Is this a case of another Twitter account hacker or just Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk having a Charlie Sheen moment? Either way, there were some strange tweets coming from Musk’s account a few days ago.

On December 30, the Twitterverse was treated to Musk’s 140 character musings on Catherine the Great. What’s so strange about that, you may ask. Well, he focused on the rumor that the Russian empress was crushed to death while having sex with a horse (which isn’t true, according to Psychology Today).

You can read all of the interesting tweets after the jump. What do you think of Musk’s musings? Leave us your thoughts in the comments section below. And follow us on Twitter – although we don’t tweet about barnyard romance, we still have some pretty interesting stuff to talk about.

[Source: Business Insider]

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After much speculation by the automotive community, Tesla has finally released U.S. pricing on its all new Model S. The Model S will go into production in 2012 and will be undeniably one of the best production all electric cars on the market.

The Tesla will have a base price of $49,900 after federal tax credits. The base model will get you a 40 kWh battery pack that will accelerate 0-60 mph in 6.5 seconds and have a range of 160 miles when traveling at an average speed of 55 mph.

There are four packages in total that consumers can choose from: a 40 kWh battery pack, a 60 kWh pack, an 85 kWh pack and also an 85 kWh pack that is coupled with the performance package which includes active air suspension with sport tuned traction control, performance wheels and tires, and standard leather seats and carbon fiber accents.

The 60 kWh has an MSRP of $59,900 and packs a range of 230 miles and a 0-60 mph time of 5.9 seconds. The truly impressive stats come from the 85 kWh battery pack which will get you 300 miles down the road on one charge and will accelerate 0-60 mph in 4.4 seconds. The 85 kWh without the sport package will retail for $69,900 after federal tax credit. With all the bells and whistles of the sport package included, the top of the line Tesla Model S will sell for $79,900.

GALLERY: Tesla Model S

Four years ago, Tesla launched their Roadster to the world, and 2,600 electric sports cars later, Tesla has announced the end of this generation’s production and it’ll go out with 15 Final Edition Roadsters.

Each of Tesla’s major sales regions will get five of the Final Edition models, with the United States, Europe and Asian being those major regions. The special edition Roadster will only come in Atomic Red paint with anthracite wheels and dark silver stripes to contrast the body. Other than that, there are no performance modifications – just your typical limited edition badging inside the car, each uniquely numbered.

[Source: Autoblog Green]

Last week we brought you a story about Aperta employees boorishly smashing the remaining shells of their 2e electric vehicle, including quotes from their disgruntled former CEO, Steve Fambro. You may wonder how things went so wrong.

If you haven’t been following the Aptera saga, or if you don’t know what Aptera is, this is a good time to jump in.

Rewind to 2006 where founders Steve Fambro and Chris Anthony found a company called Aptera with the intent to build and sell super-efficient electric vehicles. They planned to take advantage of a program offered by the Department of Energy by which companies could take over abandoned factories and enjoy low-interest loans if they made vehicles 25 percent more efficient than those they would replace.

Aptera had a funky three-wheeled car in mind that looked a lot like a tear drop made out of plastic composite. In September of 2008 Fambro found himself on the outside of the company, replaced as CEO by Paul Wilbur.

By December, Aptera’s application for money from the DoE had been submitted and promptly rejected— three-wheeled cars apparently didn’t qualify.

Over the next two years Tesla and Fisker both recieve hundreds of millions of dollars in DoE funding, and three wheel cars are provisioned for subsidy by the DoE.

In 2010 Aptera re-applies and was denied funding again, this time becuause the DoE says they cannot pay back capital costs for the company.

Shortly afterwards, the company re-allocated their remaining resources to developing a four-wheeled sedan that had a better chance of catching on.

At this point the DoE committed $150 million in loans on the condition that the company also secure $80 million in private funding. That proved to be too much. Aptera simply couldn’t find investors to pour money into their company after another operation failed to get funding because of their similar plastic composite bodies.

By early December of this year the company had run out of cash and needed to shut down. They decided to execute the close early enough to distribute remaining cash reserves among their employees as severance.

In an interview with Green Car Reports, Wilbur admitted that they spent too much time chasing DoE finding and that a better path would have been to look for private money from the beginning. The DoE, he said, took far too long to yield any money for Aptera to stay afloat.

