Electric Cars

It claims its new Smart Charging Station offers its “fastest production-ready charging performance” yet, and also includes a new system that can “gradually fix” EV battery degradation from fast charging:

The all-electric minibus was supposed to come back this year, but now Volkswagen is pushing it the first half of 2027. When it does return, it will be slightly different, with only two-tone exterior paint, physical buttons on the steering wheel, NACS charging, and a Tourer trim aimed at camping enthusiasts. According to Automotive News, other changes include updated software, vehicle-to-load functionality, and digital key integration. In the meantime, MOIA America is using the previous generation versions as robotaxis.

If you want to know where the power in tech currently lies, you only need to look at this photo of the head table at Donald Trump’s state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping. I see Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, AMD’s Lisa Su, Apple’s Tim Cook, and SpaceXaiTesla’s Elon Musk seated by the leaders of the world’s two superpowers. The CEOs and / or founders of Alphabet (Google), OpenAI, Microsoft, Amazon, Qualcomm, Micron, Dell, and… Zoom, were also in attendance.

The teaser came at the very end of tonight’s Semi re-launch, showing a brief flash of an illuminated light bar, followed by a glowing “Roadster” logo. Not much to go on, but we’ll likely see a lot more at the October 1st event.

The new EV has a range of up to 375 miles, accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds, and Reuters reports it starts at £173,000 / $230,000, a lower price than Ferrari’s poorly-received Luce. The Torcal might even sound like it has an gas engine — Bentley says it includes “Handcrafted propulsion sound performed by musicians inspired by the beat of a Bentley 6¾ litre V8.”

The AI agent can “manage your inbox, clean up your calendar, or talk through existing files/chat/tasks – all hands-free,” the company says. Some Tesla owners posted videos using Grok Bot to order Starbucks for them. The AI bot is only available to SuperGrok Heavy subscribers, who pay $300 a month for access. Bloomberg just reported that Grok Bot topped 400,000 weekly users roughly a month after launching.

“We haven’t announced pricing yet, but it will move materially lower,” Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said of the sporty hatchback of my (and many others) dreams, the R3, to the New York Times in a recent interview. “There’s a product beyond that, called R4, which again moves that further.” Wherefore R4? Perhaps one of these mystery vehicles teased a couple years ago?

Nearly a decade after it was first revealed, Tesla is planning on re-revealing the next-generation Roadster on October 1st. For real this time. Maybe? For those willing to take another chance, Tesla is now accepting $50,000 reservations again — $5,000 immediately, followed by a $45,000 wire transfer — about two weeks before the official re-reveal.

The EV company announced plans to sell 25,000 vehicles to Estonia-based mobility company Bolt for a robotaxi service in Europe. The robotaxi will be based on Lucid’s upcoming midsized Cosmos vehicle and will be Level 4 capable. This is Lucid’s second major robotaxi deal, after announcing plans to deploy 20,000 vehicles with Uber and Nuro in the US. With Lucid burning cash and facing heavy market pressure, these types of deals are a possible bridge to a more secure financial future.

The bill would require all new cars, including electric vehicles like Tesla, to be capable of receiving AM radio broadcasts. It now advances to the Senate, where a companion bill has already racked up 60 cosponsors. The bill’s main sponsor Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) celebrated the House passage in a statement:

The electric automaker has until September 30th to answer a series of questions about how its steering-wheel- and pedal-less Cybercab complies with federal safety standards.

The second-generation Tesla Roadster appears to be set for a reveal on October 1st. That’s nearly nine years since the prototype was first shown off in November of 2017, and we’re still probably at least another year or so out from availability.

Miami is looking like the next market for Elon Musk’s steering-wheel-less autonomous vehicles. But a few of the gold two-seaters were spotted in New York City — albeit with steering wheels and human safety monitors driving manually. It’s likely just a marketing maneuver, since fully autonomous vehicles are prohibited in New York. Governor Kathy Hochul recently reversed a decision to allow Waymo to deploy its vehicles outside the city after pushback from labor groups.

YouTuber Josh West thought he was going to show his wife a good time by booking a Cybercab for their date night in Austin. Instead, a hard-braking episode left her with a sore neck, and then the Cybercab tried to drop them off in an empty parking lot at night. “Kind of wonky,” an amiable West says. “Definitely work left to do.”

After taking the wraps off its all-electric SkyNomad SUVs in July, Xiaomi has officially launched the four-car lineup in China, which starts at RMB 209,900 (~$31,275) for the N70 Pro model.

Some of the pro-Tesla content creators that the company invited to its closed-door Cybercab event are starting to post their first rides.

Right now, Tesla is holding a private event with a bunch of pro-Tesla influencers to celebrate the “launch” of its autonomous Cybercab vehicle. But in a break from the past, the company is not livestreaming the event. Several influencers posted on X that the company made them sign NDAs and barred them from posting any content until the event is over. Not really the sign of confidence a lot of investors were looking for!

According to the company’s newly launched Robotaxi website, children under the age of 13 are not permitted to ride in the Cybercab — even if they’re riding with an adult. Kids between the ages of 8-13 are allowed in Tesla’s Model Y robotaxis, but only when riding with an adult. And those under 8 are not allowed at all. Even stranger, the Cybercab’s compliance documents (PDF) include detailed instructions for installing child seats. Which is it, Elon?

We still have no word on when this supposed event is taking place. All we know is that it’s in Austin, which predictably has seen a surge of gilded Cybercabs hit the streets. Reuters says it’s supposed to start at 5:45PM ET, citing a Cybercab engineer’s tweet that I can’t seem to verify. Either way, we’ll be monitoring the event and will hopefully have more updates to share later today.

Hat tip to investor Reilly Brennan, who noted in his Future of Transportation newsletter that Waymo software engineer Reed Morse has been beefing with Tesla fans on X over sensors and service area maps. Morse said Tesla is “mostly bluffing” its way through its upcoming Cybercab launch. It’s just more evidence that despite being the undisputed leader in driverless robotaxis, Waymo still feels the need to point out the fallacies in Tesla’s approach to robotaxis.