Canoo filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy after burning through hundreds of millions in losses.
Harbinger alleges the asset sale unfairly benefited Canoo’s CEO without proper valuation.
The sale may include trade secrets tied to an ongoing lawsuit between the two firms.
It’s not unusual for a flashy EV startup to crash and burn, but Canoo’s spectacular flameout has been anything but clean. After filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in January and halting operations entirely, the company is now tangled in a messy dispute that involves hidden assets, questionable sales tactics, and accusations that its CEO may have gotten a little too good of a deal.
Last Friday, electric trucking startup Harbinger filed a formal objection to the sale of Canoo’s assets to its boss, claiming the sale process “unfairly favored Mr. Aquila.” According to the objection, Canoo failed to disclose certain assets acquired from another failed EV startup—Arrival—and the bankruptcy trustee approved Aquila’s purchase without securing an independent appraisal or even marketing the assets to outside buyers.
Allegations of Hidden Assets and Insider Deals
The situation gets murkier. Harbinger also alleges that Canoo listed some assets that it didn’t actually own for sale. While Harbinger did not specify what these assets were, it says that the access granted to the virtual data room for potential bidders when it considered buying the assets allowed them to make this determination, as first reported by TechCrunch.
The sale of Canoo to its CEO also includes a very important clause. Canoo sued Harbinger in 2022, claiming many of its former employees had stolen trade secrets that were used to create Harbinger. This lawsuit is still ongoing, and through the purchase, Aquila will personally benefit from any settlement that Harbinger may have to pay.
In the complaint, Harbinger notes that the former boss is buying unidentified ‘trade secrets’ from Canoo, “but Mr. Aquila alone supposedly knows what those trade secrets are.” It adds that “a process where only one bidder – an insider – has the ability to identify the assets offered for sale and their value is not a fair process.”
Even before the bankruptcy, Canoo’s financials read like a startup horror story. Since its founding in 2017, the company generated almost no revenue and racked up hundreds of millions in losses. In 2022 alone, Canoo reported a staggering $488 million loss, followed by $303 million in 2023. The first half of 2024 added another $118 million to the bonfire. For comparison, Canoo reported zero revenue in 2022 and just under $900,000 in 2023—a rounding error in the EV world.
Dealers previously had just 3 days to report an EV sale to the IRS for the tax credit.
Now, they can now submit a sales report for any vehicle sold in 2024 to claim credits.
National Auto Dealers Association lobbied the IRS to resolve issues with the EV credit.
The $7,500 federal EV tax credit has given many Americans a financial nudge to go electric, but the program hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing. While the credit can now be applied directly at the point of sale, some dealerships have been dragging their feet on the process, leaving buyers high and dry without the discount they were promised. But, good news: there’s a fix in the works.
It turns out that while the rebate is available at purchase, dealers have to be enrolled in the program and use a portal to submit their EV sales report within three days of the transaction for the credit to go through. Miss that deadline, and the rebate? Poof. Gone.
The IRS Steps In with a Lifeline
Fortunately, the IRS is stepping up to the plate. According to the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), the agency is essentially hitting the reset button on the 3-day reporting rule. Now, dealers can submit reports for any qualifying clean vehicle credit transaction from 2024, even if it happened earlier in the year.
According to NADA, the IRS updated the portal earlier this week, making it fully operational for dealers. The good news here isn’t just for car buyers, it’s a win for dealerships, too. Some dealers had been offering the tax credit upfront to customers at the point of sale, only to later realize they hadn’t secured the actual rebate yet.
NADA says it “advocated aggressively for the IRS to remedy these issues” and even went so far as to send a formal letter to both the U.S. Department of Treasury and the IRS, urging them to address the problem quickly and implement a timely solution.
With the Trump administration set to impose 25% tariffs on all cars made overseas starting April 2, the tax credit is perhaps more valuable now than at any other time for consumers. These new tariffs are expected to drive up the cost of both new and used cars, possibly adding thousands to the price tag. So, for many buyers, that $7,500 credit is about to get a lot more valuable.
The factory is already assembling the Ioniq 5, as well as Kia and Genesis models.
Hyundai has increased the annual production capacity of the facility to 500,000 units.
Pricing details for the Hyundai Ioniq 9 EV in the States have yet to be announced.
After committing a hefty $21 billion investment into its US operations, including the construction of a new $5.8 billion steel plant, Hyundai has officially kicked off production at its Metaplant in Georgia. The site, which began construction over two and a half years ago, will focus on producing a range of electric and hybrid vehicles, boosting Hyundai’s push into the EV market.
The Grand Opening of the site was attended by Hyundai leaders, as well as Governor Brian P. Kemp, US Representative Buddy Carter, and the president and chief executive of the Kia Corporation, Ho Sung Song. The Metaplant has already started building the electric Hyundai Ioniq 5 and, perhaps most importantly, is now also building the Hyundai Ioniq 9.
Hyundai’s Ioniq 9 is its first three-row electric SUV and serves as its alternative to the Kia EV9. Presented last November, the Ioniq 9 is underpinned by the group’s E-GMP architecture and fitted as standard with a 110.3 kWh battery. The brand has yet to announce US pricing for the SUV, but we know it will be offered in several different guises.
The base model has a 214 hp and 258 lb-ft (350 Nm) electric motor driving the rear wheels and a quoted range of 385 miles (620 km). Sitting above this version is the Long Range AWD, which adds a 94 hp motor up front. The flagship Ioniq 9 Performance has 214 hp motors at the front and rear, allowing it to hit 62 mph (100 km/h) in 5.2 seconds.
Initially, the Hyundai Motor Group planned to build 200,000 electric and hybrid vehicles at the Metaplant. However, as part of its increased commitment to the US market, it’s expanded annual production capacity up to 500,000 units.
“Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America not only represents the Group’s advanced manufacturing capabilities and commitment to innovation, but also our investment in relationships with our partners and communities right here in Georgia,” Hyundai Motor Group executive chair Euisun Chung said. “With the rich history of craftsmanship and manufacturing in this community, together with the talented workforce at HMGMA we are building the future of mobility with America, in America.”
President Donald Trump speaks at the Justice Department on March 14, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to impose a 25% tariff on imported cars and light trucks.
Trump, who campaigned on bringing down consumer costs, said during an Oval Office signing event the additional tax on foreign goods would spur U.S. production.
Asked if, like other tariffs Trump’s threatened, trade partners could do anything to avoid the fee on cars and trucks, Trump answered no. This tariff will remain in place until he leaves office, he said, and was meant to protect the U.S. industry.
“I think our automobile business will flourish like it’s never flourished before,” he said.
