In a strange turn of events, the Tesla Model 3, a battery-powered electric vehicle, was snubbed in the “Eco-Friendly Car of the Year” award by Cars.com. The winner was the Toyota Corolla Hybrid, but the worst part was that a diesel truck was in the shortlist to win the title of 2020’s most “Eco-Friendly” car.
Cars.com released the award as a part of the 2020 Earth Day celebration. However, the award went to a car that uses carbon-emitting gasoline and a battery. It seems the ideal candidates for the award should have all been electric, but its choices for the “Eco-Friendly” award are questionable at best.
Among the Tesla Model 3 and the Corolla Hybrid, candidates for the Earth-friendly award were the Honda Civic, the Honda Clarity Plug-in Hybrid, and the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Duramax Diesel.
Interestingly enough, Cars.com chose to put a diesel-powered, half-ton pickup truck on a list that consists of small, lightweight sedans with good gas mileage, or in the Model 3’s case, range. Despite being powered by dangerous and not so eco-friendly diesel, the truck managed to make its way onto the automotive firm’s “eco-friendly” list.
Cars.com states its award based its decisions on fuel efficiency, consumer-friendly price, and broad appeal. While all of the vehicles listed have different advantages to consumers across the board, fuel efficiency is undoubtedly one of the more apparent standards that would qualify a car as an eco-friendly mode of transportation. This trait is especially pertinent when handing out an award that will labels vehicles as “eco-friendly.”
According to the motoring agency, the Duramax Diesel appeared on the list because of its fuel economy. “It may seem odd that a diesel half-ton pickup truck was nominated for an eco-friendly award, but there’s a simple reason: fuel economy. The EPA officially rates the 2020 Silverado 1500 diesel at 23/33/27 mpg city/highway/combined for the two-wheel-drive model and 23/29/25 mpg for the 4×4,” the online automotive marketplace wrote.

The Model 3’s complements from Cars.com were short but sweet. After the website recognized the vehicle as “compelling” with “more than enough sales to prove it,” the site chose the Rear Wheel Drive Standard Range+ configuration of the car as with the most efficiency with 141 MPGe, according to FuelEconomy.gov.
Cars.com conducted a survey with EV owners and shoppers to determine the pros and cons of electric car ownership. Reduced fuel cost was considered an advantage by 86% of EV owners, while the environmental impact and reduced maintenance accounted for 73 and 64 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, the high initial price (55%), limited range (44%), and lack of charging stations (40%) were considered as the main drawbacks of EV ownership.
Not all is bad for Tesla or its Model 3, though. In early April, Kelley Blue Book chose Tesla as the winner of 4 of its 5 Luxury Brand awards. Additionally, the Model 3 has received a sizable collection of awards, ranging from the IIHS’ 2020 Top Safety Pick+ award to the 2020 UK Car of the Year.
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Tesla’s new Model S and X spotted, but they leave a lot to be desired
The Model S and Model X testing mules spotted by The Kilowatts have few minor visual changes.

Tesla has been hinting for a few months now that the flagship Model S and Model X would be getting some attention in 2025 as the vehicles continue to be sold in extremely low volumes.
Both models seem to be under the knife, especially as their newest versions were spotted in California earlier this week.
However, images of the vehicles seem to show that Tesla is not planning a major overhaul, which begs the question: why even do it in the first place?
Tesla makes a decision on the future of its flagship Model S and Model X
The Model S and Model X are grouped with the Cybertruck in Tesla’s quarterly delivery releases, and Q1 saw just 12,881 units of the three cars delivered. The Cybertruck likely made up the majority of this number, as some outlets reported around 6,400 deliveries of the all-electric pickup in Q1.
This is unconfirmed.
The Model S and Model X have stuck around for “sentimental reasons,” according to CEO Elon Musk, who said back in 2021:
“I mean, they’re very expensive, made in low volume. To be totally frank, we’re continuing to make them more for sentimental reasons than anything else. They’re really of minor importance to the future.”
However, the cars seem to be in need of a serious refresh. As Tesla changed up the exterior aesthetic on both the Model 3 and Model Y, recent images captured of the Model X by The Kilowatts seem to show this is not the strategy with the Model X or Model S:
— The Kilowatts 🚗⚡️ (@klwtts) May 22, 2025
As we can see, the overall aesthetic of the X, if this is what Tesla plans to release, has literally no changes from a purely visual standpoint. There is the addition of the front bumper camera, which was first implemented on the Cybercab unveiled in October 2024, and then on the new Model Y this year.
There are some new 20″ wheels, and the interior has been fitted with ambient lighting.
The Model S looked to be relatively the same, other than these few hardware changes, including a rear diffuser on this Plaid that was spotted:
Tesla is definitely doing some things 👀 pic.twitter.com/qchMiAWEoT
— The Kilowatts 🚗⚡️ (@klwtts) May 22, 2025
While these changes are welcome and should be beneficial, they don’t seem like they will encourage major sales growth, which might be something Tesla is okay with.
Admitting the two cars are low volume and not contributors to the company’s long-term goals, Musk is likely willing to just upgrade things to make these more compatible and better functioning with the Full Self-Driving suite.
Earlier this year, VP of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy said the S and X were not going anywhere and would get “some love” before the end of 2025:
“Just give it a minute. We’ll get there. The upgrade a couple of years ago was bigger than most people thought in terms of architecture and structure of the car got a lot better, too. But, we’ll give it some love later this year and make sure it gets a little bit…you know, with the stuff we’ve been putting in 3 and Y. Obviously, with 3 and Y, the higher volume stuff, you’ve gotta focus there.”
It seems these strategies have held true — the S and X appear to be getting what the 3 and Y got with the ambient lighting and front bumper camera (at least on the Model Y).
Elon Musk
Tesla set for ‘golden age of autonomous’ as Robotaxi nears, ‘dark chapter’ ends: Wedbush
Tesla is set to win big from the launch of the Robotaxi platform, Wedbush’s Dan Ives said.

