The US Department of the Treasury has announced, that since January 1st 2024, it has reimbursed auto dealers more than $580m in advance point-of-sale consumer EV tax credit. Before 2024, consumers could only unlock EV tax credits when they filed tax returns the following year. However, now being able to transfer these credits, at the point of sale, essentially lowers the purchase price. This has helped and will continue to help ramp up EV adoption, as high up-front purchase prices have been a barrier to adoption. The Treasury has stated more than 85,000 of the time-of-sale tax reports were for new EVs, with over 90% of those including advance payment requests for $7,500. More than 15,000 time-of-sale reports were for used EVs, with about 75% including advanced payment requests for $4,000.
The EU Commission has given more than €424m to 42 new projects that will focus on alternative infrastructure, such as hydrogen refuelling stations. Under the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Facility funding (which is a part of the Connecting Europe Facility) 48 hydrogen refuelling stations and 4,200 electric charging points on the European TEN-T road network will receive backing. Furthermore, 21 European airports are set to receive EU funding to help install hydrogen refuelling stations for cars, trucks, and buses to accelerate the transition of aviation in Europe. There is a great emphasis on hydrogen refuelling stations, as 2023 data (from the Hydrogen Council) found that Europe is falling behind Asia in operational hydrogen refuelling stations by around 42%, despite the deployment of infrastructure growing by 50% from the end of 2021 to 2022.
Green Li-ion, an American-based lithium-ion battery recycling company, has announced it will be opening a new recycling plant. This is the first of its kind commercial-scale plant dedicated to recycling lithium-ion batteries, in North America (Oklahoma). This plant will turn spent batteries into battery-grade cathode precursor, lithium, and anode materials. The company has been able to unlock IRA support to help bolster the economic appeal of domestic battery recycling operations.
Tata Passenger Electric Mobility and Shell India Markets have signed a MoU to collaborate on establishing new public charging stations across India. One of the key barriers to EV adoption, in India, is the poor and limited charging infrastructure. This strategic partnership will leverage Tata’s data on Tata EV owners and Shell’s preexisting network of fuel stations, to tactically place chargers where they are most needed. We champion and support this and we hope this spurs more collaborations and strategic partnerships to help the adoption of EVs. This MoU will also explore introducing convenient payment systems for Tata’s EV customers. Bear in mind, that Tata Passenger Electric Mobility has a 71% market share in electric passenger vehicles with 4 products in its portfolio.
Hallandale Beach, a city in Florida, has announced it has introduced 9 brand new all-electric, zero-emission buses within the city. This new fleet nicknamed, The Cloud, was funded partly by a grant of $3.4m from the Florida Department of Transportationand a $2.5m contribution from Hallandale Beach. The city has a target of becoming carbon neutral by 2055, with the city promising to introduce e-bikes and additional electric vehicles in the coming years.
The US Department of Transport (DOT) has revealed it has given out c$830m in grant funding to c80 projects, that aim to upscale infrastructure to combat climate change. The NOAA National Centres for Environmental Information (NCEI) released information in Q1 that showed climate change-related weather disasters have reached a record high in 2023, costing the American economy billions of dollars. There were 28 weather and climate disasters in 2023, surpassing the previous record of 22 in 2020 Thus, the DOT has partnered with state, local and tribal governments to help fund projects, such as refurbishing aging bridges to expanding emergency evacuation routes. A significant amount of this grant funding is coming from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and is being deployed on (climate) resilience improvement projects.
Deals
Windrose Technology, an electric heavy-duty truck developer (specialising in heavy-duty class 8 trucks), has announced it has raised $110m in a Series B funding round. Investors such as HSBC (via its New Economy Fund), HITE Hedge Asset Management, and Goodman Group participated. French retailer Decathlon will start deploying the startup’s electric truck later this year. This truck is stated to have a range of c600km and an 800V high-voltage fast-charging system. The capital raised will further aid its R&D efforts, expanding its sales outreach and establishing a new supply chain centre and production facilities.
Platform Science, an application platform for transportation, has raised $125m in growth capital. Participating investors included 8VC, NewRoad Capital Partners, Prologis Ventures, Activant Capital, Manhattan Ventures Partners and BDT & MSD Partners. The capital raised will be used to execute its sales pipeline, accelerate the launch of additional OEM partners and marketing outreach.
Carrar, an Israel-based provider of battery modules and thermal management systems for EVs, has raised $5.3m in a Series A funding round. Investors such as Salida B.V., OurCrowd, NextGear, Gentherm, Next Leap Ventures, and Dive Digital participated. This startup aims to increase the battery lifespan, by as much as 3-fold, by utilising its thermal management system, which also helps reduce the TCO of EVs.
Yoshi Mobility, an America-based tech-enabled mobile (e-)car care company, has announced it has raised $26m in a Series C funding round. Investors such as General Motors Ventures, Bridgestone Americas, Universal Motors Agencies and Shikra Limited participated. One of its lines of business is a mobile EV charging platform, which helps provide on-the-go charging, maintenance and support. This startup will use the capital to scale up its presence in more states and to expand all 3 of its business lines.