E1 pushes start of its inaugural electric boat racing series, but locks dates of first official event
After consistent updates pertaining to its growing lineup of team owners, but with multiple delays to the start to its inaugural season, the UIM E1 World Championship has set a date for its first official racing event. We are now 100 days out from the first-ever electric boat racing series, although the rest of the race calendar remains a tad less clear. Here’s the latest.
We are now more than a year removed from the World Port Days in Rotterdam, Netherlands, when the nascent E1 electric boat league inked a deal to race there in its first season before showcasing two races at that same event this past September.
Since then, the series which will eventually consist of 12 mixed-gender teams, has gained some hype by recruiting a slew of athletes and celebrities representing regions around the world. In addition to Team Venice – the first team originally announced, E1 has recruited Formula 1’s Sergio Perez; tennis great Rafael Nadal; legendary footballer Didier Drogba; the most decorated NFL player of all time, Tom Brady; and most recently superstar DJ Steve Aoki.
In early January, E1 CEO Rodi Basso shared that the league expects eight teams to compete in events during its inaugural season and teased that fans will see races in Europe and the Middle East in 2023.
By June, E1 shared its full race calendar, beginning in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – but the series had been delayed until January 2024. Today, we’ve learned that E1’s first official electric boat racing event has been delayed again, but have a more concrete date to the start, which will remain in Jeddah.
E1’s first racing season to begin in early February 2024
This morning, E1 confirmed the first ever UIM World Championship will kick off its first race events in Jeddah on February 2-3, 2024. The E1 Jeddah GP will take place at the Jeddah Corniche close to shore on the Red Sea and will be made possible through a partnership with the Saudi Ministry of Sport and the Saudi Water Sports and Diving Federation. Per cofounder and CEO Rodi Basso:
We are thrilled to get the first dates in our fans’ calendars as the first-ever E1 Grand Prix is about to arrive. We know that audiences around the world will love our unique racing in stunning locations, as we make a positive impact on our race locations with our all-electric race fleet.
In addition to witnessing the inaugural electric boat racing event, fans in Saudi Arabia will be able to visit the first-ever “Acceleration Festival,” E1’s dedicated village for attendees offering variety of entertainment options and experiences.
During the event, each of the teams will choose two mandated mixed-gender pilots to share the racing duties outlined in the format above. The league now says not eight, but (up to) 10 teams will compete in the inaugural UIM E1 World Championship.
We’d assume the season schedule will slightly change now that the start in Jeddah was pushed a month, but E1 has yet to update it. Here’s what the previous timeline looked like:
- January 2024 – Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- February 2024 – TBD, Middle East
- April 2024 – Venice, Italy
- May 2024 – Venice, Italy
- June 2024 – TBD, Europe
- July 2024 – Monaco
- September 2024 – Rotterdam, Netherlands
E1 states that ticketing details for the Jeddah event will be released shortly.
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Enbridge is going big on solar again in Texas, and Meta is snapping up all the solar power it can get.
Last month, Electrek reported that the Canadian oil and gas pipeline giant just launched its first solar farm in Texas. Now it’s given the green light to Clear Fork, a 600 megawatt (MW) utility-scale solar farm already under construction near San Antonio. The project is expected to come online in summer 2027.
Once it’s up and running, every bit of Clear Fork’s electricity will go to Meta Platforms under a long-term contract. Meta will use the solar power to help run its energy-hungry data centers entirely on clean energy.
The solar farm project’s cost is around $900 million. Enbridge says it expects Clear Fork to boost the company’s cash flow and earnings starting in 2027.
Enbridge EVP Matthew Akman said the project reflects “growing demand for renewable power across North America from blue-chip companies involved in technology and data center operations.”
Meta’s head of global energy, Urvi Parekh, added that the company is “thrilled to partner with Enbridge to bring new renewable energy to Texas and help support our operations with 100% clean energy.”
Meta’s first multi-gigawatt data center, Prometheus, is expected to come online in 2026.
Clear Fork is part of a growing trend: tech giants like Meta, Amazon, and Google are racing to lock down renewable energy contracts as they expand their fleets of AI-ready data centers, which use massive amounts of electricity.
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A fully electric Japanese electric pickup truck? It’s not a Toyota or Honda, but Isuzu’s new electric pickup packs a punch. The D-MAX EV can tow over 7,770 lbs (3,500 kg), plow through nearly 24″ (600 mm) of water, and it even has a dedicated Terrain Mode for extreme off-roading. However, it comes at a cost.
Meet Isuzu’s first electric pickup: The D-MAX EV
After announcing that it had begun building left-hand drive D-MAX EV models at the end of April, Isuzu said that it would start shipping them to Europe in the third quarter.
