We didn’t learn much new from Tesla’s Robotaxi event last night, but one piece of information we were looking forward to was a little information on Optimus, Tesla’s humanoid robot. And we got some, but it’s maybe a little less flattering to Tesla than some might have liked.
After unveiling the Robotaxi/Cybercab and Robovan, Tesla CEO Elon Musk went on to give us a little bit of information on the Optimus humanoid robot that the company has been working on.
Musk mentioned “we started up with someone in a robot suit, and then we’ve progressed dramatically year after year” as several robots walked out in front of the crowd.
He referred to these as “your own personal R2D2 C3-PO,” and that in the long term, these robots would cost less than a car – specifically, ~$20k-$30k. A video also described them as an “autonomous assistant, humanoid friend” which could be used for basically any task you can think of.
Musk said that Optimus would be “the biggest product of any kind, ever” and figured everyone on Earth would want one or two of them, which is language he has used before (nevermind that most of the 8 billion people on Earth do not have the wealth to afford one new car, much less two). He also said that it would result in an “age of abundance” where the cost of everything would drop dramatically.
But beyond all that, Tesla took this event as an opportunity to debut Optimus in front of – and among – a live audience. Musk said:
One of the things we wanted to show tonight was that Optimus is not a canned video, it’s not walled-off. The Optimus robots will walk among you. Please be nice to the Optimus robots. So you’ll be able to walk right up to them… and they’ll serve drinks at the bar, and you’ll directly… I mean it’s a wild experience just to have humanoid robots and they’re there, just in front of you.
Tesla’s event stream continued by showing videos of the party, including some videos of guests interacting with robots. The robots waved, handed out goodie bags, served drinks, posed for photos, walked through the crowd, and even played rock paper scissors (though, again, not as well as this robot with a 100% winrate from 12 years ago).
The robots did all have a Tesla employee “minder” watching them closely, but visibly holding some sort of signaling device in their hand. In the video, you can see one of the employees operating this device.
The official Tesla video (which had no audio, as music was playing over it) also showed a few robots serving drinks, though these were not custom mixed drinks, merely two choices of pre-mixed drinks served from beer taps. The robots seemed to do so successfully enough, though they were somewhat wobbly while serving the drinks (see here), which seemed odd – as if the robots weren’t all that great at balancing themselves, or their motions weren’t properly damped or something.
But then, attendees started posting videos from the event, and something seemed… off.
But the stranger videos were of direct interactions with the Optimus robots that “walked among us” in the crowd.
It turns out the robots each had a voice and could be talked to. So, you could make a drink order, or even just have a conversation with the robots that were walking the crowd.
What Tesla is doing with Optimus is insane. It’s literally the robot from iRobot starring Will Smith. #WeRobotpic.twitter.com/zM9pkkyOCu
In conversation, the robots were impressively realistic in their conversational tone, responding quickly and with natural speech. We’ve seen some interesting developments in this respect from ChatGPT 4o, with natural intonation, but you can still tell that there’s something robotic going on there.
But perhaps they were too impressive, because these conversations certainly seem to have a human on the other side of them.
Each of the robots we’ve seen had a different voice, and a different accent – though mostly California or Texas accents, the two locations where Tesla has significant presence. One even reportedly spoke Spanish, impressing one attendee, though conversational Spanish is also not particularly uncommon in the areas where Tesla operates, so the employee behind the curtain could well just be bilingual.
This video, in particular, of a robot talking about the geography of the Bay Area, is a fun one. Not only does the robot make a very human error when it asks whether the attendee lives in the “Santa Clarita” area near San Jose (it’s Santa Clara – Santa Clarita is in Southern California, not the Bay Area), it also hears a non-standard pronunciation “Los Gatos” and then responds with a more common one.
One tech evangelist in attendance, Robert Scoble, says that he talked to an engineer at the event who told him that Optimus was running on AI while walking through the crowd, but that otherwise there was human remote assistance.
Indeed, most observers seem to think that these was some level of remote operation going on during the event. Even Adam Jonas, Morgan Stanley’s analyst who covers Tesla and is usually very bullish on everything that Tesla announces, said in a note this morning that: “It is our understanding that these robots were not operating entirely autonomously – but relied on tele-ops (human intervention) so it was more a demonstration of degrees of freedom and agility.”
The upshot of all of this is that Tesla, as is often the case, seems to be playing fast and loose with the truth.
While it may have reasonably impressive dexterity, and remote-operated robots could have some real uses (for example, putting remote-operated robots into dangerous situations where human-like limbs and manipulation would nevertheless be useful), Tesla instead decided to obscure the real information about the technology they were showcasing, suggesting that AI-driven robots would walk among the crowd when really they were relying on some amount of remote operation.
