Prep for fall with SKIL’s 40V cordless electric leaf blower
Amazon is offering the SKIL PWR CORE 40 Brushless 40V 530 CFM Cordless Leaf Blower Kit for $87 shipped. Down from its typical price of $160, this 45% discount is the all-time lowest price we’ve seen for this product. With autumn just around the corner, there’s no better time to prepare for the tedious task of leaf collection. With its digital brushless motor providing efficient, high-performance power without the smells or costs of using gas, and with its PWRCORE 40 2.5Ah lithium-ion battery, this leaf blower promises 25% longer runtime and twice as much battery life than other cordless blowers. It also comes with the Auto PWR JUMP charger, which can charge the battery from 0-30% in just 15 minutes, making sure you’re able to get back to any unfinished work as quickly as possible.
Score four eneloop Pro AAA rechargeable batteries and a charger
Amazon is now offering a 4-pack of Panasonic’s popular eneloop Pro AAA Rechargeable Batteries bundled with a companion charger at $29.77 shipped. Typically fetching $38, you’re looking at over $8 in savings alongside the second-best price of the year. This comes within $3 of the all-time low and is the best discount we’ve seen in months. This starter bundle from Panasonic is the perfect solution for kickstarting a more environmentally-friendly setup. The four included AAA batteries are a notable way to cut down on single-use consumables in everything from TV remotes to toys and other gadgets around the house. In the box, you get everything you need including the companion charger, which can power up each of the rechargeable batteries’ 950mAh charges.
Grow your own herbs and veggies all year with AeroGarden Sprout
Woot is offering some notable price drops headlined by the AeroGarden Sprout with Gourmet Herbs Seed Pod Kit at just $34.99. Shipping is free for Prime members with a $6 delivery fee otherwise. This model carries a regular $100 price tag directly from AeroGarden and is now at the best price we can find. Currently down at $60 on Amazon, today’s deal is a particularly good one, bringing the compact indoor garden back down to the lowest price of the year. The AeroGarden Sprout is the most compact and affordable model in the brand’s popular lineup. It is able to grow three plants at once, including everything from flowers, various veggies, and fresh herbs you’ll get included in the package here. Like the rest of the AeroGardens, it requires very little intervention and no expertise – you essentially choose your crop (or use the included seeds: Genovese basil, curly parsley, and dill ), follow the watering notifications, and wait for your fresh plants to grow.
The savings this week are also continuing to a collection of other markdowns. To the same tune as the offers above, these all help you take a more energy-conscious approach to your routine.
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The sun has set on a frantic day of scrutineering at this year’s Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix (FSGP), as teams scramble to qualify for a spot on the starting line tomorrow morning. Electrek FSGP 2025 is shaping up to be one of the event’s most attended ever, thanks to a strong showing of first-time and returning schools. But that also means new and unproven vehicles on the track.
Today, I walked through a couple of bays and talked with a few of the teams able to spare a minute; almost all of them were debuting completely new cars that were years in the making. Building a solar car is no easy feat. It’s not just the engineering and technical know-how that’s often a hurdle for them; it’s more often monetary. However, one of the things that makes this event so special is the camaraderie and collaboration that happen behind the scenes.
Northwestern University is back with a completely new car this season, its eighth since the team’s original inception in 1997 during the GM Sunrayce days. Its motor controller, which is responsible for managing the flow of power from the batteries to the motor, was given to them by the Stanford team. Stanford had extras and could spare one for Northwestern, which needed a replacement. It doesn’t stop there. Two members of the Northwestern team (Shannon and Fiona) told me four other teams helped them with a serious tire replacement around 1 a.m. Wednesday morning, saving them from missing important parts of scrutineering.