[Source: Green Car Reports]

Black Friday may have been marred with news of violence as rabid shoppers fought their way to Holiday deals, but some good news has come out of it all. Tesla announced that they’ll be sending all of its proceeds from Black Friday merchandise sales (like apparel) at Tesla stores to Ronald McDonald House Charities.

It may not be a huge amount, but hearing a company donating its proceeds from a Holiday sale is always newsworthy. RMHC also tweeted that Dillard’s would be donating its proceeds to a local RMHC Chapter.

[Source: Torque News]

This may look like a BMW 7-Series sedan with some oddball rims, but our spy photographers report that the vehicle in question is actually a prototype for a new BMW i sedan, based on a couple key points.

For starters, there are apparently electric motors mounted in the wheel hubs, which would suggest a new kind of electric propulsion system previously unseen on a BMW. Furthermore, the front and rear fenders look like they’ve been radically altered to fit the vehicle, which further suggests some alien technology lurking underneath the sheetmetal.

If we had to guess, we’d say that BMW is preparing something to bring the fight to the Tesla Model S and Fisker Karma, but there’s very little information to go on at this time.

GALLERY: BMW i Large Sedan

The Tesla Roadster (right) has impressive acceleration and handling, you also never have to buy gas for it, but at more than $100,000 it’s pretty expensive.

Their current one-car offering and the big price tag didn’t help the company. They posted a $65.1 million net loss in the past quarter, up from the $34.9 million they posted last year.

Past failures aside, it is still be early to write Tesla off. Despite losing money, they struck a deal with Daimler AG to supply  them with a powertrain for their electric vehicles.

“Even though they’re losing money, the fact that their batteries are attractive to other automakers gives them some revenue and some credibility,” said Alan Baum, an industry consultant at Baum & Associates in Michigan in an interview with Automotive News. “They are catching a few breaks in the sense that people want to do business with them.”

In addition to selling parts to other manufacturers, Tesla’s own Model S sedan, new for next year, is already sold out. The more practical iteration of their take on electric transportation also costs about half as much at $50,000 as the performance-oriented Roadster.

CEO Elon Musk said in an October 28 interview on Bloomberg TV that the company actually expects to earn a profit in 2013.

Musk remains optimistic that the company is gaining from experience in the market that will help when the Model S is released.

Their third-quarter revenue exceeded analyst expectations, reaching $57.4 million instead of $46.4 million.

GALLERY: Tesla Model S

[Source: Automotive News]

The little electric company that could has some bad news for its critics as its latest vehicle, the $50,000 electric four door sedan Model S, is sold out. According to CEO Elon Musk, Tesla has received orders for “more than 6,500″ Model S cars for next year.

Moreover, Musk claims that most orders of the Model S are from brand new buyers. “Only about 600 people who have ordered Roadsters have also bought the Model S.”

Aiming for a mid-2012 deliver date, Tesla is confident that the success of the Model S will reward them with the honor of becoming the first profitable maker of battery-powered automobiles by 2013. As of now, the company has yet to report an annual profit.

GALLERY: Tesla Model S

[Source: Bloomberg]

Along with the upcoming Model S electric luxury sedan and a Model X crossover, American electric car maker Tesla Motors is planning a successor to its break out model, the simply-named Roadster. Expected to arrive by 2014, the car will be underpinned by a new “third generation” flexible platform.

The new chassis will  be so flexible, in fact, that Tesla founder and CEO Elon Muskhsa said it will be used for a BMW 3 Series rival as well. Calling it a more “mass-market” platform, Musk says it, “will spawn a range of cars in the next four to five years.”

In addition to the launch of the Model S, look for the Model S to arrive next year, possibly followed by a convertible model.

[Source: AutoCar]

Click here to read AutoGuide’s Tesla Roadster Review

There’s a new kid in Los Angeles, BYD. The Chinese battery and electric car manufacturer opened its California office today.

BYD says it will bring 150 green-collar engineering and management jobs to the city. The event highlight, however, is a deal between BYD and Hertz to provide airport shuttles to the rental agency. This could prove to be a key time for the company to move into the California electric car market.

