2023 Tesla Model Y Long Range on 2040-cars

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New Civic, FCA UAW Agreement, Frankfurt | Autoblog Minute

FCA reaches a tentative agreement with the UAW, Honda reveals the all new 2016 Civic, and the Frankfurt Motor Show dazzles us again.Senior editor Greg Migliore reports in the Weekly Recap edition of Autoblog Minute Weekly. UAW/Unions Bentley Honda Jaguar Porsche Tesla Autoblog Minute Videos Original Video FCA porsche mission e civic

For Tesla, the energy-storage company, the magic is in batteries

Tesla Motors Chief Elon Musk has always been a big-picture guy, and the company's chief technology officer appears to be following suit. JB Straubel, who was a keynote speaker at the Joint Venture Silicon Valley symposium near the automaker's Northern California home base recently, says the company is just as much an energy-storage company as a car maker. And he said the rate of battery-technology improvement shows no signs of slowing down, according to Green Tech Media. Straubel estimated that battery performance has improved about 40 percent during the five years between the debuts of the Tesla Roadster and the Model S. Additionally, battery density has doubled during the past decade and continues to ramp up fairly steeply. He noted that further near-term improvements will come not from the size and shape of the cell, but from improved cathode and anode materials. Those energy improvements won't just help the cars. Tesla uses a two-megawatt-hour battery pack to supply as much as 10 percent of the peak energy used at the company's factory in Fremont, CA, and will double the size of that battery-powered energy capacity within the next few months, Straubel says. Automakers like Tesla and Nissan are licking their proverbial chops at the prospect of substantially improved battery performance paired with declining battery costs as more and more lithium-ion battery packs get produced. Late last year, Navigant Research estimated that lithium-ion battery costs would fall by almost two-thirds by 2020, down to a low $180 per kilowatt hour. That should make electrified powertrains price-competitive with conventional vehicles, as electric vehicles could then command a price premium as low as $2,000 compared to their gas-powered brethren.

Man steals, crashes, catches on fire and breaks in half Tesla Model S

Multiple injuries were reported in a dangerous high-speed crash involving a Tesla Model S this holiday weekend in Los Angeles. The EV was apparently stolen from a local Tesla store and was driven at triple-digit speeds through LA a little before 1 am, a sergeant Campbell from the Los Angeles Police Department's Pacific Division told KTLA 5. "They tried to help but there was too much smoke." – Eyewitness Following a call from employees at the store, police chased the apparent thief through LA until he crashed into two cars and a lamp post. The Model S split in half, with the back end getting wedged into a nearby synagogue while the front half caught on fire. An eyewitness told NBC Los Angeles that, "Everybody who was looking was screaming. They tried to help but there was too much smoke." What, exactly, caused the fire is unknown, but let's just rehash the old chestnut that Tesla EVs are not inherently fire traps and that driving at over 100 miles per hour is a dangerous endeavor in any vehicle. It was originally reported that the thief died, but he, along with people from the cars he hit, were taken to the hospital for treatment and he is reportedly still alive. More to come, most assuredly, and for now you can watch three local TV news video reports below.