Chile’s president, Gabriel Boric, wants to create a plan to require state involvement in and control of any lithium contracts going forward, in the country with the world’s largest lithium supply.
Boric says that the plan will protect biodiversity and indigenous rights, and will help to distribute the gains from Chile’s mineral wealth more broadly among Chileans.
Chile is home to the world’s largest lithium reserves in its vast northern Atacama desert. The desert is known for its salt flats, large flat areas where water has evaporated and left concentrated solids on the land. Lithium can then be extracted from brine pools on these salt flats.
The desert also reaches into neighboring Bolivia and Argentina, and the area has been referred to as the “lithium triangle.” It is thought to hold roughly half of the world’s lithium reserves, though the resource is still reasonably common elsewhere.
Currently, the world’s largest lithium exporting country is Australia, with Chile in second place. But other countries including China, Argentina, Brazil, and even the US have significant lithium reserves and production capacity, and everyone is aiming to increase production in the coming years.
And some other countries have exerted control over their EV battery resources, with Mexico recently nationalizing its lithium deposits and Indonesia banning exports of nickel in hope of keeping that industry domestic.
Lithium prices have been volatile in recent years, with the resource shooting up about 400% in price in late 2021 due to supply chain challenges and extremely high electric car demand which supply was not able to keep up with.
But most expected prices to drop precipitously this year, and since the beginning of the year, they have. Prices are still high compared to historical averages but are dropping quickly and getting close to those averages.
And, despite being in the name of lithium-ion batteries, each electric car only needs about 20 lbs of lithium. At recent prices, this means there is a few hundred dollars worth of lithium in each EV battery.
Boric’s plan would affect the world’s largest two lithium suppliers, Albemarle and Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (SQM), both of which operate in Chile. Albemarle is a multinational which was formed in 1992 as a spin-off of Ethyl Corporation, the company responsible for putting lead in gasoline. SQM was originally founded as a Chilean state-owned company in 1968 but is now owned by Chilean billionaire Julio Ponce Lerou, son-in-law of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
The companies dipped 21% and 10% in the stock market today after Boric’s plan was announced.
Chile would not instantly take control of these companies’ operations, but rather the plan would go into effect upon renewal of the companies’ contracts. Currently, SQM’s contract will expire in 2030, and Albemarle’s in 2043. Boric hoped that companies would be open to earlier participation by the state.
But so far, this plan has only been announced by Boric and will have to go through Chile’s National Congress first. He plans to present it to Congress later this year, though the body has blocked many of his proposals in the past.
Chilean politics is going through a lot of change right now. The country saw sustained protests starting in 2019 demanding a new constitution to replace the current one which was implemented under dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1980.
Then in 2021, Boric, a socialist who at 37 is one of the world’s youngest state leaders, won a wide victory over far-right opponent Jose Antonio Kast, who had previously served under Pinochet and whose grandfather had been in the Nazi army. So, the choice was stark.
With this mandate, Boric proposed a new constitution with many progressive reforms. One of those proposed reforms (article 27) would have been to nationalize mining operations, but it was rejected before the constitution went to a vote. Instead, it included a provision that miners must put aside resources to repair damage from mining activities.
The proposed constitution was supported by most Chileans at first, particularly young Chileans and those on the political left. But as the referendum for its approval came closer, polls turned against it and the proposed Constitution failed by a wide margin. The country is now drafting a second proposal, as most Chileans still want to replace the constitution of Pinochet.
But this would not be Chile’s first brush with the nationalization of the extractive industry. In the late 60s and early 70s, Chile pushed to nationalize several industries, particularly the extraction of copper (and even created an early “internet” to manage it).
Chilean president Salvador Allende, a socialist, won in 1970 with the promise of nationalizing copper outright without compensation to the various companies, largely US-based, currently operating in the sphere. The copper industry was nationalized soon after his election with modest compensation to these companies, which drew the ire of the U.S.
Then, in 1973, a U.S.-backed coup led to the deposal and death of democratically-elected Allende and his replacement with the new dictator Pinochet.
Boric’s announcement stops short of Allende’s, in that it does not aim to immediately nationalize the industry without compensation. It also stops short of the proposal in article 27, as that would have given the state exclusive mining rights across many resources, whereas Boric’s current proposal seeks to enforce public-private partnerships in lithium specifically.
But the Chilean state still owns the nation’s copper extraction industry via Codelco, which supplies 11% of the world’s copper. Boric would have this company take a role in finding the best way to manage any public-private partnerships for lithium extraction.
The US currently has a free trade agreement with Chile, in force since 2004. This is relevant for new battery critical mineral guidelines from the US, requiring that battery minerals be sourced from the US or free trade countries in order to qualify for tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act.
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Global renewable developer and energy giant RWE has halted its US offshore wind operations “for the time being” because of the “political environment” the Trump administration has created.
