Tesla — towards a cleaner, greener future

Co-founder Elon Musk is championing the cause of clean tech

By Deepa Narwani

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Published: Tue 4 Jul 2017, 11:07 AM

American electric carmaker Tesla is all set to launch its first store in Dubai on Sheikh Zayed Road on July 12. Reportedly, Elon Musk, the co-founder, CEO and Product Architect at Tesla, has said that the company has plans to invest millions in the UAE on infrastructure including recharging stations.
“We expect to invest tens of millions of dollars in the UAE for charging, service and support infrastructures. By next year, you’ll be able to travel anywhere in the GCC with an electric vehicle,” Musk was quoted. 
Musk had visited Dubai at the beginning of the year to give a presentation on the portfolio of Tesla’s products and speak about expanding into the Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bahrain markets. He is credited with championing the cause of clean technology around the world.
Orders for Tesla’s Model S sedan and Model X SUV began earlier this year. Prices are said to start from Dh275,000 for the Model S, which can reportedly achieve 100 kph in 2.5 seconds.
Over the years, Musk has stressed on the fact that the reliability of an electric car is much better compared to a gasoline car because there are fewer moving parts that require service, no oil changes are required, and its brake pads don’t need changing. These cars can be recharged at home, and at 28 locations across the UAE.
According to reports, some of the Tesla vehicles could become a part of the Dubai Taxi Corporation fleet. During his visit, Musk signed a deal with Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), for 200 Tesla vehicles to be used as taxis. Reportedly, this was done to eventually create a new self-driving fleet once Tesla launches its ‘Fully Self-driving Capability’ feature.
This year, Tesla also released its 8.1 software that increased the speed limit for its Autosteer feature to 80 mph, implemented refinements to the traffic aware cruise control, among other improvements. 
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the U.S. recently declared the Tesla Model X as the safest SUV ever tested in the world.
Tesla cars undoubtedly have an array of amazing features such as semi-autonomous autopilot and great acceleration. The cars offer a huge navigation screen, music and radio options, software updates, and falcon-wing doors, among other attractive features.
— deepa@khaleejtimes.com 

• Dubai