This year was a watershed for the electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) industry, marked by billion-dollar exits, huge venture deals and more partnerships. But in many ways, the past year should be thought of as the setting of a chess board before a match: the pieces are in place. Now it is time to […]
The eVTOL take-off: Four trends that shaped 2021
Billions of dollars, dozens of deals and one legal battle: The year in eVTOL was an unforgettable one, with developers picking up the pace even as the larger aviation sector was busy slowly recovering from the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Below, we catch up with leading analysts and investors to identify the top trends […]
Solid Power ramps up solid-state battery race with public market debut
Solid Power, the solid-state battery developer backed by Ford and BMW, is hitting the public markets running with a spike in stock price shortly after trading opened Thursday. The company is one of a handful in the electric mobility space to have gone public via a merger with a blank-check firm. Solid Power announced the […]
Max Q: Rocket Lab unveils Neutron, plus more private space station news
Hello and welcome back to Max Q! There was a TON of space news this week so I won’t ramble too much, other than to remind you that many of the people mentioned below will be at TC Sessions: Space on the 14th and 15th! That includes Peter Beck, CEO of Rocket Lab, Nanoracks’ Jeffrey Manber, and […]
Toyota will build its first US battery plant in North Carolina
Toyota Motor will build its first battery factory in the U.S. in North Carolina, the company and state officials confirmed Monday, as more automakers seek to take control of the supply chain with in-house battery manufacturing plants. Toyota will invest $1.29 billion in the plant, which will be called Toyota Battery Manufacturing, North Carolina (TBMNC), […]
SEC investigating Tesla over solar panel defect allegations
U.S. securities regulators have opened a probe into Tesla over allegations from a whistleblower that the company did not disclose to shareholders fire risks from its solar panel systems. The allegations were made by Steven Henkes, a former Tesla employee, who filed his complaint with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission back in 2019, Reuters […]
NASA awards Blue Origin, Nanoracks, Northrop Grumman over $400M in contracts to avoid space station gap
Just two days after officially (and quietly) confirming that it intends to replace the International Space Station with a commercial station by 2030, NASA has awarded over $400 million in agreements to three companies to further develop private station plans. The three companies, which received the awards under the agency’s Commercial low Earth orbit (LEO) […]
Rocket Lab reimagines rocket design with its Neutron launch vehicle
Rocket Lab finally pulled the cover off its Neutron rocket, a medium-lift vehicle that CEO Peter Beck calls “a rocket of 2050,” as the company looks to take a greater share of the launch market currently dominated by SpaceX. This is the first major update on the project from the company since Neutron was announced […]
Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz invest in solid-state battery developer Factorial Energy
Factorial Energy, a startup working on solid-state batteries for electric vehicles, has added two more major automakers to its investor sheet: Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis, both of which plan to co-develop batteries in separate joint collaboration agreements. Mercedes, a brand of Daimler AG, said it invested a “double-digit million dollar” amount in Factorial. Stellantis declined to […]
Ionity lands €700 million investment from BlackRock, automakers to expand EV fast-charging network
Ionity, an electric vehicle fast-charging charging network provider whose owners include Daimler AG and Volkswagen Group, has scored a €700 million ($783 million) investment from BlackRock Global and existing shareholders to expand its footprint across Europe. The company, which was founded in 2017, installs ultra-high-speed EV charging stations. It was launched as a joint venture […]