E-quipment highlight: LEAPTING launches electric autonomous forklift
E-quipment highlight: LEAPTING launches electric autonomous forklift

Chinese PV and solar equipment brand LEAPTING has taken the wraps off its new, battery-powered Auto-Navigation Forklift Robot (AFR) designed to speed up the installation of large, utility-scale solar power projects.

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California Legalized Plug-In Balcony Solar Panels, but Don’t Buy Any Just Yet

Units that comply with the new law are expected by spring.

Tesla’s solar factory dragged into patent war between Chinese suppliers
Tesla’s solar factory dragged into patent war between Chinese suppliers

Tesla’s planned solar factory in Texas has landed in the middle of a US patent lawsuit between two Chinese solar equipment makers, both chasing the ingot-growing furnaces Tesla needs to hit its 100 GW goal.

Linton Crystal Technologies, a Rochester, …

Tesla killing Solar Roof is leaving installers with six-figure losses
Tesla killing Solar Roof is leaving installers with six-figure losses

Tesla’s abrupt decision to kill its Solar Roof has left the third-party contractors who sold and installed the product absorbing the fallout — including some who told Electrek they sank hundreds of thousands of dollars into the program and now have lit…

Aptera solar EV makes up to 4.75 kWh a day, independent test shows
Aptera solar EV makes up to 4.75 kWh a day, independent test shows

Aptera’s solar electric vehicle can pull more than 4 kWh of usable energy out of the sun in a single day, and now an independent testing house has put its name on the number.
TÜV Rheinland, the 150-year-old German testing and certification firm, ran th…

Skycharger solar + electric semi truck project gets green light in San Diego
Skycharger solar + electric semi truck project gets green light in San Diego

The Port of San Diego has effectively green-lit the new Skycharger flagship solar + electric semi project on a 4.8 acre site near the National City Marine Terminal, promising to fleet electrification easier, more affordable, and more accessible to the …

Tesla discontinues its Solar Roof tiles, not economically viable
Tesla discontinues its Solar Roof tiles, not economically viable

Tesla has discontinued the Solar Roof, its solar-tile roofing product, Electrek has learned.
The company has told third-party installers that it will no longer supply solar roof tiles going forward, only solar panels, according to two sources close to …

Tesla files for $10.1B ‘Project Crystal Sun’ solar factory in Texas
Tesla files for $10.1B ‘Project Crystal Sun’ solar factory in Texas

Tesla has filed for a $10.1 billion solar cell factory in Fort Bend County, Texas, under the codename “Project Crystal Sun,” according to a tax-incentive application posted by the Texas Comptroller.
The filing pegs the plant at 9,712 permanent jobs, ro…

Musk’s Terafab chip plant will run on gas, not Tesla solar
Musk’s Terafab chip plant will run on gas, not Tesla solar

SpaceX confirmed it will power Terafab, its $16.8 billion chip megafactory in Texas, with its own natural gas power plants and “very large battery arrays.” Tesla solar isn’t in the plan.
That’s despite Tesla being a partner on the project, and despite …

Argentina’s solar train brings zero-emission travel to an ancient trade route
Argentina’s solar train brings zero-emission travel to an ancient trade route

The Tren Solar de la Quebrada is Latin America’s first primarily solar-powered passenger train, carrying tens of thousands of travelers through the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Quebrada de Humahuaca with the power of the sun.