As Elon Musk steps away, yet again, from the idea of a $25,000 Tesla, lets take this opportunity to zoom out and appreciate what a truly affordable EV can be. For this we need to ignore the Nissan Leafcurrently the cheapest EV in the US at $29,280and skip over Europe, home to the adorable but flawed $10,000 Citroen Ami, and head to China.

Here youll find the equally cheap BYD Seagull, a small electric hatchback styled by ex-Lamborghini designer Wolfgang Egger and with a 200-mile rangefour times that of the Ami.

But what if even that is too expensive? Then allow us to present the Zhidou Rainbow. This is a compact city EV priced from 31,900 yuan before subsidiesthat's just $4,400. For a new electric car. WIRED literally recommends ebikes that cost more that this.

The Rainbow has three doors and four seats, and an interior with a 5-inch digital driver display and a 9-inch touchscreen for the infotainment system. Theres even a connected smartphone app, charge scheduling, and the promise of over-the-air (OTA) software updates.

Splash out on the flagship Color Cloud Edition (which costs $5,800, or about half the price of Porsches fanciest bicycle) and you can have each panel of your Rainbow painted a different color. A bit like Volkswagen did with the somewhat mad Polo Harlequin in the mid '90s.

There are two models on offer. The first has that headline $4,400 price tag and is powered by a 20-kW (27-horsepower) motor with 85 Nm (63 ft-lbs) of torque and fed by a tiny 9.98-kWh battery. Spend 39,900 yuan ($5,500) and your Rainbow is fitted with a 30-kW (40-horsepower) motor with 125 Nm of torque and a 17-kWh battery pack. Range is between 78 and 127 miles using Chinas generous CLTC testing standard.

Be under no illusion here, these are tiny numbers. Even the larger battery is the same capacity of that of a plug-in hybrid Honda CR-V, which also employs a 2.0-liter engine to help it get around. But the range isnt terrible. Even if the testing standard is generous, and the larger battery has a more realistic range of 100 miles, thats about the same as the Honda e, which cost a whopping 37,000 ($46,000) before it went off sale at the end of 2023.

There are two Rainbow models: One powered by a 20-kW (27-horsepower) motor fed by a tiny 9.98-kWh battery; and a pimped 30-kW (40-horsepower) motor version with 17-kWh battery.

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As Elon Musk Abandons the $25K Tesla, This EV Costs Just $4400 - WIRED

Elon'sfather is an engineer and like Elon, was born in South Africa. In the 2015 biography Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, author Ashlee Vance wrotethat Elon and his dad had a difficult relationship.In an emotional 2017 Rolling Stone interview, Elon criticized his father and talked about his upbringing, saying that after his parents split, he moved in withhis dad, which, he said,"was not a good idea."

However, Errol toldRolling Stone,"I love my children and would readily do whatever for them."

In a 2015 Forbesinterview, Elon's dad said he used to take his kids on trips overseas. "Their mother and I split up when they were quite young and the kids stayed with me," he said. "I took them all over the world."

After divorcing Elon's mother Maye, Errol married Heide, whose daughterJana Bezuidenhoutwas 4 years old at the time. Errol and Heide went on to havetwo daughters together beforethey, too, broke up.

Years later, Jana reached out to Errol following a breakup. "We were lonely, lost people," Errol explainedin a 2018 interview with The Sunday Times. "One thing led to anotheryou can call it God's plan or nature's plan." Either way, the duo welcomed son Elliott in 2017 and then a baby girl in 2019. As Errol put it to The Sun, "The only thing we are on Earth for is to reproduce. If I could have another child I would. I can't see any reason not to."

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Elon Musk Shares Rare Photo of His and Grimes' Son X in Honor of His 4th Birthday - E! Online - E! NEWS

Elon Musk is no longer over-delivering like he used to, but he is still over-promising, according to a top economist, who pointed to the Tesla CEOs recent insistence that his EV company should be valued like an AI company.

In a Project Syndicate op-ed published on Wednesday, UC Berkeley economics professor and former Treasury official J. Bradford DeLong gave Musk credit for creating a historically important tech company thats the tip of the spear in the transition away from internal-combustion-engine vehicles.

Musks rocket company SpaceX also shows great promise, and he has proven to be an effective coach for engineers working on battery technologies, electric vehicles, and rocket science, DeLong added. Without him, those technologies would not have been pushed forward as much as they have.

In fact, while Musk has frequently over-promised, he over-delivered on those fronts, helping Teslas market cap and Musks personal wealth soar since the 2010s, DeLong said.

But more recently, he has shifted his focus from EVs, charger networks, and batteries to social media, artificial intelligence, and robotaxis.

Even as Musk vowed last month to accelerate plans to launch a new, lower-cost EV model that Wall Streets views as critical to its future, he also reaffirmed his robotaxi ambitions to develop a fleet of autonomous cars.

Meanwhile, Teslas surprise firing of its entire Supercharger team raised worries about the key network as well as the industrys future. This also comes amid slower EV demand, weaker sales, broader workforce cuts, a steep stock decline, and an exodus of senior leadership.

Yet while the over-promising has continued, the over-delivering has not, DeLong wrote. The fundraiser, cheerleader, and coach for teams developing real technologies has become a meme-stock carnival barker.

He pointed to last months Tesla earnings conference call, where Musk exhorted Wall Street analysts to value his company more like a robotics or AI company instead of an auto company. In particular, Tesla should be viewed almost entirely in terms of solving autonomy and being able to apply that to a gigantic fleet of cars, the CEO added.

But DeLong noted that more than 80% of Teslas first-quarter sales were from automotive revenues, adding that car manufacturing has nowhere near the marginal costs of an IT company, which can write code once and run it everywhere.

For all the current Tesla shareholders planning to offload their holdings in the next couple of years, everything hinges on the company succeeding as a meme stock, and Musk is diligently working toward that goal, DeLong warned. Since there are virtually no long-term Tesla shareholders, the market does not particularly care that the company lacks a CEO who is trying to build it into an enduring profit-making organization.

