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California reaches EV charging infrastructure milestone

Credit: Tesla

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California has reached a key milestone in the development of its electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure, with the Governor’s office over the weekend highlighting that the state now has one charging station for every five gas stations.

As announced in a press release from the office of Governor Gavin Newsom on Saturday, California now has 105,000 individual public or shared private EV chargers, surpassing the one-fifth marker of the roughly 10,423 retail gas stations throughout the state captured in 2021 data from Statista.

To be sure, EV charging infrastructure nearly everywhere has a long way to go before surpassing gas refueling stations overall, but California is far ahead of most U.S. states on multiple EV goals, especially ahead of its 2035 new gas car sales ban.

California also leads the country in both EV charging infrastructure and overall adoption of battery-electric vehicles (BEVs). Per the release, if California were a country, it would rank fourth in worldwide EV sales, following China, the U.S., and Germany. In 2023, one-third of all U.S. BEV sales took place in California.

U.S. appeals court backs EPA move to let California make its own EV rules

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In the release, the Governor’s office also noted that the state has a total of 1.8 million total zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) sales to date. The release also highlights the recently approved $1.9 billion plan to install as many as 40,000 new public EV chargers.

Below is a video teaser posted by Newsom on Monday highlighting Tesla’s opening of the Supercharger network:

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The announcement comes as Tesla has begun opening its Supercharger network to other EV brands, beginning with Ford and Rivian. Other EV brands, including General Motors (GM), Volvo, and Volvo-Geely-owned subsidiary Polestar, are expected to follow soon in gaining access to the charging network.

Tesla recently highlighted the fact that its pre-fabricated Supercharger units (PSUs) take just four days to open after their delivery. Supercharger stations have made up the vast majority of the U.S. fast-charging station rollout, as most automakers across the industry have also agreed to adopt Tesla’s NACS charging port in future vehicles.

What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

Zach is a renewable energy reporter who has been covering electric vehicles since 2020. He grew up in Fremont, California, and he currently lives in Colorado. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, KRON4 San Francisco, FOX31 Denver, InsideEVs, CleanTechnica, and many other publications. When he isn't covering Tesla or other EV companies, you can find him writing and performing music, drinking a good cup of coffee, or hanging out with his cats, Banks and Freddie. Reach out at zach@teslarati.com, find him on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

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Tesla launches new loaner program that owners will love

Tesla is now giving owners the opportunity to rent a vehicle from them, and it includes a few very attractive features that will have you second-guessing another loaner from insurance.

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tesla service tech
Credit: Tesla

Tesla has launched a new loaner program that owners will love, as it resolves some concerns over a replacement vehicle while it is being repaired.

Earlier this week, Tesla launched the option to rent a Tesla loaner vehicle for just $45 per day if your vehicle is in Collision Repair. Collision repairs did not formerly warrant the issuance of loaner vehicles, as the insurance provider of the car owner would provide transportation arrangements.

Tesla is now giving owners the opportunity to rent a vehicle from them, and it includes a few very attractive features that will have you second-guessing another loaner from insurance.

The Tesla you rent while your car is in collision repair will come with free Full Self-Driving, free Supercharging, and free toll coverage, no small print included.

All things considered, this is a great deal for those who require a car for transportation while their car is being repaired.

The cost of Supercharging and Full Self-Driving alone would warrant the $45 per day price tag. Add in the tolls for those who commute on turnpikes for work or are planning an extensive trip that would require it, and it truly becomes an even more attractive deal.

Tesla has done a good job at improving its Service division over the past few years, and it truly needed it. In hopes of launching an F1-style service experience, Tesla started doing away with some of its perks, including loaner vehicles for single-day visits and even Uber credits.

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Tesla’s ‘F1’ Service strategy eliminates same-day loaner vehicles, Uber credits

However, it has listened to the complaints of its owners and tried to cater an experience that is more advantageous and less of a hassle. It’s already made tremendous steps in the past few years, and this is the icing on the cake.

