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Alpha Motor managed to make a splash unveiling renders of a $36,000 electric pickup truck despite having nothing to back up its claims.

Now, the company says it’s going to actually unveil its electric truck with production planned for 2023.

Earlier this year, we reported on Alpha Motor after it was all over the media for unveiling renders and specs on the Alpha Motor Electric Wolf, an electric pickup truck.

Starting at just $36,000 with specs like 275 miles of range, the Wolf grabbed people’s attention.

The retro-looking design was also appealing to many.

However, the company offered very little information as to who is behind the effort and how they would deliver this product.

For our original report, we did a LinkedIn search of Alpha Motor and found that only two people listed working there. One of them going by Kevin L. with no other listed work experience and the other Lawrence Eric Go, a California-based copywriter in charge of writing press releases for Alpha Motor.

Go previously did the same thing for Neuron EV, another dubious California-based EV startup that seems to have disappeared after unveiling concepts back in 2019, including a Tesla Semi clone.

The company has gone quiet for the last 2 years and took down its website. Go has also removed his work experience at Alpha Motor after we reported on it.

We pulled up Alpha’s business registrations in California and Delaware and found that it first listed someone named “Michael A. Smith” as its CEO in an original filling in October 2020, and then they updated it in January to name a Kevin Lee as CEO with offices in Irvine.

Irvine is also where Neuron EV claimed to be based.

In short, we couldn’t find any evidence of an actual organization capable of delivering more than renders and press releases about electric vehicles rather than actual electric vehicles.

But now Alpha Motor announced that they will debut the Wolf electric pickup at the Petersen Museum next week:

“Alpha Motor Corporation is set to exhibit the WOLF™ Electric Truck at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California beginning August 24, 2021.”

The company has even started taking reservations for the vehicle and claims that production is going to start in 2023:

“Production of the WOLF™ Electric Truck is slated to launch in the United States towards the end of 2023.”

They released this teaser:

Electrek’s Take

Months after the company came out and the media jumped on the release of the renders, Alpha Motor still doesn’t list any member of their leadership or engineering team on their website.

The few people we found on LinkedIn have also removed mentions of the company from their profiles.

You would think that an EV startup claiming they can reach production within the next 2 years would leave more traces of an organization with some engineering and financing behind it, but it’s not the case for Alpha Motor.

I remain extremely skeptical of the company despite this upcoming unveiling, but we will see.


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Harvey Weinstein to be tried for third time in New York after mistrial on rape charge

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Harvey Weinstein to be tried for third time in New York after mistrial on rape charge

Disgraced US film producer Harvey Weinstein is to be tried for a third time in a sexual assault case.

A jury in New York could not reach a verdict in June against the 73-year-old who was accused of raping actress Jessica Mann, and a mistrial was declared.

Judge Curtis Farber has said he wants the new trial to happen before the end of this year.

The same jury found Weinstein guilty in June of sexually assaulting former Project Runway production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006 and not guilty of assaulting Polish former runway model Kaja Sokola the same year.

Weinstein will be sentenced for the guilty verdict in Ms Haley’s case on 30 September.

He denied all of the charges. Throughout the retrial, his lawyers insisted the sexual encounters with his three accusers were “transactional” and “consensual,” and labelled the women as opportunists.

Weinstein was originally convicted of rape and criminal sexual act by the same court in 2020 and sentenced to 23 years in prison for the crimes.

Last year, however, New York’s highest court overturned the conviction, prompting Weinstein’s retrial this summer.

Weinstein was once one of the most powerful people in Hollywood – the co-founder of film and television production companies Miramax and The Weinstein Company, who produced films such as the Oscar-winning Shakespeare In Love, Pulp Fiction, and The Crying Game.

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In 2017, a series of sexual misconduct allegations against him propelled the #MeToo movement.

Some of those accusations later led to criminal charges and his convictions in New York and California.

Before the retrial, Weinstein was also serving a 16-year prison sentence after being found guilty of rape in California in December 2022. He has also denied this charge.

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TV presenter Jay Blades appears in court charged with two counts of rape

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TV presenter Jay Blades appears in court charged with two counts of rape

TV presenter Jay Blades has appeared in court charged with two counts of rape.

The 55-year-old appeared via video link at Telford Magistrates’ Court and spoke only to confirm his name, address and date of birth at the six-minute hearing on Wednesday.