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Elon Musk has turned Tesla into a meme stock as he tells Wall Street to value the EV maker like an AI company, top ... - Fortune

After years of delays and stumbles, Boeing is finally poised to launch astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA.

Its the first flight of Boeings Starliner capsule with a crew on board, a pair of NASA pilots who will check out the spacecraft during the test drive and a weeklong stay at the space station.

NASA turned to U.S. companies for astronaut rides after the space shuttles were retired. Elon Musks SpaceX has made nine taxi trips for NASA since 2020, while Boeing has managed only a pair of unoccupied test flights.

Boeing program manager Mark Nappi wishes Starliner was further along. Theres no doubt about that, but were here now.

The companys long-awaited astronaut demo is slated for liftoff Monday night.

Provided this tryout goes well, NASA will alternate between Boeing and SpaceX to get astronauts to and from the space station.

A look at the newest ride and its shakedown cruise:

THE CAPSULE

White with black and blue trim, Boeings Starliner capsule is about 10 feet (3 meters) tall and 15 feet (4.5 meters) in diameter. It can fit up to seven people, though NASA crews typically will number four. The company settled on the name Starliner nearly a decade ago, a twist on the name of Boeings early Stratoliner and the current Dreamliner.

No one was aboard Boeings two previous Starliner test flights. The first, in 2019, was hit with software trouble so severe that its empty capsule couldnt reach the station until thesecond tryin 2022. Then last summer, weak parachutes and flammable tape cropped up that needed to be fixed or removed.

THE CREW

Veteran NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are retired Navy captains who spent months aboard the space station years ago. They joined the test flight after the original crew bowed out as the delays piled up. Wilmore, 61, is a former combat pilot from Mount Juliet, Tennessee, and Williams, 58, is a helicopter pilot from Needham, Massachusetts. The duo have been involved in the capsules development and insist Starliner is ready for prime time, otherwise they would not strap in for the launch.

Were not putting our heads in the sand, Williams told The Associated Press. Sure, Boeing has had its problems. But we are the QA (quality assurance). Our eyes are on the spacecraft.

THE TEST FLIGHT

Starliner will blast off on United Launch Alliances Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It will be the first time astronauts ride an Atlas since NASAs Project Mercury, starting with John Glenn when he became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. Sixty-two years later, this will be the 100th launch of the Atlas V, which is used to hoist satellites as well as spacecraft.

Were super careful with every mission. Were super, duper, duper careful with human missions, said Tory Bruno, CEO of ULA, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Starliner should reach the space station in roughly 26 hours. The seven station residents will have their eyes peeled on the approaching capsule. The arrival of a new vehicle is a really big deal. You leave nothing to chance, NASA astronaut Michael Barratt told the AP from orbit. Starliner will remain docked for eight days, undergoing checkouts before landing in New Mexico or elsewhere in the American West.

STARLINER VS. DRAGON

Both companies capsules are designed to be autonomous and reusable. This Starliner is the same one that made the first test flight in 2019. Unlike the SpaceX Dragons, Starliner has traditional hand controls and switches alongside touchscreens and, according to the astronauts, is more like NASAs Orion capsules for moon missions. Wilmore and Williams briefly will take manual control to wring out the systems on their way to the space station.

NASA gave Boeing, a longtime space contractor, more than $4 billion to develop the capsule, while SpaceX got $2.6 billion. SpaceX already was in the station delivery business and merely refashioned its cargo capsule for crew. While SpaceX uses the boss Teslas to get astronauts to the launch pad, Boeing will use a more traditional astrovan equipped with a video screen that Wilmore said will be playing Top Gun: Maverick.

One big difference at flights end: Starliner lands on the ground with cushioning airbags, while Dragon splashes into the sea.

THE FUTURE

Boeing is committed to six Starliner trips for NASA after this one, which will take the company to the stations planned end in 2030. Boeings Nappi is reluctant to discuss other potential customers until this inaugural crew flight is over. But the company has said a fifth seat will be available to private clients. SpaceX periodically sells seats to tycoons and even countries eager to get their citizens to the station for a couple weeks.

Coming soon: Sierra Spaces mini shuttle, Dream Chaser, which will deliver cargo to the station later this year or next, before accepting passengers.

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Boeing is about to face a big test after falling behind Elon Musk's SpaceX - Fortune

We are getting more information on the ongoing layoffs at Tesla. Several employees describe the situation as Elon Musk throwing his weight around to solidify his status after being mostly absent over the last year.

But he is coming in like a dangerous wrecking ball.

Sources familiar with the matter told Electrek that Musk was not as frequently present at Tesla as he used to be over the last year and since his acquisition of Twitter.

That has changed over the last few weeks.

Musk is now all over Tesla or at least, his presence is being felt everywhere at Tesla.

It started with the first wave of layoffs two weeks ago. Musk announced that Tesla would be laying off about 10% of its workforce and used his usual excuse of growing the headcount too fast, resulting in hiring inefficiencies with duplicate jobs.

However, when we first heard about those plans a day prior, we heard that the layoffs could be closer to 20% of the workforce.

Sure enough, the layoffs are still ongoing.

Tesla started another wave of layoffs this week including the entire charging organization.

Now, Electrek has learned that Musk also gutted Teslas cathode material manufacturing team in Texas.

It started with Anthony Thurston, Senior Manager, Cathode Materials & Manufacturing at Tesla, earlier this month, but Electrek has learned that Musk has now let go of most of the team.

Sources familiar with the matter describe a difficult situation at Tesla right now. Uncertainty, confusion, and frustration are the main feelings going around the offices.

Several sources confirmed that there are rumors around Tesla that the vehicle engineering and design departments are next.

During Teslas earnings call last week, Musk commented a bit more on the layoffs. This time, he said it was about reorganizing the company:

Weve made some corrections along the way. But it is time to reorganize the company for the next phase of growth and you really need to reorganize it.

