Charles Morris

Writer - Editor - Activist

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Extreme E tackles tough terrain, promotes sustainable racing

Formula E, the FIA-sanctioned electric racing series, has been a powerful ambassador for the EV revolution—and a damn fine sporting event—since its opening season in 2014. Now some of the same team behind Formula E, including Alejandro Agag, Chairman of Formula E and now CEO of Extreme E, have gone off-road and off the chain to bring us a much earthier, more rough-and-tumble racing series. Extreme E features custom electric off-road SUVs tearing through some of the harshest and most vehicle-punishing terrain on the globe. Formula E showed that EVs can be fast. Extreme E aims to show that EVs can be tough.

Sustainability is at the heart of Extreme E’s mission. The race sites have been chosen not only for their challenging physical features, but in order to highlight the environmental threats to each of the five unique ecosystems: desert, Arctic, ocean, rain forest and mountain glaciers. The carbon footprint is as small as practical: there are no spectators, and the cars and teams travel on a specially greened-up ship. Extreme E invests in local environmental projects at each site, and buys carbon offsets to compensate for what emissions it cannot avoid.

Tesla’s success is “a combination of thousands of heroic feats that no one knows about”

[This is an excerpt from the new book.] David Havasi was a car guy from birth. He grew up near Auburn Hills, and his dad worked in the auto industry. “My childhood was steeped in Detroit auto culture,” he told me. “That’s what we talked about at the dinner table. My dad would bring home lab cars—like a library book, but it was a car. He worked on minivans, K-cars, a lot of projects that were revolutionary for their time, so I really got to appreciate innovation. His last project was the PT Cruiser, which basically invented the crossover segment.”

As did Tesla co-founders Marc Tarpenning, Martin Eberhard and Elon Musk, Havasi felt the conflict between his love of speed and his concern for the environment. “I loved performance cars like the Viper and the Stealth—I learned how to drive on those cars. For me having a car was not utilitarian, and still isn’t. It was recreational—every drive is recreational. But there was this inner conflict—usually the more fun a car was to drive, the worse it was for the environment. It was a dichotomy that I really struggled with.” [read more]

Winter fun in Breckenridge, Colorado with a Tesla Model X

Winter brings a host of challenges for automobiles and those who drive them - slippery streets, snowbound parking spaces, dead batteries, potholes and road grime. Tesla has touted its wintertime cred from the beginning, and the company’s phenomenal success in Norway and other Arctic climes speaks volumes. So, I was not anticipating any problems when I rented a Model X on Turo for a family skiing trip to Breckenridge, Colorado, and I'm happy to report that I didn’t have any.

A plain old economy rental car was out of the question for this trip - there were five of us, with winter clothing and other paraphernalia - we needed something big, and something snow-worthy. Having used the peer-to-peer rental platform Turo several times now, I doubt I’ll ever patronize any of the legacy rental agencies again. With Turo, you can choose the exact model of car you want, and there are Teslas on offer in most cities. Furthermore, I’ve found that with Turo, the logistics of picking up and dropping off the car are much simpler and quicker. [read more]

Tesla book
completely revised
in September 2021

Thanks so much to the readers who have bought my book and left so many kind comments.

Tesla is constantly evolving, so my book must do so as well. Edition 4.4 is a complete revision - I’ve updated every section, and added new chapters on China, Model Y and Cybertruck.

This book is a comprehensive history of Tesla, the 21st century’s most exciting startup. It begins with a brief history of electric vehicles and a biography of Tesla’s controversial figurehead, Elon Musk. I then detail the history of the company, told in the words of the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who made it happen.

There are many fascinating stories here: Martin Eberhard’s realization that there were many like himself, who loved fast cars but wanted to help the environment and bring about the post-oil age; the freewheeling first days, reminiscent of the early internet era; the incredible ingenuity of the team who built the Roadster; Tesla’s near-death experience and miraculous resurrection; the spiteful split between the company’s larger-than-life leaders; the gloves-off battles with hostile media such as Top Gear and the New York Times; and the media’s ironic about-face when the magnificent Model S won the industry’s highest honors, and naysayers became cheerleaders overnight. And the story is just beginning: the advances that Tesla has set in motion promise to transform our society.

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A book goes global

My Tesla book has been published in Swedish, Korean and Vietnamese editions. A Chinese edition is coming soon, and a Norwegian translation is scheduled for launch soon (hopefully before Cybertruck).