A 7 year old Tesla Model S with nearly 100% original battery capacity, $1.01/watt commercial solar pricing from Tesla, a quick-as-hell Tesla Model S on the Nürburgring, the coming Tesla Model Y, and more — check out the most popular CleanTechnica stories of the past week in case you missed any of them! And be sure to share all 20 stories on all 107 social media networks. Or else.
Honda and Toyota have been smart, logical choices for American car buyers for decades. Once upon a time, they were the new kids on the block and they had to prove themselves with strong “performance for the money” or “value for the money” propositions. They did so, repeatedly, and they grew their market shares as a result.
The Tesla Model 3 is in a class of its own. It’s quicker and more fun to drive than a BMW, safer than a Volvo, has better tech than a Mercedes, and often has a total cost of ownership similar to a Toyota Camry or Honda Accord. All of that makes it a highly competitive vehicle in several markets. Its biggest downside is that the starting price, especially in Europe, put it in the premium car class, and many consumers can’t afford a premium-class car.
Following up on my article comparing the Volkswagen ID.3 with the Volkswagen Golf on a 5 year cost of ownership basis, below are comparisons of the ID.3 against a few other top selling compact cars — the Skoda Octavia, Skoda Octavia Sport Edition, Renault Megane Life, Renault Megane GT Line, Peugeot 308 Access, and Peugeot 308 GT.
For this analysis, I’m comparing the Volkswagen ID.3 to the lowest trim Volkswagen Golf and the highest trim Golf, but not adding any options/extras. The ID.3 likely has top-of-the-line technology, so even the base ID.3 should probably be compared to higher-trim versions of the Volkswagen Golf. Consider this an unfair handicap for the incumbents.
The Tesla Model 3 won the IIHS’s TOP SAFETY PICK+ award, which means that the car achieved the top score in all 8 test categories. You cannot get a better score. While this is a tremendous achievement, it’s also not surprising. The Model 3 already achieved the best safety score ever from the NHTSA, and we know that it is the safety leader due to abundant crumple zones, market-leading active safety features, extremely strong doors and a similarly strong roof, a low center of gravity that keeps the car stable, and tremendous traction control.
As I wrote a few hours ago, Tesla’s new V10 software is rolling out to Early Access program members and I happened to land in one of those people’s cars. I wrote a quick summary and first impressions of many of the new features in that article, but it seemed like improvements to Autopilot warranted their own dedicated piece.
The improvements seem to fall into two categories: 1) the visualizations for the driver, and 2) the car’s ability to naturally drive itself.
Yes, Tesla cars are cool. They’re the quickest cars on the market, the safest cars on the market, and the highest tech cars on the market. It’s hard to overstate or even properly explain why they stand out and are genuinely in a class of their own. However, it’s not just that they’re quick, safe, and high tech. Tesla is starting to transform what it means to be a car.
I got quite lucky tonight. I was walking along Sesame Street minding my own business when I all of a sudden got plopped into a Tesla Model 3 with Tesla’s new V10 software. I know, I know — you shouldn’t talk to strangers. But when you get an opportunity like this, you just have to take it.
Let’s run through the various improvements coming to Tesla vehicles in V10.
Covering solar power, wind power, and electric vehicles obsessively for ~10 years, I have run across some fascinating observations regarding these technologies and the transitions we are going through — and then I’ve subsequently forgotten many of them. This article is centered around one of the coolest observations I’ve run across, which slipped my mind for a while but just came back to the forefront this week.