Analysts and Tesla fans are trying to understand the logic behind some of these moves and the firing of almost the entire charging organization, around 500 people, has been hard to understand for most people.

Musk said that Tesla still plans to grow the Supercharger network but with a focus on existing stations:

We reported that Tesla has already backed out of leases for new Supercharger stations.

Sources say that Tesla will have issues continuing to grow the network without the organization of Rebecca Tinucci, Teslas former head of charging.

In the past, Tesla rehired people it fired after realizing that it couldnt get the work done without them.

This is raising questions about the logic behind some of the layoffs and their efficacy.

Sources familiar with the matter believe that some of the layoffs have nothing to do with hiring inefficiencies or restructuring, but rather with Musk throwing his weight around Tesla.

Two sources told Electrek that Tinucci was fighting back pressure from Musk to fire a bigger percentage of her team, and the CEO decided to let go of the entire team as an example.

Musk wrote in an email to executives on Sunday:

Hopefully, these actions are making it clear that we need to be absolutely hard-core about headcount and cost reduction. While some on exec staff are taking this seriously, most are not yet doing so.

The message is clear: fire people as many people as Im asking, or you and your entire team will be gone.

This is clearly about more than hiring inefficiency and restructuring. Musk is cleaning house. It could be that he has serious concerns about the economy and lack of reversal for Teslas sales in the short term, but he didnt go into that in the earnings call last week.

It could be about more than that. I dont know if I completely agree with the theory that Musk is securing his leadership position at Tesla, but it is a viable theory.

As I previously presented, the vote on his compensation package is turning into a vote of confidence in the CEO.

These layoffs are useful for him on that front. A lot of the leadership is gone. With every leader leaving, Musk becomes more needed at Tesla. Also, it doesnt hurt that all these leaders are unloading their stocks, which wont be voted against him.

However, it raises the question: is it actually good for Tesla?

The Supercharger team did something incredible: build the only successful and liked fast-charging network in North America, which is critical to EV adoption.

Firing the entire team because the head was pushing back on the number of layoffs is ridiculous, especially if the plan is still to grow the network. Tesla needs to grow the network since it is currently onboarding other automakers on it. Even if Tesla sees its own sales slowing down, the Supercharger network will need a capacity increase.

Everyone I talked to at Tesla says that it is a complete mess. Contractors for most ongoing Supercharger projects lost their point of contact at Tesla. Again, many suspect Tesla will try to rehire some of the workers fired.

Tesla has hiring inefficiencies leading to layoffs and layoffs inefficiencies leading to new hires.

Its not a good look.

The only way I can get behind Musk on this is if Teslas financials are really in the dumpster. It doesnt look that bad right now based on the financial statements, but its not impossible that Tesla has internal numbers, like orders coming in, that look awful.

Some of this reminds me of Tesla in 2019. Things were looking pretty good, but Tesla launched a huge cost-cutting effort. We later learned that Tesla was on the verge of bankruptcy because it didnt anticipate how costly it would be to launch Model 3 in high volume in Europe.

The long transit time put a lot of financial pressure on Tesla, and the cost-cutting effort was intended to compensate for that Musk didnt communicate to shareholders until later.

Maybe theres something similar going on that we dont know about, but at the same time, Tesla is in a completely different situation right now, sitting on $27 billion in cash.

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Elon Musk is throwing his weight around Tesla, comes in like a wrecking ball - Electrek

Posted in: Max, Movies, Opinion, streaming, TV, TV | Tagged: elon musk, harry potter, jk rowling, max, opinion

As Warner Bros. Discovery continues work on its Harry Potter series, Elon Musk wonders if J.K. Rowling could post more "positive content."

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Ever since Warner Bros. Discovery announced back in April 2023 that they would be teaming up with bestselling author J.K. Rowling on a multi-season adaptation of Rowling's "Harry Potter" novels, we've been looking at the project on different levels. From a series standpoint, there are the usual question marks surrounding the cast, writers, directors, etc. But Rowling being directly in the mix creates a whole other level of concern and the vast majority of that has to do with her viewson trans women and the seemingly endless (and quite often nasty) engagement that she engages in on social media. And that's raised questions about how WBD will handle the questions that it's going to get as well as the show's cast & creative team as production officially gets underway. We've already seen Rowling's recent comments regarding original stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint's position on trans women, bringing a response from Radcliffe that doesn't sound like he plans on working with her anytime soon not a good sign for WBD. In fact, you know WBD is about to have a major issue on its hands when even Twitter/X owner Elon Musk is telling Rowling to lighten up.

Before anyone starts crowing Musk for being bold about anything, he makes it clear in his response to Rowling that "I heartily agree with your points regarding sex/gender." Musk's concern? He wishes she would be "posting interesting and positive content on other matters." Well, it turns out that Rowling did just that though noting that she didn't do it because she was told to. And it didn't last long, based on what's come out of her account after the recent one that we screencapped below:

In February of this year, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav offered an update on the series during a corporate call. "We've not been shy about our excitement around Harry Potter. The last film was made more than a dozen years ago," Zaslav shared, revealing that the series is expected to hit screens in 2026. From there,Zaslav revealed that he and some other big names from WBD had recently met with Rowling in London to discuss the project. "I was in London a few weeks ago with Casey [HBO & Max head Casey Bloys] and Channing [WBD TV head Channing Dungey], and we spent some real time with J.K. and her team. Both sides are thrilled to be reigniting this franchise. Our conversations were great, and we couldn't be more excited about what's ahead," Zaslav shared. "We can't wait to share a decade of new stories with fans around the world on Max."

The stories from each of Rowling's Harry Potter books will become (from the statement) "a decade-long series produced with the same epic craft, love, and care this global franchise is known for. The series will feature a new cast to lead a new generation of fandom, full of fantastic detail, much-loved characters, and dramatic locations that Harry Potter fans have loved for over twenty-five years. Each season will be authentic to the original books and bring Harry Potter and these incredible adventures to new audiences around the world, while the original, classic, and beloved films will remain at the core of the franchise and available to watch globally."

