Hasta La Gadget!

Fisker Automotive has been seeing its troubles go from bad to worse, and its now announced its most drastic steps yet to keep the company afloat. In a statement released this afternoon, the company confirmed that it is making a “significant reduction” in its workforce, which it says will ultimately leave it with approximately 25 percent of its employees — Bloomberg pegs the number of layoffs at about 160 based on its sources, down from the 200 it employed as of last week. Fisker’s statement also notes that the company is continuing its efforts to secure a strategic alliance or partnership, but says it had reached the point where layoffs became unavoidable. As Bloomberg mentions in its report, Fisker has to date only sold 2,500 of its electric vehicles, which have been beset by delays and recalls in recent years.

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Source: Bloomberg, Autoblog

“It doesn’t help to have a car that’s cheap, but that sucks.” This isn’t the sort of direct language that you typically hear from a CEO these days, but this is exactly the kind of material you can expect from Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk. Over the course of our conversation, Musk (who earlier co-founded PayPal and who also heads up SpaceX) went on the record calling journalists who didn’t understand the benefits of leases “dumbasses” and pledged that use of the company’s Supercharger stations will always, forever and ever, be free. Candid responses such as these are not new for Mr. Musk, having certainly caused some turmoil in the past, and they do make for quite an interesting interview. Join us as we explore why the cheapest Model S was scrapped and we ask just when we can expect the fabled, and truly affordable, third-generation Tesla.

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Hydrogen fuel cell cars have any number of hurdles to overcome, whether it’s widespread adoption or the basic matter of locating a place to fill up. If a Virginia Tech discovery pans out, getting the fuel itself won’t be one of those challenges. The new combination of a polyphosphate with a special blend of enzymes lets researchers extract meaningful quantities of hydrogen from any biological element that includes xylose — in other words, the sugar that’s present in every plant to at least some degree. The process is potentially more eco-friendly than most, as well. While you’d expect it to be renewable given the main ingredients, it also reduces the need for metals and cuts back sharply on the volume of necessary greenhouse gases. Most importantly, the findings could reach the commercial world as soon as three years from now. If they do, they could lower the price of hydrogen fuel by making it more accessible, all the while avoiding much of the guilt trip that comes with using polluting technology to generate clean energy.

Filed under: Transportation, Science, Alt

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Via: The Verge

Source: Virginia Tech, Wiley

The Tesla Roadster can be said to be a dream car for many a Greenpeace activist, although for all intents and purposes, a hybrid like the Toyota Prius would be a far better bet. Well, perhaps it is time to see that the electric sports car market is maturing, especially when you see yet another competitor hit the scene after the Tesla’s Roadster production drew to a close at the end of 2011. Detroit Electric has just announced a different Lotus-based sports car which is capable of hitting 0–60mph in a matter of just 3.7 seconds.

The Detroit Electric’s pride and joy would be the SP:01, where in order to achieve such speed within the shortest period of time possible, it comes with a custom carbon fiber body as well as a $135,000 price tag. Headed by former Lotus Engineering Group CEO Albert Lam, this could very well be the reason why Lotus’s Exige does seem to be the SP:01′s starting point. Production of the SP:01 production will begin this August with a limited run of 999 cars.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Freeride E-Speed Electric Motorcycle, Detroit Electric Intends To Roll Out A Battery Powered Sports Car,

Just as Tesla isn’t in the business of making average cars, it’s just introduced a leasing program for the Model S sedan that’s not entirely run-of-the-mill. Unique to the company’s 66-month lease program, you’ll find the option of selling the Model S after 36 months at a price that’s pegged to the residual value of the Mercedes S Class. While that may sound all fine and dandy, be warned, if you couldn’t afford a Model S before, there’s a good chance it’s still be a wee bit out of your grasp. The Tesla Model S 85kWh edition runs $1,199 per month, which then becomes slightly more palatable once tax credits are factored in. On the average, individuals can expect to pay between $732 to $940 per month for the privilege of leasing a Model S. Meanwhile, business users stand to benefit even more, who can use tax credits to bring the overall cost down to $505 per month. Feel free to hit up the source links if you now think Motor Trend’s 2013 Car of the Year is an expense you can stomach, but for the rest of us, we’ll just keep dreaming.

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Source: Tesla (1), (2)