The tariff will go into effect April 2, he said. It will add to – not replace – any other applicable existing tariffs, he said.
“We’re going to charge countries for doing business in our country and taking our jobs, taking our wealth, taking a lot of things they’ve been taking over the years,” he said. “They’ve taken so much out of our country, friend and foe alike. And frankly, friend has been oftentimes much worse than foe.”
The measure could bring in $100 billion in tax revenue, a White House aide said during the Oval Office event.
Trump said the administration would have “very strong policing” to enforce the tariffs.
Trump said he did not seek advice from White House adviser Elon Musk, the CEO of U.S. electric carmaker Tesla, because “he might have a conflict.”
Trump said the tariffs may be good or neutral for Tesla, which he noted had large plants in Texas and California.
“Anybody that has plants in the United States it’s going to be good for,” he said.
Honda’s new EV factory in China recently began production of the all-electric Ye P7 crossover.
AI optimizes processes like welding to lower fixed costs and improve production efficiency.
Automated guided vehicles transport heavy components like battery packs, replacing manual labor.
Honda is betting on automation and artificial intelligence to transform its EV production process in China, reducing its need for floor staff by a hefty 30%. While robots haven’t yet fully replaced human workers, the tech Honda is rolling out—along with similar efforts from companies like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Dongfeng—suggests a future that might not be so bright for blue-collar workers.
The Japanese automaker recently kicked off production of the all-electric Ye P7 with local joint venture partner Guangzhou Automobile Group. The factory in Guangzhou uses automated guided vehicles, or AGVs, to move important car components throughout the factory, including heavy battery packs. Traditionally, human workers are required to transport parts throughout the factory.
In an interview with Nikkei Asia, Honda revealed that it’s also using AI to fine-tune the welding process for the Ye P7. The goal? To “reduce fixed costs as much as possible.” The company sees “electrification as an opportunity to overhaul the way we produce vehicles”—a chance to reimagine everything from the ground up.
The Ye P7 is an important vehicle for Honda. In most Western markets, the Japanese car manufacturer has lagged behind many of its competitors in releasing battery-electric vehicles that appeal to the masses. Given that China has quickly become the world’s single largest EV market, the automaker cannot afford to fall behind the competition, or else it could see its Chinese sales dry up.
Much like the S7 introduced earlier this month and built with Dongfeng, the P7 has an 89.8 kWh battery pack, and base models feature a rear motor with 268 hp. A dual-motor version is also available, boasting a combined 469 hp. Rear-wheel drive models have a quoted range of 404 miles (650 km) while the all-wheel drive version can apparently travel up to 385 miles (620 km) between charges.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick advised the public to buy Tesla stock during an interview.
Lutnick’s ties to Tesla, and the office he holds, have raised questions from Rep. Connolly.
Calls for Musk to step down as Tesla CEO continue to grow louder every single day.
Tesla stock is down some 35 percent, protests against the company appear to be heating up, and vandals continue to target the EV maker’s showrooms and products. Meanwhile, as questions are raised about Elon Musk’s suitability as CEO of the firm, a political tug-of-war is attempting to right the ship in the background.
Now, the U.S. representative for Virginia has openly called for an investigation into how the Trump administration is “using taxpayer money to enrich the President’s inner circle,” as Rep. Gerry Connolly claims that there has been an ethics violation.
Buy, Buy, Buy?
The statement under scrutiny was uttered earlier this week when Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick made a reasonably pointed recommendation to the public: advising Americans to buy Tesla stock, likening its current share price to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This remark was made during an appearance on Jesse Watters Primetime on Fox News, where he was asked about the ongoing attacks on Tesla, including those targeting dealerships, charging stations, and even private cars.
“I think if you want to learn something on this show tonight, buy Tesla. It’s unbelievable that this guy’s stock is this cheap. It’ll never be this cheap again,” Lutnick said in a Wednesday interview on Fox News. He added: “I mean, who wouldn’t invest in Elon Musk? You gotta be kidding me.”
However, one problem with his recommendation is that Lutnick may stand to benefit. According to a report from Yahoo Finance, Lutnick’s former firm, Cantor Fitzgerald, upgraded Tesla stock the same day and has invested heavily in the company. Though Lutnick has officially divested from the firm, his sons now occupy senior roles there, and Cantor maintains a $425 price target on Tesla following a visit to the automaker’s AI data center and production line.
While some high-profile Republicans have rallied to Musk’s defense — Trump himself showcased Teslas at the White House and purchased two models — others are beginning to call for a leadership shift. Ross Gerber, a longtime Tesla investor and CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth Management, is now urging Musk to step down. “He is not running Tesla,” Gerber told Sky News. “The business has been neglected for too long.”
Calls For An Investigation
But now, Lutnick’s endorsement is drawing scrutiny of its own. Representative Gerry Connolly, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, has formally requested an investigation into Lutnick’s comments, arguing that a sitting Commerce Secretary encouraging the public to invest in a specific company—especially one tied so closely to the administration—crosses a clear ethical line.
“This is just the latest example of the Trump Administration using taxpayer resources to enrich the President’s inner circle,” Connolly wrote in a letter to the Department of Commerce’s acting general counsel, reported on by The Hill. He demanded Lutnick’s financial disclosures and internal communications related to the Fox interview, including emails with the White House, Office of Government Ethics, and other oversight bodies.
The investigation request follows a string of recent moves by the Trump administration to oust independent agency watchdogs and cut regulatory staffing—efforts Musk’s DOGE department has reportedly supported. Connolly accused Musk of using his dual role in government and the private sector to push through mass firings and deregulation while profiting handsomely from the chaos.
“Tesla is owned by an individual who has been given license by the President to slash and burn his way through the federal government,” Connolly wrote. “These ongoing violations of law require a response befitting of the level of abuse to deter further lawlessness and to ensure the American people that members of this Administration seek to serve all people rather than to enrich a select few.”
As the political spotlight burns brighter and ethical questions pile up, the Tesla-Musk narrative grows more complicated. What started as a revolutionary car company is now entangled in partisan warfare, federal investigations, and allegations of self-enrichment at the highest levels. Whether Tesla can steer through this storm or becomes collateral damage in a much larger conflict remains to be seen.
Ferrari is attracting more first-time younger buyers, according to the company’s CEO.
The company will continue to tightly control production, with 2+ year waiting times.
It will cater to those looking to buy an EV with an all-new electric model, launching soon.
Ferrari may have fans from all age groups, but its core customers have traditionally been the preserve of those approaching a later stage in life—a stage often associated with crises. However, according to information from Maranello, the brand has started to attract a much younger clientele, with 40 percent of new buyers now being under 40.
