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Fiat Chrysler CEO hints at electrified RAM to challenge Hummer EV, Cybertruck

(Credit: Ram)

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Fiat Chrysler CEO Mike Manley hinted at an electric Ram pickup truck in the legacy automaker’s future. According to the Detroit Free Press, Manley did not offer any other details about Fiat Chrysler’s potential electrified Ram pickup, but he did note that such a vehicle will be coming.

“I do see that there will be an electrified Ram pickup in the marketplace, and I would ask you just to stay tuned for a little while, and we’ll tell you exactly when that will be,” Manley said during Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) Q3 earnings conference.

Manley’s recent statements hint at a bolder stance on electrification since in the second quarter. During FCA’s Q2 earnings call, Manley remarked that “Obviously, pickup trucks is a key franchise for us, and we’re not going to sit on the sideline if there is a danger that our position gets diluted going forward.”

Several automakers, from veterans like Ford and General Motors to newcomers like Tesla and Rivian, are going all-in on the electric pickup truck market. So far, GM has unveiled the gargantuan GMC Hummer EV, Ford has all but confirmed the work-focused F-150 Electric, Tesla has unveiled its futuristic Cybertruck, and Rivian is coming with the R1T, a luxury-adventure vehicle optimized for the outdoors.

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(Credit: Fiat Chrysler)

FCA introduced two Jeep vehicles in its Q3 presentation that showed the steps it took toward electrifying its lineup, such as the Jeep Grand Wagoneer and Jeep Wrangler PHEV. Neither of the Jeep variants were all-electric. It seems FCA, at least for now, is taking baby steps towards an electric future, but everyone needs to learn to crawl before walking.

The Jeep Wagoneer will have an electrified powertrain, which does not make it an all-electric vehicle, though it does show some progress on FCA’s part. The electrified Jeep Wagoneer’s production will start in Q2 2021.

Then there is the Jeep Wrangler PHEV 4Xe, which seems like a more serious step toward electrifying the company’s fleet. It will have a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine like any traditional ICE vehicle, but the Wrangler PHEV will also be equipped with two electric motors with 400-volt and a 17kWh battery pack. The 17 kWh battery pack is expected to provide the vehicle with 25 miles of all-electric range.

Fiat Chrysler’s steps to electrify two Jeep variants may be a stepping stone toward the electrified Ram pickup truck. He did not specify if the electrified Ram would be all-electric, though given the current trend in the pickup market with the Tesla Cybertruck, Rivian R1T, and most recently, the GMC Hummer EV, it may be a missed opportunity if Fiat does not release an all-electric pickup truck.

(Credit: Good Car Bad Car)

Perhaps Fiat could turn to Tesla for inspiration or advice if it were planning to produce an all-electric Ram truck. After all the two companies are not exactly strangers. Fiat Chrysler, together with General Motors, has been buying regulatory credits from Tesla. Tesla’s regulatory credits help the FCA meet the European Union’s strict emissions regulations.

Tesla and the FCA’s deal proved fruitful nearly a year later in April 2020 when the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) announced the partnership made up 39% of total EV registrations in Europe. From that achievement alone, FCA must have a good idea of a RAM EV’s potential in the US market, where pickup trucks are popular.

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FCA sold 156,156 Ram pickup trucks in Q3 2020, recorded Good Car Bad Car. Compared to other pickup trucks sold in the United States in the third-quarter, the Ram pickup came in second after Ford’s F-series, which sold 221,647 trucks. The Ram pickup performed just as well in Q3 2019.

Demand for electric trucks have grown evident over time. Interest in newcomers to the pickup truck market, like Rivian and Tesla, reveal that there are customers interested in EV trucks. And the fact that GM seems to have gained some traction with its Hummer EV may be evidence that customers are also interested in seeing what legacy automakers could offer in the market. FCA could grab some of that potential momentum with an all-electric Ram pickup.

Maria--aka "M"-- is an experienced writer and book editor. She's written about several topics including health, tech, and politics. As a book editor, she's worked with authors who write Sci-Fi, Romance, and Dark Fantasy. M loves hearing from TESLARATI readers. If you have any tips or article ideas, contact her at maria@teslarati.com or via X, @Writer_01001101.

