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All work and no play definitely makes summer dull, and today’s Green Deals are here to both help speed up the necessities so you can jump into the fun and go! Leading the pack is the Rad Power Mother’s Day sale that is offering up to $300 off e-bikes, as well as free extra batteries, and even discounts on a particular accessory for your smaller passengers – starting from $1,399. It is joined by both the return of the Husqvarna 24-inch Hedge Master Cordless Electric Trimmer to $240, as well as the Rachio 3rd Gen Smart 4-Zone Sprinkler Controller to $99. Plus, more hangover Green Deals still alive and well.

Head below for other New Green Deals we’ve found today and, of course, Electrek’s best EV buying and leasing deals. Also, check out the new Electrek Tesla Shop for the best deals on Tesla accessories.

Rad Power Bikes has launched its Mother’s Day sale through May 15 that is taking up to $300 off three of its e-bikes, while also giving you a free extra battery along with two of the three specific models. Leading the pack is the RadWagon 4 Cargo e-bike for $1,599 shipped. Down from its new $1,799 price tag since the company lowered prices across its lineup of models, we’ve seen this particular model at lower rates only twice in the past – once over the last summer when it dropped to $1,399 and during its pre-order launch sale when we saw it dropped to $1,299 (which it has never returned to). This is the third-lowest price overall and the second-lowest price we’ve seen since it was released, matching Black Friday rates but with the added bonus of a free extra battery – valued at $500 – giving you $700 in total savings. Just be sure to add both items to your cart to score the battery for free with your purchase.

Rad Power’s RadWagon 4 Cargo e-bike sports a 750W motor working alongside a 672Wh capacity battery that propels the e-bike up to 20 MPH top speeds for up to 45+ miles (doubled with your extra battery) on a single charge. You’ll have five levels of pedal assistance to choose from, supported by its 12-magnet cadence sensor, with a half-twist throttle for pure electric action as well. Other notable features include custom 22-inch by 3-inch tires, fenders for both tires, a water-resistant wiring harness, a 200-lumen headlight, an integrated taillight with brake light functionality, an integrated rear storage rack, and a backlit LCD display for real-time performance data and settings control – plus it even has a USB port to charge your devices while riding.

You’ll also find Rad Power’s RadRunner Plus Utility e-bike sitting at $1,599 as well, down from $1,799 and coming with the same free extra battery deal. This model shares much of the same features as the above model, including the USB port on the display, but still with a few slight differences. Sporting the same motor, battery, speed, mileage (doubled), and normal pedal assist levels – this one comes with a bonus zero level for manual pedaling. Its taillights have the added ability to go into flash mode for more obvious illumination at night or when parking, and it has an included 7-speed Shimano derailleur for when you go manual.

The third offer in this sale is on the RadCity 5 Plus Commuter e-bike for $1,399, down from $1,699 – and yes, this is the model that does not benefit from the extra battery portion of the sale. The main difference between this model and the RadRunner Plus (aside from the obvious frame designs) is the extended 50-mile range it gets on a single charge, the slimmer 28-inch by 2-inch tires, and the lack of any USB port for device charging needs.

This Mother’s Day sale will continue through May 15, with the free battery discount being applied automatically when both your preferred e-bike model and the battery are added to your cart. And if you plan to ever take any small children along with you for the ride, Rad Power is also offering 20% off the Thule Yepp Maxi Child Seat that is designed for children from 9 months to 6 years old.

Husqvarna 24-inch Hedge Master Cordless Electric Trimmer now at $240 low

Amazon is offering the Husqvarna 24-inch Hedge Master Cordless Electric Trimmer for $239.99 shipped. Down from its usual $320 price tag, this model has seen three major discounts and a handful of minor ones since the start of the new year, with the biggest of them seeing the first drop to the new $240 low back in March. Today’s deal comes in as a repeat $80 markdown off the going rate that returns costs to the all-time lowest price we have tracked.

Powered by a 40V battery that is compatible across the company’s line of handheld tools, this hedge trimmer model sports a brushless motor with high torque to weight ratio that ensures “increased efficiency, increased reliability, reduced noise and longer product life.” It has a 24-inch reach paired with tri-handle grips that allow you to comfortably tackle heavy-duty jobs trimming branches up to 1-inch thick – and you don’t have to fear the blades jamming up either thanks to its convenient un-jam button that opens the blades up for easy clearing.

Other notable Husqvarna discounts:

Rachio’s 3rd Gen Smart 4-Zone Sprinkler Controller returns to $99 low

Amazon is offering the Rachio 3rd Gen: Smart 4-Zone Sprinkler Controller for $99 shipped. Down from its $150 price tag, we saw the price bouncing between its MSRP and $100 for the first three months of the new year – beating out Black Friday’s former low by less than one dollar. It wasn’t until last month that we saw it drop to the new $99 low for the first time, with today’s deal coming in to repeat the trend as a 34% markdown off the going rate that returns costs to the all-time lowest price we have tracked. Every yard and garden has different needs, so why wouldn’t you want to tailor your sprinkler or irrigation system to your flora’s specific necessities? With this device, not only will your yard and gardens be vibrant and beautiful, but your water costs will shrink too. It features exclusive weather recognition technology that is programmed to automatically skip unnecessary watering during and after inclement weather, with functions like rain skip, wind skip, freeze skip, and more. It comes ready to use out of the box, with no extra charges or app subscription fees, and you’ll be able to manage everything from the convenience of your phone through the easy-to-use app.

