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Tesla owners go grassroots to promote their favorite EV in Iowa

A month or so ago, the Iowa Department of Transportation stepped in to prevent Tesla Motors not only from selling the Model S in the state, but even from offering test drives. That move didn't sit right with some people, but it's not stopping the EV-curious in Iowa from learning about the popular electric vehicle thanks to Tesla's dedicated fan base. A small number of Minnesota Tesla owners drove to Urbandale, Iowa this past weekend for a mini-EV meet-up in a strip mall parking lot. The event included test drives, a number of converted EVs (some the work of Nabil Hanke's Electric Dream Machine shop) and lots of explaining what a 'frunk' is. As a Model S owner identified only as Jason told local TV station KCCI, "This isn't us fighting anything. I think everyone here understands that this is really about sharing new technology." You can watch a video report over at KCCI 8 News. It's easy to see why Tesla owners love their cars and the brand as a whole. Tesla just announced that its network of Superchargers has "delivered 14.3M kWh of energy worldwide, saving 2M gallons of gasoline and offsetting 50M pounds of carbon dioxide. The price for this energy to Model S drivers: $0.0." When the Iowa DOT put the kibosh on the test drives, the state joined others, most recently Michigan, in restricting what the electric vehicle maker can do to promote its products. In some states, the company is allowed to sell vehicles in its stores but in places like Iowa, potential buyers need to order online and then take direct delivery. Events like the one in Urbandale are a different way to drum up EV interest.

Tesla Trade-up now offering Pedego e-bike

Three years ago, an Ottawa resident embarked on an effort to turn a $30 camera into a Tesla Roadster electric vehicle purely through the magic of bartering. Today, he's halfway to his goal. Sort of. Martin Provost, known for his Tesla Trade Up blog, has traded his way up to a $2,000 Pedego Comfort Cruiser electric bike, and it came from the CEO of Pedego, no less. If you're keeping track, that's two wheels out of the four that he's taken down. See, half way. In mid-2011, Provost set out on what he calls his "quest to become an EV owner through the kindness of humanity." Starting with that camera, he's since engineered 10 trades. The process included bartering his way through items like a computer, an electric guitar, a VIP brewery tour and a software suite valued at $3,000. Of course, he now has a $2,000 e-bike, so we hope he doesn't go too far backwards. The gentleman also has taken his official leap into EV ownership, securing a Smart Electric Drive for a lease rate of $100 a month. He's big on the three-year lease contract because it'll expire around the same time Tesla may start putting out its $35,000 vehicle. Which is irrelevant if he actually scores that Roadster, but it's nice to know he has a backup plan, just in case.

Panasonic ready to start big investment in Tesla Gigafactory

To paraphrase Dr. Evil from Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, why spend a trillion when you could spend ... billions? That's what Panasonic is saying about its investment in Tesla's gigafactory, though there's a catch. The billions are in Japanese yen. Yes, Panasonic will invest "tens of billions of yen" into the Gigafactory slated for the great state of Nevada, Reuters says, citing comments from Panasonic Chief Executive Kazuhiro Tsuga. That's not exactly specific, but 10 billion yen is equal to about $92 million. We've heard Panasonic's share of the new factory could be as high as $2-3 billion, but at least now we have a starting point Whatever Panasonic's kicking in, Nevada is also ponying up a pretty penny. Last month, Tesla said it would build the factory near Reno after reaching an agreement that calls for about $1.2 billion in incentives from the state over a 20-year period. Tesla and lithium-ion battery maker Panasonic officially announced their gigafactory partnership in late July, though Panasonic wasn't talking numbers at the time. All told, the plant is expected to cost about $5 billion to build and is considered necessary for Tesla to reach the scale to build its planned $35,000 EV, the Model 3. That's because the factory is will have the capacity to produce about a half-million (no, we didn't say "billions") electric vehicles a year.