Lifestyle
After Tesla’s rise, the “Best Worst EV Denial” award in legacy auto goes to…
Tesla is a lot of things to a lot of people, but if you’ve found yourself in the “catch up” position that most legacy auto makers have these days in producing zero-emissions vehicles, the all-electric newcomer is a force that needs to be slowed down by something… Anything, really. What about a diesel revival? What about customer demand? What about a hydrogen revolution?
Well, what about them?
First things first, let’s recognize that unlike most of its petrol brethren, Porsche read the memo early about inevitable vehicle electrification (after a bit of push back, naturally), and its first major step was to dump diesel. CEO Oliver Blume summarized as much in a recent statement to CNN. “We as a sports car manufacturer…have come to the conclusion that we would like our future to be diesel-free,” he commented on the company’s announcement of the decision. The all-electric Taycan is set to be unveiled in September, and from what we’ve seen so far, it looks like it will be a power-packed beauty worthy of the Porsche name. Bravo!
What about diesel and demand?
Moving on, we all know Volkswagen’s original competitive strategy to sell “lower emissions” diesel vehicles was bunk, not to mention highly illegal and very expensive to make amends for, and most of us know they’ve since invested a lot of (forced) money into green energy projects to make up for it. (See: Dieselgate) Some of us may even think they’ve finally come around to agreeing with Elon Musk and company about the direction of the automotive industry with their upcoming Volkswagen ID. family of e-cars and other pretty words put out to that effect.
I have my doubts, but more on that in a bit.
One of the interesting perspectives on electric vehicles (EVs) I’ve read coming from a legacy auto executive was from Ralf Speth, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover. “According to industry forecasters, a global share of 20 percent to 30 percent for electrified vehicles is expected by 2025. When you turn this around, it means that 70 percent to 80 percent of all vehicles around the world will have conventional engines. Let me add that today’s diesels…are absolutely CO2-efficient and clean,” Speth told the publication Automobilwoche in a recent interview. I guess he’s not wrong on current stock, but having a lot of clearance items on a rack is only a selling point for so long. This is both “whataboutism” and a strange variation of the “cup is half full” metaphor. (The cup is 70-80% full of mixer when I ordered a shot? Sorry.)
Speth also claimed electric cars are still too expensive and have poor infrastructure to lure in many customers. It’s almost like he’s never heard of Tesla or his own company’s EV, the award-winning I-PACE. It’s almost like he forgot what his own company’s luxury vehicles cost at the baseline. (Hint: It’s more than $35k) There’s talk that Jaguar might go all-electric in the next 10 years, but walking is much more important than talking.
Speth isn’t alone in this sentiment, either. On one hand, BMW is ramping up its electro-mobility efforts by purchasing cobalt and lithium and preparing battery farms and systems for grid stabilization. On the other hand, the legacy auto maker only seems to be going through the motions because the European Union’s emissions regulations says they must. Imagine being told you have to take 20% less cheese on your pizza (which you love) and then singing the praises of tomato pies the next day. It’s a bit odd, I think.
Although the German auto maker is currently undergoing a changing of the guard in ousting CEO Harald Krüger due to poor performance in electrification efforts, a negative approach to EVs seems to be par for the course for the company’s leadership. Krüger may be leaving, but BMW AG board member and Head of Development Klaus Fröhlich is said to be one of two men in the running to take Krüger’s place. Even if he doesn’t get the top spot, he’s still part of the top leadership.
“I think the discussion about electro-mobility is a little bit irrational,” Fröhlich recently told Australian journalists at the 2018 Paris Motor Show. “The diesel development from BMW perspective is quite dramatic. We have, I think, more or less the best diesels. All tests show that we have the lowest emissions. We have a spiral in Europe where every politician sees only one solution – diesel bashing. From a CO2 and customer perspective, a modern diesel is a very good solution. Especially for heavy, high-performing cars,” he added. Here’s another recent gem from Fröhlich during a roundtable discussion:
“If we have a big offer, a big incentive, we could flood Europe and sell a million cars, but Europeans won’t buy these things. Customers in Europe do not buy EVs. We pressed these cars into the market, and they’re not wanted. We can deliver an electrified vehicle to each person, but they will not buy them.”
It appears both Fröhlich and Krüger have a case of “whataboutism” here in terms of diesel. You know who else has this same affliction? Volkswagen AG CEO Matthias Müller. While the auto giant is investing billions of dollars into electrified transport, Müller is still hoping for a ‘diesel renaissance’ of sorts for whatever reason. “Diesel will see a renaissance in the not-too-distant future because people who drove diesels will realize that it was a very comfortable drive concept. Once the knowledge that diesels are eco-friendly firms up in people’s minds, then for me there’s no reason not to buy one,” he told media groups in September.
