Tesla’s Model three Is Here. Here’s What We Know Now

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Tesla’s Model three Is Here. Here’s What We Know Now

When does a six 2nd movie send the car and tech communities into a madness? When it’s posted by Elon Musk, and it shows his long-gestating fresh baby, the Tesla Model Trio, peeling away from a standstill under intense acceleration before braking to a hard stop one hundred feet up the street.

Same goes for a pair of pictures Musk collective Sunday morning, showcasing what he says is the very first production Model Three–no more prototypes, the real thing–in all its shiny glory. Just in time, too. Tesla will hold “handover party” on July 28, delivering the very first thirty cars to their fortunate owners. Musk has said production will ramp up quickly, to 20,000 cars per month in December. He has previously pledged to build half a million cars a year by 2018. 1

What makes these photos and that brief, grainy clip so interesting? The same reasons that shoved rabid fans to mock up an online configurator, the automotive equivalent of fan fic. For one, Tesla has exposed close to zilch about the car since showcasing it off as a prototype a year ago, even however production should embark this summer. And two, this is the most anticipated–and most significant–vehicle the upstart automaker will ever build.

Embarking at $35,000 ($27,500 if you can land the federal tax credit) and suggesting two hundred fifteen miles of range, the Model three is Tesla’s bid for the mass market, the car that could budge it out of the luxury segment and realize Musk’s desire of switching how humanity moves.

So, now that production has embarked, here’s a look at what we know about the current state of the Model Trio–and when you can get your zap-happy paws on one.

Very first drive of a release candidate version of Model three pic.twitter.com/zcs6j1YRa4

Very first, a closer look at that movie tweet. Musk captioned the fresh movie, “Very first drive of a release candidate version of Model Trio,” indicating the on-screen starlet is pretty much ready for sale, but might need some bugs ironed out. So, good news: The Model three looks just like the sleek, gorgeous prototype Musk exposed on stage last year (at least from the outside).

That’s unusual; in the real world, regulations and production limitations tend to kill off design flourishes. Compare the similarly affordable, long-range Bolt EV to the concept Chevy demonstrated in 2015: Gone are the strongly raked windshield, grille-free front bumper, and wrap around rear window. The car looks more ‘normal’.

Meet the Model Trio, Tesla’s Most Significant Car

Now, in the non-Tesla world, car development is a slow process. Engineers typically work through alpha and beta prototype phases, where technicians assemble vehicles by forearm. They wait to fine-tune the powerful machinery that stamps out bod parts in case they need to modify the design. By calling this a “release candidate,” Musk implies the car was assembled on finalized equipment, meaning Tesla might be skipping some steps, and speeding through the process. No surprise, given Musk’s concentrate on production line improvements, and disdain for the “traditional way” of doing things.

“My reading is that Tesla felt certain in the form and design of their parts, so they can go ahead and invest in the mighty duty machinery,” says Arthur Wheaton, an auto industry accomplished at Cornell University. That could signal slick sailing, or it could be resignation on Tesla’s part–a recognition that it can’t afford a delay, so it’s just going to press ahead with the design it has and hope for the best.

So, when can you get one? Musk has pledged Tesla will begin production of the Model three mid-year, and supply cars to customers before the end of 2017. That’s an aggressive target, especially for a car company with a long history of missing deadlines by months or even years.

More Tesla News

Tesla’s Fresh ‘Autopilot’ Is Just the Embark of a Critical Reboot

After Probing Tesla’s Deadly Crash, Feds Say Yay to Self-Driving

2017 Will Be the Year Tesla Reigns Supreme—Or Ultimately Flops

Tesla has struggled with for quality control issues of late. Future-hungry early adopters might put up with wobbly seats and poor panel gaps, but down market buyers, whom Tesla must now woo away from BMW, Chevrolet, and the like, won’t forgive flaws so lightly. Wealthy Model S and X owners very likely have another car in their garage to fall back on, Model three owners likely won’t, which will only exacerbate their frustrations if their fresh rail spends half its life at the service center.

Musk knows all this, and has a strategy: simplify everything to make production effortless. The Model three might look like a shrunken Model S, but Tesla is stressing that under the skin it’s a different kind of machine, and it has got this car building thing sorted out now. That’s why the fresh car has just one screen, instead of the two in the S and X (each with their own computer). The S has almost two miles of electrical cabling, the three has half that. Tesla nixed the automatic pop-out door treats and jettisoned the falcon wing doors that led the Model X into what Musk calls “production hell.”

