Lifestyle
World’s first industrial electric excavator has a 300 kWh battery pack that triples Tesla’s P100D
Pon Equipment based in Gjelleråsen, Norway has converted an industrial diesel-powered excavator to operate on batteries alone, the first of its kind. According to the company’s CEO, Erik Sollerud, the machine uses a 300 kWh battery pack that’s three times the capacity of Tesla’s 100 kWh battery that’s found in its flagship Model S and Model X vehicle. After an eight month development process, the first of eight excavators is ready for delivery to Norway’s largest construction company, Veidekke. As a company motivated by the impact of emissions on the environment, Pon Equipment is helping pave the way for an era of emissions-free construction equipment around the world.
The base model used for the electric conversion is the Cat® 323 Hydraulic Excavator, a 28-ton machine built by American construction and mining equipment manufacturer Caterpillar. As perhaps can be expected, swapping the original 1 ton C7.1 ACERT industrial engine for 3.4 tons of batteries came with several challenges. The team at Pan first had to find batteries that could withstand the rigors of construction work, ultimately opting for the types used in boats and submarines. The torque was also problematic and had to be scaled back to behave more like a diesel. In an electric car, high torque gives rapid acceleration, but in an excavator, it will wear out the hydraulics and other systems from the stress.
A full charge on the Caterpillar 323F Z-line (zero emission) – Pan’s revised name for the modified machine – will keep it running for 5-7 hours. For reference, a 63 amp charger will give one hour of work per one hour of charging, and another option available is to keep the machine connected to power during the entirety of operation, all details provided by Sollerud as reported by Ole Henrik Johansen of Norwegian tech website Tek.no. The machine includes a built-in 400V charger.
-
- Pon Equipment’s modified electric excavator at work during testing. | Credit: Ole Henrik/Tek.no
-
- The battery panel of Pon Equipment’s modified electric excavator. | Credit: Ole Henrik/Tek.no
-
- The cabin of Pon Equipment’s modified electric excavator. | Credit: Ole Henrik/Tek.no
-
- The battery monitor for Pon Equipment’s modified electric excavator. | Credit: Ole Henrik/Tek.no
-
- The charging port on Pon Equipment’s modified electric excavator, shown by CEO Erik Sollerud. | Credit: Ole Henrik/Tek.no
Also, a feature of the excavator’s electric power source is the noise or rather lack of it. During operation, only a low hum and hydraulic pump actions are heard from the 323F Z-line itself, and a swapped out fuel gauge for a battery monitor is the only obvious difference inside the machine’s cabin. While the carbon emissions are negated with the removal of the diesel engine, it appears a reduction in noise pollution is a happy bonus. Each machine is estimated to cost about $650,000.
Caterpillar was supportive of Pon’s modification project, working with the company throughout the process – the industrial equipment manufacturer reportedly has an interest in developing a line of electrically powered machines. Pon has also made it clear that their goal was never to replace the Cat® 323, just create a carbon-neutral option. In a press conference on Monday, Sollerud explained, “We do not want to invent a new excavator. Cat® 323F is one of the world’s best excavators. We only want it in an emissions-free version, with the same performance as the diesel-powered.” Until Caterpillar and companies like it finalize and release its battery-powered fleet into the market, Pon Equipment will hold the title of the first and only producer of clean energy construction excavators.
Watch the below video to see the electric excavator in action:
Lifestyle
Tesla Semi hauls fresh Cybercab batch as Robotaxi era takes hold
A Tesla Semi was filmed hauling Cybercab units out of Giga Texas for the first time.
A Tesla Semi loaded with Cybercab units was recently filmed leaving Gigafactory Texas, marking what appears to be the first documented delivery run of Tesla’s autonomous two-seater. The footage shows multiple Cybercabs secured on a flatbed trailer being hauled by a production Tesla Semi, a truck rated for a gross combination weight of 82,000 lbs. The location is consistent with Giga Texas in Austin, where Cybercab production has been ramping since February 2026.
The sighting follows a wave of Cybercab activity at the Austin facility. In late April, drone operator Joe Tegtmeyer spotted approximately 60 Cybercabs parked in two organized groups in the factory’s outbound lot, the largest concentration observed to date. Units being staged in an outbound lot is a standard pre-delivery step, and the Semi footage is the logical next frame in that sequence.
En route with @tesla_semi pic.twitter.com/ZfuOjaeLH1
— Tesla Robotaxi (@robotaxi) May 7, 2026
This is not the first time Tesla has used its own Semi to move Tesla products. When the Semi was unveiled in 2017, Musk noted it would be used for Tesla’s own operations, and over the years Semi prototypes were spotted carrying cargo ranging from concrete weights to Tesla vehicles being delivered to consumers. In 2023, a Semi was photographed transporting a Cybertruck on a trailer ahead of that vehicle’s delivery launch.
