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Panasonic not sure about Tesla Gigafactory commitment; Texas dealers wary, too

Just about the entire US southwest is ready to jump into the financial bed with Tesla Motors as the electric-vehicle maker looks for a place to put its massive "gigafactory." But lithium-ion battery maker Panasonic? Not so much, says Bloomberg News. Panasonic President Kazuhiro Tsuga spoke to a group of reporters in Tokyo and said he strategically understood the need for Tesla to go large-scale with its factory production, especially as it prepares to debut an SUV as well as a model that will be priced at about half of what a Model S costs. But, he added cautiously, there will be significant risk involved in the investment and his company hasn't committed to its involvement just yet. Texas dealers are already sounding the alarm against changing franchise laws to woo the battery plant. Panasonic or not, Tesla is taking the "go big or go home" approach to a factory that it says will cost about $5 billion ($2 billion already committed from Tesla itself) and may support 6,500 jobs. That latter point has states such as Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas tripping over themselves to figure out the financial incentives necessary to be the further production base for California-based Tesla. Texas auto dealers are already sounding the alarm against changing the state's franchise laws to woo the automaker's battery plant. An open letter sent by the Texas Automobile Dealers Association says it does not believe, "that economic development efforts to bring any business to Texas should in any way be connected to changing established laws in Texas for the singular benefit of any one company. ... We believe this sets a bad precedent for future economic development efforts by linking them to special interest changes in law." Last fall, Tesla expanded its battery-production agreement with Panasonic, saying at the time that Panasonic would provide almost 2 million automotive-grade battery cells for the Model S and Model X during the next four years.

Tesla Model S owners hack their cars, find Ubuntu

There are interesting subsets within the group of people that composes Tesla Model S owners. They include celebrities, Drudge Report-reading conservatives, and, more relevant to this post, tech-savvy geeks. Now, give that last bunch an electric car with an easily-exposed Ethernet connecter and they will try to plug into it and snoop around. Don't believe us? Well, several have already admitted to giving it a try on this thread over at the Tesla Motors Club forum. After wiring into the car's communications system, forum user "nlc" was able to find a number of ports and tap into the data flowing to the center console and navigation screens. Others soon joined in the fun and amongst the slightly esoteric bits of information the "hackers" eventually discovered was that the sub-system runs on a version of Ubuntu operating system, which is a Linux variant. While one person did manage to use the discoveries to get Firefox to display on the center console touchscreen (sideways), it doesn't seem likely anyone will be able to do more invasive things with the Ethernet entry point like, for example, transform an early 40-kWh Model S into a 60-kWh version (you can't hack extra batteries). For those who want to customize the big 17-inch display, or at least get it to play video, it seems they'll be better off waiting until Tesla is ready to release the software development kit (SDK) it has promised for third-party app builders. For its part, the California automaker isn't particularly thrilled to have its customers digging beneath the dash. Through its service center, it has already contacted the original Ethernet exploiter to let him know they were aware of his actions and that such activity could lead to a voiding of the warranty. Indeed, the Motor Vehicle Purchase Agreement (MVPA) which buyers sign does contain a clause which reads, in part, You may not, or may not attempt to, reverse engineer, disassemble, decompile, tamper with or engage in any similar activity in respect of a Tesla Vehicle, nor may you permit any third party to do so, save only to the extent permitted by applicable law. It could be argued that this light-handed geekery doesn't quite measure up to the legal extent permitted, but we know if we owned a car that costs as much as $100,000, we wouldn't be risking it. Not when there are salvage-titled cars out there on which to practice the black arts.

First Apple Watch app for Tesla Model S is here, thanks to Eleks

Modern technology is the science fiction of three decades ago. For example, not very long from now you may be able to control many of your car's functions directly from a watch, specifically the Apple Watch. While the wearable smart device isn't even on sale yet, the software developers at Eleks Labs already have a demo version of the Tesla iPhone app running on the gadget (operating in an emulator in the video above), and the programmers believe even more features could be possible later. The Apple Watch version of the app shrinks and streamlines the standard software to fit on your wrist. It still offers much the same functionality, though. The main screen shows the state of charge, range, and whether the Model S is locked, but by scrolling through the pages, users can also do things like open the doors, reposition the moonroof, adjust the climate control while away from the vehicle and much more. It's looks quite handy. There is a big downside to all of the features on the watch's app at the moment, though. According to Eleks Labs, the software development kit for the Apple Watch currently only lets programmers use the device as a bridge for the user's iPhone. That means people must keep their phone on them at all times to get any functionality on their wrist. Some of the gadget's controls are also still being limited, like its Digital Crown scroll wheel. It's not all bad news, though. The developers think additional functionality could be unlocked closer to when the Apple Watch goes on sale. It's possible future apps for the device might not even need to use the phone. While the demo is just a third-party app for now, Eleks Labs hopes to make it official. "Our biggest interest is to cooperate with Tesla to create true omnichannel experience across the car, the app and the watch. We're sure that Tesla owners would benefit most from this option. So we'll try to get in touch with Tesla Motors and arrange this," said Markiyan Matsekh, Product Manager for Mobility and Wearables at Eleks Labs, to Autoblog. Related Video: