News
Former Nikola CEO Trevor Milton defends his Board nominees
Former Nikola CEO Trevor Milton is fighting back against the Board of Directors’ decision to reject his five director nominees. The Nikola Board announced its rejection of Milton’s director nominees earlier this month.
Milton had nominated Cole Cannon, Derek Johnson, Hans Peterson, Paul Southam, and Dave Sparks, who runs the HeavyD YouTube channel, for Nikola’s Board of Directors. The current Nikola Board cited several reasons behind its rejection of Milton’s nominees, from their alleged lack of experience in a public company to a lack of skills.
“The director nominees have no public company experience, add no skills or experience to the board, and indisputably lack the depth of experience that the current Nikola board members bring to the Company. Additionally, it is the Company’s belief that the director nominees lack the expertise or knowledge needed to navigate the complexities of a zero-emissions trucking and energy infrastructure business,” Nikola’s current Board wrote in a press release.
In a press release, M&M Residual, LLC, an entity connected to Milton, together with its affiliates, argued that the former CEO’s director nominees should be considered. As per the shareholder group, which owns about 4.5% of Nikola stock, Milton’s selections should help the company fix its issues and put it back on a path to value creation. The group argued that Nikola’s leadership today has shown subpar performance, with the company’s stock nearly getting wiped out.
“Since taking over as Chair in 2020, CEO Steve Girsky and his Board have overseen a staggering and consistent decline in Nikola’s stock from $30+ per share to a delisting Nasdaq price of less than seventy cents per share… For approximately four years now, the Board has overseen operational underperformance, value destructive acquisitions, the breakdown of the Iveco Group-Nikola partnership, the loss of meaningful European market share and the sale of key assets while taking on debt. These actions (among other concerning missteps surrounding safety and disclosures) have resulted in the destruction of nearly 100% of stockholder value.
“Concerningly, the Board also diluted Nikola shares to the tune of an additional 800 million last year, so that over 1.6 billion total shares are now authorized with over 1 billion shares in circulation. After destroying significant value and diluting stockholders as Chair, Steve Girsky then took the helm as CEO in August 2023. Under Mr. Girsky’s leadership, stockholders suffered an approximate 72% decline in value. No matter how you look at it, over all relevant time periods this management team and Board have obliterated stockholder value and put our Company at risk,” the stockholder group noted.
The group claimed that it had been approached by numerous stockholders who wish to see the current leadership of Nikola replaced. M&M Residual, LLC and its affiliates’ press release also noted that Milton’s five picks for Nikola’s director post have already started working on an operational strategy that would improve the company.
“Our Group has been approached by numerous stockholders who want to see CEO Steve Girsky and his Board replaced with high-integrity individuals. This is a reasonable request, especially considering Nikola recently disclosed that substantial doubt exists regarding its ability to continue as a going concern through the next 12 months… In stark contrast to the current Board, our independent slate includes proven founders and executives who collectively possess the operational, supply chain, and electric vehicle experience that we believe will be required to initiate a value-enhancing turnaround at Nikola. Our five-member slate has already begun working on an operating strategy that considers the interests of stockholders, employees, partners, and customers,” the shareholder group noted.
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Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s Boring Company opens Vegas Loop’s newest station
The Fontainebleau is the latest resort on the Las Vegas Strip to embrace the tunneling startup’s underground transportation system.
Elon Musk’s tunneling startup, The Boring Company, has welcomed its newest Vegas Loop station at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas.
The Fontainebleau is the latest resort on the Las Vegas Strip to embrace the tunneling startup’s underground transportation system.
Fontainebleau Loop station
The new Vegas Loop station is located on level V-1 of the Fontainebleau’s south valet area, as noted in a report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal. According to the resort, guests will be able to travel free of charge to the stations serving the Las Vegas Convention Center, as well as to Loop stations in Encore and Westgate.
The Fontainebleau station connects to the Riviera Station, which is located in the northwest parking lot of the convention center’s West Hall. From there, passengers will be able to access the greater Vegas Loop.
Vegas Loop expansion
In December, The Boring Company began offering Vegas Loop rides to and from Harry Reid International Airport. Those trips include a limited above-ground segment, following approval from the Nevada Transportation Authority to allow surface street travel tied to Loop operations.
Under the approval, airport rides are limited to no more than four miles of surface street travel, and each trip must include a tunnel segment. The Vegas Loop currently includes more than 10 miles of tunnels. From this number, about four miles of tunnels are operational.
