US-built electric mini-truck AYRO receives street-legal certification
The AYRO Vanish, an electric mini-truck designed and built in Texas, has just completed homologation to receive its street-legal status in the US and Canada.
Homologation is the process that new vehicles undergo to test and verify that they meet or exceed vehicle regulations.
In the US, that means the AYRO Vanish had to be homologated to LSV (low-speed vehicle) standards set out in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, as mandated by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Canada uses very similar regulations set out in the Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
Passing its homologation tests was a key step ahead of upcoming deliveries, explained AYRO’s CEO Tom Wittenschlaeger:
These tests are essential to ensure vehicles meet rigorous safety requirements and comply with our national governing bodies. Now that our award-winning Vanish has passed these tests for design, safety, and performance, we are one step closer to delivering vehicles to our customers and dealers.
The company opened pre-orders for the Vanish back in May, when a $250 deposit through AYRO’s online configurator secured reservation holders a spot in line for the US $33,900 vehicle.
Unlike Europe and Asia, North America has a distinct lack of mini-trucks. The US has no shortage of mall-crawlers and concrete cowboys sticking several feet out of their parking spaces, but mini-trucks are hard to come by.
AYRO is trying to change that with the launch of its 2023 Vanish, which is built at its Round Rock, Texas, factory.
The Vanish is a multi-role EV thanks to its modular design. The base Vanish comes with the “common core chassis,” which is basically a pint-sized flatbed truck, but there are multiple options for loadouts that can help customize it for various utility tasks.
The flatbed is likely a good candidate for all-around hauling needs, especially with oversized loads. But operators can also spec the AYRO Vanish with a fold-down tailgate and side gates for a pickup-style bed to help contain loose cargo. There’s also an enclosed cargo box to create something of an electric mini box truck or cargo van.
The street-legal variant of the Vanish is limited to 25 mph (40 km/h) top speeds as part of the LSV safety standards. However, a non-street-legal variant will be available with a higher top speed for private land users such as campuses, factories, and industrial parks.
Electrek’s Take
More electric mini-trucks can’t come soon enough. Frankly, I don’t even care if they’re US-built or not (mine isn’t), the US just needs more of these things, pronto!
But being US-built is definitely a bonus. It’s not just the advantage of having local service and support, but also knowing that you’re helping grow local manufacturing and creating more jobs.
Wherever they come from, these small work trucks need to start being more common in the US. Sure, I get jokes all the time about my own mini-truck that lives on my family’s ranch, and is around 5:8 scale next to an F-150. But I can tell you mine does a lot more hard work every day than an average F-150. In the rest of the world, mini-trucks are serious workhorses. They’re lower to the ground to facilitate easier loading and unloading, they fit better in crowded areas, they are easer to maintain, and you don’t have to worry about scratching the tailgate on your $75,000 pickup. In fact, there are tailgates that cost more than my mini-truck.
All around the world, mini-trucks are the go-to for everyday deliveries, city-hauling, and other vehicular labor. They’re not going to climb the Rubicon Trail, but then again neither do most pickup trucks in the US either. They can’t replace all general truck jobs in the US, but they sure can replace most of the local urban ones. So I’m excited to see the AYRO Vanish make it one step closer to deliveries. It ain’t cheap, but neither is any first-generation technology. Tesla had to start with a $100,000 Roadster before it could eventually make a $35,000 car. It may not look like it, but this could be the Roadster of the US mini-truck industry.
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Environment
U.S. could reach deal with Canada that avoids oil and gas tariffs, energy secretary says
HOUSTON — The U.S. could reach an agreement with Canada that avoids tariffs on imports of oil, gas and other energy resources, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Monday.
Wright said such a scenario is “certainly is possible” but “it’s too early to say” in response to a question from CNBC during a press conference at the CERAWeek by S&P Global. The U.S. is in “active dialogue” with Canada and Mexico, the energy secretary said.
President Donald Trump has paused until April 2 tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports that are compliant with the agreement which governs trade in North America. Trump originally imposed broad 25% tariffs on goods from both countries as well as lesser 10% tariffs on energy imports from Canada.
It’s unclear, however, how much of the oil, gas and other energy that the U.S. imports from Canada is compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Wright declined to provide specifics when CNBC asked how much of those imports are USMCA compliant.
“I’m going to avoid the details for now,” Wright said. The energy secretary said, “We can get to no tariffs or very low tariffs but it’s got to be reciprocal” in an interview with CNBC’s Brian Sullivan.
Canada’s energy minister, Jonathan Wilkinson, warned last week that energy prices will rise in the U.S. if the tariffs on energy imports go into full effect.
“We will see higher gasoline prices as a function of energy, higher electricity prices from hydroelectricity from Canada, higher home heating prices associated with natural gas that comes from Canada and higher automobile prices,” Wilkinson told CNBC’s Megan Cassella in an interview.
