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Tesla facilitating Chinese trade-ins for Model S buyers

When many people buy a new vehicle in the US, it's quite common to trade in an older model at the same time. Not only does the decision knock a little money off the purchase, but there's often not enough room for an extra car taking up room in the driveway. Now, Tesla is extending that option to some of its buyers in China in hopes that the added convenience boosts sales. According to Bloomberg, Tesla is working with used car traders in Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou to help buyers dump their old vehicles. That value is then deducted from the price of the customer's new Model S. Tesla is still a rather new entrant into China but seems to be performing well. The company began selling the Model S there in April, and it only took a few months to deliver the first 1,000 vehicles. It didn't hurt that the initial pricing was lower than expected, the first 3,000 buyers in Shanghai have been eligible for a free license place, a roughly $15,000 value. According to Bloomberg, the electric automaker has opened nine stores and service locations in six Chinese cities, so far. The business is also considering opening a factory there at some point in the future. News Source: BloombergImage Credit: Wang Zhao / AFP / Getty Images Green Tesla Car Buying Car Dealers Electric Sedan trade-in

Tesla Motors EV charging technology coming to Blink network

The first public bite on Tesla open casting call for its electric vehicle patents has been made by CarCharging, which says it wants to integrate the California automaker's EV charging tech into the Blink Network. Now, this does not mean that Blink chargers will soon be able to Supercharge. Instead, Blink wants to add Tesla-capable adapters to its charging stations. CarCharging and Blink can do this because Tesla CEO Elon Musk has stated that, "Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology." Currently, to get juice at most public chargers, Tesla Model S drivers need to use a public charging station adapter. Today's Level 2 charging stations use the J1772 standard, which does not fit on Tesla's cars. Once the Car Charging Group digs through the patents and comes up with its own Tesla connector cable, the adapter will not be necessary. Of course, the adapter comes standard with every Model S, so CarCharging's announcement is almost a solution looking for a problem. At the very least, this does make living with an EV easier one step easier. CarCharging purchased the troubled Blink network from Ecotality last fall after that company filed for bankruptcy protection. Looking forward, CarCharging says is it "actively working with other major EV charging networks on various interoperability initiatives." Find more details below. CarCharging Intends to Integrate Tesla Motors' Electric Vehicle Charging Technology into its Blink Network June 19, 2014, 8:30 AM EDT Leaders in Electric Vehicle and Charging Infrastructure Expand Access to Technology and Services to Benefit EV Drivers and the Industry Car Charging Group, Inc. (OTCQB: CCGI) ("CarCharging"), the largest owner, operator, and provider of electric vehicle (EV) charging services and owner of the Blink Network, one of the largest EV charging networks, announced its intention to integrate the Tesla Motors' EV charging technology into Blink EV charging stations. According to the blog on the Tesla Motors' website dated June 12, 2014, Chief Executive Officer, Elon Musk, stated that the company would "not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology". Mr.

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.