This could get messy.
California is probably the most electric vehicle-friendly state in the country and its policies reflect that. You can hardly go five minutes without spotting a Tesla Model 3 on the road. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has issued stricter emissions standards than the feds require for years and announced just last year that it ll be the first state to ban sales of new passenger vehicles with internal combustion engines beginning in 2035. Other states have since followed suit. The Golden State s trendsetting status could now potentially mean trouble for Tesla which is headquartered in California.
According to the LA Times, the EV automaker is currently under review by the California Department of Motor Vehicles over whether it intentionally mislead customers with claims of full self-driving capability. This $10,000 package, as Tesla finally admitted in March, is not rated at Level 5 but rather Level 2. As a refresh, self-driving is ranked on a scal
It started with California. It won t end there.
Last September, the state of California began something that s becoming a domino effect. On the hood of a new Ford Mustang Mach-E, the Golden State s governor, Gavin Newsom, signed an executive ordering banning sales of new passenger vehicles with an internal combustion engine beginning in 2035. California s quest to become an EV-only state quickly began to spread. Several other states, including Washington State, Colorado, Connecticut, Colorado, Main, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Oregon, and Massachusetts, want to adopt a similar measure. And now they re being joined by Minnesota.
According to the Star Tribune, a Minnesota administrative judge has determined the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) can adopt new clean car rules that would require manufacturers to offer more EVs and hybrids to consumers.
Production capacity has been reached.
Tesla has added yet another impressive achievement to its growing list of them. According to sources familiar with the matter who tipped off Electrek, the all-electric automaker has already reached production capacity for the second quarter despite the fact that there are still two months remaining in the business period. Until now, it was expected both the heavily updated Tesla Model S and Model X would experience production bottlenecks following a previous delay.
That s still apparently happening. But the report indicates both the Model 3 and Model Y are sold out through July 1, 2021, even though both continue to experience price increases.
Musk is doing his own share of needling too.
Four Saturday Night Live cast members and writers have publicly made comments about the decision to put Tesla CEO Elon Musk on the weekly live comedy sketch show. His guest appearance was announced earlier this week with Miley Cyrus as the musical number. Musk has been tweeting about the appearance, recently saying Let s find out just how live Saturday Night Live really is, with a purple devil emoji.
New cast member Bowen Yang was one of the doubters. He reacted to the tweet with an Instagram story, a frowny face and a what the f - does that even mean? comment. Andrew Dismukes, another cast member, put a picture of old SNL cast member Cheri Oteri with the line the only CEO I want to do a sketch with is Cher-E Oteri.
Will joining forces be enough?
The list of new and purely battery-electric vehicles from mainstream automakers keeps growing and it s difficult to keep track of them all. Whether it s something affordable and mainstream like the Chevrolet Bolt EUV or something with a six-figure price tag, such as the Tesla Model S Plaid, there s now literally an EV for everyone. As more automakers pledge to ditch combustion engines, two key auto industry players are not happy. Big Oil and its new ally, auto suppliers, are doing everything they can to slow the pace of change.
Reuters reports the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA), a lobbyist group that represents over 1,000 vehicle suppliers in the US, stated to a Senate subcommittee on transportation that the Biden Administration should focus on setting new regulatory requirements for combustion-engined vehicles instead of advocating for battery electrics.