EVs catch a breather

Hello,

Hope you had a great weekend. One quick note today on top of the usual: I added some open roles at companies I think highly of to the end of this note. Check em’ out if you’re looking for yourself or know fantastic folks who are.

ONE STORY IN A SENTENCE AND A CHART

• Here’s some good news I missed last month that’s also apropos and in keeping with other headlines covered below: EV fast charger installations surged back to close to all-time highs in the U.S. after a more tepid first quarter. Link.

NEWS, DATA, AND HEADLINES

• Sticking on the EV beat for the first five bullets or so, President Trump's Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy unveiled revised guidance for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, unfreezing states' access to $5 billion in charging infrastructure funds after months of legal challenges. The administration lifted its freeze following court losses, though it did introduce new requirements. States now have 30 days to resubmit applications. Link.

• Ford announced a $2 billion investment to transform its Louisville Assembly Plant using a new production system that abandons the traditional single assembly line, replacing it with three concurrent lines to manufacture a $30,000 electric pickup truck, which it aims to launch in 2027. CEO Jim Farley called it a "Model T moment" while acknowledging significant risk in competing with China. RE: a Model T moment, I’m not so sure, though I welcome the investment and vision. Link. Link. Link.

• U.S. EV incentives soared to 17.5% of total average EV transaction prices in July, up 40% year-over-year, as automakers rushed to move inventory before the October 1 deadline, after which government-sponsored tax credits will expire. The EV credit bump appears to be here finally; July EV sales hit the second-highest monthly sales mark ever, posting 20% growth year-over-year, after June sales remained subdued. Link.

• Rivian (finally) scheduled groundbreaking ceremonies for September 14 (community event) and September 16 (formal ceremony with Governor Brian Kemp) at its long-delayed $5 billion Georgia factory site along I-20, with plans to begin vertical construction next year after multiple setbacks. Link.

• Revel permanently shut down its ride-hailing service in New York City to focus exclusively on EV charging infrastructure, planning to sell its fleet of Tesla and Kia vehicles along with 165 for-hire vehicle licenses worth $20,000-$25,000 each, with utilization of its chargers jumping to 45% from 21% in early 2023. Link.

• The U.S. Energy Department announced $925 million in funding for five programs to bolster domestic critical minerals supply, including $500 million for battery metal processing and recycling, $250 million for mineral byproduct extraction, $135 million for rare earth supply chain projects, and $40 million for extracting minerals from industrial wastewater. Link.

• The Department of Energy selected 11 nuclear reactor startups for a new Reactor Pilot Program, aiming to guide and catalyze at least three test nuclear reactors to achieve the point of criticality (where the reactor sustains a continuous fission chain reaction) by July 4, 2026. Selected companies include Oklo (two projects), Deep Fission, Last Energy, Radiant Industries, and others. I’ll be surprised if three demo reactors get to that point in less than eleven months, and have some concerns about speed vs. safety, as the last thing the U.S. nuclear energy industry needs is a new PR problem. But I’ll happily eat my words if the milestones are achieved in safe, sound, and scalable fashion. Link.

• The EPA approved the Energy Department's request to dig two new underground areas for nuclear waste storage at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, expanding a facility that its critics say was only intended for temporary disposal. Fees for handling the waste are spiking to levels not seen since 2008, underscoring the need for more storage, especially if the U.S. gets back to building new reactors and revives shuttered ones. Link.

• EDF's Gravelines nuclear plant in France automatically shut down three of its units after a "massive and unpredictable presence of jellyfish" clogged filter drums at pumping stations between 11 pm and midnight Sunday, highlighting infrastructure vulnerability to marine life changes. There’s something new under the sun every day, folks. Link.

• China's carbon dioxide emissions fell 2.7% in the first half of 2025 while U.S. emissions increased 4.2%, reversing historical patterns as China accelerates renewable deployment and the U.S. burns more coal, driven by surging electricity demand and high natural gas prices. Global emissions were up 0.7%, with Europe and India also flipping roles. Link.

• Standard Potential launched a "Responsible Grid" pilot program connecting 65 New York City households' air conditioners to small batteries that power AC units during peak demand, allowing residents to maintain cooling while reducing grid strain and earning $100 per connected unit through September. Link.

• LevelTen Energy reported power purchase agreement prices in the U.S. increased 4% since the passage of Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill, with 86% of developers accelerating construction timelines or reprioritizing project pipelines to meet new restrictions, calling it "the clearest signal yet that the market has already begun to reprice." Tl;dr → electricity prices will continue to rise, and may rise more quickly in coming months and years. Link.

• Wood Mackenzie reported that the ongoing U.S. transformer supply shortage will hit a 30% deficit for power transformers and 10% for distribution transformers in 2025, with Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act sending mixed signals to manufacturers on what types to produce while tariffs raise material costs. Link.