Their opening is hot on the heels of the California government deciding to limit HOV lane benefits to electric cars in an effort to encourage greener transportation. BYD has a chance to get a jump on the electric car market considering the only EV’s available to consumers are the Nissan Leaf and Tesla Roadster.

Things may not all be bright though, BYD saw their profits drop by just over a third between 2009 and 2010 and lackluster sales in the first half of this year aren’t boding well either.

Their financial woes are largely due to poor car sales in China, where they failed to meet even half of their projected numbers.

Their push into the North American market could prove to be a good source of revenue, but BYD Vice-President Michael Austin admitted earlier this year to the Glendale News-Press that “the paradigm of driving a Chinese car in the U.S. is going to be hard to break.”

[Source: Auto Observer]

It is not common for a car company to take legal action against a publication or TV show based on their opinion of the product, but Tesla did just that after TopGear aired an episode in 2008, featuring the all-electric Tesla Roadster.

According to Tesla, TopGear showed their car in a less than perfect light, claiming it suffered from poor range and even had a problem with the brakes.

The program claimed that the Tesla ran out of range in just 55-miles, well short of the 200-miles its makers suggests. This according to Tesla has been an ongoing cause of concern for its to be customers and hence sued the BBC program for libel.

However, at a ruling on Wednesday at the High Court in London, U.K., the honorable Justice Tugendhat sided with the BBC and said that no TopGear viewer would have reasonably compared the cars performance on the track to compare with the cars ability on the road.

A car would be driven far more aggressively on the track, and would thus be less efficient than when used on public roads.

Tugendhat went on to say; “In my judgment, the words complained of are wholly incapable of conveying any meaning at all to the effect that the claimant [Tesla] misled anyone.”

The judgement in favor of TopGear and its broadcaster the BBC was verbally handed out on Wednesday before lunch time.

Tesla however pointed out five other counts of complaints against TopGear, saying it staged some of the footage, like when the car was being pushed into the garage and also that just a faulty fuse was made to be looked as if the brakes had malfunctioned.

The case will resume in a few weeks time. We will keep you posted on this developing news story.

[Source: The Guardian]

Even though the Tesla Model S sedan has been delayed for far too long, with an expected reveal at year’s end before an official unveiling at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show.

The crossover, dubbed the Model X, will be based on the Model S platform. “The time is right to unveil the car,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk told Autocar. “I’ve seen the latest design for it and I’m very happy with it.”

Tesla manufacturing head touted the company’s modular platform and innovative manufacturing facility in California as the key to the company’s ability to offer a wide range of products. “We can build many models on the same line,” Passin said. “The Model S is just one ‘top hat’ on a platform that is very modular. All our pressing modules are very adjustable and we’re working on improving that flexibility even further and making it faster at the moment.

[Source: Autocar]

Electric car maker Tesla Motors had previously announced it would offer several different versions of its new Model S luxury sedan with different range capabilities, but now CEO Elon Musk has revealed those different levels will also boast varying levels of performance. Topping the lineup will be a 300 mile range-capable version that will cut almost a second from the standard car’s 0-60 time, with an impressive 4.6 second sprint compared to the 5.5 second run for the rest of the model range.

Two additional trim levels will be offered, one with a 230 mile range and another with a 160 mile range. In addition Tesla also has announced it will offer optional aerodynamic wheels that should add an additional 20 miles of range to the top level model.

Speaking at a showing for a prototype of the car in Silicon Valley, Musk commented that, “It’ll be better than anyone thinks a car like this can be. The goal with the Model S was to build the best car, not just the best electric vehicle.”

The model S will feature a unique battery swapping capability with a battery change time of roughly one minute. Plus, with a special fast-charging system even the 300 mile range model will be able to be recharged and back on the road in just one hour.

So far, over 6,000 people have placed a deposit on the model S, accounting for all of the car’s first year of production.

[Source: AutoCar]

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors and auto journalist Dan Neil have a bet going regarding the launch of the 2012 Tesla Model S. The bet began when Tesla said it would launch the new model before the end of next year. Neil said the schedule promised by Musk was “an audacious timeline that makes many in the car industry roll their eyes”. Neil also said “even people inside Tesla are leery”. Neil did not believe Tesla would be able to deliver on Musk’s promise. The two began emailing each other back and forth until Neil challenged Musk to a bet on the outcome.

