2020 Tesla Model Y on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Morgan Stanley: Tesla is world's most important automaker

What makes a company important? Clothing companies are important because they help cover those of us not willing or able to sew up a storm. Housing companies shelter us. And who could live without whoever it is that makes pop rocks?* But those are basic needs kinds of things. When we start to discuss things like excitement and innovation, "important" is a more subjective idea. Nonetheless, if you're going to claim that anyone other than Tesla is the most important automaker in the world, you're going to have to argue with Morgan Stanley Research analyst Adam Jonas. Jonas called the California automaker the world's most important automaker in a new report to investors and he didn't mince words: "Not even two years after the delivery of the first Model S, Tesla Motors has transformed from fledgling start-up to arguably the most important car company in the world. We are not joking. ... Tesla is also emerging as an emblematic force in America's effort to foster high tech manufacturing job growth." His main reasons are as follows: Parts suppliers now thing positively about Tesla and are thinking of building dedicated production lines just to supply Tesla with parts for its electric vehicles. Other automakers are also paying close attention to Tesla. This is a sign that the company has finally become a serious competitor. Tesla could directly employ 20,000 people in seven years and create 100,000 related jobs at other companies. However many jobs are created, Tesla will have a positive effect on the US GDP. The Tesla Model S is the "most American made car on the road, pushing 90 percent US content," which to us might make Tesla the most important car company in America, but Jonas sees a larger impact, apparently. According to Market Watch, Jonas also sees a big potential in Tesla upcoming battery plant: "The success of the Gigafactory holds the key for the development of an entirely new industry. If Tesla can achieve battery cost per kWH below $150 and defend the IP, there is significant potential for revenue streams not captured in our $320 price target." Jonas knows there are risks and downsides, which you can read more about at the Los Angeles Times. *Just trying to think of the least essential product as a joke here.

Elon Musk wants to build an Internet in space

The next James Bond film is called Spectre; if the villainous mastermind driving that Jaguar C-X75 isn't named Elon Musk, we'll want to know why not. The real-life Musk isn't evil so far as we can tell, but we gotta say he's just as ambitious as Ernst Blofeld ever was. While opening a SpaceX office in Seattle, the face of Tesla said that the engineers and software programmers in the Pacific Northwest outpost will be working on "a global communications system that would be larger than anything that has been talked about to date" on top of their Falcon rocket and Dragon capsule duties. Musk's idea is that hundreds of satellites in low-Earth orbit would get information around the world much faster, and be provide better Internet service for "people in sparsely populated areas." Once the folks in the terrestrial hinterlands are taken care of, Musk envisions the network providing the foundation for a satellite network that would provide Earth-to-Mars communications to the Mars-based colony that the SpaceX CEO expects will wear company branding. The idea isn't new - one of Musk's peers is working on the same concept, backed by Qualcomm and the Virgin Group. But Musk says that OneWeb, the competitor, has a different concept for the underlying architecture and that his satellites would be "an order of magnitude more sophisticated." If you're trying to figure out what the area code to Mars is, you're way ahead of things: Musk says the terrestrial satellite system won't be ready for at least five years. And since the average distance to Mars is 140 million miles, it'll probably be a few years after that before you can shoot a text to the Spirit and Opportunity rovers. Related Video: News Source: BloombergImage Credit: AP Photo/Paul Sancya Green Tesla Technology Mars satellite communications

Tesla Model S getting minor updates for Summer 2014

New colors, a free trunk shelf and, uh, an ionizer. Not mind-blowing stuff, but they are some of the goodies available soon to buyers of the Tesla Model S battery-electric sedan. So say the fine folks at Teslarati. The California-based automaker is offering an Alcantara headliner upgrade for a tidy $1,500 while widening its choice of colors to include a darker metallic grey. Beyond that, there's the case of the trunk "parcel shelf," which was once a $250 add-on but may become standard equipment. Tesla buyers may also have the option of getting an ionizer, which, for those of us that are scientifically challenged, is a feature in which positive and negative ions are emitted to eliminate bacteria from the vehicle. You will be tested on this later. Tesla is adding these features just as it's coming off yet another record quarter for both sales and production. For the three months ended June 30, Tesla delivered 7,579 vehicles while building a record 8,763 cars. Tesla says it expects to deliver 35,000 vehicles in all of 2014, Tesla said late last month, which means the company's quarterly delivery rate should hit about 10,000 by year-end and then 25,000 by the end of 2015. That means a whole lot of positive and negative electrons. And free trunk shelves.