• The Trump administration finalized new rules for wind and solar tax credits, eliminating the 5% safe harbor provision for establishing construction start dates while maintaining the physical work requirement, with projects needing to start by year-end to qualify for current credits. Solar projects under 1.5MW retained the 5% rule exemption. The rules weren’t as punative as some expected them to be, which sent solar and wind stocks higher, although the overall outlook for the sector in the U.S. if you compare the now-defunt IRA and the new BBB is still far from good. Link.

• Ørsted announced it needs to raise another $9.4 billion from investors and can no longer sell its stake in the Sunrise Wind project off New York, blaming the Trump administration’s anti-wind policies for derailing its business model, at least overseas. Shares tumbled more than a third on the news, with the Danish government stepping in to act as investor of last resort and to back the new shares. Woes for offshore wind continue, in short. Link. Link.

• Chinese battery giant CATL shut down its Jianxiawo lithium mine in Yichun after its permit expired, removing 46,000 metric tons of lithium production capacity annually from global supply (~3% of global production). The closure triggered an 8% jump in lithium futures prices in China and double-digit gains for lithium mining stocks, including Tianqi (+19%) and Ganfeng (+21%). Link.

• California may need to forgive up to $588 million of its $1.4 billion loan to keep Diablo Canyon nuclear plant open, as federal reimbursements will fall short of promises made when the emergency funding was approved in 2022. The shortfall emerges as California faces a $12 billion budget hole. Link.

• Cybersecurity agency CISA published an advisory detailing vulnerabilities in EG4 Electronics' solar inverters, affecting 55,000 customers and revealing fundamental security flaws, such as unencrypted data transmission and a lack of firmware integrity checks, that could allow attackers to seize control of systems. The CEO called it an "industry-wide problem" and acknowledged failing to notify customers in a timely fashion. Link.

• Marine Le Pen proposed a "major air-conditioning equipment plan" for France during July's heat wave, sparking political debate with the Green party's Marine Tondelier, who opposes AC expansion in favor of urban greening efforts. As the world warms, I doubt that combating AC expansion will be a winning platform. Nor does it make sense in France, which has one of the greener grids worldwide, thanks to its fleet of nuclear reactors. Link.

• Canada is in the midst of its second-worst wildfire season on record, with 7.3 million hectares burned so far, more than double the 10-year average and roughly the size of the entire state of New Brunswick. The last three fire seasons rank among the 10 worst since 1972, with 1,400 international firefighters helping and experts warning this may become the new normal. This shouldn’t be seen just as a sign that global warming and climate change are getting worse; it’s a perilous feedback loop where lost forests release carbon, lose their ability to absorb more of it, and where biodiversity losses extend as well. Link.

• NOAA reported the January-July 2025 period was the second-warmest on record globally, just 0.10°C cooler than 2024, with greater than 99% chance of ranking among the top five warmest years and less than 1% chance of being the warmest. Link.

• A powerful explosion at U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works in Pennsylvania killed two workers and injured at least 10, damaging two coke oven batteries at the largest U.S. coke plant that produces 4.3 million tons annually and employs 1,300-1,400 workers. Link.

• Alaska's capital, Juneau (lovely place!), narrowly avoided catastrophic flooding after the Mendenhall Glacier released a surge of rainwater, snowmelt, and ice into the Mendenhall River. The city erected temporary barriers just in time to prevent massive damage to hundreds of homes. Juneau sits on an island, with the local adage that there are only three ways on and two ways out—namely via boat, plane, or birth canal. Link.

• Maricopa County, Arizona, has reported at least 400 suspected heat-related deaths this year as temperatures hit at least 110°F for 12 consecutive days, with public health advocates blaming urban sprawl and housing affordability crisis, without referencing that the city’s also living through its ninth-warmest July on record. Link.

• Kabul could become the first modern capital city to run out of water by 2030, according to Mercy Corps, as droughts and the Taliban's failure to regulate well-digging deplete underground water reserves, with residents saying "water is like gold for us." Link.

• UN negotiations on a global plastics treaty collapsed in Geneva after countries failed to agree on mandatory production limits or phase out certain more harmful chemicals, with oil-producing nations and the U.S. opposing restrictions on commerce while the majority sought binding caps on plastic production set to reach 736 million tons by 2040. Link.

CURATED DEALS

Larger funding rounds:

• Aira, based out of Stockholm, raised €150 million (~$175.5 million) in equity financing from investors including Altor, Kinnevik, and Temasek to expand its heat pump manufacturing and installation services across Germany, Italy, and the U.K. The company hit €200 million (~$234 million) in annual sales with 1,200 employees and 18 hubs. Link.

• Hubber, based out of London, raised ~$76.2 million in equity funding to develop an EV charging platform with the expertise of its ex-Tesla founders. James Bayliss, former head trader at Elliott Advisors, and Christopher Fox, former CFO of the British Business Bank, led the round. Link.

