Elon Musk has decided to settle a defamation lawsuit against him brought by a man he claimed “almost killed” a Tesla worker – a claim that wasn’t backed by evidence.
At this point, Musk is quite used to being sued for defamation and other related matters.
Of course, there’s the famous “pedo” case, which he fought for years and ended up winning in a trial, but that was not related to Tesla.
When it comes to Tesla, the CEO has been embroiled in defamation lawsuits against a few people in the “Tesla short community,” which is a group of Tesla naysayers, including some actively betting against the company on the stock market.
One of those cases has been brought by Randeep Hothi, who was once a hero of the Tesla short community because he would often camp outside the Tesla Fremont factory in order to try to gather data about Tesla’s production – mostly to try to confirm the community’s belief that Tesla was going to fail in becoming a profitable mass producer of electric vehicles.
On one of those outings, he was asked to leave the property by a Tesla security employee, and when doing so, Tesla claimed that he intentionally came close to the employee with his vehicle.
Tesla had footage of the incident, which was never made public, but Tesla showed it to the police who determined that there was no case to be made.
That could have been the end of it, but the issue resurfaced amid a different battle between Musk and another prominent Tesla naysayer, Aaron Greenspan, who also sued Musk and others for defamation.
As Musk and Greenspan were sparring over emails, Musk claimed that Hothi “almost killed Tesla employees”:
[…] in the case of Hothi, [Hothi] almost killed Tesla employees. What was a sideswipe when Hothi hit one of our people could easily have been a death with 6 inches of difference.
Greenspan shared the email publicly, and it eventually led to Hothi suing Musk for defamation. The case, which was financed by fundraising publicized by the Tesla short community, lasted for three years.
Today, Hothi confirmed that Musk has settled with a $10,000 payment (via LA Times):
Recently, Musk surrendered. Rather than persist in fighting a nearly three-year-old defamation lawsuit filed by college student Randeep Hothi, the pugnacious chief executive of Tesla cried uncle, settling for $10,000. Tesla lawyers offered to settle several weeks ago, and on Monday, Hothi said, he accepted.
Musk famously said that he or Tesla will always choose to not fight legal battles that are unjust, even if they believe they can win, and to never settle when they believe the case is unjust.
He wrote when talking about Tesla’s approach to legal battles:
My commitment: We will never seek victory in a just case against us, even if we will probably win. We will never surrender/settle an unjust case against us, even if we will probably lose.
It’s not clear if the settlement is an admission that the cause was, in fact, just, as Musk has yet to comment.
When first bringing the case to the court, Hothi claimed that he would have accepted a simple apology, but it looks like Musk preferred to pay $10,000.
Electrek’s Take
As usual with these court cases, the real winners are the lawyers. Musk clearly wasn’t careful enough with his words, something he seems to be making a habit of lately, and as for Hothi, while he won a small settlement, I personally doubt it was worth the headache.
I don’t know if he had a significant short position on Tesla or if he was just providing information to the community, but the Tesla shorts have been burned badly over the years.
Furthermore, their incessant quest for anecdotal data points about Tesla’s production supposedly failing, which Hothi was the face of at one point, proved futile at the end as the company has indeed become a profitable large-scale electric vehicle manufacturer.
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After cutting prices on its top-selling electric vehicle by nearly $10,000 in the US, Hyundai is now bringing the savings to new markets. Hyundai is offering discounts of over $34,000 on some of its EVs overseas.
Hyundai is discounting EVs in the US and overseas
Last week, Hyundai announced it was reducing prices on the 2026 IONIQ 5 by up to $9,800 in the US. The 2026 IONIQ 5 starts at just $35,000, making it one of the most affordable EVs available alongside the Chevy Equinox EV and the Nissan LEAF.
Hyundai said the generous EV discounts reflected its “commitment to affordability” as part of its long-term strategy.
Record vehicle sales and higher output at its new EV plant in Georgia are helping reduce costs, which the company said it’s now passing on to buyers.
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The massive EV discounts are starting to pile up after Hyundai cut prices in another market on Tuesday. After launching a series of special offers in Australia on Tuesday, Hyundai is discounting some of its EVs by more than $34,000.
The Hyundai Kona Electric (Source: Hyundai Australia)
According to TheDriven, Hyundai reduced prices on select IONIQ 5, IONIQ 6, Inster EV, and Kona Electric models by up to $34,142.
Hyundai’s most affordable electric car, the Inster (which is sadly not sold in the US), received a $3,925 price reduction, and now starts at under $40,000 for the first time.
The Hyundai Inster EV (Source: Hyundai)
The IONIQ 6 is heavily discounted, with up to $34,142 off the driveway price on 2023 model year inventory. Hyundai has also reduced the prices of the IONIQ 5 by nearly $10,000. As the report points out, the savings are based on the driveway prices in NSW, which are available nationally.
