According to local reports, Bright Automotive, which was a spinoff from the not-for-profit think tank Rocky Mountain Institute, and which had been developing a plug-in hybrid car called the IDEA for commercial fleets, plans to close shop. Read more »
A few early Roadsters that have been left without a charge for an extended period of time, have turned into so-called “bricks.” Here’s what Tesla has to say about it: Read more »
Zipcar reported fourth quarter earnings this week and Wall Street was not happy (shares traded down an immediate 13 percent). Despite actually posting its second consecutive quarterly profit of $3.9 million, concerns are rising about revenue numbers, particularly in Europe. Read more »
Tesla reported fourth quarter and full year earnings on Wednesday and in its shareholder’s letter revealed that it has started a development program with Daimler to build a new electric Mercedes-Benz vehicle with a Tesla powertrain. Read more »
Tesla’s flashy unveiling of its Model X electric SUV/minivan last week looks like it’s paid off in reservations. The car company announced on Tuesday that just a day after the launch, Tesla had accumulated reservations for more than $40 million worth of Model X sales. Read more »
Tesla’s unveiling of the Model X, an SUV-minivan electric car, this week signals to the world that the electric car can truly go mainstream despite the current difficulties in the EV market. A minivan — the world’s least cool car — just got hip, green, and sporty. Read more »
Following the sneak preview of Tesla’s third electric car the Model X, an SUV/minivan combo, on Thursday, Tesla threw a party where it officially unveiled the car and invited a thousand or so guests to celebrate the launch. Here’s our pics from the event: Read more »
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 »
We took GigaOM TV’s Green Overdrive show down Tesla’s sneak preview of its Model X, electric SUV/minivan launch, and got this first hands-on video with the car and an interview with Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk. Check it out: Read more »
Offerings in the EV space will explode this year, with everything from a long-awaited plug-in Prius to the first all-electric SUV from Tesla. More important, they will usher in the era of the connected car and an entirely new relationship between a driver and his vehicle. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The solar industry has begun 2012 with some trepidation, with many on the warpath to cut costs and reduce output. These moves give the market a chance to reduce inventories and get production more in sync with demand. But recovery will likely come slowly. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
This year’s CES was the biggest in the show’s 44-year history. It boasted 15 miles of exhibit hall aisles, 3,100 booths and 153,000 attendees. It is easy to be jaded by the endlessly repetitive products, but the thousands of innovations point toward a future of connectivity. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that he thinks the electric Model X, which will be unveiled on February 9th, will be “cooler” than any SUV or minivan on the market. Tesla teased the frame of the car in its invitations. What do you think? Read more »
For our New Year’s resolutions series, I chatted with Tesla CEO Elon Musk about his goals for 2012. One thing he’s working on is that Tesla plans to unveil its third car the Model X — an electric SUV — at an event on February 9th. Read more »
Fisker has been rushing to fix the problem with the hose clamp for the batteries on its Karma electric car. It says that the “majority” of its customers’ and dealers’ cars with problem batteries have either gotten new batteries or have been repaired. Read more »
As we look toward the next year, the cleantech sector faces many challenges, which we examine in detail in this 2012 outlook. Renewable energy generators encounter an increasingly difficult subsidy environment, and key cleantech innovations like electric vehicles face an uphill climb in terms of connecting ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
It was a tough week for electric cars, with Chevy Volt’s sales falling short and Aptera’s filing for bankruptcy. The barriers to EV adoption are widely known but center around a few major issues, including range anxiety, charging time and initial cost. Range anxiety and unease ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Whether you like the Chevy Volt or not, if you are a supporter of electric cars, you should be disheartened by the news that the Volt won’t meet its 2011 sales goal after all. Not hitting the goal will have a greater impact beyond GM. Read more »
I look at the numbers for whether the DOE and Obama will be able to meet the goal of putting 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015. Read more »
One of the hottest electric vehicles, Tesla’s second car the Model S, won’t be available until 2012, but you’ll have a chance to check out the Beta version of the Model S at GigaOM’s RoadMap event this Thursday, November 10th, in San Francisco. Read more »
Looks like Groupon will go public on Friday morning at $20 per share, giving it a valuation of $12.6 billion for its online coupon business. Let’s compare it to some of the greentech startups and big energy firms and try not to get disturbed. Read more »
Tesla is planning a “super charger” station somewhere between LA and San Francisco that can add 150 miles of charge to Tesla cars in 30 minutes and will use fast 90 kW chargers. Read more »
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 »
Solar power and electric cars are an ideal match. Both are tied to the grid, and disruptive technologies, which are in an early market stage and which are trying to reduce costs. Partnerships just make sense. 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 »
Electric car maker Tesla will soon stop manufacturing its inaugural car the Roadster. But now, according to reports, Tesla plans to bring back the Roadster in 2014 based on a new platform — likely a tweaked version of the Model S. Read more »
When you’re investor in electric car company Tesla, you get to test drive the car you helped fund. Draper Fisher Jurvetson Partner Steve Jurvetson shot this video of his recent test drive of a Model S Beta around a track at Tesla’s Fremont, Calif. factory. Read more »
Electric car maker Tesla announced on Tuesday that it will buy battery cells from Panasonic to build at least 80,000 cars over a four-year period, including supplying battery cells for of its second electric car the Model S. 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 »
In the first half of 2011, a variety of cleantech firms both filed for IPOs and made their debuts on the public markets. But in the wake of the market sell-off this week, that IPO window could be swiftly shutting. Read more »
Tech stocks took a beating on Monday morning, the first day of trading after Standard & Poor downgraded the credit ratings of credit agencies. At the same time, greentech stocks — from solar to biofuels to smart grid — fell alongside the weak macro economic news. Read more »
Toyota plans to make its first electric RAV4s in conjunction with Silicon Valley electric car company Tesla Motors in Woodstock, Ontario, according to a report in the Toronto Star. Read more »
Electric car maker Tesla Motors reported it’s second quarter results today, and in a call with the media and investors, Tesla CEO Elon Musk hinted at a much larger supply deal under discussion with auto maker Toyota. Read more »
Startup Xatori has quietly been boosting both its social and mobile features for its electric car charging network PlugShare. Read more »
Electric car company Tesla Motors has scored a coveted $100 million supply deal with Toyota to produce an electric version of Toyota’s RAV-4, according to a filing. While Tesla already had the R&D for the RAV4 EV with Toyota, the supply deal is a major win. Read more »
By now, you’ve probably heard that Tesla is ending its run with its inaugural car the Roadster. But Tesla has also quietly entered into a deal to buy another 100 gliders from Lotus to produce the Roadster. Read more »
While the greentech IPOs that have happened in the past year have fared decently, they’re no comparison to many of the public debuts in the works by social media companies. Zynga’s reported potential $2 billion raise could deliver five times Tesla’s combined IPO and follow-on offering. Read more »
