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Tesla gigafactory will source materials from North America to keep things green

It's one thing for the Big 3 to get tires and engine parts from cities along the US Rust Belt. It's another thing altogether, though, for Tesla Motors to source far more esoteric materials like graphite, cobalt and lithium from Canada and the northern US. But that's what the California-based company has in mind, and it's all in the name of environmental friendliness and cost, Bloomberg News says. Tesla is looking to bring its raw-material sourcing to this side of the Pond by the time it opens its massive gigafactory that may produce as many as 500,000 vehicles annually, Bloomberg says, citing Tesla spokeswoman Liz Jarvis-Shean. And while the raw-material price may be higher (and driven up further with the additional demand from Tesla), those costs may be offset by the fact that there will be far less transportation and logistics involved. "When all costs are considered, it should be cheaper to source most materials from as nearby as possible" - Tesla's Liz Jarvis-Shean "Transportation impacts are very significant on the heaviest raw materials if they need to be moved from halfway around the world," Jarvis-Shean wrote in an e-mail to AutoblogGreen, adding that there will be additional cost savings from reduced shipping time and less transit-related working capital requirements. "In the long term, when all costs are considered, it should be cheaper to source most materials from as nearby as possible." There are geopolitical issues as well. For instance, China is shutting down some of its graphite mines because of pollution issues, while much of the world's cobalt comes from war-torn Congo, though Tesla says it gets its cobalt from the Philippines. Most of the graphite in Tesla's Model S is of the synthetic variety from Japan and Europe. Of course, Tesla's still trying to figure out where to put its gigafactory, and has said it will be in one of four states: Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico or Texas. The factory will cost an estimated $5 billion and may support 6,500 jobs, so state governments are already starting to campaign to be the automaker's future production home. Regardless, Jarvis-Shean estimated that the sheer economies of scale from the gigafactory will reduce battery-pack costs per kilowatt hour for the company's "mass market" model (sometimes referred to as the Model E) by 30 percent after a full year of production.

Recharge Wrap-up: Smart celebrates 5 years in China, France wants to quit diesel

Smart celebrated its fifth anniversary in China with a concert and two special editions of the Fortwo. The two editions include a China red version limited to five units and a Chinese New Year edition limited to 666 examples. Smart has 143 dealerships in 77 Chinese cities, with 60,000 cars sold so far. Daimler is also looking to expand its Car2go carsharing network in China using Smart vehicles. The anniversary celebration featured a live concert for 50,000 fans. Read more in the press release below. France has plans to build a nationwide EV charging network and retire diesel cars. Industrial group Bollore plans to build 16,000 public charging points in France, with the blessing of Finance Minister Emmanuel Macron, who says, "Through a private initiative with public support, we are accelerating our route towards having a truly national network of electric car charging points." Valls says, "In France, we have long favored the diesel engine. This was a mistake, and we will progressively undo that, intelligently and pragmatically." Read more at Charged EVs. Ninebot One is a self-balancing, hands-free electric unicycle. Think of it as a one-wheeled, no-hands Segway with some extra features. Like riding a bicycle for the firs time, it requires some getting used to, but the benefits seem worthwhile. Depending on the model, it offers up to nearly 19 miles of range on a single charge. It is fairly compact, using a single, 16-inch tire and it weighs about 30 pounds. Maximum speed ranges from 8 to 12 mph. It uses an app to track your travel and other stats. See what sort of training it takes to ride it in the video below, and learn more at the Ninebot website. A Tesla Model S owner has figured out a way to use a USB mouse with the car's center display. The car detected the mouse when plugged into the USB port, and placed a cursor on the display, allowing the user to control functions with the mouse. Trying some other USB devices, owners found that an external CD drive doesn't work with the audio system, nor does a USB keyboard. However, an owner was able to connect a USB floppy disk drive, for what it's worth. See it in action in the video below or read more at Teslarati. 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.

Does Tesla really have 12,000 Model X preorders?

The Tesla Model X is not due until the end of the year, but the preorders apparently continue to rush in. While there has been no official statement - we've asked, but Tesla declined to comment - a set of crowdsourced numbers over at the Tesla Motors Club (TMC) adds up to over 12,00 people excitedly awaiting a new EV. Since Tesla isn't talking, we'll say 12,000 is a reasonable guess. TMC used reservation numbers submitted by people in the queue to come up with 12,000. That number breaks down to 9,900 Model X orders from the US (around 1,350 of them the Signature Series), another 1,916 (202) from Europe and 384 (49) from Canada. Throw in an expected 764 (with an unknown number of Signature models) from China, and you get to a solid batch of preorders for the upcoming all-electric, AWD-only Model X. Over 13,000, in fact. TMC acknowledges that this number is higher than the expected real number of preorders because anyone who upgraded from the standard production version to a signature model gets counted twice in the system that TMC is using, and cancellations are not factored in. We would not be surprised in the least if there are already over 10,000 people lined up for a Model X. It will be the first EV of its size on the market (aside from the Toyota RAV4 EV, which is only available in limited numbers) and it carries the Tesla cache. After all, Tesla sold over 20,000 Model S EVs in the US last year, so we know the company can make a popular EV. Lastly, Tesla got $40 million worth of preorders - that is, around 500 units - in the first four days that the CUV was available for deposits back in 2012. Since Tesla isn't talking, we'll say 12,000 is a reasonable guess.