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Welcome back to Mobility TechCrunch — your central hub for news and ideas about the future of transportation. Remember in the last issue of TechCrunch Mobility, when I wrote that the wheels were starting to come off the fisker bus? Heavens. They did it.
To catch up: Fisker issued a warning on March 18 that it was halting production for six weeks and had only $121 million in cash and cash equivalents, of which $32 million was restricted or inaccessible. immediately. The company had a capital influx of $150 million through convertible notes and a possible partnership with another automaker. Those hopes were incinerated as quickly as a gasoline-soaked rag when negotiations between Fisker and the big automaker (said to be Nissan) collapsed, putting the convertible bond deal in jeopardy.
Shares plummeted 28%, trading was suspended and, in a final blow, the NYSE He said he was taking steps to remove Fisker from the trade.
Those are all symptoms of a larger problem within the company, including a particularly embarrassing one that TC reporter Sean O'Kane uncovered. The tl;dr: Fisker temporarily lost track of millions of dollars in customer payments as it ramped up deliveries, leading to an internal audit that began in December and took months to complete.
Alright, let's move on to the rest, including where the electric vehicle startup filed for bankruptcy. Arrivals The assets ended, a profile at the beginning. ionobell hoping to increase the range of electric vehicles through recycled silicon battery materials and a billion-dollar push to Lucid.
a little bird
Founders, investors, engineers, policy experts and others tell us things. And we are here to pass on the verifiable information that those small birds have shared with us.
Do you have a suggestion for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at [email protected] or Sean O'Kane [email protected]. If you prefer to remain anonymous, Click here to contact uswhich includes SecureDrop (instructions here) and various encrypted messaging applications.
Offer of the week
Nowadays it is not easy to be an executive in an electric vehicle startup. Ask the people at Fisker. (Sorry, too soon?)
Amid all the EV startup bankruptcies and other grim developments, there was some positive news. Lucidwhich has had its own problems, raised another $1 billion from its biggest financial backer, Saudi Arabia. Ayar Third Investmentan affiliate of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, agreed to buy $1 billion worth of Lucid shares, which will add to the Kingdom's current ownership stake of around 60%.
The billion dollar increase is a lot of money, but it doesn't last long when it comes to designing, manufacturing, selling and servicing vehicles. This gives Lucid a significant capital cushion; However, it does not put an end to her existential crisis. The company must successfully bring its next vehicle, the Gravity SUV, to market and generate new business for its existing Air sedan if it hopes to survive and scale.
Other offers that caught my attention…
Cyvl.ai, a Boston-area startup that helps municipalities and civil engineering firms track the conditions of transportation infrastructure, raised $6 million in a round led by Companyon Ventures with participation from Argon Ventures, Aero x Ventures, and Alumni Ventures . Existing investors MassVentures, Launch Capital and RiverPark Ventures also participated.
Ember, a Scottish startup building one of the UK's first all-electric intercity bus networks, raised $14 million in a Series A round led by Inven Capital. Investors 2150 and AENU also participated.
ionobell, an early-stage startup that says its silicon material will be cheaper than established competition and help increase the range of electric vehicle batteries, closed on an initial $3.9 million unpriced extension, TechCrunch has learned. in exclusive. Dynamo Ventures and Trucks VC led the round.
Iron Shepherd Doga startup that developed transportation software for brokers and contractors, raised $10 million in a Series B round led by SJF Ventures with participation from Grand Ventures, Supply Chain Ventures and other strategic partners in the construction industry.
Notable readings and other tidbits
ADA
tesla will offer all customers in the US a free one-month trial of its $12,000 Beta Full Self-Driving driver assistance system, as long as they have a car with compatible hardware. The company also reportedly requires, at the request of CEO Elon Musk, that prospective buyers receive a software demo before purchasing a new Tesla. It appears Tesla is turning to FSD as another financial lever to pull as profits from auto sales shrink.
Electric vehicles, charging and batteries.
Arrival sold some of its assets, including advanced manufacturing equipment, to canoo, another struggling startup trying to build and sell electric vehicles. You can't make this stuff up, folks!
He United States Environmental Protection Agency Announced new emissions standards for heavy vehicles sold in the US from 2027 to 2032, a regulation that will increasingly limit the amount of pollution emitted by new heavy trucks. The regulations technically Don't require these clean heavy-duty trucks to be electric and instead let manufacturers decide how to meet the standards, whether through hydrogen-powered fuel cells, better fuel efficiency or another alternative fuel. However, many believe it will mean a boost in battery-electric heavy-duty trucks. Consider the potential effect of this rule: The heavy truck category applies to more than 100 types of vehicles, including vocational vehicles such as delivery trucks, garbage trucks, utility trucks, transit, shuttle and school buses, as well as trucks with trailers. .
technology in the car
G.M. has lost another executive who was part of the company's software and digital services effort. You may remember that former Apple executive Mike Abbott, who was GM's executive vice president of software and services, Low earlier this month due to health issues. Now Edward Kummer, former president of Nordstrom Rack's online business who joined GM in 2021 to head its new digital business team, is gone. reported the Detroit News.
This week's wheels
Image credits: Kirsten Korosec
I rarely test internal combustion engine vehicles, but this week I made an exception when I had the opportunity to spend a few hundred miles behind the wheel of a 2024 Land Rover Defender 110 x-Dynamic SE. And technically, folks, this has a six-cylinder mild hybrid electric vehicle powertrain, so it still qualifies, right?
My experience with the Land Rover Defender has only been on body-on-frame models that are decades old. So I was looking forward to finally getting the modern version, which Land Rover officially brought back in 2020. The spec I drove, which was priced at just under $88,000 and included some expensive upgrades and 22-inch wheels, is probably suitable for the wealthy urban customer. But with different tires, this aluminum monocoque-framed Defender could absolutely handle off-road conditions. I played on dirt roads, without crawling over rocks, and it handled well, with no squeaks, rattles or clunking, even on washboard terrain.
I didn't love the advanced driver assistance system, particularly how the driver activates the adaptive cruise control. But there were plenty of features I did like, including the very quiet ride, the adaptive air suspension, the white-on-gloss black paint accents, a functional tailgate and easy-access spare tire, the air-cooled cubby for storing snacks fresh and an interior design that combines utilitarian function with robust and high-quality materials.
One last word on that interior: You won't find a huge screen here. But there are tech-related details mixed in with the buttons and knobs. My version had a wireless charger and plenty of charging ports, including one on the passenger side dash. And the user interface was pretty decent.
One feature I liked was a pull-down menu on the media switch that allowed me to quickly switch between Apple CarPlay and the native infotainment system that included Sirius XM radio or local stations. This may seem inconsequential, but I've been in several EVs lately that make it too complicated to switch between CarPlay and the native system.
