Jameson Dow

This weekend, Tesla started offering their long-awaited Full Self-Driving subscription package for $199/month. Along with the package, Tesla is offering a $1,500 hardware upgrade for early owners who have old hardware that is not capable of full self-driving tasks.

The problem is, Tesla previously told those same owners that their cars were capable of full self-driving tasks and isn’t allowing those owners to take advantage of the new subscription scheme without paying again for a hardware upgrade that they already paid for.

Update: Tesla has reduced the price of the upgrade to $1,000. Which is still $1,000 more than the appropriate price for something that customers already paid for.

As part of the European Green Deal, the EU has adopted a package of climate proposals they’re calling “fit for 55”. In it, Europe targets a 55% reduction in CO₂ by 2030 and full climate neutrality by 2050. To serve this goal, Europe plans to reduce new car emissions by 55% by 2030 and 100% by 2035 — which means no new emitting vehicles.

Tesla has started taking orders for Model Y throughout Europe. For current orders, estimated delivery is listed as September for Long Range models.

In contrast to original plans, the first Model Ys delivered to Europe will reportedly be produced in Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory.

CarSpyMedia has released video of the upcoming electric ID Buzz during a braking test in the Alps.

We’ve seen a few spy photos recently, but this is the first video we’ve seen yet of the van driving on public roads. And, just a warning: it looks nothing like the cute throwback prototype that so many of us loved when we first saw it.

The Formula E season is starting to close down, with just three race weekends left in New York, London, and Berlin. This weekend, we return to the shadow of the Statue of Liberty for another doubleheader in Brooklyn.

After an (American) holiday weekend largely dedicated to setting things on fire, we think it’s relevant to note something that caught on fire this weekend that absolutely shouldn’t have: namely, the sea.

Over the weekend, not only did a fire break out in the Gulf of Mexico but also in the Caspian Sea. Both incidents were, predictably, associated with fossil fuels.

New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state and home to Sydney, has announced a massive new EV policy package with $500 million worth of tax exemptions, rebates, and new spending on chargers, along with traffic-avoidance perks.

In contrast, earlier this year, neighboring Victoria, the second most populous Australian state, implemented the “worst EV policy in the world” by punishing EVs with a high road usage tax while collecting no similar road usage or gas tax from gasoline-powered vehicles.

After a few weeks off, Formula E is back with a doubleheader in Mexico. This time, we’ve moved from Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez to nearby Puebla and the Autodromo Miguel E. Abed.

The race comes after a truly excellent Monaco ePrix, the first time Formula E has raced on the full historic Monaco circuit and one of the better races the track has ever produced.

Extreme E, the electric off-road racing series, is back this weekend with their second race, this time on the beach at Lac Rose/Lake Retba outside Dakar, Senegal.

Daimler Trucks North America invited us out for a test drive of all of Daimler’s electric truck portfolio — the Freightliner eCascadia and eM2, the Jouley electric school bus, and a walk-in delivery van on the MT50e platform by Freightliner custom chassis.

Coming away from the experience, we’re more excited than ever about the electric future for these fleet offerings.

Washington state’s 2030 gas car ban is no more, due to a partial veto by Washington Governor Jay Inslee. He had been expected to sign the bill this morning, but vetoed the 100% EV plan stating that “achieving a goal of 100% electric vehicles is too important to tie to the implementation of a separate policy like the road usage charge.”

Formula E returns to Monaco this weekend, but it’s different this time. Rather than racing on an abridged version of the track as they’ve done before, they will finally race on the full version of the most famous racetrack in the world.

New York will join the list of states signaling an end to new gas vehicle sales, as a bill banning their sale after 2035 has advanced through the state legislature. It now heads to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s desk where it is expected to be signed.

This bill makes New York State the second US state to pass a gas car ban legislatively, behind Washington State, which set a 2030 target. California and Massachusetts have also set 2035 targets for the end of gas car sales, though those states made their commitments through executive action by their respective governors, Gavin Newsom (D) and Charlie Baker (R).