That’s a jump of 10 percent from just 18 months ago and represents a dramatic shift for the car company, which prides itself on its exclusivity. But this shift isn’t just a footnote, it’s a sign that the prancing horse is galloping into a new era.
Without going into the details of just how Ferrari managed to achieve this seismic shift in new car sales, Ferrari’s CEO Benedetto Vigna laid all credit to those around him. “I don’t know, for other brands, but for us, it is an achievement thanks to our team,” Vigna said, speaking to CNBC.
Still Exclusive, Still Ferrari
Enzo Ferrari’s mantra, to deliver one less car than the market demands, has been a hallmark of the company’s strategy — and according to Vigna, that’s not about to change. The brand is still keeping production tight, despite customers urging them to cut down on the more-than-two-year delivery window.
Vigna says that it’s part of the experience, and it doesn’t matter if it’s a 78-year-old looking to enjoy the final years of his life, or a 37-year-old keen to get the keys before his 40th birthday. The wait time will stay the same. Customers can beg all they want for quicker delivery times, but Ferrari isn’t in the business of mass production, and they aren’t about to start now.
“One client at 78-years-old had to buy a Ferrari and he said: ‘Look, I cannot wait two years.’ I said: ‘This is a motivation’,” Vigna told CNBC. “There is another guy, younger, 37, and he said: ‘When I am older, I would like to get the car before I am 40.’ I said: ‘Don’t worry, you will get it when you are 39,’” he added.
One thing that won’t stay the same is the way some Ferraris are powered. The Italian sportscar maker is gearing up to launch its first fully electric vehicle on October 9, alongside five other new models this year. Vigna is confident in the brand’s three-pronged approach: traditional combustion engines, hybrids, and fully electric Ferraris.
Of course, not everyone is on board with an EV Ferrari. Some loyalists won’t consider anything without a high-revving, naturally aspirated V12, but the company’s CEO suggests that there’s a new wave of customers who will only buy if it’s electric.
Both Elon Musk and Benjamin Netanyahu have supported each other in recent years.
A supply deal between Tesla and Israel could cause even more controversy for the automaker.
Israeli’s Prime Minister visited Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California, last year.
Less than two months after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Elon Musk as a “great friend of Israel,” the country has called on the EV leader to submit a bid to provide its cars to the nation’s top officials. According to Israel, it isn’t concerned with the “woke trends” that have led some to boycott Tesla.
Late last week, an official within Israel’s top brass said that “A car is a car is a car. And a great car is a great car is a great car.” According to them, “Teslas are great cars and we look forward to studying their bid.” Soon after local media reported on this, Netanyahu shared the article with his 3.2 million followers on X, confirming that it’s true.
There’s no word on how many Teslas officials from Israel are seeking EVs, but using Tesla would further strengthen the relationship between Musk and Netanyahu.
In September 2023, the Israeli PM paid a visit to Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California, and went for a ride in the Cybertruck which, at the time, had yet to be released to the public. During the visit, Netanyahu took an in-depth tour of the automaker’s production line, and also looked at the Model S and Model X. Moreover, in mid-2024, Musk was in attendance when Netanyahu spoke at the U.S. Congress.
As reported by JNS, Israeli’s Prime Minister has also thanked Musk for his support after the October 7, 2023, attack perpetrated by Hamas.
“Elon is a great friend of Israel. He visited Israel after the October 7, [2023], massacre in which Hamas terrorists committed the worst atrocity against the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” Netanyahu tweeted earlier this year.
Israel wants 1.3 million EVs to be on its streets by 2030 and all privately owned cars to be all-electric by 2050.
The Japanese brand is axing one of the manufacturing lines at the Dongfeng Honda Engine factory.
In January, Honda ended production at one of its Chinese joint venture plants with the GAC Group.
Perhaps its most important new vehicle in China is the all-electric S7 that rivals the Tesla Model Y.
Honda had a tough year in China, with sales dropping 30.9% to 852,269 units in 2024. This marks the first time in nine years that the Japanese brand has sold fewer than 1 million cars in the country. The decline is partly attributed to increased competition from local companies and a reduced demand for internal combustion engine vehicles. In response, Honda plans to halve production at an engine plant in Guangdong province and shift its focus more aggressively toward EVs.
Last year, new energy vehicles in China —comprising BEVs, PHEVs, and FCEVs—accounted for roughly 40% of all new car sales, with BYD leading the charge. In 2024, BYD sold 3.83 million passenger cars in the country, all of which were either BEVs or PHEVs. This is 8.5 times the number of cars it sold locally in 2019, and its rapid growth is coming at the expense of market share from legacy brands like Honda.
Due to strong demand for electrified vehicles, Honda will close a manufacturing line at the Dongfeng Honda Engine factory at the end of this month, Nikkei Asia reports. This move will halve the annual production capacity of its joint venture, reducing it from 520,000 units to around 260,000.
In January, it ended production at a joint venture plant with Guangzhou Automobile Group that had an annual capacity of 240,000 vehicles. These changes will lower Honda’s local production capacity from 1.49 million as of early 2024 to just 960,000 units. Local media understands the company is offering early retirement programs to workers at the plants impacted by the closures.
One of its most important new models launched in China is the all-electric S7. The compact SUV is a direct competitor to the Tesla Model Y, Onvo L60, and Zeekr 7X. It has been launched in two guises, both with 89.8 kWh battery packs and up to 404 miles of range. Local prices start at ¥259,900, which is a touch under $36,000. Honda is also working on two new EVs – a larger crossover known as the P7 and a sleek sedan that was previewed last year by the GT Concept.
Tesla’s market cap has shed approximately $800 billion since its peak in December.
UBS analysts predict Tesla will sell 367,000 vehicles in Q1, a 6% drop from last year.
Musk’s ongoing political involvement seems to be negatively affecting Tesla’s value.
In the weeks following Donald Trump’s election win, Tesla’s stock price went on a rocket ride, hitting a record $479 per share, and taking Elon Musk’s net worth to stratospheric heights—boosting it by more than $150 billion. But fast forward to today, and the scene has changed dramatically. Since Trump’s inauguration, Tesla shares have been on a downward spiral, dropping more than 15% on Monday alone to $222, a level not seen since last October.
This latest tumble marks Tesla’s worst single-day loss since September 2020, and it’s down more than 53% from that glorious peak of $479 back in mid-December. At the time of writing, the stock had dropped another 2.7% in after-hours trading to $216.10, though it has since jumped back up to around $222.
