Electric Vehicles & Cars News - Page 60

Tesla has just announced it will be building the largest lithium-ion battery storage project in the world in South Australia, nearly a year after a 50-year storm knocked out the entire electrical grid, leaving 1.7 million residents without power - myself included. This news is close to home, well - it is home, as I'm based in South Australia - where Tesla is building this massive battery storage project.

After the infrastructure failure, the South Australian government (which was already a leader in renewable energy) looked into a sustainable solution so that this wouldn't happen again. The state government askedw for solutions on grid-scale energy storage solutions of at least 100MW capacity, with Tesla today announcing they will be making a 100MW/129MWh Powerpack system that will be teamed with global renewable energy provider Neoen's Hornsdale Wind Farm located near Jamestown, South Australia.

Tesla's Powerpack will be used to charge renewable energy from the Hornsdale Wind Farm, which will then deliver electricity during peak hours ensuring reliable power is delivered to South Australia's electrical infrastructure. SA was already a leader in renewable energy, but Tesla's investment into the state will only highlight that fact.

Volvo has announced that every car they launch from 2019 will have an electric motor, marking the historic end of cars that have only an internal combustion engine (ICE) and placing electrification at the core of its future business.

This means that within the next two years, Volvo will completely switch to manufacturing only electric cars and hybrids, making them the first major car manufacturer to stop selling cars with only gas or diesel engines.

Håkan Samuelsson, President and Chief Executive of Volvo Cars, said in a statement:

Elon Musk has announced that the Model 3 production starts on Friday, with first deliveries starting on July 28th.

It was previously stated that Tesla plans to unveil the final production version of the Model 3 in July, with deliveries starting sometime during the summer, meaning that the company is ahead of the schedule, which is good news for the company and its shareholders.

Musk stated that Tesla Motors will deliver the first thirty Model 3's on July 28th, with production growing exponentially. In August, they plan to manufacture 100 cars, and in September above 1,500. By the end of the year, they should reach 20,000 cars per month.

At this year's CES, Faraday Future unveiled their highly anticipated electric vehicle - the FF 91. The FF 91 is their first production vehicle, and the company plans for it to compete directly with Tesla.

The company has now announced that they have successfully tested the limits of FF 91 in its first attempt to challenge the 4,720-foot ascent of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

The FF 91, driven by FF Principal Engineer Robin Shute, finished with a time of 11:25:083, beating last year's Tesla P90D by 20 seconds.

Tesla Motors now has a Messenger chatbot to help you manage your car, so called TeslaBot.

SmartCar introduced this feature and named the virtual assistant none other than Elon. You will have to connect your Messenger to your Tesla account, and then you can use Messenger to complete simple tasks such as locking your car or getting information about where your car is located.

Unfortunately, if you don't own a Tesla, this Chatbot is pretty useless.

Elon Musk has confirmed that the first deliveries of the Model 3 will take place in July. It was previously stated that Tesla plans to unveil the final production version of the Model 3 in July, with deliveries starting sometime during the summer.

However, Musk has announced on Twitter that the first customers should receive their Model 3 in July. Musk has faced some criticism lately regarding delivery schedules, so it seems that Tesla's CEO has decided to speed things up and kick off the production of the Model 3.

Musk has also revealed that the day-1 reservation holders will get "something cool, " but he didn't specify what he has in mind.

At an event in Versailles, France during the same week as the Formula E race in Paris, Qualcomm showed off their big secret of the past few years. Their wireless charging technology for electric cars also known as Qualcomm Halo is capable of not only static charging but also dynamic charging.

Currently, there aren't any vehicles on the road with wireless charging, but it's inevitably going to become popular among electric vehicles as they become more autonomous. Tesla's robotic charging arm is far more expensive and complex than just using wireless charging.

Mercedes is expected to be the first with wireless charging this year with Qualcomm Halo as the enabling technology.

Audi's first all-electric vehicle, the Audi e-tron SUV, is coming next year, followed by its recently announced e-tron Sportback in 2019.

The company has now confirmed that they plan another all-electric vehicle for 2020. This means that Audi will have a new electric car each year for the next three years.

Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi AG, said:

A week ago, Elon Musk asked his 8.56 million Twitter followers to help him come up with a name for The Boring Company's first tunneling machine.

We've heard some pretty interesting ideas, from 'Snoop Dug' to 'Ludicrous Boring Machine, the Second.' However, Musk has decided for a totally different approach.

He first announced that he would be naming the machine by a poem or play before revealing the name of the company's first tunneling machine - Godot.

The South Korean government has announced that they will open the K-City in October this year. What's special about this 'city' is that it won't have any living citizens, but it will serve as the world's biggest test track for self-driving cars.

The K-City is currently under construction, and when finished, it will have bus-only lanes, expressways, and zones for autonomous parking. The entire area will occupy 360,000 square meters.

The project will cost around $9.7 million, and the self-driving cars can be tested there with or without the temporary operation permit from the government.