The Biden administration just announced $16.4 billion to upgrade the Northeast Corridor’s rail infrastructure – here’s why that’s going to impact a lot of people.
The Biden administration’s Infrastructure Law, which passed in November 2021, earmarked $66 billion for rail investment – the most significant (and well overdue) investment in passenger rail since Amtrak was created in 1971. The $16.4 billion isn’t more money being spent; it’s coming out of the Infrastructure Law budget. And it’s going to pay for 25 passenger rail projects on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor.
The investments announced today will rebuild 12 tunnels and bridges that are over 100 years old; upgrade tracks, power systems, signals, stations, and other infrastructure; and advance future projects to significantly improve travel times by increasing operating speeds and reducing delays.
Why the Northeast Corridor?
The Northeast Corridor runs from Boston to Washington, DC. It’s the most heavily traveled rail corridor in the US in a region representing 20% of the US gross domestic product. If the Northeast Corridor shut down for a single day, it would cost the US economy $100 million in lost productivity.
But there hasn’t been significant investment in the Northeast Corridor in generations. The Northeast Corridor that exists today is the product of investments that date back to the 1830s, and many of its existing bridges and tunnels were built in the early 20th century.
What’s getting an upgrade
The White House-released map above shows the awarded projects. Two standouts that are going to make a significant impact are:
Frederick Douglass Tunnel in Maryland is relied upon by around 24,000 Amtrak and Maryland Area Commuter passengers daily. The 150-year-old tunnel (pictured below) is the largest Northeast Corridor bottleneck between Washington and New Jersey, and $4.7 billion will be spent in a phased funding agreement to replace it. The electric upgrade (the main image) will increase speeds from 30 mph to 110 mph and reduce delays on the entire Northeast Corridor.
Penn Station Access in New York City will receive $1.6 billion in a phased funding agreement to repair and rehabilitate 19 miles of the Amtrak-owned Hell Gate Line, including tracks, bridges, and signals. The project will increase Amtrak service, introduce Metro-North service (which currently only leaves from Grand Central) to Penn Station, and cut local transit travel time from the Bronx to Manhattan by as much as 50 minutes.
US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said, “These investments will make our busiest passenger railroad safer, faster, and more reliable, which means fewer delays and shorter commutes for the 800,000 passengers who rely on the Northeast Corridor every day.”
Electrek’s Take
My initial reaction to this news was, “Well, it’s about time.”
Amtrak trains on the Northeast Corridor emit up to 83% less greenhouse gas emissions than car travel and up to 72% less greenhouse gas emissions than flying. More people will take trains if already-cleaner train travel becomes more efficient, faster, and more frequent in the Northeast. Plus, you can only electrify with the infrastructure to support it.
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The long-promised “more affordable” Tesla model has been spied on Chinese social media, and it’s disappointingly about what we expected: a slightly decontented version of the Model Y.
For many years, Tesla had planned to build a much more affordable vehicle, starting around $25k. This vehicle was nicknamed the “Model 2,” and would have offered the most affordable entry point into the EV market, at least in the West.
In its place, Tesla started offering vague promises about “more affordable models, starting in its Q1 report in April 2024. Tesla later specified that these would enter production in the first half of 2025.
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The language Tesla used suggested that the cheaper vehicles would be “new models,” which means more than one model, and not just based on a current Tesla model. But we reported that this was unlikely to be the case, and that the “new models” would just be a stripped-down Model Y.
So, we’ve got confirmation that actual new models aren’t coming – but it does seem like something cheaper is coming down the pipe. And now, from Chinese social media pics of these “first builds,” we know just what kind of decontenting Tesla will do in order to get the cost savings.
Two videos were posted this weekend, on bilibili and weibo. The first was an exterior video by account “极客小猪” (machine translated as “Geek Piglet”). You’ll have to click through if you want to see the whole thing.
Parked side by side with a Juniper Model Y, the two models seem similar in length
It shows the new Model Y as similar in size to the Juniper refreshed model it’s parked next to, though the front and rear are covered by camouflage and it’s hard to tell with perspective of the camera.
As best we can tell from the captions (which isn’t very well), the account seems to think this might be the upcoming larger Model Y L, and the camera perspective in the particular screeenshot above does make it look like the car in the forefront could be slightly longer than the one in the back. But other perspectives show them looking similar in length, and seeing the various missing parts later in the video, we think it’s likely the “more affordable” model.
There are a few holes in the camouflage that give som indication of what might be different, like that the rear light bar from the Juniper might be cut off rather than running across the whole rear of the car. The new one is also missing the “T E S L A” logo across the rear, as can be seen in a little window showing the rear camera.
The video gets a look at the interior of the vehicle, where the seats are covered up. I originally suspected the vehicle might have cloth seats, but the cover seems to have dropped down in the rear, and something leather-like is showing through, so Tesla may still be using its fake leather product to cover the seats.
