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Greater than a month in the past, I requested you, expensive reader, the way you thought EV gross sales would play out as soon as the $7,500 federal tax credit score expired on September 30. Nearly all of those that responded to the ballot predicted that EV gross sales would fall off a cliff.
Now, it’s too early to inform but; we’re only a few days previous the top of the quarter. However the expiring tax credit score did give many automakers a little bit of a gross sales bump as customers raced to purchase EVs earlier than the deadline.
Tesla, which has seen gross sales progress diminish, simply registered its finest quarter of deliveries ever at 497,099 autos. That’s an enormous 29% leap from the second quarter, a few 7% improve over the identical interval final yr, and greater than it has ever delivered in a single quarter.
Ford Motor, Basic Motors, and Hyundai additionally reported file quarterly gross sales of EVs. Rivian noticed deliveries leap to 13,201 autos, up from 10,661 and eight,640 within the second and first quarters, respectively.
The looming query is how will automakers navigate a potential slowdown in EV gross sales on this post-tax credit score period? Rivian has already adjusted its steering down for 2025. Others could comply with.
The crux for automakers is methods to do away with stock as the brand new 2026 fashions are available in with out decreasing or eliminating revenue margins (and in some circumstances deepening the losses)?
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October 27-29, 2025
A little bit hen
The Division of Vitality canceled 321 clear power tasks however wasn’t sharing the main points with TechCrunch or the general public. Fortunately, a bit hen shared the entire record of awards the Trump administration had canceled, and the outcomes had been revealing.
Altogether, the canceled awards totaled $7.56 billion, with California bearing the brunt, shedding $2.2 billion price of grants, together with a $630 million grid-modernization program that would have grow to be a template for the nation. Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, and Oregon rounded out the highest eight, shedding between $300 million and $600 million every.
It wasn’t till farther down the record {that a} purple state popped up. Certainly, the vast majority of tasks had been sited in states that had voted for Kamala Harris within the final presidential election, one thing many media retailers reported after Workplace of Administration and Price range chief Russell Vought tweeted as a lot.
However even in blue states, some awards caught, probably as a consequence of political connections with the Trump administration or aligned pursuits. Regardless of the case, the transfer by the DOE suggests the federal government could be a much less dependable accomplice for companies, particularly small startups.
Obtained a tip for us? E mail Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my Sign at kkorosec.07, or electronic mail Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com.
Offers!
Toyota will not be the primary firm that springs to thoughts when one thinks about startups. However maybe it needs to be.
The Japanese automaker is committing $1.5 billion in new capital to deal with, and put money into, the life cycle of startups — from the primary seeds of an invention by means of its progress stage and finally to mature corporations.
Toyota has created a strategic funding subsidiary referred to as Toyota Invention Companions Co. with about $670 million in capital, whereas its growth-stage enterprise arm Woven Capital launched a second $800 million fund.
I spoke to Woven Capital normal accomplice George Kellerman about Toyota’s capital dedication and its funding technique. He described Toyota Invention Companions as a bookend of kinds to the corporate’s different funding organizations. Take a look at my article to study why.
Different offers that bought my consideration …
Keep in mind Einride, the Swedish startup identified for its unusual-looking electrical and autonomous pods? The corporate remains to be plugging alongside and has now raised $100 million from a number of new and present buyers, together with its largest shareholder, EQT Ventures. The increase included an undisclosed strategic funding from quantum computing firm IonQ. It’s price noting that whereas $100 million is a whole lot of coin, it’s far decrease than the $500 million in fairness and debt it raised just a few years in the past.
Electroflow, a startup creating a less expensive LFP battery, raised $10 million in a seed spherical led by Union Sq. Ventures and Voyager with participation from Fifty Years and Harpoon Ventures.
Flai, a San Francisco-based AI-for-car-dealerships startup, raised a $4.5 million seed spherical led by Liz Wessel at First Spherical Capital. YC, RedBlue Capital, Joe Montana’s Liquid 2 Ventures, and Innovation Endeavors additionally joined.
This extremely uncommon deal is changing into extra frequent underneath the Trump administration. The Division of Vitality took a 5% fairness stake in Canadian firm Lithium Americas and a 5% stake in its Nevada mining three way partnership with Basic Motors as a part of a renegotiation of a $2.26 billion federal mortgage. This follows the federal authorities taking fairness stakes in Intel and MP Supplies.
The U.Okay. authorities will assure a industrial financial institution mortgage of £1.5 billion ($2 billion) for carmaking big Jaguar Land Rover after a hack compelled the corporate to close down its manufacturing traces and left downstream suppliers susceptible to chapter.
Early-stage deep tech fund Wave Perform Ventures closed its first fund of $15.1 million. Senior reporter Sean O’Kane profiles its founder Jamie Gull and his path from aerospace engineer to VC.
Notable reads and different tidbits
Two Amazon Prime Air supply drones collided with the growth of a crane close to its same-day web site in Tolleson, Arizona — the corporate’s one industrial location. Federal businesses are investigating, and after a brief pause, Amazon has restarted the service.
DoorDash has spent years engaged on an autonomous supply robotic that may navigate roads, bike lanes, and sidewalks. Senior AI reporter Max Zeff hung out with “Dot” and Ashu Rege, a former government on the Amazon-owned AV firm Zoox, who now leads DoorDash’s autonomy division.
Faraday Future nonetheless exists and we all know this as a result of one of many troubled EV startup’s electrical SUVs caught hearth at its Los Angeles headquarters, resulting in an explosion that blew out a part of a wall.
The Trump administration’s crackdown in Chicago is affecting the gig financial system, the founding father of e-bike subscription startup Whizz tells TechCrunch.
Waymo scored a regulatory win in New York Metropolis and obtained an extension for its testing allow.
WestJet, Canada’s second largest airline, stated the private info of 1.2 million passengers was stolen in a cyberattack and information breach.
Zoox will begin mapping the streets of Washington, D.C., because it ramps as much as start testing its self-driving autos within the nation’s capital this yr.
Yet another factor …
TechCrunch Disrupt 2025is only a few weeks away. I hope you come and say hello! And sure, there are some noteworthy transportation of us who can be on our stage, together with Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana, Waabi founder and CEO Raquel Urtasun, Wayve co-founder and CEO Alex Kendall, and Slate CEO Chris Barman.
Within the weeks main as much as the occasion, we’ve been showcasing a number of the Startup Battlefield 200 corporations, together with Hance, a startup engaged on low energy-consuming, on-device processing that’s already attracted the likes of Intel.