Speaking with Variety earlier this year, Warner Bros. TV Group head Channing Dungey offered an update on where things stood as initial creative planning began. "We're in conversations with a number of different writers to figure out who's going to be the person to lead that franchise for us," Dungey shared while also pushing back on reports that casting is already underway. "The first step for us is figuring out who this showrunner is going to be, and once we get that locked down, then we can start having those [casting] conversations." Dungey added, "The tricky part is the first two books, where the kids are on the younger end, around 11 or 12."

That same month, reports hit that writers Tom Moran, Kathleen Jordan, Martha Hillier, Michael Lesslie, and others were commissioned by the streaming service to pitch their takes on a series adaptation. Rumblings were that the first round of pitches took place in Los Angeles, with the top picks moving on to pitch in the UK. In addition, it's said that the streamer is "open to the possibility of developing more than one idea based on Harry Potter" and that more than one writer from the pitching process could end up coming aboard the project. That brought us to February, with sources reporting that Francesca Gardiner, Moran & Jordan are the three contenders, with each reportedly having the opportunity to work on their final pitches before a decision is made (reportedly in June).

The stories from each of Rowling's Harry Potter books will become (from the statement) "a decade-long series produced with the same epic craft, love, and care this global franchise is known for. The series will feature a new cast to lead a new generation of fandom, full of fantastic detail, much-loved characters, and dramatic locations that Harry Potter fans have loved for over twenty-five years. Each season will be authentic to the original books and bring Harry Potter and these incredible adventures to new audiences around the world, while the original, classic, and beloved films will remain at the core of the franchise and available to watch globally."

The series stems from Max in association with Bront Film and TV & Warner Bros. Television. Rowling, Neil Blair, and Ruth Kenley-Letts are set to executive produce, with David Heyman currently in talks to executive produce.

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Harry Potter: Even Elon Musk Is Telling J.K. Rowling to Lighten Up - Bleeding Cool News

J.K. Rowling has been on the anti-trans train for years, but her ramblings have gotten so exhausting that even anti-LGBT loudmouth Elon Musk wants her to move on.

Replying to a verbose (700+ words!) post by the Harry Potter author from nearly a month ago, Musk voiced his agreement with the general thrust of her pointswhich amounted to several blocks of reheated ideas on why she thinks transgender women arent womenbut gently guided her to other endeavors.

While I heartily agree with your points regarding sex/gender, may I suggest also posting interesting and positive content on other matters? the billionaire, who has tirelessly platformed right-wingers and fascists, wrote.

Post-Harry Potter success, the authors most notable writing has certainly been her trans-exclusionary points on feminism. Musk has had his own slew of unhinged anti-trans Twitter rampages over the years, but hes also boosted other types of hate as well, including antisemitic conspiracy theories, misinformation about the IQs of Black people, and the white supremacist conspiracy theory that immigrants are taking over the country.

Perhaps, in Musks opinion, one of those topics would be better suited to Rowlings literary gifts.

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J.K. Rowling Is So Transphobic Even Elon Musk Wants Her to Shut Up - The Daily Beast

Elon Musks latest cost-cutting victims: Summer interns.

Tesla Inc. is rescinding offers just weeks before internships were set to start, prompting aspiring employees to take to LinkedIn to appeal to other employers to take them in.

At 8:46am, I opened aTeslaemail for flight info. By 11:25am, my internship offer was gone,wroteMiami University student Joshua Schreiber, who said his start date was three weeks away and that he had already spent thousands on housing.

Schreiber, like many other would-be Tesla interns, are getting dangerously close to the end of the school year. They say the surprise calls from Tesla informing students that their offers no longer stand haveleft them without a lot of time to find replacement gigs for the summer.

In one instance, a current Tesla employee posted on LinkedIn, asking her own virtual network to step up and nab one of the interns that was meant to start soon at the carmaker. Please make our loss your gain!wroteDiana Rosenberg, whoworks inbattery supply at Tesla, according to her profile.

Rosenberg blamed the decision to rescind the intern offer on the massive layoffs unfolding at the carmaker.

Last month, Musk announced that Tesla had made the difficult decision to reduce our headcount by more than 10% globally. Since then,several executives have left the company as Musk has pushed for further cuts. Most of the companys 500-person Supercharger division and its newly formed marketing division have been axed, Bloomberg News has reported.

People familiar with Musks thinking have said the billionaire isdetermined to cut head count amid sagging electric vehicle sales and big expenditures for his Robotaxi dreams. They say Musk is targeting a 20% reduction, Bloomberg reported.

Revoking intern offersisnt likely to save Tesla much money. At least one of the posts was for an unpaid position, while paid internships at the automaker typically offer $18 to $28 an hour, according to data from Glassdoor.

But the decisions will have an impact in the companys hiring pipeline:More than3,000 university and community college students from around the world are hired for Tesla internships each year, according to the companys lastImpact Report.Perform meaningful work from day one, reads thecompanys intern website.

The move has also delivered a stark life lesson tothe students.

Rejection is redirection,wroteBrook Gura, a communications student at the University of Texas at Austin, who said that she got a call that her offer was yanked three weeks before her start date as part of the companys mass layoffs. While I am incredibly disappointed that I will not have the summer I intended to have, I know that this moment will only help me grow stronger as a professional.

Gura, Schreiber and Rosenberg declined to comment beyond their posts. Musk didnt respond to a request for comment.

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Tesla slashes its summer internship program to cut costs, as Elon Musk fights to save his $45 billion pay plan - Fortune

Elon Musk is on the warpath. Now that the electric vehicle industry is no longer growing exponentially, hes pivoting toward robotics, having sacked more than a tenth of his workforce, shelved plans to build a low-cost car, and fired his head of fast charging.