Blades, from Claverley in Shropshire, was granted conditional bail to appear at Shrewsbury Crown Court on 10 September.

He was not required to enter pleas during his first appearance.

The presenter found fame on the furniture restoration programme The Repair Shop after he started presenting in 2017.

A furniture restorer, he was the face of the popular BBC show that featured people having their treasured objects repaired and rejuvenated until he stepped back from presenting the programme last year.

Read more from Sky News:
Backlash over police vans with facial recognition
New questions for driving theory tests

Blades was also the presenter of the BBC’s Money For Nothing until 2020 and took part in Celebrity Masterchef, Celebrity Bake Off, and Comic Relief.

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Yungblud pays tribute to his hero Ozzy Osbourne as he opens up about ‘raw’ documentary Are You Ready, Boy?

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Yungblud pays tribute to his hero Ozzy Osbourne as he opens up about 'raw' documentary Are You Ready, Boy?

Yungblud has told Sky News he hopes he can keep Ozzy Osbourne’s “spirit and energy” alive after performing at the metal legend’s final gig.

The singer-songwriter paid tribute to his hero at the premiere of his upcoming documentary, Are You Ready, Boy?, which he admitted had been an “uncomfortable” watch as it shows him at his most vulnerable.

It gives fans a glimpse behind the curtain during the process of recording live tracks from his fourth studio album, Idols, which topped the charts in June.

On stage at Back To The Beginning. Pic: Kazuyo Horie
Image:
On stage at Back To The Beginning. Pic: Kazuyo Horie

Just a few weeks later, he was on stage at Back To The Beginning – Ozzy Osbourne‘s “final bow” reunion gig with Black Sabbath, held at Villa Park in Birmingham. The metal pioneer died less than three weeks later.

Yungblud, whose real name is Dom Harrison, performed a cover of Osbourne’s song Changes, and went on to release his version as a single, raising funds for the same charities as the concert.

Afterwards, Ozzy gifted him a cross which he keeps around his neck.

Ozzy on stage during his final performance. Pic: Ross Halfin
Image:
Ozzy on stage during his final performance. Pic: Ross Halfin

Ozzy is everything to me, always has been,” he says. “And to be able to go on stage and honour my hero and sing that song to him, without knowing that they were his final days, was everything to me.

“I will try my best to keep that spirit and keep that energy alive. I love that guy. I got to know him personally at the end and I love that family. I’ve got nothing but love, always.”

Now, Harrison is getting ready for the release of Are You Ready, Boy?, which was filmed at the famous Hansa Studios in Berlin, the birthplace of albums including David Bowie’s Heroes and U2’s Achtung Baby!.

Are You Ready, Boy? is released later in August
Image:
Are You Ready, Boy? is released later in August

Making music and all of his creative output he sees as “life or death”, he says in the film. “I mean, 100%,” he adds while on the red carpet. “I think that’s how I like to play, you know? I mean, red or black, every time.

“I love taking risks and this film is the most vulnerable I think I’ve ever been. It’s pretty uncomfortable for me to watch. I’ve seen it once, I’ll watch it tonight and probably never watch it again…

“I think in this day and age, it’s very easy for us to cut around things and make them palatable and digestible. I wanted to do something that would be raw and uncomfortable, and this is what came out.”

The film comes during an intense period for the star, who has just opened his own music venue and shop in London, and is also planning a world tour and the return of his own festival, Bludfest, in 2026.

Read more:
Metal, reality TV, and bats: The wild life of Ozzy Osbourne
Fans flood streets to pay respects to Ozzy in Birmingham

“I think it’s important for [fans] to know who I really am,” he says, of why he wanted to make the film. “I think 30 seconds on an Instagram video doesn’t quite cut it. It’s a fly-on-the-wall documentary… we didn’t have an overarching narrative at the start of it.

“I said, come with me for two weeks, roll the cameras and see what happens.”

The star also spoke about Bludfest, which he launched in 2024. The third event next year will be “bigger and better,” he says.

The festival was set up as he felt prices had become too expensive and he wanted to show it could be done differently.

“I had something to prove,” he says. “I think this festival was important… It made me sick, the price of tickets. And a lot of promoters, I don’t think, took me seriously.

“We made a massive statement and I will continue to do that. I love my community, I love my fanbase. They’re all I care about.”

Are You Ready, Boy? is out in cinemas on August 20 and 24

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