Part of Musk’s compensation is now tied in part to the number of active full self-driving subscriptions, helped by Tesla recently ending the practice of selling the system outright in favor of a $99 per month fee. As such, it now reports active FSD subscriptions, which have reached 1.3 million, an increase of 51 percent compared to the same period last year. Although reports surfaced earlier this month about a possible small Tesla EV, the company makes no mention of it in its future automotiv...

We learned then that Ford would keep the Kentucky plant and SK On gets the one in Tennessee, which would focus on the energy storage business instead. Now, we know that something similar will happen at the Kentucky plant—Ford says it’s spending $2 billion to convert the factory to make prismatic lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells. Those aren’t destined for EVs, but they are the preferred cell format for data centers, Ford says. The company says that it will bring the factory online in the...

Today, Tesla announced a new variant of the Model Y crossover for North America. Tesla fans have long-awaited a cheaper entry-level model; this was supposed to be the $25,000 Model 2. But the development of that electric vehicle was shelved earlier last year as CEO Elon Musk began to lose interest with car-making in favor of humanoid robots. However, car sales still make up the overwhelming majority of Tesla’s revenue, and the removal of the IRS clean vehicle tax credit at the end of Septe...

The fast charging stats are acceptable for a 400 V powertrain. VW quotes 30-minute fast-charging from 10 to 80 percent, with the battery able to accept peak rates of 170 kW. In practice, I plugged in with 35 percent SoC and reached 80 percent after 21 minutes. Meanwhile, a full AC charge should take 7.5 hours. You want plenty of space in a minivan, and there’s a huge amount here. In the US, we only get a three-row version of the Buzz, which offers features that the two-row, Euro-only versi...