RWE, Germany’s biggest electricity producer, said in March that it had dialed back its US offshore wind activities. But now, CEO Marcus Krebber said in a speech transcript, which he’ll deliver at the company’s Annual General Meeting in Essen on April 30, that its US offshore wind business is now closed (but it wasn’t all bad news):
In the US, where we have stopped our offshore activities for the time being, our business in onshore wind, solar energy, and battery storage has so far been developing very dynamically. At the start of this year, we reached an important milestone when our US generation capacity hit the 10 gigawatt mark. The construction of a further 4 gigawatts is secured.
He went on to say that renewables have created regional value and jobs, but that the company remains “cautious given the political developments.” RWE has introduced more stringent requirements for future US investments:
All necessary federal permits must be in place. Tax credits must be safe harbored and all relevant tariff risks mitigated. In addition, onshore wind and solar projects must have secured offtake at the time of the investment decision. Only if these conditions are met will further investments be possible, given the political environment.
About half of RWE’s installed renewable capacity is in the US, where it’s the third-largest renewable energy company through its subsidiary, RWE Clean Energy. RWE holds the rights to develop US offshore wind projects in New York, Louisiana, and California.
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RWE paid $1.1 billion for the New York lease area in 2022, where it’s meant to develop the 3 gigawatt (GW) Community Offshore Wind with the UK’s National Grid. Community Offshore Wind was projected to come online in the early 2030s and expected to power more than a million homes.
The developer paid $5.6 billion for the Louisiana lease in the Gulf of Mexico in 2023 as the lone bidder for development rights, and the Canopy Offshore Wind project off Northern California was not expected to be completed for another decade.
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WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump and his allies have raked in nearly $900,000 in trading fees over the past two days from the president’s $TRUMP cryptocurrency token, according to Chainalysis, a blockchain data company.
The surge came after a Wednesday announcement in which the top 220 holders of the token were promised dinner with the president.
“Have Dinner in Washington, D.C. With President Trump,” reads a message on the front page of the Trump coin’s website. The event, which is black tie optional and hosted at the president’s private club in the Washington area, is scheduled for May 22, with a reception for the top 25 holders. A “VIP White House Tour” will take place the following day, the site says. The website also hosts an active leaderboard displaying the usernames of top buyers.
The $TRUMP memecoin jumped more than 50% on the dinner news, boosting its total market value to $2.7 billion. It was met with fierce criticism from some of Trump’s political opponents who said the move was further evidence that the president was using crypto to enrich himself. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., a prominent Trump critic, wrote on X that the sale was “the most brazenly corrupt thing a President has ever done. Not close.”
Roughly 80% of the $TRUMP token supply is controlled by the Trump Organization and affiliates, according to the project’s website. Since its launch in January, trading activity has generated about $324.5 million in trading fees for insiders, Chainalysis found. These fees are generated through the token’s built-in mechanism that routes a percentage of each trade to wallets controlled by the project — wallets that, according to the website, are linked to the coin’s creators.
Memecoins, often referred to as meme tokens, are a subset of digital assets that use blockchain technology and derive their value largely from internet culture, memes and social media hype rather than from an underlying utility or asset. The originators of memecoins can make fees when their coins are bought and sold.
They have grown in popularity in recent years as speculative assets, with some coins including dogecoin and fartcoin amassing total market values in excess of $1 billion.
Most of the $TRUMP supply remains locked under a three-year vesting plan, with coins gradually becoming available over time. Lockups like these are meant to protect investors by preventing insiders from cashing out all at once — a scheme commonly known in the crypto world as a “rug pull.” Vesting schedules aim to give retail buyers confidence that early holders won’t overwhelm the market and tank the token’s value.
Still, the dinner contest is being viewed by critics as an unusually explicit attempt to monetize presidential access.
As CNBC reported Friday, Democratic Sens. Adam Schiff of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts are urging the U.S. Office of Government Ethics to investigate whether the promotion constitutes “pay to play” corruption.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment. The company behind the memecoin also did not respond to a request for comment.
Delaney Marsco, the director of ethics at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit focused on campaign finance and government accountability, told NBC News the coin and dinner contest amounted to an unprecedented ethics breach — though it is unlikely to be illegal.
“Criminal conflicts of interest statutes don’t apply to the President,” she said. “That has allowed him to go against decades of of norms that every modern president since Carter has adhered to, which is to divest your financial interests, rid yourself of your businesses, and kind of go in to the presidency with a clean financial slate so that no one could accuse you of manipulating policy decisions or using your position in order to enrich yourself.”
“The fact that he is not barred by the law from having these financial interests like this meme coin allows him to engage in a lot of seemingly corrupt activity. It has the appearance of a pay to play, so the President is apparently selling access to himself,” Marsco added.
Molly White, an independent crypto researcher, told NBC News that the leaderboard only shows top $TRUMP holders — and then only by their chosen screen name, making it difficult to identify who is paying to potentially join the dinner.