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is set to kick off its own “golden age of autonomous growth” as its Robotaxi platform nears launch and a “dark chapter” for the company has evidently come to a close, according to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.
Ives has jostled his price target on Tesla shares a few times already this year, usually switching things up as the market sways and the company’s near-term outlook changes. His price target on Tesla has gone from $550 to $315 to $350 back to $500 this year, with the newest adjustment coming from a note released early on Friday.
🚨 Wedbush’s Dan Ives is raising his price target on Tesla $TSLA from $350 to $500 as the “golden age of autonomous” nears:
“We believe the golden age of autonomous is now on the doorstep for Tesla with the Austin launch next month kicking off this key next chapter of growth for…
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) May 23, 2025
As CEO Elon Musk has essentially started to dwindle down his commitment to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) altogether, Ives believes that Tesla’s “dark chapter” has come to a close:
“First lets address the elephant in the room…2025 started off as a dark chapter for Musk and Tesla as Elon’s role in the Trump Administration and DOGE created a life of its own which created brand damage and a black cloud over the story….but importantly those days are in the rear-view mirror as we are now seeing a recommitted Musk leading Tesla as CEO into this autonomous and robotics future ahead with his days in the White House now essentially over.”
Ives believes Tesla’s launch of Robotaxi should be the company’s way to unlock at least $1 trillion in value alone, especially as the Trump White House will fast-track the key initiatives the automaker needs to get things moving in the right direction:
“The $1 trillion of AI valuation will start to get unlocked in the Tesla story and we believe the march to a $2 trillion valuation for TSLA over the next 12 to 18 months has now begun in our view with FSD and autonomous penetration of Tesla’s installed base and the acceleration of Cybercab in the US representing the golden goose.”
There are some concerns moving forward, but none of which relate to the AI/autonomous play that Ives primarily focuses on within the Friday note. Instead, they are related to demand in both Europe and Asia, as Ives said, “there is still wood to chop to turn around Model Y growth” in both of those markets.
Nevertheless, the big focus for Ives is evidently the launch of Robotaxi and the potential of the entire autonomous division that Tesla plans to offer as a ride-sharing service in the coming months. Ives also believes a 50 percent or more penetration of Full Self-Driving could totally transform the financial model and margins of Tesla moving ahead.
Aware of the setbacks Tesla could encounter, Ives still believes that Tesla will establish itself as “the true autonomous winner over” and that investors will recognize the AI vision the company has been so bullish on.
Ives pushed his price target to $500. Tesla shares are down just under 1% at the time of publication. They are trading at $337.88 at 11:45 on the East Coast.
Elon Musk
SpaceX Starship gets FAA nod for ninth test flight
The FAA has given the green light for Starship’s ninth test flight.

SpaceX has received FAA approval for the ninth test flight of the Starship rocket. The approval was delayed due to the federal agency finishing its comprehensive safety review of the eighth flight earlier this year.
The FAA said in a statement that it has determined that SpaceX has “satisfactorily addressed the causes of the mishap, and therefore, the Starship vehicle can return to flight.”
The eighth test flight occurred back on March 6. SpaceX completed a successful liftoff of Starship and the Super Heavy Booster, before the two entered stage separation a few minutes after launch.
Starship Flight 8: SpaceX nails Super Heavy booster catch but loses upper stage
The booster returned and was caught by the chopsticks on the launch pad, completing the second successful booster catch in the program’s history. However, SpaceX lost contact with Starship in the upper atmosphere.
The ship broke up and reentered the atmosphere over Florida and the Bahamas.
The debris situation caused the FAA to initiate a mishap investigation:
Starship Flight 8’s Ship 34 provided some beautiful fireworks in the sky during its rapid unscheduled disassembly. Beautiful but unfortunate.
Hopefully, Flight 9 would no longer have any RUD incidents. pic.twitter.com/p4qAToDXOM
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) March 7, 2025
The FAA said it will verify that SpaceX implements all the corrective actions on Flight 9 that it discovered during the mishap investigation.
There is no current confirmed launch window, but the earliest it could take off from Starbase is Tuesday, May 27, at 6:30 p.m. local time.
To prevent any injuries and potentially limit any damage, the FAA has stayed in contact with various countries that could be impacted if another loss of vehicle occurs:
“The FAA is in close contact and collaboration with the United Kingdom, Turks & Caicos Islands, Bahamas, Mexico, and Cuba as the agency continues to monitor SpaceX’s compliance with all public safety and other regulatory requirements.”
The agency has also stated that the Aircraft Hazard Area (AHA) is approximately 1,600 nautical miles and extends eastward from the Starbase, Texas, launch site through the Straits of Florida, including the Bahamas and Turks & Caicos.
For flight 8, the AHA was just 885 nautical miles.
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