Connect with us

Published

on

It’s that time of year again, time for events across the country to show off electric vehicles at Drive Electric Earth Month.

Drive Electric Earth Month is an offshoot of Drive Electric Week, a long-running annual tradition hosting meetups mostly in the US, but also occasionally in other countries. It started as Drive Electric Earth Day, but since not every event can happen on the same day, they went ahead and extended it to encompass “Earth Month” events that happen across the month of April. It’s all organized by Plug In America, the Sierra Club, the Electric Vehicle Association, EV Hybrid Noire, and Drive Electric USA.

Events consist of general Earth Day-style community celebrations, EV Ride & Drives where you can test drive several EVs in one place, and opportunities to talk to EV owners and ask them questions about what it’s like to live with an EV, away from the pressure of a dealership.

This month, there are 158 events registered across the US and 1 in Mexico (including one online webinar about things to consider when purchasing an EV).

Advertisement – scroll for more content

Events have been happening all month, but the biggest weekend is this upcoming one, APril 26-27.

One really neat event was the Asheville event, which showcased the resiliency of EVs in an area devastated by Hurricane Helene, which was made more severe by climate change. That event was attended by the Rivian R1T which famously got dragged 100 feet submerged in mud and came out running fine.

But the bulk of the events happened on the weekends surrounding Earth Day, April 22, so there were several last weekend and will be even more this upcoming weekend.

There are plenty of events in the big cities where you’d expect, but Plug In America wanted to highlight a few of the events in smaller places around the country. Here’s a sampling of upcoming events:

  • Big Island EV – Cruise and Picnic in Waimea, HI on April 26, 10am-1pm – EV drivers will congregate in various places around the Big Island (Kona, Waimea, Waikoloa and Hilo), then drive up Saddle Road to the Gil Kahele Recreation Area on Mauna Kea for a potluck and a chance to talk about the experience of owning EVs on the Big Island.
  • Santa Barbara Earth Day 2025 and Green Car Show in Santa Barbara, CA on April 26-27, 11am-8pm – This is part of Santa Barbara’s Earth Day celebration, which routinely attracts 30,000 participants and is one of the longest-running Earth Day celebrations on the planet. The Green Car Show includes ride & drives and an “Owners Corner” where owners can showcase their EVs and attendees can check them out and ask questions.
  • Earth Day’25 – EV’s role in a sustainable future in Queretaro City, Mexico on April 26, 9am-4pm – The sole Mexican event, this is a combined in-person/online seminar at the Querétaro Institute of Technology.
  • Norman Earth Day Festival in Norman, OK on April 27, 12-5pm – Another municipal Earth Day festival, with hands-on activities for kids to learn about the environment. A portion of the parking lot reserved for an EV car show for EV owners who pre-register to show off their vehicles.
  • Oregon Electric Vehicle Association Test Drive & Information Expo in Portland, OR on April 27, 10am-4pm – This one is at Daimler Truck’s North American HQ, and will have several EVs for test drives, owner displays (including DIY gas-to-EV conversions), and keynote presentations by EV experts. They’ll even have a 1914 Detroit Electric EV available for test rides!
  • And, we at Electrek want to give a shoutout to Rove’s EV Drive Days in Santa Ana 10am-3pm April 28 – ROVE is the company behind the “full-service” EV charging concept that we’ve talked about several times here on Electrek, and we like what they’re doing for EV charging. They’ve hosted a few community events, and this is their contribution to Earth Month.

Each event has a different assortment of activities (e.g. test drives won’t be available at every event, generally just the larger ones attended by local dealerships), so be sure to check the events page to see what the plan is for your local event.

These events have offered a great way to connect with owners and see the newest electric vehicle tech, and even get a chance to do test rides and drives in person. Attendees got to hear unfiltered information from actual owners about the benefits and trials of owning EVs, allowing for longer and more genuine (and often more knowledgeable) conversations than one might normally encounter at a dealership.

And if you’re an owner – you can show off your car and answer those questions for interested onlookers.

