Hasta La Gadget!

Tesla’s perpetually free Supercharger station has already enabled the driving of about a million miles, totally free, to owners of the Model S sedan. However, availability of that network has been very limited. Unless you live in very specific areas of NY or CA, you’ve been out of luck. That’s beginning to change. Following up on Elon Musk’s D11 appearance, Tesla has announced that by the end of next month it will triple the size of the Supercharger network, covering crucial routes like Vancouver to Portland (with Seattle in between) and Dallas to Austin. New connection points will open in Illinois, Colorado, New York and, yes, California.

But wait, there’s more. Within six months the network will spread further and, before the end of the year, Tesla promises you’ll be able to drive from New York to Los Angeles in your Model S — so long as you don’t mind stopping for 20-minute recharges every couple-hundred miles. Finally, by mid-2014, Tesla promises its network will “stretch across the continent” and cover “almost the entire population of US and Canada.” (Sorry, Hawaii.) PR and video featuring more details after the break.

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Source: Tesla

With a wire transfer of $451.8 million, Elon Musk has finally made good on his promise to repay the hefty loan Tesla received from the Department of Energy well ahead of its 2022 due date, beating even Musk’s own five-year estimate. This comes on the heels of a very profitable first quarter, and is yet another sign the electric car maker is doing quite well on the greener side of things, despite a touch of bad press earlier this year. For more on what Tesla has to say about this milestone, check the press release after the break.

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Despite a bit of bad press for its Model S and a less-than-ideal close to the 2012 financial year, things have been looking up for Tesla. Sales are on an upward climb, company CEO Elon Musk has sworn to deliver more superchargers, better service for customers and continues to tout his EV’s high resale value. After promising in Q4 of 2012 that Tesla would turn a profit the next quarter, the EV manufacturer has done so — generating $15 million in net income and $562 million in revenue in Q1 2013.

During the first quarter the company built 5,000 Model S cars, and is scheduled to build the same number in Q2 to keep pace with the 20,000 orders expected this year. To better service all those vehicles, Tesla opened 12 new service locations in Q1, with 18 more to come online by the end of 2013. Additionally, the company plans to start deliveries of Teslas in Europe in Q3. An investor call with Mr. Musk will be starting shortly, and we’ll update things here should he have any other news to share.

Update: During the call, Musk said that the company plans to build upon its newfound financial success by continuing to focus on increasing production efficiency for the Model S — which is why the Model X has been delayed until late 2014. He also made mention of the fact that roughly half the folks buying the 60 kWh Model S are upgrading to supercharging hardware at purchase (85kWh cars have it standard), and he expects that number to grow as the Supercharger network grows in 2013.

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Source: Tesla [PDF]

Current or wannabe Tesla S owners can now opt for a Performance Plus option that adds a bit of range and a lot of extra handling — and the whole idea came from none other than McLaren. After a journalist told Elon Musk that his nimble sedan was nonetheless outdone by a McLaren MP4-12C supercar (duh?), Tesla’s engineers got to work tweaking the suspension and adding new Michelin tires. The latter boosts range by 6 to 12 miles over the stock rubber, while the whole package adds more cornering grip and acceleration “while maintaining ride quality,” according to the company. Current owners can get the option retrofitted for $13,000, but if you’re still kicking tires, it’ll add $6,500 to your total Tesla S bill for the up-rated suspension bits, plus another $3,500 for the optional 21-inch wheels. Sounds tempting for a poor-man’s McLaren, and given the new financing options, you might even be able to justify it.

Update: We’ve updated this post to clarify pricing. The 21-inch wheels are not included in the $6,500 Performance Plus package.

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Source: Autoblog Green

Tesla CEO Elon Musk talked a bit about his goals for expanded service options in his interview with us earlier this month, and he’s today detailed some of those options that the company is ready to roll out. That includes one perk that’s been mentioned previously: the ability to get a Model S loaner to tide you over when you have to turn your car in for service. What’s more, that loaner will be a top-of-the-line Model S regardless of the car you turn in (there’s a fleet of 85 to start with, each with valet service to your location), and customers in “most markets” can also opt to get a Tesla Roadster as a loaner if they’d prefer to try out something sportier. Musk further explains that customers can even choose to keep that loaner car if they like it better, and simply pay the difference.

Beyond that, Tesla is now making annual checkups entirely optional, meaning that your warranty will still be valid for the full term even if you never take your car in. And rounding things out is what Tesla describes as an “unconditional warranty” on Model S batteries, which will let owners get a factory reconditioned unit as a replacement even in the case of user error. You can find the full details on the new options in Musk’s blog post announcing the news linked below.

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Source: Tesla