Schiff and Warren have cited public reports showing that some $TRUMP investors have ties to foreign exchanges or received funds from crypto platforms banned in the U.S., including Binance.
White also noted that at least one top $TRUMP owner has an account on Binance, a cryptocurrency company that doesn’t allow American users.
Trump was elected with significant help from the cryptocurrency industry, which poured tens of millions of dollars into the 2024 election, outpacing corporate donations from traditional sectors like banking and oil. After opposing digital assets during his first term, Trump pivoted in 2024 to campaign as a champion of cryptocurrency, casting Democrats as hostile to innovation and as advocating for tighter regulation.
The $TRUMP token itself offers no product or service, according to the project’s website. It is part of a broader push by the Trump family into digital assets, despite the market’s volatility and regulatory risks.
In addition to the $TRUMP and $MELANIA meme coins, the family is backing World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance venture that has raised $550 million across two token sales since last October. Buyers are barred from reselling their tokens and receive no share of profits — but a Trump-affiliated entity is entitled to 75% of net revenue, including token sale proceeds.
Together, these projects have created new streams of revenue for Trump and his inner circle at a time when regulatory oversight of cryptocurrency has weakened sharply under his administration.
It’s that time of year again, time for events across the country to show off electric vehicles at Drive Electric Earth Month.
Drive Electric Earth Month is an offshoot of Drive Electric Week, a long-running annual tradition hosting meetups mostly in the US, but also occasionally in other countries. It started as Drive Electric Earth Day, but since not every event can happen on the same day, they went ahead and extended it to encompass “Earth Month” events that happen across the month of April. It’s all organized by Plug In America, the Sierra Club, the Electric Vehicle Association, EV Hybrid Noire, and Drive Electric USA.
Events consist of general Earth Day-style community celebrations, EV Ride & Drives where you can test drive several EVs in one place, and opportunities to talk to EV owners and ask them questions about what it’s like to live with an EV, away from the pressure of a dealership.
But the bulk of the events happened on the weekends surrounding Earth Day, April 22, so there were several last weekend and will be even more this upcoming weekend.
There are plenty of events in the big cities where you’d expect, but Plug In America wanted to highlight a few of the events in smaller places around the country. Here’s a sampling of upcoming events:
Big Island EV – Cruise and Picnic in Waimea, HI on April 26, 10am-1pm – EV drivers will congregate in various places around the Big Island (Kona, Waimea, Waikoloa and Hilo), then drive up Saddle Road to the Gil Kahele Recreation Area on Mauna Kea for a potluck and a chance to talk about the experience of owning EVs on the Big Island.
Santa Barbara Earth Day 2025 and Green Car Show in Santa Barbara, CA on April 26-27, 11am-8pm – This is part of Santa Barbara’s Earth Day celebration, which routinely attracts 30,000 participants and is one of the longest-running Earth Day celebrations on the planet. The Green Car Show includes ride & drives and an “Owners Corner” where owners can showcase their EVs and attendees can check them out and ask questions.
Earth Day’25 – EV’s role in a sustainable future in Queretaro City, Mexico on April 26, 9am-4pm – The sole Mexican event, this is a combined in-person/online seminar at the Querétaro Institute of Technology.
Norman Earth Day Festival in Norman, OK on April 27, 12-5pm – Another municipal Earth Day festival, with hands-on activities for kids to learn about the environment. A portion of the parking lot reserved for an EV car show for EV owners who pre-register to show off their vehicles.
Oregon Electric Vehicle Association Test Drive & Information Expo in Portland, OR on April 27, 10am-4pm – This one is at Daimler Truck’s North American HQ, and will have several EVs for test drives, owner displays (including DIY gas-to-EV conversions), and keynote presentations by EV experts. They’ll even have a 1914 Detroit Electric EV available for test rides!
And, we at Electrek want to give a shoutout to Rove’s EV Drive Days in Santa Ana 10am-3pm April 28 – ROVE is the company behind the “full-service” EV charging concept that we’ve talked about several times here on Electrek, and we like what they’re doing for EV charging. They’ve hosted a few community events, and this is their contribution to Earth Month.
Each event has a different assortment of activities (e.g. test drives won’t be available at every event, generally just the larger ones attended by local dealerships), so be sure to check the events page to see what the plan is for your local event.
These events have offered a great way to connect with owners and see the newest electric vehicle tech, and even get a chance to do test rides and drives in person. Attendees got to hear unfiltered information from actual owners about the benefits and trials of owning EVs, allowing for longer and more genuine (and often more knowledgeable) conversations than one might normally encounter at a dealership.
And if you’re an owner – you can show off your car and answer those questions for interested onlookers.
To view all the events and see what’s happening in your area, you can check out the list of events or the events map. You can also sign up to volunteer at your local events, and if you plan to show off your electric car, you can RSVP on each event page and list the vehicle that you plan to show (or see what other vehicles have already registered).
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