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Tesla begins factoring international designs in Full Self-Driving visualization

Tesla has begun incorporating region-specific vehicle designs into its Full Self-Driving (FSD) visualization system, marking a quiet but meaningful step toward global readiness. In software update 2026.14, released as part of the Spring Update, European Tesla owners are now seeing flat-fronted, cab-over European-style semi-trucks rendered accurately on their center displays.

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@norbertcala on X via Not a Tesla App

Tesla has begun factoring international designs into its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) visualizations, marking a tremendous step in how the company plans to roll out its driver assistance tech in areas outside North America.

Tesla has begun incorporating region-specific vehicle designs into its Full Self-Driving (FSD) visualization system, marking a quiet but meaningful step toward global readiness. In software update 2026.14, released as part of the Spring Update, European Tesla owners are now seeing flat-fronted, cab-over European-style semi-trucks rendered accurately on their center displays.

The change, first spotted by Not a Tesla App, adds a second 3D model alongside the traditional North American long-nose semi-trucks that have been standard until now. Vehicles can detect and display both styles depending on what’s in front of them, and the feature requires no FSD subscription—every Tesla owner in Europe sees it immediately.

The European semi-truck visualization was actually added to the vehicle software back in October alongside roughly fifteen new visual assets.

Tesla Full Self-Driving gets first-ever European approval

Tesla held it in reserve, activating it only once fleet data confirmed the AI could recognize these trucks with high confidence. This mirrors recent rollouts for horses and golf carts, where Tesla similarly waited for reliable detection before enabling the graphics. The result is a more realistic on-screen representation tailored to local roads, where cab-over designs dominate heavy transport.

The significance of this update extends far beyond a simple graphics tweak, which is really what people need to be paying attention to. These small, incremental steps forward continue to show Tesla’s intent for global expansion.

For the first time, Tesla is explicitly factoring international vehicle designs into its visualization engine, signaling a deliberate push to make FSD feel native in international markets.

In Europe, where cab-over semis are commonplace, seeing an accurate rendering builds immediate driver trust—the critical bridge between the car’s AI perception and the human behind the wheel. Accurate visualizations reinforce that the system truly understands its surroundings, reducing range anxiety and skepticism that have slowed autonomous adoption abroad.

Regulators in the EU have repeatedly emphasized human-AI transparency; by customizing visuals to match local reality, Tesla strengthens its case for broader FSD approvals and smoother regulatory reviews.

This move also highlights Tesla’s data-driven engineering philosophy. Rather than rushing generic models worldwide, the company is leveraging its global fleet to learn regional nuances before flipping the switch.

It accelerates FSD’s international expansion while improving safety—misidentified vehicles could erode confidence or, in edge cases, affect decision-making. For a company aiming to deploy robotaxis and unsupervised FSD globally, tailoring visualizations to European, Asian, or other markets is no longer optional; it’s foundational.

Early European owners report the change feels more intuitive, making the car’s “mind” easier to read in daily traffic.

As Tesla continues enabling the remaining visual assets added last year, the pattern is clear: localization is now baked into the FSD roadmap. What began as a small graphics update in Europe could soon appear in other regions, turning the visualization display into a truly worldwide language of autonomy.

With this step, Tesla isn’t just showing trucks differently—it’s proving it’s serious about making FSD work everywhere, one culturally accurate pixel at a time.

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Tesla adds new in-app feature to solve the used EV market’s biggest headache

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Teslas Supercharging
Credit: Tesla

Tesla has quietly rolled out one of its most practical software updates yet — and it could add real dollars to every used Model 3, Y, S, and X on the road.

Starting with the latest Tesla app version, owners now receive an official “Certification of Repaired HV Battery” whenever Tesla performs a major high-voltage battery repair or full replacement. The digital certificate appears directly in the vehicle’s Service History tab inside the Tesla app.

It’s permanent, verifiable, and downloadable as a PDF, so sellers can hand it over to buyers in seconds.

For years, the used EV market has suffered from one glaring problem: nobody could prove what happened to the battery.

Service invoices often vanish when a car changes hands. Third-party battery-health scans are expensive and inconsistent. Buyers, staring at a car with 80,000 miles and an 8-year warranty ticking down, would negotiate hard — or walk away entirely — because the battery is the single most expensive part of any Tesla.

That uncertainty routinely shaved thousands off resale values and slowed the entire secondhand market.

