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Tesla has announced a partial recall of the Model S electric car, after the discovery of a shortcoming in how the rear seats are fixed to the EV’s body. The issue – which Tesla is at pains to point out has not actually resulted in any reported problems or injuries – could leave the left-hand

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Tesla will show off its battery-swap system in a live demonstration this week, founder Elon Musk has revealed, as the electric car company experiments with alternative ways to power its vehicles. The demo will be done live, Musk confirmed, at the company’s Hawthorne design studio. Given the recent failure of Better Place, however, all eyes

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You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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With a gasoline-powered car, refueling is as simple as pulling into a gas station and waiting a few minutes for the gas take to be refilled. Things are a bit trickier with electric vehicles, however, which require charging stations rather than gas stations. Tesla has been rolling out it SuperCharger network over many months, having added six in California back in October, for example. At tonight’s D11 conference, Musk made an announcement early: Tesla‘s SuperCharger network will be tripled.

The announcement was slated to be made tomorrow, but Musk decided to let it out early following encouragement from those around him. When asked about concerns of range and charging station availability, Musk originally responded: “We’re planning to announce something about that tomorrow.” Such an answer simply prodded curiosity ten-fold, however, and he soon elaborated on Tesla’s planned announcement.

“We have something cool called the Supercharger. Ok, I might as well let the cat out of the bag. So the Supercharger technology we developed because regular charging is slow and not effective for long-distance travel. But when people buy a car they’re buying a sense of freedom that they can go wherever they want and not feel fettered.” Following this, he made the big announcement: “There’s going to be a dramatic acceleration of the SuperCharging network. It’ll be tripled. We’ll put the map live tomorrow.”

According to Musk, the increase in SuperCharging stations will allow Tesla car owners to “drive from LA to New York” using only that SuperCharger network, no doubt good news to both current owners and those who have hesitated in purchasing the vehicle over concerns about charging station availability. “We’ll be both increasing the density and the scope of the network.” Those who drive the Tesla cars won’t have trouble finding a SuperCharger station, either, because the company’s software gets auto updates, which will bring with them the new maps. When a charge is needed, the driver will be directed to the SuperCharger station closest to wherever they happen to be located.

Talk about range and charging brought up banter about the New York Times review of the Model S earlier this year, which drew a great deal of criticism from Musk, who claimed that it had been intentionally done in such a way to make the vehicle look bad. “If we didn’t speak out against it, that article would have lived forever, and people would have gotten the wrong impression of the car. Ultimately the NYT public editor agreed the article was wrong but didn’t think it was intentional, but I don’t think there’s any way it was not intentional.”

The topic was then quickly switched away from Tesla to SpaceX.

SOURCE: AllThingsD

Tesla’s Elon Musk says SuperCharging network will be tripled is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Elon Musk is talking about all things Tesla at the D11 conference, and one particular area is on when consumers will see cheaper vehicles. As we reported yesterday, Musk wants to build a lower-cost all-electric car, getting them into the hands of more drivers to help combat climate change, among other reasons, something he has spoken about passionately in the past. When asked when we can expect a $30,000 Tesla vehicle, Musk replied: “Probably 3 to 5 years.”

He went on to explain the slowish process of getting the electric vehicles down to such a price point, saying that new technology requires “three or so iterations” before it hits the mass market. “Remember the cell phone from “Wall Street”? It was expensive and terrible. And now you can have a supercomputer in your pocket for 100 bucks.” He also went on to say such a vehicle will “probably” be 20-percent smaller than the current Model S, which is priced at $70,000 before tax credits, which bumps it down closer to $60,000.

As we reported yesterday, Musk doesn’t think competitors’ electric vehicles are all that great, such as those from Chevrolet and Nissan. The lower-cost EV he wants to produce will be nicer than the Nissan Leaf, for example, while coming in at less cost than the current Model S offering. Speaking of this particular goal, he’d said that he is “not going to let anything go, no matter what people offer, until I complete that mission.”

At the conference, he was then asked why other companies aren’t “racing to keep up with [Tesla]“. Musk says that in part he feels its first-quarter earnings will help spur other auto makers, stating that back in the Tesla Roadster days, the vehicle has been sidelined by others as a niche product, and that similar attitudes were given on the Model S. Critics claimed Tesla wouldn’t be able to make a profit on it, but it did just that earlier this year. “So I hope [other car companies] will observe there is a trend here.”

Of course, that leads to questions of when Tesla will be able to pull in a profit without subsidies, something it heavily relies on. Says Musk, “By the end of this year. We’re expecting 25 percent gross margins absent of credits. Well including consumer tax credits, but not subsidies.”

SOURCE: AllThingsD

Elon Musk: Cheaper Tesla vehicles could be here in three to five years is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.