Electric Vehicles & Cars - Page 8

It was only recently that Elon Musk let comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan fire an arrow at the door of an unreleased Tesla Cybertruck, and now we are seeing some unannounced features in the wild.

A new video that was originally posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, showcases two unannounced features of the Tesla Cybertruck: the wake-up light sequence and the raising of the entire vehicle to medium ride height. The above video shows the light sequence taking place when the driver opens the Cybertruck's door, and then once the driver is in the vehicle, the whole Cybertruck begins to rise from low to medium ride height.

This shift in suspension isn't new for vehicles, but it is the first time we've seen it used in public with the Cybertruck. What is the point of this feature? To assist the driver in getting into the vehicle, hence why it is placed in low mode when it's parked. The only concern that seems to be prominent from the video is how high the medium ride height setting is, with one X user writing, "That's medium? Want to see what high looks like!".

Tesla's new Cybertruck will reach its first customers on November 30, where owners of the new EV pickup truck are actually banned from reselling their Cybertruck within the first 12 months.

Seriously? Yeah, seriously. Inside of Tesla's terms and conditions is a clause titled "For Cybertruck Only" inside of its Motor Vehicle Order Agreement. Tesla explains in its Motor Vehicle Order Agreement: "You agree that you will not sell or otherwise attempt to sell the Vehicle within the first year following your Vehicle's delivery date. Tesla may seek injunctive relief to prevent the transfer of title of the Vehicle or demand liquidated damages from you in the amount of $50,000 or the value received as consideration for the sale or transfer, whichever is greater. Tesla may also refuse to sell you any future vehicles".

However, if a customer has a good enough reason to sell their new Tesla Cybertruck, the EV giant might buy back the Cybertruck at its original price, minus "$0.25/mile driven, reasonable wear and tear, and the cost to repair the Vehicle to Tesla's Used Vehicle Cosmetic and Mechanical Standards". If Tesla decides not to purchase your used Cybertruck, it could agree to let the customer sell it to someone else.

Ausom has announced that it will be launching the "Gallop", an electric scooter that's capable of reaching a top speed of 41 mph.

Ausom has taken to its website to showcase the Gallop, which it has outfitted with an incredible amount of technology that pushes the electric scooter to new levels of capability. The company has whacked a dual 1200W powerful motor onto the Gallop that's able to climb an angle of 35%, along with an impressive maximum distance of 55 miles off a single charge thanks to its 23.2Ah removable battery pack.

Furthermore, Ausom has placed dual hydraulic disc brakes on the Gallop that bring the e-scooter to a smooth, safe stop. Additionally, Ausom has included a slick LCD display, shock absorption springs for going over rough terrain, two charging ports, an all-round lighting system, and effortless folding capabilities. As for charging, Ausom writes on its website that its dual charging port design allows the Gallop to reach its maximum charge in just 6 hours.

Elon Musk has warned that the launch of the highly anticipated Cybertruck is going to put Tesla in a tight spot, but it must be done.

During Tesla's Q3 earnings call, company CEO Elon Musk said that Tesla "dug our own grave" with the release of the Cybertruck, and that it will be many months before production can be ramped up enough that Tesla is turning a profit. Musk estimated that the process of ramping up production of the electric truck, which was originally announced in 2019, will take approximately 18 months before Tesla makes a profit. Initial internal estimates by Tesla project at least 250,000 Cybertrucks manufactured by 2025.

Musk explained that these production problems can be attributed to the uniqueness of the vehicle, explaining that the Cybertruck is a special product that "comes along only once in a long while. And special products that come along once in a long while are just incredibly difficult to bring to market to reach volume, to be prosperous." Additionally, Musk said that these challenges of reaching an appropriate level of production for the Cybertruck so that it's cashflow positive "is simply normal".

Tesla's innovative and much-hyped Cybertruck EV will see its first deliveries roll off -- hopefully a Tesla Semi truck -- on November 30 during an event at its Gigafactory in Austin, Texas.

On the official X account for Tesla, a post read, "Cybertruck production remains on track for later this year, with first deliveries scheduled for November 30th at Giga Texas". Tesla added that the production of their higher density 4680 cells is progressing as planned as they continue building capacity for cathode production and lithium refining in the United States.

