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Senior Journalist (and Battery Expert) Tim DeSand traveled to General Motors’ sprawling Warren Technical Center outside Detroit to learn more about the automaker’s plans to lower the cost of its next lineup of electric vehicles. The result: GM is using LMR batteries and a new Battery Cell Development Center that is seen as the bridge between its R&D efforts and full-scale production.
Curt KeltyGM’s vice president of battery and sustainability, provided new details about the company’s $900 million initiative and how this new chemistry will preserve range while reducing costs. For example, the Chevrolet Silverado EV could be $6,000 cheaper. Read the story here.
As with most companies these days, artificial intelligence is also making a stylish appearance. Although I should note that AI plays more than just a supporting role in GM. I recently had an interview Sterling AndersonGM’s Chief Product Officer, and Jason Fisherwho is executive director of virtual integration engineering, about some of the changes within the company and how it uses artificial intelligence. That story is coming next week, but I’ll give you a little teaser.
GM uses a collection of external AI models, as well as models it has built internally, that can be used across large parts of the business and which — here’s the bottom line — will speed up its vehicle development cycle. I’ll have more details in my article and don’t worry if you miss it I’ll highlight it in next week’s newsletter.
Finally, last week I wrote about Ferrari Luce EV and how does it matter that it has received so much criticism. I’ve had some great emails from all of you on the subject — thanks! The poll, however, showed that as much coverage as Luce has received, many of you really don’t care about it.
In the poll I asked “Love it, hate it, or don’t care?” Most of you, about 44%, are indifferent, while the rest are equally divided between love and hate.
The more I think about the future of the Luce EV, the more I think this might become a crazy buy for those who can afford it and are deemed worthy by Ferrari to buy it.
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Offers!
The looming SpaceX The IPO is the deal of the decade, certainly for bankers and for CEO Elon Musk. But it could also affect Tesla shareholders.
As part of the IPO registration process, a company often goes through several amendments before debuting on the public markets. SpaceX has already filed a few. And our eagle-eyed senior reporter Sean O’Kane spotted a new sentence added to the S-1 filing that has some big implications: “We may issue a substantial amount of stock in connection with future transactions.”
While it’s certainly possible that SpaceX will use the $75 billion it’s expected to raise to acquire various companies, the most likely M&A target is Tesla. This proposal was included in the risk factors and appears to prepare prospective investors for the possibility of a significant downgrade event. Read the full story.
There’s another interesting deal O’Kane spotted — this time it’s about Caravan and Slate Autothe electric vehicle startup backed by Jeff Bezos. According to documents obtained by TechCrunch, Carvana was given the option to invest in Slate Auto. As O’Kane notes in his article, this could hint at a deeper partnership between the two companies.
Other deals that got more attention…
Layup Partsa startup trying to become the Amazon of composite parts, has raised $42 million in a Series A funding round led by dual-purpose venture fund Marlinspike, with participation from new investors Cerberus Ventures and Pinegrove Venture Partners, as well as existing backers Founders Fund and Lux Capital.
Mach Industriesthe three-year-old defense technology startup that now has five autonomous vehicles in development has raised a $300 million Series C at a $1.8 billion valuation. The round was led by Infinite Capital and Ribbit Capital and includes backing from Bedrock Capital, Sequoia Capital and Khosla Ventures.
Molfar Defense Technologiesa Polish-Ukrainian defense startup developing anti-drone radar systems has closed the first tranche of its €2 million funding round. The Swedish investor Front Ventures committed 1.5 million euros, Tech.Eu was mentioned.
Spyrothe African electric mobility startup, raised $215 million in a round that pushed its valuation close to $1 billion; Bloomberg reported.
Notable reads and other items
Avride CEO Dmitry Polishchuk shared some statistics about the autonomous vehicle startup on LinkedIn. The company has completed 60,000 trips for Uber riders in Dallas since launching in December. (The Avride robotaxis is featured on the Uber app in Dallas.) The company’s fleet of vehicles, which includes test cars and the Uber robotaxis, has driven more than 1.3 million miles, with one million of those covered in the first five months of 2026.
Electric e-bikes launched its third brand in six months — an initiative the company has sunk about $10 million into. How does this seven-year-old company expand while so many others tank? I did some digging into the company and interviewed its co-founder to find out. Read the full story.
of Uber The annual Lost & Found Index has provided a rather peculiar anthropological picture of its riders over the past decade. This year, the company also released a list of remaining robotaxis items available through the Uber app. There are some weird items on the list! It also got me thinking about how Uber is clearly finding every possible way to promote — and monetize — the nascent autonomous vehicle industry. In my opinion: Uber plans to roll out 500 data collection vehicles this year as part of its new AV Labs division.
Waymo had some interesting news this week. One of its robotaxis was used in a burglary, and the case sheds some light on how Waymo handles all that rider footage it collects. And the Alphabet-owned company announced a deal with B2U to use the batteries from its retired electric robot taxi to support power grids in California and Texas.
Woven CapitalToyota’s growth fund promoted Jarek Khoilian and Manas Punhani to principals. Reminder: Woven Capital launched its $800 million fund II in September 2025.
One more thing…
With Subaru with a few new EVs coming out, I thought it would be good to remind myself what the original was like. I’m talking about the Solterra, which was born out of a collaboration between Toyota and Subaru to jointly develop a platform dedicated to battery electric vehicles.
I spent a week with a pearl-white 2026 Subaru Solterra premium trim model starting at $38,495. Putting aside for a moment that my friend’s Ring cam recognized the Solterra as a mini golf cart, this EV has something going for it. Yes, it is basic. And sure, it’s not going to roll off the line like a Tesla, Lucid or Porsche Taycan. But you don’t have to.
The headline here is that Solterra has gotten better — and it really needed it.
The 2026 model has a bunch of notable updates that improve power, range and usability.
The front and rear motors have been updated — along with a new control that improves power distribution and control — and together produce an improved 233 horsepower (the XT trim pushes it to 388 horsepower). Like most other electric vehicles out there, the Solterra now has a built-in NACS charging port, the system developed by Tesla. Range has also improved to an EPA-estimated 288 miles, which is remarkable considering Subaru only increased battery capacity by 2 kWh and managed to increase range by more than 50 miles. There is also a preparation setting to prepare the battery for charging, which greatly improves the charging time.
Subaru upgraded the technology inside as well, adding a 14-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and making 15W wireless smartphone chargers standard.
Subaru doesn’t offer true one-pedal driving in the EV-standard Solterra. Instead, the Subaru has paddles located on the back of the steering wheel that allow you to increase the regenerative braking if desired. But it won’t come to a complete stop like other popular EVs that have one-pedal drive. While longtime EV owners may be turned off by this, it could be more appealing to car buyers who want their electric car to perform like their old gas-powered car.
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