Arguably the most successful startup company to build and sell electric vehicles, Tesla is beginning delivery of its second car today: the Model S sedan. 

Official confirmation by the automaker has yet to be released, but Ward’s Auto tweeted that delivery is beginning today to customers out of its Fremont, Calif. factory. According to the company’s website, delivery of the EV isn’t slated to start until a month from now, but for at least a few people that date seems to have been ignored.

With its latest entrant, the brand offers a more practical and easier-to-sell car that costs less and competes more directly with luxury cars like the Audi A6 and BMW 5 Series. Priced between $50,000 and $60,000, it costs roughly half as much as the Roadster, which while offering a unique experience, is entirely impractical.

The Model S, on the other hand, offers better range than anything else on the market today. Recently released charts from Tesla show that drivers will probably enjoy somewhere between 250 and 350 miles on a full charge, which shames the 100-mile industry average set by cars like the Nissan Leaf.

If you can forget about the widely different price tags, the closest competitor would be the Ford Focus EV because it’s also a sedan. That being said, Ford’s EV only gets about 75 miles per charge, so it’s really not much of a comparison.

If it manages to get a positive reception from the public, the Model S could be a good example of how Tesla is pushing technological boundaries ahead of the industry. It’s not so surprising, though, when you realize that today marks the launch of CEO Elon Musk’s SpaceX commercial cargo space craft. If the man behind the Tesla Roadster and Model S can successfully orchestrate a space delivery, what’s a few electric cars?

The automotive industry is a global business that is constantly evolving and growing, and we here at AutoGuide know it can be hard to keep up sometimes. So here is a summary of the top stories you may have missed this week:

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The 400 Mile Range Electric Car is Here: Tesla Model S

Customers who buy the new Tesla Model S, due out in a month’s time, could enjoy the longest range of any EV…

Jeremy Clarkson Confirms No Top Gear Until 2013

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Customers who buy the new Tesla Model S, due out in a month’s time, could enjoy the longest range of any EV to date according to CEO Elon Musk, though you’ll definitely never achieve the 400-mile potential range.

What you will get is ridiculously good range from the newest car to come from the California-based startup currently known for its Roadster EV. Musk explained that under the two-cycle testing required by the EPA, which is composed of 55 percent city driving and 45 percent on the highway, the Model S managed to travel 350 miles on a single charge.

“At Tesla we pride ourselves on transparency with customers and feel that range is a topic where this is particularly important,” Musk wrote in a blog post. “There is not a single fixed range for any given vehicle or battery. The simple reality is that driving range can and will vary by a large amount depending on how you operate the vehicle and external factors such as wind and elevation change.”

He went on to elaborate on the finer points behind managing a 350-mile range in the Model S, which would be achieved in the best of the three available batteries. Musk also mentioned that the average driver is still unlikely to come out with the 350 miles managed during testing because the varying conditions behind every day driving will force the range down even further.

Driving at a constant highway speed between 50 and 70 mph, the Model S should manage to travel between 250 and 350 miles. That’s a big swing from bottom to top, but as Musk said, the company is trying to release numbers that won’t leave buyers thinking they’ve been taken for a ride. As the chart to the right shows, driving at a constant speed around 35 mph should allow for a range better than 400 miles. Similarly at 55 mph we see potential for more than 300 miles, which embarrasses the current industry standard around 100 miles. If you really hope to meet the range we mentioned in the headline you’ll need to drive in perfect conditions, with no wind, at around 35 mph. You can even stretch that to 450 miles if you’re willing to drive at a constant 450 mph, though that would take more than 22 hours to achieve — no pee breaks either.

When the Tesla Roadster was released, the EPA required a two-cycle test, which is what the numbers above are based on. Now, the testing has been ramped up to a five-cycle test. Originally, range was measured in an environment with a 75 degree temperature with highway and city driving measured. Those conditions are still used, but the car is also run in cold conditions with the heater on and warmer settings with the air conditioner. There’s also a high-speed cycle with speeds over 80 mph and rapid acceleration, all meant to push EVs further to better understand their range.

