In a flash of dramatic irony, Andrew Wheeler, the Administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency, praised the Trump administration’s Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles rule, a rollback of fuel economy standards that would allow automakers to sell more polluting vehicles in the United States.
“Too many reporters fail to mention one very important point: the Obama era CAFÉ standards were not attainable by the auto industry. The truth is, the SAFE rule sets realistic standards, will reduce pollution, and save lives!” Wheeler posted.
Such statements, of course, attracted strong responses. In a call with reporters on Tuesday, California attorney general Xavier Becerra remarked that the EPA Administrator’s Twitter announcement was downright wrong. “(EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler) issued a tweet saying that this new rule would save lives, and reduce pollution, and that it would provide significant benefits to the American economy. In each case, he’s wrong,” Becerra said.
On Tuesday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency announced the SAFE standards that will take the place of the Obama-era Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) rules, which required about 5% annual improvements in fuel efficiency every year from carmakers.
Under the CAFE rules, the EPA noted that automakers would have been required to sell cars and light trucks with an average fuel efficiency of about 54 miles per gallon in 2026 model cars. With the current administration’s SAFE rules, vehicles could simply average about 40 miles per gallon by 2026 to meet the new standards.
In a way, Wheeler’s tweet boiled down to one point. The old CAFE standards were simply unrealistic, and America needs the new SAFE rules to make sure automakers and car buyers win out. Interestingly enough, the EPA official’s post came amidst an ongoing climate crisis and a literal pandemic that involves a virus attacking people’s capability to breathe.
Bad timing and taste aside, the EPA Administrator appears to have conveniently forgotten one particular American carmaker that has had absolutely no problem meeting the “unrealistic” standards of the Obama-era CAFE rules. This carmaker currently stands as the most valuable US-based automaker by market cap, and in recent quarters, it has even turned a profit, highlighting the argument that there is a substantial demand and a solid business model for zero-emissions vehicles.
This carmaker, of course, is Tesla. The company had been producing electric cars since 2008, and it has been mass-producing vehicles since 2012. With the Model 3, Tesla started breaking into the mainstream market, with some car buyers trading in otherwise more affordable vehicles to acquire the electric sedan. A crossover, the Model Y, has begun deliveries ahead of schedule, and if initial impressions from professional reviewers are any indication, there’s a good chance that the all-electric crossover will be a disruptor as well.
With the United States’ SAFE rules, automakers like Ford and GM will likely have less incentive to push electric cars. This may be detrimental to both companies, considering that leaked production plans from both GM and Ford have shown that the veteran automakers are still committed to the internal combustion engine despite their pro-EV rhetoric. This could be a costly move for GM and Ford, since territories outside the United States, such as Europe and China, have committed to electrification.
But amidst all these, there is a silver lining. If veteran automakers like Ford and GM will not step up to the plate and provide good electric cars to meet the demand from buyers, a new breed of EV companies will. Tesla has proven that a well-designed, feature-rich, all-electric car like the Model 3 can dominate their established internal combustion counterparts. There’s a good chance that vehicles like the Cybertruck, or perhaps Rivian’s R1T, could do the same for high-end F-150s and RAM trucks.
In a way, the adjustment of the United States’ emissions standards could prove to be an opportunity for electric car makers. Beyond the United States, after all, authorities are going all-in on electric cars. And for some territories such as Europe and China, there is no more turning back.
Tesla is ending Cybertruck production sometime in mid-2027, according to CEO Elon Musk.
Musk made the announcement on X last night, which came as a shock to many. He said that the Cybertruck will end production “to make room for increased Cybercab production” at Gigafactory Texas.
It is a huge blow to the fans of Tesla who have come to love the Cybertruck and identify with it as a symbol of their fandom. It has been the best-selling electric pickup, but it has had an underwhelming sales performance in terms of what was expected. This is mostly due to Tesla not meeting the prices it planned to offer the Cybertruck, as its unveiling and actual release were four years apart.
Tesla will be winding down production of the Cybertruck at Gigafactory Texas around the middle of next year to make room for increased Cybercab production
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2026
Overall, the responses were mixed. Some fans understood the move toward Cybercab production, especially as Tesla is truly pushing the autonomous future through its Robotaxi platform. However, others did not understand it.
“Damn, how many Cybercabs do you guys need?” one response read. Another said it was “Sad but understandable.”Even analyst Gary Black had responded to the news, stating he hoped Tesla planned to replace it with a traditional pickup design.
It doesn’t seem like that will be the case.
Tesla is so hell-bent on delivering autonomy and eventually providing a driverless service that owning a car seems like an arbitrary idea, according to their thesis. Instead, Cybercabs will be available to pick you up and drop you off on demand, safely, without any human help.
As a result, Tesla has thinned its lineup considerably, and one can only ask where the vehicle lineup goes from here. Eventually, it seems like Cybercab could be the only vehicle that Tesla will sell.
