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Airbus has officially opened its new Wing Technology Development Centre (WTDC) in Filton, UK. The plant will further its “Wing of Tomorrow” program.

Airbus has officially opened its new wing technology plant in Filton, England. Inaugurated by British Industry Minister Nusrat Ghani, the new plant is a fundamental part of Airbus’ plan for its so-called “Wing of Tomorrow.”

The plant’s primary mission, at present, is to further development of Airbus’ designs for wings that are longer, lighter, more slender, and feature folding wingtips to fly more sustainably.

Lucid Motors is planning new, affordable models with which to take on the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y. The American automaker recently entered an agreement to supply Aston Martin with electric powertrain components, but company CEO Peter Rawlinson is already focused on what comes next. Speaking with Auto Express, Rawlinson shared some interesting tidbits about future models — including rivals to Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y.

Once the all-new Gravity SUV arrives in the second half of 2025, Lucid intends to hit Tesla where it hurts. “After Gravity, we’re going to do Model 3 and Model Y competitors. We think around $50,000, maybe $48,000 — something like that. It’s too early to say, but that’s the vision.”

This would bring Lucid ownership within reach of customers who can’t afford the $87,500 required to purchase the Air luxury sedan. When questioned about manufacturing right-hand drive vehicles, Rawlinson said Lucid would love to cater to more markets but is currently focused on getting the Air Sapphire to market.

Tesla delivered upwards of 466,000 vehicles in the second quarter — 20,000 more than Wall Street’s consensus forecast of about 446,000, it revealed on Sunday. Jim Chanos waved away the strong showing on Twitter, saying it was fueled by price cuts and firmly priced into Tesla’s current valuation.

“Again, ‘blown away’ is a 4% beat on deliveries with huge price cuts? The $800B valuation might just be discounting that…$TSLA,” he tweeted about Elon Musk’s electric-vehicle company.

“Is ‘massive’ 4% for a stock at 10x revenues…? Shouldn’t a company trading at that valuation always exceed expectations? $TSLA,” the short seller wrote in a second tweet.

By now, it should not be breaking news that Tesla is boldly entering the trucking industry with the semi-truck. Elon Musk wants to leave no stone unturned in his quest to up-end industries for the better.

He is not just doing that by producing more advanced and efficient vehicles for the future, he’s also doing it with the kind of factories he builds to produce those vehicles. A factory as big as 138 football fields combined. Boardwalk with hike and biking trail.

Ecological paradise with birds in the trees, butterflies, and fish in the stream. The semi-truck is nothing like what the industry has ever seen. And that’s not even the most interesting part. Why? We will fill you in on all the details in just a sec. Let’s get right into it.

Joby Aviation has been cleared by the FAA (Federal Aviation Authority) to start flight tests on its first production prototype air taxi, the company wrote in a press release. It’s a large step in the company’s aim to start shipping the eVTOL aircraft (electric vertical takeoff and landing) to customers in 2024 and launch an air taxi service by 2025.

“The aircraft will now undergo initial flight testing before being delivered to Edwards Air Force Base, California, where it will be used to demonstrate a range of potential logistics use cases,” Joby wrote.

The aircraft can take off and land like a helicopter, then tilt its six rotors horizontally and fly like an airplane at up to 200 MPH. It’s designed to carry a pilot and four passengers over a distance up to 100 miles on a charge — enough range for most types of air taxi operations. At the same time, Joby claims it’s nearly silent in cruise mode and 100 times quieter than conventional aircraft during takeoff and landing.

Amazon has begun rolling out its custom electric delivery vans from Rivian in Europe, the e-commerce giant said Monday. This will be Rivian’s first commercial shipment of vans outside the United States.

The first tranche of 300 vans will be seen on streets in Munich, Berlin and Dusseldorf in the coming weeks. Amazon already has a fleet of thousands of electric vans operating in Europe, including more than 1,000 e-vans in Germany, the company said. Amazon last year said it plans invest more than €1 billion to electrify its European transportation network.

“Amazon is committed to reaching net-zero carbon by 2040, and reducing our delivery-related emissions is a critical part of this goal,” said Rocco Bräuniger, country manager for Amazon, in a statement. “Last year we delivered more than 45 million packages in Germany with electric vans and e-cargo bikes, and these new additions from Rivian will help us deliver packages more sustainably and to more customers.”