“It’s a simpler design, and we also understand manufacturing a lot better than we did in the past,” Musk said during a latest call with investors. He says the very first cars will be rear wheel drive only, to keep things plain in the factory. If you want all wheel drive, or high spectacle versions, you’ll have to wait an extra six months to a year. Not to say the Model three won’t have any joy. It will carry the hardware for Autopilot and self-driving, as well as supercharging, but Tesla is yet to expose how much those features will add to the base price.

Say the very first vehicles off the line have some problems. That’s cool, because they’re all going to Tesla employees, for an unofficial, continued search for bugs, particularly any that can be stationary with an over-the-air software update. For all other Model three fans, a combination of patience, speculation, and obsessive watching of Elon Musk’s Twitter feed will have to be enough for now.

1 Story updated Sunday, July nine at 13:15 ET to include news of Tesla kicking off Model three production.

Share

• Author: Jack Stewart. Jack StewartTransportation
• Date of Publication: 04.Ten.17. 04.Ten.17
• Time of Publication: 12:01 am. 12:01 am

Ford’s Very first Hybrid Cop Car Is One Mean, Green Machine

If you’re the getaway driver, observing the cops coming after you in a fleet of hybrids may be a reassuring glance. What, they’re gonna pursue me down in those things? But, as the triumphant officers will surely tell you as you sit in your cell, pairing an electrical motor with a petite gasoline engine doesn’t just make a car eco-friendly. It can make it quicker off the line, not to mention more comfy, and practical for police purposes.

Ford’s betting the advantages of hybrids are enough to persuade cops around the country to buy its fresh Police Responder Hybrid Sedan–the very first ever “pursuit rated” hybrid. To earn its badge, this beefed up Fusion braved speed and treating trials, raced over 8-inch curbs, blasted through a railroad crossing at thirty mph, sprinted and screeched to a halt.

It got through it all thanks to a series of upgrades. Ford’s police vehicle engineering team added a powerful duty suspension, extra cooling, and ditched fancy alloys for basic wheels and hubcaps. They played Santa’s elves with the police wish list: Bullet proof doors. Front seats anti-stab plates, and slender side bolsters, to better fit officers wearing equipment belts. A wipe clean rear seat. A pre-drilled slot in the windscreen surround for a spotlight.

Despite all the strenuous enhancements, the cruiser supplies thirty eight miles to the gallon (the standard Fusion Hybrid does 42), compared to the current Police Interceptor’s eighteen mpg.

“Patrol vehicles are a police officer’s office,” LAPD chief Carlie Beck said in a statement. “We expect them to not only be economically and environmentally efficient but also an effective implement for fighting crime in major metropolitan areas.”

The Responder Hybrid Sedan runs a two-liter engine coupled to an electrical motor. The car can run in electric-only mode up to sixty mph (for brief periods), useful for quiet patrolling. But when the driver mashes the accelerator, the car’s computer dials in “pursuit mode,” firing up the gas engine and reconfiguring vehicle systems to supply maximum spectacle. Engineers retuned the regenerative braking to aggressively charge the battery whenever the vehicle slows, so that there’s always some charge left for the next acceleration boost.

Law on Wheels

Dodge’s Charger Gives Cops Eyes in the Backs of Their Goes

11 Historic German Police Cars, From Lamborghinis to VWs

11 Police Robots Patrolling Around the World

Ford has been making cop cars since the 1920s, and its Crown Victoria reigned supreme for years. But competitors have grabbed chunks of the market–notably Dodge with the Charger–and the automaker sees the hybrid as a way to stay competitive. Each hybrid car could save police $Trio,800 a year in fuel. Regenerative braking reduces brake wear, and because the engine isn’t always running, you don’t need to switch the oil so often. Plus, there’s the question of convenience. A 10-hour shift spent sitting in a car gets way nicer if the vehicle isn’t idling and vibing the entire time. Plus, less time at the pump means more time at the donut shop.

And for the folks who mock the Left Lane Prius, crawling along at fifty mph on the freeway, there will be a brutal irony in being chased and pulled over for speeding around it by an officer in a hybrid.

Related Movie

Uber’s Self-Driving Truck Produces 50,000 Beers

A truck carrying 50,000 beers spent two hours driving itself down a Colorado highway.

• Author: Jack Stewart. Jack StewartTransportation
• Date of Publication: 03.20.17. 03.20.17
• Time of Publication: 11:30 am. 11:30 am

Running Delivery Trucks on Trolley Wires Isn’t as Crazy as It Sounds

Electrical trucks suggest all the advantages of electrical cars, namely, they’re greener. Trucks are a big source of the noxious emissions linked to smog and climate switch. Minimizing the number of stinky, dirty diesels rumbling through town carries demonstrable public health benefits. But powering delivery trucks, let alone an 18-wheeler, with a big honkin’ battery simply isn’t practical. So engineers are taking another look at a century old solution: Stringing electrical cables over the road.

