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Tesla CEO Elon Musk is causing chaos in the EV industry by firing Tesla’s entire charging team, which may lead some automakers to reconsider their plans to adopt the NACS plug. But NACS is just a better standard, and the industry should move forward on it, even if Tesla waffles with its commitment.

Last week, Tesla abruptly fired its entire Supercharging team, leading to an immediate pullback in Supercharger installation plans. The explanation we’ve heard for these firings is that CEO Elon Musk was unhappy with EV Charging lead Rebecca Tinucci for not firing enough people, and retaliated by suddenly firing her and her entire team.

The firing was so ill-considered that the company has even had to send out an email blast to suppliers and contractors, seemingly confused about which companies it’s even working with on site development.

The abrupt firing has caused a lot of chaos and reconsideration in the EV industry, with some automakers reportedly having meetings about whether to proceed with the planned NACS transition or pull back on their plans.

Currently, EVs from Ford and Rivian can charge on Tesla’s Supercharger network through adapters, but other automakers can’t yet. Tesla planned to roll out support to more brands this spring (GM, Volvo, Polestar), with more coming later. Virtually every brand has announced they will adopt NACS in the next couple years.

But this Supercharger rollout to other automakers will likely be slowed down, as the Supercharger team was the group responsible for onboarding other automakers, and for advancing the whole idea of NACS in the first place.

As a result there have been questions swirling about whether this could spell doom for NACS, potentially being an end to the standard as everyone switches back to CCS.

Is NACS going to die? It shouldn’t, here’s why

First, I don’t think NACS is going to die. Tesla will still use it, and is still the biggest EV brand in North America. While firing the whole team is a petty and incomprehensible move, I expect that the company will eventually come to its senses and hire some people back into that department, and continue to develop and install its charging system, though this will still be a huge setback.

The thing is – NACS is overall just a better standard than CCS. That’s why, when SAE certified the standard, we wrote that “it’ll fix every charging problem at once” (maybe not quite every problem, but close). The cable and connector are easier to use, its 277V support is better for commercial installations, its provision for carry-along cables is better for public infrastructure (especially street parking) and more interoperable with international receptacles.

Also, NACS is now out of Tesla’s hands. The SAE certification for NACS, which it calls J3400, is already finished. So it’s a real standard, and it’s a standard that Tesla no longer has control over. Other companies can make NACS ports and NACS chargers and all the technical information needed is out there and open for use. It’s only Supercharger network compatibility that is in Tesla’s hands (and if they want NEVI funds, they’re going to have to allow other brands to charge at their chargers).

And now that the whole industry already decided to convert to NACS (which is a tough thing to get everyone to agree on), it also puts to bed the format war that we might have had between Superchargers and CCS.

It would be one thing to convert from one standard to another and leave everyone out in the cold, but the industry has already started planning this conversion, and adapters are available. There will be a transition period where CCS and NACS chargers both remain available, so most people shouldn’t have trouble finding a charge.

But it does make sense to collapse down to one standard, and it makes sense to collapse down to the better one.

And so, rumors that manufacturers are considering reversing their NACS transition plans will hopefully not come true. Manufacturers should continue forward in transitioning and getting NACS ports on their vehicles as soon as possible, third parties should focus primarily on installing NACS chargers to pick up the slack left by Tesla’s pullback (with some CCS during the transitionary period), and Tesla should rehire a division to ensure that the transition goes smoothly (you already had one and firing them was stupid).

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750W e-bikes in Europe? Discussions underway to update e-bike laws

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750W e-bikes in Europe? Discussions underway to update e-bike laws

The e-bike industry in the West has long been a tale of two territories. North Americans enjoy higher speeds and power limits for their electric bicycles while Europeans are held to much stricter (i.e. slower and lower) speed and power limits. However, things might change based on current discussions on rewriting European e-bike regulations.

New power levels are not totally without precedent, either. The UK briefly considered doubling its own e-bike power limit from 250 watts (approximately 1/3 horsepower) to 500 watts, though the move was ultimately abandoned.

But this time, the call for more power is coming from within the house – i.e., Germany. The Germans are the undisputed leaders and trend setters in the European e-bike market, accounting for around two million sales of e-bikes per year. Home to leading e-bike drive makers like Bosch, the country has yet another advantage when it comes to making – or regulating – waves in the industry.

And while there aren’t any pending law changes, the largest German trade organization ZIV (Zweirad-Industrie-Verband), which is highly influential in achieving such changes, is now discussing what it believes could be pertinent updates to current EU electric bike regulations.

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Some of the new regulations involve creating rules maxing out power at levels such as 400% or 600% of the human pedaling input. But a key component of the proposed plan includes changing the present day power limit of e-bikes from 250W of continuous power at the motor to 750W of peak power at the drive wheel.

