Tesla is now buying advertising on Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) to get Tesla shareholders to vote for his CEO compensation package worth up to $1 trillion in stock options.

Tesla, under Elon Musk’s leadership, has famously been against advertising. The CEO is even on the record saying that he “hates advertising” and that “other companies spend money on advertising and manipulating public opinion, Tesla focuses on the product.”

However, that was before he acquired Twitter, now X, which relies heavily on advertising.

After that, he started to push Tesla to do some advertising, but the company quickly stopped or greatly reduced its advertising efforts.

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We reported that Tesla’s advertising effort picked back up last week, starting with a few Google ads to encourage Tesla shareholders to vote for Musk’s new unprecedented CEO compensation package worth up to $1 trillion.

The automaker is in a full-on marketing blitz to convince shareholders to vote for the package and to allow Tesla to issue more shares in exchange.

Now, Tesla is even buying social media ads to push shareholders to vote for Musk’s compensation package and they are even buying ads on Musk’s privately owned platform, X:

They are also buying ads on Instagram, Facebook, and Reddit.

As we previously reported, Tesla’s board has claimed that voting for the compensation package will determine the future of Tesla.

Musk went even further and linked his compensation package to the future of the world.

Earlier today, the CEO claimed that his compensation plan is not about money, but about control over Tesla:

It’s not about “compensation”, but about me having enough influence over Tesla to ensure safety if we build millions of robots. If I can just get kicked out in the future by activist shareholder advisory firms who don’t even own Tesla shares themselves, I’m not comfortable with that future.

The CEO previously threatened Tesla shareholders not to build AI products at Tesla, despite claiming they were critical to the company’s future, if he doesn’t get 25% control over the company.

Electrek’s Take

The CEO of a publicly traded company threatens shareholders to gain control over the company and uses company funds to purchase ads that benefit his privately held company, with the goal of persuading the shareholders of the publicly traded company to give him more money.

If that’s not late-stage capitalism, I don’t know what is.

Also, I know I won’t shock anyone here, but Elon is lying about this not being about money.

If he wants to increase his percentage of Tesla shares, he could do exactly what his friend Larry Ellison did with Oracle and do long-term buybacks. It would benefit everyone, but it’s not what he wants. He wants the shiny new stock options.

Is Kia’s electric van finally coming to the US? The Kia PV5 was caught testing with a unique design, hinting it’s destined for the US.

Is Kia’s electric van coming to the US?

Although Kia has yet to announce it publicly, all signs point to the PV5 launching in the US. In February, the electric van was first spotted charging at a station in Indiana.

A few photos and a video sent to Electrek confirmed it was indeed the Kia PV5. The sighting came somewhat as a surprise, as the only official statement from Kia said the PV5 would arrive in Europe and South Korea this year, followed by “launches in other markets” in 2026, but no mention was made of the US.

After another PV5 was spotted in Arizona, rumors that Kia’s electric van was coming to the US began to surface again.

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Kia still has yet to confirm or deny a US launch, but another sighting hints at the PV5’s imminent debut. The latest spotting, by KindelAuto, appears to be of the US-spec 2026 Kia PV5.

It looks about the same as the Kia PV5 Passenger, which is already available in parts of Europe and South Korea. However, although it’s not very clear, Kia’s electric van appears to have added side marker lights, a requirement in the US.

Following its launch in the UK earlier this year, the Kia PV5 Passenger is now being introduced to new European markets.

In the UK, it starts at £32,995 ($44,000) on the road. In Germany, the PV5 Passenger is priced from €38,290 ($45,000) or €249 per month.

Kia’s electric van is available in two variants: Passenger, for everyday driving, and Cargo, for business use. The PV5 Passenger is available with two battery pack options: 51.5 kWh and 71.2 kWh, providing WLTP ranges of 183 miles and 256 miles, respectively. Meanwhile, several more variants are on the way.

During its PV5 Tech Day in July, we learned that Kia plans to launch seven PV5 body types, including a Light Camper, a premium “Prime” Passenger model, and an open bed version.

We’ll have to wait for the official word, but there’s still hope Kia’s electric van will make it to the US. We should find out soon. Can we get the EV5 too? That might be pushing it.

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A new review of US Energy Information Administration (EIA) data by the SUN DAY Campaign reveals that in July, solar-powered electricity shot up by over 30%, while wind grew by almost 14% in the US.

Solar continues to break records in July

EIA’s latest monthly “Electric Power Monthly” report (with data through July 31, 2025), once again confirms that solar is the fastest growing among the major sources of US electricity.

In July alone, electrical generation by utility-scale solar (i.e., >1-megawatt (MW)) surged by 36.9% compared to July 2024, while “estimated” small-scale (e.g., rooftop) solar PV increased by 12.7%. Combined, they grew by 30.4% and provided 9.4% of US electrical output, up from 7.5% year-over-year.

Moreover, utility-scale solar thermal and photovoltaic expanded by 37.4%, while generation from small-scale systems rose by 11.0% during the first seven months of 2025 year-over-year. The combination of utility-scale and small-scale solar increased by 29.9% and was 8.9% (utility-scale: 6.7%; small-scale: 2.2%) of total US electrical generation for January to July – up from 7.0% a year earlier.

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As a consequence, solar-generated electricity year-to-date (YTD) easily surpassed – by over 54% – the output of US hydropower plants (5.7%). In July alone, solar-generated electricity more than doubled the output of hydropower. In fact, in both July and YTD, solar produced more electricity than hydropower, biomass, and geothermal combined.

And for the first time ever, 4% more electricity was generated in July by utility-scale solar (33,119-GWh) than by wind farms (31,831-GWh). Including small-scale systems, solar outproduced wind by over 35% during the month (43,092 GWh).

Wind is still on a growth trajectory

US wind turbines produced 10.8% of US electricity in the first seven months of 2025, an increase of 3.5% year-over-year, and they almost doubled electrical generation by the nation’s hydropower plants.

In July alone, wind-generated electricity was 13.8% greater than a year before.

Wind + solar are beating coal, nuclear

During the first seven months of 2025, electrical generation by wind plus utility-scale and small-scale solar provided 19.6% of the US total, up from 17.8% during the first seven months of 2024.

Further, the EIA reports that the combination of wind and solar provided 19.1% more electricity than did coal during the first seven months of 2025, and 14.1% more than nuclear. In fact, as solar and wind grew rapidly, nuclear-generated electricity dropped by 1.0%.

Renewables are still on the rise

All renewables combined (wind, solar, hydropower, biomass, and geothermal) produced 9.9% more electricity between January and July than they did a year ago and provided 26.7% of total US electricity production compared to 25.1% 12 months earlier.

Electrical generation by the combination of all renewables grew three times faster than total US electrical generation (9.9% vs. 3.3%). Renewables’ share of electrical generation is now second to only that of natural gas, which saw a decline in electrical output by almost 3.5% during the first seven months of 2025.  

“Notwithstanding enactment of the anti-renewables provisions in the Trump megabill, solar and wind continue to power ahead,” noted the SUN DAY Campaign’s executive director, Ken Bossong. “Meanwhile, the electrical output YTD by the Republicans’ preferred technologies – nuclear power and natural gas – has actually fallen.”

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