Hasta La Gadget!

If you’ve been following the development of Tesla‘s first production car, the Roadster, you probably already know that it can do up to 240ish miles on a charge — or an awful lot more in perfectly ideal conditions. Cumulatively, though, they can go much, much further. Tesla has sold around 1,500 of the things since they were introduced in 2008, and the company is able to keep track of just how far each has covered. Together that first batch of cars has just covered its 10 millionth mile, which is probably enough to drive to Pluto or to some other arbitrary feat that usually gets bandied about when these sorts of milestones are achieved. Suffice it to say it’s a long way. Tesla says roughly 500,000 gallons of gasoline were saved compared to what would have been burned in conventional supercars, but given the pretzel-like contortions required to climb in and out of these things we’re left wondering just how many backs were broken in the process.

Continue reading Tesla Roadsters cover 10M miles, American Chiropractic Association members laugh maniacally

Tesla Roadsters cover 10M miles, American Chiropractic Association members laugh maniacally originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 18:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T is keeping up its wheeling and dealing this week, signing an agreement with Ford to provide the built-in wireless connectivity for its upcoming Focus Electric hatchback. The deal’s pretty simple, really. Ford has put together a comprehensive MyFord Mobile application to go with its EV, which will allow you to keep track of and schedule charging, while also serving up status notifications, range information, and nearby recharging stations’ locations, the latter facility being provided with the help of MapQuest. All that data exchange will need a nice dumb pipe to carry it between the Focus and your smartphone and AT&T is obligingly fulfilling that role — and don’t worry if your phone doesn’t support the app (works with Android, BlackBerry and iOS), Ford’s got a web interface too. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading Ford Focus Electric hooks up wirelessly with AT&T, incurs jealous looks from T-Mobile

Ford Focus Electric hooks up wirelessly with AT&T, incurs jealous looks from T-Mobile originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Mar 2011 11:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There are those predicting doom and gloom for electric cars when temperatures drop, and those steadfastedly saying that frigid batteries will not be the end of the road when it comes to fuel-free transportation. The reality lies somewhere in between, but Volvo’s at least doing the right thing: testing the frozen snot out of its C30 Electric way up north of the Arctic Circle. When things get really cold the car can use an ethanol-powered heater to keep things comfortable for both drivers and batteries and, at temperatures down to -30C (that’s -22F), the car has proven to manage a range of 80km, which is just a tick under 50 miles. Given the hatchback is rated for 100 miles of range when warmer that’s not exactly good news for Eskimo environmentalists who love Swedish cars. Still, it also must be said those are rather extreme conditions, as shown in the video below, which also includes footage of some extreme elk reindeer herding.

Update: Viktor wrote in to let us know that the creatures in the video are indeed reindeer, not elk. The person responsible for such an egregious factual error has been sacked, and a sizeable donation made to the “Save the Reindeer from Swedish EVs Foundation.”

Continue reading Volvo’s C30 Electric freezes north of the Arctic Circle, chases reindeer and loses half its range (video)

Volvo’s C30 Electric freezes north of the Arctic Circle, chases reindeer and loses half its range (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Mar 2011 15:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The upcoming Tesla Model S has a big ‘ol slab of batteries that make up the floor of the thing, shown above, but Tesla CEO Elon Musk says that sort of technology just won’t do in the long run. He thinks that the days of the battery are numbered, and that it’s the humble capacitor that will “supercede” traditional cells and let our future selves roam wild in our Teslas, largely free of range anxiety. Ultracapacitors are basically big, powerful versions of the capacitors that make all electronics work. Like a battery they hold a charge, but unlike a battery they can be juiced up almost instantaneously and suffer virtually no degradation through cycle after cycle. The big problem now is energy density, where batteries still have their capacitive competition beat, but hopefully that’ll change soon — maybe in time for another of Musk’s predictions to come true.

Tesla CEO Musk says the days of batteries are numbered, ultracapacitors will power us into the future originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Mar 2011 17:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you don’t have far to go, an electric car can make a lot of sense. You know what group of people doesn’t have far to go? People who live on an island, that’s who. For this reason we’re feeling some synergistic love as the State of Hawaii partners with AeroVironment, a company that also makes some goofy looking UAVs for DARPA, to deploy up to 320 public EV charging stations plugs across Kauai, Hawaii Island, Maui, and Oahu. All will be 240v Level 2 units that can charge an average EV in between four to eight hours. That’s plenty of time to grab your board and get worked on some swell — or to work on your tan if you’re feeling a little less aggro.

Update: Dan wrote in to let us know that Better Place is also getting a piece of this pie, securing $854,000 for “charging stations on all islands and the introduction of EVs to a rental car fleet.”

Continue reading Hawaii funding deployment of up to 320 public EV chargers, islander Leafs say ‘mahalo’

Hawaii funding deployment of up to 320 public EV chargers, islander Leafs say ‘mahalo’ originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Mar 2011 22:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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