North Carolina wants to spend $50,000 to trash public EV chargers. Car and Driver shared the news of a bill moving through the state’s legislature. The bill, House Bill 1049, would set aside $50,000 to get rid of the free public EV chargers unless free gas pumps are built alongside the free public EV chargers.
The author of the Car and Driver article, Ezra Dyer noted that this was happening in his state. His incoming state House representative, Ben Moss is sponsoring the bill. Dyer noted that there are three free public Level 2 EV chargers in his town and unless the towns and cities refuse to build free gas and diesel pumps next to the EV chargers, Moss wants them gone. Dyer wrote that the main theme of the bill is:
“We’ve simply got to do something about these free public chargers, even if it costs us $50,000! Those things cost tens of cents per hour when they’re being used.”
House Bill 1049 Targets Small Businesses That Offer Free Public EV Charging
Free public charging is an amazing part about owning an EV. You don’t see free gas anywhere! pic.twitter.com/7PefTLOS4p
— Zack (@BLKMDL3) December 11, 2020
It gets worse. House Bill 1049 will also target businesses that have free public EV chargers on their property. This will hurt small businesses. The bill will allow the owners of diesel and gas vehicles to pitch fits if any amount of money from whatever product they purchase go towards the cost of providing free EV charging to customers.
The bill states that all customer receipts will have to show what part of the bill went toward the charger in the lot.
My 2.5 Cents
Naturally, I have some thoughts about this. The bill itself isn’t about the state losing money by allowing EV owners to charge for free. To me, it seems that the bill is more about amplifying the myth that EV owners are getting free electricity while gas and diesel car owners have to suffer at the pump.
And yes, they are suffering, but laying the blame on EV owners isn’t right. That blame should be placed upon the oil and gas companies profiting off of the insane price gouging. Again, this isn’t about money. It’s about fossil fuels.
Why else spend $50,000 just to throw away EV chargers? If Moss really cared about gas car drivers not benefitting from free energy, fuel vouchers would be a better alternative. I am sure that $50,000 will help a lot of struggling families.
I think that money is being used to not only discard free public electric vehicle charging stations, but the drama that will ensue will generate more EV FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt.) It’s a waste of money and I hope that for North Carolina’s sake, the state doesn’t pass the senseless bill.
News
Tesla China achieves this year’s second highest domestic sales in June
The figure represents Tesla’s second-best performance in 2025 so far.

Domestic sales for Tesla China reached 61,484 units in June, marking a sharp recovery from recent months and positioning the company for a stronger finish to the second quarter. The figure represents Tesla’s second-best performance in 2025 so far, trailing only March, when the company delivered 74,127 vehicles domestically.
A strong comeback for Tesla China
According to data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), Tesla sold a total of 71,599 cars wholesale in June 2025. This means that Tesla’s domestic sales last month rose 59.3% compared to May’s 38,588 units and increased 3.75% year-over-year from 59,261 units in June 2024, as noted in a CNEV Post report.
The rebound ends a two-month streak of year-over-year declines and helped lift Tesla’s Q2 retail total in China to 128,803 units, though that still marks an 11.7% drop from the same period last year. For context, Tesla China sold 263,410 vehicles domestically, down 5.36% year-over-year, in the first six months of 2025.
Tesla’s stronger domestic showing in June came as the company scaled back its export output from Giga Shanghai. The factory exported 10,115 vehicles last month, down 56.2% from May and 13.9% from a year earlier. For the first half of 2025, Tesla China’s total exports reached 101,064 units, down 31.85% compared to the same period in 2024.
Tesla China’s 2025 performance
June saw continued growth across China’s broader new energy vehicle (NEV) market, with retail sales reaching 1.11 million units, up 29.7% year-over-year. Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) accounted for 661,000 of those sales. Tesla’s NEV market share for June was then 5.53%, down from 6.92% a year earlier but an improvement over May’s 3.78%.
The Model Y continues to be Tesla China’s primary driver of sales, with the vehicle’s wholesale figures reaching 51,253 units in June, up 16.6% from a year ago and nearly 30% from May. Wholesale numbers for the Model Y totaled 214,034 units in the first six months of the year. The Model 3, in comparison, saw wholesale volumes reach 150,440 units in the first six months of the year.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk confirms Grok 4 launch on July 9 with livestream event
The rollout will be accompanied by a livestream at 8 p.m. Pacific Time.

