GoKawiil
Tech News
A Tesla Semi caught fire on Interstate 880 in Hayward, California, Tuesday evening with no collision involved, California Highway Patrol said. The lithium-ion battery fire forced a full closure of the freeway in both directions over hazardous smoke concerns, with southbound lanes reopening around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday after roughly 10 hours. The driver escaped unhurt, and the cause remains under investigation.
Ford has confirmed that its upcoming Fathom electric truck, priced at $28,350 and expected to launch early next year, will come with bidirectional charging built directly into the vehicle. The truck will use its Universal EV Platform to convert battery DC power to roughly 10 kW of AC output for home use, meeting UL 1741 and IEEE 1547 grid standards, and will use the NACS plug and SAE J3068 communication protocol.
Slate's modular electric pickup starts as a $24,950 bare-bones two-seater in gray, but owners can personalize it with a catalog of over 200 accessories. One hands-on build styled after a 1970s Ford Bronco pushed the price to nearly $40,000, before factoring in additional accessories that Slate has not yet priced.
Slate Auto's stripped-down electric truck skips built-in infotainment to hit its low entry price, relying instead on optional add-ons like speakers, an iPad mount, a five-seat SUV conversion kit, and a telematics module for features like app-based door unlocking. A fully optioned version can exceed $45,000. The truck offers about 205 miles of range, a 1,550-pound payload capacity, and a 2,000-pound tow rating.
Telo Trucks let reporters test drive the MT1, an electric pickup with a near cab-over design that makes it noticeably smaller than typical trucks on American roads. The vehicle is being marketed as one of the smallest electric trucks available, aiming to pack pickup-truck functionality into a compact footprint. The test drive took place on public roads near larger tech company campuses in San Carlos.
Slate Auto has introduced a compact two-door electric truck that strips away typical modern features, offering manual crank windows as standard and a small 65-kWh battery yielding roughly 205 miles of range. The base model costs under $25,000, far less than the average $50,000 new vehicle price in the US, though buyers can pay extra for upgrades like power windows, vinyl wraps, and a Bluetooth stereo.