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Tesla drivers are the most satisfied EV owners in Norway
Tesla owners are some of the most enthusiastic automotive enthusiasts in a sector full of brand loyalty, and it doesn’t just apply to owners within the United States. A new survey shows that Tesla drivers are the most satisfied electric vehicle owners in Norway, the country with the highest plug-in electric vehicle ownership per capita in the world.
Norway is a battleground for electric vehicle enthusiasts and non-supporters alike. Commonly, the country is noted as an argument for electric vehicle supporters and Tesla bears, who use the country as either a source of support or criticism when it comes to debating what companies are most dominant in the EV-heavy market of Norway. However, a new study from Norway’s Electric Car Association is boding well for Tesla owners, as it concluded that drivers of the world’s leading EV manufacturer are most satisfied with their vehicles, compared to that of other manufacturers.
The ECA’s “Electric Car List 2021” asked owners of electric cars how satisfied they are with the ownership of the vehicles. 15,000 people participated in the survey, with 94% of those willing to shed more light on the EV ownership experience expressing words of positivity and affirmation for their sustainable vehicles. Tesla’s Model 3, Model S, and Model X captured three of the top five spots in the survey, according to a report from Tek.no.
The Tesla Model S, X, and Model 3. (Photo: MotorTrend)
In a typical and very familiar fashion, the Model 3 was the vehicle most commonly attributed with satisfaction from owners. The survey showed that 85% of Model 3 owners were “very satisfied” with their ownership experience, giving the all-electric sedan a perfect five-out-of-five rating. Only 2% of Model 3 owners reported that they are “very dissatisfied.”
“The reason Tesla Model 3 owners are so happy is probably related to the fact that you get access to Tesla’s good charging network, at the same time as you get a good car with a long-range at a relatively low price,” Norwegian Electric Car Association Head of Communications, Unni Berge, said.
“It is nice to see that this survey confirms that Tesla owners are happy with their cars,” Tesla’s Content and Programs Associate in Norway and Iceland, Nora Wisløff Egenæs, said. “Even though the electric car selection is growing, we are seeing an increase in interest in Tesla, and we are working hard to ensure that all our customers have a good experience. Among other things, we are constantly working to expand our Supercharger network to ensure that the growing demand for long-distance charging and electric car holidays is met for all our customers.”
The Model 3 was followed by the Kia e-Niro in the survey. The vehicle tied the Model 3 with an average score of 4.78, but the Model 3 took the gold medal due to a higher satisfaction percentage. Only 84% of e-Niro owners said they were very satisfied.
“Top 10 Most Satisfied Electric Car Customers.” Ratings from Left to Right: Do Not Know | Very Dissatisfied | Dissatisfied | Neither | Satisfied | Very Satisfied (Credit: Tek.no)
“It is very fun that our electric cars are doing so well in the survey and that e-Niro is at the very top,” Kia spokesperson Mette Simonsen Sauge said. “The reason why e-Niro is so stable at the top of the survey has enough to do with the fact that it covers the need in many areas; long real range also in winter – our electric cars are very energy efficient and still the cars that go furthest on the market in independent tests.”
The Model X was third in the survey, while the Model S took fifth. The BMW i3 took fourth place in the survey.
Electric cars are widely popular in Norway, and customers are delighted. Two years ago, 68% of owners said they were “very satisfied,” with 24% stating they were “satisfied.” Only 1.6% stated they were “very dissatisfied” with the ownership experience.
The Model 3 was the most popular EV in Norway in June and has been among the country’s most popular electric vehicles for several months. Norway’s concentration of EVs is larger than that of gas cars.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk and Tesla AI Director share insights after empty driver seat Robotaxi rides
The executives’ unoccupied tests hint at the rapid progress of Tesla’s unsupervised Robotaxi efforts.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and AI Director Ashok Elluswamy celebrated Christmas Eve by sharing personal experiences with Robotaxi vehicles that had no safety monitor or occupant in the driver’s seat. Musk described the system’s “perfect driving” around Austin, while Elluswamy posted video from the back seat, calling it “an amazing experience.”
The executives’ unoccupied tests hint at the rapid progress of Tesla’s unsupervised Robotaxi efforts.
Elon and Ashok’s firsthand Robotaxi insights
Prior to Musk and the Tesla AI Director’s posts, sightings of unmanned Teslas navigating public roads were widely shared on social media. One such vehicle was spotted in Austin, Texas, which Elon Musk acknowleged by stating that “Testing is underway with no occupants in the car.”
Based on his Christmas Eve post, Musk seemed to have tested an unmanned Tesla himself. “A Tesla with no safety monitor in the car and me sitting in the passenger seat took me all around Austin on Sunday with perfect driving,” Musk wrote in his post.
Elluswamy responded with a 2-minute video showing himself in the rear of an unmanned Tesla. The video featured the vehicle’s empty front seats, as well as its smooth handling through real-world traffic. He captioned his video with the words, “It’s an amazing experience!”