The Boring Company President Steve Davis previously told the Review-Journal that the University Center Loop segment, which is currently under construction, is expected to open in the first quarter of 2026. That extension would allow Loop vehicles to travel beneath Paradise Road between the convention center and the airport, with a planned station located just north of Tropicana Avenue.
News
Tesla leases new 108k-sq ft R&D facility near Fremont Factory
The lease adds to Tesla’s presence near its primary California manufacturing hub as the company continues investing in autonomy and artificial intelligence.
Tesla has expanded its footprint near its Fremont Factory by leasing a 108,000-square-foot R&D facility in the East Bay.
The lease adds to Tesla’s presence near its primary California manufacturing hub as the company continues investing in autonomy and artificial intelligence.
A new Fremont lease
Tesla will occupy the entire building at 45401 Research Ave. in Fremont, as per real estate services firm Colliers. The transaction stands as the second-largest R&D lease of the fourth quarter, trailing only a roughly 115,000-square-foot transaction by Figure AI in San Jose.
As noted in a Silicon Valley Business Journal report, Tesla’s new Fremont lease was completed with landlord Lincoln Property Co., which owns the facility. Colliers stated that Tesla’s Fremont expansion reflects continued demand from established technology companies that are seeking space for engineering, testing, and specialized manufacturing.
Tesla has not disclosed which of its business units will be occupying the building, though Colliers has described the property as suitable for office and R&D functions. Tesla has not issued a comment about its new Fremont lease as of writing.
AI investments
Silicon Valley remains a key region for automakers as vehicles increasingly rely on software, artificial intelligence, and advanced electronics. Erin Keating, senior director of economics and industry insights at Cox Automotive, has stated that Tesla is among the most aggressive auto companies when it comes to software-driven vehicle development.
Other automakers have also expanded their presence in the area. Rivian operates an autonomy and core technology hub in Palo Alto, while GM maintains an AI center of excellence in Mountain View. Toyota is also relocating its software and autonomy unit to a newly upgraded property in Santa Clara.
Despite these expansions, Colliers has noted that Silicon Valley posted nearly 444,000 square feet of net occupancy losses in Q4 2025, pushing overall vacancy to 11.2%.
In Pennsylvania, we got between 10 and 12 inches of snow over the weekend as a nasty Winter storm ripped through a large portion of the country, bringing snow to some areas and nasty ice storms to others.
I have had a Model Y Performance for the week courtesy of Tesla, which got the car to me last Monday. Today was my last full day with it before I take it back to my local showroom, and with all the accumulation on it, I decided to run a cool little experiment: How long would it take for Tesla’s Defrost feature to melt 8 inches of snow?
Tesla’s Defrost feature is one of the best and most underrated that the car has in its arsenal. While every car out there has a defrost setting, Tesla’s can be activated through the Smartphone App and is one of the better-performing systems in my opinion.
It has come in handy a lot through the Fall and Winter, helping clear up my windshield more efficiently while also clearing up more of the front glass than other cars I’ve owned.
The test was simple: don’t touch any of the ice or snow with my ice scraper, and let the car do all the work, no matter how long it took. Of course, it would be quicker to just clear the ice off manually, but I really wanted to see how long it would take.
Tesla Model Y heat pump takes on Model S resistive heating in defrosting showdown
Observations
I started this test at around 10:30 a.m. It was still pretty cloudy and cold out, and I knew the latter portion of the test would get some help from the Sun as it was expected to come out around noon, maybe a little bit after.
I cranked it up and set my iPhone up on a tripod, and activated the Time Lapse feature in the Camera settings.
The rest of the test was sitting and waiting.
It didn’t take long to see some difference. In fact, by the 20-minute mark, there was some notable melting of snow and ice along the sides of the windshield near the A Pillar.
However, this test was not one that was “efficient” in any manner; it took about three hours and 40 minutes to get the snow to a point where I would feel comfortable driving out in public. In no way would I do this normally; I simply wanted to see how it would do with a massive accumulation of snow.
It did well, but in the future, I’ll stick to clearing it off manually and using the Defrost setting for clearing up some ice before the gym in the morning.
Check out the video of the test below:
❄️ How long will it take for the Tesla Model Y Performance to defrost and melt ONE FOOT of snow after a blizzard?
Let’s find out: pic.twitter.com/Zmfeveap1x
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 26, 2026
Elon Musk’s Boring Company opens Vegas Loop’s newest station
Tesla leases new 108k-sq ft R&D facility near Fremont Factory
