could build flying or submersible car

You sometimes get the impression that Tesla CEO Elon Musk says wild things just to gauge people's reactions. You have to be crazy to think that the Hyperloop is ever going to happen. Train travel is barely accepted in much of the country. Recently, he boasted in an interview with Britain's The Independent newspaper that he could build a flying car and a submersible one. If he's to be believed this time, one of them might actually happen.
"We could definitely make a flying car - but that's not the hard part. The hard part is, how do you make a flying car that's super safe and quiet? Because if it's a howler, you're going to make people very unhappy," said Musk to the newspaper. Obviously, the flying car has been an automotive dream for decades, but it has always been so disappointing. Even the long-delayed Terrafugia Transition needs a runway to takeoff and can't just pop in an out of traffic like we all want.
While the flying car likely remains a pipe dream, Musk seems much more serious about the prospects of a vehicle that can go underwater. He told The Independent: "We will be making a submarine car. It can transition from being a submarine to a car that drives up on the beach. Maybe we'll make two or three, but it wouldn't be more than that." The man does have some experience in this area. He bought the submersible Lotus Esprit last year from the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, and planned to install a Tesla Model S powertrain in it. Now, let's see if either of these big ideas ever comes to fruition.

Tesla Uber alles in Shanghai

Is anyone surprised that Tesla Motors is ready to disrupt the status quo even in little ways? If you are, then here's one more example: Tesla is partnering with Uber (which taxi drivers around the world are not happy with) in Shanghai to both give people free, 15-minute rides in the electric car. Think of it as the free Supercharger miles for the don't-own-a-Tesla set. It's a small, limited promotion defined by the fact that you can't actually order yourself a Tesla. Instead, if you're looking for a ride in Shanghai's inner ring on Wednesday, you can hope that one of the "few super-secret Teslas on the system" will come and pick you and up to three friends up. What's completely different about this Uber ride is that it's not a ride at all. Instead, if you have your drivers license, you can get behind the wheel and driver for up to 15 minutes. CNET says that this is only the first of more Tesla-Uber promotions. Tesla is supplying the vehicles and a spokesperson said it was, "only a pilot test at the moment."

What does the open patents deal mean for Tesla ... and BMW?

Gift to the world or trade bait? Tesla Motors announced this week it would open its patents for other automakers to use. That has analysts guessing whether the California-based electric-vehicle maker is looking to either swap trade secrets with other automakers or to expand the proverbial pie that represents the plug-in vehicle market. For its part, Tesla says the answer is B. BMW, which is establishing its i sub-brand of plug-in vehicles, would be a natural collaborator with Tesla, Forbes says. In fact, executives from the two companies met in Europe this week. Details were not released, but a BMW spokesman said, "Both companies are strongly committed to the success of electromobility and discussed how to further strengthen the development of electromobility on an international level." While Tesla brings battery technology to the table, BMW offers its carbon-fiber advancements that lighten vehicle-body weight. Those advancements are key to range-extending efforts and could do wonders for Tesla on its journey to help spur technology for the sake of getting more of the general public to accept plug-in technology as a viable first-car option. Then again, Forbes says Tesla, whose investors include Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler and Toyota, may be keeping its best technologies to itself by not patenting certain advancements at all. What's in Tesla's patent pool? uAutoInsurance analyzed Tesla's 249 patents and found that 104 of them related to battery technology, while 28 pertained to recharging activity, which wasn't surprising (about a quarter of those 249 patents couldn't readily be categorized). Tesla also has nine patents related to sunroof technology. The company is based in California, after all.

Tesla launches Model S in UK, says Euro factory could be upcoming [w/video]

With the first UK deliveries of the 49,900-pound (about $84,000 at today's rates) Tesla Model S completed, it's time for the company to get back to business. For CEO Elon Musk that means discussing a long-anticipated rumor - a dedicated European production facility to build the luxurious EVs from the ground up.
Obviously, though, such a hefty investment would need to be worth the company's while, which is why Musk told Automotive News Europe that sales will need to hit 160,000 units before a factory is considered. The company has recorded over 3,400 sales in Europe during the first four months of 2014, which actually surpasses the 2,000 cars sold in the US.
Tesla currently maintains a factory in the Netherlands, although it only installs batteries in cars shipped from Tesla's Fremont, CA facility, rather than building cars from scratch. The factory, in Tilburg, is set to expand, while a new research and development facility is set to open in the UK in 2015 or 2016, according to Musk.

Tesla open-sources all its patents

When Tesla CEO Elon Musk says that he's thinking about something, you definitely need to pay attention because it's likely something big. In an eloquently worded press release (a very rare thing indeed) Musk explains reason after reason why Tesla is opening up all of its patents, effective immediately.
According to the missive, Tesla initially applied for patents on its technology because it was afraid bigger, more powerful automakers would take its ideas and destroy the tiny automaker. However, that hasn't happened. Musk claims that while the company has grown, "electric car programs (or programs for any vehicle that doesn't burn hydrocarbons) at the major manufacturers are small to non-existent." At the same time, the global auto industry continues to grow, and Tesla's main competitors aren't from other electric carmakers, but the traditional internal combustion engine.
Musk claims that if you walk into the company's lobby right now all of its patent forms are gone from the walls. "We believe that Tesla, other companies making electric cars, and the world would all benefit from a common, rapidly-evolving technology platform," he writes.