Monthly Meeting Q&A with Jim Cramer on everything from tech to health care to industrials
A train transports oil tankers in Ajmer on July 7, 2025. Indian exporters are scrambling for options as they seek to mitigate the fallout of U.S. President Donald Trump’s threatened tariff salvo against the world’s most populous nation.
Himanshu Sharma | Afp | Getty Images
U.S. President Donald Trump‘s trade advisor Peter Navarro on Monday called on India to stop buying Russian crude oil, accusing the Asian giant of undermining international efforts to isolate Vladimir Putin‘s war economy.
Writing in in the Financial Times, Navarro described India’s dependence on Russian oil as “opportunistic,” adding that if India “wants to be treated as a strategic partner of the US, it needs to start acting like one.”
“In effect, India acts as a global clearinghouse for Russian oil, converting embargoed crude into high-value exports while giving Moscow the dollars it needs,” Navarro said in the op-ed.
His comments come shortly after trade negotiations between the U.S. and India, which had been scheduled to take place in New Delhi later this month, were reportedly called off.
India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and the Office of the U.S Trade Representative did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comments.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration said it planned to impose an additional 25% tariff on India over Russian oil purchases, bringing the total levies against the country to 50%. The cumulative rate of duties on India is among the highest on any of Washington’s trade partners.
India described the move as “extremely unfortunate” at the time, saying the tariffs were “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable.”
The White House has since warned that secondary levies on India could increase further, depending on the outcome of Trump’s peace talks with Putin.
For its part, India has said it has been unfairly targeted for its continuing trade with Russia since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, amid criticism from both the U.S. and European Union.
In a statement published Aug. 4, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said the country began importing from Russian because traditional supplies were diverted from Europe after the outbreak of the conflict.
“India’s imports are meant to ensure predictable and affordable energy costs to the Indian consumer. They are a necessity compelled by global market situation,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs said.
“However, it is revealing that the very nations criticizing India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia. Unlike our case, such trade is not even a vital national compulsion,” it added.
Trump’s criticism of India’s oil trade with Russia represents a clear shift from the Biden administration, which, along with other G7 nations, Australia and the European Union, established a $60 a barrel price cap in late 2022. The EU has since signaled it has reached an agreement to lower the price threshold.
This mechanism sought to limit Russia’s revenue from oil sales, while maintaining some stability in global energy markets.
Shilan Shah, deputy chief emerging markets economist at Capital Economics, said India could, in principle, find suppliers other than Russia to meet its energy needs “relatively easily,” with limited economic impact.
“But we doubt that India would make a wholehearted effort to wean itself off Russian oil. Domestically, it would not play well to be seen caving to Trump’s demands,” Shah said in a note published Aug. 4.
“In addition, Indian policymakers would be reluctant to upend generally cordial (and long-standing) relations with Russia,” he added.
— CNBC’s Vinay Dwivedi contributed to this report.
BRP, the Canadian powersports giant behind names like Ski-Doo, Sea-Doo, and Can-Am, has just pulled the cover off the latest addition to its rapidly growing electric lineup: the 2026 Can-Am Outlander Electric ATV. Its impressive specs put it at the top of the performance charts in nearly every metric compared to the company’s gasoline-powered ATVs.
This isn’t just a one-off electric side project either. It’s part of a major offensive into electric powersports, and it shows that BRP is serious about expanding its lineup of quiet, powerful, and clean alternatives across the board, from snowmobiles to motorcycles, and now all-terrain utility vehicles.
The new Outlander Electric is built using BRP’s own in-house Rotax E-Power drivetrain, the same modular platform found in its electric motorcycles and snowmobiles. That means the company isn’t just buying off-the-shelf parts and bolting them to a legacy frame. Instead, this is ground-up electrification.
Power comes from an electric motor rated at 47 hp (35 kW) and 53 lb-ft (72 Nm) of torque, which BRP says is tuned for utility and responsiveness.