2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 (Source: Hyundai)
Although Hyundai’s price cuts in the US were in response to the $7,500 federal EV tax credit expiring, the discounts in Australia come as demand for electric cars is at an all-time high. In September, electric vehicles accounted for 11.3% of new car sales.
In the US, Hyundai is still offering a $7,500 cash incentive for 2025 IONIQ 5 models until at least the end of October.
2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 Trim
Driving Range (miles)
2025 Starting Price
2026 Starting Price*
Price Reduction
Monthly lease cost (October 2025)
IONIQ 5 SE RWD Standard Range
245
$42,600
$35,000
($7,600)
$249
IONIQ 5 SE RWD
318
$46,650
$37,500
($9,150)
$259
IONIQ 5 SEL RWD
318
$49,600
$39,800
($9,800)
$299
IONIQ 5 Limited RWD
318
$54,300
$45,075
($9,225)
$369
IONIQ 5 SE Dual Motor AWD
290
$50,150
$41,000
($9,150)
$309
IONIQ 5 SEL Dual Motor AWD
290
$53,100
$43,300
($9,800)
$349
IONIQ 5 XRT Dual Motor AWD
259
$55,500
$46,275
($9,225)
$379
IONIQ 5 Limited Dual Motor AWD
269
$58,200
$48,975
($9,225)
$419
2025 vs 2026 Hyundai IONIQ 5 prices and range by trim
The 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 Standard Range starts at $42,600, while the 2026 model year is priced from just $35,000.
Although it was already one of the most affordable EVs on the market, the IONIQ 5 is hard to pass up with leases starting at just $249 per month in the US. For $10 more per month ($259), you can upgrade to the long-range SE RWD trim, which offers a range of up to 318 miles.
Since its launch in 2024, ComEd’s Beneficial Electrification (BE) Plan has supported the deployment of more than 7,200 electric vehicle charging ports and over 2,200 EVs registered to business and public sector commercial customers.
“Reducing emissions from vehicles is one of the most effective and important things we can do to improve air quality and public health,” explains Rob Anderson, President and CEO of Respiratory Health Association. “As we have seen the ending of federal funding support for this effort, ComEd’s continued commitment of transportation electrification rebates is leading the way for our shared goal of eliminating pollution and creating cleaner air for all of our communities across northern Illinois.”
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Building on the $231 million investment from 2023 through 2025, the additional $168 million will assist both residential and non-residential customers transition to EVs. The company also places an emphasis on equity, with 80% of the rebates from its over 6,400 projects going to low-income business and public sector organizations serving low-income and Equity Investment Eligible Communities (EIECs).
The ComEd rebates support the goals of Illinois’ Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA), which was signed into law by Governor J.B. Pritzker in 2021 to combat climate change and promote beneficial electrification across the state. CEJA also has the goal of putting 1 million EVs on Illinois roads by 2030, and ComEd certainly has role to play there, as 90% of the 150,000 EVs registered in Illinois operate within its service territory (that’s up from 19,000 EVs in 2019).
Electrek’s Take
The EV tax credit is no more — what happens now?
While President Trump was running for re-election, he campaigned on the threat promise of canceling the $7,500 federal tax credit for EVs — a campaign promise he kept as recently as September 30th. That wasn’t the end of the road for EVs, however.
If you drive an electric vehicle, make charging at home fast, safe, and convenient with a Level 2 charger installed by Qmerit.As the nation’s most trusted EV charger installation network, Qmerit connects you with licensed, background-checked electricians who specialize in EV charging. You’ll get a quick online estimate, upfront pricing, and installation backed by Qmerit’s nationwide quality guarantee. Their pros follow the highest safety standards so you can plug in at home with total peace of mind.
Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days event has officially kicked off and will be running through October 8 with some of the best deals of the year on eco-friendly tech. We’ve got another large collection of Green Deals during this two-day period, which we’ve collected the best of and curated into this one-stop shopping hub that will continue to be updated through the week. You’ll find the best of these ongoing seasonal deals on power stations/solar generators, EVs of various kinds, electric tools, and other eco-friendly appliances and smart devices.
October Prime Big Deal Days 2025 Green Deals
Prime Day Power Station Green Deals
EcoFlow’s Prime Day Sale increases power station discounts up to 65% with bonus savings, free gifts, and more from $169
EcoFlow launches new DELTA 3 Max and Ultra power stations with up to $2,000 in savings + FREE gear starting from $759
Save up to 65% on power stations during Anker’s SOLIX Prime Day Sale with extra savings, free gifts, and more from $299
Prime Day offers another chance to pick up the Anker PowerCore Reserve 60,000mAh station at $80 (Reg. $150)