Ford has set a price for its highest-performance versions of the Mach-E — the GT and GT Performance editions. The GT got a $600 price drop from $60,500 to $59,900, and the GT Performance will be priced at $64,900.

Ford will start taking orders for the vehicles on Wednesday, April 28. Customers can order online or through a Ford EV-certified dealer.

In Victoria, Australia, the state government is considering implementing a punitive mileage tax specifically on electric cars. A coalition of organizations, including Hyundai, VW, Uber, ABB, WWF, and others, has come out against the proposal, calling it the “worst electric vehicle policy in the world” in a full-page ad in The Age newspaper in Melbourne.

The Victorian government currently collects no such tax on gas cars — and doesn’t even collect a gas tax at all. It also has no specific electric vehicle incentives to balance out this proposed tax.

Formula E will race in Spain for the first time ever this weekend at the Valencia ePrix, with races on both Saturday and Sunday.

We’ve also got some Formula E news that’s happened in the last couple of weeks, including a new electric GT race series, NIO’s long-term commitment to Formula E, and the plan to race in Monaco at the full historic circuit for the first time — instead of the shortened version that has been used before.

Audi has just shown the future of their electric sedans with the A6 e-tron concept, which debuted at the Shanghai auto show today.

The sedan is based on a new platform that Audi is calling “Premium Platform Electric” or “PPE” for short, developed in collaboration with Porsche. This platform will enable Audi to offer several new vehicles, with the first hitting the road in late 2022.

Washington State legislature has passed “Clean Cars 2030,” a bill setting a goal to require all light-duty vehicles of model year 2030 or later to be electric. The bill passed as part of a larger package directing utilities to prepare the state for all-electric transportation.

With this bill, Washington State becomes the first US state to pass a gas car ban legislatively (as opposed to by executive order), and now has the earliest gas car ban in the US. California and Massachusetts also plan gas car bans by 2035.

Over the weekend, reports have come in of the recent massive Tesla solar roof price increase hitting several customers, some of whom have been waiting about a year with signed installation contracts. The price increase seems to apply to Tesla Powerwall installations, too, with the cost of those increasing by about 30%.

Some customers have even already spent thousands of dollars in preparation for the job, and yet are being told that their solar roof installation will cost tens of thousands of dollars more than anticipated.

After a six-week break, Formula E returns this weekend with another double header in Rome. Better yet, races are planned to continue every two weeks from now until at least through the start of June.

We’ve also got some Formula E news that’s happened in the last month, including long-term commitments to the series from Porsche and Nissan and the announcement of a new race-modified electric Mini safety car (perhaps a sign of things to come to the showroom floor?)

Extreme E, the new electric off-road racing series, begins this weekend with its inaugural race, the Desert X Prix, in the deserts of Al-‘Ula, Saudi Arabia.

The race itself happens on Sunday at 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. UTC (3 a.m. PDT, 6 a.m. EDT, 1 p.m. local Saudi time) and will be streamed to some but not all territories. You can find out how to watch it on Extreme E’s website. In the USA, Fox Sports 1 will carry the final race delayed at 3 p.m. PDT/6 p.m. EDT on Sunday (listings subject to change, check the schedule for timing of other sessions). Other race events, like shakedown and qualifying rounds, will also be streamed on Extreme E’s social media.

Plug in America, the Sierra Club, and the Electric Auto Association are hosting their annual Drive Electric Earth Day event where advocates educate attendees about EV ownership. The kickoff event will be livestreamed on Thursday, and events continue throughout the month.

Most events will take place virtually, with a few small meetups planned in person. Attendees are required to wear masks and maintain social distancing at all in-person events.

Volkswagen will change the name of its US electric car unit to “Voltswagen,” according to an accidentally leaked press release as reported by CNBC, which verified its authenticity with “a person familiar with the company’s plans.” Before it was taken down, the press release was dated April 29.

[Update: As of March 29, the name change is now official per VW’s media page. The Wall Street Journal reported on March 30 that it’s an April Fools’ joke, despite that it’s not April 1 yet.]