Electric Vehicles

Did Elon Musk announce in November 2024 that Tesla was launching a $10,000 home to provide more affordable housing? No, that's not true: The Tesla CEO made no such announcement on the company website nor through his account on X. Similar claims of a "Tesla House" go back years, though there has been no such announcement. This claim appeared in…

Does a photo show a lithium mine for electric cars, as a meme on Facebook implied? No, that's not true: The photograph depicts an Australian gold mine located near Marvel Loch in Western Australia. The mine is overseen by Minjar Mine, described on its website as an Australian gold producer, developer and explorer that manages the Southern Cross Operation on…

Is the world's first permanent electrified road open in Sweden as of April 2024? No, that's not true: Several short sections of prototype electrified roadway in Sweden have been used to test various charging methods for electric cars and trucks. But the first large-scale, permanent and open-for-public-use electrified road has not been constructed. A 13-mile pilot project was to be…

Does a photo show mining operations extracting "lithium for electric cars," as a meme on Facebook claimed? No, that's not true: According to the Utah Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining, the image is of the Rio Tinto Kennecott mine in Magna, Utah, where no lithium mining occurs. The agency confirmed that the "image is false." The Rio Tinto mine…

Did a study find that electric cars pollute 1,850 times more than fuel-based vehicles, as some online publications reported when posted about the study? No, that's not true: The "study" in question was an analysis published by an independent emissions research group, not a science journal article. The group's spokesperson told Lead Stories that some online publications misrepresented the analysis.…

Did Amazon convert its delivery fleet back to diesel "as electric doesn't work"? No, that's not true: A public relations manager from Amazon told Lead Stories on December 18, 2023, that this claim is false. An Amazon article from October 2023 said that the company plans to put even more electric vehicles on the road, in addition to the electric…

Did Vice President Kamala Harris give a speech to say reducing population is a goal of the climate change movement? No, that's not true: While she did say the words "reduce population," a While House official confirmed to Lead Stories that the intended word was "pollution," and a correction made in the White House transcript reflects that. In her speech…

Did salt water and car batteries cause a fire that spread through the motor vehicles loaded on the top on the deck of a cargo ship? Yes, that is possible: In an insurance trade magazine report, the appointed surveyor who investigated the 2016 incident on board the Baltimar Zephyr said the presumed cause of the fire was a short circuit…

Does a video that shows a long queue for charging Tesla vehicles indicate some sort of government failure? No, that's misleading: The earliest version of this video was reportedly shot over Thanksgiving in 2019. Charging station locations have expanded since then. The claim, which has been made on other platforms, reappeared in a post on Instagram on April 6, 2023.…

Did Twitter CEO Elon Musk tweet that Tesla, his electric-vehicle and sustainable-energy company, was forced to recall its entire fleet? No, that's not true: The tweet was posted by a parody account impersonating Musk, the CEO of Tesla. The parody tweet (archived here) was published on December 22, 2022. It read: Tesla has just been informed by the NHTSA that…