The future of transportation is electric. Tesla proved with the Model S that customers would want to buy luxury vehicles powered by lithium-ion batteries. Other EV startups like Faraday Future, Byton, Lucid Motors, and SF Motors are chasing after Elon Musk. And major automakers like Jaguar, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz have each released their own Tesla challengers. There are obstacles, such as the need for a more robust charging network. But battery-powered cars are here to stay.
The EXP 15 “design concept” is supposed to preview the British automaker’s first all-electric model, due in 2026. Bentley said the design was inspired by the “Blue Train,” which was a 1930 three-seater Speed Six. But this crazy concept looks more like a real train with that massive front end and an elongated body. Bentley says none of this is intended for production, which, like, duh.
Apparently following through on his threat to challenge Republicans who supported Donald Trump’s budget bill, Musk tweeted, “Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.” He also said it will be ready next year -- a “consistently proven wrong” theme for Musk.
“One way to execute on this would be to laser-focus on just 2 or 3 Senate seats and 8 to 10 House districts,” to hold a deciding vote on “contentious laws,” said Musk on Friday.
The G580 with EQ Technology may have a fancy name, but it stays true to its original formula.
Elon Musk’s embrace of acronyms like MAGA and DOGE has alienated the left, while his commitment to clean energy and EVs continues to enrage the entrenched oil and gas interests of the Trumpian right. So, can anyone still appreciate Tesla’s massive new off-grid Supercharger, even if it’s only because the company finally nailed a timeline?
This $612,000 plug-in hybrid is simply maniacal.
Tesla’s robotaxis have been on the road in Austin for just three days, and already there have been nearly a dozen incidents of bad driving behavior.
A bunch of Tesla fans seem to think that the popular YouTuber needs to shave his head now that Tesla has successfully launched its (very limited, still in beta) robotaxi service. After all, that was the bet he made last year, right? Not so fast, Marques says. Here he is on the Waveform podcast reminding us about the actual bet he made.
When I first saw the Robotaxi wordmark, I assumed someone had already vandalized the car like a Waymo caught in a protest. The creative experts consulted by Fast Company are even more critical of the cyberdork aesthetic:
“A good logo always tries to convey the brand promise,” says type designer and Hoefler & Co. founder Jonathan Hoefler. “And this one definitely foreshadows the tragic collisions ahead.”
Ford says it will complete the EV battery factory its building in Michigan, even without the generous tax breaks included in the (probably doomed) Inflation Reduction Act. The $3 billion factory is being built in Marshall, about 100 miles west of Detroit, in partnership with China’s CATL. That combination alone (an EV factory? with China?) makes it a likely target of Republicans who are in the process of gutting all the IRA’s clean energy investments. But Ford is sticking with its plan, even without generous tax breaks on the table.
“We don’t want to back off on this facility,” Ms. Drake told reporters. “When we invest, we stick behind our investments. Ford is a company that will weather the storm until we get there.”
By most accounts, the company’s robotaxi launch in Austin yesterday went off without a hitch. Most of the Tesla fans and influencers who received invites to test it out said the experience was “smooth” and “natural.” But you knew something was going to happen, and that something turned out to be a robotaxi briefly driving in the opposite lane of traffic. Not a good look.
The Senate parliamentarian — a nonpartisan congressional advisor — says Republicans are violating a budget reconciliation rule in their attempt to fast-track some parts of President Trump’s agenda.
That includes measures to undo Biden-era tailpipe pollution standards and repeal funding authorizations for climate programs under the Inflation Reduction Act. Republicans have been getting creative lately, however, with ways to get around the parliamentarian’s objections.
An industry-favored 2017 law made Texas a hotbed for AV investment, but critics say safeguards are needed as driverless cars fill public roads.
Mark Walter is buying majority ownership of the Lakers at a $10 billion valuation, reports ESPN. Walter runs TWG Global, which owns chunks of other sports teams, and also owns a fun grab-bag of other companies, including Shield AI and Slate Auto. LeBron-themed pickup truck when?
We’re barely recovered from meeting the 2025 Corvette ZR1, and now Chevrolet has announced a regenerative hybrid variant (no plugging in here), dubbed the ZR1X. This 2026 Corvette model takes the E-Ray’s EV modes and all wheel drive setup, turns up the horsepower, and puts it in a package with the ZR1’s LT7 V8, along with some other tweaks for maximizing performance on the road or the track.
