This week’s top stories: Model 3 sighting, Gigafactory details, Samsung ‘2170’ battery, VW’s microbus, Tesla Ludicrous+ mode, & more

In this week’s top stories: A rare Tesla Model 3 prototype sighting, new Gigafactory 1 details emerge, Samsung shows off its own ‘2170’ battery, VW unveils its all-electric microbus lineup, a first look at Tesla’s Ludicrous+ mode, and much more.

We kick things off this week with a rare outing for a confirmed Tesla Model 3 prototype that was shown to investors at Gigafactory. Details from inside Tesla’s battery cell presentation this week at the site, including Model 3 battery pack info and plans for what will be the largest rooftop solar array in the world. Tesla crosses the 100,000 mark of electric vehicles delivered in the US. And the company releases details of its new Supercharger Credit program as it plans to make stalls for existing Supercharger stations a top priority.

VW unveils its new all-electric retro microbus lineup. Samsung unveils its own ‘2170’ battery cell to compete with Tesla and Panasonic. GM plans to launch several new electric vehicles using the Chevy Bolt EV platform. And four US cities are looking into making a massive order of 24,000 electric cars.

These and the rest of this week’s top stories below:

Tesla |

• Tesla Model 3 prototype had a rare outing at the Gigafactory last week
• Tesla’s battery cell presentation: ‘the output of this thing is going to be insane’
• Tesla crosses 100k vehicles delivered in US, halfway to phase out tax credit
• Elon Musk didn’t implement a solution 6 days after a complaint
• Tesla reduces price of the 75 kWh battery upgrade by 22% for some Model S owners
• Tesla releases the details of its new Supercharger Credit program
• The guy who designed many of Apple’s iconic Macs will now be building Tesla vehicles
• Tesla is now adding new stalls to existing Supercharger stations as a ‘top priority’,

EV | Autonomous |

• Samsung unveils its own ‘2170’ battery cell to compete with Tesla/Panasonic and new battery
• Electric vehicle startup comes out of stealth, buys shuttered Mitsubishi plant
• VW unveils new all-electric and autonomous retro microbus with 270 miles of range
• Four US cities are looking into making a massive order of 24,000 electric cars
• A $12,000 open-source hardware platform to develop electric vehicles
• Faraday Future’s new FF91 electric vehicle will cost ‘less than $300,000’
• Munro Motor launches new $1,700 retro-looking battery-powered bikes
• GM will launch several new electric vehicles using the Chevy Bolt EV platform

Solar | 

• Tesla reveals more details about ‘Gigafactory 1’: largest rooftop solar array in the world
• Solar panel pricing disrupted by Chinese billions – and more to come
• Electrek morning green energy brief: 373,000 solar workers, autonomous solar powered ship, large scale battery storage coming and more!

This week’s top videos |

• First Look at Tesla’s new ‘Ludicrous+’ enabling 2.4 second 0 to 60 mph in the Model S P100D

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