Hasta La Gadget!

Word on the street had it that Tesla’s $50 million deal with Toyota wasn’t formal back in late May, but evidently things have made positive progress since. According to a new (though admittedly brief) report over at CNN, Toyota is currently working with the electric automaker on a pair of prototype vehicles. As the story goes, Tesla will be delivering two prototypes to Toyota “by the end of the month,” with the vehicles using “Tesla’s electric motors and battery packs and the bodies of Toyota vehicles.” Tesla Chief Technology Officer JB Straubel has been quoted as saying that the two outfits have “made a lot of progress in a short amount of time,” and we couldn’t be more excited to see what kind of results will come from this tie-up. We can’t help but hope that those regenerative brakes do a bit more than regenerate, though. Sorry, we had to. Really.

Tesla planting electric engines into two Toyota prototype bodies originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Jul 2010 22:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Admit it, you’ve been desperately refreshing this page in the simple hope of learning more about BMW’s first all-electric vehicle. Originally announced with nary a visual clue to its appearance, the Megacity has now been fleshed out in the above futuristic sketch, which gives us an inkling of the car’s design direction. Don’t expect it to have too much bearing on the final product, though — we do anticipate the real deal to have, y’know, tyres. BMW is also putting together an all-new chassis specifically for this battery-powered city transporter, and has already begun crash-testing the carbon fiber-equipped shells. In spite of its compact dimensions, the Megacity is being described as a “premium sustainability” vehicle, meaning its 2013 launch will be relevant to a somewhat select group of people.

Continue reading BMW Megacity EV gets sketched out in more detail

BMW Megacity EV gets sketched out in more detail originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jul 2010 13:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tesla’s still got a ways to go before it overtakes those conventional automakers, but darn if it’s not on the right track now. The company today announced a deal with Toyota — yeah, Toyota — in order to collaborate on the “development of electric vehicles, parts, and production system and engineering support.” Reportedly, the tandem will form a specialist team to further these efforts, with Toyota agreeing to purchase $50 million of Tesla‘s common stock issued in a private placement. In the short term, Tesla is purchasing the former NUMMI factory in Fremont, California in order to build the Model S sedan and other “future Tesla vehicles,” which should employ around 1,000 workers now to produce around 20,000 cars per year. For those unaware, the NUMMI facility was recently vacated, leaving 4,500 Toyota employees holding pink slips and ginormous frowns; Tesla CEO Elon Musk did confirm, however, that some of those have already been rehired. The good news here is that consumers should see lower prices due to Tesla having access to Toyota’s streamlined supply chain (not to mention those hugely leveraged bulk buy deals), but the bad news is that citizens of Downey, California — a town that was purportedly ready to sign a similar deal with Tesla “tomorrow” — now have to deal with an erupted bubble. You win some, you lose some, as they say.

Tesla lands sudden deal with Toyota, will build Model S sedan in Fremont NUMMI plant originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 May 2010 21:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nissan didn’t hesitate to gloat about its ability to book 8,000 Leaf pre-orders in just nine days during a pre-pre-order for those who specifically requested early access to the automobile, and now the outfit’s looking to make good on plans to have 25,000 orders in place by December. If all goes well, the all-electric car will be “widely available” in 2012, with a semi-wide release slated for next Spring. Naturally, the buzz is already fueling demand, and the automaker has today opened up a public reservation system online for those unwilling to take chances on availability come 2011. If you’re interested, you can actually reserve your Leaf right now with precisely zero clothing on — you heard right, there’s no need to even visit a local dealer. Simply hand over a $99 refundable deposit and wait, but you best get your story in line before being pinged by Nissan. The Wall Street Journal has it that pre-orderers will have to “convince Nissan they are up to the task of owning an electric vehicle based on their driving patterns, living arrangements and other factors,” and if you call Nunapitchuk, Alaska home, you can bet you’ll be shoved to the rear of the line. But hey, we always heard it was best to pull the trigger now and ask questions later.

[Thanks, Jim]

Nissan opens all-electric Leaf pre-orders to the US public: $99 to reserve originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 May 2010 09:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Who says people aren’t willing to pay upwards of $30k for a car that can only go 100 miles before needing to be tethered to a wall outlet? Evidently Nissan has struck a chord with the US populace, as the automaker just announced that 8,000 orders for the all-electric Leaf were booked in a mere nine days after orders went live. According to Mark Perry, the company’s North American director of product planning and strategy, Nissan is “on its way to have 25,000 firm orders by December,” and considering that it’ll only ship initially in California, Arizona, Washington, Tennessee and Oregon, that’s a pretty bold assumption. Better still, Nissan plans to “make money at the price that it announced,” though we’ve no doubt that the $7,500 Federal tax credit has urged fence-sitters to jump in the pre-order line. Still, it’s good to see consumers putting their money into unconventional automobiles, but we can’t say we’re eager to see a special run of Parking Wars dedicated to brawls over what motorist gets the last charging socket on Main Street. Or maybe we are, in a sick and sadistic sort of way.

Nissan books 8,000 Leaf orders in nine days, gets turned on with that electric feel originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 02 May 2010 17:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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