Last Friday, Tesla recorded its seventh consecutive week of losses, marking the longest losing streak the company has seen since going public in 2010. Its market cap has taken a significant hit, now down nearly $800 billion from its December peak.
It’s clear that investors aren’t exactly thrilled with Elon Musk’s deep involvement in the Trump administration, particularly in leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Earlier this week, Musk told Fox Business that he plans to stay in the Trump administration for another year. When asked how he manages to run his other businesses, Musk replied, ‘With great difficulty.'”
To make matters worse for Musk, X (formerly Twitter) was hit with a massive cyberattack on Monday, causing major outages. Not exactly the kind of stability investors are hoping for.
Of course, it’s not just Musk’s political involvement that’s to blame for Tesla’s plummeting share price. Data from several key markets around the world show that sales are declining and demand for the brand’s EVs is starting to slow.
In a note issued to clients on Monday, UBS analysts said they expect Tesla to sell 367,000 vehicles in the first quarter of this year, according to a report from Yahoo Finance. That would be a 6% decrease from the 386,810 vehicles delivered in Q1 2024, which itself marked a significant 9% drop from the 422,875 delivered in Q1 2023.
However, despite the recent tanking of Tesla shares, it remains by far the world’s most valuable carmaker by market cap. As of Monday, it was valued at $696 billion—still well ahead of legacy automakers like Ford ($39 billion), General Motors ($47 billion), and VW ($64 billion). This is partly because many investors don’t view Tesla as just a car manufacturer, but as a technology company pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence with its autonomous driving systems and humanoid robots.
So, is this drop in stock price just a temporary blip, or have Tesla’s days as a market cap juggernaut come to an end? Only time will tell, but for now, it looks like the ride is a little bumpier than before.
Protests against Elon Musk span multiple countries, escalating from vandalism to arson.
They include taking over dealerships, setting charging stations on fire, and sometimes guns.
Musk attributes the unrest to left-wing political groups, but evidence remains unsubstantiated.
It seems that electric vehicle owners are increasingly stepping away from Tesla, with less support for Elon Musk than ever before. This might seem surprising, given Musk’s status as the face of Tesla and the electric vehicle movement itself. A recent study pointed out that not only do more people on the political right align with Musk these days, but his connection with EV owners is also growing colder.
This shift in sentiment wouldn’t typically be a major deal, but Musk is no ordinary businessman—he’s the public face of Tesla, and his actions, both in business and politics, are sparking some serious unrest. Instead of staying in the safe zone of corporate leadership, Musk seems to have traded in his role as a CEO for that of a political lightning rod.
Protesters Are Taking Things Up a Notch
In the past few weeks, we’ve reported on several individual instances of protests against Musk. The assumed leader of the Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) has sparked widespread animosity due to his involvement in government work and his political leanings (both provable and theorized).
Individual Tesla owners have faced eggings, vandalism with stickers, further vandalism with spray paint, and countless threats to those unwilling to sell their car. Protesters have gone well beyond just targeting individual owners as well.
“ vandals ” removed wheels from Teslas and offered a superb metaphor for the directionless company whose CEO Elon Musk spends every waking hour on toxic identity politics to soothe his overinflated ego while the overinflated $TSLA stock nosedives pic.twitter.com/2WqL8iaT3O
Charging stations across multiple states have become prime targets for vandals. Some have filled the ports with foam, completely severed the cords, tagged them with Nazi-centric graffiti, and even gone as far as setting them on fire. This arsonist behavior isn’t limited to charging stations, either.
It’s also happening at dealerships in both the USA and abroad. In one instance, a person fired several bullets into a dealership, damaging both Tesla’s stock and customers’ vehicles. What’s wild about all this is that the vast majority of these actions are carried out by individuals, not large groups. You’d think a few isolated incidents would die down quickly, but that’s clearly not the case. It seems to be fueling larger protests everywhere.
In New York City, protesters recently took over Tesla’s dealership in Manhattan. Police arrested six people in connection with the act, but supporters referred to it as “how we beat fascism.” In Chicago, a protest group marched supporters through the streets in an event called Take Down Tesla, Trump, and Tyranny. Several police officers lined up in front of the local Tesla dealership to protect it.
In doing so, they somewhat proved the protesters’ point. “Wonder if they’d protect my small business with that level of force? Oligarchy doing its thing,” one Reddit user commented, highlighting the power and influence Musk wields. In some rare instances, police have even gone so far as to protect individual vehicles.
— Read Starting Somewhere (@JPHilllllll) March 9, 2025
Other protests have seen citizens in various cities standing on dealership corners holding signs. Calls from different groups are pushing for the spread and intensification of the protests, while Musk, it seems, is doing nothing.
Musk’s Thoughts
An investigation has found 5 ActBlue-funded groups responsible for Tesla “protests”: Troublemakers, Disruption Project, Rise & Resist, Indivisible Project and Democratic Socialists of America.
ActBlue funders include George Soros, Reid Hoffman, Herbert Sandler, Patricia Bauman,…
In Musk’s view, a larger force is driving these protests. Specifically, he claims that five ActBlue-funded groups are behind them. ActBlue, a left-leaning political organization, is funded by figures like “George Soros, Reid Hoffman, Herbert Sandler, Patricia Bauman, and Leah Hunt-Hendrix,” according to Musk.
To some extent, Musk predicted resistance to his work at DOGE long before Trump won the presidency. In a podcast, he mentioned that such a move would provoke a sharp reaction. “The antibody reaction would be very strong. You’re attacking the Matrix at that point. The Matrix will fight back.” Whether it’s the Matrix—or just genuinely angry people—is still up for debate.
It’s worth noting that while conspiracies do exist, there’s no evidence at this point linking ActBlue, or any other major political entity, to these protests. It’s tempting to blame inconvenient events on shadowy conspiracies, but it’s often harder to accept the reality of the situation. High-profile political figures like Bernie Sanders—who have no direct connection to ActBlue other than shared political leanings—have also publicly and directly called Musk out.
At this stage, it’s unclear whether what we’re witnessing is a purely grassroots movement against Musk, a sordid conspiracy, or a mix of both. What’s certain, however, is that people are angry at Musk and they’re taking it out on Tesla dealers and owners, most of whom have absolutely nothing to do with Musk, his actions, or his political leanings. They’re simply being hurt by association with the brand.
For once, it seems Elon might actually be powerless to do anything about it.
Several Tesla Supercharger stations burned up overnight in Littleton, Massachusetts.
Authorities are investigating the fire as a targeted arson case against the EV brand.
This marks the third arson case targeting Tesla-branded products within a single week.
