tesla

Tesla Motors announced version 1.5 of the drive train for its $100,000 electric Roadster on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Fisker Automotive leader Henrik Fisker compares his company's upcoming Karma to the Apple iPhone.

What's going on here? Is the auto industry being taken over by Silicon Valley geek speak?

Marc Fleury, a geek's geek if there ever was one, opined on this very subject on Wednesday, as he reacted to the news of the upgraded Tesla drive train.

Fleury, a cashed-out entrepreneur who sold his company, JBoss, to Red Hat for more than $400 million two years … Read more

MENLO PARK, Calif.--The practice of playing up a company's green policies for show was the new black for the past few years. But now actually making and selling green products is what's hot because of its potential to put a business in the black.

At the 2008 Consumer Electronics Emerging Technologies Summit held here in Silicon Valley, venture capitalists, business consultants, entrepreneurs, and representatives of some of the largest consumer electronics companies in the world discussed the new wave of innovation in a rapidly commoditizing industry. It basically comes down to two words: energy efficiency.

And the … Read more

Corrected, Sunday 9:30 a.m. This blog incorrectly described Musk's relationship with the company. He is chairman of Tesla Motors.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--Elon Musk, the chairman and major funder of Tesla Motors, said here Saturday that he plans to take his electric sports car company public by the end of 2008.

Before the IPO, however, Musk said he will raise a series E round of financing to bring the company to profitability and begin production on Tesla's luxury electric sedan, codenamed White Star, by 2010. The goals will be reached by selling a roughly 10 percent … Read more

Fisker Automotive is seeking a speedy end to a lawsuit filed against it by electric-sports car rival Tesla Motors.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Fisker said it has filed for arbitration, a motion that will be decided by the San Mateo Superior Court by June 11, 2008.

The contract between Fisker and Tesla had a clause that required that any disputes be handled through arbitration in the Orange County, Calif., within 90 days, according to Fisker. Tesla filed its suit against Fisker in San Mateo Superior Court.

By filing a motion to compel arbitration, Fisker is trying to avoid … Read more

Who's bringing the electric car back to life? Mayor Gavin Newsom hopes he can help in San Francisco by partnering with Project Better Place, according to Earth2Tech.

The venture, founded by the mayor's friend Shai Agassi, aims for all passenger vehicles in Israel to run on batteries rather than gasoline. Drivers would subscribe to cars much like they subscribe to cellular phone plans. The biggest challenge is to create the electric car infrastructure, a network of stations for charging vehicles and replacing batteries.

In Israel last week, Newsom met with CEO Moshe Kaplinsky and volunteered to make the … Read more

NEW YORK--Fisker Automotive intends to file for arbitration on Tuesday in a legal counterattack to a suit filed against it by Tesla Motors over allegedly stolen trade secrets.

Henrik Fisker told CNET News.com that the filing will seek to have the Tesla suit derailed because it was filed in San Mateo, Calif., which would be a breach of contract.

Fisker Automotive will seek to move the case to Orange County, Calif., and detail the flaws in Tesla's legal case. He spoke here at the CleanTech Conference put on by Merriman, Curhan, and Ford.

Last month, Tesla sued Fisker Automotive, … Read more

Tesla Motors opened its first dealership in Santa Monica, Calif., on Friday, attracting a gaggle of reporters.

The location of the site in the tony Westwood neighborhood reflects the high-end shopping experience it intends to create for the flashy $109,000 Tesla Roadster. The next store, slated to open in San Carlos, Calif. in a couple months, will be set up to appeal to the Silicon Valley tech elite.

The company told the Associated Press that it is impressed with demand: it has taken 600 orders for the Roadster and has a waiting list of another 400. CEO Elon Musk … Read more

With Earth Day upon us, CNET News.com's green reporters sat down and selected five leading companies in five different clean-technology categories. Here are the transportation companies selected:

1. A123 Systems: Like a number of other companies, A123 wants to sell lithium-ion battery packs for electric cars and plug-in hybrids. The difference is that A123, which spun out of MIT, has influential friends. General Motors invested in the company and is testing A123 batteries for its hybrids, including the Chevy Volt expected in 2010. So is Norway's Think, which makes an electric town car. In all, the company … Read more

When you think of things related to science, music may not make the top of your list.

But the folks involved with a small collective called ArcAttack would like you to change your associations.

ArcAttack is all about one thing: building singing Tesla coils and crafting entire musical performances around them. For some time, at events like Dorkbot and other geekfests, the team--Joe DiPrima, Oliver Greaves, and Tony Smith--had been pulling off straightforward demonstrations of their creations. But they were synchronizing the machines to other people's music and not adding much in the way of their own innovations besides … Read more