Under those tests, the Model S still seemed to perform well, though with an understandably shorter range than before. With the new factors in place, the company reports a 265-mile range, which is still a record for electric vehicles.

Tesla is reportedly just one month away from getting its Model S sedan into customers hands. According to sources, the vehicle only needs to finish its crash tests before deliveries will begin.

That’s the word from MSNBC’s The Bottom Line. Tesla has been living on the edge with just one (niche) vehicle: the Tesla Roadster. By introducing a more family friendly vehicle with the Model S sedan, the silicon valley based automaker is taking a huge leap into uncharted territory.

“Once we complete and document the tests, we will be able to sell our vehicles in the United States,” Chief Executive Elon Musk said in a letter to shareholders.

Pricing of the Model S starts at around $50,000, and can reach up to $100,000 even with a $7,500 federal tax credit. Getting the cars delivered in June would be slightly earlier than Tesla originally anticipated.

The Model S is available with three different battery packs that allow driving ranges of 160, 230, and 300 miles, and a performance model is expected to hit 60 mph in 4.4 seconds.

Tesla expects to deliver 5,000 Model S vehicles by the end of 2012, and reservations have already topped 10,000.

The Tesla Roadster is no longer on sale, which MSNBC points out as a reason why Tesla revenues dropped this year, but the earlier than expected delivery date of the Model S caused Tesla’s outlook to rise by $10 million to between $560 million and $600 million.

Tesla is also providing the technology for a few automakers including Mercedes-Benz and Toyota, but those companies’ EVs aren’t expected to be released before the Model S.

[Source: MSNBC Bottom Line]

Toyota unveiled its new electric RAV4 at the 26th annual Electric Vehicle Symposium in Los Angeles including new price, power and range information.

Toyota said the all-electric RAV4 will be available later this year with a $49,800 MSRP. That price gets you a front-wheel drive RAV4 with an approximately 100 mile range. Toyota claims that the vehicle will fully charge in six hours using a 240V/40A charger, though that isn’t the typical at-home variety.

“It’s all about blending the best of two worlds,” said Bob Carter, vice president and general manager of Toyota. “The all-new RAV4 EV marries the efficiency of an EV with the versatility of a small SUV – in fact, it is the only all-electric SUV on the market.”

The new RAV4 has two driving modes: normal and sport. In normal mode 0-60 mph arrives in 8.6 seconds and is limited to 85 mph. In Sport mode, the dash happens a bit quicker at seven seconds, and the vehicle can achieve 100 mph. It features new battery technology from Tesla motors, and a 154-hp electric powertrain.

There’s also a new high-tech exterior that includes low-power LED headlights, which help with power consumption. When the car debuts later this year it’ll be available in just three exterior color options: “Blizzard White Pearl”, “Shoreline Blue Pearl” and “Classic Silver Metallic.”

Have a look through our gallery below to see the new car at several angles.

GALLERY: Toyota RAV4 EV

Against the odds, a letter carrier in Las Vegas won a Tesla Roadster playing penny slots. Needless to say, the odds of winning a six-figure prize by playing those games are stacked against you. 

That didn’t stop MaryEllen Cobb of West Nyack, New York, from winning one of the coolest EVs available today. She won the car, valued at $150,000 by playing the slots at the Cosmopolitan hotel and casino.

Unfortunately for her, the fairy tale ends before it starts. She says she can’t fit in the car without lowering its convertible top and doesn’t have a garage to keep it in. Worse yet, winning a car that costs that much is actually expensive. The bill is still being calculated, but she’ll owe the IRS money because her prize is considered taxable income.

If you find yourself in the Las Vegas airport, it might actually pay to think twice about dropping your spare change in the machine and pulling the lever.

[Source: Wheels]

Ford recently announced the EPA fuel efficiency rating for its electric Focus model. Since it doesn’t burn any gasoline, the number isn’t in miles per gallon (MPG), but was given as miles per gallon gasoline equivalent, or MPGe. A new term to the automotive lexicon, it’s worth exploring exactly what MPGe means and how an MPGe rating is determined, especially as the number of electric cars and plug-in electric hybrids on the roads continues to increase.

Why use MPGe?