To view all the events and see what’s happening in your area, you can check out the list of events or the events map. You can also sign up to volunteer at your local events, and if you plan to show off your electric car, you can RSVP on each event page and list the vehicle that you plan to show (or see what other vehicles have already registered).


Charge your electric vehicle at home using rooftop solar panels. Find a reliable and competitively priced solar installer near you on EnergySage, for free. They have pre-vetted installers competing for your business, ensuring high-quality solutions and 20-30% savings. It’s free, with no sales calls until you choose an installer. Compare personalized solar quotes online and receive guidance from unbiased Energy Advisers. Get started here. – ad*

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Continue Reading

Environment

Hacker reveals details of Tesla’s upcoming stripped-down Model Y

Published

on

By

Hacker reveals details of Tesla's upcoming stripped-down Model Y

A hacker has revealed new details of Tesla’s upcoming stripped-down Model Y, which is likely going to be the automaker’s most affordable level yet.

Tesla has been teasing the release of “more affordable models” since last year, but there’s been confusion around what Tesla plans to release.

As we have reported for almost a year, CEO Elon Musk canceled Tesla’s planned “$25,000 EV” in favor of stripped-down versions of its Model 3 and Model Y.

Due to Tesla still referring to them as “new, more affordable models”, many people believed that Tesla would still bring to market new, cheaper models.

Advertisement – scroll for more content

In fact, the automaker initially stated that it would arrive in the “first half of 2025.”

The first half of 2025 came and went without new, cheaper models. Instead, Tesla claimed that the “first build” of the new model was produced in June, and it will launch later this year.

In July, Musk finally confirmed that the first “new affordable model” is in fact simply a Model Y.

The new stripped-down Model Y is codenamed E41 and is expected to feature cheaper materials and fewer features than the normal Model Y, which starts at $45,000 in the US.

It is expected to be similar to what Tesla did with the new base Model 3 in Mexico, which features cloth materials instead of vegan leather, lacks a rear display, has no ambient lighting, and features a less advanced audio system.

However, we now learn that the new affordable Model Y will go further than a cheaper interior.

Green, a well-known Tesla hacker who often reveals new features in vehicles through looking deep in firmware updates, claims to have uncovered new details about the upcoming Model Y E41 through the latest Tesla firmware update.

The details are somewhat limited as he has to decode them from the firmware, but here’s the full list of what he has found out about the new cheaper Model Y:

  • “Essential” and “essential with commodity” audio packages
  • Backup camera without heater
  • No “air wave” in the center console, which likely means no air flow control for the second row
  • A new front fascia
  • Simplified fiberglass headliner
  • Simplified cabin lighting (footwell only)
  • Simplified seat controls (single axis)
  • No power mirror folding
  • No puddle lamps
  • No glass roof
  • No second row display
  • No Tire Pressure Monitoring System
  • Simplified 18″ wheels
  • Downgraded suspension

Tesla has yet to confirm when the new Model Y version will launch, but we previously reported that Tesla is likely waiting for Q4 as it is enjoying strong demand in Q3 from the end of the federal tax credit in the US.

Electrek’s Take

I like “simplified”. I don’t know if the term comes from Green or Tesla, but it certainly works better than “stripped-down,” even though it is also accurate based on what we are learning about the new version.

This didn’t work with the Cybertruck. Tesla quickly discontinued the “simplified” version, but the Cybertruck was already much less popular than Model Y.

I don’t know. This could work. It depends entirely on pricing. If it brings the base price down to $35,000, I can see some people going for it.

However, it will likely devalue Tesla’s “premium” brand and the Model Y significantly.

Also, most of the demand is likely going to come from Model Y buyers in the first place – cannibalizing Tesla’s own sales.

In short, it’s more of a placeholder to slow down the degradation of Tesla’s EV business amid its shift to autonomous driving and robotics, rather than a solution to return to EV growth. That’s a bummer.

