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Tesla is once again axing its referral program, which allowed owners to earn prizes by referring new buyers to buy a Tesla.

For many years now, Tesla has offered some sort of program to allow current owners to benefit from evangelizing the brand.

It started early on, when Tesla owners recognized that they had “sold” several Teslas to their friends via test drives, conversations, and so on, and owners asked Tesla to implement a scheme to give them referral rewards.

The program was originally launched in 2015, and has evolved many times since then. It started off as a direct $1,000 reward, but later turned into various tier systems, point systems, and so on.

A buyer would use a current owner’s referral link to place an order, and in return the buyer would get some sort of benefit (a discount, some free supercharging, or some free FSD access), and the referrer would get credit towards some sort of prize.

At one point, Tesla even promised free or discounted next-gen Roadsters, and ended up promising giving away around 80 of them – or at least, promising to, whenever that car (or is it even a car?) may or may not finally get made.

Unsurprisingly, after promising such substantial prizes, Tesla substantially reduced the prizes available in 2019, and later ended the program for everything except solar roof in 2021.

But the next year, Tesla brought the referral program back, though again in a more limited form. This version would give buyers either temporary free supercharging, temporary FSD access, temporary premium connectivity, or $500 off a new vehicle (depending on when you purchased the vehicle), and referrers would get credits that could be redeemed in Tesla’s shop for merchandise or accessories.

It also occasionally offered special prizes like accelerated Cybertruck delivery, invites to the Cybertruck delivery event, or entries into vehicle sweepstakes that could be purchased with referral credits.

However, all of that is ending now, on April 30th. Tesla announced today that the referral program will be shut down in all markets on that date.

Tesla has not yet updated the legalese on its referral page, so we don’t know the specifics yet of how it will be retired. Orders made before April 30th may still qualify for credits if delivered after April 30th, and referral credits already earned may be redeemable after that date (Sawyer Merritt says both of these things will be true, but we don’t know his source for that). Given that credits earned beforehand do have an expiry date, we expect that Tesla will have to honor them until their expiry date, but some rewards may disappear before those expiry dates come.

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Trump’s latest offshore wind cancellation is a threat to the grid – ISO New England

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Trump's latest offshore wind cancellation is a threat to the grid – ISO New England

Trump’s Interior Department halted construction on 704 megawatt (MW) Revolution Wind, the US’s first multi-state offshore wind project that’s already 80% complete. Grid operator ISO New England says the decision is a threat to the grid.

ISO New England released a statement responding to the stop-work order, warning that “delaying the project will increase risks to reliability.”:

As demand for electricity grows, New England must maintain and add to its energy infrastructure. Unpredictable risks and threats to resources – regardless of technology – that have made significant capital investments, secured necessary permits, and are close to completion will stifle future investments, increase costs to consumers, and undermine the power grid’s reliability and the region’s economy now and in the future.

Revolution Wind, a joint development between Ørsted and BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners, is a 65-turbine project capable of powering around 350,000 homes in Rhode Island and Connecticut once it’s complete. It was expected to come online next year. The project has created more than 1,200 jobs.

On August 22, the director of Bureau of Ocean Energy Management sent a vague letter to Ørsted commanding it to halt all activities on the fully permitted Revolution Wind, citing “national security interests,” yet providing no details.

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BOEM’s Record of Decision for Revolution Wind, reported in 2023 in Section 4.6, page 185, states that the national security effects of the project would be “negligible and avoidable.”

This latest move echoes Trump’s cancellation in April of New York’s $5 billion Empire Wind 1 project, which was already under construction off New York’s coast. No viable reasons were given for that stop-work order either, and the cancellation was reversed in May.

Kit Kennedy, managing director for power at Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), released the following statement in response to the Revolution Wind order:

The Trump administration’s war on the electricity needed to power the grid continues on all fronts. Halting Revolution Wind is a devastating attack on workers, on electricity customers, and on the investment climate in the US.

New England homeowners will feel this when they tear open their electricity bills and look at the surging costs of keeping the lights on.

This administration has it exactly backwards. It’s trying to prop up clunky, polluting coal plants while doing all it can to halt the fastest growing energy sources of the future – solar and wind power.