Siemens, best known in the transportation world for its trains, and the truck manufacturer Scania developed a hybrid electrical truck that draws power from overhead cables like a bus or trolley. You can find some of the trucks undergoing testing on a 1.25-mile spread of highway in Gävle, Sweden, and crews installing cables alongside a open up of the seven hundred ten and four hundred five highways in Los Angeles.

Albeit the idea seems odd, it offers some advantages. Experts expect the amount of freight carried by road to climb two hundred percent by 2050. That presents some challenges, not the least of which is rising fuel costs, and the environmental and health risks of all that CO2, NOx, and other pollutants. Electrical propulsion addresses those issues (Yes, yes, electrical plant emissions. Still, cleaner.) But range? Recharge time? Leave behind about it.

“These trucks are pretty mighty, and need significant amounts of energy, which still isn’t available through battery technology,” says Stefan Goeller, head of railway electrification at Siemens.

And so, overhead cables. In the Scandinavian trial, an extendible power coupler called a pantograph on the roof links the truck to lines strung along the right lane, providing a solid connection. Should the driver want to pass a slowpoke ahead, activating the turn signal retracts the pantograph, and the truck moseys along on diesel power. The onboard battery is a wee little thing with just five kilowatt-hours, compared to the sixty kilowatt-hour pack in the Chevrolet Bolt, that’s good for less than two miles of range. The power regenerating during coasting and braking doesn’t go back to the battery, it goes back through the pantographs into the grid.

Truck On

A Tesla-Inspired Truck Might Actually Make Hydrogen Power Happen

A Tesla Co-Founder Is Making Electrified Garbage Trucks With Jet Tech, and Why Not

Autonomous Tech Could Make Driving Semi-Trucks Even Less Joy

The benefits of this technology are most evident in trucking corridors through cities–around ports and such. That explains the trial runs near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Trucks rumbling through those areas make 35,000 schlepping stuff off the boats from China. That creates a lot of filth. “Emission rates from trucks can be ten to one hundred times higher than that from passenger vehicles,” says Max Zhang, an engineer at Cornell University. “This is a truly good idea to alleviate hotspots.”

You’ll see even fatter benefits in areas, like California, with renewables in the electrical generation mix. As a bonus, the trucks are quieter. The demonstrable downside? It’s an eyesore. Stand at a busy intersection in, say, San Francisco, or any other city with electrical trains and buses and you’ll an ugly web of wires overhead. You can see people making a stink. Beyond that is the time and expense of installing the lines. But Goeller still sees a place for overhead power. “What we see fairly often in our industry is that one technology never covers it all,” he says.

He may be right. India and China in particular are impatient to reduce urban air pollution, and more than two hundred cities in ten countries in Europe have all but banned older, sloppier truck engines from many parts of town. It may well be that the future of transportation lies in an idea from its past.

Related Movie

Inwards the World’s Largest Wind Tunnel

As Tesla s Model three Nears Production, Here s What We Know, WIRED

Tesla’s Model three Is Here. Here’s What We Know Now

Get The

6 months for $Five – plus a FREE Portable

WIRED’s thickest stories, delivered to your inbox.

• Two hours

“The stir to end DACA isn’t just a deepthroat to its 800,000 participants, it’s a direct attack on the US economy.” wrd.cm/2wCvrYN

Go after Us

Don’t miss our latest news, features and movies.

We’re On

See what’s inspiring us.

Go after Us

Don’t miss out on WIRED’s latest movies.

Tesla’s Model three Is Here. Here’s What We Know Now

When does a six 2nd movie send the car and tech communities into a madness? When it’s posted by Elon Musk, and it shows his long-gestating fresh baby, the Tesla Model Three, peeling away from a standstill under mighty acceleration before braking to a hard stop one hundred feet up the street.

Same goes for a pair of pictures Musk collective Sunday morning, displaying what he says is the very first production Model Three–no more prototypes, the real thing–in all its shiny glory. Just in time, too. Tesla will hold “handover party” on July 28, delivering the very first thirty cars to their fortunate owners. Musk has said production will ramp up quickly, to 20,000 cars per month in December. He has previously pledged to build half a million cars a year by 2018. 1

What makes these photos and that brief, grainy clip so interesting? The same reasons that shoved rabid fans to mock up an online configurator, the automotive equivalent of fan fic. For one, Tesla has exposed close to zilch about the car since showcasing it off as a prototype a year ago, even however production should embark this summer. And two, this is the most anticipated–and most significant–vehicle the upstart automaker will ever build.

