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Recharge Wrap-up: Tesla's Cold Weather Blues

Cities in Oregon are looking into relocating underutilized EV chargers. With little data available at the time, and a lot of grant money to spend on installation, numerous public chargers were placed in locations that ended up being used very little. Now, some cities are considering moving certain chargers rather than building new ones. Factors to calculate - besides cost, of course - are the longer ranges of EVs being sold now, the amount of people charging at home, and the fact that many of the earlier public chargers are much slower than many of the quick chargers being deployed now. Read more at Plugin Cars. The Tesla Model S range indicator shows how much range is lost due to cold weather. Besides the green, yellow or red bars to show remaining driving range, there is also a blue indicator showing what portion of range is limited from the battery being cold. A message also states, "Less energy is available due to cold battery." The blue could indicate the amount of energy the car is reserving for thermal management of the battery, as the car works to warm the battery for optimal operation. See the discovery in the video below, or read more at Teslarati. Tony Posawatz has been appointed Non-Executive Director (NED) of Nexeon. The UK-based battery company develops silicon anode battery technology, which it says enables a "new generation" of more energy-dense lithium-ion batteries. Posowatz led the development of the Chevrolet Volt, led Fisker Automotive as CEO for a while, consults as president and CEO of Invictus iCar and has held roles in various other companies in the automotive and alternative energy fields. Posawatz follows former Nokia executive Antti Vasara, who was also named NED at Nexeon last month. Nexeon Chairman Dr. Paul Atherton says that Posowatz's experience with EV technology will "help Nexeon enormously in addressing the challenges and opportunities we face." Read more at Hybrid Cars, or in the press release below. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Nexeon Appoints Top Automotive Expert to its Board of Directors Battery materials development company Nexeon has appointed Tony Posawatz as a Non-Executive Director (NED) with immediate effect. Posawatz is well known in the automotive industry for leading the team that brought the award-winning Chevrolet Volt from concept to production.

Recharge Wrap-up: new Gigafactory drone video, Mercedes valet

A new, Tesla-approved drone video shows the progress of the Gigafactory. Recently, a video surfaced showing what Elon Musk said was just the "pilot plant," which is only a quarter of the size of the final planned Gigafactory. This new video not only shows the structure, but also the site surrounding it. We see more steel beams waiting to be erected, suggesting that the footprint of the finished building will be even more massive than that of the current standing structure. And if what Musk says is accurate, we've got a lot more to look forward to. Have a look in the video above, and read more at Teslarati. Tesla is paying hackers to find bugs in its website and products. In a posting on Bugcrowd, the electric automaker calls on "security researchers" to find vulnerabilities in the site itself, any domains owned by Tesla, any Tesla apps as well as Tesla hardware owned by the hacker like a Model S or the Powerwall. In exchange for the hackers' service, Tesla is offering rewards ranging from $25 to $1,000 for reported vulnerabilities. Tesla also promises not to sic the law enforcement on hackers who step forward to help, as long as they follow the rules. Read more at Teslarati. Daimler and Bosch are working on automated parking for Mercedes-Benz. In a properly equipped parking garage, the car would find an empty space and park by itself, and return to the driver when called upon. The groups are starting a pilot project for the autonomous valet feature with carsharing service Car2go, where it works the other way around. Customers will be able to call a car to a pick-up zone using a mobile app. When finished, the customer leaves the car in the drop-off zone, and the car takes care of the rest on its own. "Fully automated parking will be ready for mass-production before fully automated driving," says Bosch's Dr. Dirk Hoheisel. "Low driving speeds and the information from the car park infrastructure enable a fast implementation." Read more in the press release from Daimler. Volta has raised $7.5 million in funding to expand its free EV charging network. To offer free charging, Volta's chargers essentially perform double duty as billboards for what Volta calls "companies with a vested interest in the community." "Early Internet pioneers like Google became industry titans by first offering free consumer services online paid for by companies that advertised on their platforms," says Volta CEO Scott Mercer.

Hack A Tesla, Win $10,000

In the world of computers, competitions that challenge so-called "white hat" hackers are fairly common. Break into this system in X minutes and we'll give you Y dollars. Rarely, though, does this world cross over with the realm of automobiles. At the 2014 SyScan Conference, which runs from July 16 to 17 in Beijing, hackers have the chance to win $10,000, provided they can break into the systems of a Tesla Model S. According to BidnessETC, in order to win, a successful hack will need to remotely access the 17-inch touchscreen display (shown above) that dominates the Model S cabin in order to surf the Internet and access the vehicle's controls. While we're not computer experts, it seems like a tall order. The Model S may maintain a constant data signal via its driver's cellphone, but it seems unlikely that Tesla hasn't installed a comprehensive security system to prevent electronic tampering. Tesla, for what it's worth, has no part in the competition. It will be interesting to see if there are any successful attempts. As Forbes mentions, hackers have been successful in gaining access to more conventional automobiles, although those attempts were under the watchful supervision of DARPA researchers. Of course, we'll find out just how potent the company's security efforts are when the conference kicks off next week.