It makes no sense to say we have an energy emergency and then make decisions like this. Unfortunately, every American is paying the price for these misguided actions.

Read more: Trump reversal revives Empire Wind, NY’s offshore energy giant


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Tesla teases new product release on Friday

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Tesla teases new product release on Friday

Tesla is teasing a new product release on Friday, August 29th, coming to Europe and the Middle East. It’s likely going to be the Model Y Performance.

On X today, Tesla has teased an upcoming product release coming this friday.

The post is cryptic. It only mentions ‘spoiler alert’ and the date August 29 with what looks like a close up of a vehicle with what appears to be a spoil – hence the “spoiler alert” reference:

There are main suspect is the Model Y Performance due to the spoiler reference.

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Since the Model Y refresh in January, Tesla stopped selling the Model Y Performance. It is due to launch the top performance version under the new design.

When Tesla released the Model 3 refresh in 2024, it took about 4 months for Tesla to launch the new performance version.

Electrek’s Take

The only thing that I find strange with this likely being the Model Y Performance is the fact that they tweeted this from the Europe and Middle East account.

It would be strange for the Model Y Performance to launch there first, but who knows. Maybe Tesla started production at Gigafactory Berlin first.

I don’t think this will have a major impact on Tesla’s business. The Model Y Performance is the least popular version of the best-selling Model Y.

We don’t have the full mix of sales, but I wouldn’t be suprised if it represents less than 10% of Tesla’s Model Y deliveries.

The Model 3 Performance is probably a more popular option within the Model 3 lineup as it is a lot more fun to drive.

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Genesis GV60 Magma EV sheds camo, revealing a radical new look [Video]

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Genesis GV60 Magma EV sheds camo, revealing a radical new look [Video]

The GV60 Magma will have a distinct look and feel compared to other Genesis vehicles. As the first EV from its new performance sub-brand, the Genesis GV60 Magma will debut with enhanced power, advanced suspension, a sporty new design, and more. For the first time, it was caught on video racing around the Nürburgring, giving us our closest look yet.

Genesis GV60 Magma EV flexes new style at Nürburgring

We got our first look at the new Magma models last March at the NY Auto Show alongside the full-size Neolun concept.

Magma is “the brand’s expansion into the realm of high-performance vehicles,” Genesis boasted. Among the first vehicles to earn a Magma upgrade is the GV60.

Genesis fine-tuned the electric crossover SUV, giving it a wider and lower stance for improved control. The larger lower air intake contributes to the aggressive new look, while also serving to cool the batteries and motor, both of which have been upgraded for enhanced performance.

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Earlier this year, we got a good look at the GV60 Magma during winter testing in Europe. Although you could see a few new design features, it was mostly covered in camo.

Genesis-GV60-Magma-Porsche
Genesis GV60 Magma testing with other Magma vehicles (Source: Genesis)

After it was recently spotted with less camo at the Nürburgring race track in Germany, we are getting an even better idea of what to expect when it arrives.

The video from CarSpyMedia shows the Genesis GV60 Magma EV with a production body and minimal camouflage.

You can see the high-performance vehicle flexing its power and handling as it rips around the track. Like other Hyundai Motor performance EVs, including the new IONIQ 6 N, you can expect the Genesis GV60 Magma to deliver over 600 horsepower, if not closer to 700.

The current Genesis GV60 Performance delivers up to 429 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque, good for a 0 to 60 mph sprint in 3.7 seconds.

Horsepower 0 to 60 mph
(seconds)
Starting Price
Genesis GV60 Performance 429 3.7 $69,900
Genesis GV60 Magma ? ? ?
Porsche Taycan 402 4.5 $99,400
Porsche Taycan Turbo GT
(with Weissach Package)
1,092 2.1 $230,000
Tesla Model S Plaid 1,020 1.99 $89,990
Genesis GV60 Magma vs Porsche Taycan vs Tesla Model S Plaid

Genesis will launch the GV60 Magma EV later this year in Korea, followed by the US, Europe, and other global markets. We will learn prices and final specs closer to launch, but given the Performance models start at $69,900, you can expect a higher starting price tag, likely closer to $75,000.

At that it would be significantly less than the Porsche Taycan Turbo and Tesla Model S Plaid. Will it match the performance?

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