The difference includes some nuance, since continuous power is often considered more of a nominal figure, meaning nearly every e-bike motor in Europe wears a “250W” or less sticker despite often outputting a higher level of peak power. Even Bosch, which has to walk the tight and narrow as a leader in the European e-bike drive market, shared that its newest models of motors are capable of peak power ratings in the 600W level. That’s still far from the commonly 1,000W to 1,300W peak power seen in US e-bike motors, but offers a nice boost over an actual 250W motor.

Other new regulations up for discussion include proposals to limit fully-loaded cargo e-bike weights to either 250 kg (550 lb) for two-wheelers or 300 kg (660 lb) for e-bikes with more than two wheels. As road.cc explained, ZIV also noted that, “separate framework conditions and parameters must be defined for cargo bikes weighing more than 300 kg (see EN 17860-4:2025) as they differ significantly from EPACs and bicycles in their dynamics, design and operation.” Such heavy-duty cargo e-bikes, which often more closely resemble small delivery vans than large cargo bikes, are becoming more common in the industry and have raised concerns about cargo e-bike bloat, especially in dedicated cycling paths.

It’s too early to say whether European e-bike regulations will actually change, but the fact that key industry voices with the power to influence policy are openly advocating for it suggests that new rules for the European market are a real possibility.

ride1up prodigy v2 electric bike brose motor

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China overhauls EV charging: 100,000 ultra-fast public stations by 2027

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China overhauls EV charging: 100,000 ultra-fast public stations by 2027

China just laid out a plan to roll out over 100,000 ultra-fast EV charging stations by 2027 – and they’ll all be open to the public.

The National Development and Reform Commission’s (NDRC) joint notice, issued on Monday, asks local authorities to put together construction plans for highway service areas and prioritize the ones that see 40% or more usage during holiday travel rushes.

The NDRC notes that China’s ultra-fast EV charging infrastructure needs upgrading as more 800V EVs hit the road. Those high-voltage platforms can handle super-fast charging in as little as 10 to 30 minutes, but only if the charging hardware is up to speed.

China had 31.4 million EVs on the road at the end of 2024 – nearly 9% of the country’s total vehicle fleet. But charging access is still catching up. As of May 2025, there were 14.4 million charging points, or roughly 1 for every 2.2 EVs.

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To keep the grid running smoothly, China wants new chargers to be smart, with dynamic pricing to incentivize off-peak charging and solar and storage to power the charging stations.

To make the business side work, the government is pushing for 10-year leases for charging station operators, and it’s backing the buildout with local government bonds.

The NDRC emphasized that the DC fast chargers built will be open to the public. This is a big deal because a lot of fast chargers in China aren’t. For example, BYD’s new megawatt chargers aren’t open to third-party vehicles.

As of September 2024, China had expanded its charging infrastructure to 11.4 million EV chargers, but only 3.3 million were public.

Read more: California now has nearly 50% more EV chargers than gas nozzles


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Two charged in $650 million global crypto scam that promised 300% returns

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Two charged in 0 million global crypto scam that promised 300% returns

A U.S. Justice Department logo or seal showing Justice Department headquarters, known as “Main Justice,” is seen behind the podium in the Department’s headquarters briefing room before a news conference with the Attorney General in Washington, January 24, 2023.

Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

Federal prosecutors have charged two men in connection with a sprawling cryptocurrency investment scheme that defrauded victims out of more than $650 million.

The indictment, unsealed in the District of Puerto Rico, accuses Michael Shannon Sims, 48, of Georgia and Florida, and Juan Carlos Reynoso, 57, of New Jersey and Florida, of operating and promoting OmegaPro, an international crypto multi-level marketing scheme that promised investors 300% returns over 16 months through foreign exchange trading.

“This case exposes the ruthless reality of modern financial crime,” said the Internal Revenue Service’s Chief of Criminal Investigations Guy Ficco. “OmegaPro promised financial freedom but delivered financial ruin.”

From 2019 to 2023, Sims, Reynoso and their co-conspirators allegedly lured thousands of victims worldwide to purchase “investment packages” using cryptocurrency, falsely claiming the funds would be safely managed by elite forex traders, the Department of Justice said.

Prosecutors said the pair flaunted their wealth through social media and extravagant events — including projecting the OmegaPro logo onto the Burj Khalifa, Dubai’s tallest building — to convince investors the operation was legitimate.

A video posted to the company’s LinkedIn page shows guests in evening attire posing for photos and watching the spectacle in Dubai.

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In reality, authorities allege, OmegaPro was a pyramid-style fraud.

When the company later claimed it had suffered a hack, the defendants told victims they had transferred their funds to a new platform called Broker Group, the DOJ said. Users were never able to withdraw their money from either platform.

The two men face charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

The Justice Department, FBI, IRS-Criminal Investigation, and Homeland Security Investigations led the multiagency investigation, with help from international partners.

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