Now Tesla has eliminated the guesswork. The new certificate, which was spotted by Tesla App Updates, logs exactly what work was done, when, and by whom. It lives inside the car’s digital profile forever, exactly where any future owner will look. No more digging through old emails or hoping the previous owner kept paperwork.

The outlet describes why the update is so important:

  • Official Digital Certificates: The string “Certification of Repaired HV Battery” confirms that if your vehicle undergoes a major battery repair or replacement, Tesla will now issue an official, verifiable digital certificate documenting the work.
  • Service History Integration: Strings such as viewRepairedBatteryCert and repairedBatteryCertId indicate that this document won’t be lost in an old email thread. It will be permanently anchored to your vehicle’s profile inside the app’s Service History tab.
  • Easy Exporting: The service_history_repaired_battery_cert_download_fail error state indicates you will be able to download this certificate directly to your phone as a file (likely a PDF) to share with others.

Sellers who have already replaced packs under warranty are especially excited; they can now prove the vehicle received a fresh Tesla battery without any gray-area questions.

The timing couldn’t be better. As more Teslas roll off 8-year/100,000- or 120,000-mile battery warranties, the used market is exploding. Lenders, insurers, and even auction houses have quietly asked for better battery documentation for years. Tesla’s certificate hands it to them on a silver platter.

For current owners, the feature adds peace of mind and protects long-term value. For buyers, it removes the single biggest risk in any used EV purchase. And for Tesla itself, it quietly strengthens the entire ownership ecosystem — making vehicles more liquid, more desirable, and more valuable over time.

In an industry obsessed with range numbers and 0-60 times, Tesla just proved that sometimes the biggest innovation is a simple line in the Service History tab. One small certificate, one giant step for used-EV confidence.

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Tesla reigns supreme in the heaviest EV market on Earth

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Credit: Grok Imagine

In the global race toward electrification, Norway stands unchallenged as the world’s most mature EV market.

In the first quarter of this year, EVs captured a staggering 97.9 percent market share, with plugin EVs reaching 98.6 percent. Out of 27,175 new vehicles registered, non-BEV powertrains have been reduced to statistical noise—petrol and hybrids combined accounted for fewer than 80 units.

At the heart of this transformation is Tesla.

The Model Y dominated overall vehicle sales with 5,406 units, outselling the next five best-selling non-Tesla models combined. The refreshed Model 3 followed in second place with 2,010 units, giving Tesla a commanding one-two finish. Toyota’s bZ4X placed third with 1,400 units, while Volvo’s EX40 and others trailed further back.

This dominance is no fluke. Norway has spent decades building the infrastructure and policy framework that makes EVs the rational choice. Generous tax incentives, exemption from VAT, reduced tolls, free ferries for EVs, and a dense charging network have turned the country into a living laboratory for mass adoption. High fuel prices—often exceeding $8 per gallon—further tilt the economics decisively toward electricity.

The result is a market where choosing anything but an EV feels increasingly anachronistic. Diesel and petrol cars have all but vanished from new registrations. Even plug-in hybrids, once a transitional favorite, have collapsed to 0.7 percent share.

Chinese brands like XPeng, BYD, and Zeekr are making inroads, while legacy European and Japanese automakers scramble to field competitive BEVs. Yet Tesla’s combination of range, performance, software, Supercharger network, and brand cachet continues to set the benchmark.

Norway’s Q1 figures come after a volatile start to 2026 caused by VAT changes that pulled forward sales into late 2025. The market rebounded strongly in March, underscoring underlying demand. Tesla’s Q1 performance in the country also jumped significantly year-over-year, reinforcing its position even as competition intensifies.

What happens in Norway rarely stays there. The country has long served as a bellwether for EV trends across Europe and beyond.

Its near-total transition demonstrates that when incentives align with infrastructure and consumer economics, adoption accelerates dramatically. For automakers, Norway signals a future where success hinges not on legacy powertrains but on delivering compelling electric vehicles at scale.

As other nations ramp up their own EV ambitions, Tesla’s continued reign in the world’s heaviest EV market sends a clear message: in a fully mature electric future, the company that started the revolution remains the one to beat. With the Model Y still the best-selling vehicle overall—quarter after quarter—Norway’s roads are a rolling testament to Tesla’s enduring leadership.

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