Tesla is showing off an investor presentation this morning that, while not earth-shattering, has a few tidbits of information, one of which is that a result of the Panasonic’s deal will be a custom-made battery cell that will have improved life cycle, performance, safety and cost. Read more »
With the launch of Nissan’s LEAF and GM’s Volt this year, the first mainstream electric cars are finally reaching customers in the U.S. But it’s clear that Big Auto as a whole is still in the baby step stage. Read more »
Japanese auto giant Toyota and electric vehicle upstart Tesla Motors unveiled for the first time the new RAV-4 EV concept, which has a 100-mile range, and is in so-called “Phase 0″ of development. Read more »
The city that’s so defined by its car culture, traffic and massive freeways, is hosting a major auto show this week: the LA Auto Show. Here’s 10 green cars to watch for outta the show this week. Read more »
For this week’s episode of GigaOM TV’s Green Overdrive show, we got to take one of the official plug-in Prius prototypes for a drive. It drives about the same as the regular Prius, but has a larger lithium ion battery, and charges in about three hours. Read more »
Tesla Motors has just picked up a $30 million investment from Japanese electronics giant Panasonic. The two companies announced on Wednesday that Panasonic — a preferred battery cell supplier for Tesla’s electric vehicles — has bought a $30 million stake in the Palo Alto, Calif. car maker. Read more »
As part of a record-setting environmental settlement package, the bankruptcy estate of General Motors will set aside more than $11.7 million for the cleanup of an old factory site in Delaware where plug-in hybrid car startup Fisker Automotive plans to manufacture its Fisker Nina sedan. Read more »
It’s official: Tesla Motors has completed the purchase of a long-sought home for its Model S electric sedan, and received the title to the former NUMMI factory in Fremont, Calif. Read more »
Tesla Motors expects to reap about $60 million from Toyota for its work developing technology for an electric version of the Japanese automaker’s RAV4 SUV, according to a filing with financial regulators this afternoon. Read more »
For some, the silence of an electric vehicle is really cool, and for others, who worry about getting slammed in a cross walk by a silent, oncoming EV, it’s a safety problem. There’s a growing list of startups developing vehicle noise technology to address these concerns. Read more »
JPMorgan issued an eager beaver report on electric car startup Tesla this week, estimating that Tesla’s stock will hit $25 by the end of 2011, due to its low battery costs, early lead in the EV market and partnership deals with large automakers Toyota and Daimler. Read more »
As Tesla CEO Elon Musk put it in the opening of his first earnings call as the head or a public company: “There’s not much news financially.” So yes, the company is still losing money and will lose money for quite some time. Read more »
At high noon on Tuesday, General Motors plans to detail just what it will take for consumers to land an extended-range electric Chevy Volt in their garage or driveway, releasing new info on pricing and the ordering process. Read more »
Hybrid technology is really getting its day in court. A former General Motors worker and her husband have been accused of stealing (and trying to sell to a Chinese competitor) $40 million in trade secrets related to hybrid vehicles. Read more »
In the second quarter of 2010, greentech startups scored record venture capital and increased spending despite a weak economy. Solar power retained its lead in greentech venture financing, while global investment for clean energy asset financing fell. China, meanwhile, underscored its rising might in the greentech industry, raising billions of dollars in green energy financing. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Tesla’s latest filing with financial regulators fills in some of the gaps about its deal with Toyota and plans for the NUMMI facility. Tesla expects to pay about $42 million for the plant. The partnership with Toyota is a very limited one. Read more »
Tesla Motors, gearing up for an IPO, has heavyweight backers including Uncle Sam and most recently, Toyota. How will the hybrid leader’s vote of confidence in Tesla and the startup’s latest manufacturing plans affect how Tesla fares on Wall Street? Read more »
Today on the Net: An analysis of what Google TV means to advertisers, Clearleap hits a milestone by topping 10 million cable subscribers and the U.K. Office of Fair Trade has decided against investigating the BBC’s Project Canvas. Read more »
UPDATED: Electric car startup Tesla Motors plans to buy the NUMMI plant in Fremont, Calif. and start building its Model S sedan there in 2012. Toyota has agreed to partner with the startup and buy a $50 million stake after Tesla’s IPO. Read more »
Gateway has introduced a new line of notebooks aimed at providing affordable performance for multimedia enthusiasts. The NV series comes in two sizes — 15.6-inch and 17.3-inch, and is available with Intel or AMD processors. A unique social networking button provides one-touch access to social networks. Read more »
A pilot project for testing plug-in hybrids and smart charging tech that Toyota and EDF have been developing for years is finally ready for a large-scale demo. Starting this month about 100 plug-in versions of Toyota’s Prius will be leased in the area. Read more »
In the move from gas powered cars to hybrids, plug-in hybrids and battery electric vehicles, our cars will become more like overgrown consumer electronics than ever before. That trend brings with it potential for a new breed of errors. Read more »
Verizon and Google have been promising the Nexus One would appear on the carrier Real Soon Now for what seems like forever, but it’s nowhere to be seen. Things heated up with the rumor the HTC Incredible was coming to Big Red. So where are they? Read more »
Nissan, one of the automakers betting most heavily on the nascent electric vehicle market, will price its upcoming LEAF plug-in sedan in the range of 3.5 million to 4 million yen (about $38,600-$44,100) in Japan, according to a Mainichi Shimbun report picked up by MarketWatch on […] Read more »
Managing perception is nothing new for alt-fuel vehicles: Part of what made startup Tesla Motors so high-profile for such a small-scale, young venture in its early days was that it refuted the longstanding perception of electric cars as slow, utterly un-slick vehicles for do-gooders. Now one […] Read more »
Five of Japan’s heavyweights in the auto and power industries — Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi Motors, Fuji Heavy Industries and Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the country’s largest utility — have joined forces to try and speed the adoption of a standard quick-charging system for electric vehicles. […] Read more »
As Toyota’s Prius problems continue, other models across the spectrum of green cars will also get bruised. Given the Prius’ status as the poster child for hybrids, consumers may extrapolate its troubles out to other cars. Read more »
Toyota’s ongoing recall and the safety concerns embroiling an automaker that climbed to the top of the global car market through a reputation for reliability, may offer an opportunity for competitors to seize market share, at least in the near term. But Toyota’s troubles, which most recently […] Read more »
Word out of Japan this morning of a possible defect in Toyota’s 2010 Prius — the third generation model of the popular hybrid — adds another scuff to the reputation of an automaker already grappling with its largest ever vehicle recall. As the New York Times […] Read more »
Microsoft Visio still reigns as the standard tool in diagramming for business, project management and technical communications. While you don’t have to be an artist to use Visio productively, in my experience a lot of users still very intimidated by this application. Like most of the […] Read more »
