Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility!
Your usual host Kirsten is out this week, so I’ll be taking you through the last couple weeks’ worth of mobility news.
Top of mind this week is a Delaware judge’s decision to uphold her previous ruling denying the legality of Elon Musk’s exorbitant $56 billion pay package. To refresh your memory, Delaware Chancery court judge Kathaleen McCormick in January ruled that the pay package — the largest compensation deal in corporate history — is unfair given that the CEO spends so much of his time occupied with his many other companies and projects, including X (formerly Twitter). And now he’s in charge of “government efficiency” to boot!
Tesla tried to change McCormick’s mind after shareholders voted to “re-ratify” the deal, but she wasn’t swayed by their arguments. In her decision, she wrote, among other things, that a shareholder vote can’t overturn a court ruling.
The X-verse is up in arms about it, arguing that no, in fact, a judge’s ruling shouldn’t be able to overrule a shareholder vote.
Musk has threatened to pull back from helping Tesla grow if he doesn’t get his money, a prospect that terrifies shareholders. Tesla will appeal the decision again, and with Musk as Trump’s new right-hand man, this will be an interesting one to watch.
— Rebecca Bellan
A little bird
Looks like Henrik Fisker, founder of the now-defunct EV startup Fisker, has his name on something new. It’s called “Glogy Foods LLC” and is described in a filing as having something to do with food and beverage. With a name like that, I’m not sure I want to know.
Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com, Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com or Rebecca Bellan at rebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com. Or check out these instructions to learn how to contact us via encrypted messaging apps or SecureDrop.
Deals!
Main deal
Chinese autonomous vehicle company Pony AI debuted on the Nasdaq last week as investors showed an interest in backing Chinese tech companies following a de facto ban on foreign IPOs from Beijing. Pony’s debut comes after WeRide and Zeekr became publicly traded companies earlier this year.
Pony opened at $15 per share, pulling in a valuation of $5.25 billion. That opening price was higher than Pony’s offering price of $13 per share, but it quickly dropped down to size and on Wednesday closed just shy of $12. Perhaps that’s because Pony, like most other AV companies, is operating at a heavy loss as it throws money into R&D and attempts to scale a frontier technology.
Other deals that got my attention …
Ampeco, an EV charging platform, raised a $26 million Series B round led by Revaia. The startup provides OEMs with a charging network to mix and match hardware partners, which has helped it scale with major utilities companies across Europe.
The Biden administration is racing to approve clean energy loans before Trump takes over, and companies are benefiting. Rivian snagged a $6.6 billion conditional federal loan to resume construction of its Georgia EV factory; and Stellantis and Samsung, via their JV StarPlus Energy, secured a conditional loan of up to $7.54 billion to help finance two lithium-ion battery cell and module factories in Indiana.
Speaking of battery factories, General Motors is selling its stake in the nearly completed Ultium battery cell plant in Lansing, Michigan, to its JV partner LG Energy Solution (LGES). We don’t have a deal number, but GM says it expects to recoup its initial investment into the factory. GM and LGES had promised to invest over $2 billion into that site.
Notable reads and other tidbits
Autonomous vehicles
Tesla appears to be building a teleoperations team for its robotaxi service. The company posted a job listing for a software engineer that can help develop the system to allow human operators to remotely access and control Tesla’s upcoming robotaxis.
TuSimple co-founder and former CEO Xiaodi Hou is demanding that the board immediately liquidate the company and return all remaining funds to shareholders. Things are getting super spicy over here!
Electric vehicles, charging, & batteries
California plans to offer EV rebates if Trump kills the federal tax credits currently offered to Americans via the Inflation Reduction Act.
EVgo and GM have surpassed 2,000 public fast-charging stalls through their ongoing charging collab. That’s double their shared EV charging footprint from a year ago.
General Motors has taken a $5 billion hit due to weakness in its China business. GM, via state-owned SAIC Motor, used to be a dominant player in China but is struggling to compete with the influx of new models over the past couple of years.
Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis are recalling about 208,000 EVs in the U.S. due to an issue that could cause the cars to suddenly lose power.
The pope is getting his first electric popemobile, and, no, it’s not from now-defunct Fisker. His Holiness will cruise around in a Mercedes-Benz G-Class SUV.
Northvolt, a Swedish battery manufacturer and unicorn, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. The company will work to reorganize and ramp up operations in order to better position itself for the long term.
Revel is expanding its EV-charging empire in New York City. The startup is working with Port Authority to install 24 fast chargers at JFK airport.
In-car tech
Tesla came out with a host of new features this week, including a new Tesla app for the Apple Watch and the ability to prank your friends with a fart sound when they sit down in a passenger seat.
Micromobility
Joco, the NYC-based startup offering bright orange e-bikes to delivery workers, offers a slice of hope for founders taking on micromobility. The company almost died several times, including at launch, but has managed to expand mainly on its own cashflow and become a profitable business.
London has had it with all the dockless e-bikes crowding up sidewalks and streets. The city’s transport authority announced a new enforcement policy that will restrict parking for the tens of thousands of e-bikes offered for rent by Lime, Human Forest, and Dott.
Skarper, the U.K. startup that helps convert bicycles to e-bikes, must have done something right because the company has got the backing and endorsement of Sir Chris Hoy, one of the most decorated track cyclists.
Ride-hail
Uber is expanding what it means to be a gig worker. The company is hiring contractors for a new AI and data-labeling division called Scaled Solutions that services both Uber and outside customers, like Aurora Innovation and Niantic.
Uber is also under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission over whether the company broke consumer protection laws by allegedly automatically signing people up for its Uber One subscription service and making it hard to cancel.
This week’s wheels
While reporting on Joco, I got to test-drive some of their now-iconic orange e-bikes, which are custom made for the company based on Segway’s A200 platform. And I must say, that’s one hell of a sturdy ride. There wasn’t a pothole or cracked bit of pavement that slowed my roll. The acceleration was smooth, and I felt like I was flying down those NYC bike paths — something I’m sure NYC’s many delivery drivers will also appreciate.
Perhaps my favorite part of the bike, though, was the built-in phone holder that not only secures your phone in place on the handlebars so you can use GPS, but also charges your phone at the same time.
What is “This week’s wheels”? It’s a chance to learn about the different transportation products we’re testing, whether it’s an electric or hybrid car, an e-bike, or even a ride in an autonomous vehicle. Future vehicles include the Lucid Air, more time in the next-gen Rivian R1S, and the Volkswagen ID Buzz. Stay tuned.
