Sign In or Create an Account.

By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy

Sparks

It Sure Looks Like a Rivian Was Too Much Truck for Alan Ruck​

At least it wasn’t a Ferrari this time?

Alan Ruck and a Rivian.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images, Rivian

It is just as the prophets (John Hughes) of old (1986) foretold.

On Tuesday, actor Alan Ruck allegedly crashed his Rivian into a Los Angeles pizza shop, an accident that drew immediate comparisons to the famous scene in which he “kills” his father’s Ferrari in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Just like Cameron Frye, Ruck was reportedly a class act after the scary incident and “appeared more concerned about the well-being of others than his own,” one witness told the Los Angeles Times. (Though to be fair, even a Rivian is less expensive than a fake 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder).

Ruck — who admittedly might be more famous these days for playing Connor Roy on Succession — was seen to be unharmed after he emerged from the wreck. No pedestrians were reportedly injured in the crash, though the Los Angeles Fire Department said one person involved was hospitalized with a minor, non-life-threatening injury.

It’s not clear exactly what happened in the incident. Footage that circulated afterward shows a Rivian stopped at a traffic light at La Brea Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard before it suddenly careened forward, hitting two other cars in the intersection before it rammed through the pizzeria’s wall. No one was arrested for driving under the influence after the crash, police told the L.A. Times.

Video shows Hollywood crash involving 'Ferris Bueller,' 'Succession' star Alan Ruckwww.youtube.com

Get-uppy Rivian RT1s like Rusk’s can accelerate from zero to 60 mph in three seconds (basically what a modern Ferrari manages), making it the world’s fastest pickup truck. But when your truck weighs more than 7,100 pounds, an accidental tap of the accelerator — if that’s indeed what happened, though there are no indications one way or another — can have serious consequences.

Though Ruck doesn’t have the inglorious distinction of being the first person to crash a Rivian — that belongs to a driver who hit a parked Mercedes just one week after the first production trucks left the assembly line — he does have another new claim to fame: Being the biggest climate story to be published by TMZ since the tabloid called Olivia Wilde a hypocrite for globetrotting with Harry Styles in October.

Yellow

You’re out of free articles.

Subscribe today to experience Heatmap’s expert analysis 
of climate change, clean energy, and sustainability.
To continue reading
Create a free account or sign in to unlock more free articles.
or
Please enter an email address
By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy
Sparks

Heatmap Wins a National Magazine Award

We have some exciting news to share.

A bottle of champagne.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

I wanted to update you on some very exciting news — our Decarbonize Your Life section just won the National Magazine Award for Service Journalism. It’s a huge honor for a publication that just turned two years old last month and a testament to the outstanding journalism our small but mighty newsroom does every day guiding our readers through the great energy transition.

A huge shout out, in particular, to our deputy editor Jillian Goodman for making the section so smart and helpful, to Robinson Meyer for dreaming up the idea, and to all the writers — Jeva, Katie, Emily, Charu, Taylor, and Andrew — who reported so insightfully for it. Tackling a complex but consequential subject like how to make better personal decisions around climate changewas a massive undertaking, but a labor of love.

Keep reading...Show less
Sparks

Trump to New York: End Congestion Pricing, or Else

The administration is doubling down on an April 20 end date for the traffic control program.

Kathy Hochul and Janno Lieber.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Congestion pricing has only been in effect in New York City for three months, but its rollout has been nearly as turbulent as the 18-year battle to implement it in the first place.

Trump’s Department of Transportation escalated its threat this week to retaliate against New York if the state’s Metropolitan Transit Authority, or MTA, does not shut down the tolling program by April 20.

Keep reading...Show less
Green
Sparks

How Energy Transition Stocks Fared During the Market Rout

There were a lot of tariff losers, but only one tariff winner.

A graph puncturing solar panels.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

The U.S. stock market has taken its worst hit this week since March 2020, with the S&P 500 falling over 10% in just two days, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq is down 22% from its all-time high in December. The tremendous decline in stock values is a reflection of Donald Trump’s chaotic attempt at reordering the global economy, wrenching America’s average effective tariff rate to the highest level since 1909 — four years before the establishment of the federal income tax.

The clean energy economy has not been spared, although the effect has hardly been uniform. Some of the highest flying companies of 2024 and early this year — think Tesla or anyone selling power to a data center — have been some of the hardest hit, while some companies closer to the residential solar market have held their own.

Here’s a look at how some of these companies have performed over the past two days:

Keep reading...Show less