Early 30's Ford Ammeter Nice! on 2040-parts.com

Tesla repays government loans – a first, say Tesla. Chrysler disagree.

2013 is turning in to a very good year for Tesla. The Tesla Model S has had more praise heaped on it than almost any car ever has, they are making an operating profit and their shares are going through the roof. So with the stars aligning for Tesla they’ve taken the opportunity to pay back $465 million of US Department of Energy loans, nine years early.

BMW are rolling out their ‘BMW Genius’ programme across UK dealers

Even when you’re immersed in the latest car news day in and day out, it’s often quite tough to keep up with the new technologies car makers are offering, so many buyers must struggle to know exactly what their options are. That should be a job for the car salesman, but most car salesmen only worry about explaining how good the deal is and how it’s better than any other deal, so buyers often come away with a car that doesn’t fit their needs as well as it could. But with fewer new car buyers really wrapped up in performance and dynamics and more interested in the tech behind the wheels, BMW has been trying out an idea borrowed from Apple Stores by employing ’BMW Geniuses’ at 10 of their UK dealerships to explain the advantages of much of their technology to customers.

Mercedes F125 concept (2011) at Frankfurt motor show

Mercedes today unveiled the F125 concept car - a car bearing the three-pointed star's F name to demark it as a tech testbed, and the 125 to mark Merc's 125th anniversary in this four-wheeled business. It's a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, and Merc claims a punchy 1000km (620-mile) range. But the scientists here are proud of the cutting edge lithium sulphur batteries, used to store energy created by the fuel-cell.