tesla

Tesla Model S: 1st Car of the Year with no internal combustion engine

The 2013 Motor Trend Car of the Year has all the features you'd expect from a vehicle that has earned that honor. It has a light body, advanced design, a roomy cabin, and plenty of load capacity. What the Tesla Model S doesn't have is an internal combustion engine.

Motor Trend heaps praise on the Model S, saying it drives like a sports car and sashays like a supermodel working a Paris catwalk. I never thought about a car being able to sashay, but it's certainly an evocative comparison.

This all-electric supermodel starts at $58,570 and has a range of 265 miles. That's not enough for a cross-country road trip, though a new network of Supercharger fast charging stations could make it more practical for long journeys.… Read more

Driving out of 'valley of death,' Tesla stock pops after Q3 news

Shares of Tesla Motors soared nearly 8 percent today after the company disclosed it had accelerated production of its electric vehicles in the third quarter.

In a letter to shareholders, CEO Elon Musk and Chief Financial Officer Deepak Ahufa said the company had reached a "fundamental turning point" making the transition to a mass production car company that was able to pass through a proverbial "valley of death."

"Overall, I feel Tesla was really kind of past the point of high risk. Several months ago, I said I thought that the coming several months would … Read more

Tesla celebrates production of 1,000th Model S car

After a sluggish start in its Model S car production, it seems electric-car company Tesla is getting back on track for the year's end. Reaching a milestone today, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that his company had just finished the production of its 1,000th Model S car.

As noted in Musk's tweet, Tesla has made more cars in October than the whole rest of the year combined. In a July letter to shareholders, Tesla said its Model S volume projection was 5,000 units for 2012. However, Tesla's ability to crank out the Model S has … Read more

Titan supercomputer debuts for open scientific research

Forecasting for weather like this week's "Frankenstorm" may become a lot more accurate with the help of the Department of Energy's Titan supercomputer, a system that launched this month for open research development.

The computer, an update to the Jaguar system, is operated in Tennessee by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, part of the DOE's network of research labs. Researchers from academia, government labs, and various industries will be able to use Titan -- believed to be one of the two most powerful machines in the world -- to research things such as climate change and … Read more

Episode 16: Torture-testing the iPhone 5

Everyone else is excited about this being the episode where we torture test the iPhone 5 -- and believe me, I get that, it's pretty exciting. And it was a pretty dramatic test, to be sure, I think you'll be surprised at the combination of tough and not tough displayed by that phone.

But for me, this episode is all about the America's Cup piece! That's just selfish, though; it's because I had such a great time riding on that catamaran -- and I do think the broadcasting tech is fascinating. America's Cup racing … Read more

Popular Mechanics honors breakthrough innovations

What do Elon Musk, Leap Motion, Microsoft Surface and Windows 8, Autodesk 123D, and Dow Solar's PowerHouse Solar Shingles have in common?

They are all among the winners of Popular Mechanics magazine's eighth Breakthrough Awards. Awarded each year by a panel of the magazine's editors, the honors go to people and products that are seen to be leading the world of science and commerce forward.

This year's product winners are: The North Face Powder Guide ABS Vest and Backpack; the Lytro camera; Autodesk 123D; Microsoft Surface and Windows 8; Ford's 1-liter EcoBoost engine; Dow PowerHouse … Read more

Can the Tesla Model S unkill the electric car? CNET On Cars, Episode 3

A Tesla Model S is a very hard car for reviewers to get significant time with. The company has exactly two press cars for the globe, prioritizing all other production to deliver to patient buyers. So it was with no small pleasure when Tesla's Shanna Hendriks let me know she had an S ready for me to play with for a full day (which turned out to be more like a day and a half). I hope you'll find my take a little refreshing as this car has been talked about and bloviated over like nothing this side … Read more

Tesla announces Supercharger network

In the early days of the internal combustion engine, gas stations were generally spaced a tank apart, or the distance the average car could go on a single tank. History is repeating itself with Tesla's announcement it would build a network of fast charging stations on major traffic corridors around the U.S.

The first six stations have already gone up in the California towns of Folsom, Gilroy, Harris Ranch, Tejon Ranch, Los Angeles, and Barstow. The placement seems designed to support road trips from San Francisco to Los Angeles and Lake Tahoe, and from Los Angeles to Las … Read more

Tesla museum fundraising effort hits $850K goal in one week

A crowdfunding effort to build a museum to honor scientist Nikola Tesla has surpassed its $850,000 goal by more than $35,000 -- with more than a month to go in the funding drive.

Announced last week by The Oatmeal, aka Matthew Inman, the goal is to build a museum to honor the achievements of Tesla, the inventor and electrical engineer credited with making early strides in wireless communications. The funds will be used to buy land in Shoreham, N.Y., on which Tesla's last laboratory stood.

The land is listed for sale at $1.6 million, but … Read more