Towards Unsupervised operations
During an xAI Hackathon earlier this month, Elon Musk mentioned that Tesla owed be removing Safety Monitors from its Robotaxis in Austin in just three weeks. “Unsupervised is pretty much solved at this point. So there will be Tesla Robotaxis operating in Austin with no one in them. Not even anyone in the passenger seat in about three weeks,” he said. Musk echoed similar estimates at the 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting and the Q3 2025 earnings call.
Considering the insights that were posted Musk and Elluswamy, it does appear that Tesla is working hard towards operating its Robotaxis with no safety monitors. This is quite impressive considering that the service was launched just earlier this year.
Elon Musk
Starlink passes 9 million active customers just weeks after hitting 8 million
The milestone highlights the accelerating growth of Starlink, which has now been adding over 20,000 new users per day.
SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service has continued its rapid global expansion, surpassing 9 million active customers just weeks after crossing the 8 million mark.
The milestone highlights the accelerating growth of Starlink, which has now been adding over 20,000 new users per day.
9 million customers
In a post on X, SpaceX stated that Starlink now serves over 9 million active users across 155 countries, territories, and markets. The company reached 8 million customers in early November, meaning it added roughly 1 million subscribers in under seven weeks, or about 21,275 new users on average per day.
“Starlink is connecting more than 9M active customers with high-speed internet across 155 countries, territories, and many other markets,” Starlink wrote in a post on its official X account. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell also celebrated the milestone on X. “A huge thank you to all of our customers and congrats to the Starlink team for such an incredible product,” she wrote.
That growth rate reflects both rising demand for broadband in underserved regions and Starlink’s expanding satellite constellation, which now includes more than 9,000 low-Earth-orbit satellites designed to deliver high-speed, low-latency internet worldwide.
Starlink’s momentum
Starlink’s momentum has been building up. SpaceX reported 4.6 million Starlink customers in December 2024, followed by 7 million by August 2025, and 8 million customers in November. Independent data also suggests Starlink usage is rising sharply, with Cloudflare reporting that global web traffic from Starlink users more than doubled in 2025, as noted in an Insider report.
Starlink’s momentum is increasingly tied to SpaceX’s broader financial outlook. Elon Musk has said the satellite network is “by far” the company’s largest revenue driver, and reports suggest SpaceX may be positioning itself for an initial public offering as soon as next year, with valuations estimated as high as $1.5 trillion. Musk has also suggested in the past that Starlink could have its own IPO in the future.
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NVIDIA Director of Robotics: Tesla FSD v14 is the first AI to pass the “Physical Turing Test”
After testing FSD v14, Fan stated that his experience with FSD felt magical at first, but it soon started to feel like a routine.
NVIDIA Director of Robotics Jim Fan has praised Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14 as the first AI to pass what he described as a “Physical Turing Test.”
After testing FSD v14, Fan stated that his experience with FSD felt magical at first, but it soon started to feel like a routine. And just like smartphones today, removing it now would “actively hurt.”
Jim Fan’s hands-on FSD v14 impressions
Fan, a leading researcher in embodied AI who is currently solving Physical AI at NVIDIA and spearheading the company’s Project GR00T initiative, noted that he actually was late to the Tesla game. He was, however, one of the first to try out FSD v14.
“I was very late to own a Tesla but among the earliest to try out FSD v14. It’s perhaps the first time I experience an AI that passes the Physical Turing Test: after a long day at work, you press a button, lay back, and couldn’t tell if a neural net or a human drove you home,” Fan wrote in a post on X.
Fan added: “Despite knowing exactly how robot learning works, I still find it magical watching the steering wheel turn by itself. First it feels surreal, next it becomes routine. Then, like the smartphone, taking it away actively hurts. This is how humanity gets rewired and glued to god-like technologies.”
The Physical Turing Test
The original Turing Test was conceived by Alan Turing in 1950, and it was aimed at determining if a machine could exhibit behavior that is equivalent to or indistinguishable from a human. By focusing on text-based conversations, the original Turing Test set a high bar for natural language processing and machine learning.
This test has been passed by today’s large language models. However, the capability to converse in a humanlike manner is a completely different challenge from performing real-world problem-solving or physical interactions. Thus, Fan introduced the Physical Turing Test, which challenges AI systems to demonstrate intelligence through physical actions.
Based on Fan’s comments, Tesla has demonstrated these intelligent physical actions with FSD v14. Elon Musk agreed with the NVIDIA executive, stating in a post on X that with FSD v14, “you can sense the sentience maturing.” Musk also praised Tesla AI, calling it the best “real-world AI” today.
Elon Musk and Tesla AI Director share insights after empty driver seat Robotaxi rides
Starlink passes 9 million active customers just weeks after hitting 8 million
