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Tesla Model 3 had no chance in this tug-of war-bout for so many reasons
An owner of both a Tesla Model 3 Standard Range+ and a Chevrolet Duramax pickup truck pitted the two vehicles against each other in a tug-of-war to see what car would come out victorious.
YouTuber Michael of the lowlifeduramax YouTube channel decided to continue a string of tests with his Standard Range Plus Model 3. In the past, the YouTube host has used the electric sedan in a burnout competition and race against a Dodge Hellcat. He has also modified the Model 3, allowing the RWD vehicle to become a serious drift machine.
Tug-of-war tests have been popular with other Tesla vehicles like the Model X and the newly unveiled Tesla Cybertruck. However, this time around, Michael chose to have the Model 3 battle the mammoth Chevy pickup to see “how much torque the electric motor can put out.”
His RWD Model 3 Standard Range+ was purchased in early December, according to the Instagram page he runs under the same name as the YouTube channel. Michael decided to add a tow hitch to the vehicle as he states he would like to do other tests in the future with the recently-purchased electric car.
The Duramax outweighs the Model 3 by nearly 4,000 pounds. The truck came in at 7,500 pounds, according to Michael. That’s a far cry compared to the Tesla Model 3 SR Plus’ listed weight of 3,627 pounds. Needless to say, the tug-of-war battle between the two vehicles was short, with the Model 3 outmatched due to its serious weight disadvantage and several flaws in the tug-of-war test itself.
Initially, Michael chose to perform this test with the least expensive and least powerful version of the Model 3 apart from the off-menu Model 3 Standard Range. While it is understandable that this is the vehicle he chose for the test since it’s his personal car, it is not technically fair to peg this test as an accurate assessment of the Model 3’s power because it is the variant of the vehicle that is designed primarily as an excellent entry-level car, not peak performance.
On top of this, the angle of the hitch gave the Chevrolet pickup truck an unfair advantage. To perform a fair and accurate representation of this test, it would be more preferable to have the two vehicles’ tow hitch heights be the same. The car with the higher hitch will pull the other vehicle off the ground if he begins to gain an advantage, causing the vehicle to lose traction and never have a legitimate chance at regaining a lead.
Following the conclusion of the test, Michael stated that “it was bound to happen” because of weight differences. However, he also quipped that the tug-of-war results between the F-150 vs. Cybertruck may simply be because the Ford lacks “Chevy Power.”
Perhaps in another test, Michael could obtain a Model X from a friend or fan. The Model X is a pretty heavy car, and though it would not match the Chevy pickup in sheer weight, it should prove to be a more formidable opponent for the huge, diesel-powered Duramax truck.
Watch lowlifeduramax‘s video of the Tesla Model 3 Standard Range+ taking on a Chevrolet Duramax in a tug-of-war test below.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s X goes down as users report major outage Friday morning
Error messages and stalled loading screens quickly spread across the service, while outage trackers recorded a sharp spike in user reports.
Elon Musk’s X experienced an outage Friday morning, leaving large numbers of users unable to access the social media platform.
Error messages and stalled loading screens quickly spread across the service, while outage trackers recorded a sharp spike in user reports.
Downdetector reports
Users attempting to open X were met with messages such as “Something went wrong. Try reloading,” often followed by an endless spinning icon that prevented access, according to a report from Variety. Downdetector data showed that reports of problems surged rapidly throughout the morning.
As of 10:52 a.m. ET, more than 100,000 users had reported issues with X. The data indicated that 56% of complaints were tied to the mobile app, while 33% were related to the website and roughly 10% cited server connection problems. The disruption appeared to begin around 10:10 a.m. ET, briefly eased around 10:35 a.m., and then returned minutes later.
Previous disruptions
Friday’s outage was not an isolated incident. X has experienced multiple high-profile service interruptions over the past two years. In November, tens of thousands of users reported widespread errors, including “Internal server error / Error code 500” messages. Cloudflare-related error messages were also reported.
In March 2025, the platform endured several brief outages spanning roughly 45 minutes, with more than 21,000 reports in the U.S. and 10,800 in the U.K., according to Downdetector. Earlier disruptions included an outage in August 2024 and impairments to key platform features in July 2023.
News
Tesla wins top loyalty and conquest honors in S&P Global Mobility 2025 awards
The electric vehicle maker secured this year’s “Overall Loyalty to Make,” “Highest Conquest Percentage,” and “Ethnic Loyalty to Make” awards.
