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I Donut Believe
Is This Battery Real?
Where are we at with solid-state batteries?
I took a look at some recent developments, read my 2026 update on where we are at with solid-state stuff here: I Donut Believe.
China’s Automotive Expansion
Lotus Eletre EV SUVs
Geely becomes first Chinese automaker to export EVs to Canada, with 18 Lotus Eletre en route to dealers. autonews.com
Geely purchased part of a Ford factory in Spain and plans to build one of its models there. reuters.com
Stellantis and Leapmotor plan to start joint car production in Europe, with two models to be built in Spain, deepening their tie-up beyond distribution into manufacturing. reuters.com
China’s OEMs are hunting for their own “Yaris moment,” the kind of locally tailored breakthrough that helped Toyota conquer Europe, as they race to turn booming exports into lasting international growth. reuters.com
Chinese cars aren’t on American roads, but Chinese auto parts are embedded all over the place in American cars. wsj.com
Must-Know Musk News
With The Style And Grace Of A Butter Knife
Tesla is recalling its cheaper Cybertruck because the wheels might fall off. theverge.com
Tesla’s fleet of vehicles using the company’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system has driven over 10 billion miles. theverge.com
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has recognized the 2026 Tesla Model Y as the first vehicle to pass the agency’s new advanced driver-assistance system tests. reuters.com
Meanwhile, EU regulators voice safety concerns about Full Self-Driving, including speeding and performance on icy roads. reuters.com
Tesla has a “delayed rearview camera images” issue. reuters.com
SpaceX inks a deal to share compute with Anthropic. cbc.ca
Elon settled his US Securities and Exchange Commission civil lawsuit, which accused him of waiting too long in 2022 to disclose his initial purchases of Twitter. reuters.com
French prosecutors escalate probe of Elon and X to criminal investigation. cnbc.com
Rise Of The Machines
Robot’s Hands Make It Difficult To Pray
Jogyesa Buddhist temple in South Korea initiated Gabi, a Unitree Robotics humanoid robot, into its monk order this week, as it combats falling participation and interest. theguardian.com
Vancouver approves 6-month delivery robot pilot program. cbc.ca
Johnson & Johnson completes clinical study for OTTAVA robotic surgical system. therobotreport.com
Hugging Face launches agentic toolkit for Reachy Mini. huggingface.co
BlackBerry’s QNX plans to bring hands-on demonstrations and new research to the Robotics Summit in Boston. qnx.software
Energy
Deep In The Heart Of Texas
SEG Solar is expanding its US manufacturing footprint with a new 4-gigawatt solar module factory planned for Texas. electrek.co
Investment firm Brookfield and The Nuclear Company plan to form a joint venture to develop nuclear projects using US company Westinghouse’s reactor technology, as demand for low-carbon power rises globally. reuters.com
Peter Thiel backs a $1 billion ocean-based data centre start-up that plans to power the operation using waves. ft.com
Brent crude futures jumped as much as 3% on Friday, a day after the US and Iran traded air strikes, but pared gains as traders hoped for a longer pause in the fighting that has shut shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. reuters.com
But Wait, There’s More
GM says, “EV sales are growing,” so "let’s slow down production”
Cadillac crosses the 100,000 EV mark in the US. theverge.com
Cadillac admits that after buying an EV, you don’t go back to gas. electrek.co
The new Chevy Spark EUV is officially the best-selling electric SUV in Brazil. electrek.co
GM has a brake fluid problem. reuters.com
Unibodies, zonal architecture, shorter wiring harnesses. Ford is resorting to proven manufacturing techniques to reduce its EV production costs. theverge.com
VW is preparing to introduce its first electric GTI this year. electrek.co
VW becomes Rivian’s top shareholder, displacing Amazon. techcrunch.com
Honda Motor plans to more definitively halt development on its $15-billion electric vehicle complex in Canada. cbc.ca
Toyota expects the war in Iran to cost it about $4.3 billion this financial year, in one of the most significant warnings yet from a global company about the conflict’s wider impact. reuters.com
American tariffs wiped out a third of Mitsubishi’s operating profit in the just-ended fiscal year. autonews.com
Nissan plans to cut 900 jobs in Europe as part of global restructuring. reuters.com
Mercedes has an instrument panel display issue. reuters.com
Mercedes inaugurated a $110 million industrial truck plant in Zárate, a municipality in Buenos Aires province. reuters.com
Daimler Truck’s first‑quarter operating profit more than halved owing to historically weak demand and import tariffs in a North American market where volumes fell to a 16-year low. reuters.com
Porsche shuts down e-bike, battery, and software subsidiaries as part of company restructuring. techcrunch.com
Ferrari beat Wall Street’s first-quarter earnings expectations and reconfirmed its guidance for the year. cnbc.com
Rivian plans to develop even cheaper variants of the R2. reuters.com
Lucid suspended its full-year forecast and reported its biggest revenue miss in more than four years. reuters.com
Nuro secures California driverless permit for Lucid Gravity Uber robotaxis. electrek.co
Major auto trade groups urged The Donald’s administration to extend a free trade deal with Mexico and Canada, saying it is crucial for US vehicle production. reuters.com
Car payments squeeze Americans as auto debt hits $1.68 trillion. cnbc.com
The average price of an EV now matches that of other vehicles in Canada. autonews.com
Used car prices fall for the first time this year, and EV interest rises as gas prices spike. cnbc.com
Many American car buyers are gravitating toward hybrid vehicles to offset the recent surge in gas prices driven by the war in Iran, according to new industry sales data and dealers. reuters.com
People in Costa Rica and other Latin American, Asian and African countries are increasingly buying EVs to avoid spiking fuel prices. nytimes.com
The Hustle: Claude Hacks For Marketers
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