2022 Tesla Model S on 2040-cars

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Recharge Wrap-up: Japan supports hydrogen, Fools against fuel cells, BlueIndy controversy

Japan hopes to expand the use of hydrogen energy by subsidizing fuel cell vehicles, according to The Japan News. The trade ministry plans to include the subsidies in its 2015 budget to coincide with the expected launch of Toyota's Fuel Cell Vehicle and the Honda FCEV hydrogen car. By jump-starting purchases of hydrogen cars, Japan hopes that innovation and mass-production will get a boost and the cost of fuel cell vehicles will be competitive with gasoline-powered models by the year 2025. Japan plans to have 100 hydrogen fueling locations operating by March 2016, and wants to halve the cost of building those stations by 2020. The amount of the subsidies has not yet been set. Investing website The Motley Fool isn't quite as optimistic as Japan about hydrogen cars, and is instead bullish about Tesla Motors. The Fool points to Tesla's strong stock performance, and predicts future growth will come from more car models in the future - starting with the Model X - as well as the company's proposed Gigafactory for manufacturing batteries. If Tesla's charging technology continues to catch on, that only improves its financial prospects. The article has some harsh words, however, for hydrogen: "Fuel cells are an inferior automotive technology and for fundamental efficiency, cost, and infrastructure reasons always will be mere compliance gimmicks." Yeesh. As part of a program to build charging stations for the Indianapolis EV carsharing service BlueIndy, utility company Indianapolis Power & Light (IPL) wants to raise its electricity rates an average of 44 cents a month per residential customer to help pay for its share of the project. State consumer advocacy agency Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor and consumer watchdog group Citizens Action Coalition oppose the plan, according to Greenfield, Indiana's Daily Reporter. The BlueIndy program, which is a partnership between the city of Indianapolis and battery manufacturer Bollore Group, will provide up to 500 cars for rent at 25 charging sites around the city. Those who oppose the rate hike call IPL a monopoly and say the amount of the increase is not allowed under state law and that the program wouldn't benefit working class and low-income citizens. A hearing regarding IPL's proposal is scheduled for July 23. A Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV will run the 2014 Asia Cross Country Rally, Hybrid Cars reports. The rally covers 1,367 miles of woods, swamps and mountains from Thailand to Cambodia.

There are ways to sneak Tesla Model S into Russia for just 6.5M rubles

Tesla Fever has extended far and wide, winning over critics and everyday enthusiasts alike. The company is rapidly expanding its efforts both in its home market and abroad, but for some of its wealthy fans, that move isn't happening quite fast enough.
Dmitry Grishin is one such enthusiast. The 35-year-old multi-millionaire founder of Russia's Mail.ru is a big fan of Elon Musk's operation, so much so, in fact, that he's decided not to wait for sales to begin in the Russian Federation. Instead, he's gone off on his own and simply imported a Model S to get around Moscow.
The acquisition was not easy, as detailed by The Verge, and Grishin's car isn't quite as full-featured as a Model S sold in America - he's forced to use his phone's data connection rather than the car's . But, Grishin clearly has no regrets, spending a total of $180,000 to bring the EV to Moscow. In fact, Grishin has gone so far as to say he'd invest in the American EV manufacturer, if it hastened the brand's arrival in the motherland.

Aftermarket carbon fiber rear spoiler for Tesla Model S is priced accordingly

Need a little something extra for your Tesla Model S? Robert Strohmeyer and EV Autosalon have you covered. The item is a thin rear spoiler, and it only costs $1,200. Strohmeyer sent AutoblogGreen an email about his new aftermarket parts company focusing on full EVs and plug-in hybrids. "Naturally," he wrote, "I started with the Tesla Model S" and the spoiler is the first product he's offering. EV Autosalon claims the very first of its EVA fiberglass spoilers was shipped last week and that more will go out next week. A few things to note. The spoiler – available in both fiberglass and carbon fiber - comes unpainted "so that [it] can be painted and installed by your local body shop of choice to match your Model S perfectly." The spoiler is meant to be attached to your Model S with 3M industrial strength body molding tape and will come with templates so that you can line up the spoiler with the edges of the trunk - you don't want this one to get put on crooked. The $1,200 price tag is for the matte or glossy carbon fiber spoilers. The fiberglass version will set you back $600, well below the cost of the official carbon fiber rear spoiler for the Tesla Roadster ($1,700). If you want an official rear spoiler for the Model S, you need to order it when you order the car (there is currently no option to buy one in the accessories section of company website), and Tesla will only put it on the $85,900 85-kWh Performance model. Tesla says the official spoiler will, "improve high speed stability" and will "reduce lift at the car's rear by 77% at highway speeds, with minimal range impact." Strohmeyer isn't making any performance claims about his aftermarket spoiler, but some members of the Tesla Motors Club like the look of it. Do you?