Tesla’s biggest foe — car dealers
Sometimes, when a young tech firm tries to disrupt an established industry, the established industry fights back. Witness Tesla Motors. The Palo Alto company wants to revolutionize the automotive...
View ArticleAre hybrids ‘greener’ than electric cars?
Electric cars don’t just have drivers. They have believers. Most of the people buying electrics like the Nissan Leaf do so because they want to help the environment and fight climate change. The cars...
View ArticleElon Musk’s ‘Hyperloop’— SF to LA in 35 minutes?
For the Elon Musk-obsessed, Monday was something like Christmas in August. Musk, the man who brought the world hot electric cars and private space flight, finally revealed the details of his...
View ArticleCal business group warns of another energy crisis
California’s fight against climate change has, so far, proved popular with voters. But among businesses, it’s a very different story. While some support the state’s policies to rein in greenhouse gas...
View ArticleDrivers catch a break on Labor Day gas prices
For once, the traditional Labor Day road trip will cost you a little less this year than it did the last time around. Gasoline prices across the country are running at least 20 cents below their levels...
View ArticleCA’s greenhouse gas emissions fall — bad news for cap-and-trade?
California’s new cap-and-trade system for cutting greenhouse gas emissions may soon face a paradoxical problem — emissions that are falling faster than expected. A report issued Monday argues that...
View ArticleElectric car charging stations – a new way to pay
Could an idea that helped spark the solar industry’s growth do the same for electric car charging stations? ChargePoint seems to think so. The Silicon Valley company plans to unveil a new financing...
View ArticleCA joins 8-state pact to add electric cars
Eight states representing nearly one quarter of America’s auto market have signed a pact to boost the use of electric cars, hoping to add 3.3 million zero-emission vehicles to their roads by 2025. And...
View ArticleWest Coast climate pact: back to the future?
It’s hard not to read through the new West Coast climate change pact without a strong sense of deja vu. Five years ago, the same three U.S. states and one Canadian province — California, Oregon,...
View ArticleTesla Motors West Coast charging network now complete
Owners of the Tesla Motors electric Model S can now drive from San Diego to Vancouver without ever paying for juice. Tesla has finished installing its high-speed Supercharger stations up the length of...
View ArticleBig solar power plant opens in San Luis Obispo County
One of the world’s largest photovoltaic solar power plants has begun full operations in San Luis Obispo County, its owners announced Thursday. And its completion marks another milestone in California’s...
View ArticleCA will meet global warming goals for 2020 but not 2050
California will need new policies, new technologies or both to meet its ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goals by 2050, according to an analysis released Monday by Lawrence Berkeley National...
View ArticleTesla’s Elon Musk wants to build giant battery factory
Investors clearly expected great things from Tesla Motors’ third quarter earnings report, released Tuesday. The upstart automaker beat Wall Street’s expectations, posting a pro-forma profit of $15.9...
View Article3rd Model S fire drives down Tesla stock
For the third time in six weeks, a Tesla Motors Model S sedan has caught on fire following a traffic accident. And the electric car company’s once untouchable stock took a beating as a result. The...
View ArticleInterior Sec. Jewell: U.S. can pump oil and fight climate change
The question U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell faced Thursday night cut right to the heart of America’s energy debate. Speaking at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Jewell had just given a...
View ArticleTesla fire postscript: driver praises his torched car
As federal officials mull whether to investigate last week’s Tesla Model S fire, the driver has offered his own take on the accident. And he has nothing but love for the car. Juris Shibayama, an...
View ArticleGoogle invests another $80m in solar
Google will sink another $80 million into big solar power projects in California and Arizona, the Internet search giant reported Thursday. Google will invest in six projects currently under development...
View ArticleFeds probe Tesla fires
Federal traffic safety investigators said Tuesday that they will examine recent fires in Tesla Motors’ electric Model S sedans, incidents that have taken a serious toll on the automaker’s stock. The...
View ArticlePG&E seeks lower bills for big energy users
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. wants customers who use a lot of electricity on hot summer days to pay a bit less next year on their monthly bills. And as a result, customers who use relatively little...
View ArticleTesla batteries haven’t caught fire in Rav4EV
As federal investigators probe the safety of the Tesla Motors Model S and its battery pack, it’s worth noting that there’s another electric car sold in California with the same basic power source. And...
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