Lifestyle
Politics aside, EVs will be — must be — the future of transportation
President-elect Donald Trump hardly professed to be a friend of clean renewable energy during his campaign, that’s for sure. The forces of change toward a sustainable energy future for the U.S. and world, however, are so powerful and dynamic that a Trump presidency may not be able to stop them. The momentum inspired by Tesla’s Elon Musk, MIT’s Electric Vehicle Team, the Google Self-Driving Car Project, Panasonic batteries, “Last Mile” transportation, The Route electric refuse trucks, and so many other electric vehicles is too strong and too ingrained in our culture to be stymied now.
As Rebecca Solnit wrote in her classic book, Hope in the Dark, “You possess the power to change the world to some degree, the current state of affairs is not inevitable, and all trajectories are not downhill.” With activism and advocacy, as well as technological innovations that emerge regardless of political times, clean renewable energy sources will continue to expand. They must, for the sake of our planet.
For example, some things just have not changed in Americans’ relationships to their cars. Over the past 50 years, automobiles have been our freedom machines, a means of both transportation and personal identity expression. In the same way that Henry Ford matched a youthful and euphoric generation to the combustion-engine automobile, so, too, will tomorrow’s automakers continue to design strategic moves to shape the industry’s evolution.
Electric vehicles (EVs) are at the heart of that vision for tomorrow’s consumer domestic transportation. Here are some reasons why EVs will continue to flourish and change the way automakers in the U.S. and abroad have conducted business as usual.
Automakers will continue to know what the customer wants and provide it
Consumer acceptance has already established a formidable EV market. EVs include a large portion of hybrid electrics, which means that, even beyond 2030, the internal-combustion engine will remain — at least partially — relevant. Yet we’ll likely encounter a common culture of electrified vehicles –hybrid, plug-in, battery electric, and fuel cell — in the years to come. But only an iconoclastic automaker will offer consumers a combustion engine without the electric perks.
Consumers just want to be connected
The capacity to be able to consume novel forms of media and other technology applications while driving will only become more prevalent among commuters. This will be possible, in part, through enhanced levels of automotive software competence. It’s an immediate gratification world already, and, with the emergence of new forms of infotainment technologies and virtual realities, consumers are only going to yearn for more connectivity. Traditional automakers will give their customers what they want in connectivity, inching every so much closer to comprehensive EV technologies.
Suite of “apps” found within EVE for Tesla
Improvements in battery technology and costs
Through continuous improvements in battery technology and cost, electrified vehicles will become more “normal” and more likely to be found in the average American’s garage. As a result, EVs will increasingly grab market share from conventional vehicles. With battery costs potentially decreasing by $150 to $200 per kilowatt-hour over the next decade, electrified vehicles will be able to compete more heartily and broadly with conventional vehicles. Automakers will migrate to this new battery technology because it will make obvious financial sense.
A more widely available charging infrastructure
Increasingly, many retailers are seeing the benefit of customers who browse inventories deeply and purchase more intensely as they wait for their EVs to charge outside in the parking lot. This collaboration between EV drivers and retailers will certainly expand the demand for and number of corridor-based charging stations. Shopping centers, entertainment stops, and EV charging may require charging station standardization, of course, for the gestalt to be fully pervasive. That will take consensus-building with other charging station manufacturers.
A local restaurant advertising to Tesla owners at the Las Vegas Supercharger.
Autonomous technology
Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), with their associated active safety precautions, will quickly allow the automobile to become a platform for drivers and passengers to choose how to use their transit time. EVs and ADAS are so interwoven already that the future must continue those marriages. Yes, there’s still lots of progress that needs to be done around technological and regulatory issues fronts, but is it excessive to think that around 15 percent of new cars sold in 2030 could be fully autonomous? Not really.
Diverse mobility solutions are coming
Traditional business models of car sales will be complemented by a range of diverse, on-demand mobility options. These are sometimes called “last mile” solutions and are particularly necessary in dense urban environments that limit private car entrance. Think central London. EVs are certain to be integral to the trend to increase and diversify on-demand mobility and data-driven services.
Stricter emission regulations
We’re not really sure that a Trump presidency will speed federal regulations toward greater fuel efficiency, if some comments he made on the campaign trail can actually find their way into governance. But, if the U.S. holds to its pledges to further the goals of the Paris Climate Conference (also known as COP21), automakers will scramble to balance out their catalogs. Their gas guzzling behemoths in the full-sized truck category will need their siblings, fuel-efficient EVs. Traditional automakers may have no other recourse than to adopt an EV line of offerings in order to offset those nasty truck MPGs.
The push for traditional automakers to become more capital efficient
Like any business, traditional automakers are under constant pressure from stockholders, who want to see lower overheads, improved fuel efficiency, and reduced emissions. Even if incentives toward purchases of EVs expire, stockholder influences may propel a shift of automaker perspectives, based on little more than the bottom line. This push toward greater capital efficiency will necessarily lead to new business relationships between automakers and technologists.
Competition from abroad
Always on the (pun intended) horizon is the looming threat of other countries and their automotive innovations. It seems unlikely that a Trump administration can foster the political power to exclude car imports, and, anyways, U.S. automakers would like nothing more than to transform their models for the global marketplace. For example, China’s emergence as the world’s largest automotive market can only expand in the coming years and, with that need to supply an enormous consumer base, will be trends toward EVs. U.S. automakers may find themselves outside the marketplace if they don’t keep up with their counterparts abroad.
