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Submission + - Tesla retreats from next-generation 'gigacasting' manufacturing process (reuters.com)

Submitted by theweatherelectric
theweatherelectric writes: Norihiko Shirouzu and Giulio Piovaccari for Reuters write, "Tesla has backed away from an ambitious plan for innovations in gigacasting, its pioneering manufacturing process, according to two sources familiar with the matter, in another sign that the electric-vehicle maker is retrenching amid falling sales and rising competition. Tesla has been a leader in gigacasting, a cutting-edge technique that uses huge presses with thousands of tons of clamping pressure to die-cast large sections of the car’s underbody. On a typical vehicle, the underbody can consist of hundreds of individual parts.

"Last year, as Tesla developed a new small-vehicle platform, it aimed to punch out the underbody in a single piece. But Tesla has since halted the effort, opting to stick with its more proven method of casting vehicle underbodies in three pieces: two gigacasted front and rear sections and a midsection made of aluminum and steel frames to store batteries, according to the two sources familiar with the matter."

Submission + - Tesla conducting more layoffs, including entire Supercharger team (electrek.co)

Submitted by theweatherelectric
theweatherelectric writes: Just after laying off “more than 10%” of its global workforce, Tesla is laying off even more employees – including senior executives and long-time veterans of the company, most notably the entire Supercharging team and the executive responsible for negotiating NACS adoption across the industry. This has already caused Tesla scale back plans for further expansion of the Supercharger network.

Submission + - Tesla Cybertruck Owners' Forum Is Already Full Of Tales Of Broken Cybertrucks (jalopnik.com)

Submitted by theweatherelectric
theweatherelectric writes: Lawrence Hodge for Jalopnik writes, "From gunky surfaces to embarrassing off-road exploits to malfunctioning after going through water, the stainless steel Tesla Cybertruck seems like an all-around mess. We cover a lot of those concerns here on Jalopnik, but if you want an even clearer picture of just how dire owners of this machine have it, look no further than the Cybertruck owners forums. We decided to check out the forums for ourselves after we spotted a tweet by @salsadrunkard that featured a screenshot of a Cybertruck owner detailing how their truck broke down a mile from the delivery center. It didn’t take much digging to find the forum and the thread itself on Cybertrucks Owners Club."

Submission + - Google Engineer's Call to Ignore Criticism Rocks Developer Community (techtsp.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Google's plan to prototype a "Web Environment Integrity" API for Chrome has been met with intense scrutiny and criticism from the developer community. Critics argue that the proposed API could pose a threat to open web standards and user privacy. Rick Byers, a Google engineer, has been a key figure in this discussion. His recent comments suggesting that the team developing the API should disregard feedback from forums that do not comply with Chromium's code of conduct have sparked controversy and backlash. His implication that opposing voices could be synonymous with criminal activity has further fuelled the debate. While he later apologized for the misunderstanding, the developer community and other stakeholders have expressed concerns over the perceived silencing of community voices and the potential threat to open web standards.

Submission + - Tesla created a secret team to suppress thousands of driving range complaints (reuters.com) 1

Submitted by theweatherelectric
theweatherelectric writes: Steve Stecklow and Norihiko Shirouzu have written on report on the difference between Tesla's advertised driving range and the range achieved in real world driving, and on Tesla's efforts to suppress and divert complaints about range from their customers. They write, "About a decade ago, Tesla rigged the dashboard readouts in its electric cars to provide 'rosy' projections of how far owners can drive before needing to recharge, a source told Reuters. The automaker last year became so inundated with driving-range complaints that it created a special team to cancel owners’ service appointments."

Comment Re:Just North America (Score 2) 71

CCS can handle 500 KW

The latest revision of the CCS plug standard supports up to 1,500 volts and 800 amps for DC charging, which is a maximum of 1.2 megawatts.

NACS can handle 1MW

I'd like to see a charger with a NACS plug delivering 1MW today. Show me one.

If it helps, here's a charger with CCS type 2 combo plugs that can deliver 720 kW.

Comment Re:The CCS connector (Score 1) 45

and does so at higher max powers

It doesn't. The current revision of the CCS plugs and inlets rates them for 1,500 volts and 800 amps for DC charging, a maximum 1.2 megawatts.

400 kW CCS chargers are already deployed by charging networks. Tesla's fastest chargers are 250 kW.

as well as being lighter

The weight is less to do with the plug and more to do with the cable. Longer, thicker cables weigh more. To get high power charging with lighter cables the two choices are to run them at higher current than they're rated for or to use liquid cooled cabling.

Submission + - Nearly half of U.S. tap water contaminated with PFAS chemicals (washingtonpost.com)

Submitted by Equuleus42
Equuleus42 writes: From the Washington Post: 'In the latest evidence of the pervasiveness of “forever chemicals,” a new study from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimates that these contaminants taint nearly half of the nation’s tap water.

The federal study, one of the most extensive of its kind looking directly at water coming out of a tap, adds to a body of research showing that PFAS — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — chemicals are not only long-lasting but widespread in drinking supplies.

“Millions of people have been drinking a toxic forever chemical linked to cancer all their lives and are only discovering it today,” Scott Faber, the senior vice president for government affairs at the Environmental Working Group, said Thursday about the research.'

Submission + - Elon Musk Signs Letter Pledging Commitment to China's 'Core Socialist Values' (mediaite.com)

Submitted by theweatherelectric
theweatherelectric writes: Elon Musk, a self proclaimed "free speech absolutist" and avowed socialist, has signed a letter pledging his commitment to China's "core socialist values". Isaac Schorr writes:

Musk has become a kind of hero on the American right since purchasing Twitter last year, which he has promised to turn into a haven for free speech.

But the billionaire executive’s business entanglements with China have threatened that status. During a trip to China last month, Musk described United States’ and China’s economies as “conjoined twins” and expressed opposition to efforts to decouple the world’s two major powers.

Musk has praised the Chinese regime for “the economic prosperity” that it has achieved in Twitter replies to state media accounts and told the Financial Times last year that he believes Taiwan should be controlled by the Chinese Communist Party as a “special administrative zone.” The suggestion was quickly celebrated by Chinese ambassador to the United States Qin Gang.

Comment Re:New Plug, Same Charger (Score 0) 45

It's the protocols used to communicate between the car and the charging infrastructure for things like billing, AC/DC setup, etc..

All of which will be the Combined Charging System with Tesla's plug on the end.

You believe you're disagreeing with me but in reality you're agreeing with me.

Comment New Plug, Same Charger (Score 4, Informative) 45

The German automaker is the latest to adopt Tesla’s North American Charging Standard, bringing Elon Musk’s company one step closer to total charging dominance.

This is a pathetically narrow perspective. It's not a "charging standard", it's a plug on the end of a cable. That "total charging dominance" doesn't look so amazing when the plug will be used in three countries at best. And it's even funnier when most of the cars Tesla sells don't use the Tesla plug.

The reality is that all chargers in North America will be CCS chargers with Tesla's plug on the end. That's how they will work with all brands. The Combined Charging System is what has won out in North America.

But if you want to see the world's best EV chargers deployed in the field, go to Europe. Europe does EV infrastructure better.

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