And that just leaves a bitter taste in everyone’s mouth – or at least, in the mouths of those whose information comes from somewhere other than the heavily curated twitter algorithm.
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Renault has released more information about its upcoming Renault 5 Turbo 3E electric rally car, and boy howdy, does it look hot as hell.
For background: auto enthusiasts look very fondly on the rally scene in the 1980s, when there was a serious arms race between auto manufacturers (particularly European ones) to make wilder and wilder race cars.
One of the most famous cars from that time period was the Renault 5 Turbo, with its iconic boxy design and chunky rear fenders which stood out even against other boxy cars of that age. It was based on the old Renault 5 hatchback, which recently got an electric rebirth of its own.
Calling on that history, Renault first showed off a 5 Turbo-inspired drift car concept back in 2022, but it was very clearly a concept – it didn’t really have an interior, for one.
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Then, this last December, Renault came back and said no, really, we’re serious – we want to make this thing, and we want to put 540hp of electric power in it. At that time, it was just renders, but now Renault has a real prototype, and is putting plans in writing as to how it’s going to bring this crazy concept to market.
Today Renault unveiled what it’s calling “the first electric mini-supercar,” with lots of extra details on what looks like eye-watering performance in an actual sporty package (unlike so many of the giant electric SUVs we keep seeing these days…).
The biggest headline specs are these: 540hp (400kW), 3,196lbs (1,450kg), 160 inches (4,080mm) long, with a 0-60 time of <3.5 seconds and a top speed of 168mph (270km/h).
Heck. Yeah.
The power is delivered by dual motors – but rather than putting them inboard on the front and rear axles, like so many EVs do, the Renault 5 Turbo 3E uses in-wheel motors, with one in each rear wheel. So this thing is rear-wheel drive, just like the original 5 Turbo.
But unlike the original 5 Turbo, which topped out at around 163 lbft (220Nm) of torque (and only after you got it up to 3,250rpm first), Renault claims the 5 Turbo 3E’s motors are capable of an absurd 3,500lbft (4,800Nm) of torque (though that number is measured at the wheels, not at the driveshaft… because it doesn’t have a driveshaft, since it’s using in-wheel motors. So it’s not really directly comparable to other vehicles’ torque numbers).
All that torque on the rear wheels means one thing: this car will surely go sideways at will. But to make that job even easier, Renault offers a truly silly giant handbrake right smack in the middle of the car’s two front (and only) seats.
And if that wild dash and seat design doesn’t do it for you – Renault says it will offer basically unlimited customization to its customers.
Along with a long list of personalization options, many of which are inspired by famous versions of the original Renault 5 Turbo, Renault designers will help customers put together these options to make each vehicle unique.
But despite all this excitement, there’s one (or, more than a hundred thousand) big downsides: it’s not gonna be cheap. While Renault hasn’t listed a price yet, rumor is that it will start firmly in the six figure range, and potentially go up to around 200,000 (Dollars, Euros or Pounds – take your pick), depending on which personalizations you select.
But even more disappointingly: there’s no good reason for us to quote that price in dollars, because like every other fun thing it’s not coming to the US. Renault plans to offer it in “several key markets including Europe, the Middle East, Japan and Australia.”
And the last caveat: even with the money, it might be hard to get your hands on one of these. Renault will only sell 1,980 examples, referring back to the year that the original 5 Turbo was introduced. So, better get chummy with your local Renault rep, cause we can’t imagine those will last long.
Now, of course, it’s still quite a lot heavier (+~1,000lbs) than the 1980s version, and longer too (+~16 inches). Part of this is due to changing consumer tastes, part of it is due to stricter safety standards, and part of it is because companies aren’t pushing the envelope as hard as they were in the time of Group B rally cars. And then of course there’s the battery – a chonky 70kWh for ~250mi (~400km) of range, per WLTP standards (it will also have 350kW, 800V charging, taking 15 minutes to go from 15-80%).
But it’s also one of the first times we’ve seen an actual date associated with what looks like a truly violent electric hot hatch. Renault actually put out, in writing, that they plan to get this car to road in 2027 – unlike the Mercedes EQA concept, which turned into a freaking SUV; or the Golf GTI, which we’ve heard nothing about since 2023; or the Rally-inspired Rivian R3X, which looks awesome but we’ll have to wait until after the R2 comes out first.
There are some other extant cars that you might consider an electric hot hatch – like the Ioniq 5N – but that’s more than two feet longer and ~1,600lbs heavier than the 5 Turbo 3E claims it will be, so they’re really not in the same class at all. Closer to the same class is the Volvo EX30, at 7 inches longer, ~800lbs heavier, and ~120 less horsepower. Then there are the similarly-sized Mini Cooper SE, and even-smaller Fiat 500e Abarth, but both of those pack less than a third as much horsepower at comparable weights to the Renault.
