2022 Tesla Model S on 2040-cars

Auto blog

What does the open patents deal mean for Tesla ... and BMW?

Gift to the world or trade bait? Tesla Motors announced this week it would open its patents for other automakers to use. That has analysts guessing whether the California-based electric-vehicle maker is looking to either swap trade secrets with other automakers or to expand the proverbial pie that represents the plug-in vehicle market. For its part, Tesla says the answer is B. BMW, which is establishing its i sub-brand of plug-in vehicles, would be a natural collaborator with Tesla, Forbes says. In fact, executives from the two companies met in Europe this week. Details were not released, but a BMW spokesman said, "Both companies are strongly committed to the success of electromobility and discussed how to further strengthen the development of electromobility on an international level." While Tesla brings battery technology to the table, BMW offers its carbon-fiber advancements that lighten vehicle-body weight. Those advancements are key to range-extending efforts and could do wonders for Tesla on its journey to help spur technology for the sake of getting more of the general public to accept plug-in technology as a viable first-car option. Then again, Forbes says Tesla, whose investors include Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler and Toyota, may be keeping its best technologies to itself by not patenting certain advancements at all. What's in Tesla's patent pool? uAutoInsurance analyzed Tesla's 249 patents and found that 104 of them related to battery technology, while 28 pertained to recharging activity, which wasn't surprising (about a quarter of those 249 patents couldn't readily be categorized). Tesla also has nine patents related to sunroof technology. The company is based in California, after all.

Watch a young Elon Musk take delivery of his McLaren F1

Years before Elon Musk was launching rockets into space or trying to revolutionize the auto business with Tesla, he was just another Silicon Valley geek, albeit already a very successful one. This vintage video catches Musk in 1999 celebrating some of that triumph, as he takes delivery of none other than a McLaren F1. As the million-dollar supercar is lowered from the transporter Musk intones, "It is the moment of my life." We also get a snapshot of an interesting time in Musk's life. According to the clip, he had already sold the company Zip2 for $400 million in cash and had started at the online banking business X. After a merger, it eventually became PayPal, and the entrepreneur later walked away from the website with another massive check. Watch this brief moment of happiness as Musk takes delivery of the McLaren, because by the end of the video, his focus already seemed to have turned to his next business venture. News Source: EveryElonMusk Video via YouTube, Car and Driver Auto News Green McLaren Tesla Car Buying Green Culture Coupe Performance Supercars Videos paypal

Tesla Gigafactory will be capable of supplying packs for 500,000 EVs a year

We made our gigafactory predictions the other day and, it turns out, we were pretty much on target. Today, Tesla Motors released the first official details on its upcoming massive battery plant and we see sun and wind power feeding energy into a plant that will employ around 6,500 people and make enough packs for around a half-million Tesla EVs a year. You read that right. Tesla is getting ready to produce 500,000 EVs a year, and that's already in 2020. Tesla hopes to start selling a lower-cost EV, the Model E, in about three years. The finalists for where the Gigafactory will be built include the Southwestern states of Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas (our money is on Nevada). We were a little low on the estimated battery output. Instead of being able to make 30 Gigawatt-hours of batteries per year, Tesla is saying that it will have enough capacity to produce 35 GWh of cells and 50 GWh of packs a year. We think that's for both EVs and stationary applications and have reached out to Tesla for confirmation on this point. You can see the details for yourself here and in our gallery below. Through 2020, Tesla will directly invest around $2 billion in the plant and its partners will pony up another $2-3 billion for a total cost of $4-5 billion. That's a lot of cash, but Tesla says that it will make buying an EV much, much cheaper. The company is saying that, once the plant is up and running for the first year, the per-kWh cost of a Tesla battery pack will be lowered by "more than 30 percent." Maybe that Model E isn't such a pipe dream after all. Also today, Tesla announced a new convertible notes offering worth $1.6 billion. Details are available in the press release below. Tesla Announces $1.6 Billion Convertible Notes Offering Wednesday, February 26, 2014 PALO ALTO, Calif., February 26, 2014 – Tesla announced today an offering of $1.6 billion aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes in an underwritten registered public offering. Of the total offering, Tesla will offer $800 million aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2019 and $800 million aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2021.