EVs | TechCrunch

The fight over Fisker’s assets is already heating up

Sean O'Kane — Fri, 21 Jun 2024 20:40:03 +0000

Fisker is just a few days into its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and the fight over its assets is already charged, with one lawyer claiming the startup has been liquidating assets “outside the court’s supervision.” At issue is the relationship between Fisker and its largest secured lender, Heights Capital Management, an affiliate of financial services company […]

Fisker faced financial distress as early as last August

Sean O'Kane — Fri, 21 Jun 2024 17:37:14 +0000

Fisker was facing “potential financial distress” as early as last August, according to a new filing in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding, which the EV startup initiated earlier this week. The admission provides a clearer picture of Fisker’s troubles in 2023 as it struggled to ramp up deliveries of its flagship Ocean SUV, despite CEO […]

Fisker failed because it wasn’t ready to be a car company

Sean O'Kane — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 22:02:37 +0000

Two years ago, an employee at Fisker Inc. told me that the most pressing concern inside the EV startup was not whether its Ocean SUV would get built. Fisker was outsourcing the manufacturing of its first EV to highly respected automotive supplier Magna, after all. The startup’s November 2022 start-of-production target was aggressive, but not […]

EV startup Fisker files for bankruptcy

Kirsten Korosec, Sean O'Kane — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 08:06:36 +0000

Fisker Group Inc., the EV startup founded by famed designer Henrik Fisker, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection — a capstone to months of problems with its Ocean SUV that included recalls and dozens of lemon law lawsuits. The California-based company, which filed for bankruptcy in Delaware District Court, had been seeking a deal with another […]

Rivian overhauled the R1S and R1T to entice new buyers ahead of cheaper R2 launch

Kirsten Korosec — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 16:00:15 +0000

Rivian has changed 600 parts on its R1S SUV and R1T pickup truck in a bid to drive down manufacturing costs, while improving performance of its flagship vehicles. The end goal, which will play out over the coming year, is an existential one. Rivian lost about $38,784 on every vehicle it delivered in the first […]

Swiss startup Neural Concept raises $27M to cut EV design time to 18 months

Mike Butcher — Mon, 03 Jun 2024 12:15:03 +0000

Neural Concept lets designers model how components will perform before they can be manufactured.

Inside EV startup Fisker’s collapse: how the company crumbled under its founders’ whims

Sean O'Kane — Fri, 31 May 2024 21:57:52 +0000

Update: Fisker has since filed for bankruptcy, after last-ditch efforts to rescue the company failed. An autonomous pod. A solid-state battery-powered sports car. An electric pickup truck. A convertible grand tourer EV with up to 600 miles of range. A “fully connected mobility device” for young urban innovators to be built by Foxconn and priced […]

Tesla shareholder sweepstakes and EV layoffs hit Lucid and Fisker

Kirsten Korosec — Thu, 30 May 2024 17:05:00 +0000

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! Okay, okay — remember last week when I suggested Tesla was being a bit extra in its bid to convince shareholders to vote in favor of relocating […]

Fisker cuts hundreds of workers in bid to keep EV startup alive

Sean O'Kane — Wed, 29 May 2024 22:17:19 +0000

Struggling EV startup Fisker has laid off hundreds of employees in a bid to stay alive, as it continues to search for funding, a buyout or prepare for bankruptcy. Workers suspected layoffs were coming when the company directed everyone to work from home on Wednesday — an out-of-character directive, according to multiple current and former […]

The Cadillac Optiq EV starts at $54,000 and is designed to hook young hipsters

Emme Hall — Wed, 29 May 2024 19:00:00 +0000

Cadillac may seem a bit too traditional to hang its driving cap on EVs. And yet, that hasn’t stopped the GM brand from rolling out — or at least showing off — four all-electric vehicle models since 2022. The latest is the 2025 Optiq, a mid-size crossover that could finally snag the young, hipster customers […]

Redwood Materials is partnering with Ultium Cells to recycle GM’s EV battery scrap

Rebecca Bellan — Thu, 23 May 2024 13:02:26 +0000

Redwood Materials, the battery recycling startup founded by former Tesla co-founder JB Straubel, will be recycling production scrap for batteries going into General Motors electric vehicles. The company announced Thursday that it’s working with Ultium Cells, the joint battery manufacturing venture between GM and LG Energy Solution, to recycle cathode, anode and cell scrap from […]

Porsche Ventures invests in battery startup South 8 to boost cold-weather EV performance

Tim De Chant — Tue, 21 May 2024 12:00:00 +0000

All cars suffer when the mercury drops, but electric vehicles suffer more than most as heaters draw more power and batteries charge more slowly as the liquid electrolyte inside thickens. Drivers in Chicago found this out the hard way last January after many Teslas failed to charge during a deep freeze. One startup, South 8 […]

Forget EVs: Why Bedrock Materials is targeting gas-powered cars for its first sodium-ion batteries

Tim De Chant — Thu, 16 May 2024 10:30:00 +0000

Bedrock Materials is developing a new type of sodium-ion battery, which promises to be dramatically cheaper than lithium-ion.

Orange Charger thinks a $750 outlet will solve EV charging for apartment dwellers

Tim De Chant — Wed, 15 May 2024 13:00:29 +0000

Charging has long been the Achilles’ heel of electric vehicles. One startup thinks it has a better way for apartment dwelling EV drivers to charge overnight.

The buzziest EV IPO of the year is a Chinese automaker

Rebecca Bellan — Fri, 10 May 2024 18:34:10 +0000

Zeekr's market hype is noteworthy and may indicate that investors see value in the high-quality, low-price offerings of Chinese automakers.

Fisker stiffed the engineering firm developing its low-cost EV and pickup truck, lawsuit claims

Sean O'Kane — Fri, 03 May 2024 18:53:43 +0000

Henrik Fisker stood on a stage last August and proudly debuted two prototypes designed to catapult his eponymous EV startup Fisker into the mainstream. There was the Pear, a low-cost EV meant for the masses, and the Alaska, Fisker’s entry into the red-hot pickup truck market. In the weeks that followed, Fisker stopped paying the […]

Acura’s new all-electric SUV proves the most expensive model isn’t always the best

Emme Hall — Thu, 02 May 2024 13:00:06 +0000

The first electric vehicle I ever drove was a Tesla Roadster in 2011. I will never forget the feeling of the instant torque provided by the electric motor, propelling me to 60 miles per hour in less than four seconds — a feat my little Miata daily driver couldn’t even dream of doing. I’ve had […]

Fisker starts new round of layoffs to ‘preserve cash’

Sean O'Kane — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 18:01:36 +0000

EV startup Fisker Inc. is laying off more employees to “preserve cash,” one week after warning investors it would have to make cuts to stave off impending bankruptcy, according to an internal email viewed by TechCrunch. Founder and CEO Henrik Fisker told employees Monday morning in the email that the company is “continuing to evaluate […]

The all-electric Mercedes G-Class ratchets up the tech and off-road capability

Tim Stevens — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 02:30:58 +0000

The Mercedes-Benz G-Class — the rugged off-road powerhouse that launched in 1979 and has since become a brutalist status symbol — has gone electric. This is, in many ways, Mercedes’ most prestigious car, a model more prized for its presence and exclusivity than its power and capability. Going electric, then, is more than an historic […]

Tesla’s new growth plan is centered around mysterious cheaper models

Sean O'Kane — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:04:04 +0000

Tesla’s been undergoing some major changes, and now we have a sense of why: The company says it is upending its product roadmap because of “pressure” on EV sales. The new and accelerated plan now includes “more affordable models” that the company claims will be launched next year. Or if Tesla CEO Elon Musk is […]