The Cybercab itself was first revealed publicly at Tesla’s “We, Robot” event on October 10, 2024, at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, where 20 pre-production units gave attendees rides around the studio lot. Musk stated at the event that Tesla intends to produce the Cybercab before 2027. The first production unit rolled off the Giga Texas line on February 17, 2026, with Musk posting on X: “Congratulations to the Tesla team on making the first production Cybercab.”
Tesla’s annual production goal is 2 million Cybercabs per year once multiple factories reach full design capacity, with the company targeting a price under $30,000 per unit. Tesla has confirmed plans to expand its robotaxi service to seven cities in the first half of 2026, including Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas, building on the unsupervised service already running in Austin. Musk has said he expects robotaxis to cover between a quarter and half of the United States by end of year.
Tesla has taken home the “Overall Loyalty to Make” award from S&P Global Mobility for the fourth consecutive year, reinforcing Tesla owners’ willingness to come back. The 2025 awards are based on S&P Global Mobility’s analysis of 13.6 million new retail vehicle registrations in the U.S. from October 2024 through September 2025. The complete list of 2025 winners includes General Motors for Overall Loyalty to Manufacturer, Tesla for Overall Loyalty to Make, Chevrolet Equinox for Overall Loyalty to Model, Mini for Most Improved Make Loyalty, Subaru for Overall Loyalty to Dealer, and Tesla again for both Ethnic Market Loyalty to Make and Highest Conquest Percentage.
Tesla’s streak in this category started in 2022, and the brand has now won the Highest Conquest Percentage award for six straight years, meaning it keeps pulling buyers away from other brands at a rate no competitor has matched. Tesla’s retention among Asian households reached 63.6% and among Hispanic households 61.9%, rates that significantly outpace national averages for those groups. That breadth of appeal across demographics adds a layer of significance to a win that some might dismiss as routine.
The timing matters too. After several consecutive quarters of decline, Tesla’s share of U.S. EV sales jumped to 59% in Q4 2025. That rebound, arriving just as competitors were flooding the market with new models and incentives, suggests Tesla’s loyalty numbers are not simply the result of limited alternatives. Buyers are still choosing it when they have plenty of other options.
What keeps Tesla owners coming back has a lot to do with the and convenience of charging. The Supercharger network is the most straightforward example. With over 65,000 Superchargers globally, it remains the largest and most reliable fast-charging network in the world, and owners who have built their routines around it face a real practical cost when considering a switch. Competitors have made progress, but the consistency, speed, and availability of Tesla’s network is still the benchmark the rest of the industry is chasing. Then there is the software side. Tesla has built a model where the car you own today is functionally different from the car you bought two years ago, through over-the-air updates that add continuous game-changing improvements such as Full Self-Driving that has moved from a driver-assist feature to an increasingly capable autonomous system. For many Tesla owners, leaving the brand means starting over with a car that will not get meaningfully better over time, and that is a trade-off fewer and fewer are willing to make.
Cybertruck
Tesla Cybercab just rolled through Miami inside a glass box
Tesla paraded a Cybercab in a glass display at Miami’s F1 Grand Prix event this week.
Tesla set up an “Autonomy Pop-Up” at Lummus Park in Miami Beach from April 29 through May 3, 2026, embedded within the official F1 Miami Grand Prix Fan Fest. The centerpiece was a Cybertruck towing the Cybercab inside a glass display case marked “Future is Autonomous,” rolling through the beachfront crowd.
Miami is on Tesla’s confirmed list of cities for robotaxi expansion in the first half of 2026, making the promotion a strategic promotion that lays groundwork in a target market.
This was not Tesla’s first time using Miami as a showcase city. In December 2025, Tesla hosted “The Future of Autonomy Visualized” at its Miami Design District showroom, coinciding with Art Basel Miami Beach. That event featured the Cybercab prototype and Optimus robots interacting with attendees. The F1 pop-up this week marks Tesla’s return to Miami and follows a pattern Tesla has been running since early 2026. Just two weeks before Miami, Tesla stationed Optimus at the Tesla Boston Boylston Street showroom on April 19 and 20, directly on the final stretch of the Boston Marathon, letting tens of thousands of runners and spectators meet the robot for free, generating massive earned media at zero advertising cost.
Tesla is sending its humanoid Optimus robot to the Boston Marathon
Tesla has confirmed plans to expand its robotaxi service to seven cities in the first half of 2026, including Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas, building on the unsupervised service already running in Austin. Musk has said he expects robotaxis to cover between a quarter and half of the United States by end of year. On the production side, Musk told shareholders that the Cybercab manufacturing process could eventually produce up to 5 million vehicles per year, targeting a cycle time of one unit every ten seconds. Scaling robotaxis to 10 million operational units over the next ten years is a key condition of his compensation package, alongside selling 20 million passenger vehicles.
As for the Cybercab’s price, Musk has said buyers will be able to purchase one for under $30,000, with an average operating cost around $0.20 per mile. Whether those numbers hold through full production remains to be seen.
Cybercab at F1 Fan Fest in Miami
by
u/Joshalander in
teslamotors
Tesla to fix 219k vehicles in recall with simple software update
Tesla is seeing record sales rebounds in key markets globally