While adjustments in headcount are inevitable, Musks decision to also sack Rebecca Tinuccis entire Supercharger teamwhile at the same time plowing $10 billion this year alone into anAI strategysparked confusion and bewilderment in the ranks of a Tesla community that once believed the company would grow EV sales tenfold from current levels by 2030.

What this means for the charging network, [Teslas proprietary charging standard] NACS, and all the exciting work we were doing across the industry, I dont yet know, wrote Will Jameson, formerly Teslas lead of strategic charging programs, whoconfirmeda report byThe Information. If Tesla is yielding the charging crown, who will step up?

Musks Supercharger network was long considered an unbeatable asset that would insulate Tesla from competitive pressures. Particularly in EV laggard North America, no other brand had access to such an extensive and, more important,reliablenetwork of fast chargers.

The process was also seamless: All Tesla owners had to do was plug in, and everything else was taken care of at the back enda premium no-hassle experience that set a benchmark for the market.

Musks decision to scrap the teamdeepened the riftbetween proponents of Teslas stated mission toaccelerate the advent of sustainable transportand Musk acolytes, who choose not to question a CEO who built the worlds most valuable carmaker from scratchagainst all odds.

The latter argue Tesla can afford to take its foot off the accelerator now that the rest of the U.S. industry adopted his plug and charging standard to grant their customers access to his network.

Responding to concerns from critics, Musk signaled he merely believes its time to adopt a different approach.

Tesla still plans to grow the Supercharger network, just at a slower pace for new locations and more focus on 100% uptime and expansion of existing locations, he wrote on the social media platform he owns, X.

Challenges remain, however, as the other half of the EV market in the U.S. that Musk doesnt control is reliant on Teslas existingthird-generationchargers and rollout of its new, fourth-gen service.

Competitor models are not compatible with the Supercharger V1 and V2 available at 12,000 stations around the country, meaning waits at the stations for those who need the newer ports.

Christoph Strmer, an electric mobility expert with Berlin-based Charging Interface Initiative (CharIN), pushed back against the notion that the hard part for Tesla was over, especially as more carmakers will now be directing their U.S. customers to its Superchargers.

The heavy lifting hasnt been done, since EVs areless than 2% of the existing fleetin the U.S. That leaves 98% still yet to be electrified, and the investment needed will be enormous, he toldFortune.

Teslas charging business needs to service twice as many customers, while complexity will effectively quadruple as it seeks to accommodate a range of different brands. So its team needs more resourcesnot less.

Tesla did not respond to aFortunerequest for comment.

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Elon Musk's shock firing of Supercharger team sparks broader fears about the future of the EV industry'Tesla is ... - Fortune

Elon Musk is a major player on the global stage, striking business deals, getting high-profile photo ops, and making enemies out of world leaders along the way.

Musk, the billionaire chief executive of Tesla and owner of X (formerly Twitter), jetted off to China earlier this week to meet with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in a bid to get self-driving cars approved in the country. The multi-billionaire went on a walk-and-talk with Qiang, and had a sit-down photo op that was reminiscent of the side-by-side chats that presidents of the United States enjoy with their counterparts.

While the surprise visit could yield more praise and approvals for Tesla in China, the worlds largest auto market, not everyone was thrilled with the trip. Musk had previously been scheduled to visit India and announce a $3 billion investment in a car plant, but ended up canceling the trip in favor of going to China.

Indias reaction to the snub has been anything but muted, with some questioning Musks opportunistic approach to foreign policy. The Mirror Now news ran a segment calling into question Musks moral code and ethos with the tagline: Shoddy ethics or simply business, according to Reuters. Digital news service News9 ran another segment that said: Hello China, Goodbye India?

Thats not the only international controversy Musk has ignited in recent months: The India affair comes on the heels of major feuds between the Tesla founder and the governments of Brazil, Australia, and Ukraine.

In Australia, the eSafety commissioner ordered Musks X to take down tweets that shared videos of a stabbing incident in Sydney in April. X only hid the posts from viewers in Australia, prompting the commissioner to bring a court case seeking an injunction. Musk faces fines upwards of AU$700,000 ($460,000) per day for each day the posts are online since the order was issued. The Australian Prime Minister has since lambasted Musk for being an arrogant billionaire who thinks he is above the law.

Supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro walk past flags with a portrait of tech tycoon Elon Musk during a rally.

Musk has also sparked fights in Brazil, where the Tesla founder has been railing against the government for what he says are actions that stifle free speech. Former President Jair Bolsonaros online supporters have been at the center of a probe from Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes for spreading fake news and hate speech. When Musk called a decision by the judge to ban 150 accounts aggressive censorship early last month, Moraes shot back, accusing Musk of waging a disinformation campaign against the court.

While this kind of wheeling and dealing on the world stage has catapulted Musk into a unique position of influence, lending him the ears of dictators, despots, and democratic leaders alike, its clear that he does not have any kind of overarching foreign policy, former diplomat Rose Jacksonnow the director of the Democracy and Tech Initiative at the Atlantic Councils Digital Forensic Research Labtold The Daily Beast.

I wouldnt call any of this a foreign policy for two different reasons. Number one, hes not a state. Number two, I dont think its intentional. Its not focused on any sort of cogent international strategy, Jackson said. I think every action can be understood as Elon Musk playing out his own interest in a variety of things. So his fight with Brazil, I think, is much more tied to his seeming affinity for [Jair] Bolsonaro, referring to Musks chummy relationship with the controversial ex-president.

Although his sparring in Brazil, or any number of other countries, might seem misguided or brash, Jackson defended the Tesla founders apparent motives in his feud with Australia.

In Australia, if anything, his response looks a lot more like what we would expect from the prior X, and is fair, actually, I think. It isnt appropriate for any single country to dictate to the entire world what is and is not accessible on the internet, Jackson said. But I don't think you could see that as part of a cohesive narrative.

Laura Thornton, the senior vice president of democracy at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, warned that Musks approach to foreign relations isnt just erratic, but risky.