The requirements for Musk to win the bet are as follows:

1) Series production models of the Tesla Model S have to be delivered to paying customers before the end of 2012. (It was originally 2011, but Neil concedes that Tesla said it wouldn’t make that date fairly early, and has since stuck to its 2012 date.)

(2) The Model S has to have seven passenger seats, certified as such by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and earn a 4- or 5-star safety rating from the NHTSA.

(3) It has to have a battery pack that allows en-route swapping at a highway roadside station, similar to the Better Place battery swapping scheme.

(4) Model S prices must remain at the levels Tesla and Musk announced: $57,400 for the version with 160 miles of range, $67,400 for the 230-mile version, and $87,400 for the top-of-the-line 300-mile version (which will comprise the bulk of early production). All prices are before any Federal or other incentives.

If Musk does not deliver on any of these targets, he must donate $1 million to Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders). However if Tesla fulfills the criteria, Neil must donate $1,000 to the same group.

[Source: Green Car Reports]

If you are a driver, you are well aware of the rising gas prices, and this trend is not looking to reverse anytime soon. This is effecting the way people buy new cars, and according to Pike Research, more than 5-million electric and hybrid vehicles will be sold globally by 2017.

Also according to this report, the largest manufacturer of these vehicles will be the United States, followed by Japan, while the largest consumer of such vehicles will likely be China.

Currently conventional hybrids like the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight (among many others) are on sale, but as far as plug-in electric vehicles go, you have to pick between the Chevrolet Volt, the Nissan Leaf and the Tesla Roadster. Soon, the market will see cars such as the Fisker Karma, Ford Focus Electric and the Mitsubishi i go on sale later this year.

So will the world be taken over by electric cars now? If petrol prices don’t change, people’s buying habits will change very quickly to save their pocket books, while also helping save the planet.

[Source: Auto Observer]

General Motors has confirmed production of the Cadillac ELR coupe. The American automaker has yet to announce pricing for the coupe, but an unidentified course close to the project revealed the Cadillac ELR’s price will be lower than the $57,400 Tesla Model S. It is expected that the ELR will be priced somewhere around $49,900 with options adding up to $8,000 to that base price. Other sources have predicted that the plug-in ELR will cost somewhere in the mid-$50,000 range.

GALLERY: Cadillac ELR

[Source: GM Inside News]

Toyota is planning to send into production a fully-electric version of its RAV4 cute-ute. And they’ll be doing so right across the border, in Woodstock, Ontario.

The Canadian and Ontario governments both gave Toyota $140 million to jump-start its production capabilities, allowing the company to upgrade its factories in the province. Citizens of Ontario can receive up to $8,500 CAD in incentives to switch to electric, as a way for Ontario to ensure that 1 out of 20 cars will be juiced-up by 2020.

The electric RAV4, which can go 160 miles on a full charge, was shown at the LA Auto Show in November, before Toyota had decided on a final site for production. Many believed that it would be built at the old NUMMI plant, alongside Tesla Motors, but it turns out that the Fremont, California site is all Tesla’s. That company will also be supplying electric components to Toyota—a nice return on investment, seeing as Toyota owns 2.9% of the company.

GALLERY: Toyota RAV4 EV

[Source: CBC News]

Tesla teases us some more with the Model S electric sedan: this time, they show us three camouflaged examples running around a test track, as proof that yes, it is capable of moving under its own power.

And pretty quickly, too—the Model S is expected to go from 0 to 60 in under 6 seconds, under fully-electric power that allows it up to 300 miles before recharging. It will accomplish this with five adults and the option for two children facing backwards, like some futuristic Vista Cruiser, and will sell for around $57,000 after federal and state incentives. We know what it looks like, which renders the Palo Alto company’s secrecy moot. But alas, we’ll have to wait until next year to actually look at it up close.

Click the jump to watch the short teaser.

[Source: LA Times]

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Tesla is currently negotiating a deal with Toyota that could be worth an easy one billion dollars, according to CEO Elon Musk himself.

Fresh from a conference call (on his G6, presumably), Musk just signed a $100 million deal with the Japanese automaker, but has dropped the hint that they could be thinking larger. “We’re in discussions with them for a deal that is an order of magnitude larger than that,” he said. Musk had spent the call informing Toyota about ending their best quarter in the young company’s history, with demand for the Model S and recently-departed Roadster still high.

