For $200,000, Tesla Will Sell You The 'World's Fastest' Consumer Car

Agencies
November 18, 2017

Nov 18: Tesla's very first car is back. It's red. It's fast. And it will cost you upward of $200,000.

The Roadster, the electric sports car that put the automaker on the map, made a surprising appearance at Tesla's semi-truck event late Thursday. The next-generation Roadster is Tesla's first new sports car since it discontinued the original in 2012, and marks the company's bid to remain competitive across several categories in the world of electric vehicles that it helped reshape.

The updated Roadster will achieve world record speeds, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said during the event in Los Angeles. The base model can travel from a dead stop to 60 miles per hour in less than two seconds, making it the fastest consumer car on the planet, and the first to break the two-second mark, Musk said. He declined to give the Roadster's top speed but said it would surpass 250 mph.

But while Musk and his audience were characteristically gleeful, investors and some auto analysts were skeptical about the company's prospects. Tesla's stock fell nearly four percent in midday trading Friday. Some industry observers pointed to the company's production delays in its mass-market Model 3. Ed Hellwig, a senior editor at auto research website Edmunds.com, described the Roadster as a "very unnecessary distraction" whose reintroduction was likely designed to divert attention from Tesla's business struggles.

The company reported a net loss of $619 million, or about $2.92 per share,in its most recent earnings report, compared with a net income of $21 million and a gain of 71 cents per share, during the same period last year. Tesla also said recently that it had fired hundreds of employees after annual performance reviews. And it's unclear, even as the company faces production bottlenecks, where the new Roadster will be manufactured.

Analysts said that it's too early to tell if the Roadster will help lift Tesla to profitability, but the sports car gives the company's image a boost. "You can say a lot of things about Tesla, but one thing it's done is built a brilliant brand," said Michelle Krebs, executive analyst at Autotrader.

The original Roadster, released nearly a decade ago, was Tesla's the first step in a multistage process to entice the public with its promising technology and eventually offer all-electric vehicles to the masses. The company showed that electric vehicles could preform just as well, and perhaps even better, than cars powered by fossil fuel. Its limited run, in Tesla's view, was part of the plan.

"We started Tesla with a sports car, the Tesla Roadster. That baby got us going. It was the foundation of the whole company," said Musk said. "People have asked us for a long time, 'When are you going to make a new roadster?' We are making it now."

The successor, like the original, was designed to make a splash. The unveiling itself was a surprise, coming after Musk showed off Tesla's long-anticipated semitruck. But beyond Musk's flair for showmanship, experts said the new Roadster gives Tesla a prestige product to showcase and compete with.

"It's got a lot of sizzle. It worked before, and why not," said Krebs. "If they get it on the roads it will be something that will go head-to-head with Porsches and Ferraris and all the exotic vehicles."

Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst at Bernstein Research, described the Roadster as a "brand enhancing," car, in a note to investors Friday. But he also said he sees it as a low-volume product. He cautioned that Tesla should focus on building and selling the economy-class Model 3, rather than broadening its initiatives with new vehicles and energy projects.

While experts did not go so far as to describe the Roadster as a game changer, they said it will allow Tesla to challenge automakers of high-end sports cars who have been nudged, largely by Tesla, to make high-powered electric vehicles of their own. Musk made that argument in more colorful language. "The point of doing this is to just give a hardcore smackdown to gasoline cars," he said. "Driving a gasoline sports car is going to feel like a steam engine with a side of quiche."

Tesla says the car will come with a 200-kilowatt-hour battery, giving it a range of 620 miles at highway speeds without the need to recharge. In comparison, the current 75-kilowatt-hour battery in the Model S gives the sedan a 250-mile range. To put the Roadster's battery endurance into perspective, Musk said a driver would be able to travel from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and back again, on a single charge.

Up to four people can fit in the Roadster with "plenty of storage," Musk said. But he was quick to add that you can't put "giant" people in the back seat. The car will feature all-wheel drive and will have three motors.

The first customers of the new Roadster will have to wait a few years before they can climb in and let the top down, however. Musk said the car will not be available until 2020. The "Founders Series" will go for $250,000, but its specifications won't be shared until as early as next year, Musk said.