Some electric vehicle owners may be in for an unpleasant surprise when they pull up to charge today only to find their intended station reduced to a charred wreck. That’s the unfortunate situation at the Tesla Supercharger station in Littleton, Massachusetts, where at least seven stalls were torched overnight. Authorities are now investigating the incident as an act of arson.
“Chief Matthew Pinard reports that the Littleton Police Department responded to and is investigating fires at a Tesla charging station at The Point Shopping Center that are believed to be suspicious in nature,” local officials told ABC News. “Responding officers observed that several Tesla charging stations were engulfed in flames and heavy, dark smoke.”
Authorities have made it clear that they suspect arson. “The Littleton Police and Fire Departments, along with the Massachusetts State Police Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit from the State Fire Marshal’s Office, are investigating and have determined that the fire was likely intentionally set,” they confirmed. This is an important detail, especially since Tesla has provided additional context that aligns with that conclusion.
While fires at electric vehicle or charging stations can happen, they’re extremely rare, and are typically the result of a thermal event caused by a faulty connection between a vehicle and charger. In this case, however, Tesla confirmed that no cars were plugged in at the time. Impressively, the company says the station will be fully operational again in less than 48 hours.
No customers were charging at time of the fire. Posts & wire will be replaced in <48hrs. Critical infrastructure for EV drivers. Arson investigation ongoing with @LittletonMAPD.
Interestingly, Tesla does seem to have a fast turnaround when things like this happen. When vandals attacked chargers about a week ago, the team said it would fix the issue within a day and press charges. Perhaps it’ll do the same if police find a suspect for the fires in Massachusetts.
Sadly, this marks the third arson attack in just a week. In Colorado, police caught a suspect with explosives and incendiary devices near a Tesla dealership—though, thankfully, no fires were set. In France, however, things took a darker turn. Police believe someone set fire to at least a dozen cars at a service center overnight on Sunday, including customer vehicles that were there for repairs.
A new study predicts car prices will rise significantly once Trump’s tariffs take effect.
Many vehicles could see price hikes of around $4,000, while EVs may rise up to $12,000.
Trump says the 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada takes effect March 4.
If you’re thinking about buying a new car, you might want to hit pause and consider a few things first. A new study from the Anderson Economics Group (AEG) warns that prices are set to skyrocket due to Donald Trump’s 25 percent tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada, which is confirmed to take effect on March 4. And while that alone would be a blow to your wallet, it’s just adding to the chaos already simmering in the automotive industry.
The group based its findings on the proposed 25% tariffs against Mexico and Canada and a 10% tariff against China. Using those figures, it predicts that even small crossovers will see at least a $4,000 price increase. Large SUVs with “significant content” from Mexico would go up by roughly $9,000 and trucks would see a similar bump.
Electric Vehicles: The Biggest Losers
Electric vehicles will get hit hardest though. AEG believes they’ll see an increase of $12,000 on average. Combine that with the potential death of EV subsidies and that market could stall for some time. “That kind of cost increase will lead directly — and I expect almost immediately — to a decline in sales of the models that have the biggest trade impacts,” Patrick Anderson, chief executive officer of Anderson Economic Group, told Bloomberg. “You’ll see some model and trim types just disappear,” he said.
So, why are EVs getting hit harder than your standard gas guzzler? It’s all about the materials. “All electric vehicle makers are going to feel the pressure from those [tariffs], because they use way more steel and aluminum than a conventional combustion-engine car,” Marc Busch, professor of international business diplomacy at Georgetown University told CNBC. “So I have no doubt that this will get [Musk’s] attention, and I can imagine that that would be an added political pressure benefit in terms of retaliatory strikes by the European Union, Canada and others.”
Now, Tesla’s situation is interesting. They build their US-sold vehicles in Fremont, California, and Austin, Texas, but the parts? Many are sourced from China, Canada, and Mexico. For example, 15% of the Model Y’s components come from Mexico. They’re already scrambling to avoid a rise in the 25% tariff on Chinese graphite, a key material for lithium-ion batteries.
It’s worth noting that all three of the major US automakers produce vehicles in Mexico, Canada, or both. Ford manufactures the Mustang Mach-E, Bronco Sport, and Maverick in Mexico. Ram trucks are built in both Mexico and the USA, while GM’s Silverado is a product of all three nations involved.
Automakers Already Making Moves
In the meantime, automakers are doing what they can to counter the potential tariffs. Some are having suppliers build up stock. Others are storing parts in strategic locations to avoid getting hit with the tariffs. It’s clear that the automotive industry wasn’t expecting this and isn’t entirely sure what to plan for.
A union representative told Bloomberg that Ford is “racing product over the US-Canada border in anticipation of the tariffs.” In addition, it’s securing warehouse storage so that it can keep all of these parts secure and safe from the potential tariffs.
“We usually store them here (Ontariot, Canada) until we’re ready to send to the truck plants,” D’Agnolo said. “But they’re finding places in the states to store those engines so that they don’t get tariffed.”
Tick-Tock: Tariffs Set to Hit March 4
With the tariffs set to take effect on March 4, it seems like there’s little time left to avoid the impact. Politico reported that Trump told reporters at the White House earlier today, “There’s no room left for Mexico or for Canada” to negotiate. “They’re all set. They go into effect tomorrow.”
Buyers across the United States are having tax returns rejected due to paperwork errors.
Although the cars are eligible for rebates, dealers made mistakes on the paperwork.
It’s unclear how many buyers are out of their tax rebate, but the IRS could offer a solution.
Electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids promise savings on energy costs—and sometimes at the dealership, too. But while federal incentives have helped push adoption, they’re not guaranteed to last forever and might disappear soon. In 2024, many buyers factored these rebates into their purchase decisions, only to find out later that dealership paperwork mistakes left them empty-handed.
It seems as if every year, taxes regarding EVs change to one degree or another. That was certainly the case in 2024 too. Perhaps the biggest change is that buyers could get access to their rebate at the time of purchase. For this to work though, dealers had to enroll in the program and then use a specific portal to report when buyers took advantage of their rebate at the time of sale.
According to NPR, however, thousands of dealers failed to meet those guidelines. Those who didn’t enroll still needed to provide buyers with paperwork to obtain their tax rebate at the end of the year. In many cases, the form provided was out of date and, therefore, meaningless.
Kristina Meier, who bought a PHEV minivan last September, says that her dealer provided forms that worked in 2023 but not in 2024. Without the dealer properly submitting the paperwork on time, customers aren’t eligible for the tax rebate, even if they did everything else by the book.
