A few years ago, around the same time that I started to hear about Tesla stock from several nearby sources, I was recommended a little-known YouTube channel called Now You Know. It's a weekly news cast independently run by a father and son team for everything related to Tesla. It took me a little while to act on it, but once I watched an episode I was hooked and immediately began binging on their back catalogue.

Level-headed, factually informed, scientific discussion is a rare thing to find in the melting pot of social media and it's incredibly refreshing. Each story is examined from an objective standpoint and there's always fascinating information to learn or new opportunities to discover. They do not have nearly enough exposure and I wish to spread it a little further if I can.

The hosts, Zac and Jessie, live in Massachusetts, US and have been EV owners and renewal enthusiasts for many years. Zac purchased an original 2016 Model X ‘Sparkie’ that they used in one of the first cross-country Tesla trials. They travelled thousands of miles across America and back using only the Supercharger network, to show just how capable electric cars had become and they were successful, in the first of many road trips and adventures.

Tesla Time News

For the last six years they have released new videos each week and grown to recognition in the space, taking interviews with prominent CEOs and entrepreneurs, researchers, scientists and political figures. What started as just a hobby to help spread reliable information about EVs and clean energy, in a time when there was so much negative media of dubious origin clouding the truth, has spawned a sprawling community of like-minded individuals keen to learn and take action in their local area. Viewers from around the world send in videos and local stories to collaborate on reports or share home projects, there's so much audience participation that it can really be called a community.

Every Tuesday there's a new hour long episode that can easily be consumed as a podcast on the usual platforms, with the main topics of recent Telsa news, renewable technologies, climate change & transitional steps and keeping up with Elon's twitter activity - which usually reveals the most breaking information about his work.

In Depth

The second weekly post is a deep dive into a particular topic, be it new research, breakthrough technologies or experiments, comprehensive summaries of leading issues, or first-hand product review and testing. There are often guests who specialise in related industries or are involved in a noteworthy project and since the information doesn't date too quickly, it's a great place to revisit and learn something new.

A few notable videos:

• The Magic School Bus

Covering the details behind the huge numbers of diesel vehicles used in the US to transport children daily, the long-term health effects and what can be done

• The Autonomous Driving Future

Deep dive into the future of transportation once humans no longer need to control it, with logical, well thought out predictions

• 36 Reasons Tesla is Worth a Trillion Dollars

A great summary of the many reasons that Tesla is such a valuable company and will continue to grow indefinitely

Patreon

As independent creators they rely on the voluntary viewer subscription model, which is the norm sine YouTube ad revenue no longer supports the full-time job of content creation. It's essential to stay self-sufficient to ensure there can be no bias or persuasion built in. They buy a product, test it out and share the honest results without corporate vetting or influence, so naturally they have a Patreon account where you can choose to support them at varying tiers from as little as $1 a month. In return you'll gain access to an expanded part of the show for even more news and discussion, or for $12 there are detailed analysis of investment opportunities as well as a slack club full of friendly, similar people sharing tips and tricks.

Other Channels

Since inception, the original channel has been outgrown and whilst still the central operation, there’s so much information that it’s been categorised into a few places;

Clips

Bite-sized clips of individual stories, great for sharing

Now Let's Review

Electric bikes, scooters, motorcycles, chargers - you name it, they test it

Disruptive Investing

Reaching out to disruptive companies with innovative technologies to raise awareness

Supercharger map

They also host the only online map of Superchargers where users can upload videos reviewing the location, capacity and amenities. It's really a great service especially for planning long trips and it’s fun to contribute, although they're becoming so numerous you may soon never be more than a few miles from one.

So much change can happen just through the spread of information. Targeted misinformation became commonplace and now the source and it's reputation are being questioned more than ever by more people than ever. If you like what you see, to stay informed and join the debate consider subscribing (even for free) to their channel and help support honest independent journalism and climate action.

I owe some inspiration for starting this blog, as well as countless hours of research saved and knowledge gained thanks to their thorough reporting, so huge thanks to Zac and Jessie, Now You Know!