Toyota, being the world’s largest car company, fortunately has this sort of cash to burn. Hopefully Musk has made a convincing case for the 8-year old Tesla and the electric car of the future.

[Source: AutoObserver]

Clearing up erroneous reports, Toyota has confirmed it will sell the RAV4 EV to the public and has just singed a deal with Tesla Motors Inc. to supply the electric powertrains for the emissions free crossover.

Valued at $100 million it looks as though Tesla might actually be on the right track towards making a profit, especially with stock shares spiking 5 percent on the news. Toyota previously signed a contact with Tesla worth $60 million in order to develop the electric battery packs for the ‘ute, which debuted at the LA Auto Show last year.

The RAV4 EV is expected to go on sale as early as the first quarter of 2012.

GALLERY: Toyota RAV4 EV

[Source: Automotive News]

Toyota has clarified their position on the 2012 RAV4 EV and the car will be sold to the general public. The RAV4 EV makes use of Tesla’s electric drivetrain and has been tested with 160 users receiving positive feedback, according to Geri Yoza, Toyota’s national business planning manager of advanced vehicle marketing.

Testers charged the RAV4 more frequently (around 10 times a week), costing $150 for six weeks. Toyota will also be bringing the electric Scion iQ stateside, which will be marketed to fleet and car sharing programs only.

This is Toyota’s first RAV4 EV after first launching the vehicle 15 years ago in 1996. The EV is the first vehicle in the world powered by nickel-metal hydride batteries, capable of achieving 78 mph (125 km/h) and a maximum range of 120 miles (190 km). The RAV4 is expected to arrive in the U.S by the first quarter of 2012.

GALLERY: Toyota RAV4 EV

It’s last call for the ur-Tesla. The electric car company will stop taking orders for the Roadster in about two months.

Production for the Roadster is ending soon, after 1,650 examples sold. The Roadster was always a proof-of-concept for Tesla’s existence, and now that they’ve moved on to bigger and better things, it’s time to let the little guy out to pasture.
The Model S sedan is Tesla’s next latest and greatest, and it is slated to begin sales in the middle of next year. It will be built in the old NUMMI plant once shared by Toyota and GM, in Fremont, California.
[Source: CNN Money]

Tesla Motors has planned to begin building prototypes of its Model S electric sedan in the third quarter at the NUMMI plant located in Fremont, Calif, which was acquired from Toyota last year.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated the project will involve a $500 million investment. The Model S is slated for production in mid-2012 while the Model X crossover will launch in late 2013.

There are already 4,600 reservations for the Model S and the company plans to produce 20,000 Models S and X vehicles annually. Both vehicles will be priced around $50,000.

Tesla also has plans to produce its Gen III vehicle which will cost $30,000 and should debut in four to five years according to the CEO.

The current Tesla Roadster is built from Lotus’ chassis, however production will end at the end of 2011 because Lotus will no longer be building the chassis upon which the Roadster is based. The next generation Roadster will be produced at NUMMI and should arrive in three years.

[Source: Car Tech]

Tesla‘s Model S sedan is looking ready for production, as evident by these new photos released by the electric car manufacturer. Based on its aesthetics alone, the Model S will be very competitive in the mid-size luxury market, featuring an aggressive front end with a very sleek and stylish body. Unfortunately we’re looking at a late next year sale date now and we’re hoping it’ll be worth the wait.

The Model S will be starting at $57,000 but will be supported by a $7,500 federal tax credit – which is a pretty nice incentive to get yourself behind the wheel. This base model will come with a 160-mile range battery pack, which should be sufficient for the every day commuter. Those looking for something larger can spend $67,000 for the 230-mile pack while the 300-mile pack will run you $77,000.

Those really interested in getting themselves a Model S should be ready to put their money where their mouth is. The first batch of Model S’ to be produced will all be 300-mile pack versions, and will be labeled as a limited-edition Model S Signature version. And for that, Tesla requires a real-life commitment of $40,000 – though it is a refundable deposit. Those interested in the cheaper versions merely have to leave $5,000 at the table.

GALLERY: Tesla Model S Alpha

[Source: Autoblog]