A Slim Chance for a Fix
The deadline for a dealer to submit paperwork to the IRS is just three days after the sale, which means it’s currently impossible for Meier and others like her to claim their tax rebate. However, there’s still a glimmer of hope: the IRS has allowed retroactive submissions in the past.
If the agency does so again, it would allow buyers like Meier to get their tax rebate despite the dealer screwing up on the front end. Whether or not that will happen, however, remains unknown. For now, it’s unclear how many buyers are affected by this issue, but the more people speak up, the better chance there is the IRS might to do something about it.
Lucid will also continue to pay for Peter Rawlinson’s health insurance premiums.
In 2022, stock options vested by the former CEO were valued at over $370 million.
Lucid plans to more than double production this year to over 20,000 units.
While Peter Rawlinson recently stepped down as Lucid’s chief executive, the engineer and businessman won’t be leaving empty-handed. He will still take home a very generous salary in his new role as an advisor to the Chairman of the Board. In fact, he’ll be earning $120,000 per month, receiving a $2 million stock grant, as well as a company car.
Despite Lucid posting a $2.7 billion net loss in 2024, the company remains financially secure thanks to the deep pockets of its majority owner, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Over the next two years, Rawlinson will collect his $120,000 monthly salary and receive stock grants in equal installments on February 21, 2026, August 21, 2026, and February 21, 2027. Lucid will also continue covering his health insurance premiums.
Rawlinson is no stranger to getting healthy pay packages from Lucid, Auto News notes. In 2023, it was revealed that during the previous year, he walked away with a base salary of $575,000, stock options that, at the time, were valued at $372,928,375, and $5,504,378 in stock option gains. However, that doesn’t tell the full story.
In 2021, Rawlinson received a one-time stock grant that was determined and approved by Lucid’s Board of Directors. A significant portion of this grant vested during 2022 after Lucid hit several market capitalization milestones, hence why he walked away with so much money.
Who’s Running Lucid Now?
With Rawlinson stepping down, Chief Operating Officer Marc Winterhoff has taken over as interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent replacement. While leaving his post as CEO, Rawlinson said he decided now was the right time to step aside because the new Gravity SUV has just launched. Its arrival marks a significant milestone for the company and has allowed Lucid to increase production estimates for this year to 20,000, roughly double the number of vehicles it built in 2024.
Rivian plans to unlock more performance and range in an upcoming software update.
These paid features are exclusively offered to second-generation R1T and R1S vehicles.
The enhancements will roll out with the 2025.06 software update for applicable models.
Rivian is making good on a promise it told Carscoops about several months ago. During a fireside chat in California, the company hinted that unlockable features were on the way. Now, we know that the first of those features, which is extra power, is coming in the 2025.06 update. Later this year, owners of the Large+ battery pack will also get the option to unlock extra range.
More Power for a Price
First and foremost, Rivian says these unlockable features will only be available to second-gen R1 owners. Right now, buyers of these newer EVs can add the Performance Pack to their Dual Motor trim for a cool $5,000. It includes a bump from 533 horsepower (397 kW) and 610 lb-ft (826 Nm) of torque to 665 horsepower (495 kW) and 829 lb-ft (1122 Nm) of torque. Furthermore, it adds two new drive modes, Sport and Soft Sand, to the mix.
The automaker will soon make this addition the first available unlock with version 2025.06 of its software. It doesn’t say how much the upgrade will cost within the ecosystem, but it wouldn’t be shocking to see Rivian offer multiple options including a one-time fee, a subscription, or even a trial period of the software.
More Range on the Horizon
That’s likely the same situation buyers who chose the Large+ Battery Pack will face later this year. In a post to his personal X account, Wassym Bensaid said the extra range will be the next unlockable feature after the Performance Pack upgrade is live. Rivian’s Large+ battery pack is the same as its Max pack but software-limited for less range.
Per your feedback, Dual Performance upgrade for your Rivian will be available through OTA.
Rivian isn’t the first automaker to experiment with paid software unlocks. Tesla and Mercedes have already rolled out similar models, allowing customers to pay for performance boosts or additional features that are technically already built into the car.
In theory, such unlocks allow automakers to streamline production. Building one vehicle with two settings can be cheaper than two separate types. At the same time, some believe that if the car is capable of something, it should be available to the end buyer no matter what.
Where do you stand on the debate? Let us know in the comments.
Trump administration orders shutdown of 8,000 EV charging ports managed by GSA.
The agency also oversees roughly two-thirds of the government’s 650,000-vehicle fleet.
If the GSA offloads its fleet of new EVs, it’ll have to replace them with gas-powered cars.
President Donald Trump is putting the brakes on electric vehicles in government fleets, ordering thousands to be sold and shutting down their charging stations at federal buildings. Framed as a cost-cutting measure, the decision could ironically end up costing the administration $1 billion.
The General Services Administration (GSA), which oversees about two-thirds of the federal government’s 650,000 vehicles, currently manages around 8,000 EV chargers across government buildings. These stations serve both federally owned and personal EVs driven by government employees. But according to recently leaked emails, those charging contracts are being canceled, and the stations will be “turned off at the breaker.”
Unplugging the Investment
Under the Biden administration, the GSA received $975 million to upgrade federal buildings with new and sustainable technologies, including charging points for EVs, The Verge reports. The federal government signed an executive order to only buy electric light-duty vehicles by 2027.
The GSA will also begin to offload as many as 25,000 EVs purchased during the Biden administration. Speaking with Politico, a former GSA official said these EVs may only sell for 25% of their original value, potentially resulting in a loss of as much as $225 million. And since those EVs will need to be replaced with gas-powered cars, the federal government could end up spending an additional $700 million.
Cutting Costs, And Then Spending
According to the same ex-GSA official, the federal government has spent approximately $300 million to install and activate charging points. Taking these chargers offline could cost between $50 million and $100 million.
In an internal email explaining the decision, the GSA stated it “has worked to align with the current administration [and] received direction that all GSA-owned charging stations are not mission critical. Neither Government Owned Vehicles nor Privately Owned Vehicles will be able to charge at these charging stations once they’re out of service.”
That leaves an obvious question: if the goal is to cut government spending, why take a billion-dollar loss in the process? Selling EVs at a fraction of their cost, spending hundreds of millions to replace them with gas-powered cars, and shutting down infrastructure that was already paid for doesn’t exactly scream fiscal responsibility.
Across a career’s worth of pioneering product designs, Doug Field’s work has shaped the experience of anyone who’s ever used a MacBook Air, ridden a Segway, or driven a Tesla Model 3.
But his newest project is his most ambitious yet: reinventing the Ford automobile, one of the past century’s most iconic pieces of technology.