Tesla emerged as one of the standout winners in the 2025 S&P Global Mobility Automotive Loyalty Awards, capturing top honors for customer retention and market conquest.
The electric vehicle maker secured this year’s “Overall Loyalty to Make,” “Highest Conquest Percentage,” and “Ethnic Loyalty to Make” awards.
Tesla claims loyalty crown
According to S&P Global Mobility, Tesla secured its 2025 “Overall Loyalty to Make” award following a late-year shift in consumer buying patterns. This marked the fourth consecutive year Tesla has received the honor. S&P Global Mobility’s annual analysis reviewed 13.6 million new retail vehicle registrations in the U.S. from October 2024 through September 2025, as noted in a press release.
In addition to overall loyalty, Tesla also earned the “Highest Conquest Percentage” award for the sixth consecutive year, highlighting the company’s continued ability to attract customers away from competing brands. This achievement is particularly notable given Tesla’s relatively small vehicle lineup, which is largely dominated by just two models: the Model 3 and Model Y.
Ethnic market strength and conquest
Tesla also captured top honors for “Ethnic Market Loyalty to Make,” a category that highlighted especially strong retention among Asian and Hispanic households. According to the analysis, Tesla achieved loyalty rates of 63.6% among Asian households and 61.9% among Hispanic households. These figures exceeded national averages.
S&P Global Mobility executives noted that loyalty margins across categories were exceptionally narrow in 2025, underscoring the significance of Tesla’s wins in an increasingly competitive market. Joe LaFeir, President of Mobility Business Solutions at S&P Global Mobility, shared his perspective on this year’s results.
“For 30 years, this analysis has provided a fact-based measure of brand health, and this year’s results are particularly telling. The data shows the market is not rewarding just one type of strategy. Instead, we see sustained, high-level performance from manufacturers with broad portfolios. In the current market, retaining customers remains a critical performance indicator for the industry,” LaFeir said.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft is heading to jury trial
The ruling keeps alive claims that OpenAI misled the Tesla CEO about its charitable purpose while accepting billions of dollars in funding.
OpenAI Inc. and Microsoft will face a jury trial this spring after a federal judge rejected their efforts to dismiss Elon Musk’s lawsuit, which accuses the artificial intelligence startup of abandoning its original nonprofit mission. The ruling keeps alive claims that OpenAI misled the Tesla CEO about its charitable purpose while accepting billions of dollars in funding.
As noted in a report from Bloomberg News, a federal judge in Oakland, California, ruled that OpenAI Inc. and Microsoft failed to show that Musk’s claims should be dismissed. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers stated that while the evidence remains unclear, Musk has maintained that OpenAI “had a specific charitable purpose and that he attached two fundamental terms to it: that OpenAI be open source and that it would remain a nonprofit — purposes consistent with OpenAI’s charter and mission.”
Judge Gonzalez Rogers also rejected an argument by OpenAI suggesting that Musk’s use of an intermediary to donate $38 million in seed money to the company stripped him of legal standing. “Holding otherwise would significantly reduce the enforcement of a large swath of charitable trusts, contrary to the modern trend,” Judge Gonzalez Rogers wrote.
The judge also declined to dismiss Musk’s fraud allegations, citing internal OpenAI communications from 2017 involving co-founder Greg Brockman. In an email cited by the judge, fellow OpenAI board member Shivon Zilis informed Musk that Brockman would “like to continue with the non-profit structure.”
Just two months later, however, Brockman wrote in a private note that he “cannot say that we are committed to the non-profit. don’t want to say that we’re committed. if three months later we’re doing b-corp then it was a lie.”
Marc Toberoff, a member of Musk’s legal team, said Judge Gonzalez Rogers’s ruling confirms that “there is substantial evidence that OpenAI’s leadership made knowingly false assurances to Mr. Musk about its charitable mission that they never honored in favor of their personal self-enrichment.”
OpenAI, for its part, maintained that Musk’s legal efforts are baseless. In a statement, the AI startup said it is looking forward to the upcoming trial. “Mr. Musk’s lawsuit continues to be baseless and a part of his ongoing pattern of harassment, and we look forward to demonstrating this at trial. We remain focused on empowering the OpenAI Foundation, which is already one of the best-resourced nonprofits ever,” OpenAI stated.
Elon Musk’s X goes down as users report major outage Friday morning
Tesla wins top loyalty and conquest honors in S&P Global Mobility 2025 awards