Elon Musk
SpaceX’s next Starship flight set to make history on Friday the 13th
SpaceX is targeting Friday, November 13 for Starship Flight 15 and its first ship catch.
SpaceX is targeting Friday, November 13 for Starship Flight 15, the mission the company plans to use for its first attempt at catching the ship itself with the launch tower.
SpaceX Vice President of Launch Kiko Dontchev shared the date on stage at the UP.Summit on Thursday, according to Ars Technica’s Eric Berger, who was in attendance. It is the first launch target to come directly from a SpaceX executive. Until now, the public schedule had relied on FAA air traffic planning slides, which listed Flight 15 for no earlier than November 8 and later November 12. SpaceX has not posted an official mission page yet, and no launch time has been shared.
The date lands inside the window Elon Musk sketched out last month. Speaking at Giga Texas on October 10, Musk said the flight would “probably launch a little bit before Thanksgiving,” as Teslarati reported. On SpaceX’s third quarter earnings call ten days later, he confirmed that Flight 15 would try to catch both the Super Heavy booster and the ship, and put the odds of a successful ship catch at “more likely than not.” SpaceX also aired an animation of the maneuver during that webcast, showing the ship swinging vertical over Starbase before dropping into the tower’s chopsticks.
The hardware is ready. Booster 22 fired all 33 of its Raptor engines for a full duration static fire at Pad 2 on October 25. Ship 42 followed with a single engine burn simulating a deorbit maneuver on October 26 and a 60 second firing of all six engines the next day, according to NASASpaceflight. Ship 42 had already rehearsed the catch in September, when the Pad 2 arms lifted it into position and crews connected the quick disconnect arm while the vehicle hung from the tower.
The remaining hurdle is regulatory. The FAA’s Starship page does not yet list a Flight 15 license. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said in October that, after “significant constructive engagement with the FAA,” she expects the license to cover a return to the launch site and a tower catch for both stages. Bringing the ship home means a reentry path that heads toward land, rather than ending over open ocean as every Starship flight so far has.
SpaceX has caught Super Heavy three times, on Flights 5, 7 and 8, but the ship comes back from orbital velocity and has never been caught. Flight 14 on September 28 was the first Starship to reach orbit, deploying 26 Starlink V3 satellites before splashing down despite an early engine shutdown that Musk blamed on engine computer software.
Musk has called a successful ship catch “the first time that there’s been full recovery of an orbital class rocket,” and he has already named the step after it: a Flight 16 where both the booster and the ship fly again. NASASpaceflight reports that Ship 43, the next vehicle in line, is set for static fire testing in December.
EVgo has tapped Tesla Superchargers for its most recent efforts to expand its charging presence in the United States, a move that seems logical based on the effectiveness of the automaker’s own infrastructure.
EVgo opened its first Supercharger site in Illinois, a 12-stall station near downtown Chicago at 3145 South Ashland Avenue in the Riverside Square & River’s Edge center, right beside a grocery store. This marks the start of the company’s plan to deploy hundreds of Supercharger stalls across the United States, primarily at grocery-anchored Regency Centers properties where drivers can shop, eat, or run errands while they charge.
We’ve opened our first EVgo Supercharger location in Illinois, marking the start of our plan to add hundreds of Supercharger stalls across the U.S.
Designed for both NACS and CCS vehicles with Magic Dock technology, these new sites help make fast charging more accessible and convenient for all EV drivers. Learn more: https://t.co/V92t5FDryQ
— EVgo Fast Charging Network (@evgonetwork) November 5, 2026
The new location uses Tesla’s Magic Dock technology so both NACS and CCS vehicles can plug in natively without drivers needing to carry their own adapters. Peak power reaches 325 kW at this site, with pricing set between $0.25 and $0.35 per kWh depending on the hour—the same rate for Tesla and non-Tesla drivers.
The stalls also appear in Tesla’s in-car navigation and Trip Planner, making them easy for Tesla owners to find and route to. Illinois has seen EV registrations rise nearly 60 percent over the past two years, and EVgo’s broader network has experienced more than 700 percent growth in charging demand over three years, so the timing fits the market’s trajectory.
Choosing Tesla hardware through the Supercharger for Business program turns out to have been a smart, practical move.
Tesla’s V4 stalls and cabinets deliver high, reliable power with a proven track record of strong uptime, while Magic Dock delivers true dual-standard compatibility in one package. Because the sites show up in Tesla’s navigation tools, EVgo instantly gains visibility among millions of existing Tesla drivers, which should raise utilization and help the company double its addressable market as more vehicles adopt NACS. EVgo still owns the stations and sets pricing, yet benefits from Tesla’s established hardware, longer cables, and operational support.
The result is faster, lower-risk infrastructure expansion that serves every EV driver—Tesla or otherwise—with convenient, high-power charging at everyday retail locations. For drivers, that means fewer adapters, more predictable stops, and a denser network just as electric vehicles become everyday transportation.
Tesla is ending Cybertruck production
SpaceX’s next Starship flight set to make history on Friday the 13th
