Panasonic joins forces with Tesla for futuristic US battery factory July 31, 2014 Panasonic and US electric car pioneer Tesla Motors yesterday announced joint plans for a groundbreaking lithium-ion battery cell mega-plant. Dubbed “The Gigafactor” – whose location is yet to be decided – it will increase production volume by slashing cost-per-unit figures through economies of scale and improvements in logistical arrangements with suppliers. The announcement builds on [...]
Tesla lands $200m Panasonic investment in Gigafactory deal July 31, 2014 Japan's Panasonic is set to invest over $200m in American electric carmaker Tesla Motors' lithium-ion battery plant in the US, according to a person familiar with the matter. Panasonic had signed a preliminary agreement to be involved in the project back in May. In a joint statement the companies said Tesla would be responsible for [...]
Which books do the giants of business read over the summer? July 29, 2014 You might be surprised how many older volumes make the cut. Most of us look at our summer holiday as reading prime time. Indeed, research from TripAdvisor found that, for nearly one in four of us, it’s the only time we manage to read a book. And even if you read more regularly, a [...]
Longitude Prize: Why open innovation can help us take on antibiotic resistance July 27, 2014 The battle against the bugs has become something of a crusade. A month ago, the public chose the search for an answer to antibiotic resistance as the topic for the 2014 Longitude Prize, a £10m challenge to help solve one of the greatest issues of our time. Recently, David Cameron committed the UK to leading [...]
Sheer satisfaction: Zendesk founder Mikkel Svane on providing better customer service July 13, 2014 Harriet Green talks IPOs, big data and radical taxis with Zendesk’s founder Mikkel Svane. An O2 survey last year found that 70 per cent of people wouldn’t forgive a company for bad customer service. Two thirds also said they’d share their experience with an average of eight friends and family members. Mikkel [...]
Review: The astonishing new Tesla Model S July 8, 2014 Some have already judged the first bespoke effort from cutting-edge American electric carmaker Tesla as the second coming of the automobile. But can the Tesla Model S possibly justify the hype? It’s certainly a lot of pressure to heap on a premium executive saloon. Yet Tesla chief executive Elon Musk appears to be one of [...]
Elon Musk is right to share Tesla’s patents: Now he should ditch them altogether June 18, 2014 A WAR is being waged by the litigators of Silicon Valley. Their chosen weaponry: patent law. The battle is most obvious among the tech giants. In 2011, Apple and Google spent more on patent lawsuits and purchases than they put towards research and development. And it is consumers who get stung. A report released by [...]
Tesla to share its car patents June 12, 2014 ELON Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur behind leading electric car company Tesla and private space travel firm SpaceX, has announced Tesla will allow others to use its intellectual property in hopes of boosting development of electric cars. Musk said on the company’s website that the industry would benefit from open-source sharing of technologies. “If we clear [...]
Heathrow’s Hollywood welcometothe.uk sign to champion arrival of new domain June 9, 2014 Flyers arriving at Heathrow who’ve been wondering if someone’s made a rather giant typo will today find out why a massive “welcometothe.uk” sign greets them on Heathrow’s lawn, as .uk becomes a domain. Scouring the internet for the banner, which has been in place for the last two days, would have lead travellers to [...]
This is how far Tesla’s Model S electric car will get you across the UK June 9, 2014 This weekend, Elon Musk brought his electric car to the UK. Obviously we already have electric cars, but the Model S – the luxury saloon of Tesla, Musk's company – is a cut above the rest. And in a matter of months, it'll get you across most of the UK and Europe. Speaking at the [...]