Transportation

There are many important safety reasons to support China’s move to ban hidden, electric door handles from EVs, but also a pettier one: they’re just bad, unintuitive, and inconvenient handles.

Four months after launching “Standard” versions of the Model 3 and Model Y, Tesla is dropping the trim description. The move comes as the automaker introduces a more affordable all-wheel drive version of the Model Y in the US.

The President announced a new $12 billion public-private partnership called Project Vault, meant to establish a strategic reserve of critical minerals. It’s expected to safeguard stores of rare earths and other materials used in batteries, smart phones, cars, planes, and more.

The tunnel-digging venture says it will build “a cutting-edge passenger transport tunnel project” that’s “4 miles (6.4km), comprising four stations, linking the Dubai International Financial Centre and Dubai Mall.”

The Japanese automaker has a new SUV coming, possibly an EV. Last week, we saw the rear end; today, we’re getting a glimpse of the interior, which appears to have three rows of seats. We still don’t have any details about the powertrain, although Toyota characterized the new vehicle as “big energy” — whatever that means.

Lyft made a big splash when it bought Citi Bike’s parent company in 2018. It promised huge investments and improved service. But, it’s also raised prices at a stunning rate, far outpacing inflation and fares for other transportation in NYC. And yet, it hasn’t bothered digging out most of its bike docks, according to Streetsblog.

California will outline its own $200 million EV incentive program next week, after officials meet with Detroit automakers to discuss the next phases of its plan to regulate tailpipe emissions. The Trump administration has eliminated incentives for EV purchases, stymied energy efficiency policies, and gutted pollution regulations in general. California is challenging those efforts in court.

Google says you can now use the AI chatbot to ask questions while using walking or cycling directions in Google Maps, which already worked for driving directions.

In its earnings report today, Tesla disclosed a $2 billion investment in xAI “as part of their recent publicly-disclosed financing round.” Bloomberg reported earlier this year that xAI, which also owns X.com and the Grok AI chatbot, burned about $7.8 billion in the first nine months of 2025. Tesla claims that the investment in xAI is “intended to enhance Tesla’s ability to develop and deploy AI products and services into the physical world at scale.”

The company, which was led by ex-Tesla CTO JB Straubel, says it just closed its series E funding, including participation from Google and other investors. The money will be put toward building out Redwood Materials’ energy storage platform as well as its EV battery recycling and critical minerals business. And in a blog post, the company gestures at the current debate over AI data centers and electricity demand, saying:

Lisa Drake, who previously served as vice president of technology platform programs and EV systems, is now in charge of the automaker’s energy division. Late last year, Ford downsized its EV ambitions, scrapped the F-150 Lightning, and announced a pivot to hybrids and battery storage systems to meet growing demand from AI data center construction. Drake will lead those efforts, which include “scale Ford Energy’s end-to-end operations, spanning design and development, battery cell and system manufacturing, and end customer sales.”

Google’s Gemini, in particular, according to ProPublica, citing internal communications. The regulations don’t even have to be that good, officials say; “We don’t need the perfect rule on XYZ. We don’t even need a very good rule on XYZ,” one official is reported to have said. This will surely end well.

Florida-based Life EV won the auction to buy the struggling e-bike brand last week, as reported by TechCrunch. The sale comes just a month after Rad Power Bikes filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing “significant financial challenges” and “the sudden drop in consumer demand” post-Covid in a letter to employees.

GM is ending production of its most affordable EV after the 2027 model year, replacing it with a gas-powered Buick. The decision came less than a year after the automaker rolled out a revamped version of the Bolt with better charging capabilities. Of course, this won’t be the first time that the automaker killed off the Bolt. But given the inhospitable environment around EVs these days, the Bolt’s days were likely numbered. GM has said its priority is profitable autos like the Buick that previously was built in China.

Microsoft is switching its F1 allegiances from Alpine to Mercedes-AMG for the 2026 season. A new multi-year partnership will see Mercedes-AMG use Microsoft technologies for race team operations, and plaster the Microsoft logo in prominent positions on the 2026 Mercedes-AMG F1 car and on racing suits. There’s a big technical shake up for the 2026 season, with all-new chassis, power units, and fuel regulations.

Sales of the polarizing, angular electric truck continue to plummet, down 68.1 percent year over year in the fourth quarter of 2025 and 48 percent for the entire year, according to new data from Cox Automotive. That represents the largest year-over-year sales drop for any vehicle in the battery-powered segment, including those that were discontinued halfway through the year.

On his last day in office, Governor Phil Murphy signed into law a bill that will likely halt the widespread adoption of e-bikes in the state, limiting their utility as an effective car replacement and punishing those who would use them to reduce their own carbon footprints. The new law requires registration, license, and insurance for any e-bike regardless of its class or speed, effectively lumping low-speed pedal assist bikes in with high-powered electric motorcycles and dirt bikes. It’s the latest troubling sign for the growing e-bike movement in the US.

After disbanding the team behind its Dojo supercomputer project last year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk says the company is “restarting work” on Dojo3 now that “the AI5 chip design is in good shape.” Tesla is also recruiting people to work on the project.

The first near-final version of Rivian’s critical $45,000 electric vehicle just rolled off the assembly line at the company’s factory in Normal, Illinois. Customer deliveries are expected to follow soon after, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said. This is a make-or-break moment for the company: can it make more affordable, high-volume EVs? Or will it be relegated to niche status as an expensive truck company?