Embarking at $35,000 ($27,500 if you can land the federal tax credit) and suggesting two hundred fifteen miles of range, the Model three is Tesla’s bid for the mass market, the car that could budge it out of the luxury segment and realize Musk’s desire of switching how humanity moves.

So, now that production has began, here’s a look at what we know about the current state of the Model Trio–and when you can get your zap-happy paws on one.

Very first drive of a release candidate version of Model three pic.twitter.com/zcs6j1YRa4

Very first, a closer look at that movie tweet. Musk captioned the fresh movie, “Very first drive of a release candidate version of Model Three,” indicating the on-screen starlet is pretty much ready for sale, but might need some bugs ironed out. So, good news: The Model three looks just like the sleek, killer prototype Musk exposed on stage last year (at least from the outside).

That’s unusual; in the real world, regulations and production limitations tend to kill off design flourishes. Compare the similarly affordable, long-range Bolt EV to the concept Chevy demonstrated in 2015: Gone are the powerfully raked windshield, grille-free front bumper, and wrap around rear window. The car looks more ‘normal’.

Meet the Model Trio, Tesla’s Most Significant Car

Now, in the non-Tesla world, car development is a slow process. Engineers typically work through alpha and beta prototype phases, where technicians assemble vehicles by palm. They wait to fine-tune the strong machinery that stamps out bod parts in case they need to modify the design. By calling this a “release candidate,” Musk implies the car was assembled on finalized equipment, meaning Tesla might be skipping some steps, and speeding through the process. No surprise, given Musk’s concentrate on production line improvements, and disdain for the “traditional way” of doing things.

“My reading is that Tesla felt certain in the form and design of their parts, so they can go ahead and invest in the mighty duty machinery,” says Arthur Wheaton, an auto industry experienced at Cornell University. That could signal slick sailing, or it could be resignation on Tesla’s part–a recognition that it can’t afford a delay, so it’s just going to press ahead with the design it has and hope for the best.

So, when can you get one? Musk has pledged Tesla will begin production of the Model three mid-year, and supply cars to customers before the end of 2017. That’s an aggressive target, especially for a car company with a long history of missing deadlines by months or even years.

More Tesla News

Tesla’s Fresh ‘Autopilot’ Is Just the Embark of a Critical Reboot

After Probing Tesla’s Deadly Crash, Feds Say Yay to Self-Driving

2017 Will Be the Year Tesla Reigns Supreme—Or Eventually Flops

Tesla has struggled with for quality control issues of late. Future-hungry early adopters might put up with wobbly seats and poor panel gaps, but down market buyers, whom Tesla must now woo away from BMW, Chevrolet, and the like, won’t forgive flaws so lightly. Wealthy Model S and X owners very likely have another car in their garage to fall back on, Model three owners likely won’t, which will only exacerbate their frustrations if their fresh rail spends half its life at the service center.

Musk knows all this, and has a strategy: simplify everything to make production effortless. The Model three might look like a shrunken Model S, but Tesla is stressing that under the skin it’s a different kind of machine, and it has got this car building thing sorted out now. That’s why the fresh car has just one screen, instead of the two in the S and X (each with their own computer). The S has almost two miles of electrical cabling, the three has half that. Tesla nixed the automatic pop-out door treats and jettisoned the falcon wing doors that led the Model X into what Musk calls “production hell.”

“It’s a simpler design, and we also understand manufacturing a lot better than we did in the past,” Musk said during a latest call with investors. He says the very first cars will be rear wheel drive only, to keep things elementary in the factory. If you want all wheel drive, or high spectacle versions, you’ll have to wait an extra six months to a year. Not to say the Model three won’t have any joy. It will carry the hardware for Autopilot and self-driving, as well as supercharging, but Tesla is yet to expose how much those features will add to the base price.

Say the very first vehicles off the line have some problems. That’s cool, because they’re all going to Tesla employees, for an unofficial, continued search for bugs, particularly any that can be immobilized with an over-the-air software update. For all other Model three fans, a combination of patience, speculation, and obsessive watching of Elon Musk’s Twitter feed will have to be enough for now.

1 Story updated Sunday, July nine at 13:15 ET to include news of Tesla embarking Model three production.

Share

• Author: Jack Stewart. Jack StewartTransportation
• Date of Publication: 04.Ten.17. 04.Ten.17
• Time of Publication: 12:01 am. 12:01 am

Ford’s Very first Hybrid Cop Car Is One Mean, Green Machine

If you’re the getaway driver, eyeing the cops coming after you in a fleet of hybrids may be a reassuring glance. What, they’re gonna pursue me down in those things? But, as the triumphant officers will surely tell you as you sit in your cell, pairing an electrified motor with a petite gasoline engine doesn’t just make a car eco-friendly. It can make it quicker off the line, not to mention more convenient, and practical for police purposes.