It just looks like chaos. And its the kind of chaos thats dangerous because its not just one idiot that runs a big social media company, she told The Daily Beast. Its a billionaire who runs a social media company, and is building SpaceX, and has satellites, and Starlink and has huge defense contracts, and then makes antisemitic comments.

To me thats a very unstable situation, Thornton said.

Chaos Be Damned

Even so, Musks powerful platform and billionaire status loom large in the United States, where he may soon wield his influence in the presidential elections by wading into presidential endorsement. Puck reported that he has been weighing formalizing some of his posts on X into an endorsement, whether against President Joe Biden or for former President Donald Trump.

Colin Kahl, the former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy at the Pentagon, has said that it had become necessary to view Musk as a foreign statesman in order to negotiate with him over the use of Musks Starlink in Ukraine, according to The New Yorker.

In the weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, for instance, Musk said he thought Ukraine should be neutral while Russia invaded the country and tried to take over. The Kremlin showered him with praise as he parroted Moscows talking points that Ukraine should just roll over.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang meets with Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, in Beijing, capital of China, April 28, 2024.

But Musk hasnt necessarily been a consistent hardliner against Ukraine. Since the early days of the war, Musk has helped Kyiv by providing his Starlink units to Ukraine to help soldiers on the front line fighting Russians. As time wore on, those around him observed that he seemed to grow paranoid that his company was being used to wage war. Eventually, he wiggled his way out of what he perceived to be a tight spot: Musk shared in the fall that he had rejected a request from Ukraine to re-activate Starlink units to help with an attack on Russian forces, drawing ire from Kyiv.

And Musks warm relationship with China could yet become more heated as competitors in China are catching up with Tesla, The New York Times reported.

For a while there's been a strong interest in having a fairly cozy relationship with China because he was manufacturing there, Jackson said. That might change as China does what China does, which is let a foreign company in, compete with it, and then kill it.

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The Growing List of Global VIPs Who Detest Elon Musk - The Daily Beast

Some of the problems Tesla is facing including first-quarter profits that are down 9 percent from last year, stressful months for shareholders and layoffs of about a tenth of its work force are the result of factors affecting the electric vehicle industry as a whole. But many of Teslas troubles are unique to Tesla and the fact that its chief executive and co-founder, Elon Musk, is unique to the auto industry. Hes a Silicon Valley creature in a Detroit ecosystem who values innovation for its own sake, even at times when he could be more focused on safety and quality. His ethos and approach to running Tesla are embodied by his pet project, the Cybertruck.

Though it fits the technical definition of a truck (it has a bed), the vehicle looks more like an origami version of an El Camino. Mr. Musk suggested its stainless steel exterior might be bulletproof; some owners say it rusts.

Its not unusual for new car and truck models to have some flaws, but the Cybertruck, which has sold only about 4,000 units, was recalled recently because the accelerator had a sticking problem, which is sort of like a parachute having a gaping-hole-in-the-canopy problem. Some owners have reportedly gotten an alert that the vehicle may suddenly lose electrical power, steering and propulsion. And you may want to watch your fingers with the frunk (front trunk) and doors; they dont have industry standard sensors that can keep doors from snipping off someones digits. (The Cybertrucks lead engineer said the steel doesnt rust, and the company is working on the frunk issue.)

Tesla delayed the Cybertrucks release a few times in order, the company said, to fix design and manufacturing flaws, but Mr. Musks primary focus often appears to be the aesthetics of science fiction and the desire to be seen as edgy (perhaps literally so in the case of the Cybertruck, which is surprisingly devoid of curves for a machine that needs to be aerodynamic). This is a man who named his child X A-12, who rebranded Twitter as X and who endlessly engages in the performative subversion of posting antagonistic memes. Conventional automakers produce daring-looking concept cars, too, but theyre not made for mass production, and unlike the retro-futuristic Cybertruck, they are crafted with an eye toward what transport will look like in the future, not what the future looked like in the past.

Musks approach to innovation is in keeping with much of Silicon Valleys. The tech industry puts a cultural premium on shipping products to market quickly and worrying about the consequences of any unfinished work, harmful features or deficiencies after consumers complain or the company gets sued. Move fast and break things is intended as a battle cry against sclerotic institutions and norms, but sometimes things get broken that should have been protected, like consumer privacy and safety. Democracy, even.

The consequences may be negligible if the product is an entertainment app, but with cars and rockets, the stakes are terrifyingly high. Tesla gives the impression that it accepts certain risks as the price of innovation.

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Opinion | The Tesla Cybertruck Embodies All of Elon Musks Flaws - The New York Times

Why Elon Musk wants Tesla to stop being a car company.

On todays Decoder, Verge transportation editor Andy Hawkins and I try to figure out Tesla. The company has been on a real rollercoaster these past two weeks in terms of its stock price, its basic financials, and well, its vibes. With Elon Musk saying hes going all in on autonomy and announcing a robotaxi event in August, it seems like were getting closer to a make-or-break moment for the company.

Between when we recorded this episode and today, there have been more than a half dozen new updates in the Tesla saga, including another wave of layoffs. That is a lot of chaos for a company that is trying to execute a huge pivot to become a very different kind of business than it is today and do so very quickly. Like I said, Andy and I tried to explain Tesla. You let us know if we succeeded.

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Why Elon Musk wants Tesla to stop being a car company. - The Verge

Face ID and thumbprint unlock on phones might be convenient, but it could also grant police access to your whole digital life. Photo: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo

Last week, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California released a ruling that concluded state highway police were acting lawfully when they forcibly unlocked a suspects phone using their fingerprint. You probably didnt hear about it. The case didnt get a lot of coverage, especially because the courts werent giving a blanket green light for every cop to shove your thumb to your screen during an arrest. But its another toll of the warning bell that reminds you to not trust biometrics to keep your phones sensitive info private. In many cases, especially if you think you might interact with the police (at a protest, for example), you should seriously consider turning off biometrics on your phone entirely.

