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Kocho, a food produced using enset, served with honey and red pepper sauce.

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Earlier this year, shoppers in the U.K. faced a shortage of fresh fruit and vegetables, with some of the country’s grocery stores rationing produce like tomatoes, lettuce and peppers.

The reasons behind the scarcity of ingredients crucial to a tasty salad were complicated and varied, ranging from high energy prices to adverse weather conditions in supplier countries.  

While the shortage has more or less abated, it did highlight the fragile nature of our food system and the huge importance of food security.

In 2022, a major report from the United Nations showed the scale of the problem.

“Between 702 and 828 million people were affected by hunger in 2021,” The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report said.

The U.N.’s report flagged the “major drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition: conflict, climate extremes and economic shocks, combined with growing inequalities.”

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With concerns about the effects of climate change on the agriculture sector mounting, what we grow and eat could be on the cusp of a significant shift.

Crops unfamiliar to many of us could have a crucial role to play in the years ahead. In June 2022, scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, listed several sources of food that could play a big role in future diets.

They include seaweed; cacti like the prickly pear; a type of wild coffee able to cope with far warmer temperatures than Arabica coffee; and enset, also known as the false banana.

“Enset is a relative of the banana,” James Borrell, research leader in Trait Diversity and Function at RBG Kew, told CNBC.

“But whereas a banana is from Southeast Asia and you eat the fruit, enset is from Africa and has been domesticated — and is only cultivated — in Ethiopia,” he added.

“You actually eat the whole trunk, or pseudo stem, and the underground corm.”

“Something like 15 plants could feed a person for a year, so it’s … very large, and it’s very productive.”

The enset plant in Ethiopia. Enset is also known as “the tree against hunger.”

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When it comes to food security, the potential of enset — which is also referred to as “the tree against hunger” — appears to be considerable.

Borrell told CNBC that it possesses a combination of traits and characteristics “very unusual in crops.”

“Firstly, it’s perennial, and so it keeps growing each year if you don’t harvest it,” he said.

A fruit tree may also be perennial, he noted, “but it only produces its fruit at a certain time of year — so you either need to consume it then or you need to store it.”

With enset, however, “you eat the whole thing … so the fact that it gets larger each year, you can simply harvest it when you need it.”

A ‘bank account of food’

That, Borrell said, makes it particularly useful for subsistence farmers working on several crops.

“If some year your other crops fail, or they don’t have a sufficient yield, you can eat a little bit more of your enset,” he said.

“If you have a good year for your other crops, you can eat a bit less of your enset.” That means enset could “buffer seasonal food insecurity.”

“For a subsistence farmer, that’s an amazing product,” he added.

“It’s like a bank account of food, it’s like a green asset that you can maintain and nurture and if you don’t use it, it keeps accumulating.”

At the moment, RGB Kew says enset supplies food to 20 million people in Ethiopia, but the organization adds it “could be a climate-smart crop for the future” thanks to its “high yield and resilience to long periods of drought.”

In late 2021, researchers based in the U.K. and Ethiopia, including Borrell, published a paper in Environmental Research which provided a tantalizing glimpse of the role it might play in the future.

“We find that despite a highly restricted current distribution, there is significant potential for climate-resilient enset expansion both within Ethiopia and across eastern and southern Africa,” the authors said.

Kocho, produced using the enset plant, photographed in Ethiopia.

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Could, then, the cultivation of enset extend from Ethiopia to other parts of the world, buffering other crops in the process?

“The very important caveat is that it is an Ethiopian crop,” Borrell said.

“And so those kinds of decisions are entirely up to Ethiopia … it’s Ethiopia’s indigenous knowledge, and it’s Ethiopia’s farmers that have spent thousands of years domesticating it.”

“So although we can talk about what is the potential and would it work, it’s very specifically not up to us to say whether it should happen and if it can happen.”

It’s unlikely, then, that people outside of Ethiopia will be seeing enset on their plate anytime soon.

Nevertheless, its resilience and importance in shoring up supply for farmers there illustrate how practices rooted in tradition may have a big role to play in the way we think about and consume food.

“It’s an amazing crop, with amazing indigenous knowledge underlying it,” Borrell said.

