Superstar DJ Steve Aoki follows father’s footsteps in motorsports, becomes E1 racing team owner
As the UIM E1 World Championship league moves closer to hitting the water on its inaugural season, the electric boat racing teams that will compete is truly starting to take shape. The latest team owner is DJ and entrepreneur Steve Aoki, who will lead Aoki Racing against a current lineup of five other star-studded E1 teams.
Although the inaugural UIM E1 World Championship has been pushed to 2024, the nascent electric boat racing league continues to progress in its technology and the big names that will be competing.
The league’s proprietary electric boats, called RaceBirds, will compete side-by-side for the first time in Rotterdam, Netherlands a couple weeks from now as the league’s cofounders, each with experience in sustainability and motorsports, look to entice more and more celebrities to join the fun.
To date, E1 has announced five racing teams beginning with Team Venice back in the spring of 2022. Since then, Formula 1 driver Sergio Perez, tennis great Rafael Nadal, and former Chelsea footballer Didier Drogba have all signed on as team owners. However, E1 got some serious American clout when sure-fire NFL hall of famer Tom Brady signed on in July.
Today, E1 has announced another American as its latest racing team owner – Steve Aoki.
Aoki Racing becomes E1’s latest team to compete in 2024
Many people know Steve Aoki as a world famous DJ and one of the heirs to the Benihana fortune, thanks to his father Rocky. However, many people don’t know that the Aoki’s also have a pedigree in motorsports. Aside from a life as a professional wrestler, Rocky Aoki was an offshore powerboat racer in the 1970s and 1980s.
Clearly Steve’s thirst for adventure and adrenaline is in his genes and looks to carve a similar path as his father on the water in E1 – but without any carbon emissions of course. Aoki Racing is the latest team to compete in E1, marking the sixth competitor to join the race card. Aoki spoke:
The UIM E1 World Championship not only offers me a chance to continue my father’s racing legacy on the water, but this time going electric! E1 is a great blend of adrenaline, sport, sustainability, and fun, and I can’t wait to develop our team to entertain fans with our racing and our parties, inspiring change and bringing people together. I’m proud to follow in my dad’s footsteps and I can’t wait to go full throttle on and off the water against the likes of Tom Brady, Rafael Nadal and Sergio Perez. I love creating outside of my usual spaces, so I’ll be seeing you all on the dockside as we electrify racing on the water.
Some of Aoki’s E1 competitors might bring more experience in head-to-head competition, but none of the other team owners will be able to DJ a massive dance party after the race. We could see the entrepreneur throwing a birthday cake at his winning racers rather than dousing them in champagne. The racing league appears to be expecting such entertainment from the music producer as well:
Through the UIM E1 World Championship, Aoki will be competing, performing and creating all at once, bringing music and captivating shows to E1 events, which are designed to be a powerful platform mixing sport, entertainment and tangible change to build a more sustainable future for our planet and our waters.
Expect to see a flashy Aoki Racing RaceBird on the waters of Jeddah Saudi Arabia this coming January when the first-ever UIM E1 World Championship kicks off. Expect to see some cake, too. E1’s cofounders said more team owner announcements will be unveiled in the coming weeks.
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Environment
U.S. could reach deal with Canada that avoids oil and gas tariffs, energy secretary says
HOUSTON — The U.S. could reach an agreement with Canada that avoids tariffs on imports of oil, gas and other energy resources, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Monday.
Wright said such a scenario is “certainly is possible” but “it’s too early to say” in response to a question from CNBC during a press conference at the CERAWeek by S&P Global. The U.S. is in “active dialogue” with Canada and Mexico, the energy secretary said.
President Donald Trump has paused until April 2 tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports that are compliant with the agreement which governs trade in North America. Trump originally imposed broad 25% tariffs on goods from both countries as well as lesser 10% tariffs on energy imports from Canada.
It’s unclear, however, how much of the oil, gas and other energy that the U.S. imports from Canada is compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Wright declined to provide specifics when CNBC asked how much of those imports are USMCA compliant.
“I’m going to avoid the details for now,” Wright said. The energy secretary said, “We can get to no tariffs or very low tariffs but it’s got to be reciprocal” in an interview with CNBC’s Brian Sullivan.
Canada’s energy minister, Jonathan Wilkinson, warned last week that energy prices will rise in the U.S. if the tariffs on energy imports go into full effect.
“We will see higher gasoline prices as a function of energy, higher electricity prices from hydroelectricity from Canada, higher home heating prices associated with natural gas that comes from Canada and higher automobile prices,” Wilkinson told CNBC’s Megan Cassella in an interview.
