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Ford files trademark application for 'Model E'

In early December, Ford filed an application with the US Patent and Trademark Office for the name "Model E." Historically, Ford never produced a Model E, and while automakers are known to file for trademarks they never use, some have wondered if the application might be used for a concept car.
Based on other recent events, though, it could be a legal move. In 2000 Ford sued an online start-up called Model E over the similarity of that name to Ford's industry-shaping Model T, but the judge dismissed the case citing lack of proper grounds. In August 2013, Tesla applied for trademark registration for Model E, and at the time, Ford said it would review the application. Tesla actually made two applications for Model E, one for automobiles and structural parts therefore, the other for "providing maintenance and repair services for automobiles," and there are plenty of theories about what the name could be applied to.
The Published for Opposition date for Tesla's applications is December 31, 2013, after which anyone who thinks they'd be harmed by Tesla being granted the trademark gets 30 days to register their issues. This is just speculation, but Ford's application - which was filed for automobiles only - might be about protecting what it sees as unwelcome encroachment on the name Model T, protection it wasn't able to enforce before when the stakes were only online and much smaller.

Tesla Model S drivers claim first cross-country trip on Supercharger power

It's not like most Tesla Model S owners are hard-pressed for cash, but it's still got to be nice to know they can get across the country in their all-electric luxury hatchbacks for free. Father-daughter team John and Jill (no last names given) just finished what's being called the first coast-to-coast Model S trip powered completely by the company's Supercharger network. Tesla just completed installing the Superchargers and CEO Elon Musk tweeted just yesterday that the network was energized. The company unveiled its first Supercharger in September 2012, and Musk says he will finally take his long-promised Model S family road trip this spring. But now someone's beat him to the headlines. The pioneering duo finished its New York-to-Los Angeles trip January 25, logging about 3,600 miles in the process. Additional miles were required since father John started his trip in Kentucky before picking up daughter Jill in New York. Tesla says it has 71 free North American Superchargers and that its network is reachable by about 80 percent of the continent's population. The important number that makes that possible is that the 85-kWh version of the Model S can go 265 miles on a single charge. WIRED says John and Jill hit up 28 Superchargers over the course of a week. Naturally, fellow Tesla owners who posted on a rather long forum thread describing the trip were enthused, effusively comparing the team to Lewis and Clark. The news could spur more sales to the California-based automaker, which finished last year with a flourish of sorts. Tesla sold about 6,900 units of the Model S in October, November and December, beating the company's own target and making the Model S the country's best-selling plug-in vehicle for the fourth quarter.

Tesla could make 800 Model S EVs a week by late 2014

Tesla continues to impress, with high demand pushing the small, California-based company well beyond its initial projections of 400 Model S EVs per week. According to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, "We're above 400 a week at the current manpower, and not trivially above it." If things continue at the current pace, Tesla's Fremont, California factory, former home of the General Motors/Toyota NUMMI facility, will be pumping out 800 cars per week by late 2014.
That number will eventually come to include the Model X SUV and a smaller, more affordable alternative to the Model S. There's even chatter of a compact SUV, according to a story from Bloomberg.
Even if Tesla produces 800 cars per week for an entire year, the company hasn't even approached the maximum capacity of its Fremont factory. The NUMMI facility was producing 500,000 units per year during its glory days. And while that number is still far off for Tesla, Musk claims it'll happen eventually. "We going to have every kind of car you could possibly imagine. If it moves, we'll make it."