By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Mission Motors, founded by a former Tesla Motors engineer, plans to sell a limited run of 50 of these electric super bikes next year. Powered by a 3-phase AC induction motor and a liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery, the bike has a range of 150 miles and a claimed top speed of 150 mph. A recharge takes two hours at 240 volts and eight hours at 120 volts. Price? Only $69,000! More at Wired

By Joseph DeLucca

Luxvelocity

Just when you though that the Tesla Roadster couldn’t get more exciting , the team at Tesla Motors went ahead and introduced the Tesla Roadster Sport. Tesla started taking orders on the new Tesla on January 11th. You’ll need to have $128 ,500 stashed away if you want the ultimate electric car experience. Just how much more powerful is the new Roadster Sport? According to Tesla, the new Sport gets 15 percent more power and goes 0-60 in just 3.7 seconds. More at Luxvelocity

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Seriously, how do they even compete with this new Caddy?

Brabus got ahold of a Telsa and tuned it out a little bit. While the famous custom house kept their hands off the electric roadster’s mysterious powertrain, they did tart it up with a lot of wing-dings, including neon underglow. Get this: they also added a "space sound generator" that offers you a choice between a fake V8 engine rumble and a variety of Star Wars sound effects to spice up the roadster’s otherwise almost silent powerplant. It all seems a little goofy, especially considering that it’s unclear at this point whether or not the beleaguered Tesla will ever get on its feet. But hey, it’s got underglow, so it has to be cool. More pics below the jump, via AutoUnleashed.

Continue reading "Tuner Tesla By Brabus" »

Apparently, US service people aren’t allowed to have any booze when deployed in a combat zone. But according to the German defense ministry, a million liters of alcohol—mostly beer—have been sent to its soldiers fighting in Afghanistan. Now that’s what I call supporting the troops! Anyway, here’s the news:

• Will Obama appoint a "Car Czar?" Given the importance of the domestic auto industry, it’s not a bad idea. And while I’m not a fan of Thomas Friedman—life sure is easy when your wife is loaded—I liked his idea about letting Steve Jobs run GM. But why not let Jobs supervise the whole show? Nowadays, cars are basically just rolling computers anyway. Detroit News
• Here’s a headline for you: "GM Asks Employees to Beg Congress for Money." It’s accurate, and as a fan of the General, I have to say it hurts a little. But how about looking at the bright side? "Ain’t too proud to beg" actually has a pretty nice ring to it. I can see the ad spots already… Wired
• Tesla, the company struggling to prove its Roadster isn’t vaporware, left Detroit a month ago. But guess which company is getting ready to set up show in the Motor City? Yup, arch-rival and recent court foe Fisker. Will it have better luck? New York Times
• The market sucks, everybody is worried about losing their jobs, and its stock is in the toilet, but the Blue Oval is coming out swinging with a bevy of new models. Given the hot little rides it already sells across the pond, Henry’s company could hit the ground running. Motor Authority

It turns out there might be a reason Telsa isn’t at the SEMA show this year: they’re too busy showing off. A Tesla sales director wrecked this roadster after punching it to 100 mph, then taking a corner too hard. It was pretty bad—the passenger was ejected—but everyone except the Tesla itself seems to have survived the incident. See the whole grisly mess over at WreckedExotics.com.

Three weeks ago I got a chance to drive one of Tesla’s validation prototypes. I took a ton of pics and shot a bunch of video. Here’s what our video editor came back with:

A new study suggests that Iditarod sled dogs are "superior to most other mammals," due to their aerobic capacity, their ability to efficiently use calories and how quickly they adapt to prolonged strenuous exercise. I thought this was interesting, but I already believed dogs to be superior to most mammals. Anyway, here’s the news:

• Looks like bad transmissions aren’t the only problem over at Tesla Motors. In addition to playing another round of musical chairs with its executives, the company is laying off workers, and will apparently admit that the its Roadster doesn’t look as hot as the Lotus Elise it’s based off. Ok, I made that last part up. Autoblog
• Spy shots of Nissan’s new 370Z have been circulating for a little while, but few outside of the company’s design department have gotten a look at the real deal. Apparently, the dudes at Inside Line have had the honor, and they sound impressed. Look for the official debut in LA later this year. Inside Line
• The Genesis Coupe has launched in Korea, and Hyundai has released the performance figures. The 306 horsepower six will allegedly sprint to 60 in 5.9 seconds, which isn’t as quick as a Mustang GT, but it’s independent read suspension should make it less of a handful to drive. World Car Fans
• Lotus has always seen weight as the enemy, so it’s no surprise that its light little chassis a great for alternative power plants. The latest triumph? An oil-burning Seven has just won the alt-fuel race from Berkley to Vegas. Bravo, gents! Wired

I just got back from flogging Tesla VP 11—short for validation prototype number 11—in a roped-off K-Mart parking lot in Bellevue. The nice Tesla folks made sure to emphasize that this is not a production vehicle, and that it has suffered quite a bit of abuse during its short lifetime—all in the name of testing, of course. In fact, one of the engineers drove it up here from the SF Bay Area last night. This is definitely no trailer queen!

The car is fast. That little electric motor delivers pure and instant power. I floored it from a dead stop several times, taking it quickly up to about 60 or 70 mph before nailing the brakes. What a blast. The traction control keeps things from getting unruly. And of course, it’s really quiet. So it all feels very civilized. Handling was quite good (as much as I could test it around the parking lot) though you definitely feel the weight of the car (about 2,700 pounds vs. the Elises’s 1,950 pounds). The low speed steering was pretty heavy without power assist, and this particular car was probably in need of a front-end alignment. Continue reading… 

Continue reading "Tesla VP 11" »

Tesla is bringing one of their cars up to Seattle tomorrow for a little demo at Microsoft, and I managed to get myself invited. It’s unclear whether I’m being driven or if I actually getting to drive, but either way I’ll get to experience one of these things in motion for the first time. Stay tuned…