With selectable ride modes (Normal, Sport, and Work), riders can tailor the feel for anything from recreational trail riding to serious on-the-job use. Towing capacity is listed as a healthy 1,830 lbs (830 kg), which puts it firmly in the “workhorse” category, and bests the towing capacity of the top-of-the-line gasoline-powered ATV offerings from companies like Polaris and Honda, as well as Can-Am’s own highest-spec gasoline-powered ATVs.
Range clocks in at up to 50 miles (80 km) from the 8.9 kWh battery. And BRP says that the battery charges from 20 to 80% in about 50 minutes with a Level 2 charger.
But the big deal here isn’t just the torque or the tech. It’s the quietness.
The Outlander Electric is designed to be whisper-quiet, making it ideal for farmers, hunters, park rangers, or anyone else who needs serious off-road capability without the roar of a gas engine. XPS Recon Force tires, a low-noise liquid-cooling system, and an optimized suspension all contribute to a near-silent ride.
This means you can sneak through the woods, work around livestock, or ride trails at dawn without disturbing your surroundings – or your neighbors.
Priced at US $1,299, the Can-Am Outlander Electric ATV is now available on Can-Am’s site and from its dealers.
“With the Outlander Electric, we’re not just launching a new ATV, we’re introducing a new way to experience the outdoors and get the job done,” said Julie Tourville, Director, Global Marketing, Can-Am Off-Road at BRP. “This vehicle is built to let riders and workers feel more connected to their surroundings. It’s powerful, quiet, and true to what we do at BRP. It shows how we bring purposeful innovation to life.”
Electrek’s Take
We’ve seen plenty of electric motorcycles and scooters over the years, including from Can-Am itself. But electric ATVs? Those are still rare enough to make this release feel like a big deal. As someone who personally owns and uses an electric UTV, I can tell you what a major difference the electric drivetrain makes for both the operational experience and the ownership experience.
Gas ATVs and UTVs are incredibly useful as working tools, but they’re also noisy, maintenance-heavy, and pretty nasty for the environment. Replacing them with electric models that don’t sacrifice capability is a game-changer, especially for folks who need to operate in noise-sensitive or emission-sensitive areas.
BRP also deserves credit for going wide, not just deep. In the last couple of years, they’ve rolled out the Can-Am Pulse and Origin electric motorcycles, four electric snowmobiles under the Ski-Doo and Lynx brands, and even an electric kart racing powerpack. Now, with the Outlander Electric ATV, they’re quickly closing in on completing an electric powersports bingo card.
The real question is whether people will pay up. Polaris unveiled what may be the nicest electric UTVs in the world a few years ago, but the sky-high pricing meant limited adoption. Considering Can-Am’s electric ATV is around twice the price of a typical gasoline-powered ATV, let’s hope there are enough people who can see and appreciate the advantages of electric to support this nascent market while it grows and matures.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
From the ashes of Elon Musk’s decision to fire the whole Supercharger team last year, a new company has risen: Hubber, which will take its founders’ expertise at setting up Tesla Superchargers and apply that to addressing the lack of high-speed urban charging for taxis and other commercial vehicles.
Last year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk suddenly fired the entire charging department, in what is one of the more chaotic decisions he’s made yet.
In the immediate aftermath of this decision, a lot of questions were asked around the industry – and a lot of companies started snatching up talent from the best EV charging team in the world.
Or, alternately, some of that talent went to form their own companies. That’s the case for Harry Fox, Connor Selwood and Hugh Leckie, who met at Tesla and together oversaw the rollout of 100 Supercharger sites with 1,200 total chargers across the UK & Ireland. And after the shakeup of the Supercharger team, they set off to charge a new path of their own.
The three formed Hubber, which pitches itself as a new type of EV charging company, focused on solving “the urban charging gap.”
