Auto & Car Blog

Filed under: Tesla Motors, Legislation and Policy

When the Detroit automakers went to Washington to press their case for financial assistance to get through their current cash crunch, the hope was to get $25 billion from the $700 billion fund that was set up to bail out Wall Street. The Bush administration was having none of that however, and by the time the CEOs headed home, the only idea that was getting any traction was to free up the money that had been set aside in the 2007 Energy Bill to fund development of more efficient cars. The Detroit 3 however, were not the only ones eyeing that pot of money. Tesla Motors is just one of groups applying for low interest loans from what is known as the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Incentive Program (AVTM) fund. In a new post on the Tesla Motors blog, Vice President of Business Development Diarmuid O’Connell doesn’t express an opinion one way or the other on whether Congress should help Detroit. However, he does make it clear that the Silicon Valley EV company doesn’t believe the AVTM fund should be used as the source of the bailout. The same finance market issues that have put the Detroit companies in jeopardy have hurt Tesla’s plans to raise cash to pay for new manufacturing facilities and development of new vehicles. Tesla needs a piece of that pie.

[Source: Tesla Motors]

Tesla opposes using advanced vehicle fund for Detroit bailout originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Tesla Motors

The Tesla Roadster validation prototype No. 11 made a trip up the coast from California to Seattle recently for a bit of publicity before the company opens its Seattle-area store sometime next year. VP 11 has version 1.5 of the powertrain and made a splash in the Pacific Northwest, including on Microsoft’s campus.

Zak Edson, Tesla’s senior manager of member services, posted yesterday about the “four-day sales and marketing blitz” and said that 80 people - potential customers and media - got to drive the car. Part of Tesla’s interest in expanding to Washington state is the tax offer for greener vehicles - including a sales tax exemption for hybrids and alternative fuel vehicles. You’ll have to hurry to get a discount on your Model S, though. The tax is set to stop at the end of 2010. There’s more, including a list of local news bits about Tesla’s NW appearance, over at the Tesla Feel blog.

[Source: Tesla]

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Filed under: Convertibles, Hybrids/Alternative, Green

The Tesla Roadster launch has been anything but silky-smooth, but the upstart EV automaker hopes its problems are in the rear view mirror with the completion of Drivetrain 1.5, which includes an upgraded electric motor and swapping the original two-speed automatic transmission for a Borg Warner-sourced one speed. The changes will improve the Tesla Roadster’s instant torque from 211 to 280 lb-ft while also improving its range by 10% to a shockingly impressive 244 miles.

Drivetrain 1.5 also means Tesla can finally ramp up production of its well-publicized roadster. Within the next few weeks, Tesla will begin producing 10 Roadsters per week. By next March, that number will increase to 40 samples per week, which will go a long way toward satisfying demand for the sexy EV. The new, upgraded Drivetrain 1.5 is so much better than the mechanicals it replaces, Tesla will keeps its promise and retrofit the 38 models already produced and delivered with the new equipment. Hit the jump to view Tesla’s official press release.

[Source: Autoblog Green]

Continue reading Tesla ends development of Drivetrain 1.5, ready to ramp up production

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Ford, Tesla Motors

Our friends over at that august automotive journal known as Jalopnik have come up with an interesting bit of speculation about the Tesla WhiteStar. According to their tortured logic, the new electric sedan - to be built in New Mexico - may be based on the Ford Fusion platform. Evidently , the Albuquerque Tesla plant is in reasonable proximity to the Hermosillo, Mexico plant that turns out the CD2 triplets.

This seems like a highly unlikely proposition, since the platform seems ill-suited to carrying the quantity of batteries that would be required to provide what Tesla has promised. On the other hand, the amount of investment in the plant and the in car also doesn’t seem correspond to the cost of developing and building a new ground-up vehicle in the volumes they have talked about. It seems probable that WhiteStar will be based on an existing vehicle, but the choice of New Mexico is more likely due to the financial incentives that NM Governor and presidential candidate Bil Richardson was willing to cough up than anything else. My buddy Ray has more at the Read link.

[Source: Jalopnik]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Flex-Fuel, Hybrid, AutoblogGreen Q & A, AutoblogGreen Exclusive

Click on the image for a gallery of 29 images of the VentureOne concept and the Carver three-wheeler.

This is the second part in an interview with Ian Bruce, founder of Venture Vehicles, where he talks about safety aspects of the VentureOne concept, and projected sales growth. In the first part of the interview, Ian shared with us his background with Venture Vehicles, and comments on the design of the VentureOne. Click here to go to part one of the interview.

If you haven’t already, be sure to read our guide to the VentureOne first as background to this insightful interview.

ABG: Is the small internal combustion engine used in the hybrid variant taken straight out of a motorbike? What flex-fuel capabilities does it have?

IB: The genset is the other main component in our series-hybrid configuration, and we have a great deal of flexibility in choosing the final configuration. The principal requirement is that it run efficiently while generating a sustained 15kW using standard gasoline, E100, or any blend in between. We only require a small sensor in the fuel system that can detect the relative percentage of ethanol in the fuel and adjust the injection volumes to suit. We plan to use the airflow from the battery cooling system to keep the fuel lines and engine at a minimum temperature, and avoid any cold weather start-up problems associated with E100.

Interview continues after the jump.
Click on the image for a gallery of 29 images of the VentureOne concept and the Carver three-wheeler.

This is the second part in an interview with Ian Bruce, founder of Venture Vehicles, where he talks about safety aspects of the VentureOne concept, and projected sales growth. In the first part of the interview, Ian shared with us his background with Venture Vehicles, and comments on the design of the VentureOne. Click here to go to part one of the interview.

If you haven’t already, be sure to read our guide to the VentureOne first as background to this insightful interview.

ABG: Is the small internal combustion engine used in the hybrid variant taken straight out of a motorbike? What flex-fuel capabilities does it have?

IB: The genset is the other main component in our series-hybrid configuration, and we have a great deal of flexibility in choosing the final configuration. The principal requirement is that it run efficiently while generating a sustained 15kW using standard gasoline, E100, or any blend in between. We only require a small sensor in the fuel system that can detect the relative percentage of ethanol in the fuel and adjust the injection volumes to suit. We plan to use the airflow from the battery cooling system to keep the fuel lines and engine at a minimum temperature, and avoid any cold weather start-up problems associated with E100.

Interview continues after the jump.

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Read the rest of this entry »