Month: January 2024

Enlarge / Ford was the first OEM to switch from CCS1 to J3400, and it's the first to ready an adapter for cars that have CCS1 ports. (credit: Ford)

Owners of Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup trucks and Ford Mustang Mach-E electric crossovers will soon be able to reserve an adapter that lets them use Tesla Supercharger stations. Ford CEO Jim Farley—last seen driving Ars around Charlotte Motor Speedway in a 1,300-hp Transit van—took to social media and confirmed that the adapter will be free and that owners will be able to reserve one soon.

"When we announced @Ford EVs would get access to @Tesla Superchargers, I said we'd send customers a Fast Charging Adapter. I'm pleased to confirm that eligible #MustangMachE & #F150Lightning owners in the U.S. + Canada can reserve a complimentary adapter starting soon," Farley wrote.

"This is our way of saying thank you! We want to make charging more convenient for our Ford EV owners, so we're excited to add Tesla chargers and will continue growing our BlueOval Charge Network. More details soon."

Enlarge (credit: Lamborghini)

When we think of Lamborghini, it's hard not to think of sonorous, multi-cylinder, naturally aspirated engines. Long after Ferrari added turbochargers to its powerplants, its Italian rival from Sant'Agata Bolognese opted to stick with larger-capacity lumps that sounded symphonic throughout their rev ranges. But those aren't entirely consistent with Lamborghini's goal of reducing its fleet emissions by half in 2025, or by 80 percent in 2030. To that end, the brand will bring hybrid versions of all its models to market, Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann said.

"Last year we celebrated our sixtieth anniversary with the presentation of our first plug-in hybrid car, the Lamborghini Revuelto," explained Winkelmann. "We had the presentation in summer of our race car, the LMDh car, which is going to race in Doha the first weekend in March. And then Pebble Beach in August," he continued, where the brand showed off Lanzador, a concept of its first battery-electric car, which is due in 2028.

In October, Ars visited Lamborghini in Italy to learn more about how the supercar maker has been making its car production more sustainable—including the increased use of rail for freight shipping, more use of reusable and recycling waste materials from production, and even a biomass reactor that generates natural gas that powers much of the factory. In addition to cutting the emissions of its cars, the company wants to reduce the CO₂ emitted during production by 40 percent by 2030.

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Universal Music is set to pull its songs from TikTok after a breakdown in negotiations over payment, which would remove the social media platform’s access to music from stars such as Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, and Drake.

Universal, the industry giant that controls a third of the world’s music, has been in tense negotiations with Beijing-based TikTok for the past year, according to people familiar with the matter.

Universal on Tuesday accused TikTok of “bullying” and said the company wanted to pay a “fraction” of the rate that other social media sites pay for access to its music catalog. As a result, Universal said it would stop licensing its content to TikTok when its contract expires on January 31.

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Universal Music is set to pull its songs from TikTok after a breakdown in negotiations over payment, which would remove the social media platform’s access to music from stars such as Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, and Drake.

Universal, the industry giant that controls a third of the world’s music, has been in tense negotiations with Beijing-based TikTok for the past year, according to people familiar with the matter.

Universal on Tuesday accused TikTok of “bullying” and said the company wanted to pay a “fraction” of the rate that other social media sites pay for access to its music catalog. As a result, Universal said it would stop licensing its content to TikTok when its contract expires on January 31.