Author: Sofia
Tesla has started building Optimus on the high volume line it set up inside its Fremont factory, and the company says the robots coming off it are the first that meet the bar for a real product. “The bots coming off this line are the first production-quality bots that we have manufactured,” Tesla wrote in its third quarter shareholder letter, adding that it has “proven that the current manufacturing process for Optimus is suitable for a commercial product.” The line sits in space that built the Model S and Model X until this spring. Tesla cleared the…
Elon Musk now says Tesla will start delivering Optimus humanoid robots to outside customers around the end of 2027. On Tesla’s Q3 2026 earnings call, he said the hands, the robot’s durability and its AI all still need work before then. Those are the same three problems every humanoid robot company is fighting. And despite Musk’s claim that nobody is close to Tesla, XPeng and Hyundai’s Boston Dynamics look at least as far along. What Tesla said about Optimus Musk said Tesla has started early production of Optimus on its high-volume line in Fremont, where Model S and Model X…
Audi Audi will invest about $4 billion to build a large factory in Georgia, making it the German brand’s first production plant in the United States. The company has been evaluating a local production facility for well over a year in response to the Trump administration’s tariffs and has finally decided it’s the right time to build it. Unlike rival BMW, which builds thousands of vehicles in the U.S., Audi produces all the vehicles it sells locally in overseas factories, meaning they’re subject to tariffs. These tariffs cost Audi $1.4 billion last year alone, and it can’t absorb those costs…
Record fuel prices driven by the dumb oil war in Iran are fueling a faster-than-expected switch to electric trucks in the world’s biggest freight markets – and Swedish heavy truck brand Scania is scrambling to meet demand with a new factory in China. The Swedish truck maker is set to begin manufacturing battery-powered trucks at its new Rugao assembly plant in China as soon as it receives a license, according to Scania Chief Executive Officer Christian Levin. In an interview given in Södertälje, Levin said he expects electric trucks to account for half of China’s market by the start of 2027.…
Volkswagen’s upcoming electric car will be smaller and lower-priced than the ID. Polo, starting at around €20,000 ($22,500). Volkswagen’s €20,000 entry-level EV will launch in 2027 The new Electric Urban Car Family is the Volkswagen Group’s answer to Chinese automakers like BYD: a new lineup of compact, entry-level electric cars. The lineup currently includes the Volkswagen ID. Polo, ID. Cross, plus the Cupra Raval and Skoda Epiq, all based on the same MEB+ platform. After launching the lower-priced base versions of the ID. Polo and ID. Cross, starting at €24,995 and €27,995, respectively, Volkswagen is preparing to introduce an even…
The first regular production solar-powered electric trailer refrigeration unit (TRU) in Australia has hit the road with a real customer. Family-owned transport giant Wickham Freight Lines took delivery of the revolutionary reefer just this week. Refrigerated trailers (reefers) are critical for hauling fresh food and flowers from the farm to your local market — the problem is that they pollute like crazy, powered by high sulfur, red-dye diesel-powered generators that run around the clock, even if the truck pulling them is fully electric. That constant diesel burn spews CO₂ and NOx into industrial and residential areas alike, and contributes significantly…
The Jaguar Type 01 has already made quite an impression, but imagine those design cues wrapped around an SUV. A new rendering does exactly that, and the result looks surprisingly convincing. The Type 01’s sleek, low-slung proportions give it an elegant and luxurious character. This imagined SUV keeps the same design language but adds more volume, making it look tougher without losing the sense of it being a “reinvented” Jaguar. The renderings show the SUV from several angles, and most of them work remarkably well. The rear design is less convincing, but overall, there is plenty to like here. Jaguar…
The new XCMG SDA411 concept terminal truck is fully electric, has no cabin, and an L4 autonomous tech stack that’s purpose-built for unmanned logistics – and, if XCMG get their way, it looks like the future of drayage truck operations. Whether you call them terminal trucks, yard dogs, or anything else, these heavy-duty trucks do work that’s ideally suited to electrification. It’s all low-speed, high-torque, short distance, precision operation, all the time. And the quiet, vibration-free, instant power operation of electric drive is in its element. Chinese equipment brand XCMG gets it, and they’re taking the electric terminal truck concept a…
The $400,000 mobile home brings electrification to the RV space in a whole new way. Source link
Despite decades of market dominance, it seems like the days of loud, finicky, gas-powered mowers may finally be behind us; and I say that because – for the second year in a row! – the highest-rated lawnmowers on Amazon won’t burn a drop of gas. The latest round of dumb oil wars are ratcheting up fuel prices everywhere while, at the same time, state and local governments continue to tightening restrictions on noise and small-engine emissions. Combined, those things probably mean that your next lawn mower is more likely to plug in than fill up, whether you like it or not. The good news…