Conclusion
A white paper titled “Automotive revolution — Perspective toward 2030” describes how the coming generations should see the share of electrified vehicles range from 10 percent to 50 percent of new-vehicle sales. Adoption rates will be highest in developed dense cities with strict emission regulations and consumer incentives. These include tax breaks, special parking and driving privileges, or discounted electricity pricing. Sales may be less robust in small towns and rural areas with lower levels of charging infrastructure and higher dependency on driving range.
As Hillary Clinton said in her concession speech, “Never stop believing that fighting for what’s right is worth it.” Changing consumer preferences, tightening regulation, and technological breakthroughs, among myriad other factors, point to the dominance of EVs in the decades to come. We’ve got to use this moment in political time to rise up and speak out for the future of electric vehicles.
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.
Elon Musk
Tesla ditches India after years of broken promises
Tesla has ditched its plans to build a factory in India after years of failed negotiations.
Tesla’s long-running effort to establish a manufacturing presence in India is officially over. India’s Minister of Heavy Industries H.D. Kumaraswamy confirmed on May 19, 2026 that Tesla has informed authorities it will not proceed with a manufacturing facility in the country.
Tesla first signaled serious interest in India around 2021, when it began hiring local staff and lobbying the Indian government for lower import tariffs. The ask was straightforward: reduce duties enough for Tesla to test the market with imported vehicles before committing capital to a local factory. India’s position was equally firm, with an ask of Tesla to commit to manufacturing first, then receive tariff relief. Neither side moved, and the talks quietly collapsed.
Tesla to open first India experience center in Mumbai on July 15
India had offered a policy that would reduce import duties from 110% down to 15% on EVs priced above $35,000, provided companies committed at least $500 million toward local manufacturing investment within three years. Tesla declined to participate. The tariff standoff was only part of the problem. Analysts pointed to significant gaps in India’s local supply chain, inadequate industrial infrastructure, and a mismatch between Tesla’s premium pricing and the purchasing power of India’s automotive market as additional factors that made the investment difficult to justify.
First signs of an unraveling relationship came in April 2024, when Musk abruptly cancelled a planned trip to India where he was set to meet Prime Minister Modi and announce Tesla’s market entry. By July 2024, Fortune reported that Tesla executives had stopped contacting Indian government officials entirely. The government at that point understood Tesla had capital constraints and no plans to invest.
The more fundamental issue is that Tesla’s existing factories are currently operating at approximately 60% capacity, making a commitment to building new manufacturing capacity in a new market difficult to defend to investors. Tesla will continue selling imported Model Y vehicles through its existing showrooms in Mumbai, Delhi, Gurugram, and Bengaluru, but local production is no longer part of the plan.
Elon Musk
Trump’s invite for Elon just reshuffled Tesla’s big Signature Delivery Event
Tesla rescheduled its final Model S farewell to May 20 after Musk joined Trump in China.
Tesla has rescheduled its Model S and Model X Signature Edition delivery event to Wednesday, May 20, 2026, after abruptly calling off the original May 12 celebration. The event will take place at Tesla’s factory at 45500 Fremont Boulevard in Fremont, California, the same location where the Model S first rolled off the line in 2012. Invitees received a follow-up email asking them to reconfirm attendance and download a new QR code ticket, with Tesla noting that all travel and accommodation expenses remain the buyer’s responsibility.
The reason behind the original cancellation came into focus the same day it was announced. President Trump invited Elon Musk, Apple’s Tim Cook, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Boeing’s Kelly Ortberg, and executives from Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, Citigroup, and Meta to join his trip to China this week for a summit with President Xi Jinping. The agenda covers trade, artificial intelligence, export controls, Taiwan, and the Iran war, following weeks of escalating friction between Washington and Beijing over AI technology, sanctions, and rare earth exports. Trump wrote on Truth Social, “I am very much looking forward to my trip to China, an amazing Country, with a Leader, President Xi, respected by all.”
Tesla launches 200mph Model S “Gold” Signature in invite-only purchase
The vehicles at the center of all this are the last Model S and Model X units Tesla will ever build. Priced at $159,420 each, the 250 Model S and 100 Model X Signature Edition units come finished in Garnet Red with a one-year no-resale agreement, giving Tesla right of first refusal if the owner decides to sell. As Teslarati reported, the Model S defined Tesla’s early identity as a serious luxury automaker, and the Fremont factory line that built it is now being converted to manufacture Optimus humanoid robots.
Musk’s inclusion in the China delegation drew attention given his very public relationship with Trump, and the invitation signals the two have moved past and past grievances. Trump originally brought Musk on to lead the Department of Government Efficiency following his inauguration, and despite a sharp public dispute in mid-2025, the two have appeared together repeatedly in recent months. A seat on the China trip, the most diplomatically consequential visit of Trump’s current term, puts Musk back at the table on U.S. economic policy at a moment when Tesla’s China revenue remains one of the company’s most important financial pillars.
Tesla Full Self-Driving expansion in Europe continues with new addition
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