Tesla has been spotted deploying the first Megacharger to charge its upcoming Tesla Semi electric truck at Gigafactory Nevada.
With the unveiling of the Tesla Semi in 2017, Tesla unveiled its plan to deploy ‘Megachargers,’ a more powerful version of its Supercharger network, to charge its electric trucks. The plan was ambitious.
Tesla wanted a new charging station that could add 400 miles of range in just 30 minutes, and they wanted to guarantee low electricity rates at the station.
At the time, we estimated that Tesla was planning a charging station to deliver over 1 MW of power, which would make sense considering the name.
But for years and several delays later, Tesla had yet to release the Tesla Semi or the Megacharger until now.
Today, Tesla was spotted deploying the first Megacharger station at Gigafactory Nevada:
The stalls are much longer than what you’d find at most Supercharger stations to accommodate larger trucks with trailers.
In 2019, we reported that Tesla submitted their own >1 MW high-power charging standard for electric trucks within CharIN, an industry association behind the CCS standard.
CharIN is working on High Power Charging for Commercial Vehicles (HPCCV) with its members in order to create a standard for interoperability of vehicle charging stations for electric trucks.
Tesla was one of five companies that submitted designs, along with Electrify America, ABB, paXos, and Staubli, to develop the standards for high power charging.
Earlier this summer, the automaker completed its drive axle production line, and it was in the process of debugging its low volume general assembly line.
BBC director-general Tim Davie has told MPs that “we may see more things coming out” after being asked for assurance there will not be another “scandal of BBC talent abusing their position”.
He told the Culture, Media and Sport Committee: “I think things have changed since we last talked to the committee, we are seeing people call it out, and that is a positive change, but it’s ongoing work.
“I don’t think you can change culture in six months and suddenly say nothing’s going to occur.
“We may see more things coming out, because in some ways I’m asking for it, and being utterly transparent and running towards the problem, that’s what we need to do.”
The BBC has faced a series of recent controversies, most prominently the sacking of MasterChef presenter Greg Wallace after claims of inappropriate behaviour.
On Monday, it was announced that restaurant critic Grace Dent and Irish chef Anna Haugh will be fronting the forthcoming series.
Image: Gregg Wallace. Pic: NetStorage
‘No one is irreplaceable – absolutely no one’
On the question of top talent being treated as irreplaceable, Mr Shah said: “No one is irreplaceable. Absolutely no one, seriously, no one”.
Mr Davie added: “We’re all dispensable. That’s an absolute, unequivocal position being given to the whole BBC.”
He also stressed: “We don’t call them talent… Everyone is talent.”
When asked about the decision to air the latest series of MasterChef, with Wallace and Torode still at the helm, Mr Davie said it was “a tough call,” but insisted it was the right decision “on balance” because the “vast majority” of contestants wanted the programme to go out.
Mr Davie added: “I think the consequences for the individuals who presented have been very significant. They no longer work with the BBC.”
The corporation also found itself in hot water in July after it breached its editorial guidelines over a Gaza documentary that was narrated by the child of a Hamas official.
Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone aired on the BBC in February but was pulled from iPlayer after it emerged that the child narrator was the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas’s deputy minister of agriculture.
Mr Davie called the broadcast of the documentary, which was made by independent production company Hoyo Films, “a bad mistake,” and said BBC had “executed the recommendations,” adding, “There are people who are facing consequences.”
When asked about Israel refusing to allow journalists into Gaza, Mr Davie said it was “unacceptable,” calling coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, “the toughest coverage challenge we have ever faced”.
BBC accused of ‘disrespect’ over Gaza: Doctors Under Attack
A second documentary was also discussed, Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, which was commissioned by the BBC but subsequently shelved. It was eventually aired by Channel 4 in July.
It was suggested the corporation had been “overcautious” in their decision not to air the film, an accusation Mr Davie denied. He said the BBC have a different set of guidelines to Channel 4.
Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton, Dr Rupa Huq, claimed the documentary was recently “the most asked about thing” at a recent BBC all-staff meeting, and called the corporation’s treatment of the film: “A disrespect for small, independent work done with integrity that you sit on it for months, give some spurious reason and another channel covers it.”
Image: Bob Vylan performing on the West Holts Stage. Pic: PA
Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury set: ‘We’re not broadcasting this guy’
In June, the livestreaming of the controversial Bob Vylan set at Glastonbury, when the band led chants of “death to the IDF (Israel Defence Forces),” led the BBC to announce it would stop broadcasting “high risk” performances live.
When questioned about Vylan’s controversial set, Mr Davie insisted, “I don’t think I misread [the situation]”.
He said the Vylan performance was “absolutely an antisemitic broadcast,” was “deeply disturbing” and admitted “the BBC made a very significant mistake”.
Describing the situation as it played out, Mr Davie said when he became aware of the issue at around 5pm on the afternoon of the live broadcast, his approach was “very quick,” and he said, “Get it off on demand, we’re not broadcasting this guy”. He added, “I think I did the right thing”.
Speaking to the decision of BBC staff to continue broadcasting the set despite the chants, Mr Davie said he had to be “proportionate” in his judgement following an ongoing investigation but said there will be “consequences for individuals that we’re working through at the moment.”
Irish rap trio Kneecap appeared on the same stage directly after Bob Vylan and led the Glastonbury audience in “Free Palestine” chants, but their set was not streamed live.
Image: Thomas Skinner. Pic: PA
Davie on Strictly casting backlash: ‘We’ve cut the list down too far’
When asked about another editorial production call – the decision to cast ex-Apprentice contestant Tom Skinner on this year’s Strictly Come Dancing – Mr Davie said it was “not my decision” and that he “was not an expert on the individual per se”.
