Ford EV owners are the first to get access, with the company opening up orders for complimentary NACS-to-CCS adapters starting today. And (as noticed by Electrek) next in line will be GM, Rivian, Polestar, and Volvo. The companies will also need to roll out software updates to allow Tesla’s chargers to automatically recognize their vehicles for billing purposes.
[Tesla]
This NYT dive into Apple’s doomed project shows leadership changes switched focus between autonomy and EVs (and back again) and explains Cook greenlit the project partly to prevent an “exodus” of engineers to Tesla.
It also describes a Humane-like 2015 concept demo with Jony Ive and Tim Cook pretending to ride in a car while a voice actor read off things Siri might say about restaurants they imagined passing. And that tech could live on — as part of research into “A.I.-powered AirPods with cameras, robot assistants and augmented reality”
[The New York Times]
A judge approved the class status of a group of nearly 6,000 Black employees of Tesla who are suing the company over claims of racial bias and harassment. The employees sued the company in 2017, alleging they suffered constant, often daily racial discrimination and harassment, and that the electric car company did little to nothing to stop the behavior. Tesla is likely to appeal the ruling.
Tesla was also sued last year by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for similar reasons.
Aston Martin boss Lawrence Stroll is probably focused on F1 at the moment, but he just revealed another delay in its plan to build an EV with help from Lucid Motors.
While its first plug-in hybrid EV is on track to enter production in 2024, the report says, “the Company’s first battery electric vehicle (BEV) is now targeted for launch in 2026.” Automotive News Europe reports Stroll said that there’s “much more driven demand” for it to offer a plug-in hybrid right now.
If you have one of Rivian’s electric trucks and an iPhone, you can keep an eye on the status of your charging progress a little easier with the version 2.7.0 update.
As 9to5Mac points out, support for the Live Activities feature added in iOS 16 keeps the charging information pinned on your lock screen or in the Dynamic Island on iPhone 14 and 15 Pro models.
Hot on the heels of the EV company’s conscious uncoupling from Volvo, Polestar announced $950 million in external financing, which is will be enough for the “next stage of its development and covers a large majority of its estimated financing needs.”
The three-year loan comes from “12 leading international banks including BNP Paribas, Natixis, Standard Chartered, BBVA, HSBC and SPDB.” Geely, the Chinese automaker that owns both Volvo and Polestar, is also ready to step in with more cash when needed. Polestar has a make-or-break year ahead, with the imminent release of two new EVs, the Polestar 3 and Polestar 4.
[media.polestar.com]
Elon Musk isn’t great with timelines so take his latest proclamations about a 2024 reveal for the second generation Roadster announced in 2017 with appropriate skepticism, especially since he already missed the 2020, 2022, and 2023 dates.
Technically he says “aiming to ship next yea” which is either a typo for 2025 or a tactic to avoid accountability.
Ford CEO Jim Farley showed off the charging adapter in a post on Threads and said the company will share “more info very soon.” The CCS to NACS charging adapter is expected to start shipping to Ford EV owners free of charge this spring.
