Europeans seem to have gotten over their antipathy toward Elon Musk. A year ago, Tesla sales in Europe were in free fall after Mr. Musk, the automaker’s chief executive, appeared to turn off car buyers with his vocal support for right-wing politicians in Britain and Europe and his role as President Trump’s cost-cutting czar. But…
At a factory in southeastern China, robot arms spin balletically, winding long strips of metal into rolls and shaping them into bricks that are destined to become batteries. As workers in white coveralls watch, the nascent batteries are packaged into aluminum cases and, as workers put it, “given life” — endowed with an electrical charge…
A driver in a Tesla vehicle that was engaged in automated driver-assistance mode crashed into a house in Texas on Friday night and killed a woman inside, the authorities said. The driver, Michael Butler, was in a Tesla Model 3 about 8 p.m. local time and operating the car “with an automated driving assistance system,”…
A lawsuit filed in California last month offers a modern-day David-versus-Goliath tale that casts the world’s largest automaker, Toyota Motor, in the role of the giant battling against a shoestring operation in Africa — but with a twist. The legal fight is not about some top-secret new automotive technology or significant sums of money. It…
Sales of Tesla electric vehicles in Europe plunged last year after Elon Musk, the automaker’s chief executive, alienated many people with his political views and support for President Trump. But the company’s sales have been rising recently, and we’re trying to figure out why. I cover the auto industry for The New York Times and…
SpaceX may have held the biggest initial public offering of all time, but Wall Street may be expecting something even bigger from Elon Musk, the rocket company’s chief executive. Many of his fans and investors expect him to merge SpaceX with Tesla, the maker of electric cars where he is also chief executive, joining most…
General Motors plans to begin making components for large storage batteries, the company said Tuesday, joining Tesla, Ford Motor and other carmakers in pushing into a growing market and compensating for slower sales of electric vehicles in the United States. The batteries, which can be the size of shipping containers, store excess energy from solar…
The monthslong closure of the Strait of Hormuz is reinforcing an expensive geopolitical lesson about how risky it can be to rely on imported energy. From South America to Southeast Asia, governments and private companies are being forced to look inward and take steps to harness what they can domestically, even when doing so raises…
Last year Ford Motor suspended production of an electric pickup truck, shut down a battery factory in Kentucky and booked a $20 billion loss to account for its diminished plans. Then, last month, the senior executive who oversaw development of this new technology left the company. But Ford executives insist that those setbacks do not…
Costa Ricans buy more electric vehicles per person than almost any other country in the Western Hemisphere, a fact that would not surprise anyone stopping recently at the Croc Skywalk, a tourist attraction above a slow-moving river where people can gawk at sunbathing crocodiles. Numerous electric vehicles, most of them made by Chinese companies like…