Ford’s betting the advantages of hybrids are enough to persuade cops around the country to buy its fresh Police Responder Hybrid Sedan–the very first ever “pursuit rated” hybrid. To earn its badge, this beefed up Fusion braved speed and treating trials, raced over 8-inch curbs, blasted through a railroad crossing at thirty mph, sprinted and screeched to a halt.

It got through it all thanks to a series of upgrades. Ford’s police vehicle engineering team added a intense duty suspension, extra cooling, and ditched fancy alloys for basic wheels and hubcaps. They played Santa’s elves with the police wish list: Bullet proof doors. Front seats anti-stab plates, and slender side bolsters, to better fit officers wearing equipment belts. A wipe clean rear seat. A pre-drilled crevice in the windscreen surround for a spotlight.

Despite all the strenuous enhancements, the cruiser produces thirty eight miles to the gallon (the standard Fusion Hybrid does 42), compared to the current Police Interceptor’s eighteen mpg.

“Patrol vehicles are a police officer’s office,” LAPD chief Carlie Beck said in a statement. “We expect them to not only be economically and environmentally efficient but also an effective contraption for fighting crime in major metropolitan areas.”

The Responder Hybrid Sedan runs a two-liter engine coupled to an electrified motor. The car can run in electric-only mode up to sixty mph (for brief periods), useful for quiet patrolling. But when the driver mashes the accelerator, the car’s computer dials in “pursuit mode,” firing up the gas engine and reconfiguring vehicle systems to supply maximum spectacle. Engineers retuned the regenerative braking to aggressively charge the battery whenever the vehicle slows, so that there’s always some charge left for the next acceleration boost.

Law on Wheels

Dodge’s Charger Gives Cops Eyes in the Backs of Their Goes

11 Historic German Police Cars, From Lamborghinis to VWs

11 Police Robots Patrolling Around the World

Ford has been making cop cars since the 1920s, and its Crown Victoria reigned supreme for years. But competitors have grabbed chunks of the market–notably Dodge with the Charger–and the automaker sees the hybrid as a way to stay competitive. Each hybrid car could save police $Three,800 a year in fuel. Regenerative braking reduces brake wear, and because the engine isn’t always running, you don’t need to switch the oil so often. Plus, there’s the question of convenience. A 10-hour shift spent sitting in a car gets way nicer if the vehicle isn’t idling and vibing the entire time. Plus, less time at the pump means more time at the donut shop.

And for the folks who mock the Left Lane Prius, crawling along at fifty mph on the freeway, there will be a brutal irony in being chased and pulled over for speeding around it by an officer in a hybrid.

Related Movie

Uber’s Self-Driving Truck Produces 50,000 Beers

A truck carrying 50,000 beers spent two hours driving itself down a Colorado highway.

• Author: Jack Stewart. Jack StewartTransportation
• Date of Publication: 03.20.17. 03.20.17
• Time of Publication: 11:30 am. 11:30 am

Running Delivery Trucks on Trolley Wires Isn’t as Crazy as It Sounds

Electrified trucks suggest all the advantages of electrical cars, namely, they’re greener. Trucks are a big source of the noxious emissions linked to smog and climate switch. Minimizing the number of stinky, dirty diesels rumbling through town carries evident public health benefits. But powering delivery trucks, let alone an 18-wheeler, with a big honkin’ battery simply isn’t practical. So engineers are taking another look at a century old solution: Stringing electrical cables over the road.

Siemens, best known in the transportation world for its trains, and the truck manufacturer Scania developed a hybrid electrical truck that draws power from overhead cables like a bus or trolley. You can find some of the trucks undergoing testing on a 1.25-mile open up of highway in Gävle, Sweden, and crews installing cables alongside a spread of the seven hundred ten and four hundred five highways in Los Angeles.

Albeit the idea seems odd, it offers some advantages. Experts expect the amount of freight carried by road to climb two hundred percent by 2050. That presents some challenges, not the least of which is rising fuel costs, and the environmental and health risks of all that CO2, NOx, and other pollutants. Electrical propulsion addresses those issues (Yes, yes, electrical plant emissions. Still, cleaner.) But range? Recharge time? Leave behind about it.

“These trucks are pretty strenuous, and need significant amounts of energy, which still isn’t available through battery technology,” says Stefan Goeller, head of railway electrification at Siemens.