Tesla needs brand-new EV models. It’s plain and simple.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Continue Reading

Environment

Generator giant Briggs & Stratton can now power your home with batteries

Published

on

By

Generator giant Briggs & Stratton can now power your home with batteries

For decades, Briggs & Stratton has helped keep the lights on after the storm with its gas-powered generators. Now, the company is bringing that legacy into the modern electric era with a home backup battery — and a new partnership with EG4 is making it easier than ever to integrate Briggs’ batteries into your home solar setup.

As more home solar and hurricane-zone customers begin to explore battery energy storage solutions, Milkwaukee-based Briggs & Stratton is partnering with Texas-based EG4 to offer an all American-branded solution for battery backup power. And, while Briggs is already a known quantity, EG4 is making its own fans, too, thanks to the company’s focus on both user- and installer-friendly designs that put resilience and reliability first.

That dependability makes the EG4 inverters favorites among “preppers” as well. Its 18KPV inverters are EMP-hardened, promising reliable performance even after Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) events that would disable other electronics.

“Our collaboration with Briggs & Stratton combines EG4’s advanced energy storage systems with their proven generator and storage technologies to give customers more ways to achieve reliable, uninterrupted power,” said James Showalter, founder and CEO of EG4. “With this partnership we are making it easier than ever to build the right solution for energy independence.”

Advertisement – scroll for more content

Simplify, SimpliPHI


SimpliPHI battery storage; via Briggs & Stratton.

Briggs & Stratton’s SimpliPHI battery packages start with one, two or three SimpliPHI-branded 6.6 kW batteries, designed as modular components to deliver a range of power options tailored to how much of the home or business the user wants to keep powered power during an outage. Is that 25% of their normal energy usage? 100%? Just add more batteries.

The companies explain that, with a 200A pass-thru for easy integration into most homes’ main service panels, the Briggs & Stratton + EG4 home solar battery system can be scaled up to 18 batteries for 119.7 kWh of energy storage and a maximum continuous power of 84 kW, or up to 90 hours of power at 100% load.

“We are excited to expand our closed-loop integrations with EG4,” explains Sequoya Cross, vice president of energy storage for Briggs & Stratton Energy Solutions. “We have been consistently impressed with their approach to the market, innovative design choices and products that reliably serve their customers.” 

Briggs says its batteries are designed to last a minimum of 15 years. Pricing will vary depending on your backup needs and system design. Reach out to a local installer for a customized quote.

SOURCE | IMAGES: Briggs & Stratton.


If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them. 

Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Continue Reading

Environment

Porsche says EV intransigence will lose it $6B. Its solution? Move even slower

Published

on

By

Porsche says EV intransigence will lose it B. Its solution? Move even slower

Porsche has announced a delay in some future EV models, which parent company VW says will cost it $6B in forward profits. It’s doing this amid a global boom in EV sales, instead committing to an inferior powertrain choice that will only make it more irrelevant as a company.

The world auto industry is currently electrifying rapidly. That electrification is largely being led, in this moment, by Chinese players, who are offering low-cost EVs with the latest battery and infotainment technology, not held back by a century of old-style combustion-engine thinking or by entities in government that are actively trying to kill their own country’s competitiveness.

The rapid rise in Chinese EVs has caught Western automakers by surprise, even though it has been clear for more than a decade that EVs are the way to go (as we’ve been saying here at Electrek for that entire time).

It’s resulting in huge disruptions in the global automotive market, with Western automakers being squeezed out of overseas markets, and even having trouble selling to their own domestic markets. Western countries have responded with emergency tariffs (a concept which never really helps), but Chinese brands continue to grow in Europe.

Advertisement – scroll for more content

We’ve even seen some directly embarrassing moments, like a smartphone company, Xiaomi, deciding about three years ago to go from building smartphones to building cars, one of the most complex products known to man, and then beating Porsche on its home turf by setting the fastest-ever four-door lap record at Nürburgring with a stripped-down Su7 Ultra, beating the Porsche Taycan by over 20 seconds (Xiaomi later went back and beat the Taycan with a stock model by 2.5 seconds).

Remember: Xiaomi makes smartphones. Meanwhile, Porsche has been making cars for a century (and its founder even made a hybrid in 1902).

