Electrek

This is a special episode of the Electrek podcast in which we dive into Elon Musk’s comments from last night requesting a 25% stake in Tesla in order to advance AI at the company, which he himself described as an AI/robotics company. The Electrek podcast is generally live every Friday at 4 PM ET, but we are making a special episode today to discuss a strange situation. If you want a primer before the podcast, you can read my article from last night: Elon Musk complains about his smaller stake in…

Here are the Top 3 stories about solar industry happenings that Electrek readers got most excited about in 2023. In an agrivoltaic study I reported on in March, UCLA engineers put a semi-transparent solar roof on a greenhouse, and some pretty cool things happened with the roof and the plants. It may look insignificant in the photo, but it’s got significant implications. It’s a fun solar story with impact, and it’s worth checking out if you haven’t read it. You can read the solar…

We’re still decompressing after an exciting last week at the Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix. While we’ve sponsored the event before, as the new title sponsor of the event, we decided to bring a team out and really go behind the scenes. As a background, the Formula Sun Grand Prix is part of the American Solar Challenge. On years when the ASC is held, FSGP serves as the qualifier event. FSGP is a yearly event that pits various universities from the US and abroad against each other in two…

We’re off to Topeka‘s Heartland Motorsports Park as the top North American engineering schools “scrutineer” their vehicles ahead of the big races this weekend. Along with all of the students, administration, and Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix staff, we’d like to thank our other sponsors: Tesla, Blue Origin, Heartland Motorsports Park, MathWorks, and Altair. If you are in the area and want to geek out on solar, batteries, and electric propulsion with some of the best young minds in the…

Tesla has begun running some Google ads for the first time following Elon Musk’s statement that the automaker would try advertising. Last month, CEO Elon Musk announced a reversal of his long-standing strategy that Tesla doesn’t spend on advertising but instead spends money to improve the products – counting on owners to spread the word. Tesla investors have often suggested to the CEO that some advertising to highlight certain features and benefits of Tesla vehicles could be worth it. At…

Taking place in Topeka, Kansas, from June 27 through July 2 at Heartland Motorsports Park, this year’s Electrek Formula Sun Gran Prix puts an international group of 22+ school’s solar vehicle teams against each other in an on-track race. The solar cars will be on the track June 30, 10 am to 6 pm, and July 1-2, 9 am to 5 pm, completing as many laps as possible on solar power. Admission is free, and we will be there. Join us! EVs, solar, batteries, engineering, college teams, racing… This is…

Elon Musk-run Tesla is once again making an attempt to encourage owners of older Model S and Model X vehicles, who have been enjoying the benefit of "unlimited free Supercharging for life", to relinquish this perk by proposing a new offer.In the initial years of selling its Model S and Model X vehicles, Tesla had an attractive offer for its customers -- free Supercharging for the lifetime of their vehicle. This offer was a significant selling point for the company, as it essentially meant that users could power their…

Electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc has sold out its Model Y for this quarter in the United States, with no more production builds until April, Electrek reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. The expected delivery date for the fully electric, mid-sized sports utility vehicle (SUV) to U.S. customers is now April-June 2023, the carmaker's website showed, while the delivery schedule for Model S is February- March. This comes after Tesla cut prices globally in January by as much as 20% with the Model Y priced at…

This week on the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. This week, we discuss all the EV news coming out of CES, Tesla delivery numbers, a cheaper Tesla Model Y, and more. The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel. As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.…

Elon Musk-run Tesla has announced that it is planning to hold 'Investor Day' on March 1, 2023, where it will discuss a new vehicle platform.The company shared the information on Twitter in which it said, "We plan to host Tesla's 2023 Investor Day on March 1, 2023"."The event will be live streamed from our Gigafactory Texas, with option for our institutional & retail investors to attend in person (details to follow)," it added.The company said that its investors will be able to see their most advanced production line…