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Tesla Model Y rival Ford Mustang Mach-E gets its first early review

(Credit: Ford)

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The Ford Mustang Mach-E has made waves in the electric vehicle sector, thanks to its combination of features, price, and its rather controversial name. Recently, the American automaker formally took a select group of reviewers in London for a brief ride in its newest electric car. Reviews of the short drive gave some insight on how Ford’s newest battery electric vehicle will compare to its most comparable counterparts, like the upcoming Tesla Model Y.

Car Magazine writer Tom Wiltshire shared that his first impressions of the Mach-E was that the vehicle looked smaller than its 4.7-meter length. Strangely enough, the vehicle’s Mustang cues actually work for the Mach-E, giving the all-electric crossover a distinct look that’s good and aggressive at the same time.

Make no mistake, the Mach-E is still a premium electric vehicle, and Car Magazine‘s writers noted that. The vehicle’s instant torque provided a satisfying surge of acceleration. That being said, the Mach-E’s 0-60 mph prototype’s run of less than five seconds does not hit “in the same way a Tesla would,” according to Wilshire. It’s plenty quick — just not Tesla quick.

The Ford Mustang Mach-E offers three driving modes that are interestingly (or perhaps strangely) dubbed as “Whisper,” “Engage,” and “Unbridled.” It also offers a One-Pedal Mode for regenerative braking, a feature Car and Driver writers raved about on the Model S. The suspension was firm but the seats were comfortable, making the ride pleasant. Its refinement was easily on Tesla’s level, according to the reviewers. However, its EU-required noisemaker was mostly absent of the “distinctive but emotional” sound that Ford listed for the car.

The car’s interior felt impressively high-quality and while the vehicle’s dash screen was difficult to operate, its speaker system is unique in that it spanned the full width of the car. This provides the Mach-E with great interior sound, though it would meet some strong competition with the Model Y and its custom Tesla speakers, which have garnered rave reviews from owners.

While it is too early to tell if the Mach-E will be a success, the look of the car its performance during its short drive through the streets of London was fairly impressive. “If the price tag is right and Ford can pull off the same trick it’s been doing for many years this could be an EV well worth watching,” Wiltshire wrote.

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The Ford Mustang Mach-E will be competing in the same segment as the Tesla Model Y, and while the two vehicles are comparable for sure in terms of pricing, acceleration, range, and cargo capacity, they could inevitably complement each other in the growing crossover market. With competitive pricing and specs right on point with the Model Y, many of the electric crossovers that have been produced by some of the legacy automakers such as the Jaguar I-PACE could be in for a rude awakening.

Ford’s move toward electric vehicles was complimented by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has always noted that his company’s competition does not lie within other EVs, but within carmakers who refuse to adapt to the electric revolution. Sustainable transportation options are becoming more prevalent as some of the largest automakers in the world are fully embracing the new wave of transportation.

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Elon Musk

The Boring Company’s latest Tesla tunnel truck mod “fits like a glove”

The Boring Company has modified a Tesla powered tunnel truck to carry freight containers underground.

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The Boring Company has found a second job for the Tesla hardware it already runs underground. In a post on X, Elon Musk’s tunneling company showed its latest Prufrock Liner Truck modified to carry a standard 20 foot shipping container. “Using TBC tunnels to transport freight,” the company wrote. “The latest Prufrock Liner Truck (using Tesla Model 3 batteries and drive units) has been modified to carry a standard 20′ shipping container. Fits like a glove!”

The photo shows a red container sitting on a long, low white chassis parked outside, with drive hardware visible at one end. The Boring Company did not say where or when freight hauling would start, which customers it has in mind, or how many trucks it is converting.

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Until now, the liner trucks have hauled concrete. Teslarati reported in August on Liner Truck 3, which uses Model 3 battery packs and drive units to move more than 22,000 pounds of precast tunnel segments to the boring machine. It has 28 miles of range, tops out at 12 mph, and is piloted remotely from the company’s operations center in Texas. The freight version appears to be the same platform with a different bed, and The Boring Company has not said whether it will also be remotely piloted.