By the end of the year, Isuzu will begin production of right-hand drive models for the UK. Sales will follow in early 2026.
Isuzu announced prices this week, boasting the D-MAX EV features the same “no compromise durability” of the current diesel version.
The D-MAX EV pickup features a full-time 4WD system, a towing capacity of up to 3.5 tons (7,700 lbs), and an added Terrain Mode, which Isuzu says is designed for “extreme off-road capability.” With 210 mm (8.3″) of ground clearance, Isuzu’s electric pickup can wade through up to 600 mm (24″) of water.
Powered by a 66.9 kWh battery, Isuzu’s electric pickup offers a WLTP range of 163 miles. With charging speeds of up to 50 kW, the D-MAX EV can recharge from 20% to 80% in about an hour.
The electric version is nearly identical to the current diesel-powered D-Max, both inside and out, but prices will be significantly higher.
| Isuzu D-Max EV specs and prices | |
| Drive System | Full-time 4×4 |
| Battery Type | Lithium-ion |
| Battery Capacity | 66.9 kWh |
| WLTP driving range | 163 miles |
| Max Output | 130 kW (174 hp) |
| Max Torque | 325 Nm |
| Max Speed | Over 130 km/h (+80 mph) |
| Max Payload | 1,000 kg (+2,200 lbs) |
| Max Towing Capacity | 3.5t (+7,700 lbs) |
| Ground Clearance | 210 mm |
| Wading Depth | 600 mm |
| Starting Price (*Ex. VAT) | £59,995 ($81,000) |
Isuzu’s electric pickup will be priced from £59,995 ($81,000), not including VAT. The double cab variant starts at £60,995 ($82,500). In comparison, the diesel model starts at £36,755 ($50,000).
The EV pickup will launch in extended and double cab variants with two premium trims: the eDL40 and V-Cross. Pre-sales will begin later this year with the first UK arrivals scheduled for February 2026. Customer deliveries are set to follow in March.
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In this photo illustration, Claude AI logo is seen on a smartphone and Anthropic logo on a pc screen. (Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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OpenAI and Anthropic continue to lead a fundraising bonanza in artificial intelligence, raising historic rounds and stratospheric valuations.
But when it comes to finding AI exits for venture firms, the market looks a lot different.
AI startups raised $104.3 billion in the U.S. in the first half of this year, nearly matching the $104.4 billion total for 2024, according to PitchBook. Almost two-thirds of all U.S. venture funding went to AI, up from 49% last year, PitchBook said.
The biggest deals follow a familiar theme. OpenAI raised a record $40 billion in March in a round led by SoftBank. Meta poured $14.3 billion into Scale AI in June as part of a way to hire away CEO Alexandr Wang and a few other top staffers. OpenAI rival Anthropic raised $3.5 billion, while Safe Superintelligence, a nascent startup started by OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, raised $2 billion.
While Meta’s massive investment into Scale AI amounted to a lucrative exit of sorts for early investors, the overarching trend has been a lot more money going in than coming out.
In the first half, there were 281 VC-backed exits totaling $36 billion, according to PitchBook. That includes the roughly $700 million acquisition of EvolutionIQ, an AI platform for disability and injury claims management, by CCC Intelligent Solutions, and the public listing of Slide Insurance, which builds AI-powered insurance offerings for homeowners. Slide is valued at about $2.3 billion.
“The dominant exit trend right now is frequent but lower-value acquisitions and fewer IPOs with significantly higher value,” said Dimitri Zabelin, PitchBook’s senior research analyst for AI and cybersecurity.
CoreWeave’s IPO, which took place at the very end of the first quarter, was the exception on the infrastructure side. The stock shot up 340% in the second quarter, and the company is now valued at over $63 billion.
Zabelin said the pattern of more investments in applications with smaller deals has been in place for the past year.
“Vertical solutions tend to plug more easily into existing enterprise gaps,” Zabelin said.
The acquisitions wave is being driven, in part, by what Zabelin calls bolt-on deals where larger companies buy smaller startups to enhance their own future valuations, hoping to enhance their value ahead of a future sale or IPO.
“That also has to do with the current liquidity conditions in the macro environment,” Zabelin said.
Outside of AI, activity is slow. U.S. fintech funding dropped 42% in the first half of the year to $10.5 billion, according to Tracxn. Cloud software and crypto have also seen sharp pullbacks.
Zabelin said IPO activity could pick up if economic conditions improve and if interest rates come down. Investors clearly want opportunities to back promising AI companies, he said.
“The appetite for AI, specifically vertical applications, will continue to remain robust,” Zabelin said.
— CNBC’s Kevin Schmidt contributed to this report.
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