• BinSentry, based out of Kitchener, Canada, raised $50 million in Series C funding led by Lead Edge Capital for its AI-powered, solar-powered sensors and software that monitor animal feed levels. Link.

Medium-sized funding rounds:

• Ultraviolette, based out of Bengaluru, raised $21 million led by TDK Corporation's corporate venture arm with participation from Zoho Corporation and Lingotto for its electric motorcycle manufacturing, bringing total funding to $75 million with plans for 14 models by 2027 and expansion into Europe, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. Link.

• Equatic, based out of Santa Monica, California, raised $11.6 million in Series A funding co-led by Catalytic Capital for Climate and Health and Kibo Invest for its patented seawater electrolysis technology for CO2 removal and green hydrogen production. Link.

• National Renewable Network, based out of Sydney, raised ~$11.1 million in Series A funding led by Investible and Virescent Ventures, plus ~$32.6 million in debt funding from Infradebt-managed funds for its no-upfront-cost residential solar and battery systems, with which it aims to spin up virtual power plants. Link.

• Saga Robotics, based out of Oslo, raised €9.5 million (~$11.1 million) from investors including Praesidium Agri-FoodTech, Aker, Nysnø Climate Investments, Blystad, Hatteland, Melesio, Sanden, and MP Pensjon for its fleet of autonomous farming robots. Link.

• NeoLogic, based out of Israel, raised $10 million in Series A funding led by KOMPAS VC with participation from M Ventures, Maniv Mobility, and lool Ventures to develop energy-efficient server CPUs for AI data centers using simplified logic designs with fewer transistors and gates. Link.

Smaller funding rounds

• Candela, based out of Stockholm, raised SEK 77.6 million (~$8.1 million) from EQT Ventures for its electric hydrofoil boats. Link.

• Prefer, based out of Singapore, raised $4.2 million in pre-Series A funding co-led by At One Ventures and Chancery Hill Capital for its fermentation-based coffee and cocoa flavors made from food manufacturing byproducts. Link.

• Waterly, based out of Crystal Lake, IL, raised $4 million in Series A funding led by Burnt Island Ventures for its software that helps water and wastewater utilities digitize regulatory reporting, sampling, and asset data management. Link.

• Revo Foods, based out of Vienna, Austria, raised €1.6 million (~$1.87 million) from 212 investors via a crowdfunding round to scale production, boost marketing, and advance its patented 3D printing plant-based seafood technology. Link.

• Rebelvolt, based out of Rajamäki, Finland, closed a funding round led by Gorilla Capital Fund III, with participation from JMS Consulting Oy, UAV OÜ, and Meri Heikkinen, for its battery-based e-Generators, which it markets as clean, silent alternatives to diesel units (they’re energy storage systems that leverage chemical energy storage). Link.

Other funding notes

• LanzaTech, based out of Skokie, Illinois, secured £6.4 million (~$8.7 million) in grant funding from the UK government's Advanced Fuels Fund to advance Project DRAGON in South Wales, where it will develop two commercial-scale plants for sustainable aviation fuel using gas fermentation and LanzaJet Alcohol-to-Jet technologies. Link.

Funds

• Nuveen, based out of Chicago, raised $1.3 billion in a first close of a targeted $2.5 billion Energy & Power Infrastructure Credit Fund II, out of which it will invest in both low-carbon and fossil fuel assets (like LNG), with deals typically ranging from $100 million to $200 million and plans for 20-30 companies. Link.

• Delphinus Venture Capital, based out of Aarhus, Denmark, launched with €80 million (~$94 million) from Aarhus University Research Foundation, HEARTLAND, Norlys, and Salling Group to invest in research-focused startups from pre-seed through commercialization. Link.

Jobs

• Strobe Power is building the modern power plant—distributed, intelligent, and located where energy is needed most. I think very highly of this team and they’re hiring for a Software Engineer and a Chief of Staff. On the Chief of Staff front, specifically, they’re looking for legal and regulatory experience in electricity markets (think ISO and RTO filings, as one example). For the Software Engineer role, one sample bullet of qualifications includes “Shipped production code in Rust/Go/C++ and comfortable in Python or TypeScript.” Both roles are based out of New York City. See here and here for the position descriptions. Full disclosure: I’m an investor in this one via Climate Capital.

• Calectra is on a mission to electrify and decarbonize high-temperature industrial heat and is hiring an Electrical Engineer in Oakland, California, to “source and test the electrical components of the thermal storage system, then implement those components in a laboratory-scale system with an eye toward industrial-scale operation.” Link here.

One shot

Here’s a lucky film photo from a 4th of July roll I neglected to develop until last week:

Have a great week ahead,

— Nick