This week, we're breaking down next-gen charging solutions, a Tesla self-driving across the United States, and the first 600-plus range record — plus lots of other news you need to know about clean machines right now:
NYC's new charging hub will work entirely off-grid
Trendy NYC neighborhood Williamsburg will be the first in the city to have a large-scale EV charging hub with power that doesn't come directly from the grid, but instead from an array of battery-integrated chargers serving 88 spaces.
Vertical EV-charging parking decks are coming to the U.S.
If there's one thing the United States' dense urban areas lack, it's parking spaces. And if there's another, it's charging places.
Enter Stak, a company that has engineered a variant on the city parking carousel that can vertically accommodate up to 14 EVs in a two-car parking bay — and charge them while they're in there.
The company claims to have 400-plus spaces in operation right now, with another 600 in the design phase.
A Tesla driver just traveled across the entire country in self-driving mode
Pioneering Tesla driver David Moss posted on X that he managed a fully autonomous coast-to-coast drive using Tesla's Full Self Driving mode. If corroborated, it would be the first journey of its kind.
"I left the Tesla Diner in Los Angeles 2 days and 20 hours ago, and now have ended in Myrtle Beach, SC (2,732.4 miles)," Moss posted.
Moss also added receipts to his post, which included charging stops and a map of his route. Another X account, Whole Mars Catalog, which tracks driving miles from Teslas, appeared to confirm his record-breaking FSD (full self-driving) feat.
Florida is ready for EV-charging highways
We've been talking about inductive charging for years, with some experiments in cordless EV charging making waves in small test cases.
But the real goal — a highway that charges EVs as they drive — has remained in the realm of science fiction. At least until now (or to be more exact, until 2029).
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Definitely 👍 By the end of that year, Florida will be the surprising location of a three-quarter-mile stretch of highway that will be able to charge suitably equipped EVs.
Given the short amount of time an EV will spend crossing that short section, the $500 million project is not being seen as a solution, so much as a topping-up experiment.
The secret behind a 600-mile-plus EV Range? It's not the battery
Automaker Renault is making headlines for achieving a stunning 626 miles of driving on a single charge. But the real lesson here is not the range — which is amazing, of course — but the efficiency.
As a deep dive from Autoblog points out, the Filante test vehicle was much lighter than standard EVs, in part from a slimmed-down body, and also from innovations such as fly-by-wire steering and braking systems.
The eventual result was eight miles per kilowatt-hour, which blows away even the most impressive production EVs, such as Tesla's Model 3, which can achieve close to 5 miles per kilowatt-hour.
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