2021 Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus 4dr Sedan on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Recharge Wrap-up: Tesla factory loses power, plant genes modified for biofuel

Tesla's Fremont factory was shut down on Friday morning when a crane knocked out power to the facility. No injuries were reported and Tesla didn't say what effect the outage would have on production. Read more from SFGate or from CNBC. Researchers have genetically modified a plant for lower-viscosity seed oil to make biodiesel. With the viscosity of many plant-based oils being too high for use in modern high-pressure conditions required by emissions laws, this breakthrough is promising. Kansas State University scientists have added Euonymous Alatus (burning bush) genes to the Camelina Sativa plant to produce a thinner seed oil more suited for use in biofuels. Camelina grows easily, and since it isn't a food crop, concerns of genetic modifications are minimal. Testing of the oil in fuel could begin next year, after harvesting a large enough supply. Read more from Green Car Reports and from The Topeka Capital-Journal. The EPA's Mobile Vehicle Emissions Simulator (MOVES) could cause problems for higher ethanol blends. According to an editorial from Urban Air Initiative president David VanderGriend, MOVES is biased against ethanol blends, using test fuels that don't reflect the characteristics of real-world consumer fuels. "We must stop the MOVES model from being implemented, or all of the industry's other initiatives will be undermined," says VanderGriend. "States will have their hands tied and will simply not be allowed to approve higher blends." Read the column from Ethanol Producer Magazine. A Citroen C-Zero driver experienced unexpected fees when turning in the car at the end of its lease. The final bill included inspection and transportation fees under the "Damages" section of the report, totaling over GBP300 (about $470). The author has found no mention or documentation of such fees prior to collection, and is contesting the charges. Read more at EV Meerkat, where the author will update readers while Citroen customer service looks into the matter. Featured Gallery Tesla Factory Related Gallery Citroen C-Zero News Source: SFGate, CNBC, Green Car Reports, The Topeka Capital-Journal, Ethanol Producer Magazine, EV MeerkatImage Credit: AP Photo/Paul Sakuma Government/Legal Green Plants/Manufacturing Tesla Citroen Alternative Fuels Biodiesel Ethanol recharge wrapup

Tesla Model X delayed thanks to Model S production lessons

Besides the third-quarter sales figures for the Model S this year, the big news from the Tesla investor earnings call yesterday was another delay of the Model X electric SUV. CEO Elon Musk made it clear in his letter to investors that he did not want to "bring a product to market that does not delight customers," and he expounded on this in the call yesterday afternoon. Musk even named the X's falcon-wing doors as a potential problem. When Patrick Archambault from Goldman Sachs asked for more details on the Model X delay, Musk said his company would have no real problem making a few great X EVs, but that, "making lots of something consistently that's going to last a long time is extremely hard." Designing the car is easier than figuring out how to actually build the darn thing, he said, and building a lot of them is where Tesla can "really move the needle." We all know that that's what Musk wants to do, and he now says the third quarter of 2015 is when that'll be possible. Musk even named the X's falcon-wing doors as a potential problem. The powertrain and the chassis are based on the Model S, so that has been sorted out to some degree but, "with the falcon wing door and the second row of seats, ... we're adding some very new stuff that's really not out there, that never really has existed in a way that was useful," Musk said. Musk's argument that the X should be delayed has a lot to do with what he and the company found out by building the Model S. "We also learned a lesson in manufacturing that you have issues that are sometimes one out of 100, but unless you make 100 of something, you don't see it," he said. "Then you think the car is all good, but actually randomly one out of 100 is wrong, but you don't know necessarily which one out of the 100, then you've got to go look at all 100 cars. So just once you get into volume manufacturing there are just these statistically rare issues, but you really need to make a bunch of something in order to know that it's there. We want to make sure we do that with the X, that's really just a lesson we've learned." So, despite repeated rumors of potential rivals, Tesla is going to stay the course and bring out the X when it's good and ready. You can read the full transcript of the call here and listen here.

Tesla will deliver 70 percent more vehicles in 2015

While everyone would still like Tesla Motors to announce monthly sales numbers, at least we now have the latest quarterly delivery figures from the all-electric automaker. Tesla says it delivered 9,834 vehicles in the last quarter of 2014 and built 11,627 vehicles. Tesla says the production delays for the new, dual-motor P85D version of the Model S pushed some deliveries back to the first quarter of 2015. That 11,627 is a record number of vehicles made in any quarter for the automaker and it helped Tesla hit its stated goal of building 35,000 vehicles in 2014. In its latest shareholder letter released today, Tesla said it expects to increase its number of vehicle deliveries by more than 70 percent in 2015. That includes the Model S as well as the upcoming Model X, which is going to start deliveries within the next six months. At the start of 2015, Tesla says, it had "over 10,000 orders for Model S and almost 20,000 reservations for Model X." The company says that over 30 beta versions of the X have been built and are being tested. We saw one just the other day, in fact. Regarding reports of low Model S sales in China, the letter says, "Despite initial challenges in China, we remain convinced of the vast potential of this market and are concentrating our efforts on the cities we are in currently, before launching into new cities." Tesla also reported a loss of $107.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2014. The company said it had a loss of 86 cents per share. Losses, adjusted for non-recurring costs and stock option expense, were 13 cents per share. The results fell short of Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 25 cents per share. The electric car maker posted revenue of $1.1 billion in the period, which also fell short of Street forecasts. Analysts expected $1.19 billion, according to Zacks. The automaker says its fourth-quarter profits fell from the impact of a strong dollar and delayed vehicle shipments. TSLA was down $3.49 today, a drop of 1.61 percent, to $212.80. The stock is up slightly more than 8 percent in the last 12 months but shares dropped two percent to $208.65 in aftermarket trading. View 11 Photos The AP contributed to this report.