The Brief Brief Electric Vehicles
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Electric Vehicles — briefly, then briefly again · tbb.ceo
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/daily ·17 OCT 2026 ·SATURDAY ·2 MIN READ ·5 STORIES

Post-Reveal Saturday

The Roadster has 1,341 horsepower and half the range Musk once promised, and Tesla cannot guarantee pre-orders will ship. A good day for Mercedes, less so for Volkswagen.

01 / The Day

SATURDAY 17 OCT 2026, ranked

05

Tesla Roadster: 1,341 HP, Half the Promised Range, No Delivery Guarantee

Tesla revealed the second-generation Roadster with 1,341 horsepower, a claimed range substantially below the 620 miles Musk promised in 2017, cold-gas thrusters that operate for seconds before requiring hours to refill, and a formal acknowledgment that it cannot guarantee pre-order delivery.

  • The thruster-equipped flying variant requires an invitation and is not street legal; the standard car has no confirmed price or production date
  • Range was not formally specified at the unveil; reporting indicates it falls well short of the 620-mile figure from the 2017 reveal
  • Tesla has held pre-order deposits for up to nine years; the disclaimer that delivery cannot be guaranteed is a new formal disclosure
Why it mattersThe reveal answers nine years of questions by replacing most of them with new ones.
01 insideevs.com↗

Mercedes New EV with Silicon Anode Battery Delivers Real-World Range Gains

InsideEVs reviewed the Mercedes CLA 350 Electric, which uses a silicon anode battery cell — a higher-energy-density chemistry that stores more lithium than conventional graphite anodes — and found meaningful real-world range improvement over equivalent vehicles with standard cells.

  • Silicon anode cells store roughly 20-40% more energy per kilogram than graphite, enabling greater range without heavier battery packs
  • The CLA 350 review is among the first real-world evaluations of silicon anode chemistry in a production passenger vehicle at scale
  • BMW's new i3 also ships sixth-generation silicon anode cells; two major European OEMs are now delivering the technology to consumers
Why it mattersLab-to-road is the hardest part for any battery chemistry — this review is the first-mover evidence that silicon anode works at consumer scale.
02 insideevs.com↗

Tesla Driver Tells Police He Was Asleep on FSD When Car Struck CHP Cruiser

A driver in Fairfield, California told California Highway Patrol investigators he was asleep with Full Self-Driving engaged when his Tesla struck a CHP patrol car, injuring two officers — a distinct incident from the fatal Vineland, NJ FSD crash confirmed earlier this week.

  • Two FSD-related incidents involving law enforcement or fatalities in under 48 hours is an unusual concentration of publicly reported events
  • The CHP collision adds a law enforcement dimension that makes the ongoing NHTSA investigation politically harder to contain
  • Tesla has not commented on either incident or adjusted its FSD rollout schedule
Why it mattersIndividual incidents are noise; two FSD crashes involving injuries and fatalities in 48 hours is a pattern regulators cannot classify as coincidence.
03 electrek.co↗

Volkswagen Recalls Thousands of EVs Including ID.4; Limits Charging to 80%

Volkswagen announced a recall covering several thousand EVs globally — including the ID.4 and ID. Buzz — and advised owners to limit charging to 80% of battery capacity until a software fix is available.

  • The recall is one of the larger VW EV actions in recent months, compounding a brand already down roughly 90% in US EV sales year-over-year
  • An 80% charge cap reduces effective range for affected owners by 15-20% while the software fix is prepared
  • VW has not disclosed the specific defect, the timeline for a fix, or the exact vehicle configurations affected
Why it mattersA charging-restriction recall on VW's flagship EV lineup — however temporary — lands at the worst possible moment for a brand whose US market position is already in freefall.
04 electrek.co↗

Waymo Picks Toronto as Its First International City; Targeting Public Riders in 2028

Waymo announced it will begin testing in Toronto with plans to launch commercial autonomous rides in 2028, marking its first expansion outside the United States, while Ontario develops a regulatory framework for driverless commercial service from scratch.

  • Ontario currently has no rules governing commercial driverless vehicle operations; regulatory development runs in parallel with testing
  • Toronto follows Waymo's simultaneous expansion into San Antonio, San Diego, and Tampa last week — four cities in eight days
  • Canadian winter conditions and mixed urban infrastructure provide test scenarios that do not exist in Arizona, California, or Texas
Why it mattersThe first international expansion signals that Waymo's deployment playbook is replicating faster and at greater geographic range than early skeptics projected.
05 electrek.co↗
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Past days

The Daily Archive

/FRI 30 OCTBudget Day in Britain; Foxconn Adds Three/THU 29 OCTEurope crosses the threshold and GM bets on a new chemistry/WED 28 OCTWednesday: Waymo Sprawls, Ford Gets Cheap, Korea Cracks Down/TUE 27 OCTTuro Deals, Tax Credit Hope, and a Luxury Arms Race/MON 26 OCT2026-10-26/SUN 25 OCTUnder $12K and over budget/SAT 24 OCTRange Rover reviewers want the electric one/FRI 23 OCTFriday charge: maps, megawatts, and €20K/THU 22 OCTTesla's quarter, Musk's merger, Lucid's robots/WED 21 OCTWednesday: BYD Goes Below $10K, Rivian Goes to #2, GM Closes a Plant/TUE 20 OCTCorolla electrifies in China, Tesla eyes SpaceX/MON 19 OCTThe $30K Test/SUN 18 OCTThe 67% Line/SAT 17 OCTPost-Reveal Saturday/FRI 16 OCTSafety Cracks and Market Splits/THU 15 OCTThe EV Brief — October 15, 2026/WED 14 OCTTesla Tomorrow, VW Cheaper, BYD Further/TUE 13 OCTTuesday dispatch/MON 12 OCTParis reveals the small EV moment/SUN 11 OCTThe price point and the proof/SAT 10 OCTSaturday Drive