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Coming late 2020 or early 2021.


CEO Elon Musk is expected to detail the new battery tech at a “Battery Day” event for investors later this month. The long-rumored advancement could make it possible for Tesla to sell its vehicles at more competitive prices.

If Mad Max bikes were electric they would probably look like this design rendering from Shane Baxley. An electric power unit, orbital wheels, two-sided swingarm, manual transmission and a raw minimalistic bodywork complete the package.

Hollywood-based concept artist and vehicle designer Shane Baxley created this motorcycle design rendering on his computer. And it looks mind-boggling. The electric motorcycle design features cyberpunk lines and wheels without hubs. The idea of a hubless wheel bike is not new as it was conceived by an Italian designer, Franco Sbarro, in the 1980s.

To create a striking visual effect, the electric motorcycle is fitted with spokeless wheels equipped with knobby tires. As we said before, the wheels are hubless and the functionality of the wheel hub is taken over by the rim while the two-sided swingarm is connected to the inside of the bike at three points at the front and rear.

Researchers in Korea have successfully developed a large-area, organic-solution-processable solar cell with high efficiency. They achieved their breakthrough by controlling the speed at which the solution of raw materials for solar cells became solidified after being coated. The team, led by Dr. Hae Jung Son from the Photo-electronic Hybrids Research Center of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), have identified the difference in the mechanism of film formation between a small area and a large area of organic solar cells in a solution process, thereby making possible the development of high-efficiency, large-area organic photovoltaics.

If a material is made in the form of paint that can be applied to any surface, such as the exterior of a building or a car, it will be possible to achieve energy self-sufficiency and provide low-cost, eco-friendly energy to regions suffering from energy poverty. Such technology would provide easy installation of photovoltaics, even on urban buildings, and the photovoltaic panels could be maintained by re-applying the “paint.”

Solution-processable , which work by coating the surface with the solar cell , are not yet feasible for industry. Currently, such large-area photovoltaics present reduced performance and production difficulties due to material- and process-related limitations, and this has been an obstacle to commercialization.

Panasonic is adding another production line to the massive factory it operates with Tesla in Nevada, an expansion that will increase battery cell capacity by 10%.

The Sparks facility, dubbed Gigafactory 1, is the centerpiece of Tesla’s plan to expand global battery capacity and reduce the cost of electric vehicles. Panasonic has been its most important partner in that project, which, based on a recent agreement, should last until at least 2023.

Tesla and Panasonic initially planned for the Gigafactory to have the capacity to produce 35 gigawatt hours of batteries each year. That goal was achieved with 13 production lines. This latest expansion, which was first reported by the Reno Gazette Journal and confirmed by TechCrunch, will add a fourteenth line.

There are advantages to having a vehicle with instant acceleration. Stop lights become more fun, and occasionally, it’s equally to surprise some high-performance gas cars with a sudden sprint. At times, though, this instant acceleration becomes a safety feature, as recently proven by Tesla owner Daniel Spalding, who avoided a potentially nasty crash by a hair’s breadth thanks to his Model 3’s torque.

Spalding, who has been documenting his ownership experience in his YouTube channel, recently shared a rather tense video that he recorded recently. The video was brief, but it featured something that no driver ever wants to see from the rear — a fast-approaching car that’s not decelerating enough. Usually, incidents like this end up with both cars being damaged significantly. Some drivers and passengers may even get injured.

Fortunately for Spalding, his Model 3 can access its full power when he floors the accelerator. In his video’s description, the Model 3 owner noted that traffic in front of him came to a sudden stop, and as it turned out, the car behind him — what appeared to be an Acura Integra — was clearly not paying attention. When he realized that the car behind him was about to hit him, Spalding floored his Model 3’s accelerator.

Tesla Motors, the all-electric vehicle manufacturer, is known for building popular EVs such as the Model 3, Model S, and upcoming Cybertruck. Tesla says it is developing the hardware and software necessary to power the world’s first self-driving cars. This software costs Tesla owners an additional $8,000 to purchase what it calls the Full Self-Driving Capability suite of features. But do all the features of the Full Self-Driving Capability package work as promised? We explain each feature’s intended use, and show you how they performed in our tests.

UPDATE: After publishing this video, a viewer alerted CR that there was a mismatch at 5:50 between what we described happened with stop sign control–our tester slamming on the brakes after the car missed the stop sign– and what we showed onscreen–the car slamming on the brakes. CR’s testers did experience both scenarios.

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