Transportation Archive

Elon Musk’s political activities — buying Twitter, renaming it X, and letting election deniers and white supremacists back on; donating nearly $300 million to elect Donald Trump; heading DOGE — have dramatically harmed Tesla’s financial fortunes, according to a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research by Yale University economists. Musk’s polarizing behavior likely cost the company up to 1.26 million vehicle sales in the US alone, the group estimates. Meanwhile, EV sales from other automakers popped 17-22 percent, as Musk-disgusted shoppers spent their cash elsewhere.

The $15,000 Nissan Sakura kei car is breaking records in Japan — and I badly want this new prototype version with an always-active solar roof that nearly doubles in size when you park. At 500W, Nissan estimates it can add 1,864 miles of range per year. Here’s the YouTube video.

Ford halted production of the F-150 Lightning at its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan. For now the automaker is prioritizing its gas and hybrid F-series trucks because they’re more profitable and use less aluminum. Ford is also still recovering from a September 16th fire at aluminum supplier Novelis’ plant in Oswego, New York.

GM — on the latest Decoder — used the word “cobot” in a transparent bid to assuage workers concerned that the robots operating alongside them will soon replace them. As we learned this week from Amazon’s proposed usage of the friendlier term: human replacement is definitely the plan.

More than 600 people are scheduled to lose their jobs, the Wall Street Journal report. The move comes a few weeks after the expiration of the $7,500 federal EV tax credit, which is widely expected to lead to a slowdown in EV sales. And it comes a day after Rivian’s spinoff Also revealed its first slate of new micromobility products. Rivian is also bracing itself for the lose of revenue from the sale of regulatory credits to other automakers, which was eliminated by Trump’s budget bill.

This is the same robot that couldn’t handle popcorn distribution at Tesla’s diner, and was revealed to be remote controlled at the company’s Cybercab event. In a Q3 earnings call, Musk said he would “of course” ensure that “Optimus is safe” before allowing it to perform surgery on anyone. Volunteers?

Weight can be a major factor in whether an e-bike makes sense for a certain customer, especially those that live in cities. With that in mind, here’s how Rivian’s new Also TM-B bike stacks up, as per a spokesperson: