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Recharge Wrap-up: BMW tests AdBlue pumps, Drivr is a Tesla taxi service

BMW is testing AdBlue pumps in Germany. AdBlue fluid is used to remove NOx from diesel exhaust, and it is stored in its own tank within the vehicle. Filling AdBlue is easy enough for drivers to do it themselves, and with the proliferation of diesel vehicles in Europe, a pump filling system could make more sense than using the current hand-held containers. BMW is testing AdBlue pumps at three fueling stations in Munich and Berlin to help develop further AdBlue dispenser technology. Read more at Green Car Congress. Drivr Green Personal Transportation is a Tesla taxi service in Cincinnati. Two former employees of Tesla Motors founded the startup, which bills itself alongside ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft. Customers book a ride online, and are picked up by a Tesla Model S. The ride costs $2.50 per mile with a $15 minimum. Drivr currently operates three cars with seven drivers, with plans to lease another 10 Teslas and employ up to 30 drivers. The service will also be expanding to Denver soon, according to the website. Learn more at the Drivr website, or read more at Clean Technica. Ford is opening a research and development facility in Silicon Valley. The Ford Research & Innovation Center, which will be located less than three miles from Tesla Motors headquarters in Palo Alto, California, is expected to be one of the automotive industry's largest R&D facilities. "We're driving to be both a product and a mobility company, and ultimately to change the way the world moves," says Ford CEO Mark Fields. Read more at Automotive News. Law firms advising Fisker Automotive have been denied a $2.50-million fee enhancement in the car company's bankruptcy. Brown Rudnick LLP and Saul Ewing LLP were denied the extra fees, as a Delaware bankruptcy judge ruled there is "no evidence" that the firms provided anything more than what they originally expected. In denying the fee enhancement, the judge cited a "very high bar" for such awards. Read more at Law360. Featured Gallery BMW Tests AdBlue Pumps in Germany Related Gallery Tesla Factory News Source: Green Car Congress, BMW, Clean Technica, Drivr, Automotive News Green BMW Fisker Ford Tesla Transportation Alternatives Diesel Vehicles Electric recharge wrapup

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.

First Tesla Model S P85D owner says it's 'night and day' improvement

The first public owner of a Tesla Model S P85D says the model's autonomous-driving feature that more-or-less allows for the all-electric sedan drive itself hasn't been activated yet. We should all have such troubles. Southern California resident Kevin Babineau was indeed the first customer to take delivery of a Tesla Model S P85D, which features a dual-motor all-wheel-drive setup. Babineau is a longtime car collector, with Humvees and a '69 Chevy Impala in his garage. He previously owned a Tesla Roadster, as well, according to an account he gives to Business Insider. Compared to a standard Tesla Model S and its already-impressive performance standards, the P85D is "night and day" different, Babineau said. The souped-up version is said to go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in a tidy 3.2 seconds. Babineau paid about $130,000 for the quickness privilege, but as you can read in the article, it sounds like it was money well spent. "The emotions that come out of that kind of speed, in that short a distance, your body's not used to it," he said. Tesla unveiled the P85D in October. As you can see in the video below, it can be fun. A P85D driver (no, it doesn't look like Babineau) goes up against Ferraris and Lamborghinis in drag races, and takes them all down. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.