“I think the message is that this is just one of hundreds or even thousands of underutilized crops that are not particularly extensively researched, and they’re not widely known.”

“So for every plant we talk about, like enset, there’s many others that could have … particular combinations of traits that could help us address a challenge that we face.”

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Destroyed Cybertruck used in Vegas bombing is for sale, Musk said Tesla would rebuild it

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March 10, 2025

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Destroyed Cybertruck used in Vegas bombing is for sale, Musk said Tesla would rebuild it

The Tesla Cybertruck used in the Las Vegas bombing appears to have landed in an auction for sale as salvaged, still destroyed. CEO Elon Musk said Tesla would put it back on the road.

Good luck with that.

In January, a Tesla Cybertruck exploded at the Trump Tower in Las Vegas.

The driver is believed to have shot himself in the head right before the vehicle exploded. Evidence proved that some firework mortars and gas canisters were inside the Cybertruck’s bed.

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After the explosion, Tesla CEO Elon Musk praised the Cybertruck for “containing” the explosion and reducing the damage.

He even went as far as claiming that the powertrain was still working and that Tesla would rebuild the Cybertruck and bring it back on the road:

“Once we get this Cybertruck back to Tesla, we’ll buff out the scratches and get it back on the road.”

When questioned about the seriousness of this statement, he affirmed, “No, I mean it.”

They clearly haven’t yet because the Cybertruck has now shown up as a salvaged vehicle for auction on IAA’s site:

It’s not clear if Tesla had an opportunity to get the truck until now, but they certainly could buy it now.

Electrek’s Take

Good luck rebuilding the truck. Maybe they can salvage the battery pack and motors in a new truck, but there’s no way or point to salvage the chassis.

Elon has already confirmed that Tesla engineers have looked at the car. I’m sure that they had the opportunity to get it from the insurance company.

I bet that Tesla doesn’t want the car, and it won’t be back on the road as Elon claimed. You can add it to the list of lies he told this year. Are we in the hundreds already? And we are only in March.

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Spacruzzi opens 2025 reservations for limited builds of its all-electric hot tub boats

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March 10, 2025

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Spacruzzi opens 2025 reservations for limited builds of its all-electric hot tub boats

What’s better than an all-electric boat? An all-electric boat with a hot tub in it. Niche boatbuilder Spacruzzi made waves (but limited wake) last year with an electric hot tub boat model showcased around the US, including Lake Tahoe and even on the Chicago River. For 2025, Spacruzzi has introduced a sleeker and more refined version of its electric boat and opened its waiting list for a limited number of builds scheduled for this year.

Spacruzzi is a marine vessel developer whose flagship product shares the same name and looks to stand out as a luxury option for both private owners and rental operators. Per the company website:

While there have been other versions of hot tub boats on the market over the years, nothing comes close to matching the experience of a Spacruzzi. From the attention to detail, luxury finishes and patent pending features to the outstanding build quality and ease of ownership – we have set out to create the most sought after experience on the water. We built Spacruzzi to provide an unforgettable experience to the end user while giving rental operators and entrepeneuers an exciting new offering to build and grow their business and it is our mission to enable this industry to thrive.

Each electric boat is designed, fabricated, and assembled by hand at Spacruzzi’s facilities in Polson, Montana. They arrive fully compliant for anyone and everyone to operate and deliver mobility technology that exceeds environmental regulations.

A previous version of the Spacruzzi electric hot tub boat appeared on the FOX game show Snake Oil, and several were put into rental operations on the Chicago River—available even during some of the colder months.

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Recently, Spacruzzi introduced an updated version of its electric hot-tub boat featuring a more luxurious look and feel. Additionally, a select few can put a deposit down to secure one for themselves this year.

Spacruzzi introduces upgrades to its 2025 hot tub boat

The images above show the updated version of Spacruzzi’s electric hot tub boat. This model is 15.6 feet long and 8.2 feet wide, with a draft of only 2.75 feet, enabling it to navigate shallow waters. When on the water, the Spacruzzi electric hot tub boat offers room for 6 passengers and weighs about 4,500 pounds at max capacity, alongside 400 gallons of water in the tub itself, which can be heated to up to 104℉.

The hot tub boat is propelled by a 3.0 Torqeedo electric motor pod that delivers approximately 3-5 horsepower, translating to 4-5 mph speeds on the water. A USCG-compliant propane heater supports the vessel’s hot tub operations, and two compartments aft of the vessel offer room for up to four lithium battery packs capable of powering the motor, heater, and internal water treatment system for up to 16 hours.

Each boat includes one battery pack that can deliver between four and five hours of running time on a single charge. Each boat also has AC charging capabilities, but Spacruzzi can add fast charging for an additional fee. Speaking of fees, Spacruzzi shared that it has opened its waitlist for its 2025 hot tub boat production schedule.

Interested individuals or businesses can secure an electric hot tub boat build with a $2,500 non-refundable deposit. When Spacruzzi is ready to assemble your vessel, it requires a 50% deposit minus the $2,500 waitlist deposit. The final 50% payment is due when the order is complete; it will be shipped to your specified destination. Spacruzzi says builds take about 90-100 days after receiving the 50% production deposit. Per Spacruzzi, the base price of its updated boat is $68,500.

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Ford is plowing billions into Europe to fend off the surge of low-cost Chinese EVs

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March 10, 2025

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Ford is plowing billions into Europe to fend off the surge of low-cost Chinese EVs

Ford-Europe-Chinese-EVs

Ford is investing billions in Europe as it struggles to keep pace with the wave of Chinese and other low-cost EVs hitting the market. With another 4.4 billion euros ($4.8 billion) in funding, Ford looks to turn things around, but it’s also calling on lawmakers to do more.

Ford injects billions in Europe to fight Chinese EVs

With “significant losses” over the past few years, Ford is restructuring its business in Europe as it aims to cut costs and simplify operations.

Back in November, the American automaker said it planned to cut another 4,000 jobs in Europe by 2027, blaming “lower-than-expected” demand and mounting pressure from new EVs entering the market, including Chinese brands like BYD and SAIC’s MG.

Ford announced plans to invest another 4.4 billion euros ($4.8 billion) on Monday to support its transformation. The funds will be used to reduce the growing debt at its German subsidiary, Ford-werke GmbH.

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In a statement, the company said the new capital injection will help reduce debt at Ford plants in Germany and fund a multi-year business plan. Ford’s German unit has about 5.8 billion euros ($6.3 billion) of debt.

Ford-Europe-Chinese-EVs
Ford Explorer EV production in Cologne (Source: Ford)

Ford Motor Company’s vice chairman, John Lawler, explained, “With the new capital for our German subsidiary, we are driving the transformation of our business in Europe and strengthening our competitiveness with a new product range.”

Lawler stressed the need to “simplify our structures, reduce costs and increase efficiency” if it wants to compete. He added that Europe needs “a clear political agenda” to promote EV adoption that aligns with consumer demand.

Ford-Europe-Chinese-EVs
Ford’s electric vehicles in Europe from left to right: Puma Gen-E, Explorer, Capri, and Mustang Mach-E (Source: Ford)

Over the past few years, Ford has invested heavily in Europe to better compete, including $2 billion to upgrade its Cologne manufacturing plant to produce EVs.

The plant builds two models, Ford’s electric Explorer and Capri. Although Ford revealed its fourth EV for Europe (including the Mustang Mach-E) in December, the Puma Gen-E is being built in Romania.

Electrek’s Take

Can Ford spark life back into its European business? It’s not the only one struggling to keep up with new competition, Volkswagen is also cutting jobs in its home market and is even considering closing plants.

Chinese-brands-market-share-Europe
Chinese auto brands market share in Europe (Source: JATO Dynamics)

Legacy automakers, like Ford and Volkswagen, have been caught off guard by Chinese EV leaders like BYD’s aggressive expansion overseas to drive growth.

According to Jato Dynamics, Chinese brands are quickly gaining traction in Europe. In January 2025, 37,134 Chinese vehicles were registered, a 52% increase from the previous year. During the same time, Chinese brands’ market share grew from 2.4% to 3.7%. Combined, it would now put them ahead of Ford.

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