As Ford’s chief electric vehicle (EV), digital, and design officer, Field is tasked with leading the development of the company’s electric vehicles, while making new software platforms central to all Ford models.
To bring Ford Motor Co. into that digital and electric future, Field effectively has to lead a fast-moving startup inside the legacy carmaker. “It is incredibly hard, figuring out how to do ‘startups’ within large organizations,” he concedes.
If anyone can pull it off, it’s likely to be Field. Ever since his time in MIT’s Leaders for Global Operations (then known as “Leaders in Manufacturing”) program studying organizational behavior and strategy, Field has been fixated on creating the conditions that foster innovation.
“The natural state of an organization is to make it harder and harder to do those things: to innovate, to have small teams, to go against the grain,” he says. To overcome those forces, Field has become a master practitioner of the art of curating diverse, talented teams and helping them flourish inside of big, complex companies.
“It’s one thing to make a creative environment where you can come up with big ideas,” he says. “It’s another to create an execution-focused environment to crank things out. I became intrigued with, and have been for the rest of my career, this question of how can you have both work together?”
Three decades after his first stint as a development engineer at Ford Motor Co., Field now has a chance to marry the manufacturing muscle of Ford with the bold approach that helped him rethink Apple’s laptops and craft Tesla’s Model 3 sedan. His task is nothing less than rethinking how cars are made and operated, from the bottom up.
“If it’s only creative or execution, you’re not going to change the world,” he says. “If you want to have a huge impact, you need people to change the course you’re on, and you need people to build it.”
A passion for design
From a young age, Field had a fascination with automobiles. “I was definitely into cars and transportation more generally,” he says. “I thought of cars as the place where technology and art and human design came together — cars were where all my interests intersected.”
With a mother who was an artist and musician and an engineer father, Field credits his parents’ influence for his lifelong interest in both the aesthetic and technical elements of product design. “I think that’s why I’m drawn to autos — there’s very much an aesthetic aspect to the product,” he says.
After earning a degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University, Field took a job at Ford in 1987. The big Detroit automakers of that era excelled at mass-producing cars, but weren’t necessarily set up to encourage or reward innovative thinking. Field chafed at the “overstructured and bureaucratic” operational culture he encountered.
The experience was frustrating at times, but also valuable and clarifying. He realized that he “wanted to work with fast-moving, technology-based businesses.”
“My interest in advancing technical problem-solving didn’t have a place in the auto industry” at the time, he says. “I knew I wanted to work with passionate people and create something that didn’t exist, in an environment where talent and innovation were prized, where irreverence was an asset and not a liability. When I read about Silicon Valley, I loved the way they talked about things.”
During that time, Field took two years off to enroll in MIT’s LGO program, where he deepened his technical skills and encountered ideas about manufacturing processes and team-driven innovation that would serve him well in the years ahead.
“Some of core skill sets that I developed there were really, really important,” he says, “in the context of production lines and production processes.” He studied systems engineering and the use of Monte Carlo simulations to model complex manufacturing environments. During his internship with aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, he worked on automated design in computer-aided design (CAD) systems, long before those techniques became standard practice.
Another powerful tool he picked up was the science of probability and statistics, under the tutelage of MIT Professor Alvin Drake in his legendary course 6.041/6.431 (Probabilistic Systems Analysis). Field would go on to apply those insights not only to production processes, but also to characterizing variability in people’s aptitudes, working styles, and talents, in the service of building better, more innovative teams. And studying organizational strategy catalyzed his career-long interest in “ways to look at innovation as an outcome, rather than a random spark of genius.”
“So many things I was lucky to be exposed to at MIT,” Field says, were “all building blocks, pieces of the puzzle, that helped me navigate through difficult situations later on.”
Learning while leading
After leaving Ford in 1993, Field worked at Johnson and Johnson Medical for three years in process development. There, he met Segway inventor Dean Kamen, who was working on a project called the iBOT, a gyroscopic powered wheelchair that could climb stairs.
When Kamen spun off Segway to develop a new personal mobility device using the same technology, Field became his first hire. He spent nearly a decade as the firm’s chief technology officer.
At Segway, Field’s interests in vehicles, technology, innovation, process, and human-centered design all came together.
“When I think about working now on electric cars, it was a real gift,” he says. The problems they tackled prefigured the ones he would grapple with later at Tesla and Ford. “Segway was very much a precursor to a modern EV. Completely software controlled, with higher-voltage batteries, redundant systems, traction control, brushless DC motors — it was basically a miniature Tesla in the year 2000.”
At Segway, Field assembled an “amazing” team of engineers and designers who were as passionate as he was about pushing the envelope. “Segway was the first place I was able to hand-pick every single person I worked with, define the culture, and define the mission.”
As he grew into this leadership role, he became equally engrossed with cracking another puzzle: “How do you prize people who don’t fit in?”
“Such a fundamental part of the fabric of Silicon Valley is the love of embracing talent over a traditional organization’s ways of measuring people,” he says. “If you want to innovate, you need to learn how to manage neurodivergence and a very different set of personalities than the people you find in large corporations.”
Field still keeps the base housing of a Segway in his office, as a reminder of what those kinds of teams — along with obsessive attention to detail — can achieve.
Before joining Apple in 2008, he showed that component, with its clean lines and every minuscule part in its place in one unified package, to his prospective new colleagues. “They were like, “OK, you’re one of us,’” he recalls.
He soon became vice president of hardware development for all Mac computers, leading the teams behind the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro and eventually overseeing more than 2,000 employees. “Making things really simple and really elegant, thinking about the product as an integrated whole, that really took me into Apple.”
The challenge of giving the MacBook Air its signature sleek and light profile is an example.
“The MacBook Air was the first high-volume consumer electronic product built out of a CNC-machined enclosure,” says Field. He worked with industrial design and technology teams to devise a way to make the laptop from one solid piece of aluminum and jettison two-thirds of the parts found in the iMac. “We had material cut away so that every single screw and piece of electronics sat down into it an integrated way. That’s how we got the product so small and slim.”
“When I interviewed with Jony Ive” — Apple’s legendary chief design officer — “he said your ability to zoom out and zoom in was the number one most important ability as a leader at Apple.” That meant zooming out to think about “the entire ethos of this product, and the way it will affect the world” and zooming all the way back in to obsess over, say, the physical shape of the laptop itself and what it feels like in a user’s hands.
“That thread of attention to detail, passion for product, design plus technology rolled directly into what I was doing at Tesla,” he says. When Field joined Tesla in 2013, he was drawn to the way the brash startup upended the approach to making cars. “Tesla was integrating digital technology into cars in a way nobody else was. They said, ‘We’re not a car company in Silicon Valley, we’re a Silicon Valley company and we happen to make cars.’”
