Tesla Motors is the epitome of a “moving target,” so when I released my history of the company in mid-2014, I knew it would be out of date before long. Like the company’s vehicles, the book continues to be regularly updated, and each new version will be smoothly delivered through the magic of the internet.

Edition 2.0 of “Tesla Motors: How Elon Musk and Company Made Electric Cars Cool, and Sparked the Next Tech Revolution” includes major additions to the chapters dealing with recent events.

Press coverage of Tesla’s new products and features is always extensive, but most of the media reliably miss the true significance of events. A case in point is the recently-introduced D package – to most of the press, it was simply an AWD system and a couple more fractions of a second shaved off the 0-60 time. In fact, it was a double milestone in automotive technology: an entirely new type of AWD that improves efficiency, and the hardware underpinnings for a more or less self-driving car.

When I first wrote the book, the Gigafactory was still on the drawing board, and politicos around the Southwest were putting on quite a show as they vied to win the job-producing plant for their locales. The new edition tells the highly entertaining story of how Tesla selected the Nevada site.

In a section entitled The Most Sincere Form of Flattery, I tell how Tesla’s early success inspired other automakers to accelerate their electrification plans. That phenomenon has now shifted into high gear, so I added the latest news on upcoming electric sedans from Mercedes, Audi and Porsche.

Other interesting new storylines include the recent revelation that, during a crippling cash crunch, Elon Musk discussed selling Tesla to Google, and of course the latest developments in Tesla’s war with the auto dealers.

“Tesla Motors: How Elon Musk and Company Made Electric Cars Cool, and Sparked the Next Tech Revolution” is available at all major online retailers.

Image: pestoverde (CC BY 2.0)