In order to compare the fuel efficiency of various vehicles, MPGe had to be introduced. The rating first came into use with the fully electric Nissan Leaf and the Chevrolet Volt, which offers a plug-in option to deliver anywhere from 25 to 40 miles of electric range before the gasoline engine kicks in to charge the car’s batteries, which continue to power the electric motor and the wheels.

Since electric vehicles don’t use gas, the traditional miles per gallon measurement wouldn’t make much sense. The most appropriate measurement would be Kilowatt Hours (kWh) since that’s the way electricity usage in houses is measured. However, using kWh makes it difficult to compare electric cars to non-electric cars. That’s why MPGe was created, to be able to compare the fuel efficiency of electric cars to other vehicles. MPGe is also an appropriate unit of measurement for other alternate fuels, like hydrogen, or compressed natural gas.

How do we get MPGe numbers?

In order to compare gas and electricity consumption, a common unit that measures energy is required. Burning one gallon of gasoline creates 115,000 BTU. The electrical equal to this is 33.7 kWh. Therefore, the distance an electric vehicle can travel on 33.7 kWh of electricity is comparable to how far a conventional internal combustion vehicle can travel on one gallon of gasoline.

Comparing MPGe of electric vehicles.

Comparing the MPGe of Electric vehicles is possible, so let’s take a look at how they stack up. For the Volt, Fisker Karma and Prius PHEV keep in mind that these vehicles are equipped with a gas powered range extender. This means we can use gas MPG numbers for part of the EPA rating.

Fisker, only gave us one MPGe number, the combined one. Tesla would not give us MPGe numbers of their roadster, or upcoming Model S, or Model X vehicles.

Where does MPGe fall apart?

The major problem with MPGe is that it doesn’t say exactly what electric car owners need to know. Range is probably the most important number that electric car buyers will want to look at. While range is present on the EPA sticker label, it’s just not as prominent as MPGe. As you can see in the chart above, MPGe has no relationship on range. Electric vehicles really depend on battery size to determine range, so that would be another key specification prospective buyers should take a look at.

As more and more electric vehicles come onto the market, this should start to overshadow the MPG numbers. Additionally, MPG numbers are losing trust with consumers. Some manufacturers are using the more generous (by roughly 25%) CAFE numbers instead of actual EPA test numbers which can further mislead customers.

With electric vehicles only making up 1% of the total cars purchased, the MPGe number plays a greater role, helping consumers to compare with conventional cars. As more electric vehicles enter the market, MPGe numbers will be less relevant, and buyers can look range as a defining factor in buying their cars.

Many are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Tesla Model S, mostly to see if it will live up to its hype.

The new electric sedan recently went through its paces in cold weather examination with the American automaker saying, “After days of rigorous testing, we left more confident than ever that Model S will set the standard for premium performance – no matter what’s in the forecast.”

Unfortunately the media won’t be getting its hands on the Model S before consumers do, so first reports of the vehicle’s performance will come straight from the buyer’s mouths. But those purchasing it can rest assured that it survived sub-zero weather out in Baudette, Minnesota where it underwent 19 different courses of testing on 820 acres of snow and ice.

The Model S is aiming to have a 0-60 mph sprint of around 5.6 seconds and a top speed of 125 mph and a 300-mile range. It’ll be priced at $57,400 before tax credits and will come with three choices of batteries and four trim levels.

Watch a video of the Tesla Model S conducting its cold weather testing after the break.

Following the Tesla ‘bricking’ story from last week, we reached out to Fisker to see if its cars are prone to becoming a useless block on four wheels. 

Roger Ormisher, director of Fisker global communications, told us that “the Karma’s battery only depletes to about 15% state of charge”

Similar to the Chevrolet Volt, the Karma uses a gas generator to help extend the vehicles electric range.

Tesla ran into some hot water when a customer left their Roadster discharged and unplugged for two months. When the customer tried to charge the car again, it wouldn’t take a charge. When the car was taken to Tesla for repairs, it was estimated to cost $40,000 to fix.

Fisker made sure to point out that its battery is “a different composition to that of Tesla’s meaning that it takes many months to fully discharge even if it is not plugged in.”

