PepsiCo says it expects to take delivery of 15 Tesla Semi electric trucks by the end of this year. The soda and snack seller placed an order for 100 Tesla Semis shortly after the e-truck’s 2017 launch. Since then, Tesla seems to have put the Semi program on a back burner as it concentrated on… Read more »
The UK has been an EV leader—along with California, it’s one of the few global regions that’s been taking a comprehensive approach to electrification rather than piecemeal measures. So auto industry groups and media observers were unpleasantly surprised by the government’s recent decision to cut back its existing grants for EV purchases. The Department for… Read more »
Tesla has recently introduced several battery innovations, including the new tabless 4680 cell, which it is believed to be producing in small quantities on a pilot line at its Fremont plant. However, the California carmaker has no intention of trying to produce all the cells it needs on its own. “The reason Tesla is doing… Read more »
Driving home the point that cars are computers, the global auto industry is reeling from a global shortage of microchips. Several major automakers have announced shutdowns or slowdowns because of the supply bottleneck. The shortage appears to have forced Tesla to briefly shut down its Model 3 production line at Fremont. An unnamed source told… Read more »
The European Commission recently approved a multinational project to support battery innovation, which will involve 42 companies, including several automakers. One of those automakers is Tesla, which may receive a cool billion euros ($1.2 billion) in public funding from the federal government of Germany and the state of Brandenburg, the site of the company’s Gigafactory… Read more »
In December 2019, public fast charging network EVgo, in collaboration with Tesla, began installing the automaker’s proprietary connector at its DC fast charging stations around the country (Tesla drivers can use CHAdeMO or CCS plugs, but they need a bulky and pricey adapter, and a CCS adapter only recently became available in the US). Now… Read more »
Democrats in the House of Representatives have reintroduced the GREEN Act (Growing Renewable Energy and Efficiency Now), which among many other tax code revisions would once again allow Tesla and GM customers to claim federal EV tax credits. A similar bill failed to pass in 2020, but the prospects for passage seem bright under the… Read more »
Elon Musk is by nature an iconoclast, a disrupter, an upsetter of applecarts and a slayer of sacred cows, so his long-standing interest in bitcoin, which has been described as “a techno-anarchist project” and “a way to separate money from the state,” is not at all surprising. Now Tesla has purchased $1.5 billion worth of… Read more »
Elon Musk and Sandy Munro covered a lot of ground in their recent video chat, discussing a great number of advances and improvements to Tesla’s vehicles and manufacturing processes. Here’s just one tidbit that many may have overlooked: beginning with the upcoming Model S/X refresh, Tesla plans to abandon the century-old lead-acid battery technology in… Read more »
One of the most significant innovations Tesla introduced with Model Y was the replacement of about 70 parts with two enormous aluminum castings. Now the company says it has plans to take this idea a step further by developing a battery pack that forms part of the structure of the vehicle, linking the front and… Read more »