The Self-Starter Test

A 1925 Detroit Electric Still Runs on 84 Volts and a Five-Click Controller

Mike the Car Geek rides in a 1925 Detroit Electric owned by Bill, a collector with two of the cars, and uses the drive to tell the company's story. By the video's account, a Detroit carriage maker built the cars from 1907, kept going after a 1929 bankruptcy, and sold about 13,290 vehicles by 1939.

The car runs on 84 volts from fourteen 6 volt batteries, seven at each end. Bill explains that the five-position speed control runs the two banks in parallel for the first three steps and in series for the last two, which is where the extra push arrives. The video puts output at about 5 horsepower, top speed at 22 to 25 mph and range at up to 80 miles, with brakes on the rear wheels only and a voltmeter standing in for a fuel gauge. The video mentions a 1912 range record; published histories put that company-sponsored test at 211.3 miles on one charge. The cars were expensive. Hagerty has reported that one 1912 example sold new for $3,200, six times the price of a contemporary Model T.

Scaringe on R2: 40 Million Decisions, One Operating System and a $50,000 Target

Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe took the MOVE 2026 keynote stage a week after R2 customer deliveries began, as the interviewer noted. He gave the price range as $45,000 to $57,000 and, because few buyers take a base car, expects R2's average selling price to land around $50,000, against roughly $90,000 for R1. Launching three vehicles within three months strained Rivian the first time, he said, so R2 launched in a narrow configuration with R3 held back. Supply is now the hard part, he said, pointing to trade issues and competition for DRAM from AI data centers.

On autonomy, Scaringe described two in-house chips at 800 TOPS each, plus cameras, radar and a single lidar, with supervised point-to-point driving due by the end of this year and Level 4 by 2028. He said Illinois and a Georgia plant, backed by a $4.5 billion Department of Energy loan he says was recently restructured, will ultimately take capacity past half a million a year. He put Rivian's commercial vans on the road at a little under 50,000; Rivian's shareholder letter in February counted more than 30,000 with Amazon alone. He said R2 and R3 were designed for Europe and right-hand drive, without giving a date.

Amber's V2G Trial Lets a BYD Run the House at Peak and Sell the Rest

Everything Electric visits Amber Electric, which is scaling a 50-site vehicle-to-grid pilot co-funded by ARENA into what it calls Australia's largest residential V2G trial, with a waitlist it puts above 8,500. Amber lists the hold-ups: some networks approve sites faster than others, bidirectional charger software is still young, and not every carmaker endorses V2G under its battery warranty. BYD, Amber says, has provided 1,000 warranties for the trial. Amber says owners set how much of the battery it may use and a ready-by charge, with no minimum plug-in time. Joining means switching retailer to Amber, which charges a subscription and passes through wholesale prices.

By Amber's figures, about half of customer savings come from running the home off the car and half from selling to the grid. Martin, a trial participant with a BYD Atto 3, a pool and older solar panels, says his bill has fallen by up to 50 percent in some months and about a third in others. He sets a 20 percent floor and 70 percent by 8 a.m., and says he has noticed no battery change in five months. The video says a car pack is around five times a 13.5 kWh Tesla Powerwall and could run a four-person home for about three days. Ford makes a home-power claim of its own, saying a first-generation F-150 Lightning could power a house for up to six days.

FSD 14.3.9 Handles the Drive-Thru Queue, but Not When to Leave the Window

Out of Spec BITS takes a launch edition Tesla Model Y L, which the host puts at around $60,000, on an hour-long round trip for coffee with his dog in the back. The car runs FSD 14.3.9, which the host says Tesla sent to a few early access cars and then pulled after his had downloaded it. The release notes he reads list a rewritten AI compiler, credited with 20 percent faster reactions, and smart summon raised to 8 mph.

He credits the car with carrying speed through two yellow lights instead of braking hard, though it sat in the left lane longer than he wanted. In the Starbucks drive-thru it stopped at the order point and the window on its own, then began pulling away after the first drink, before the rest of the order, and he had to brake. At 100 percent the car showed 319 miles on its larger wheels. Dirty Tesla's highway run in a Model Y L, which we covered on September 7, calculated roughly 370. The host calls FSD his first requirement in a daily driver and says Ford's BlueCruise is far behind. Ford said last month that every Fathom, its $28,350 midsize electric pickup, will be capable of running BlueCruise.

Slate Goes Looking for Reservation Holders Who Have Not Ordered Yet

On a Chicago stop of its viewer-requested tour, Slate's own channel sets out to find fence-sitters, people with a reservation who have not yet pre-ordered, using names supplied by Slate agents. The first, Sid, says it is his first time with the truck in person. He turns full circles in an empty intersection, forward and in reverse, then backs into an alley driveway with a light post in the way, which proves no challenge. He asks Slate for a nudge when a showroom opens. The second stop is a coffee shop, where the truck hauls oversized bags and the conversation turns to wanting a small city truck that can take plywood and bumps without losing value. The video explains that pre-order holders are grouped into production cohorts and can move to a later window, and says the gray color runs through the body panels under any wrap. Slate opened pre-orders in June at $24,950 before destination, according to TechCrunch. We covered its 103 mile moving run on September 9.