Field assembled and led the team that produced the Model 3 sedan, Tesla’s most affordable vehicle, designed to have mass-market appeal.
That experience only reinforced the importance, and power, of zooming in and out as a designer — in a way that encompasses the bigger human resources picture.
“You have to have a broad sense of what you’re trying to accomplish and help people in the organization understand what it means to them,” he says. “You have to go across and understand operations enough to glue all of those (things) together — while still being great at and focused on something very, very deeply. That’s T-shaped leadership.”
He credits his time at LGO with providing the foundation for the “T-shaped leadership” he practices.
“An education like the one I got at MIT allowed me to keep moving that ‘T’, to focus really deep, learn a ton, teach as much as I can, and after something gets more mature, pull out and bed down into other areas where the organization needs to grow or where there’s a crisis.”
The power of marrying scale to a “startup mentality”
In 2018, Field returned to Apple as a vice president for special projects. “I left Tesla after Model 3 and Y started to ramp, as there were people better than me to run high-volume manufacturing,” he says. “I went back to Apple hoping what Tesla had learned would motivate Apple to get into a different market.”
That market was his early love: cars. Field quietly led a project to develop an electric vehicle at Apple for three years.
Then Ford CEO Jim Farley came calling. He persuaded Field to return to Ford in late 2021, partly by demonstrating how much things had changed since his first stint as the carmaker.
“Two things came through loud and clear,” Field says. “One was humility. ‘Our success is not assured.’” That attitude was strikingly different from Field’s early experience in Detroit, encountering managers who were resistant to change. “The other thing was urgency. Jim and Bill Ford said the exact same thing to me: ‘We have four or five years to completely remake this company.’”
“I said, ‘OK, if the top of company really believes that, then the auto industry may be ready for what I hope to offer.’”
So far, Field is energized and encouraged by the appetite for reinvention he’s encountered this time around at Ford.
“If you can combine what Ford does really well with what a Tesla or Rivian can do well, this is something to be reckoned with,” says Field. “Skunk works have become one of the fundamental tools of my career,” he says, using an industry term that describes a project pursued by a small, autonomous group of people within a larger organization.
Ford has been developing a new, lower-cost, software-enabled EV platform — running all of the car’s sensors and components from a central digital operating system — with a “skunk works” team for the past two years. The company plans to build new sedans, SUVs, and small pickups based on this new platform.
With other legacy carmakers like Volvo racing into the electric future and fierce competition from EV leaders Tesla and Rivian, Field and his colleagues have their work cut out for them.
If he succeeds, leveraging his decades of learning and leading from LGO to Silicon Valley, then his latest chapter could transform the way we all drive — and secure a spot for Ford at the front of the electric vehicle pack in the process.
“I’ve been lucky to feel over and over that what I’m doing right now — they are going to write a book about it,” say Field. “This is a big deal, for Ford and the U.S. auto industry, and for American industry, actually.”
“So many things I was lucky to be exposed to at MIT,” Doug Field says, were “all building blocks, pieces of the puzzle, that helped me navigate through difficult situations later on.”
Artwork for cover and divider pages created by Kimber Horne using generative A.I. in Adobe Firefly
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A Massachusetts university is developing technology that aims to use lasers to drastically cut emissions and energy use from Maine’s paper and pulp industry.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute recently received a $2.75 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to help ready the industrial drying technology for commercial use.
“We are all excited about this — this is potentially a groundbreaking technology,” said Jamal Yagoobi, founding director of the institute’s Center for Advanced Research in Drying.
In Maine, the paper and pulp business generates about 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year, roughly half of the state’s industrial emissions. Much of these emissions come from the process of drying mashed, pressed, and rolled wood pulp to yield paper products. The emissions come mainly from three major operations across the state; three additional facilities contribute smaller amounts.
These plants’ emissions will need to be addressed if Maine is to reach its goal of going carbon neutral by 2045. Furthermore, each of these plants is located in an area with an above-average population of low-income residents, according to data assembled by Industrious Labs, an environmental organization focused on the impact of industry. And two are located in areas with a higher-than-average risk of cancer from air toxins, suggesting a correlation between their operations and the incidence of cancer in the area.
At the same, the paper and pulp industry remains economically important to Maine, said Matt Cannon, state conservation and energy director for the Maine chapter of the Sierra Club.
“It’s got real union jobs — the paper industry is still very important to our community,” he said.
Worcester Polytechnic’s drying research center has been working on ways to dry paper, pulp, and other materials using the concentrated energy found in lasers. The lasers Yagoobi’s team is using are not the lasers of the public imagination, like a red beam zapping at alien enemies. Though the lasers are quite strong — they can melt metal, Yagoobi says — they are dispersed over a larger area, spreading out the energy to evenly and gently dry the target material.
Testing on food products has shown that the technology can work. Now, researchers need to learn more about how the laser energy affects different materials to make sure the product quality is not compromised during the drying process.
“For paper, it’s important to make sure the tensile strength is not degrading,” Yagoobi said. “For food products, you want to make sure the color and sensory qualities do not degrade.”
Therefore, before the system is ready for a commercial pilot, the team has to gather a lot more data about how much laser energy is incident on different parts of the surface and how deeply the energy penetrates different materials. Once gathered, this data will be used to determine what system sizes and operating conditions are best for different materials, and to design laser modules for each intended use.
Once these details are worked out, the laser technology can be installed in new commercial-scale drying equipment or existing systems. “This particular technology will be easy to retrofit,” Yagoobi said.
Industrial sources were responsible for about 1.3 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States in 2023, about 28% of the country’s overall emissions, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Heating processes, often powered by natural gas or other fossil fuels, are responsible for about half of those emissions, said Evan Gillespie, one of the co-founders of Industrious Labs. Many industrial drying processes require high temperatures that have traditionally been hard to reach without fossil fuels, giving the sector a reputation as hard to decarbonize, Gillespie said.
“The key challenge here is: How do you remove natural gas as a heating source inside industrial facilities?” said Richard Hart, industry director at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. “The scale of what is happening in industry is enormous, and the potential for change is very powerful.”
To make the new technology effective, industry leaders and policymakers will need to commit to reinvesting in old facilities, Gillespie noted. And doing so will be well worth it by strengthening an economically important industry, keeping jobs in place, and creating important environmental benefits, he added.
“There’s often this old story of tensions between climate and jobs,” Gillespie said. “But what we’re trying to do is modernize these facilities and stabilize them so they’ll be around for decades to come.”
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