Elon Musk has officially confirmed that Grok 4, the latest version of xAI’s large language model, will launch on July 9. The rollout will be accompanied by a livestream at 8 p.m. Pacific Time, hosted on xAI’s official account on X.
xAI goes straight to Grok 4
Back in May, leaks indicated that xAI was getting ready to ship Grok 3.5. Considering Musk’s recent comments, however, it appears that the artificial intelligence startup would be focusing on the large language model’s fourth iteration instead. As noted in a Financial Express report, users on X have sighted references to Grok 4 in the lead up to the update’s launch, such as “grok-4-prod-mimic” and “Grok 4 Code.”
Musk’s Grok 4 announcement comes as AI competition intensifies between major players including OpenAI, Google, and xAI. With Musk’s Colossus supercomputer fully operational in Memphis, xAI appears to be accelerating its AI product roadmap.
Musk pushes Grok toward political neutrality
Grok 4’s launch also follows a recent controversy involving political bias, as noted in a CNN report. Last week, Grok responded to a user on X stating that political violence in the U.S. since 2016 had come more from the political right than the left. The chatbot noted in a later reply that its answer was based on information from sources like Reuters, the Journal of Democracy, and University of Maryland studies.
Musk stated that Grok’s response was a “major fail.” “Major fail, as this is objectively false. Grok is parroting legacy media. Working on it,” he wrote in a post on X. By the end of June, Musk noted that he was “grinding all night with the xAI team” and that they were making “good progress.” He also stated that the model “Will be called Grok 4. Release just after July 4th. Needs one more big run for a specialized coding model.”
News
Tesla opens massive solar Supercharger station in California
The Supercharger opened to customers ahead of Fourth of July weekend, while Tesla continues phase two of construction on the site.

Tesla has officially launched the first several Supercharging posts at a massive station in California, notably including solar canopies and grid-scale batteries to offer completely renewable charging.
Last week, Tesla announced on X that it opened the first 84 Supercharger stalls of a planned 168-stall station in Lost Hills, California. Additionally, the massive Supercharger project features 11MW of solar canopies and 10 Megapack batteries for off-grid charging powered entirely by solar energy.
Tesla completed the first phase of the project just days ahead of the busy Fourth of July holiday weekend, adding that initial construction took just eight months. In addition to the remaining charging stalls, Tesla says it’s building a set of lounge areas, renderings of which can be seen below alongside current photos of the site.
Notably, the site also includes V4 charging posts for the company’s latest available charging speeds, and it’s located near the busy junction between I-5 and Highway 46 in Kern County.
“Thank you [Kern County] and [PG&E] for collaboration and approvals,” Tesla wrote in a follow-up post.

Credit: Tesla Charging | X

Credit: Tesla Charging | X

Credit: Tesla Charging | X

Credit: Tesla Charging | X
Tesla Supercharger Maps for North America, Europe, and Asia pic.twitter.com/0U5r0XRPyo
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 2, 2025
READ MORE ON TESLA SUPERCHARGERS: Tesla launches ultra-fast V4 Superchargers in China for the first time
Testing at the LA Diner, plus Musk update on potential Tesla solar Gigafactory
The huge Tesla Supercharger station completed phase one of construction fairly quickly, especially given how long Tesla has been working on its unique Los Angeles diner, drive-in, and Supercharger location. Still, the company was seen performing some testing at the nearly-completed charging station earlier this month, and will reportedly be holding a job fair.
Elon Musk also responded on Monday morning to a post on X, suggesting that Tesla is “thinking about” building a U.S.-based solar Gigafactory in order to help support increased power needs with AI growth, and to bolster domestic solar production.
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