It also shows that the center console is cut off between the armrest and the screen, using up less material and giving an open space there. This is somewhat similar to the original design of the Model S, which had a large space in front of the center console. We can’t tell from the video if the 2 phone charging mats are still present or not – it looks like the space they’d normally go is there, but the pattern looks different than the current NFC phone chargers.
For another look at the interior, we saw a couple more photos from another Chinese social media account, 42号车库, or “Garage No. 42” on Weibo. These show the steering wheel, front seats, rear and roof a little more clearly. It seems to be of the same car, given the status of the seat covers in the rear.
More changes become apparent here: there is no panoramic glass roof on the car, and the rear screen which was added in the Juniper refresh is once again eliminated. But the turn signal stalk, which was eliminated in the Model 3 Highland refresh and returned in a vestigial manner in the Juniper refresh, is (thankfully) still there.
The balance of these changes suggest that a lot of them are just rollbacks of the content which was added to the cars in the Juniper refresh. Interestingly, though, the Juniper refresh did not increase the price of the car significantly. So, rolling back those changes shouldn’t decrease the price of the car all that much either.
But these just show us some of the interior and exterior changes – the model might have other changes as well. From time to time, Tesla has offered cheaper versions of its vehicles either with rear-wheel drive only, to save on the cost of the front motor, or with a smaller or cheaper (e.g. LFP) battery. The new “affordable” Model Y might incorporate those changes too, and be able to get cost down more because of it, but we’ll have to wait for more information on that.
Further, there’s been no indication of a cheaper Model 3 or any actual “new models” yet. Model 3 is a smaller car than the Model Y, and thus could be cheaper – if Tesla is saving a significant amount of money by cutting a little plastic out of a center console, surely cutting hundreds of pounds of aluminum would save even more. We had expected the “more affordable models” to include both a stripped-down Model 3 and Model Y, but per Musk’s comments on the call, we might only be getting a Model Y.
Maybe it would be nice to have someone in charge who takes the mission of sustainable transport seriously. Which Musk does not, and has in fact acted against with his recent actions.
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It may be small in size, but Honda promises the new N-ONE e is fit for a “daily partner” with a flexible interior, ample range to navigate the city, and it can even power up your home..
Honda reveals the new N-ONE e electric car
The N-ONE e is Honda’s second light EV, or “kei car” as they are called in Japan. It’s Honda’s second electric kei car, following the N-VAN e, launched in October 2024.
Although the N-VAN e was mainly for business use, the new N-ONE e is specifically designed as an everyday driver.
Honda said the new EV was “developed in pursuit of the ideal EV” with a unique design, spacious interior layout, and enough driving range for daily travels. The N-ONE e is the electric version of Honda’s retro kei car, the N-ONE, which has been on sale in Japan since 2012.
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It looks about the same as the gas-powered model, but the new EV has a new face with a smoothed-out black grille and two additional charge ports up front.
Honda N-ONE e electric car (Source: Honda)
Honda boasted that the electric city car has “added the cleanliness that only an EV can offer” with smoothed edges and a new rounded bumper design.
The interior, on the other hand, has been completely revamped from the gas model to maximize space. It includes a decent-sized infotainment screen and a push-button gear selector.
Honda N-ONE e electric car (Source: Honda)
There’s also plenty of physical buttons for climate control functions and more. To maximize interior space, Honda kept it simple with smart storage options and flexible seating.
Although Honda has yet to reveal specifics, it did say the N-ONE e has achieved a WLTP cruising range of over 270 km (167 miles).
It will likely share parts with the N-VAN e, hinting at a single electric powertrain with up to 63 hp, the limit for kei cars in Japan.
With Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) capabilities, Honda’s new EV can be used as a mobile power source during a natural disaster or power outage. You can also use it to power electronics, a campsite, a worksite, and more on the go.
Honda is opening advanced reservations for the new electric car on Friday, August 31. It’s scheduled to launch in September, around the same time Honda’s “Super EV” for Europe is set to debut.
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A view of Cheniere’s Sabine Pass LNG facility located in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, as seen from Port Arthur, Texas, on June 23, 2025.
Joel Angel Juarez | Reuters
Shares of liquified natural gas, or LNG, companies jumped Monday after the European Union agreed to purchase $750 billion of energy from the U.S.
LNG exporters Cheniere and Venture Global were up about 3% and more than 4%, respectively. NextDecade and New Fortress Energy, which build LNG infrastructure, jumped more than 2% and about 3%, respectively.
EU President Ursula von der Leyen said the purchases would help reduce the bloc’s dependence on Russia for natural gas.
“Purchases of US energy products will diversify our sources of supply and contribute to Europe’s energy security,” Von der Leyen said in a statement over the weekend. “We will replace Russian gas and oil with significant purchases of US LNG, oil and nuclear fuels.”
The energy purchases are part of a broader trade deal struck between the EU and the U.S. over the weekend. The deal imposes 15% tariffs on EU exports to the U.S. In addition to the energy purchases, Brussels has agreed to invest $600 billion in the U.S. above current levels.
President Donald Trump said “energy is a very important component” of the deal during a meeting with von der Leyen on Sunday.