The U.S. has been the largest producer of crude oil and natural gas in the world for years. But many refiners in the U.S. are dependent on heavy crude imported from Canada. The U.S. imported 6.6 million barrels of crude oil per day on average in December, more than 60% of which came from Canada, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Wright acknowledged that the tariffs are creating uncertainty in energy markets as negotiations continue.
“We’re in the middle of negotiations for where things are going to go with tariffs, so that feels frightening and gripping right now but this time will pass,” Wright said. “Deals will be made, we’ll get certainty and we’ll have a positive economic environment for Americans going forward.”
U.S. crude oil fell more than 1% Monday to close at $66.03 per barrel, while global benchmark Brent closed at $69.28 per barrel. Crude oil futures have pulled back substantially as Trump’s trade policy creates uncertainty and OPEC+ has confirmed that it plans to gradually bring back 2.2 million barrels per day of production beginning next month.
Apple is rolling out a notable update to Apple Maps EV Routing for Ford drivers. Starting today, Ford Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning drivers can use Apple Maps EV Routing via CarPlay to plan road trips that include Tesla Superchargers – or any station that uses the North American Charging Standard (NACS) connector.
As I’ve explained before, Ford began shipping adapters CCS to NACS adapters that allow Mach-E and Lightning drivers to charge at Tesla Superchargers last year. Until today, however, Apple Maps was unaware of this change. This meant Apple Maps EV Routing would only route Mach-E and Lightning drivers to CCS charging stations, even though a route with Tesla Superchargers might’ve been more efficient.
With today’s change, Apple Maps via CarPlay will now include NACS fast charging stations, such as compatible Tesla Superchargers, in recommended route planning recommendations.
In a blog post, Ford explains:
Apple Maps EV Routing in CarPlay allows drivers to input their route and can view the estimated battery level they will have when they get to a destination, as well as suggested charging stations along the way if charging is needed. Previously, Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning drivers would have to manually open another app, then enter a NACS fast charger as a destination to have it added to their route. Now, with the Apple Maps EV Routing and NACS fast charger integration, the experience will be more seamless.
How to Use Apple Maps EV Routing in CarPlay:
- Connect your Apple iPhone to CarPlay.
- Open Apple Maps, go to Settings, and confirm your preferred charging network(s) – make sure you select a NACS fast charging station, such as Tesla Supercharger. You only have to do this once.
- Enter a destination.
- Apple Maps will then calculate the estimated state of charge you will have when you get to a destination.
- If a charge is required, depending on the fastest route, it will automatically route you to a NACS fast charging station.*
This is a significant update to the Apple Maps EV Routing experience for Ford drivers. Next up on my wishlist is support for battery preconditioning when using Apple Maps EV Routing. Android Auto added this feature last October.
The new feature is available now to iPhone users running iOS 17 or later. No software update is required for your car.
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James Murdoch, a Tesla board member and friend of CEO Elon Musk, has confirmed that he sold about $13 million in stock today as the stock (TSLA) crashed.
There has been a lot of insider trading at Tesla lately, and by trading, we mean selling – cause no insider is ever buying at Tesla.
We recently reported on Kimball Musk, Elon’s brother, and Tesla’s Chief Financial Officer Taneja Vaibhav recently selling ahead of a recent drop in the company’s stock price.
Tesla’s chairwoman, Robyn Denholm, also sold $33 million worth of Tesla shares last week and over $100 million in the last 3 months.
Now, it’s James Murdoch’s turn. The Tesla board member just confirmed, through a required SEC filing, that he sold 54,776 Tesla shares for just over $13 million today:
He sold as Tesla’s stock crashed 15% today. It is now down more than 50% from its all-time high just a few months ago.
Murdoch was appointed to Tesla’s board in 2017.
He is better known as the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the former CEO of 21st Century Fox from 2015 to 2019.
Murdoch was one of the Tesla board directors who was forced to return almost $1 billion in cash and stock options to Tesla as part of a settlement for over-compensation.
Electrek’s Take
Tesla insiders are unloading, and those are just the ones we know about. Public companies only have to report insider trading for board directors and listed top executives.
For the latter, Tesla purposefully only lists 3 people: Elon, Vaibhav Taneja, Tesla’s CFO, and Tom Zhu, whose role at Tesla has bit quite fluid in recent years.
Therefore, we don’t know about the dozens of other top executives potentially selling their shares right now amid a giant correction.
It’s really suspicious because there are clear top leaders at Tesla who are often on Tesla’s earnings calls, and they are not even listed, like Lars Moravy, for example.
But it’s par for the course at Tesla, which has some of the worst corporate governance I have ever seen. It’s truly shameful.
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