This is also an exciting year for the West Virginia team, which is celebrating its 35th anniversary as a solar car team, making them one of the oldest teams on the track. With age comes wisdom though: WV is competing again this year with its single-occupant vehicle, Sunseeker. The team ran into issues after last year’s American Solar Challenge (ASC) cross-country event when the vehicle’s control arm, an important part of the suspension that connects the wheels to the chassis, broke. They tell me this year they’re back with a completely redesigned control arm made of both aluminum and steel. Thank you, Hayley, John, and Izzy, for taking the time to talk.
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We’re also seeing new builds this year from the University of Florida, the University of Puerto Rico, NC State, and UC Irvine. Believe it or not, the latter team has never competed in an American Solar Challenge/Formula Sun Grand Prix. This is their first year. UC Irvine doesn’t expect to be on the starting line tomorrow but hopes to be on the track soon after.
University of Puerto RicoUniversity of California Irvine
On the other hand, we have tried-and-proven cars like my personal favorite, Polytechnique Montréal’s Esteban, which undergoes minor improvements each year. I talked a little bit with this team today, and they told me the car’s motor was dropped, disassembled, and cleaned in preparation for the event. Polytechnique Montréal has passed scrutineering and will appear on the starting line tomorrow.
Polytechnique Montréal
Teams that haven’t wrapped up scrutineering in the last three days can still complete it, though doing so will eat into time on track.
You can learn more about the different classes and the specific rules here.
I’ll continue to post more updates as the event continues!
2025 Electrek FSGP schedule
The 2025 Electrek FSGP will again be held at the National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which, interestingly enough, General Motors occasionally uses for Corvette testing and development. A bit of a full-circle moment being so close to the company that started it all.
The event is open to the public and FREE to attend. Come see the solar car race up close!
Racing starts on July 3 from 10am to 6pm CT and continues through July 5 from 9am to 5pm CT.
Featured image via Cora Kennedy for Electrek FSGP/ASC.
Note: The Formula Sun Grand Prix is not in any way associated or affiliated with the Formula 1 companies, FORMULA 1 racing, or the FIA Formula One World Championship.
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Tesla’s Q2 results are in, and they are way, way down from Q2 of 2024. At the same time, Nissan seems to be in serious trouble and the first-ever all-electric Dodge muscle car is getting recalled because its dumb engine noises are the wrong kind of dumb engine noises. All this and more on today’s deeply troubled episode of Quick Charge!
We’ve also got an awesome article from Micah Toll about a hitherto unexplored genre of electric lawn equipment, a $440 million mining equipment deal, and a list of incompetent, corrupt, and stupid politicians who voted away their constituents’ futures to line their pockets.
New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (and sometimes Sunday). We’ll be posting bonus audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news.
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Got news? Let us know! Drop us a line at tips@electrek.co. You can also rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show.
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“These ‘OpenAI tokens’ are not OpenAI equity,” OpenAI wrote on X. “We did not partner with Robinhood, were not involved in this, and do not endorse it.”
The company said that “any transfer of OpenAI equity requires our approval — we did not approve any transfer,” and warned users to “please be careful.”
Robinhood announced the launch Monday from Cannes, France, as part of a broader product showcase focused on tokenized equities, staking, and a new blockchain infrastructure play. The company’s stock surged above $100 to hit a new all-time high following the news.
“These tokens give retail investors indirect exposure to private markets, opening up access, and are enabled by Robinhood’s ownership stake in a special purpose vehicle,” a Robinhood spokesperson said in response to the OpenAI post.
Read more CNBC tech news
Robinhood offered 5 euros worth of OpenAI and SpaceX tokens to eligible EU users who signed up to trade stock tokens by July 7. The assets are issued under the EU’s looser investor restrictions via Robinhood’s crypto platform.
“This is about expanding access,” said Johann Kerbrat, Robinhood’s SVP and GM of crypto. “The goal with tokenization is to let anyone participate in this economy.”
The episode highlights the dynamic between crypto platforms seeking to democratize access to financial products and the companies whose names and equity are being represented on-chain
U.S. users cannot access these tokens due to regulatory restrictions.