Mr Davie said it was decided by “the production team,” who “thought [Skinner] would be interesting to the audience”.
Skinner, who now has a large social media following, has previously shared posts saying it is “not far-right” to be “flying your flag and loving your country”, and complaining “it ain’t safe out there anymore” in London.
Mr Davie said: “I think it’s fine to cast anindividual as long as they’re within boundaries”.
When asked what those boundaries were, he said: “If someone has broadcast things that are totally unacceptable [and] racist, you know, we don’t want anywhere near our shows. That’s obvious. That’s what our [production] team have to judge.”
He added: “I don’t think it’s right to say, ‘We won’t have anyone who’s ever said anything that you either disagree with is slightly controversial on social media’. I don’t think that works, frankly. I just think we’ve cut the list down too far nowadays”.
The Murdoch family have reached a deal which will see Rupert Murdoch’s son Lachlan cement control of the family media empire that includes Fox News and The Wall Street Journal.
The agreement ends a battle over who will control one of the highest-profile global media groups.
The dispute is thought to have been one of the inspirations for the television series Succession, about the infighting of the members of a media dynasty.
Under the deal, Rupert’s children James Murdoch, Elisabeth Murdoch and Prudence MacLeod will sell their personal holdings in Fox and News Corp over a period of six months.
Image: Rupert Murdoch (C) with his sons Lachlan (L) and James (R) pictured in 2016. Pic: Reuters
In return, they are each expected to receive about $1.1bn (£810m) in proceeds, according to a source.
Fox Corp said on Monday it had reached a mutual resolution, putting an end to all legal proceedings.
A new family trust will be created to benefit Lachlan Murdoch, and his younger siblings Grace and Chloe Murdoch, who are Rupert’s children from his marriage to Wendi Deng Murdoch.
A battle over the global television and publishing empire had played out last year in a Nevada courtroom, where a judge considered the contentious matter of succession.
Image: James (L) and Elisabeth Murdoch (R) arriving at a court in Nevada in September 2024, to challenge an attempt to change the terms of the family’s trust. Pic: Reuters
Under the original trust, News Corp and Fox voting shares would have been transferred to Rupert’s four oldest children – Prudence, Elisabeth, Lachlan, and James – upon his death.
But Rupert had proposed an amendment to the trust after he feared that three of his heirs, James, Elisabeth and Prudence, could mount a coup to oust Lachlan, who is executive chairman of Fox and chairman of News Corp.
A court rejected that plan in December, saying Rupert and Lachlan had acted in “bad faith” in seeking to amend the irrevocable trust.
Olivia Colman, Javier Bardem, Susan Sarandon and Tilda Swinton are among more than 1,300 filmmakers who are refusing to work with Israeli film companies they say are “implicated in genocide” in Gaza.
Screenwriters, producers, actors and directors have signed a pledge created by Film Makers for Palestine in the latest show of celebrities speaking out against the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
They will boycott Israeli film institutions and companies, which they say are “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people”.
Some of the biggest names in film have signed the pledge, Riz Ahmed, Miriam Margolyes, Juliet Stevenson and Ken Loach also among them.
Writer-directors such as The Lobster director Yorgos Lanthimos and British filmmaker Asif Kapadia, who made documentaries Senna, Amy and Diego Maradona, and producers such as two-time BAFTA winner James Wilson and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy producer Robyn Slovo have also signed the pledge.
Image: The Crown actress Olivia Colman has signed the pledge. Pic: PA
Palme d’Or and BAFTA-winning producer Rebecca O’Brien, who produced I, Daniel Blake with Ken Loach, told Sky News: “For decades, Israeli festivals, broadcasters, and production companies have played their role in masking and justifying Israel’s system of apartheid and its war crimes – some through direct government partnerships.
“I refuse to let my work be used to whitewash a genocide.”
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Israel has repeatedly said its actions in Gaza are justified as a means of self-defence and denied they amount to genocide.
Image: Susan Sarandon, here at a pro-Palestinian rally in New York, has made the pledge. Pic: AP
The boycott pledge urges the industry to “refuse silence, racism, and dehumanisation and to do everything humanly possible to end complicity in their oppression”.
The declaration was inspired by Filmmakers United Against Apartheid, founded by award-winning filmmakers Martin Scorsese and Jonathan Demme in 1987, which led to more than 100 prominent filmmakers refusing to screen their films in apartheid South Africa.
Benedict Cumberbatch, Annie Lennox, Gary Lineker and Dua Lipa were among the public figures joining leading doctors, academics, campaign groups and a Holocaust survivor.
Image: Bond villain Javier Bardem has also signed
In June, more celebrities added their names to the letter to try to push the government to act after they said nothing had changed.
At the time, a UK government spokesman said it “strongly” opposes Israel’s military expansion in Gaza and called on the Israeli government to “cease its offensive and immediately allow for unfettered access to humanitarian aid”.
The spokesman also said the government suspended export licences to Israel last year “for items used in military operations in Gaza” and called for a ceasefire agreement.
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Israeli PM speaks after Jerusalem attack
More than 64,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Strip since the war began, Hamas-run Gaza health authorities say.
The war was sparked by Hamas’s attack on Israel, when militants killed 1,200 people and took around 250 hostages.
Of the 48 hostages still held in Gaza, 20 are believed to still be alive.
Over the past few weeks, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have been preparing to intensify the war after the government vowed to gain full military control of Gaza to defeat Hamas.
