Electrek

Tesla’s “Robotaxi” service is racking up a wave of terrible rider experiences in Texas — and the complaints are increasingly coming from Tesla’s own fans and ambassadors.

A self-described “Tesla Ambassador” says the service quoted him 66 minutes for a 2.3-mile trip and left him to call an Uber, while a four-time Tesla owner has logged a string of missed pickups and drop-offs left blocks — sometimes miles — from the destination.

Hutchison Ports Pakistan is pouring a planned $76 million into a new decarbonization plan that promises to deploy more than 70 new electric terminal tractors at its Karachi container terminal as part of a bigger plan to clean up the Pakistani port operations.

I drove the Can-Am Pulse over several rides, including a 4-hour stretch mixing city streets and higher-speed roads, for a total 570 km. I had the opportunity to try it in the rain as well as on a very hot sunny day, day and night. Here is my review:

More than 1.1 million GM vehicles are now under a broader investigation after drivers reported losing brake assist, including several EVs and models built for Honda.

Fuyao Glass, one of the world’s largest suppliers of automotive glass, has listed a new product for sale that it says can generate electricity from a car’s roof glass. But before you get too excited: this doesn’t mean solar-powered electric cars are right around the corner.

Heybike is leading this week’s Green Deals kick-off with an early-bird launch deal on its newest Titan Moto-Inspired Full Suspension e-bike (with two battery configuration options) starting from $1,399. Right behind that we spotted the expanded 572Wh EcoFlow RIVER 3 Plus Portable Power Station bundle back down at its $319 Amazon low, while Segway has a number of e-scooter, e-bike, and GoKart deals starting from $280. There’s also the Greenworks 40V 8-inch Cordless Electric Pole Saw discounted to $140, and plenty more waiting for you below, including the Segway Max G3 Plus Electric Scooter pre-order deal that ends tonight. And don’t forget we have all the hangover deals from last week that are down at the bottom of the page, collected together within our latest Electrified Weekly roundup edition.

Head below for other New Green Deals we’ve found today and, of course, Electrek’s best EV buying and leasing deals. Also, check out the new Electrek Tesla Shop for the best deals on Tesla accessories.

A Toyota dealer on Long Island says it cut its energy costs by an average of 55% over three months by putting solar, battery storage, DC fast chargers, and AI-powered energy management under one roof.

Tesla confirmed it will hold a Cybercab event in Austin on September 3, promoting it with a poster that reads “Exclusive Access: Cybercab.” It’s an invite-only affair for the top scorers in its Robotaxi rider sweepstakes, and Tesla says it will livestream the launch for everyone else.

The framing suggests something big is coming. What’s actually coming is a two-seat car with no steering wheel added to the same driverless service Tesla has been running in Austin for over a year — a fleet that our tracking still puts at roughly two dozen unsupervised vehicles.

The Volkswagen ID. Tiguan is expected to debut later this year, bringing much more than just a new look and name.

BYD opened orders for the Great Han, its new flagship electric sedan that can drive over 1,000 km (621 mi) on a single charge, starting at under $40,000.

A Tesla owner posted dashcam footage of his car driving straight over a log lying across the road while running Full Self-Driving (FSD) v14.1 Lite, without braking or slowing down.

The clip has more than 800,000 views, and it adds to a growing list of problems we’ve documented with Tesla’s “Lite” version of FSD on older Hardware 3 cars.

Tesla has lost another senior chip engineer to DensityAI, the AI hardware startup built out of its own former Dojo team. Shishuang Sun, who spent more than five years as a Tesla AI hardware architect on Dojo and the Autopilot computers, now lists his role as “Packaging and System Hardware” at DensityAI, starting in July.

This is not a junior loss. Sun left Tesla as Senior Director of AI Hardware Design — one of the people responsible for turning Tesla’s custom silicon into working systems, exactly the expertise Tesla needs as it stakes its valuation on in-house AI chips.