The U.S. has been the largest producer of crude oil and natural gas in the world for years. But many refiners in the U.S. are dependent on heavy crude imported from Canada. The U.S. imported 6.6 million barrels of crude oil per day on average in December, more than 60% of which came from Canada, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Wright acknowledged that the tariffs are creating uncertainty in energy markets as negotiations continue.
“We’re in the middle of negotiations for where things are going to go with tariffs, so that feels frightening and gripping right now but this time will pass,” Wright said. “Deals will be made, we’ll get certainty and we’ll have a positive economic environment for Americans going forward.”
U.S. crude oil fell more than 1% Monday to close at $66.03 per barrel, while global benchmark Brent closed at $69.28 per barrel. Crude oil futures have pulled back substantially as Trump’s trade policy creates uncertainty and OPEC+ has confirmed that it plans to gradually bring back 2.2 million barrels per day of production beginning next month.
Apple is rolling out a notable update to Apple Maps EV Routing for Ford drivers. Starting today, Ford Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning drivers can use Apple Maps EV Routing via CarPlay to plan road trips that include Tesla Superchargers – or any station that uses the North American Charging Standard (NACS) connector.
As I’ve explained before, Ford began shipping adapters CCS to NACS adapters that allow Mach-E and Lightning drivers to charge at Tesla Superchargers last year. Until today, however, Apple Maps was unaware of this change. This meant Apple Maps EV Routing would only route Mach-E and Lightning drivers to CCS charging stations, even though a route with Tesla Superchargers might’ve been more efficient.
With today’s change, Apple Maps via CarPlay will now include NACS fast charging stations, such as compatible Tesla Superchargers, in recommended route planning recommendations.
In a blog post, Ford explains:
Apple Maps EV Routing in CarPlay allows drivers to input their route and can view the estimated battery level they will have when they get to a destination, as well as suggested charging stations along the way if charging is needed. Previously, Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning drivers would have to manually open another app, then enter a NACS fast charger as a destination to have it added to their route. Now, with the Apple Maps EV Routing and NACS fast charger integration, the experience will be more seamless.
How to Use Apple Maps EV Routing in CarPlay:
- Connect your Apple iPhone to CarPlay.
- Open Apple Maps, go to Settings, and confirm your preferred charging network(s) – make sure you select a NACS fast charging station, such as Tesla Supercharger. You only have to do this once.
- Enter a destination.
- Apple Maps will then calculate the estimated state of charge you will have when you get to a destination.
- If a charge is required, depending on the fastest route, it will automatically route you to a NACS fast charging station.*
This is a significant update to the Apple Maps EV Routing experience for Ford drivers. Next up on my wishlist is support for battery preconditioning when using Apple Maps EV Routing. Android Auto added this feature last October.
The new feature is available now to iPhone users running iOS 17 or later. No software update is required for your car.
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James Murdoch, a Tesla board member and friend of CEO Elon Musk, has confirmed that he sold about $13 million in stock today as the stock (TSLA) crashed.
There has been a lot of insider trading at Tesla lately, and by trading, we mean selling – cause no insider is ever buying at Tesla.
We recently reported on Kimball Musk, Elon’s brother, and Tesla’s Chief Financial Officer Taneja Vaibhav recently selling ahead of a recent drop in the company’s stock price.
Tesla’s chairwoman, Robyn Denholm, also sold $33 million worth of Tesla shares last week and over $100 million in the last 3 months.
Now, it’s James Murdoch’s turn. The Tesla board member just confirmed, through a required SEC filing, that he sold 54,776 Tesla shares for just over $13 million today:
He sold as Tesla’s stock crashed 15% today. It is now down more than 50% from its all-time high just a few months ago.
Murdoch was appointed to Tesla’s board in 2017.
He is better known as the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the former CEO of 21st Century Fox from 2015 to 2019.
Murdoch was one of the Tesla board directors who was forced to return almost $1 billion in cash and stock options to Tesla as part of a settlement for over-compensation.
Electrek’s Take
Tesla insiders are unloading, and those are just the ones we know about. Public companies only have to report insider trading for board directors and listed top executives.
For the latter, Tesla purposefully only lists 3 people: Elon, Vaibhav Taneja, Tesla’s CFO, and Tom Zhu, whose role at Tesla has bit quite fluid in recent years.
Therefore, we don’t know about the dozens of other top executives potentially selling their shares right now amid a giant correction.
It’s really suspicious because there are clear top leaders at Tesla who are often on Tesla’s earnings calls, and they are not even listed, like Lars Moravy, for example.
But it’s par for the course at Tesla, which has some of the worst corporate governance I have ever seen. It’s truly shameful.
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