Imagine driving all the way from New York City to Los Angeles. During your 3,000 mile journey you don’t pay for any fuel, you don’t pollute the air, you travel almost silently, and your vehicle is so safe it was rated 5.4 out of 5 stars by the Highway Safety Administration. Seems impossible? It is not – thanks to Tesla’s advanced electric cars and network of free charging stations.Tesla is setting an example for car manufacturers around the world as to how to be innovative, collaborative, and sustainably mobile.Tesla Motors, the Palo Alto based company founded in 2003, is the global pioneer in the engineering of electric vehicles and continues to create groundbreaking technology which is changing the way we view mobility. “Our goal when we created Tesla a decade ago was the same as it is today: to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport by bringing compelling mass market electric cars to market as soon as possible,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote in a blog post in November 2013.
THE BENCHMARK IN SUSTAINABLE CARS
Tesla’s mobility innovations are most recently represented in the Model S. In 2013, more than 22,000 cars of this type were made, and since Tesla factories make the cars on demand, there is a buyer for every car that is made.Some SpecsThe entry-level model comes with a 60 kWh battery which has a 208 mile range and lets drivers reach speeds of up to 120 mph. The Model S is the most aerodynamic sedan in its class, which helps to save energy even at high speeds. Regenerative brakes recapture energy when slowing or when driving downhill. Tesla offers its Model S drivers a smartphone app that enables them to locate their car, lock and unlock it, honk, and flash the lights, all without the need for keys. Making trip planning even smarter, it is possible to set the interior climate as well as start, stop, and control the charging progress of the car via the app. A Supercharging upgrade is optional, but allows for higher battery capacity, thus allowing for even more sustainable driving.Tesla’s “Supercharger” offers fast power – for freeAs of July 10, Tesla’s “Supercharger” network is the largest fast-charging network in the world. And it is completely free to use. To date, Superchargers have powered a total of more than 24.7 million miles of driving while meanwhile saving 1.1 million gallons of gasoline.The Supercharger network keeps on growing with new charging stations soon to open across North America, Europe and Asia (see graphic for US extension through 2015). Charging at home is also significantly cheaper than refueling at a regular gas station. A Model S owner would spend an average of $1,135 to drive 30,000 miles while a comparable gas powered sedan would cost owners $5,114 for the same distance (calculation based on US average gasoline and electricity prices in May 2014).
Sustainable Electricity
As Tesla is paving the way for completely emission-less driving, the company not only promotes the sustainability of its silent, electronic vehicles but also does its bit on providing green electricity to the cars.In 2013, renewable resources produced only 13 percent of the overall US electricity (Coal 39 %, Natural gas 27%, Nuclear 19 %, Petroleum 1%). Tesla tries to approach a total emission-free method of powering its cars by equipping select Supercharger stations with canopies covered with solar panels – these are designed to generate more energy from the sun than is consumed by charging vehicles and send power back to the electricity grid.
SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT FOR ALL
Telsa is well on its way to pursuing its goal of bringing about a historical turning point in the automobile industry and shaping the future of mobility.In Las Vegas, Tesla’s Model S is about to become the cornerstone of a project that could revolutionize urban mobility. SHIFT – formerly known as Project 100 – is an initiative which aims to innovate transportation within cities, introducing a monthly membership system of shared vehicles, rides, shuttles, bikes and more, starting this summer. By combining the best of established services like Zipcar, Uber, and bikesharing under an umbrella organization, the project will enable citizens to choose their desired service via a smartphone app and get around quickly, conveniently, and in an environmentally-friendly way. 100 Tesla Model S cars are planned to be part of the fleet. In June, SHIFT CEO Zach Ware already announced the arrival of the first vehicles.In another effort to make sustainable mobility more prevalent, Tesla aims to reduce the cost of its battery packs by 30 percent by building a “Gigafactory.” To put the plans into practice, Tesla signed an agreement with Panasonic to cooperate on the construction of the large-scale battery manufacturing plant. According to Yoshihiko Yamada, executive vice president of Panasonic, this step could radically change the automobile industry: “I believe that once we are able to manufacture lithium-ion battery cells at the Gigafactory, we will be able to accelerate the expansion of the electric vehicle market.” Tesla aims to be able to produce the batteries for up to 500,000 Tesla cars per year and e-cars would become much more affordable.
SHARING INNOVATION
It is likely that Tesla is going to remain at the forefront of these developments. But the company doesn’t try to hog their technological achievements. Instead, the company encourages others to build on their innovative tech.Recently, Elon Musk published a momentous blog post on the company’s website opening Tesla’s patents to the public. The post was headlined: All Our Patent Are Belong To You. Musk states, “Tesla Motors was created to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport. If we clear a path to the creation of compelling electric vehicles, but then lay intellectual property landmines behind us to inhibit others, we are acting in a manner contrary to that goal. Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.“With that, Tesla opens up a common technology platform that intends to motivate other car manufacturers to switch their focus to also developing electric vehicles. Tesla’s collaboration-directed approach is a big step towards accelerating the worldwide arrival of smart mobility. Collaboration is the key to future innovation, and the way is already being paved as Tesla, BMW and Nissan have recently started talks about standardizing the way the vehicles are charged, which would be an enormous breakthrough in the automobile industry.