The Auto Xone

By Zachary Visconti Posted on February 23, 2025 Following a report that the U.S. government may be threatening to turn off SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet in Ukraine unless the country agrees to a minerals deal, Elon Musk has responded by saying that the reports aren’t true. On Saturday, a Reuters report cited three unnamed sources that claimed U.S. negotiators had brought up the possibility of turning off Starlink in Ukraine, after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy rejected a proposal earlier this month from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Starlink has played a crucial role for the military staying connected in the embattled country, and sources alleged that the officials were told in a meeting that the services could face an imminent shutoff. “Ukraine runs on Starlink,” one source said. “They consider it their North Star. Losing Starlink … would be a massive blow.” In a post on X on Saturday following the report, Musk denied the claims, sayin...

Lease deals get all the hype, but most people still want to own the car after they’re done making all those payments on it. If that sounds like you, and you’ve been waiting for the interest rates on auto loans to drop, you’re in luck: there are a bunch of great plug-in cars you can buy with 0% financing this February! Update 23FEB25 : added more fresh 0% deals. As I was putting this list together, I realized there were plenty of ways for me to present this information. “Best EVs ..?” Too opinion based. “Cheapest EVs ..?”  Too much research . In the end, I went with alphabetical order, by make. And, as for which deals are new this month? You’re just gonna have to read the article. Enjoy! Acura ZDX 2024 Acura ZDX Type S (Source: Acura) The new-for-2024 Acura ZDX uses a GM Ultium battery and drive motors,  but the styling, interior, and infotainment software are all Honda . That means you’ll get a solidly-built EV with GM levels of parts support and Honda levels of fit, ...

By Zachary Visconti Posted on February 22, 2025 Tesla and CEO Elon Musk have doubled down on plans to deploy in-house robotaxi ride-hailing services, as highlighted in a recent conversation with Uber’s top executive. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi says that Musk was not interested in talking about utilizing the Uber platform for Tesla’s future robotaxis, as detailed in a recent report from Fortune . Khosrowshahi says that he has spoken with Musk and that the company is looking to stay in-house with the robotaxi, which is consistent with its recent release and longtime teasing of a ride-sharing platform . Credit: Tesla The executive also points to Tesla’s competitive status with Alphabet-owned Waymo, which is currently already operating paid driverless ride-hailing services in a handful of cities in the U.S. “I’ve had conversations with him at this point,” Khosrowshahi said on Friday, during an interview with Bloomberg TV in Miami. “They want to build ...

Photo by Kindel Media on Pexels.com The Trump administration is shutting down EV chargers at all federal government buildings and is also expected to sell off the General Services Administration ‘s (GSA) newly bought EVs. GSA, which manages all federal government-owned buildings, also operates the federal buildings’ EV chargers. Federally owned EVs and federal employee-owned personal EVs are charged on those 8,000 charging ports. The Verge reports it’s been told by a source that plans will be officially announced internally next week, and it’s seen an email that GSA has already sent to regional offices about the plans: “As GSA has worked to align with the current administration, we have received direction that all GSA-owned charging stations are not mission-critical.” The GSA is working on the timing of canceling current network contracts that keep the EV chargers operational. Once those contracts are canceled, the stations will be taken out of service and “turned off at...

By Joey Klender Posted on February 20, 2025 SpaceX completed a new first with a recent launch of the Falcon 9 rocket that sent another batch of Starlink satellites to orbit. On Tuesday, for the first time, SpaceX managed to complete a launch and land in two different countries with the Starlink 10-12 mission. It was the first orbit flight that featured a liftoff in one country and a landing in another, occurring just eight-and-a-half minutes apart. At around 6:21 p.m. EST on Tuesday, SpaceX completed the liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket with tail number B1080, its 16th flight. This specific first-stage booster previously launched four Dragon flights to the International Space Station, the European Space Agency’s Euclid observatory, Astra 1P, and nine other Starlink missions, according to  SpaceflightNow . Eight-and-a-half minutes later, the Falcon 9 booster landed on the ‘Just Read the Instructions’ droneship, which was positioned just off the coast ...

Rivian (RIVN) hit its goal of achieving a positive gross profit in the fourth quarter. The EV maker released its fourth-quarter earnings after the market closed on Thursday. Here’s a full breakdown of Rivian’s Q4 2024 financials. Rivian achieves first gross profit in Q4 2024 earnings Yesterday, in our Q4 earnings preview , we noted that the biggest thing investors will be looking for is if Rivian will achieve a positive gross profit as it has guided all year. Rivian hit its goal, posting a gross profit of $170 million in the fourth quarter, a $776 million improvement from Q4 2023. Of which, $100 million was from auto sales, and the other $60 million was from software and services. Lower costs, including per vehicle delivered, drove the achievement. In addition to plant upgrades, Rivian saw a noticeable cost improvement after launching its second-generation R1 models. Advertisement – scroll for more content Rivian posted total fourth-quarter revenue of $1.73 billion, easily to...

By Joey Klender Posted on February 19, 2025 Tesla is planning a new “Supercharger queue” feature at select Supercharger sites in an effort to end one rare issue: confrontation or confusion regarding who is next in line. While it is an uncommon issue, Supercharger congestion does occur in heavily populated areas where a high concentration of EVs can cause extensive wait times at charging piles. These lines can sometimes become an issue as drivers will, on occasion , become combative if they feel they have arrived at a charger before another owner. People cutting in line is something that can occur, especially at busy Superchargers. As a result, Tesla has confirmed that it will roll out a new “Virtual queuing pilot” program starting in Q2 at select Superchargers: “Virtual queuing pilots starting in Q2 at select sites. Goal is a net customer experience improvement for the ~1% cases of a wait time. Wider rollout this year if feedback is positive. We also c...