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Agencies
May 10,2020

In the wake of the gas leak at a factory in Visakhapatnam, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has issued detailed guidelines for restarting industries after the lockdown and the precautions to be taken for the safety of the plants as well as the workers.

In a communication to all states and union territories, the NDMA said due to several weeks of lockdown and the closure of industrial units, it is possible that some of the operators might not have followed the established standard operating procedures.

As a result, some of the manufacturing facilities, pipelines, valves may have residual chemicals, which may pose risk. The same is true for the storage facilities with hazardous chemicals and flammable materials, it said.

The NDMA guidelines said while restarting a unit, the first week should be considered as the trial or test run period after ensuring all safety protocols.

Companies should not try to achieve high production targets. There should be 24-hour sanitisation of the factory premises, it said.

The factories need to maintain a sanitisation routine every two-three hours especially in the common areas that include lunch rooms and common tables which will have to be wiped clean with disinfectants after every single use, it added.

For accommodation, the NDMA said, sanitisation needs to be performed regularly to ensure worker safety and reduce the spread of contamination.

To minimise the risk, it is important that employees who work on specific equipment are sensitised and made aware of the need to identify abnormalities like strange sounds or smell, exposed wires, vibrations, leaks, smoke, abnormal wobbling, irregular grinding or other potentially hazardous signs which indicate the need for immediate maintenance or if required shutdown, it said.

At least 11 people lost their lives and about 1,000 others were exposed to a gas leak at a factory in Andhra Pradesh''s Visakhapatnam on May 7.

The incident took place after it restarted operations when the government allowed industrial activities in certain sectors following several weeks of lockdown.

The lockdown was first announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24 for 21 days in a bid to combat the coronavirus threat. The lockdown was then extended till May 3 and again till May 17.

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Agencies
January 4,2020

Washington D.C: One of the greatest spectacles of modern art is still thriving in the Australian outback as confirmed by satellite imagery of NASA. The Marree Man is a massive geoglyph depicting an aboriginal hunter, that spans over 2.6 miles in the Southern Australian region.

Discovered by a pilot in 1998, its origin still remains a mystery even to this date.

The Marree Man was given a new lease of life in 2016 when a group of people from the neighboring town of Marree plowed its lines to avert its fading due to erosion.

After NASA shared the image of the art-work that was taken in June, the efforts of the good samaritans turned out to be a total success, reported CNN Travel.

The restoration team believes that the refurbished Marree Man would last longer than its original version.

According to NASA, "They [the team] created wind grooves, designed to trap water and encourage the growth of vegetation. They hope that eventually, the man will turn green."

In a previous article, CNN reported that an entrepreneur by the name of Dick Smith took upon himself to unravel the geoglyph's mystery in 2016. His team combed through all the available evidence but couldn't find anything conclusive.

In 2018 he even offered a 5,000 Australian dollar reward for anyone who knows the identity of its creator.

Nobody turned up with an answer but it was speculated that unknown artist lives in Alice Springs or even might be an American.

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Agencies
March 12,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 12: In the wake of COVID-19 outbreak, Internet service providers in Kerala have agreed to step up the network capacity by 30 to 40 per cent of the present capacity to meet the demand, especially in view of the spurt in work-at-home mode.

"The decision was made at a meeting of representatives of various telecom service providers in Kerala circle and officials of the Telecommunication Department convened by the Secretary, Electronics and IT, following a direction by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to look into the issue," said a press release by the IT Department.

The decision will be beneficial for those working in IT institutions. The government has come out with a set of suggestions to avoid social gatherings at public places in view of coronavirus spread. Telecom service providers have assured the government that they are well equipped to face the current situation.

The major part of Internet consumption in Kerala is made available through local servers. Moreover, global Internet traffic is very low as compared to the overall consumption. So, increasing the capacity won't be difficult, service providers informed.

"Complaints regarding the low availability of the Internet due to the spurt in consumption of the Internet can be made to the service providers to their complaint redressal number or inform state government call centre (155300). But complaints regarding the insufficiency in the current network infrastructure should be strictly avoided," said the release.

The IT Department will also demand daily reports from various telecom service providers. By analysing these reports, steps for remedies will be taken after bringing the sudden increase in consumption to the service providers.

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