What did you miss? #WDYM Week 27 & 28 2023

???? Tesla is discussing an investment proposal with the Indian government to set up a factory with an annual capacity to produce about half a million electric vehicles with prices beginning from Rs 20 lakh ($24,000). The company also seeks to use India as an export base to ship cars to countries in the Indo-Pacific region.

???? Phase 2 of Tesla Giga Berlin will expand production capacity by an additional 500,000 units, which should give the factory output of one million vehicles per year.

?? Tesla announced that it has built the “first Cybertruck” at Gigafactory Texas.

?? Kentucky joins Texas and Washington in requiring electric vehicle charging companies to include Tesla's plug if they want to be part of a state program to electrify highways using federal dollars.

?? Volkswagen is cutting electric vehicle production at its Emden plant in Germany, partly due to “strong customer reluctance.” Demand for electric vehicles is running about 30% below VW’s forecasts.

?? Rivian delivered a total of 12,640 vehicles in Q2. The EV maker produced 13,992 vehicles in the period. These results surpassed analysts’ expectations, with production estimates compiled by Bloomberg averaging around 12,562 vehicles for the quarter.

?? A lack of data on electric vehicle batteries continues to challenge insurers forced to scrap EVs after mild accidents, potentially undermining EV adoption.

?? Stellantis unveiled its latest electric SUV, the FIAT 600e, with up to 248 miles range (400 km) starting at under $40,000 (€36,490). The new compact electric SUV is set to compete against the upcoming Volvo EX30.

?? ?? A federal judge said Rivian must face a lawsuit claiming it defrauded shareholders during and after its blockbuster 2021 initial public offering by concealing that had underpriced its electric vehicles, leading to unpopular price hikes.

?? Nissan will begin assembly on a pair of electric sedans begins at its Canton, Mississipi factory in 2026, according to a supplier production schedule. A couple of battery-powered crossovers follow in 2027 and 2028. "Canton will be North America's electrification hub for the next five to six years. That's where we're going to bring in the new platforms and technology."

?? Chinese battery maker CATL has developed new electrolyte materials for lithium-ion batteries that would sharply improve charging efficiency for electric vehicles, especially in extreme cold. The proposed electrolyte could deliver a 50% increase in efficiency at -4 Fahrenheit and 43% under more normal temperatures.

?? Volkswagen is rolling out its first US fleet of autonomous test vehicles in Austin. The ten modified ID.Buzz electric vans will use Mobileye's Level 4 self-driving system to collect driving data that will "validate and refine" technology. These early machines will include safety drivers.

?? ♀? The United Auto Workers union called on the Biden administration to soften its proposed emissions cuts requiring 67% of new vehicles to be electric by 2032.

?? Since launching the first Starlink spacecraft in 2019, the SpaceX satellites have had to move over 50,000 times to prevent collisions.

?? Starlink satellites reportedly leak low-frequency radio waves, which scientists say could impact astronomical research.

?? Blue Origin’s next-gen BE-4 rocket engine fails dramatically during testing in Texas. Its engine, which was meant to be used for the second launch of United Launch Alliance’s next-generation Vulcan rocket, detonated about 10 seconds into a test firing on June 30. That launch, known as Cert-2, is meant to send Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser space plane on an uncrewed cargo delivery mission to the International Space Station.

?? ?? SpaceX is stretching the lifetime of its reusable Falcon 9 boosters. Each Falcon 9 booster could fly twice as many times as originally intended.

???? India's space agency launched a rocket on Friday that sent a spacecraft into orbit and toward a planned landing next month on the lunar south pole, an unprecedented feat that would advance India's position as a significant space power.

?? The Perseverance Rover has found evidence of organic compounds in the Jezero Crater on Mars. These compounds could have also developed in nonbiological ways. But, the results hint at complex organic conditions for the “key building blocks for life.” Organic molecules like those observed in the Jezero Crater contain carbon and often hydrogen atoms.

? Elon Musk launched his long-teased artificial intelligence startup xAI, unveiling a team comprised of engineers from the same big U.S. technology firms that he hopes to challenge in his bid to build an alternative to ChatGPT.?Elon has said on several occasions that the development of AI should be paused and that the sector needed regulation. Musk has repeatedly voiced concerns about AI's potential for "civilizational destruction." Musk explained his plan for building a safer AI. Rather than explicitly programming morality into its AI, xAI will seek to create a "maximally curious" AI, he said.

?? Twitter has threatened to sue Meta Platforms over its new Threads platform in a letter sent to the Facebook parent's CEO Mark Zuckerberg by Twitter's lawyer Alex Spiro. Meta has logged more than 30 million sign ups, looks to take on Elon Musk's Twitter by leveraging Instagram's billions of users. Spiro, in his letter, accused Meta of hiring former Twitter employees who "had and continue to have access to Twitter's trade secrets and other highly confidential information."