XPeng’s robotics business has raised over $900 million at a post-money valuation of more than $6.3 billion, the Chinese EV maker announced today. XPeng calls it the largest single-round private financing in the history of China’s embodied AI industry.

The round is meant to push XPeng’s IRON humanoid robot into mass production by the end of 2026 — a timeline that keeps the automaker ahead of Tesla’s stalling Optimus program.

Heybike is expanding into a rather different corner of the e-bike market with the launch of the new Heybike Titan, a full-suspension, moped-style electric bike that can be had with either one or two batteries.

And perhaps just as importantly, Heybike is coming out swinging on price.

In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Tesla killing the Solar Roof, Cybercab launch, Genesis GV90, and more.

Today’s episode is sponsored by GM. GM EV charging made easy, with Energy Pass and Plug and Charge. Learn more at https://gmenergy.gm.com/energypass

Hyundai has started taking pre-sale orderss for its upcoming Ioniq V, but if you’re reading this from anywhere that speaks English, you can’t have it… yet?

Walmart has opened its 100th company-owned EV fast-charging site, bringing its fast-growing network to 100 stores across 20 states.

We’re closing out this week’s Green Deals with the new Lectric Labor Day Sale leading the pack, offering up to $694 on e-bike bundles + XPeak2 and XPedition2 price cuts – all starting from $799. Next, EcoFlow has kicked off a 4-day website-exclusive flash sale with offers like the 4,096Wh DELTA Pro 3 Portable Power Station down at $2,549, and more from $799. We also have EGO’s premium 16-inch Carbon Fiber Cordless Electric String Trimmer with Line IQ and POWERLOAD tech at its $251 2026 low, the meross Two-Zone Wi-Fi Smart Water Timer at a new $76 low, Aiper’s HydroComm Smart Pool Monitor with optimization tips, some solar-powered garden lights from Nanoleaf, and more waiting for you below. And don’t forget we have all the hangover deals from this week that are down at the bottom of the page, like the massive 2,049.50 exclusive savings on Heybike’s Hero mid-drive carbon-fiber all-terrain e-bike at a new $1,049.50 low, and more.

Head below for other New Green Deals we’ve found today and, of course, Electrek’s best EV buying and leasing deals. Also, check out the new Electrek Tesla Shop for the best deals on Tesla accessories.

Anthro Energy has broken ground on a first-of-its-kind US battery materials factory in Louisville, Kentucky, with enough planned annual output to support up to 25 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of lithium-ion batteries.

Hyundai is offering EV drivers, including select Genesis models, an extra 10% discount on all IONNA charging sessions through the end of September. With a stackable bonus from IONNA, drivers can save 20% on charging for a limited time.

Tesla is recalling 2,740,642 vehicles in China to strengthen driver monitoring on its assisted-driving system, after regulators found that checking for a hand on the wheel isn’t enough to keep drivers watching the road.

The fix forces Tesla to use the car’s cabin camera to track the driver’s eyes — the same kind of monitoring Chinese drivers were recently caught defeating with $20 plastic doll heads.

Tesla is recalling 2,975,910 vehicles in China after the country’s market regulator determined that its emergency door release is too hard to find and operate in a crash.

It’s Tesla’s largest-ever recall in China, and it lands as the automaker’s door design faces mounting legal and regulatory pressure on two continents. Several other automakers who followed Tesla into similarly designed door releases have also issued similar recalls.

Tesla has discontinued the Solar Roof, its solar-tile roofing product, Electrek has learned.

The company has told third-party installers that it will no longer supply solar roof tiles going forward, only solar panels, according to two sources close to the program.

Tesla confirmed that its Semi electric truck is coming to Europe, and that it will reveal the specs and launch details next month at IAA Transportation, the continent’s largest commercial vehicle show.

The Tesla Semi account posted that “specs & launch details for Semi in Europe” will be “unveiled at IAA Transportation in Hannover, Germany,” which runs September 15-20. A Semi will be on display at the show.