Tesla originally announced its Cybertruck back in 2019, with production affected multiple times between then and now -- especially the pandemic right in the middle of it -- while in that time, other auto companies have stepped up with EV truck announcements. Ford has its fantastic F-150 Lightning, while there's also the R1T from Rivian.

The Apple Car is fast becoming something of a myth at this point, and it now seems increasingly unlikely that we will ever see it hit the roads. Especially not in the next few years, we're told.

With the Apple Car presumably still under development inside Apple using the same Project Titan name that we've been hearing for years, supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has now hinted that the project has gone dark.

In a post on X, the social network previously known as Twitter, Kuo says that the Apple Car "seems to have lost all visibility," suggesting that there has been no movement on the project in terms of the supply chain and companies responsible for sourcing parts. The analyst goes on to hint that we won't see the Apple Car go into mass production within the next few years unless something dramatic happens.

"We would also like to reaffirm that the system malfunction was not caused by a cyberattack and apologize to all parties for any concern this may have caused," writes Toyota in an announcement regarding its factory operation in Japan where last month production stopped for multiple days due to unforeseen issues.

It turns out that the company's servers simply ran out of disk space, with the "insufficient disk space" issue causing "the system to stop." Toyota's Japanese factories and production lines halted due to the server maintenance thing that all big systems experience - with this example of a complication arising undoubtedly being a very costly one.

"During the maintenance procedure, data that had accumulated in the database was deleted and organized, and an error occurred due to insufficient disk space," Toyota said. "Since these servers were running on the same system, a similar failure occurred in the backup function, and a switchover could not be made."

It appears that Elon Musk has his very own mode within Tesla vehicles after a hacker discovered the setting and dubbed it "Elon Mode".

Bloomberg reported, along with the hacker, that this unannounced mode seemingly enables Tesla drivers taking advantage of Full Self-Driving to not periodically touch the steering wheel. Typically, Tesla drivers using Auto Pilot or Full Self-Driving will be required to make contact with the steering wheel after a certain amount of time.

This feature was implemented to make sure the driver was constantly paying attention to the road and the vehicle. If the steering wheel isn't touched, the Tesla will begin to blink visually, which then turns into beeping if the wheel still isn't touched, and then finally completely disabled from the driver. However, "Elon Mode" disabled all of these safety features and allows the driver to operate the vehicle hands-free for a prolonged amount of time.

Back in May, Ford announced that it was expanding its software capabilities within its vehicles, and now the company has revealed that its hands-free driving hardware is going to become a staple in all of its new vehicles.

The company announced on Monday that its hands-free driving capabilities called BlueCruise will be rolled out into 500,000 vehicles for its 2024 model year across North America. The expansion of Ford's hands-free driving capabilities seems to be taking inspiration from Tesla's driver-assist subscription services, as Ford will be taking a similar approach, but with a price reduction compared to Tesla. Notably, Ford said it will be building its hands-free tech into the F-150 lightning, F-150, Expedition, Lincoln Navigator, and Nautilus.

Previously, Ford required buyers to request the hands-free driving tech ahead of the purchase of the vehicle. However, with this new announcement, buyers will have the option of opting in whenever they like, but with some caveats. As with most hands-free driver technology, it isn't cheap. Ford will be offering three years of BlueCruise for $2,100. If that price is too high for buyers, or if drivers just wish to try out the feature, there is the $800 per year option, or the $75 per month option.

If you are considering picking up an electric scooter, then you may need to look no further than the newly announced Leopard.

Ausom is an emerging manufacturer and innovator of high-end electric off-road scooters and has recently unveiled its Leopard model, a flagship product that the company has brought to US markets for the first very time.

So, what can you expect out of the Leopard? Nothing short of raw power combined with fun. More specifically, the Ausom Leopard comes with a staunch 1000W motor that can push the electric scooter to a top speed of 34 mph and a 25% climb angle. Additionally, buyers will get a 20.8Ah battery capacity that will give a 52-mile total range off a single charge.