Someone should tell him that internal combustion engines (ICE) are in the crosshairs of regulators next, with countries like Norway leading the way on ICE bans.
What about hydrogen?
Then, there’s the hydrogen hope. Elon Musk’s disdain for the inefficiencies of fuel cell vehicles is well known in the Tesla community and beyond, and it’s hard to disagree with his position unless you’re in the business to benefit from his mistakes. In contrast, one auto industry expert predicted that the market would see a shift to hydrogen in the next decade or so.
“The fuel cell is not ready to kick in yet. By 2030, we’ll see that coming, especially in passenger cars that run long distances, or trucks… Fuel cell is not out of reach,” argued Dr. Felix Gress, head of industry consultant firm Continental’s corporate communications and public affairs. “The battery technology, according to our estimations, has its limits,” he continued, adding that “it doesn’t generate enough range” for some people’s needs.
I’m not an expert in physics, merely a fan of the stuff that keeps me attached to the planet, but I have yet to see any layman’s argument in favor of fuel cells that’s more convincing than Musk’s (and others’) arguments against it. In the end, though, how can someone point to infrastructure issues with EVs as an argument for fuel cell cars while hydrogen networks are practically non-existent?
“The Monica” Award for EV Denialism
All of this “whataboutism” sounds like a matter of ego bruising to me. Tesla isn’t just ahead in the game when it comes to electric vehicles. The Elon Musk-led venture has become the main boss level at this point. With that in mind, competitors seem to be scrambling to find some sort of leverage to claim some sort of title for some sort of silly reason.
- Electric vehicle sales are ramping up everywhere they’re sold? What about these diesels we still have on the lot?
- Customers are buying more EVs as the battery tech gets better and the charging infrastructure gets larger? What about the infrastructure that’s still needed? What about the batteries that have yet to be made?
The current state of Tesla’s legacy auto competitors reminds me of an episode of the classic 90s sitcom Friends. One of the main characters, Monica, was a perfectionist who needed to be the best at everything, but she would give her friends these terrible and painful massages throughout the episode. After her boyfriend finally admitted the truth to her, he consoled her by saying if there was an award for the “best bad massages” she’d “get all the votes.”
They agreed the award would be called “The Monica.”
Do you think there are legacy auto makers in the running for “The Monica” of EV denialism? If so, which ones?
Elon Musk
SpaceXAI just launched into your kitchen with their new app
SpaceXAI just powered its first consumer app and it predicts what you want to buy.
SpaceXAI just made its first move into consumer AI, and it involves your grocery cart. On June 3, 2026, Gopuff and SpaceXAI announced the launch of Go, a Grok-powered shopping assistant built directly into the Gopuff app that predicts what you need before you even start searching for it.
Gopuff is an instant delivery platform that operates more than 400 micro-fulfillment centers across the U.S., delivering everyday essentials, snacks, drinks, and household items in as little as 15 minutes. It is not a restaurant delivery app or a marketplace. It owns its inventory, controls its warehouses, and handles its own logistics, which means it has built one of the most detailed consumer behavior datasets in retail over its 13-year history.
Go combines SpaceXAI’s advanced reasoning, voice, and image generation models with Gopuff’s dataset of hundreds of millions of orders and real-time cultural signals from X to prepare a suggested cart the moment a customer opens the app. It learns each shopper’s habits and automatically builds a personalized cart based on time of day, location, order history, and real-time indicators. Returning customers can check out with a single tap.
Rather than searching for specific items, users can describe a situation like a game-day party or the desire for a healthy breakfast and Go will assemble a cart automatically. It can also predict when shoppers are running low on items like coffee or paper towels and have them packed and delivered in under 15 minutes. Grok voice integration lets users talk to the app in plain conversational language and check out completely hands-free.
Gopuff co-founder and co-CEO Yakir Gola said: “Today, we believe the greatest friction left in commerce is not delivery or instantaneous access to the essentials customers need. It’s the moment before: the thinking, the deciding, the remembering. We’re combining Gopuff’s demand intelligence with xAI’s frontier reasoning to create an everyday shopping experience that feels like a true extension of you.”
Why SpaceX just made a $60 billion bet on AI coding ahead of historic IPO
The timing carries context beyond the product launch. SpaceXAI was formed after SpaceX completed an all-stock merger with Elon Musk’s xAI earlier this year, folding one of the most advanced AI labs in the world into the same corporate structure as the company preparing what could be the largest IPO in history. SpaceXAI is dipping into consumer-focused AI just as it prepares for its public debut, and while Musk has openly discussed building an everything app, this launch uses Grok to power another company’s product rather than launching a standalone consumer platform. Every consumer-facing deployment of Grok ahead of the IPO roadshow adds tangible evidence that SpaceXAI is not just an infrastructure play but a direct competitor in the AI application layer where OpenAI and Google are already fighting for dominance.