And so, in recognition of the fact that Chinese brands are eating their lunch, Porsche and VW have just announced that… they’re going to move even slower.

When competition moves too fast, keep up by… moving slower?

Porsche CEO Oliver Blume (who is also CEO of parent company VW) cited the “massive changes within the automotive environment,” on a call on Friday, some of which are detailed above in this article. His response to these massive changes, though, is to go in the opposite direction.

Porsche said it would slow down its EV rollout, delaying the launch of some EVs, and instead offering a planned ultra-luxury SUV positioned above the Cayenne as a combustion or hybrid model, rather than an electric one. An electric version may still come later, though.

Availability of current combustion engine models, including the Panamera, will be extended into the 2030s.

Porsche said as a result of these changes, its forward margin outlook would drop, and VW said that this would result in a reduction of around $6 billion in profits for 2025.

The move also reportedly has thrown the VW/Rivian software partnership for a loop, as VW’s new commitment to polluting combustion models means it will have to find another source for software, since Rivian’s software is meant for EVs, not combustion vehicles.

According to Manager Magazin, there is even a possibility that VW’s doomed internal software project, Cariad, will have to be tapped to build software for these combustion models.

Cariad was the darling of former VW CEO Herbert Diess, who was one of the industry’s most ardent EV advocates. But difficulties with Cariad resulted in Diess being ousted and replaced by Blume, who reorganized the division, adding significant irony to the situation that Cariad may now be thrust into increased relevance due to Blume’s delay in EV models.

Porsche is in opposite world on EV demand

Porsche says that “weak demand” for EVs is forcing it to make this move, even though EV demand continues to rise globally and specifically in Europe and Germany where Porsche calls home. EV sales are up 30% year-to-date in Europe and up 43% in Germany, along with being up 27% globally.

And for Porsche specifically, we have one very clear measurement of whether consumers want electric or gas cars: the Macan. Porsche sells both gas and electric versions of the Macan, and it turns out, the Macan version does way better: nearly 60% of the Macans Porsche sells are electric.

Porsche has seen sales declines itself this year, but those sales declines occurred in territories where EV sales are booming the most (Germany, China), and were driven by declines in sales of Porsche’s combustion models, not its EV models. In fact, electrified Porsche sales are up, while combustion-only sales are down.

CEO Oliver Blume said that he’s counting on “more flexibility” from the EU to soften its emissions standards and allow Porsche to keep putting these polluting vehicles on the road – vehicles which will continue to poison you well into the 2050s.

Blume says this despite the EU’s commitment last week to maintain the emissions targets Blume wants changed, and despite Blume’s cohort, Gernot Döllner who is CEO of Audi (also a VW subsidiary), correctly stating that bickering over emissions standards is “counterproductive” and that “the electric car is simply the better technology.” The EU did say it will review its 2035 zero-emission target early, but seemed open to only minor flexibility.

Meanwhile, climate change continues apace

Meanwhile, the background of all of this is that climate change (which transportation is the largest contributor to in rich countries) continues apace, and that polluting vehicles continue to poison humans globally in costly and destructive ways.

The world needs a solution to climate change, and the faster that solution comes the better. No matter how expensive it seems it might be to solve the problem that we collectively have spent the last century and a half causing (and have supercharged in the last 30 years), that cost will only get higher as time goes on and as more damage is done.

Many studies have pointed out that the faster we solve this problem, the cheaper it will be to fix, so every moment lost as a result of companies misjudging trends and committing to more-polluting models while hoping government will change to let them continue to pollute only represents more cost, death, and disruption for humanity and for all species on Earth.

In total, fossil fuels kill 8 million people per year and receive $7 trillion in subsidies from the ignored costs of this pollution. Porsche is committing to be a greater part of those deaths and health costs into the future with its move, and harming European industry in doing so, by giving up the future of the industry to faster-moving international competitors.


The US 30% federal solar tax credit is ending this year. If you’ve ever considered going solar, now’s the time to act. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.

Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Continue Reading

Trending