Electric Cars

Following mounting pressure, European officials have recommended the bloc drop its 2035 ban on new gas cars, instead aiming for a 90 percent reduction in emissions from new vehicles, leaving room for a few hybrids to still hit the market. The change will still have to pass the EU parliament.

The company’s decision to cut off CarPlay and Android Auto hasn’t exactly been popular. While GM isn’t backing down anytime soon, some industrious drivers are working to bring back support. A reasonably complicated open-source hack involving hardware and sideloaded software adds Wireless CarPlay to newer models like the Equinox EV.

Trump was talking about Japanese kei cars, specifically, but Stellantis is hoping his good will extends to Italian quadricycles like the Fiat Topolino. The automaker says it will bring the micro-EV to the US sometime next year, but I’m not convinced American car buyers will be as charmed as the president. Last year, Fiat had to pause production of the slightly larger 500e after record-low sales. At one point Fiat dealers were practically trying to give them away.

Footage of Tesla’s humanoid Optimus robot falling over at the company’s Autonomy Visualized event is raising questions over its, well, autonomy. We can’t be sure, but it certainly looks like a teleoperator removing a VR headset.

Continuing the trend of car influencers falling in love with Chinese EVs, MKBHD got behind the wheel of a Xiaomi SU7 and walked away wondering if US automakers were “cooked.” Well, not yet. The SU7 might cost roughly $42,000 and handle like $75,000 car, but it’s also not available in the US... At least not outside of video games.

The EV maker showcased a limited-run “Miami Edition” of the Rivian R1S at Miami Art Week, a white body with splashes of vibrant blue and pink that I’d love to see more of for standard models. Wallpaper also reports that Rivian is releasing a fragrance during the event that’s “inspired by diverse landscapes from alpine to canyon to forest.”

Last month Musk promised there would be “500 or more” of the (supervised) Robotaxis in Texas by the end of the year. Today he told an X user the fleet should “roughly double next month.” But given best estimates put the current number of cars around 30, double that is... nowhere near 500.

October sales are down 48.5 percent across Europe compared to 2024, according to data released by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association on Tuesday. For the year, Tesla’s sales are down about 30 percent in the region, while industrywide EV sales jumped 26 percent. While the company’s car business struggled, Elon Musk was focused on robots and winning shareholder approval for his newly minted $1 trillion pay package.

A woman died and her husband was seriously injured after first responders struggled to retrieve them from a burning Model 3, according to a new lawsuit filed against the company. The crash took place January 2023 in Washington state and is the latest to allege that Tesla’s door handle design is trapping people inside their vehicles.

The Gravity Touring, with 337 miles of range and a native NACS charging port for Tesla Supercharger access, will start at $79,900 (excluding destination fees). That puts Lucid’s SUV in direct competition with a host of luxury EVs, including the Rivian R1S, BMW iX, Polestar 3, and Tesla Model X.

The company was awarded a ridehailing permit by the state’s Department of Transportation, which clears the way for Tesla to launch a robotaxi service — potentially without safety drivers. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said he wants to launch in 8-10 new markets before the end of 2025.

It’s without a head chef, as Eric Greenspan cuts ties after his 15 minutes of fame (infamy?) to open Jewish deli Mish.

The parent company of Jeep, Dodge, and Ram was one of the last to say it would adopt the North American Charging Standard, or NACS, for its EVs. So as such, its one of the last to finally flip the switch and allow its EV owners to charge at Tesla Supercharger stations.

Tesla might be about to give in and adopt Apple’s CarPlay system in its cars. It’s a welcome change, but somehow I suspect this commenter isn’t the only one holding out on a Model Y purchase for slightly different reasons.

The joint venture, which operates under the official name Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies, is prepping its first prototypes for winter testing in the first quarter of 2026, InsideEVs reports. These include VW, Audi, and Scout test mules equipped with zonal architectures, with consolidated ECUs and less wiring. The first crop of passenger vehicles will also be Audi, Scout, and VW branded models, including the VW’s ultra-low cost ID.EVERY1. Audi and Scout will feature three zonal ECUs, like the second-generation R1T and R1S vehicles, while the VW ID.EVERY1 will come with just one zonal ECU.

It’s been almost two years since the German automaker said it was adopting Tesla’s NACS standard for its electric vehicles. And at last, long after pretty much all the other automakers have already adopted the standard, VW is following through. Starting November 18th, VW ID.4 and ID Buzz owners can buy a NACS adapter online or from their local dealer for $200, which they can then use to fast charge at any of the 25,000 Supercharger outlets in North America. That’s super!

Just hours after Tesla’s former Cybertruck chief announced he would be stepping down, Model Y program manager Emmanuel Lamacchia said on LinkedIn that he’s also leaving the company, Electrek reports.

Siddhant Awasthi, who was also in charge of the Model 3 program, announced his departure on LinkedIn after three years overseeing the Cybertruck’s dismal rollout. A recent recall notice shows that just 63,619 have been sold in the US since its 2023 launch — far from the 250,000 annual sales that Elon Musk once predicted.

The long-delayed, next-gen Roadster is maybe, finally going to see the light of day, Elon Musk said during the company’s shareholder meeting Thursday.

Elon Musk just floated the idea of a chip fabrication facility, or “tera-fab,” to keep up with Tesla’s own demand for semiconductors. He was speaking during the company’s annual shareholder meeting, where he just was awarded a $1 trillion pay package tied to growing Tesla’s value by orders of magnitude.