Lifestyle
Tesla saves its passengers again – This time after a 300-foot cliff fall in Malibu
A Tesla Model 3 fell 300 feet off a Malibu cliff and both passengers survived.
A Tesla Model 3 plunged roughly 300 feet off a cliff on Mulholland Highway in Malibu on Friday morning, May 29, 2026, and both occupants survived. The crash was reported at approximately 7:30 a.m. near the 2500 block of Mulholland Highway, triggering a multi-agency rescue operation involving Malibu Search and Rescue, the Los Angeles County Fire Department, the California Highway Patrol, and McCormick Ambulance.
When first responders arrived, the male driver was outside the vehicle shouting for help while the female passenger remained pinned inside the Tesla. Rescue crews rappelled down the cliffside on ropes to reach the wreckage. A flight medic was lowered by helicopter to begin treating both victims, and the driver was hoisted up to the roadway before crews used the Jaws of Life to free the trapped passenger. Both were airlifted to a local trauma center with moderate injuries despite a remarkable result for a fall that steep.
The outcome is not surprising, considering Model 3 earned an overall 5-star rating from NHTSA in every category and sub-category, and recorded the lowest probability of injury of any car ever evaluated by the U.S. New Car Assessment Program. The absence of a traditional engine in the front of the vehicle creates a longer crumple zone that absorbs impact energy before it reaches occupants, and the battery pack running along the floor gives the car an unusually low center of gravity that reinforces structural rigidity.
This is not the first time a Tesla has kept passengers alive after going off a cliff. A Tesla Model Y carrying a family of four survived a plunge off a cliff at Devil’s Slide near San Francisco in January 2023, with two adults and two children walking away from a 250-foot fall. That incident drew widespread attention to how the structural integrity of Tesla’s electric platform performs in extreme crash scenarios that most vehicles would not survive.
Tesla Model Y driver who drove off cliff with family attempts to avoid criminal conviction
Elon Musk
NASA’s first human outpost on the Moon starts now – SpaceX on deck
NASA named the rovers, landers, and vendors that will build America’s first Moon Base.
NASA has laid out its most detailed Moon Base plan to date, describing a permanent outpost near the Moon’s south pole that the agency intends to build over the coming decade as a direct stepping stone to Mars. “The Moon Base will be America’s and humanity’s first outpost on another celestial world,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said, adding that every mission crewed and uncrewed “will be a learning opportunity as we return to the lunar surface, build the infrastructure to stay, and master the skills required to live and operate in one of the most demanding and dangerous environments imaginable.”
The plan is structured in three phases involving both uncrewed and crewed missions to deliver equipment, vehicles, and infrastructure to the surface, with the first three moon base missions targeted to launch before the end of 2026.
Moon Base I, targeting fall 2026, will use Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1 lander to deliver scientific instruments to the Shackleton Connecting Ridge, the same region where Artemis astronauts will land. Moon Base II will send Astrobotic’s Griffin lander carrying more than 1,100 pounds of cargo including Astrolab’s FLIP rover to begin developing mobility systems on the surface. Moon Base III will carry the Lunar Vertex science mission on Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C Trinity lander to study lunar swirls near the south pole, with ESA and Korean science payloads aboard.
On the rover side, NASA awarded Astrolab $219 million and Lunar Outpost $220 million to build the first phase of Lunar Terrain Vehicles, with both rovers targeted for deployment to the lunar surface by 2028. Astrolab’s crewed rover weighs roughly 2,000 pounds and can reach over 6 mph. Lunar Outpost’s Pegasus rover can operate autonomously or via remote control at over 9 mph. Blue Origin separately received $188 million with an option worth $280.4 million to deliver cargo landers for rover transport.
NASA also confirmed that MoonFall, a mission deploying four survey drones to scout Artemis landing sites, has selected Firefly Aerospace to build the transport spacecraft, with a 2028 launch target.
SpaceX sits at the center of that commercial layer. SpaceX holds the NASA Human Landing System contract for the Starship-derived lander that will put astronauts on the surface under Artemis IV, currently targeting 2028. Before that can happen, SpaceX must demonstrate in-orbit propellant transfer at scale, a process requiring multiple Starship tanker launches to fuel a single mission. Water ice at the lunar south pole is central to the base’s long-term viability, as it can be converted into drinking water, breathable oxygen, and rocket fuel, directly reducing dependence on Earth resupply. That resource loop becomes far more practical if Starship can land and be refueled on or near the Moon itself.
Elon Musk has publicly stated that Starship V3, which recently completed its first flight, should be capable enough for initial Mars missions. The Moon Base plan announced Tuesday is the infrastructure layer that connects everything between those two ambitions, and SpaceX is the only American company currently contracted to build the rocket that gets humans to either destination.
Tesla Hardware 3 owners could be made whole this month
SpaceXAI just launched into your kitchen with their new app