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Elon Musk all the time, Google layoffs, Saudi Arabia's troubled megacity - Quartz

Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, blindsided competitors, suppliers and his own employees this week by reversing course on his aggressive push to build electric vehicle chargers in the United States, a major priority of the Biden administration.

Mr. Musks decision to lay off the 500-member team responsible for installing charging stations, and to sharply slow investment in new stations, baffled the industry and raised doubts about whether the number of public chargers would grow fast enough to keep pace with sales of battery-powered cars. It put the onus on other charging companies, raising questions about whether they can build fast enough to address a shortage that appears to be discouraging some people from buying electric cars.

As the owner of the largest charging network in the United States, Tesla has a powerful effect on peoples views of electric cars.

There is certainly a psychological component, said Robert Zabors, a senior partner at Roland Berger, a consulting firm. Availability and reliability are critical to overall E.V. adoption.

Teslas change of direction, only days after it had told shareholders in a securities filing that it would rapidly expand its charging network, which it calls Supercharger, is likely to delay construction of fast chargers, which are concentrated along the two coasts and in parts of Texas.

Wildflower, a New York real estate developer, was on the verge of signing a lease with Tesla to build a charging center near the intersection of Interstates 278 and 495 in Queens. Then Adam Gordon, the firms managing partner, got a text message from the Tesla executive he had been working with.

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Tesla Pullback Puts Onus on Others to Build Electric Vehicle Chargers - The New York Times

Antisemitic Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes has been allowed back onto Twitter/X after his account was suspended following a barrage of conspiratorial and anti-Jewish posts.

Anti-racism watchdog, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which describes Fuentes as a white supremacist leader who has united disparate groups within what was until recently known as the alt right, said on Friday morning: We are concerned that white supremacist influencer Nick Fuentes may be officially welcomed back on X.

Musk replied to that post, saying the ADL is still fighting yesterdays battles, to which Fuentes argued: ADL lost, Patriots won.

X boss Elon Musk said on Thursday that Fuentess account will be reinstated, provided he does not violate the law, and let him be crushed by the comments and Community Notes. It is better to have anti whatever out in the open to be rebutted than grow simmering in the darkness.

Musk added, I cannot claim to be a defender of free speech, but then permanently ban someone who hasnt violated the law, no matter how much I disagree with what they say.

This will probably cause us to lose a lot of advertisers and makes me sad, but a principle is a principle, he said on the social media platform he bought in 2022 and renamed from Twitter.

When Fuentess account was reinstated on Saturday he tweeted, I look forward to reintroducing myself in my own words!

A notorious far-right commentator, Fuentes has advocated for the genocide of perfidious Jews and said in 2023, "they need to be given the death penalty, straight up."

The antisemite praised Hitler in 2023 as really f*cking cool. He added that this guys awesome, this guys cool.

He said, All I want is revenge against my enemies and a total Aryan victory. During a 2022 white nationalist conference, he favourably compared President Vladimir Putin to the Nazi leader: Now, [the media is] going and saying, Vladimir Putin is Adolf Hitler, as if that isnt a good thing.

Along with his antisemitism, Fuentes has said rape is not a big deal,

He gained further prominence when he joined the presidential campaign of antisemitic rapper Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) and had dinner with Ye and former President Donald Trump in 2022.

Fuentes was first banned from Twitter in 2021 for repeated violationsof the platforms policies on hateful content. Reddit, Spotify, TikTok and YouTube also banned him, and Fuentes blasted a concerted effort by leftists, conservative inc gatekeepers and silicon valley censors to silence him.

He was briefly returned to the platform by Musk in January 2023. The far-right commentator flooded his feed with antisemitic posts and was suspended again from X within the day.

Hate speech watchdogs have warned against extremists on social media and have advocated for deplatforming.

Speaking out against antisemitism on a recent trip to Auschwitz, Musk has repeatedly said he is committed to absolute free speech.

Fuentes thanked the X chief, tweeting, Thank you @elonmusk for reinstating my account and upholding your commitment to free speech.

The same day Musk said he would restore Fuentes he proposed a poll vote on deporting people who remove the American flag to fly another in its place. He has also previously threatened to sue the ADL, who have since praised him for saying he would ban two phrases common to pro-Palestinian protests decolonization, and from the river to the sea.

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Elon Musk welcomes antisemite Nick Fuentes back to Twitter - The Jewish Chronicle

Teslas sudden move to lay off most of its Supercharger division shocked the electric vehicle industry, halted construction plans, and left pretty much anyone paying attention baffled.

Wegovy and Ozempic: Are we ready for weight loss drugs?

Thats because the Austin, Texas-based automaker is a pretty big deal in the EV charging industry and not just because of how many cars it sells. The company delivered about 8% of the public charging capacity demanded across the world last year, according to BloombergNEF.

But that might all be in turmoil. In a letter to senior executives on Monday, Musk said he would ask any executive who retains more than three people who dont obviously pass the excellent, necessary and trustworthy test to resign. Rebecca Tinucci, the executive in charge of the Supercharger division, argued with Musk and tried to fire fewer workers than he asked for, Elecktrek reports. In return, the CEO decided to fire almost all of her 500-worker team as an example.

The move had instant ramifications.

Tesla reportedly backed out of four leases for upcoming Supercharger stations in New York City, while suppliers have found themselves left without contacts. Representatives at some major automakers, including Rivian, who have signed agreements to adopt Teslas North American Charging Standard (NACS) plugs have likewise lost their points of contact.

As contractors for the Supercharger network, my team woke up to a sharp kick in the pants this morning, Andres Pinter, co-CEO of Bullet EV Charging Solutions, told Reuters Tuesday. Pinter later told The Wall Street Journal that all 20 of his contacts at Tesla had been let go.

The move has also been heavily criticized, with experts noting that charging anxiety also known as range anxiety is one of the biggest issues holding back consumers from buying EVs. Quickly building more infrastructure across North America is seen as one of the few surefire ways to address those concerns, especially as EV sales growth slows.

