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]
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.
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.
Tesla reportedly stiffed a Black-owned bakery during Black History Month, canceling an order for thousands of dollars worth of pies — after asking the owner to double the amount.
Today, Musk vaguely tweeted he’d “make things good with the bakery”. Meanwhile, the community has stepped in to help.
[The Giving Pies (Facebook)]
Hans von Ohain, a former Tesla employee, was killed after his Tesla Model 3 veered off a Colorado road and into a tree, where the vehicle caught fire. However, The Washington Post interviewed the surviving passenger and obtained 911 dispatch recordings, which indicate von Ohain may have had FSD enabled at the time of the crash.
Colorado State Patrol investigators were never able to determine whether FSD was involved due to the extensive damage and closed the investigation last year. Elon Musk maintained Tesla’s FSD system caused no accidents or injuries just months before the crash occurred.
When it comes to AVs, the landscape is littered with over-optimistic predictions and missed deadlines. What happened?
This week marks the launch of Decoder’s second episode, which will explain big topics in the news with Verge reporters, experts, and other friends of the show. (The other Decoder you know and love, featuring big interviews with CEOs and others, now publishes every Monday.)
For this episode, I sat down with Verge Transportation Editor Andy Hawkins, to discuss a fantastic article he wrote called, “The EV Transition trips over its own cord.” It’s all about how the momentum for electric cars in America has started to hit serious snags, even as more people than ever before go fully electric. Check it out.
