2016 Tesla Model S on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Recharge Wrap-up: Shift to offer Teslas for Hire, Model S P85D beats Ferrari in drag race

A company called Shift plans to provide bikes and EVs for hire. Based in Las Vegas, NV, Shift will provide chauffeured ride services like Uber, but will also include a car- and bike-sharing service that delivers the desired wheels to the customer. Shift's fleet will include EVs like the Smart Fortwo Electric Drive and the Tesla Model S. Shift also promises that you will, "Be on your way within five minutes," which is a pretty tall order. Shift is scheduled to be available to members beginning this fall. Read more at The Car Connection. Nissan UK has confirmed the price of replacement batteries for the Leaf. UK drivers will be able to buy new batteries for 4,920 pounds (or about $7,738). That's considerably more than the price of $5,499 for US customers. Customers get 1,000 pounds back when they exchange their old battery. The original battery is covered under a five-year, 60,000-mile warranty, and most owners will never need to replace it. According to Nissan, only three replacement batteries have been sold out of 30,000 Leafs sold in Europe. Read more at Autocar. The Tesla Model S P85D walloped a Ferrari in an impromptu drag race video. The Ferrari driver pulls up alongside the Tesla and asks, "What you got in there?" before challenging him to a race. The Ferrari gets a head start, but the Tesla pulls out ahead quickly. The video also gets the reactions of some passengers to the car's mighty acceleration. See the video below and read the account of a drag race against a Lamborghini Aventador at Car Throttle. Australian website Drive has chosen their Cars of the Year in various categories. The Tesla Model S was a carryover winner for Luxury Car Over $80,000, but the Mercedes-Benz C200 narrowly overtook it to be crowned the overall winner. Regarding the Model S, one judge says, "This makes every other EV look at least a generation behind." The main thing that held the Tesla back from winning outright was the near-term lack of charging infrastructure. The judges did note Tesla's plans to build a network of Superchargers in Australia, but also pointed out that those plans exclude much of the country so far. See the video below and read more at Drive. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

GM admits Cadillac ELR no real competition for Tesla Model S

Last year, then-CEO of General Motors, Dan Akerson, made it clear that the company lookouts at the Ren Cen had California automaker Tesla in their sights. "If you want to compete head-to-head with Tesla, and we ultimately will, you want to do it with a Cadillac," he said. So, given the fact that the Cadillac ELR has a plug and sells for roughly the same price at the Tesla Model S ($75,000 vs $69,900, before incentives) and that Cadillac doesn't have any other electric vehicle on the horizon, you'd be forgiven if you thought that the way that Akerson wanted to challenge Tesla's EV success was with the ELR. Well, you'd apparently be wrong. "The ELR is a different car, it's a different price point. It's way-different technology." - GM's Mark Reuss Speaking yesterday in Detroit, GM's head of global product development, Mark Reuss, admitted that the ELR is not the Tesla competitor that Akerson promised. "People like to say the ELR is [competition for the Model S], but it's really not. It's a different car, it's a different price point. It's way-different technology." So, if we follow that logic to conclusion with Akerson's quote from last year, then the only way that Cadillac can eventually compete with Tesla is with a pure electric car, and that seems an outside chance, at best, for the foreseeable future. Through the end of July, Cadillac has sold 578 ELRs since it went on sale earlier this year. Tesla doesn't break out monthly US sales, but has sold 15,114 Model S EVs around the world in the first six months of 2014. For his part, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has already said that GM is headed down the wrong path with plug-in hybrids like the ELR or the Chevy Volt. Speaking about the Volt last year, Musk said, Chevy "sort of created something that's a bit of amphibian," which resulted in a car that's, "Okay but not great."

Recharge Wrap-up: Tesla's usable battery capacity uncovered, Opel Ampera-e costlier than BMW i3 in Norway

Tesla hacker Jason Hughes has uncovered the actual usable capacity of Tesla's batteries. While total capacity is used in the branding of the various versions of the Model S and Model X, the usable capacity is usually less than the "75" or "90" on the badge suggests. The outlier is the Model S 60 and 60D, and Model X 60D, which use the same battery pack as the 75 versions. They have 62.4 usable kWh, and a paid upgrade unlocks another 10.2 kWh in usable capacity for a total of 72.6 kWh – not 75 – plus a top speed of 140 mph. Hughes gathered the data from Tesla's Battery Management System software, and made a list of usable capacity for each model. Read more at Electrek. Opel has priced the Ampera-e higher than the BMW i3 and Nissan Leaf in Norway. In its first European market, the overseas sibling to the Chevrolet Bolt will start at 299,900 kroner (about $34,585). The i3 starts at 267,500 kroner ($30,850), while the Leaf costs 204,990 kroner ($23,640). Opel is launching the Ampera-e first in countries with more EV infrastructure. The automaker says the car's pricing in Norway is unique because of the country's EV incentives and market conditions, and that one shouldn't extrapolate Norway's price to other markets. Read more at Automotive News Europe. Renault has placed Gilles Normand in charge of its EV unit. After holding important roles at both Renault and Nissan, Normand will lead the French automaker's electric car business as it prepares for a period of accelerated growth. Renault enjoys a 25 percent market share of EVs in Europe, selling more than 100,000 since 2012. "I am very motivated by this new strategic challenge at a time when the Global EV market is entering into a significant growth phase," says Normand, who steps into the role on January 1, 2017. "I look forward to working with the team to continue to drive our leadership in existing and new markets, and bring exciting EV vehicles to our customers." Read more from Automotive News Europe, or from Renault.