Hubber describes itself as “the UK’s leading specialist in urban high-powered EV charging, addressing one of the most urgent constraints in the energy transition: the shortage of fast, reliable charging in major cities.” It “acquires and develops prime urban sites into large-scale charging hubs, combining deep grid-connection know-how with a proven ability to deliver complex infrastructure at speed”.
A large amount of the traffic in UK cities is taken up by taxis and last-mile, and these vehicles tend to see higher utilization than commuter cars, so they need to charge more often. Hubber says that taxis charge five times as often as a private vehicle, which means they’ll need more access to fast EV charging.
This is further exacerbated in urban environments, where EVs might not park in a place they can charge. Lots of urban homes don’t have garages, and while there are street EV chargers available in London, they’re not everywhere yet. So convenient fast charging is essential.
And the needs for commercial drivers are different than those of other commuters. While nicely-appointed charging plazas (like Rove’s “full service” EV charger in Santa Ana, CA) are great for the average consumer, commercial EV drivers put more of a premium on speed and affordability, and don’t mind if a site is a little further off of a main thoroughfare, or not as close to food or shopping as other drivers might want.
So Hubber is looking at sites that other developers might pass over – like old warehouses or gas stations – and figuring out how to turn them into an ideal site for high-throughput charging.
With its cofounders’ experience at Tesla, Hubber will buy sites, transform them into a charger-ready location, and essentially provide the dream location that they would have liked to see during the site selection processes they went through in their previous jobs.
The charging hubs could still have some amenities, like restrooms and vending machines, of the type that would be useful for taxi or ride-hailing drivers to grab during a quick stop. But the main focus would be on getting people in and out and back on the road.
Here’s a rendering of what a potential site might look like. In this sample location, there would be room for light-duty vehicles up front, with an area for larger last-mile delivery vehicles with larger charging bays. A small covered area could provide restrooms and vending, and another portion of the site could be dedicated to transformers, batteries and the like.
Hubber is also thinking ahead to a possible autonomous future, where driverless ride-hailing vehicles like those from Waymo could have a place to charge. Although given that there aren’t currently great solutions for autonomous charging, an attendant might have to be involved for the foreseeable future.
The company would also like to expand beyond the UK and Ireland, but they’re sticking to home base for the time being. After all, things are just getting off the ground – but the £60 million (~$81m) investment that Hubber just secured is certainly a big boost towards getting the project moving.
Speaking of projects, Hubber’s first facility is opening this coming week, on August 20th. The site is at Forest Hill in South London, near Forest Hill Station. It will have 12 EV charging bays, with 3 150kW and 3 300kW dual-head chargers. The site will be operated by RAW charging, which will offer free fast charging for its first week of operation.
Electrek’s Take
As we said at the time, firing the whole Supercharger team was a dumb decision. It was immediately obvious to everyone in the industry that it was a dumb decision, and Tesla did eventually relent and rehire some of the fired workers, but the damage was done – and not just for the charging team, but morale was made low throughout the organization.
The silver lining, at least for the rest of the industry, is that it allowed this talent to be distributed around to other companies. This isn’t beneficial for Tesla and did cause chaos which has likely affected the rollout of NACS, slowed EV charging site development in the US, and so on, but it has been beneficial for other companies who managed to snatch up talent.
Or, for companies like Hubber, which were formed by that talent.
It’s an interesting idea, and I like the angle of focusing on taxis in order to increase utilization of the site. EV charging is potentially an interesting business long term, but currently a lot of chargers see low usage because it’s so easy for most of the people who own EVs to charge at home.
But we’re going to have to move beyond the market of people who can easily charge in a garage attached to a single family home, especially in cities. Getting an easy way for the cars that get used the most in a city to charge is a really important move, and we’re looking forward to seeing how Hubber can help with this. And having a leadership team consisting of people who formerly worked at the best charging team in the industry isn’t a bad start.
The 30% federal solar tax credit is ending this year. If you’ve ever considered going solar, now’s the time to act. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike