The first quarter of cleantech was a mix of good and bad news. Avis’ purchase of Zipcar and Silver Spring Networks’ long-awaited IPO finally occurring were further signs of thawing capital markets and movement in the acquisition space. However, in both situations valuations were lower than hoped, a sign of how investors view cleantech. Read more »
Downtown Vegas is going personal car free (or hoping to) with the launch of Project 100, the out-there transportation service for the Downtown Project, from Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh. Read more »
The fourth quarter in cleantech saw attention paid to two prominent, publicly traded companies: EV maker Tesla and newly minted public listing SolarCity. It remains a transitional period for the sector as investment declines, with a shift toward those companies able to scale with little additional capital. Read more »
In 2013 cleantech investing will move toward companies serving unsubsidized markets where software plays a role in reducing power consumption. In many ways this is a return to plays for energy efficiency, and there’s still money to be made from business models built around saving energy. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Tesla caught the attention of the mainstream automotive world this week, taking home Motor Trend’s Car of the Year award. As the company sets its sights for a mass market EV, we discussed Tesla’s future with Motor Trend Editor in Chief Ed Loh. Read more »
Tesla was in danger of missing its delivery goals for its Model S by a wide margin earlier this year. But the company has now been able to achieve its scaled-back milestones in the third quarter. Read more »
This quarter Tesla’s production schedule came under fire, and share economy leaders Airbnb raised cash while Zipcar struggled with its membership model. Meanwhile the Indian power outage in July prompted questions about how the developing economy will power itself. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk speaks out on why Tesla is raising more money, why the production has been pushed back and just what were the changes to the DOE loan agreement. Read more »
Electric car maker Tesla has quietly built out solar-powered rapid electric car chargers at six locations around California and has plans to install many more next year. The tech, which uses a solar system from SolarCity, will be offered for free for Model S owners. Read more »
Almost one in four electric cars sold by 2020 in the U.S. will be in California, according to a new report from Pike Research. Read more »
Want to get your hands on an early Tesla Model S electric car next month, but haven’t gotten in the reservation line? Try eBay. There’s one starting at $145,000 on the online auction site. Read more »
Electric car maker Tesla Motors faces one of the toughest times in its history in the fourth quarter of this year. The company’s got to ramp up production of its Model S to be able to deliver thousands of the cars, and make no mistakes. Read more »
Tesla Motors needs to make a profit and is counting on the Model S to get it there. The electric car company began shipping the sedan last month, and it has collected about Model S 12,200 reservations now, compared with roughly 11,500 by the end of June. Read more »
Overall, between 2012 and 2017, more than 900,000 light-duty PEVs will be sold in the United States. But there remain hefty inhibitors to mainstream plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) use, including limited vehicle driving range and large battery packs, not to mention steep prices. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Zipcar tweaks its pricing (a sign of increasing competition), scientists peg the cost of climate change at $1,240 trillion, and there’s a new fuel cell outta an MIT lab that uses vanadium oxide as the anode to both generate and store energy. Today in cleantech! Read more »
Have strong opinions about Tesla’s electric sedan the Model S? It’s officially shipping starting this Friday and represents a new chapter for the Silicon Valley firm. Take our survey and weigh in on it. Any chance you’ll reserve or buy one? Read more »
Tesla investor Steve Jurvetson — a partner with Draper Fisher Jurvetson — drove off in the very first Model S electric car recently and just published this video and photo to prove it on his Flickr feed. Read more »
Tesla revealed in a blog post on Tuesday that its electric car the Model S is finally street legal and ready for customer test drives starting on June 23, the day after the first customer deliveries. Who wants to drive a Model S! Read more »
This quarter the EV market struggled to find its footing. Meanwhile, the smart-grid sector solidified and low-power technology proved itself important in the data center. Read more to learn what these news pieces and others mean for the larger space over the next few months. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Tesla has decked out its Model X, an SUV-minivan hybrid, with innovative design features that, along with a relatively affordable price tag, could attract a mainstream audience. This research note examines why Tesla will be the brand to watch in the electric vehicle market. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
At a sneak preview in Hawthorne, Calif. on Thursday, electric car maker Tesla unveiled its third car, an all-electric SUV called the Model X, for the first time to the public. And yep, true to speculation it’s got so-called “falcon wing” doors. Read more »
If you’re like many of us, you’re already thinking over some New Year’s resolutions that will make you a better “you” in 2012. But how are the tech industries’ thought leaders approaching the new year? We asked 12 of them for their resolutions. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
If you get over the fact that electric car pioneer Tesla Motors will lose money every quarter for almost another year, then you can relax and realize that Tesla actually had a pretty solid third quarter. Read more »
Blazing fast networks, cheap silicon, always-on devices and a torrent of data will fundamentally change everything — how we consume media, how we work, and even who we are. We examined 10 areas that show how connectivity is profoundly changing the present and future of technology. Read more »
For our latest Green Overdrive show, we bring you our ride in one of Tesla’s electric Model S Betas (a burgundy beauty), and we show you how an electric vehicle designed from the ground-up handles. Bonus: we interview Tesla’s Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen. Read more »
It’s been over a month since the Solyndra news came out, but it’s still dominating. Because it just won’t go away, here’s my top five list of projects that the DOE also backed with loan guarantees and that are showing some early signs of success. Read more »
Tesla’s Model S is so roomy it can fit seven people (including two back-facing kids seats), and if you’re really, REALLY!, creative you can fit 8 (don’t try this at home folks) — watch the video for the kicker. Read more »
Electric car maker Tesla Motors took the wraps off of its electric Model S sedan Betas at a customer event this weekend, allowing interested customers the opportunity to participate in short drives of three of the company’s Model S beta cars. Here’s photos and video: Read more »
While electric car maker Fisker Automotive is in the process of launching its first electric car, the Karma, to dealerships and customers this summer, the auto startup says it is also starting to hire workers for its next-generation electric car, dubbed code name Project Nina. Read more »
While we brought you photos of Tesla’s Model S alpha cars from its head quarters in March, Tesla just put up some new photos of what looks like a more production-ready version of the Model S. What do you think? Read more »
While it’s good news for Tesla that it will have $234 million to develop its third electric car the Model X, the funding underscores how Tesla will be transitioning into a period where the company will be generating a lot less revenue for several months. Read more »
Silicon Valley electric car pioneer Tesla plans to stop production of its first electric car the Roadster in December 2011, according to a filing. Read more »
To kick off the first quarter of 2011, electric vehicle maker Tesla reported record revenues and gross margins. But given the company won’t be making a profit until well after its second electric car the Model S comes out, Tesla is still losing money every quarter. Read more »
For our latest Green Overdrive show we get an inside look at Tesla’s Model S Alpha program, which Tesla will use to test out design and functionality of its next-generation all-electric car the Model S. Read more »
Tesla has designed its second electric car, the Model S, to have a swappable battery with the idea that if battery swapping becomes common for electric car drivers one day, the Model S will be prepared. It’s basically hedging its bets with battery swapping. Read more »
Check out our photos of Tesla’s Model S Alpha build room, where engineers work on testing 20 Model S Alphas for things like safety, durability and electronics. In a couple of months, Tesla will start building 50 Betas, and by mid-2012, will start delivering the car. Read more »
Even though Tesla’s second electric vehicle the Model S is still about two years away, Tesla CEO Elon Musk laid out the company’s road map for two more new electric cars at an event in Palm Springs: the Model X SUV and a $30,000 EV. Read more »
Tesla’s next-generation electric sedan, the Model S, won’t be out until 2013, but the EV maker has already started testing the alpha version of the car on the roads. And Tesla has just released this video of the alpha Model S in real world driving tests. Read more »
Tesla shows off the design of its Model S, next-gen electric sedan, via a series of videos. It’s some Model-S porn for ya, since we’re going to have to wait almost two years to buy one of these. Read more »
Leave it to cooler-than-thou electric vehicle maker Tesla Motors to know its mobile graphic chips. Tesla announced this morning that it will use two NVIDIA Tegra chips to power the 17-inch screen and the instrument cluster for Tesla’s next-gen electric sedan the Model S. Read more »
