I’d like to tip my imaginary hat off to Jessica O. Matthews, the black female founder and CEO of renewable energy tech startup Uncharted Play. Her company just closed a $7 million Series A round led by the NIC Fund with participation from Kapor Capital, Magic Johnson Enterprises, BBG Ventures and Lingo Ventures. Read More
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Tesla says SolarCity deal could be delayed by shareholder lawsuits
Tesla has said that its acquisition of SolarCity could be delayed because of shareholder lawsuits which have been filed to challenge the merger, according to an amended regulatory filing published by the SEC today spotted by Reuters.
The lawsuits include four filed in Delaware during the first half of September, which accuse Tesla and SolarCity board members of having violated their… Read More
Rex Animal Health is using genomics to keep livestock healthy
A startup called Rex Animal Health wants to protect livestock from illnesses that can quickly turn into epidemics, and help farmers breed animals with the healthiest and most attractive traits. Today at Disrupt SF, Rex unveiled technology to help veterinarians provide clinical support at the point on the farm, and predict the genetic causes of problematic traits in their herds, and in the… Read More
This electric bus can handle a day’s worth of transit on one charge
Tesla topping the 300 mile per charge rating with its new 100 kWh battery was a big deal, but a new zero emission bus debuted today by Proterra has actually managed 600 miles out of a full battery in testing. In a real-world setting, Proterra’s new Catalyst E2 will probably manage somewhere between 194 and 350 miles in actual use settings – but that’s plenty according to… Read More
Phononic raises $30 million to rethink refrigeration
A startup based in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, Phononic, wants to make refrigeration and temperature control far more efficient, and steadier, than is possible with traditional systems. Instead of relying on vapor compressors, fans, chillers or passive heat sinks, Phononic makes semiconductors that are smaller than a dime, and actively remove heat from the places or… Read More
Toyota’s Prius Prime is engineered to give hybrid owners more EV feels
Toyota’s Prius Prime is an updated take on the company’s popular hybrid, with more emphasis on the EV aspects of the vehicle, including a battery with double the driving capacity, and a few other tweaks that push the car closer toward the EV end of its dual identity, including an acceleration feature that lets the electric motor handle much of the pick-up when you first put your… Read More
BMW said to accelerate EV plans with 3 Series, X4 and Mini
BMW plans to accelerate its electric vehicle plans, in the wake of an executive shake-up and leading into a vote planned for the end of this month. The new BMW expanded electric lineup will kindle fully battery-powered versions of the Mini, the BMW 3 Series and the X4 SUV. The company has previously discussed plans to electrify the 3 Series and other vehicles, but German’s… Read More
Ford backs massive bike share expansion in the San Francisco Bay Area
At a press conference in San Francisco today, Ford Motor Co. President and CEO Mark Fields announced that the company had both acquired a rideshare startup called Chariot, and made a significant investment in expanding the region’s bike share program. Ford’s sponsorship will see the Bay Area’s supply of shareable bikes expand from 700 to 7,000 by 2018, with 1,350 bikes going… Read More
Volkswagen and Anhui Jianghuai in talks on building EVs for China
China is looking at electric vehicles as a key way to lower emissions and improve the country’s general environmental sustainability, and Volkswagen is teaming up with China state-owned car maker Anhui Jianghuai (JAC) to help fill that need. The two car companies signed a memorandum of understanding today, effectively paving the way for them to create a new joint venture together to… Read More
Tesla brings its Design Studio to you with Model X SUVs towing Airstreams
Tesla may have a range of vehicle showrooms across North America, but those can’t cover everyone, and it’s even more difficult for the average potential Tesla buyer to get to the company’s primary design studio in Hawthorne, so the automaker’s new ‘Tesla Explores‘ initiative is aiming to bring a taste of the design studio to you. The program is a… Read More
Tesla brings its Design Studio to you with Model X SUVs towing Airstreams
Tesla may have a range of vehicle showrooms across North America, but those can’t cover everyone, and it’s even more difficult for the average potential Tesla buyer to get to the company’s primary design studio in Hawthorne, so the automaker’s new ‘Tesla Explores‘ initiative is aiming to bring a taste of the design studio to you. The program is a… Read More
Missouri court rules against Tesla selling at its own dealerships in the state
Tesla continues to try to up-end the dealership system in the U.S., which generally requires that franchise-onwned dealers sell cars, vs. automakers selling directly via their own wholly owned dealerships. The latest beat in he ongoing battle comes in Missouri, where Cole County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Green decided in favor of the Missouri Automobile Dealers Association (via Autoblog)… Read More
SolarCity’s integrated solar roof plan said to target 5M U.S. homes
How do you make a dent in the energy market? SolarCity is likely one of the few companies that has a good idea of how to answer that question, and one part of its plan includes replacing the roofs of 5 million U.S. homes with solar cells, according to The Guardian. It’s a plan that SolarCity board chairman Elon Musk first tipped on a conference call last month, but now we have a bit… Read More
Blue Apron’s “Farm Egg” makes me question everything
Farm egg. It may seem as simple as just that. An egg. The food that Atkins and Paleo diets made popular once again. The food that draws one of many dividing lines between vegetarians and vegans. But this particular egg is one of the more layered, even scrambled (if you will), symbols of Silicon Valley startup-dom. It’s easy to dismiss the Yo’s of the tech world as outliers, but… Read More
DOE small biz voucher awards include vehicles and fuel cells
The US Department of Energy has awarded $8 million in Small Business Vouchers to 43 businesses, including ten projects aimed at making hydrogen fuel cells cheaper and more efficient, and six projects that will improve vehicle fuel efficiency, including better batteries.
In addition to funding from the DOE, participants in this second round of the SBV project will be working with 12 of the… Read More
Uber turns on electric vehicles in the UK, starting with 50 cars in London
The race for who will take the lead in the next generation of automotive technology is on, and today Uber is kicking off a program that it hopes will help put it in pole position. Today, the transportation-on-demand behemoth is launching a new electric car service in the UK, in partnership with Nissan and China’s BYD, where it will offer leasing (not purchasing) options for… Read More
More details on Audi’s Tesla Model S competitor emerge
Audi’s upcoming four-door luxury electric car will have a 311-mile range, along with Level 4 self-driving features (essentially full autonomy for those keeping track) and three separate electric motors, according to a new report from Autocar. The car is set to go head-to-head with the Model S, based on these new stats, and will likely be called the “A9 e-tron” when it goes… Read More
MIT makes pesticide safer by making it sticky
Despite progress in creating bug-resistant crops, pesticide is still one of the most effective and cost-efficient ways to ensure good produce yields. But the current approach actually involves applying a huge volume of pest-control poison – way more than you need, because just 2 percent or so attaches to the plants. The extra 98 percent has a good chance of getting into lakes, streams… Read More
Volkswagen’s 2019 electric car said to get 300 miles on a 15-minute charge
This year’s Paris motor show will host the unveiling of Volkswagen’s first all-electric car, according to an interview with company chairman Herbert Diess in German magazine WirstschaftWoche. The car will be roughly Golf-sized, according to the chairman, but will feel as roomy as a Passat on the inside, thanks to space saved via lighter frame construction and use of the electric… Read More
Spiri’s on-demand carpooling service will use custom EVs and let drivers ride free
Danish startup Spiri believes urban transportation is still massively inefficient, and it’s setting out to tackle the problem from a few different directions. First, it’s building an on-demand carpooling service, similar to the UberPOOL offering (and the one Lyft just shut down). Second, it’s going to use its own custom electric vehicles to do so. Finally, it’s using… Read More