And so, overhead cables. In the Scandinavian trial, an extendible power coupler called a pantograph on the roof links the truck to lines strung along the right lane, providing a solid connection. Should the driver want to pass a slowpoke ahead, activating the turn signal retracts the pantograph, and the truck moseys along on diesel power. The onboard battery is a wee little thing with just five kilowatt-hours, compared to the sixty kilowatt-hour pack in the Chevrolet Bolt, that’s good for less than two miles of range. The power regenerating during coasting and braking doesn’t go back to the battery, it goes back through the pantographs into the grid.

Truck On

A Tesla-Inspired Truck Might Actually Make Hydrogen Power Happen

A Tesla Co-Founder Is Making Electrified Garbage Trucks With Jet Tech, and Why Not

Autonomous Tech Could Make Driving Semi-Trucks Even Less Joy

The benefits of this technology are most evident in trucking corridors through cities–around ports and such. That explains the trial runs near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Trucks rumbling through those areas make 35,000 schlepping stuff off the boats from China. That creates a lot of filth. “Emission rates from trucks can be ten to one hundred times higher than that from passenger vehicles,” says Max Zhang, an engineer at Cornell University. “This is a indeed good idea to alleviate hotspots.”

You’ll see even fatter benefits in areas, like California, with renewables in the electrical generation mix. As a bonus, the trucks are quieter. The evident downside? It’s an eyesore. Stand at a busy intersection in, say, San Francisco, or any other city with electrical trains and buses and you’ll an ugly web of wires overhead. You can see people making a stink. Beyond that is the time and expense of installing the lines. But Goeller still sees a place for overhead power. “What we see fairly often in our industry is that one technology never covers it all,” he says.

He may be right. India and China in particular are impatient to reduce urban air pollution, and more than two hundred cities in ten countries in Europe have all but banned older, filthier truck engines from many parts of town. It may well be that the future of transportation lies in an idea from its past.

Related Movie

Inwards the World’s Largest Wind Tunnel

As Tesla s Model three Nears Production, Here s What We Know, WIRED

Tesla’s Model three Is Here. Here’s What We Know Now

Get The

6 months for $Five – plus a FREE Portable

WIRED’s thickest stories, delivered to your inbox.

• Five hours

“The budge to end DACA isn’t just a gargle to its 800,000 participants, it’s a direct onslaught on the US economy.” wrd.cm/2wCvrYN

Go after Us

Don’t miss our latest news, features and movies.

We’re On

See what’s inspiring us.

Go after Us

Don’t miss out on WIRED’s latest movies.

Tesla’s Model three Is Here. Here’s What We Know Now

When does a six 2nd movie send the car and tech communities into a madness? When it’s posted by Elon Musk, and it shows his long-gestating fresh baby, the Tesla Model Trio, peeling away from a standstill under mighty acceleration before braking to a hard stop one hundred feet up the street.

Same goes for a pair of pictures Musk collective Sunday morning, displaying what he says is the very first production Model Three–no more prototypes, the real thing–in all its shiny glory. Just in time, too. Tesla will hold “handover party” on July 28, delivering the very first thirty cars to their fortunate owners. Musk has said production will ramp up quickly, to 20,000 cars per month in December. He has previously pledged to build half a million cars a year by 2018. 1

What makes these photos and that brief, grainy clip so interesting? The same reasons that shoved rabid fans to mock up an online configurator, the automotive equivalent of fan fic. For one, Tesla has exposed close to zilch about the car since displaying it off as a prototype a year ago, even however production should begin this summer. And two, this is the most anticipated–and most significant–vehicle the upstart automaker will ever build.

Embarking at $35,000 ($27,500 if you can land the federal tax credit) and suggesting two hundred fifteen miles of range, the Model three is Tesla’s bid for the mass market, the car that could stir it out of the luxury segment and realize Musk’s fantasy of switching how humanity moves.

So, now that production has commenced, here’s a look at what we know about the current state of the Model Three–and when you can get your zap-happy paws on one.

Very first drive of a release candidate version of Model three pic.twitter.com/zcs6j1YRa4

Very first, a closer look at that movie tweet. Musk captioned the fresh movie, “Very first drive of a release candidate version of Model Trio,” indicating the on-screen starlet is pretty much ready for sale, but might need some bugs ironed out. So, good news: The Model three looks just like the sleek, wonderful prototype Musk exposed on stage last year (at least from the outside).

That’s unusual; in the real world, regulations and production limitations tend to kill off design flourishes. Compare the similarly affordable, long-range Bolt EV to the concept Chevy demonstrated in 2015: Gone are the intensely raked windshield, grille-free front bumper, and wrap around rear window. The car looks more ‘normal’.