So, with the specs we’ve seen, it’s in a class of its own – at least on paper, and at least for now. Your turn, Rivian – and the rest of the industry, too. Renault looks like they’re throwing down a gauntlet and showing us what can be done, but let’s stop seeing cancelled concepts and limited-edition prestige cars, and get some more fun, small, powerful EVs – and some of us would love to see them outside of Europe, too.
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EV drivers in the Borough of Camden in London will soon see a major boost in sidewalk chargers, thanks to a new partnership between Camden Council and Scottish charge point company Trojan Energy.
The council awarded Trojan Energy a contract to install over 570 on-street Level 2 EV chargers by 2026. The project kicks off with an initial rollout of 70 chargers in July 2025, with the rest coming as suitable locations are identified. This expansion builds on a successful trial from 2022, which received positive responses from local EV owners.
Photo: Trojan Energy
Trojan’s 22 kW chargers have a clever design—they sit “flat and flush” with sidewalks, meaning no bulky units cluttering up the pavement. Residents without driveways can easily “plug and play” using personal adapters, connecting their EVs to points linked via underground cables to a nearby cabinet. The chargers are grouped in clusters, increasing availability and convenience for drivers. Trojan launched an app last month that enables drivers to find chargers, check availability, and check charging history.
The sidewalk EV chargers won’t just help individual EV owners in the London borough; it’ll also support car-sharing programs, helping Camden reduce unnecessary car ownership and encourage more people to walk, bike, or take transit. Funding for the project comes from the UK government’s On-street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS).
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Councillor Adam Harrison, cabinet member for Planning and a Sustainable Camden (pictured above left) said, “By promoting active travel such as walking and cycling and facilitating this shift to electric vehicles with convenient charging points, we hope to improve air quality, reduce emissions, and support environmental resilience across the borough.”
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The Xpeng G6 all-electric SUV has received a raft of 81 updates for the 2025 model year – and chief among these is a new, “bulletproof,” ultra-fast 5C charging “A.I. battery” that can go from 10 to 80% charge in just twelve minutes.
Sized and priced to put the best-selling Tesla Model Y firmly in its crosshairs, the Xpeng G6 SUV has been substantially upgraded for 2025 with three trim levels starting at “just” 176,800 yuan ($27,620, as I type this). Meaning that, despite the improved range, ADAS offerings, and charging speed, the 2025 model’s starting price is nearly 11% lower than last year’s already popular model.
For that money, G6 buyers will get the Xpeng-developed Turing AI intelligent driving system – an advanced ADAS system powered by the company’s 40-core “Turing chip” processor that promises to deliver the power of three high-performance chips in one.
The newsworthy specs don’t stop there, however. The new 2025 Xpeng G6 also offers the company’s new “bulletproof” 5C AI batteries.
For those of you not in the know, the “5C” there refers to “five cycles,” and basically means that the battery can go from 10 to 80% full five times in an hour. 60 minutes in an hour, 12 minutes to go from 10-80%, that’s 1/5th of an hour, so it’s 5 cycles … or: 5C. A 6C battery would do the trick in 10 minutes, a 4C in 15, etc.
As for what makes the Xpeng AI batteries “bulletproof,” the company claims the battery is wrapped in a sort of armor that can withstand more than 1,000 degrees C of heat, up to 80 tons of collision force in a side-impact scenario, and more than 2000 joules of impact from the bottom.
2025 Xpeng G6 available models
2025 Xpeng G6 in Dark Night Black trim; via Xpeng.
625 Long-range Max Technology Edition: 176,800 yuan (~ $24,400)
625 Long-range Max Ultimate Edition: 186,800 yuan (~ $25,800)
725 Ultra-long-range Max Ultimate Edition: 198,800 yuan (~ $27,500)
The 625 models get 625 km of range on the CLTC (China Light-Duty Vehicle Test Cycle), which translates to about 275 miles of EPA range. The 725 model adds another 100 km (60 miles) of range. The AI batteries in all three models go from 3C to 5C charging speed and ship with the Turing AI self-driving system as standard equipment.
Other upgrades for 2025 include a 9-inch streaming rearview mirror, updates to the soft-touch rubber and plastic materials in the cabin, and Xpeng’s new “cloud-sense” seats that support heat, ventilation, and (up front) even massage.
Two new body colors have also been added to the G6′ pallette: Starry Purple and Cloud Beige (shown, below), bring the total of available colors to six.
Xpeng went to Weibo to announce that it took the redesigned 2025 G6 just seven minutes to log 5,000 firm orders, on its first day of availability.
The only problem with that analogy is that the American offerings often cost consumers twice as much. And, before you jump into the comments and write about government subsidies and federalized healthcare costs and other supposed Chinese advantages – remember that we could do those things, too, if we wanted.