While that doesn’t mean the Karma is completely immune to ‘bricking’ it does offer some peace of mind to owners. We guess the Biebs can go on tour for a few months with his Karma unplugged, but we wouldn’t recommend it!

Following up on Tesla’s battery problems, we got a chance to talk to Toyota about the upcoming RAV4-EV.

Toyota has been working closely with Tesla in developing their electric crossover. We were curious to see if the issue that is now worrying owners of Tesla Roadsters will be a problem with Toyota’s vehicle as well.

Jana Hartline,  Toyota’s Environmental Communications Manager, told us “the powertrain system in our RAV4-EV will feature multiple safeguards designed to avoid full depletion of battery state-of-charge.” She didn’t comment further on what those safeguards are, but it may fall in line with what other EV manufacturers do.

The issue here stemmed from Tesla Roadster that was left with its battery fully depleted for two months. Afterwards the car could not accept a charge, and required a $40,000 repair.

While it’s good to hear that Toyota’s RAV4-EV has safeguards in place, the much larger issue is whether or not this is a fate that all electric vehicles can suffer.

Tesla has been weathering a storm of questions regarding its Tesla Roadsters ‘bricking’. Earlier today, the company posted an entry in its blog explaining the situation, and claiming that newer models can last significantly longer without being plugged in.

The blog post titled “Plug It In” reminds Tesla Roadster owners to plug in their vehicles when not in use. Additionally, the company says that newer Roadsters will have the option to “contact Tesla headquarters once the state of charge falls below a specified level, and we can then contact the owner.”

This is coming after a blogger noted that a fully discharged Tesla Roadster was left unplugged for two months. When the owner attempted to recharge the car after the two months, it wouldn’t work, and required a $40,000 repair.

Tesla finally noted that “Model S and Model X will have batteries that can sit unplugged for over a year when parked with only a 50 percent charge. And when that year is up, all you need to do is plug it in.” Meaning that negligent owners will have a longer grace period before their car’s batteries fail.

Despite Tesla’s claims and reminders about plugging in its vehicles, no where in the blog post does it explicitly say that Tesla vehicles cannot brick.

Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson is paid to piss you off, it’s what he does best. Maybe someone should have forwarded the memo to Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk.

Musk probably should have taken Top Gear’s pot shots with a laugh and kept doing business, but it’s easy to understand why he might be feeling defensive. His company keeps hitting nasty potholes in the road to success, like the “bricking” problem that apparently compromises the battery system in Tesla vehicles, a costly repair.

This Top Gear drama started back to December 2008 when the show gave a mixed review to the Tesla Roadster. Their program said the car failed to meet its advertised 200-mile range, instead only achieving 55 miles. That figure came from running it on a track where any vehicle would have less than optimal range, electric or otherwise. They also bashed the Roadster for having deficient brakes.

Brakes and range aside, it’s essential to remember that Top Gear is first and foremost an entertainment program. The episode depicted crew members pushing a “dead” roadster into a hangar, though the facts emerged during Tesla’s lawsuit. Surprise, surprise, the car wasn’t dead and the shot was used for effect.

This isn’t terribly dissimilar to the infamous Bugatti Veyron versus McLaren F1 drag race episode, where the show managed to eek out a Veyron victory, only after several F1 first-place finishes. Again, Top Gear is for show first, reporting second.

British Justice Tugendhat threw Tesla’s claims out in October, 2011, saying the company’s lawyers needed to amend their malicious falsehood claims.

The final chapter, (one would assume), in this one-way pissing match closed today. Justice Tugendhat dismissed Tesla’s revised claim which said there were “reasonable grounds to suspect that each of the Claimants [Top Gear] had intentionally and significantly misrepresented the range of the Roadster by claiming that it had a range of about 200 miles in that its true range on the Top Gear track was only 55 miles”.

Hopefully Tesla can move past this cat fight and focus more on the bricking issue at hand. Small car startups have enough problems without taking British TV bullies to court.

Check out Tesla CEO Elon Musk discussing the Top Gear episode in the video after the jump.

[Source: The Truth About Cars]

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