Tesla Model S Range Could Top 300 Miles

Tesla has announced that their long-awaited and finally forthcoming Model S sedan is expected to have a real-world operating range between 250 and 350 miles.

Those numbers come from computer models of Model S battery performance, and appeared in a post on Tesla’s blog co-authored by founder and CEO Elon Musk and Chief Technical Officer JB Straubel. They only apply to the Model S equipped with an 85 kWh battery, which carries a price tag of $69,900 after a $7,500 federal tax credit.

“With the 85kWh Model S battery we set a goal of delivering a range greater than 300 miles using the 2-cycle EPA test procedure that we used with the Roadster,” Musk and Straubel wrote. “This is a goal that no EV in history had ever achieved. We are thrilled to say that we exceeded this goal.”

Of course, as the saying goes, your mileage may vary. Musk and Straubel’s models depend on several assumptions that may not fit your daily commute. For the model that predicted the 250-350 mile range, it was assumed that the Model S would be traveling at a constant speed between 50 and 70 mph on flat ground with no wind, that heat and air conditioning would be turned off and the sunroof and windows would be closed, that the driver and cargo would weigh under 300 lbs. and the tires would be properly inflated. Most importantly, it assumes a battery pack with less than a year or 25,000 miles worth of service on it.

That said, even if the Model S reliably topped 200 miles in real-world driving it would be an impressive feat. We got 189 miles out of a fully-charged Roadster with a promised range of 244 miles, so it wouldn’t be surprising if a Model S could manage more than that.

Tesla even says that models show that it’s theoretically possible for Model S drivers to get more than 400 miles from a single charge, and are offering a prize to the first person to do so. From the looks of the graph shown above, we wouldn’t want to be stuck behind them.

Compared to the Roadster, the Model S adds seating for seven, plus many of the creature comforts lacking in the lightweight, Lotus-derived Roadster. It also features a drag coefficient of 0.24, which helps it achieve such an impressive range in spite of its size.

After a three year wait, the first 1,000 “Signature” editions of the Model S are expected to go on sale in the middle of this year, with full sales starting this fall.

Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com, Graph: Tesla Motors

 

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Russia’s Newest Airliner Goes Missing During Indonesia Demo Flight

Photo: phearnot/Flickr

Update 3:55 p.m. ET – Darkness and bad weather has hampered the search for the missing plane but more than 100 people on the ground are continuing to search the mountains where the airplane disappeared. Two helicopters had to end their search, but are expected to try again at daybreak.

A Sukhoi Superjet 100 is missing in Indonesia after departing Jakarta with 50 people on board. The Russian jet was carrying Indonesian airline representatives as well as other airline industry passengers on a demo flight during a tour of Asia organized by the Russian plane maker.

The Sukhoi jet is Russia’s most modern airliner and first flew in 2008. The narrow-body airliner is aimed at the regional airline sector and is designed to compete with the more popular airplanes from Bombardier and Embraer. The Russian company partnered with Italy’s Alenia Aeronautica on the Superjet 100 project and the engines are a French/Russian partnership.

Sukhoi hopes to sell the 68- to 103-seat jet throughout parts of Asia, Western Europe and North America, where Russian aircraft have yet to find any customers. The Superjet 100 is a modern design with fly-by-wire control systems. Sukhoi is hoping the airplane will help shake the troubled reputation Russian-made aircraft have for questionable quality and accident rates much higher than their Western competitors. Last year Sukohi announced plans for a longer-range, business jet version of the airplane.

The Indonesian demo flight was scheduled to last less than an hour, but air traffic controllers lost contact with the jet while it was descending in a mountainous area, according to the BBC.

Sukhoi has delivered eight of the regional airliners and says it has orders for 240 more, mostly to customers outside of Russia. Indonesia-based airlines had already ordered more than 30 of the airplanes.

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SpaceX Gets One Step Closer to Carrying People to Orbit

NASA astronauts and SpaceX engineers check out the seating inside the Dragon spacecraft. Photo: SpaceX

With the cargo version of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft waiting patiently at Cape Canaveral for its scheduled launch on May 19, its astronaut-carrying sibling has received a thumbs up from NASA.

“This milestone demonstrated the layout of the crew cabin supports critical tasks,” said SpaceX Commercial Crew Development Manager — and former astronaut — Garrett Reisman. “It also demonstrated the Dragon interior has been designed to maximize the ability of the seven-member crew to do their job as effectively as possible.”

The latest step for the manned Dragon spacecraft from SpaceX centered around the size and layout inside the capsule. The seven-seat vehicle was deemed acceptable after NASA astronauts and engineers evaluated the Dragon, including entering and exiting under normal and emergency scenarios, as well as reach and visibility tests.

SpaceX’s achievement was reached as concerns at NASA grow regarding lawmakers’ efforts to stop the NASA-sponsored competition to develop a replacement for the Space Shuttle program.

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Space Tugboat Could Help Move Inexpensive Payloads in Orbit

Image: Spaceflight Inc.

A Seattle company has announced plans to build a new spacecraft that, like its Earth-bound counterparts, is all about moving other vehicles around. Spaceflight Inc. is designing what it’s calling the Sherpa to fulfill the need for an orbital tugboat that can move payloads, such as satellites, to different orbits around Earth.

Cost is usually the single biggest hurdle for delivering a payload into orbit. To save money, some space-bound payloads will hitch a cheaper ride as a secondary payload on an existing launch if there is space available. The downside to this hitchhike approach is you are stuck going to the same place in orbit as your host, which might not be the ideal spot. The concept behind a space tug is to offer greater flexibility for these secondary payloads to be moved to a better orbit than where the ride is taking them.

Jason Andrews, President and CEO of Spaceflight, says the Sherpa will allow for more access for small and secondary payloads on existing launches. “Sherpa builds on our Spaceflight Secondary Payload System (SSPS) by incorporating a propulsion and power generation system,” according to a press release, ” as well as place them in an orbit other than the primary payload’s orbit.”

The idea of a space tug is not new. A European company tried to build a case for its “orbital life extension vehicle” during the early 2000s. Orbital Recovery planned to add life to satellites — and possibly even the Hubble Space Telescope — that had depleted their onboard propellant and would therefore fall out of the proper orbit, rendering them useless.

In contrast, Spaceflight Inc. is focused on pushing or pulling the burgeoning secondary payload marketplace. The tug itself is little more than a ring frame with enough power and thrust to host and move payloads around in space. The Sherpa is designed to provide as much as 400 meters per second change in orbital velocity for low earth orbit. A second model will be capable of up to 2,200 meters per second changes in velocity for geosynchronous orbit.

The company is aiming for the Sherpa’s first demonstration mission in early 2014 and the first commercial mission later that year. The company will be using SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket to launch the space tug into orbit where it will then be ready to perform its duties.

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iPad Comes Standard With 2013 Cadillac XTS

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana – The XTS is arguably the most important vehicle launch from Cadillac in the last few years, and to help owners get acclimated to its features – including the all-new CUE infotainment system – Caddy is providing owners of the 2013 model with an Apple iPad.

The inclusion of the iPad is part of a larger launch strategy by Cadillac to reassert itself as the world leader in luxury, and part of that is getting owners familiar with the range of new technologies incorporated into its largest sedan.

Speaking with Wired at the CTIA Wireless show in New Orleans, Mark Harland, Cadillac’s head of customer experience sets a lofty goal for the all-American luxury brand, saying, “We want to be the leader in customer experience.”

To that end, Cadillac is rolling out a series of online and dealership-based educational initiatives to help new XTS owners learn the ins and outs of their new sedan.

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