This ‘true American hypercar’ with 1,250 horsepower will go from zero to 60 mph in under two seconds, GM estimates. No price announced yet.
The anti-Elon Musk protest organizers sent a letter to T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert demanding he “cut ties to Starlink,” citing T-Mobile’s use of the SpaceX subsidiary to power its T-Satellite direct-to-cell satellite messaging service:
By contracting with Starlink, T-Mobile is funding Elon Musk’s attacks on democracy in the US and around the world. We’re demanding T-Mobile pick a side. If they choose to continue in partnership with Starlink, they’re complicit in his assault on working people and his support of far-right authoritarian governments around the world.
The protesters are hinting that they’ll boycott T-Mobile if the company doesn’t comply. And given the brand damage that Tesla Takedown has inflicted on Musk’s company, it’s not a threat that T-Mobile can take lightly.
[actionnetwork.org]
Senate Republicans’ version of President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” — similar to the bill the House passed last month — would slash tax incentives for electric vehicles, wind, and solar power.
Industry leaders warn that it could be a killer blow to new energy projects and factories in the US. “This bill will end any hope of onshoring domestic manufacturing,” Mike Carr, executive director of the Solar Energy Manufacturers for America Coalition, said in a press statement today.
With over 300 miles of estimated range, a Tesla charge port, and native Android software, the pioneering EV is back and better than ever.
The EV demonstrator can handle 6,900 lbs of downforce at 150 mph — which, you know, is insane.
Unlike other EV-only automakers, Lucid seems to have come around on phone mirroring. It added Apple CarPlay support in 2023, and then last year, the luxury EV company said it would roll out support for Android Auto in the fall of 2024.
That’s been delayed until today, when Lucid announced that Android Auto is now available in all Lucid Air vehicles via an over-the-air update (Lucid OS 2.7.0). Access for Lucid Gravity owners is “coming soon.”
Just food for thought ahead of the company’s robotaxi launch later this month.
Ten more states joined the suit filed today against President Trump and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Congress recently voted to revoke EPA waivers that allow California to set tougher air pollution standards for vehicles than the nation as a whole, in what the plaintiffs allege was an unlawful use of the Congressional Review Act.
Rivian just posted an interesting video about the design and engineering work that goes into its upcoming R2 vehicle. The best part is when they take us into the garage where they work on their engineering test vehicles and we get to see the “Mule 3.2,” which is basically an x-ray version of the car with all the wiring and electrical components completely exposed. I promise, it’s SFW.
Last month, Bloomberg reported that the launch would be July 12th. But Tesla never confirmed it, and now Musk is saying the long-awaited robotaxi service will “tentatively” kick off in Austin, Texas, on June 22nd. (An X user spotted one of the first driverless Teslas in the city earlier this week.) Musk also claimed that a Tesla vehicle will drive itself from the factory to a customer’s home for the first time on June 28th.
And seeing how Tesla has yet to respond to federal regulators’ questions about the safety of its vehicles, Musk also made nice with President Trump. (Trump, for his part, sounded less enthusiastic about burying the hatchet.)
You might recognize this TeslaVision campaign seeking fan-submitted ads as a callback to the Project Loveday contest from 2017 (that was the year the Model 3 started shipping, but the new Roadster and Semi did not).
Beyond the request for free advertising labor amid an ongoing brand crisis and political quagmire, Tesla’s 2025 request is also designed to try to flood social media, requiring posts on YouTube, X, and Instagram by July 17th to maybe win a Model Y and a trip to Gigafactory Texas.
A Tesla Model Y with no one behind the steering wheel was spotted driving through Austin recently, according to a video posted to X and noticed by InsideEVs. The video was also reposted by Tesla’s head of autonomy, Ashok Elluswamy, who wrote “Slowly slowly at first, then …” seemingly confirming its authenticity. The Model Y also has “Robotaxi” written in Tesla’s notoriously difficult-to-read Cybertruck font on the passenger door. Bloomberg previously reported that the company’s robotaxi service was set to launch this week on June 12th, though the automaker has yet to formally confirm the date.