Freight has been on the company’s menu for years. When TBC updated its product lineup in 2021, its freight tunnel was described as sized to fit a standard shipping container, “barely.” The company later used the idea at Tesla’s own factory, where Prufrock 3 dug a tunnel to Giga Texas that now moves finished Cybertrucks away from the production line.

The Boring Company closed a $3 billion Series D in September at a $23 billion valuation, and Teslarati has covered how that money is tied to a UAE tunneling push and a faster Nashville build. In Nashville, Prufrock MB1 and MB2 are mining at the same time, and a third machine is expected to launch in late October. Each machine needs a steady supply of liner trucks, so any design that works for segments and containers alike gives the company more use out of the same Tesla parts.

The Vegas Loop remains the only Boring Company system open to the public, and it moves passengers in Tesla vehicles. A freight service would be a separate product, and the post gave no indication that one is close to launch. For now, it is a truck, a container and a short caption saying they fit together.

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Elon Musk will give ‘every kid in America’ a SpaceX share in 2027

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Credit: Grok Imagine

Elon Musk said he is planning to give “every one of his SpaceX shares to every kid in America” in 2027, stating that “this will be the first of many.”

SpaceX went public earlier this year, and its stock price has been relatively stable since leveling off shortly after its IPO. Based on its current price, it’s a gift of just over $10 billion to children across the United States.

It appears to be closely related to President Donald Trump’s bank accounts for children, which were set up earlier this year as Trump Accounts.

Just hours earlier, Anthropic had announced the establishment of its Anthropic Public Benefit Fund, “a new wholly-owned entity dedicated entirely to public benefit.” Musk responded by stating he recommended “giving the shares directly to the public,” and that he would be doing it that way.

Just a little bit later, Musk said children across the U.S. would be getting a share from him:

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There are roughly 70 million children, meaning someone under the age of 18, in the United States, according to the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. Musk’s ownership of SpaceX stock shows he has around 849 million Class A shares of SpaceX stock, according to filings with the SEC.

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Elon Musk reveals why Boring Co’s biggest East Coast project never happened

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(Credit: The Boring Company)

Elon Musk revealed in a post on X that “Permits were impossible to get,” explaining the fate of The Boring Company’s most ambitious East Coast proposal.

The comment responded to a query about what became of his July 20, 2017 announcement that he had “just received verbal govt approval” for an underground Hyperloop connecting New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., capable of carrying passengers from the Big Apple to the Nation’s Capital in just 29 minutes.

The Boring Company receives verbal ‘approval’ to build NY to DC Hyperloop tunnel

The 2017 post, which envisioned city-center stations and multiple elevators in each city, sparked immediate scrutiny. Local and state officials in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and D.C. said they had no knowledge of any approval. A White House spokesperson confirmed only “promising conversations” about the transformative infrastructure.

Musk clarified shortly after that there was “still a lot of work” to do for formal approvals.

Limited progress followed, as Maryland Governor Larry Hogan’s administration issued a conditional utility permit and supported work near Fort Meade. In 2018, Washington, D.C., granted a preliminary permit for site preparation and excavation on a vacant lot at 53 New York Ave. NE in the NoMa neighborhood, which The Boring Company said could become a station.

A draft environmental assessment for a D.C.-Baltimore segment was released in 2019. Yet, by April 2021, the company had removed the project from its website, and the Federal Highway Administration reported receiving no indication of further interest. Communication with Maryland officials had ceased.

The full corridor would have required coordination among the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, the Federal Highway Administration, the Army Corps of Engineers, the National Park Service, and other agencies.

Environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act, utility clearances, and approvals for novel infrastructure added to the overall complexity of the project and its approval.

Speculation on the permitting barriers centers around a few factors, but a multi-state, multi-level route involving unproven high-speed vacuum-tube technology inherently triggers exhaustive safety, environmental, and engineering reviews that can stretch for years, even for conventional projects.

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There are also other elements, of course, like officials who may face political exposure if a privately funded, untested system encountered anything such as cost overruns, delays, or safety issues. On the outset of this project, there were limited things such as engineering plans or demonstrated technology maturity, which also added to the potential skepticism.

The East Coast vision for Boring Co., once framed as a privately funded revolution that could reshape Northeast travel, quietly ended without construction of the promised network. Musk’s recent statement frames the outcome as a regulatory impasse, unfortunate but not unexpected.

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