Mobility on TechCrunch: The wheels are starting to fall off the Fisker EV bus

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Welcome back in TechCrunch Mobility – Your central hub for news and insights on the way forward for transport.

Before we get into startups and tech struggles, I wanted to touch on some activity on the Hill – on Capitol Hill, that’s. The Biden administration has published two latest (and separate) proposed standards – via Department of Energy (DOE) i Environmental Protection Agency — this can impact U.S. automakers and, ultimately, you. While each regulations were relaxed to reassure the automotive industry, automotive dealers and trade unions, in addition they introduced much stricter standards than previously.

The DOE issued a more lenient solution “crude oil equivalence ratio”, giving electric vehicles a rating under the government’s Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. The original proposal would have made it harder for automakers to meet CAFE standards, leading to multibillion-dollar penalties. (E&E has a pleasant explanation.)

Meanwhile, the EPA published its own exhaust pipe standards for passenger cars and light-weight trucks from 2027 to 2032, which is able to impose stricter requirements on automotive manufacturers but give them greater flexibility to meet the proposed regulations thanks to a wide range of powertrains. In other words, the standards are technology agnostic and will be met without having to convert the entire fleet to electric vehicles. It can also be much less stringent than the original proposal, which might have required electric vehicle sales to account for 67% of the total U.S. passenger vehicle market by 2032.

What does this mean for electric vehicle startups? Not much since battery electric vehicles like those made by Rivian, Tesla and Lucid meet the requirements clean automotive standard from and CO₂ limit of 85 grams per mile for model 12 months 2032 (50% reduction from model 12 months 2026 standards). There are real consequences for legacy automakers who invest billions in developing, constructing and selling electric vehicles but make the most of combustion engine vehicles. If there’s one clear winner here, it is perhaps plug-in hybrids.

This week’s news also includes articles about: Rivian cooperation with Tesla, launch of electrical boats Candlefurther financial consequences at Fiskera startup trying to navigate the uncertain world of prolonged warranties and more!

Little bird

Last month a little bit bird told us Clevona, an organization that began developing autonomous delivery technology in 2018, struggled to find latest investment and was close to closure. The company’s co-founder said at the time (in an email seen by TechCrunch) that it was searching for buyers for its hardware and software, IP and AV assets, and was even hiring employees.

According to co-founder and CEO Sander Sebastian Agur, Clevon remains to be doing well. He didn’t provide many details, but said the company has been funded and “has entered into an exclusive agreement for its merger with a U.S. electric vehicle manufacturer.” The contract is scheduled to end in the first half of June.

In the meantime, the company has to make some cost cuts and roughly 17 employees are being laid off.

Offer of the week

Uber seems to be in all places, so it might surprise you that the company has just made its first investment in an African startup. And that is something big.

Move up, an African mobility fintech company that provides vehicle financing to drivers using ride-hailing and delivery apps, has raised $100 million in a Series B funding round led by Uber. Sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, Dubai-based The Latest Ventures, AfricInvest, Palm Drive Capital, Triatlum Advisors and Future Africa also participated in the financing round. Moove is currently valued at $750 million.

Why would Uber be all for Moove? Uber is Moove’s largest vehicle financing and delivery partner. Moove, for which electric vehicles have turn out to be a very important a part of its business strategy, is an element of Uber’s commitment to create a completely zero-emission fleet by 2040.

Other deals that caught my eye this week…

AmberBay Area startup founded in early 2023, which just launched an aftermarket product with a Tesla prolonged warranty, raised $3.18 million in a seed round led jointly by Era and Primer Sazze together with Alcove Fund, Virta Ventures, Global Millennial Capital and Root & Shoot Ventures combining.

Candleelectric boat manufacturer, raised $25 million in a round led by Groupe Beneteau with participation from EQT Ventures, Ocean Zero LLC and Kan Dela AB.

Pelican mobilitya French startup developing business electric vehicle fleet management software has raised €4 million ($4.4 million) in a seed round from Pale Blue Dot, Frst, Seedcamp and others.

Stellar invested an undisclosed amount Light control, a French startup developing low-cost lidar for advanced driver assistance systems. In a separate, unrelated transaction, the automaker bought 8.3 million shares of the company Archer Aviation warehouse. Stellantis said this signals its confidence in Archer’s plans to bring electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to market starting in 2025.

