Electrek American Solar Challenge 2026: About the race, full schedule, and teams competing

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It’s now July, which means schools from around the world are making final preparations for the Electrek American Solar Challenge 2026, and this year is going to be an especially notable one! A record 42 teams from colleges in the US, Canada, Belgium, and the Netherlands are registered to compete in the Formula Sun Grand Prix pre-qualifier track event in less than two weeks.

This is a big deal for teams. Apart from FSGP being a competition in its own right, it’s the opportunity for students to prove their hand-built solar car has what it takes to hit the open road and trek 1,500+ miles across the United States for the renowned American Solar Challenge.

Here’s everything you need to know about both competitions, the teams, and the schedule.

Tesla maps a tiny Robotaxi zone in Miami while it still can’t scale Texas

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Tesla has mapped out a Robotaxi service area in Miami, publishing a geofence that covers only a small slice of the metro — mostly West Miami and a strip stretching toward Doral and Sweetwater.

It’s the latest city Tesla has drawn a box around, but the announcement lands with a thud when you consider what’s happened in Texas over the past year.

Kia converts its electric van into an off-grid mobile simulator rig with a 55″ screen

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The PV5 is proving again why it’s the ultimate people mover. Kia converted its electric van into an off-grid racing simulator rig with a massive 55″ screen.

July 4th Green Deals: Bluetti Summer Power Sale exclusives, Hiboy EX11 full suspension e-bike $700 off, EcoFlow flash sale, and much more

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We’re ending this week with a special 4th of July Green Deals edition, led by the Bluetti Summer Power Sale on power stations that benefits from two of our exclusive bonus savings codes, including the ongoing low price for the new FridgePower Station + bundles starting from $807, among others. Right behind it we have Hiboy’s July 4th EV Sale with up to 58% discounts on e-scooters and e-bikes, including the restocked EX11 Full Suspension Electric Bike at its $1,300 low, as well as the final EcoFlow extended Prime Day flash sale lineup from $1,149, and a bunch of our favorite ongoing holiday promotional savings, too! Of course, there are also all the hangover deals we’ve collected at the bottom of the page for you, like yesterday’s Velotric and Heybike 4th of July e-bike sales, and more.

Head below for other New Green Deals we’ve found today and, of course, Electrek’s best EV buying and leasing deals. Also, check out the new Electrek Tesla Shop for the best deals on Tesla accessories.

First-ever Volvo A30 Electric articulated haul trucks get to work

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Volvo CE announced its first-ever electric articulated haul truck at last year’s Bauma construction expo; less than a year later, the first examples of Volvo’s new A30 Electric are in customers’ hands, doing real work.

Wheel-E Podcast: Gazelle’s Bosch hub motor bikes, Eurobike, more

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This week on Electrek’s Wheel-E podcast, we discuss the most popular news stories from the world of electric bikes and other nontraditional electric vehicles. This time, that includes new e-bikes from Gazelle, Amflow, and Monarc, the CPSC wants to clamp down on e-bike safety regulations, DeSantis vetoed an e-bike safety bill in Florida, and more.

Tesla driver charged with manslaughter in Katy crash was Googling ‘FSD too timid’

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Harris County prosecutors have charged the Tesla driver who crashed into a Katy, Texas, home and killed a 76-year-old woman with manslaughter, alleging he overrode Full Self-Driving to floor the car to 73 mph in a residential cul-de-sac.

The charging document also reveals something new: in the weeks before the crash, the driver had been Googling that FSD wasn’t aggressive enough.

The coolest e-bikes (and things) we saw at Eurobike 2026

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Eurobike, the annual bicycle tradeshow that takes over Germany for several days each summer, always brings with it a fun array of new bikes and bike-related goodies. While the show wasn’t as big as it had been in previous years, there were still plenty of fun treats for the eyes and for the riding.

Check out the selection of fun takeaways below, in no order other than how they came out of my camera.

Tesla caps employee AI spending at $200/week except for Grok

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Tesla told staff it will impose a $200-per-week limit on employee AI spending starting July 6, according to an internal memo reported by The Information (paywall).

The cap lands just months after Tesla pushed employees to use AI more aggressively, a sign that even companies betting their future on the technology are struggling to control its costs.

Polestar EVs are a smoking deal at $25k off now that they’re banned in the US

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On the back of the Commerce Department’s incredibly stupid move to ban Polestar from selling EVs in the US, the Polestar 4 is now nearly the cheapest EV in America after a $25k discount, and the Polestar 3 has a pretty great discount applied too.