Meet the Model Trio, Tesla’s Most Significant Car

Now, in the non-Tesla world, car development is a slow process. Engineers typically work through alpha and beta prototype phases, where technicians assemble vehicles by arm. They wait to fine-tune the strong machinery that stamps out bod parts in case they need to modify the design. By calling this a “release candidate,” Musk implies the car was assembled on finalized equipment, meaning Tesla might be skipping some steps, and speeding through the process. No surprise, given Musk’s concentrate on production line improvements, and disdain for the “traditional way” of doing things.

“My reading is that Tesla felt certain in the form and design of their parts, so they can go ahead and invest in the mighty duty machinery,” says Arthur Wheaton, an auto industry accomplished at Cornell University. That could signal slick sailing, or it could be resignation on Tesla’s part–a recognition that it can’t afford a delay, so it’s just going to press ahead with the design it has and hope for the best.

So, when can you get one? Musk has pledged Tesla will begin production of the Model three mid-year, and supply cars to customers before the end of 2017. That’s an aggressive target, especially for a car company with a long history of missing deadlines by months or even years.

More Tesla News

Tesla’s Fresh ‘Autopilot’ Is Just the Commence of a Critical Reboot

After Probing Tesla’s Deadly Crash, Feds Say Yay to Self-Driving

2017 Will Be the Year Tesla Reigns Supreme—Or Eventually Flops

Tesla has struggled with for quality control issues of late. Future-hungry early adopters might put up with wobbly seats and poor panel gaps, but down market buyers, whom Tesla must now woo away from BMW, Chevrolet, and the like, won’t forgive flaws so lightly. Wealthy Model S and X owners most likely have another car in their garage to fall back on, Model three owners likely won’t, which will only exacerbate their frustrations if their fresh rail spends half its life at the service center.

Musk knows all this, and has a strategy: simplify everything to make production effortless. The Model three might look like a shrunken Model S, but Tesla is stressing that under the skin it’s a different kind of machine, and it has got this car building thing sorted out now. That’s why the fresh car has just one screen, instead of the two in the S and X (each with their own computer). The S has almost two miles of electrical cabling, the three has half that. Tesla nixed the automatic pop-out door treats and jettisoned the falcon wing doors that led the Model X into what Musk calls “production hell.”

“It’s a simpler design, and we also understand manufacturing a lot better than we did in the past,” Musk said during a latest call with investors. He says the very first cars will be rear wheel drive only, to keep things ordinary in the factory. If you want all wheel drive, or high spectacle versions, you’ll have to wait an extra six months to a year. Not to say the Model three won’t have any joy. It will carry the hardware for Autopilot and self-driving, as well as supercharging, but Tesla is yet to expose how much those features will add to the base price.

Say the very first vehicles off the line have some problems. That’s cool, because they’re all going to Tesla employees, for an unofficial, continued search for bugs, particularly any that can be immobile with an over-the-air software update. For all other Model three fans, a combination of patience, speculation, and obsessive watching of Elon Musk’s Twitter feed will have to be enough for now.

1 Story updated Sunday, July nine at 13:15 ET to include news of Tesla kicking off Model three production.

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• Author: Jack Stewart. Jack StewartTransportation
• Date of Publication: 04.Ten.17. 04.Ten.17
• Time of Publication: 12:01 am. 12:01 am

Ford’s Very first Hybrid Cop Car Is One Mean, Green Machine

If you’re the getaway driver, eyeing the cops coming after you in a fleet of hybrids may be a reassuring look. What, they’re gonna pursue me down in those things? But, as the triumphant officers will surely tell you as you sit in your cell, pairing an electrical motor with a petite gasoline engine doesn’t just make a car eco-friendly. It can make it quicker off the line, not to mention more convenient, and practical for police purposes.

Ford’s betting the advantages of hybrids are enough to woo cops around the country to buy its fresh Police Responder Hybrid Sedan–the very first ever “pursuit rated” hybrid. To earn its badge, this beefed up Fusion braved speed and treating trials, raced over 8-inch curbs, blasted through a railroad crossing at thirty mph, sprinted and screeched to a halt.

It got through it all thanks to a series of upgrades. Ford’s police vehicle engineering team added a mighty duty suspension, extra cooling, and ditched fancy alloys for basic wheels and hubcaps. They played Santa’s elves with the police wish list: Bullet proof doors. Front seats anti-stab plates, and slender side bolsters, to better fit officers wearing equipment belts. A wipe clean rear seat. A pre-drilled slot in the windscreen surround for a spotlight.

Despite all the intense enhancements, the cruiser produces thirty eight miles to the gallon (the standard Fusion Hybrid does 42), compared to the current Police Interceptor’s eighteen mpg.