Musk confirmed on Tuesday that Tesla will continue to grow the Supercharger network, just at a slower pace for new locations and more focus on 100% uptime and expansion of existing locations. Bloomberg reports that Tesla has already considered rehiring some of the laid-off workers to oversee the slower expansion.

Teslas Supercharger division is a big deal. The company operates 2,479 Supercharger stations with a collective 27,629 charging ports in North America, plus another 4,817 locations with 11,886 EV charging ports across its destination charging network, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Tesla was on track to earn $7.4 billion of the worldwide $127 billion EV charging industry by 2070, according to BloombergNEF. On a global basis, it has more than 57,000 Superchargers, which generated $1.74 billion of charging revenue in 2023. Thats about 1.5% of total revenue for the year and 17% of Teslas Services & Other segment.

The automaker has major deals to support charging for customers of other car companies, like Ford Motor Co. and General Motors. For now, none of the more than a dozen Western automakers that have signed deals with Tesla expect plans to change.

In addition to its deals to support other automakers, Tesla supplies companies with chargers at hotels and rest stops. The oil giant BP which recently trimmed its EV workforce has placed an order for $100 million worth of Superchargers to be installed in its U.S.-based pulse network. The chargers are set to be installed at TravelCenters of America, Amoco, and Thorntons sites.

Tesla is also a major recipient of U.S. grant money. The company has won almost 13% of all grants handed down by the Biden administration to EV charging companies to expand their networks, which comes out to more than $17 million. That cash was awarded to help Tesla build 41 charging stations in the U.S.

But that was before CEO Elon Musk decided he wanted to go absolutely hardcore about reducing Teslas headcount.

Firing the Supercharger team just as they are starting to get [National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure law] funding for new stations and other [manufacturers] are waiting to connect seems foolish and short-sighted, but thats not new for Elon, Guidehouse Insights analyst Sam Abuelsamid told DesignNews this week.

Tuesdays layoffs ensure that at least 14,500 Tesla workers have been laid off since April, although the real figure could stand at more than 20,000.

Tesla last month said it would cut more than 10% of its 140,000-person strong global workforce, or 14,000 workers at minimum. But Musk had reportedly pushed to lay off about 20% of the company an amount, he reasoned, that would match Teslas sales decline between the fourth quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024.

More than 20,000 people may have been laid off in that first round of headcount reductions, Bloomberg reported last month.

In addition to rank-and-file workers, at least six high-profile executives have reportedly have either already resigned or plan to later this year, including Tinucci and Daniel Ho, who had been at Tesla for more than 10 years and led its new products division until Tuesday.

Drew Baglino, who led powertrain and energy engineering, and Rohan Patel, who led Teslas public policy and business development team, resigned last month. Martin Viecha, Teslas head of investor relations, closed the companys first-quarter earnings call by announcing his resignation. And Allie Arebalo, Teslas head of human resources and one of the most senior women at Tesla, left the company this week.

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Elon Musk laid off Tesla's Supercharger team. The impact could be huge - Quartz

Elon Musk said he plans to reinstate the X account of white-nationalist activist and all-around problematic podcaster Nick Fuentes.

On X on Thursday, Musk caved to a users demand to make good on his promise and bring Fuentes back to the social media site, from which he has been banned for over a year.

Its unclear what Musks promise was, but the billionaire has seemingly been determined to bring as many far-right voices espousing dangerous conspiracy theories back to the platform as possible.

Very well, he will be reinstated, provided he does not violate the law, and let him be crushed by the comments and Community Notes, Musk wrote in a response to the demand. It is better to have anti whatever out in the open to be rebutted than grow simmering in the darkness.

Seth Dillon, the CEO of conservative satire website Babylon Bee and fervent Musk fanboy, touted the decision in a post on X.

You don't have to like what someone says to support their right to say it, he wrote. Anyone who isn't breaking the law (e.g., calling for violence, making threats, etc.) should be permitted to speak in the public square. If you don't like what they have to say, respond with more speech or tune them out.

Musk responded to the post, writing Exactly!

Of course, thanks to Xs algorithm, its unlikely that Fuentes speech would be buried by more speech, but rather be whisked away to a right-wing sub-communityor even promoted by the sites Who to Follow feature like Alex Jones, the far-right broadcaster and conspiracy theorist who was recently reinstated, even after being handed a series of legal judgements of more than $1 billion for a hoax campaign claiming that a 2012 school shooting in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, was faked.

The decision to reinstate Fuentes comes months after Musk himself faced criticism over alleged antisemitic statements, accusations the technology baron called bogus.

Fuentes was first kicked off the platform in July 2021. Before then, Twitter administrators were unwilling to ban the right-wing activist, even when he floated the idea to assassinate state legislators the day before the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. By the end of 2021 he was also banned from Facebook and YouTube.

Fuentes was unsuspended from the app for a single day in Jan. 2023, before being promptly banned yet again. According to Hannah Gais, a senior researcher at the Southern Poverty Law Center, Fuentes had tweeted several antisemitic comments immediately upon having his account reinstated.

He also shared a video promoting Kanye Wests 2024 presidential campaign, which included one of the rappers virulent antisemitic tweets, where he said he planned to go death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE, according to The Hill.

Since being banned, Fuentes has tried to remain on the site using a series of burner accounts, The Daily Beast reported in October.

A Holocaust denier, Fuentes marched alongside his fellow neo-Nazis at the deadly Unite The Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017. He was later invited to dine at Mar-a-Lago with former president Donald Trump and Kanye West in 2022.

Fuentes has previously said that he believes improving the rights of women and LGBTQ+ people constitutes the bastardized Jewish subversion of the American creed. The Founders never intended for America to be a refugee camp for nonwhite people. Fuentes started his America First livestream and podcast to deliver his hate speech directly to his followers, colloquially known as groypers.

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Elon Musk Wants To Bring Neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes Back to X - The Daily Beast