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Tesla Superchargers were over 10 times as reliable as these rivals

Tesla and Rivian topped this charger reliability study, outperforming competitors by a wide margin.

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Credit: Tesla

A new study shows that many electric vehicle (EV) charging networks were substantially less reliable than Tesla’s Superchargers or Rivian’s Adventure Network (RAN), while hardware problems accounted for the most common issue experienced

In a Consumer Reports study shared last week, Tesla and Rivian’s charging networks were found to be significantly more reliable than those of other companies, though EV owners reported a problem with about one out of every five charging sessions initiated overall. Respondents said they had issues with just 4 percent of charging sessions at Tesla’s Superchargers, making them the most reliable, while issues with Rivian’s network were reported for just 5 percent of sessions.

Comparatively, Shell Recharge users faced the most issues, with respondents detailing problems in 48 percent of charging sessions. The next least reliable networks were EVgo and Blink, which followed with 43 percent and 41 percent problems reported, respectively. DC fast-chargers had a reported issue rate of 34 percent, while owners faced problems with Level 2 chargers in 25 percent of sessions.

“The findings show that the public charging experience can vary widely based on the vehicle and the charging networks operating in one’s community and along frequent trips,” writes Drew Toher, Consumer Reports’ Campaign Manager for Sustainable Transportation projects. “This is an important consideration for those without access to home charging. With these findings, CR is encouraging all charging networks to take ownership of their performance and implement measures to improve reliability.”

The survey included responses from 1,230 owners of BEVs and plug-in hybrid EVs (PHEVs), detailing experiences from roughly 5,700 individual charging sessions. The majority of issues customers faced were related to hardware, while they also reported problems with payment, charging power, and other factors.

Out of those who said they had issues directly with the chargers, 76 percent said they encountered broken or unresponsive screens, or those with error messages.

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Credit: Consumer Reports (graphic by Sharon Seidl)

Credit: Consumer Reports (graphic by Sharon Seidl)

Credit: Consumer Reports (graphic by Sharon Seidl)

Credit: Consumer Reports (graphic by Sharon Seidl)

READ MORE ON EV CHARGING: Tesla Superchargers dominate J.D. Power EV Charging Study

“By calling out broken screens, payment issues, and slow charging power, community members are crowdsourcing data that will hold charging networks accountable and improve drivers’ experience with public charging,” Toher adds. “This will help tackle the biggest impediment for consumers looking to purchase a more efficient vehicle.”

The release also notes that EV owners planning to charge beyond their home can take a few steps to help ensure the best experiences possible, including making accounts for several different charging networks, getting apps like A Better Route Planner, Plugshare, and CR partner Chargeway, and performing battery preconditioning, among others.

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Tesla’s Superchargers have repeatedly been found to be the most reliable in markets around the world, and in surveys from Consumer Reports, JD Power, and other auto industry research firms. Rivian has also followed Tesla in taking routine measures to keep owners informed about the reliability of chargers. One such example includes the automaker’s deployment last April of “charging scores” for the RAN network, to help improve customer experiences by directing them to working stations.

Tesla exec highlights advantages of prefabricated Superchargers

Zach is a renewable energy reporter who has been covering electric vehicles since 2020. He grew up in Fremont, California, and he currently lives in Colorado. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, KRON4 San Francisco, FOX31 Denver, InsideEVs, CleanTechnica, and many other publications. When he isn't covering Tesla or other EV companies, you can find him writing and performing music, drinking a good cup of coffee, or hanging out with his cats, Banks and Freddie. Reach out at zach@teslarati.com, find him on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@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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