“Patrol vehicles are a police officer’s office,” LAPD chief Carlie Beck said in a statement. “We expect them to not only be economically and environmentally efficient but also an effective contraption for fighting crime in major metropolitan areas.”

The Responder Hybrid Sedan runs a two-liter engine coupled to an electrical motor. The car can run in electric-only mode up to sixty mph (for brief periods), useful for quiet patrolling. But when the driver mashes the accelerator, the car’s computer dials in “pursuit mode,” firing up the gas engine and reconfiguring vehicle systems to produce maximum spectacle. Engineers retuned the regenerative braking to aggressively charge the battery whenever the vehicle slows, so that there’s always some charge left for the next acceleration boost.

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Ford has been making cop cars since the 1920s, and its Crown Victoria reigned supreme for years. But competitors have grabbed chunks of the market–notably Dodge with the Charger–and the automaker sees the hybrid as a way to stay competitive. Each hybrid car could save police $Trio,800 a year in fuel. Regenerative braking reduces brake wear, and because the engine isn’t always running, you don’t need to switch the oil so often. Plus, there’s the question of convenience. A 10-hour shift spent sitting in a car gets way nicer if the vehicle isn’t idling and stimulating the entire time. Plus, less time at the pump means more time at the donut shop.

And for the folks who mock the Left Lane Prius, crawling along at fifty mph on the freeway, there will be a brutal irony in being chased and pulled over for speeding around it by an officer in a hybrid.

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• Author: Jack Stewart. Jack StewartTransportation
• Date of Publication: 03.20.17. 03.20.17
• Time of Publication: 11:30 am. 11:30 am

Running Delivery Trucks on Trolley Wires Isn’t as Crazy as It Sounds

Electrical trucks suggest all the advantages of electrical cars, namely, they’re greener. Trucks are a big source of the noxious emissions linked to smog and climate switch. Minimizing the number of stinky, dirty diesels rumbling through town carries evident public health benefits. But powering delivery trucks, let alone an 18-wheeler, with a big honkin’ battery simply isn’t practical. So engineers are taking another look at a century old solution: Stringing electrical cables over the road.

Siemens, best known in the transportation world for its trains, and the truck manufacturer Scania developed a hybrid electrical truck that draws power from overhead cables like a bus or trolley. You can find some of the trucks undergoing testing on a 1.25-mile spread of highway in Gävle, Sweden, and crews installing cables alongside a spread of the seven hundred ten and four hundred five highways in Los Angeles.

Albeit the idea seems odd, it offers some advantages. Experts expect the amount of freight carried by road to climb two hundred percent by 2050. That presents some challenges, not the least of which is rising fuel costs, and the environmental and health risks of all that CO2, NOx, and other pollutants. Electrical propulsion addresses those issues (Yes, yes, electrical plant emissions. Still, cleaner.) But range? Recharge time? Leave behind about it.

“These trucks are pretty powerful, and need significant amounts of energy, which still isn’t available through battery technology,” says Stefan Goeller, head of railway electrification at Siemens.

And so, overhead cables. In the Scandinavian trial, an extendible power coupler called a pantograph on the roof links the truck to lines strung along the right lane, providing a solid connection. Should the driver want to pass a slowpoke ahead, activating the turn signal retracts the pantograph, and the truck moseys along on diesel power. The onboard battery is a wee little thing with just five kilowatt-hours, compared to the sixty kilowatt-hour pack in the Chevrolet Bolt, that’s good for less than two miles of range. The power regenerating during coasting and braking doesn’t go back to the battery, it goes back through the pantographs into the grid.

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The benefits of this technology are most evident in trucking corridors through cities–around ports and such. That explains the trial runs near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Trucks rumbling through those areas make 35,000 schlepping stuff off the boats from China. That creates a lot of filth. “Emission rates from trucks can be ten to one hundred times higher than that from passenger vehicles,” says Max Zhang, an engineer at Cornell University. “This is a indeed good idea to alleviate hotspots.”

You’ll see even fatter benefits in areas, like California, with renewables in the electrical generation mix. As a bonus, the trucks are quieter. The evident downside? It’s an eyesore. Stand at a busy intersection in, say, San Francisco, or any other city with electrical trains and buses and you’ll an ugly web of wires overhead. You can see people making a stink. Beyond that is the time and expense of installing the lines. But Goeller still sees a place for overhead power. “What we see fairly often in our industry is that one technology never covers it all,” he says.

He may be right. India and China in particular are anxious to reduce urban air pollution, and more than two hundred cities in ten countries in Europe have all but banned older, sloppier truck engines from many parts of town. It may well be that the future of transportation lies in an idea from its past.

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