Noteworthy reading and other interesting facts

Apps

Apple was sued this week by US Department of Justice for alleged monopolistic practices. Here’s the explanation and all our coverage up to now. There is an automotive section in the lawsuit, namely the smartphone’s projection feature often called AppleCarPlay. The U.S. government claims in the lawsuit that “Apple has told automakers that the next generation of Apple CarPlay will take over all in-car screens, sensors and gauges, forcing users to have an iPhone-centric driving experience if they want.” use any features provided by CarPlay.” Some even speculate that this explains why General Motors abandoned Apple CarPlay altogether.

We’re a little bit skeptical here. First, automakers can select the screen on which Apple CarPlay shall be displayed, similar to what happens with competing Android Auto. Car manufacturers still have their very own native software, which, incidentally, increasingly comes from Google.

Electric vehicles, charging and batteries

Cowboy has launched an off-road electric bike to attract cyclists from outside European city centers.

Fisher financial health is deteriorating – and rapidly. The company said it had just $121 million in money and money equivalents as of March 15, of which $32 million was restricted or unavailable immediately. The company has suspended production of its Ocean electric SUV for six weeks because it needs a money injection.

India has impressive statistics. The variety of startups in India’s electric two-wheeler market has surged to over 150, up from 54 in 2021, thanks to government incentives geared toward promoting clean vehicles and curbing oil imports, reports TechCruncher Manish Singh.

Rivian customers can now request an adapter to connect to Tesla’s extensive network of supercharger stations across North America, making it the second automaker after Ford to achieve this.

Steve Burnsousted founder, chairman and CEO of failed EV startup Lordstown Enginesreached a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for misleading investors about demand for Endurance’s flagship all-electric pickup truck.

TechCrunch associate Emma Hall he took it Honda CR-V e:FCEV 2025 — a hydrogen fuel cell version of the popular crossover — takes its first drive and wonders why the hell this automaker would release a automotive where there is sort of no infrastructure. Oh, and she or he discovered this vehicle has a little bit of a plug-in hybrid.

Flight

DoorDash expanded cooperation with Alphabet’s Wing bring an autonomous drone transport pilot to the United States. This is sort of limited for now; select users in Christiansburg, VA will find a way to order eligible menu items from their local Wendy’s restaurant.

Joby Aviationstartup developing electric air taxis, said it’s going to deliver two planes to MacDill Air Force Base in 2025 as a part of eVTOL’s AFWERX Agility Prime contract with the U.S. Air Force.

The United States Department of Transportation plans to conduct the first industry-wide review of the data security and privacy policies of the largest U.S. airlines. The agency says it’s going to investigate whether U.S. airline giants are properly protecting their customers’ personal data and whether the airlines are “unfairly or fraudulently monetizing this data or sharing it with third parties.”

Technology in the automotive

Nvidia last week it held its annual GTC developer conference. You can read all of our coverage of GTC here, including some surprises about the co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang keynote. Automotive News discusses how Nvidia’s computing architecture is getting used by firms corresponding to Cerence, SoundHound and Wayve to design user interfaces including generative artificial intelligence in the automotive.

This week’s wheels

Image credits: Kirsten Korosec

I spent a while in 2024 Subaru Solterra, a battery-electric crossover in-built a joint project with Toyota, to see what has modified or improved since the vehicle was launched a 12 months earlier. And there have been changes!

The most blatant is the steering wheel, which isn’t any longer round and now has a more square shape. This change was introduced following consumer feedback. You’ll notice that the instrument cluster actually sits above the steering wheel, which takes some getting used to. The latest shape helps improve visibility.

Two other things price noting once I connected the Subaru Solterra app to the vehicle: The infotainment system was effective. There are some bugs and there is no such thing as a intuitive or easy way to move between Apple CarPlay and the native software system with a single swipe or click. It wasn’t my best experience with automotive software, however it actually wasn’t my worst either.

In terms of advanced driver assistance systems, Subaru has added a Traffic Jam Assist feature that gives hands-free steering in traffic jams at low hurries up to 40 km/h. This is a really specific use case that many drivers may never need due to speed limits. Thanks to traffic in Phoenix, I used to be able to check it out. Lane Change Assist – one other latest feature that can mechanically change lanes if the driver hits a turn signal – I didn’t know when exactly I could use it. (This feature only works between 55 and 85 mph.)