Tag: tesla

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Rivian Joins the Plug Club

Last week I wondered how other EV manufacturers would fare in the sudden rapid adoption of Tesla’s “NACS” charger plug: “Only time will tell but the dominoes are falling.” https://timemachiner.io/2023/06/13/teslas-supercharger-superpowers/ Now today Rivian has announced they’ll switch from CCS to NACS beginning next year. This adds a third non-Tesla manufacturer to the list of companies outright changing the types of plugs on their cars. Jonathan M. Gitlin at Ars Technica has more. [T]oday Rivian revealed that it, too, is switching from CCS to NACS, Tesla’s competing standard, in 2024. Unlike the two automakers that preceded it, Rivian did not have…

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Tesla’s Supercharger Superpowers

For all the ways in which Tesla’s CEO is a buffoon, there’s a prior stroke of genius reverberating today. In its attempts to be competitive in the EV space, Tesla built out its supercharger network and has used its ease as a major selling point. It has worked. For years, it’s been Tesla’s charging port (NACS) vs CCS plugs. Now though Tesla is about to become the de facto standard for all public charging in the US. Aarian Marshall at Wired has more Yesterday, it was General Motors CEO Mary Barra’s turn to make a Twitter Spaces appearance. (Barra had…

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Stupid Summon

For all the whiz-bang features Tesla keeps pumping into its cars via software updates, there are many that do not live up to the hype. Full self driving with AutoPilot has been shown to still be in its infancy regardless of what Elon Musk promises. Another feature that is quite rough around the edges is the Smart Summon feature. This is supposed to summon your car to you automatically without anyone driving. The idea is if you want to get into your car but not walk to it, your car will come to you. Well, what everyone failed to realize…

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For Whom The Tweet Trolls

Twitter. Elon Musk. Insert sigh. Yeah, it’s been a lot over the past two weeks with these two. It’s difficult to go into the entire Elon / Twitter fiasco because I simply can’t gauge how much this affects or even is on the radar of people who aren’t fully in tune with social media. The true TL;DR is Elon bought a ton of Twitter stock. Twitter, knowing this could be bad, offered him a board seat in exchange for not buying more. Elon said yes. Celebrate. Elon says no a few days later. Elon offers to buy Twitter. Twitter begins…

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But Tesla Doesn’t Need a PR Dept

Tesla has been applauded for many things. They were the first to make a legit EV that is ‘sexy’. They had the foresight to know people wanted a reliable charging infrastructure and built one. Elon Musk has become a Founder / CEO visionary-type that uses charisma to get things done. But Tesla also has a lot going against it. Racism seems to be one of those. Lawrence Hodge reports on this at Jalopnik Three workers and their accounts are detailed in a lawsuit that was filed February 9 in the California Superior Court in Alameda. With over 4,000 Black workers…

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It’s a Subscription… For Your Toyota

Year after year we are being pushed into a culture of renting. We don’t own things like purchased movies, digital video games, Kindle books, and lots of software. Car manufacturers, smelling blood in the water, are looking to cash in with subscription services too. Enter Toyota who includes a remote start feature on many cars since 2018. If you’re one of those lucky owners, Toyota can require a subscription after a trial to continue using this part of your car. If you don’t, it gets disabled. A Toyota spokesperson confirmed to The Drive that if a 2018 or later Toyota is equipped…

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Tesla Thinks Their Customers Are Stupid

People have praised Tesla’s buying experience for years. It’s unconventional and one the company isn’t even legally allowed to offer in every state. No dealerships, no haggling, no nonsense. You configure your car online and it’s ready for delivery or pickup when it’s ready. Unfortunately the dreaded supply chain / chip shortage has caused Tesla to be short some key parts for their cars. But, they forgot to tell their customers. In some cases, there are only holes where the USB ports are supposed to be. That’s purportedly what’s been happening to some Tesla owners who got their cars delivered in November, and…