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SpaceX Starship Flight 10: What to expect

SpaceX implemented hardware and operational changes aimed at improving Starship’s reliability.

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Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX is preparing to launch the tenth test flight of its Starship vehicle as early as Sunday, August 24, with the launch window opening at 6:30 p.m. CT. 

The mission follows investigations into anomalies from earlier flights, including the loss of Starship on its ninth test and a Ship 36 static fire issue. SpaceX has since implemented hardware and operational changes aimed at improving Starship’s reliability.

Booster landing burns and flight experiments

The upcoming Starship Flight 10 will expand Super Heavy’s flight envelope with multiple landing burn trials. Following stage separation, the booster will attempt a controlled flip and boostback burn before heading to an offshore splashdown in the Gulf of America. One of the three center engines typically used for landing will be intentionally disabled, allowing engineers to evaluate whether a backup engine can complete the maneuver, according to a post from SpaceX.

The booster will also transition to a two-engine configuration for the final phase, hovering briefly above the water before shutdown and drop. These experiments are designed to simulate off-nominal scenarios and generate real-world data on performance under varying conditions, while maximizing propellant use during ascent to enable heavier payloads.

Starship upper stage reentry tests

The Starship upper stage will attempt multiple in-space objectives, including deployment of eight Starlink simulators and a planned Raptor engine relight. SpaceX will also continue testing reentry systems with several modifications. A section of thermal protection tiles has been removed to expose vulnerable areas, while new metallic tile designs, including one with active cooling, will be trialed.

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Catch fittings have been installed to evaluate their thermal and structural performance, and adjustments to the tile line will address hot spots observed on Flight 6. The reentry profile is expected to push the structural limits of Starship’s rear flaps at maximum entry pressure.

SpaceX says lessons from these tests are critical to refining the next-generation Starship and Super Heavy vehicles. With Starfactory production ramping in Texas and new launch infrastructure under development in Florida, the company is pushing to hit its goal of achieving a fully reusable orbital launch system.

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Elon Musk

Elon Musk takes aim at Bill Gates’ Microsoft with new AI venture “Macrohard”

It is quite an appropriate name for a company that’s designed to rival Microsoft.

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Credit: xAI/X

Elon Musk has set his sights on Microsoft with a new company called “Macrohard,” a software venture tied to his AI startup, xAI. 

Musk described the project as a “purely AI software company” that’s designed to generate hundreds of specialized coding and generative AI agents that could one day simulate products from companies like Microsoft entirely through artificial intelligence.

Macrohard‘s Purpose

Musk announced Macrohard on Friday, though xAI had already registered the trademark with the US Patent Office a few weeks ago, as noted in a PC Mag report. Interestingly enough, this is not the first time that Musk has mentioned such an initiative.

Just last month, he stated that xAI was “creating a multi-agent AI software company, where Grok spawns hundreds of specialized coding and image/video generation/understanding agents all working together and then emulates humans interacting with the software in virtual machines until the result is excellent.”

At the time, Musk stated that “This is a macro challenge and a hard problem with stiff competition,” hinting at the venture’s “Macrohard” moniker. A few years ago, Musk also posted “Macrohard >> Microsoft” on X. 

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Powered by xAI and Colossus

Macrohard appears to be closely linked to xAI’s Colossus 2 supercomputer project in Memphis. Musk has confirmed plans to acquire millions of Nvidia GPUs, joining rivals such as OpenAI and Meta in a high-stakes race for AI computing power. Colossus is already one of the most powerful supercomputer clusters in the world, and it is still being expanded.

xAI is only a couple of years old, having been founded in March 2023. During its Engineering Open House event in San Francisco, Elon Musk highlighted that the company’s speed will be its primary competitive edge. “No SR-71 Blackbird was ever shot down and it only had one strategy: to accelerate,” Musk said.

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