There are a few variations of the above deal for those with larger yards or extra needs. You can increase your coverage with the 8-Zone Sprinkler Controller for $159, down from $230. There is also a 16-Zone Controller that is available for $249, down from $300. And if you want added protection for the controller boxes, there are Waterproof Outdoor Enclosures available for $32 too, down from $40. While the above sprinkler controllers do offer you simple smart controls over your sprinkler and irrigation systems, if you want to take it a step further and have complete control over your water supply as it comes from your spigot, you’ll need to pair any of them alongside the Smart Hose Timer for $78, down from $100 – or you can use it on its own with your regular hose setup, no sprinkler system needed.

Spring e-bike deals!

Z GRILLS 550B2 wood pellet grill and smoker with man brushing marinade over grilling meat and veggies within post for Rad Power e-bikes

Other new Green Deals landing this week

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. Winter means you can lock in even better off-season price cuts on electric tools for the lawn while saving on EVs and tons of other gear.

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Trump is fixated on Greenland — a vast Arctic island with massive resource potential

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5 hours ago

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January 14, 2025

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Trump is fixated on Greenland — a vast Arctic island with massive resource potential

An aircraft alledgedly carrying US businessman Donald Trump Jr. arrives in Nuuk, Greenland on January 7, 2025.

Emil Stach | Afp | Getty Images

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump‘s pursuit to acquire Greenland could well be motivated by critical minerals, with mining executives and researchers describing the island’s massive resource potential as an “enormous opportunity.”

Trump’s years-long bid to take control of the world’s largest island has kicked into overdrive in recent weeks.

Ahead of his inauguration on Jan. 20, Trump said U.S. ownership of the autonomous Danish territory is an “absolute necessity” for purposes related to “national security and freedom throughout the world.”

Trump has since doubled down on those comments, refusing to rule out the use of military or economic force to make Greenland a part of the U.S.

Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede has told Trump that the Arctic island is “not for sale” and urged the international community to respect the territory’s aspirations for independence. Alongside Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Egede has also recently called for talks with Trump to resolve the situation.

Asked about Trump’s fixation on making Greenland a part of the U.S., the president-elect’s incoming national security advisor, Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., was unequivocal.

“This is about critical minerals. This is about natural resources,” Waltz told Fox News in an interview on Jan. 9.

“This is about reintroducing America in the Western Hemisphere,” Waltz said. “You can call it Monroe Doctrine 2.0, but this is all part of the ‘America First‘ agenda.”

Greenland is going to become more and more topical; it is going to become more and more front and center because of the climate change discussion, the critical metals discussion and the geopolitical discussion.

Roderick McIllree

Executive director of 80 Mile

Critical minerals refer to a subset of materials considered essential to the energy transition. These minerals, which tend to have a high risk of supply chain disruption, include metals such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements.

Critical minerals and rare earth elements are vital components in emerging green technologies, such as wind turbines and electric vehicles, energy storage technologies and national security applications.

China is the undisputed leader of the critical minerals supply chain, accounting for roughly 60% of the world’s production of rare earth minerals and materials. U.S. officials have previously warned that this poses a strategic challenge amid the pivot to low-carbon energy sources.

In this aerial view melting icebergs crowd the Ilulissat Icefjord on July 16, 2024 near Ilulissat, Greenland.

Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Jakob Kløve Keiding, senior consultant at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), said a 2023 survey of Greenland’s resource potential evaluated a total of 38 raw materials on the island, the vast majority of which have a relatively high or moderate potential.

These materials include the rare earth metals graphite, niobium, platinum group metals, molybdenum, tantalum and titanium.

“Overall, we can say that there is a huge potential for critical raw materials [in Greenland],” Keiding told CNBC via telephone.

“Many of these are of great importance for the EU economy and, of course, it is not limited to just Europe. Many of these are also on the list of American [critical raw materials],” he added.

‘Greenland is not for sale’

Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenland member of the Danish parliament from the Inuit Ataqatigiit party, described Trump’s comments about Greenland as “disrespectful” and reaffirmed the prime minister’s message by saying the territory is not for sale.

“I’m not concerned. I think that some people in Greenland are quite concerned, but I think it is important for us to say that Greenland is not for sale, never has been for sale [and] never will be for sale,” Chemnitz told CNBC’s Silvia Amaro on Monday.

Chemnitz said Greenlandic lawmakers would need to have “clear and very specific goals on how to collaborate with the U.S.”

American investors are 'welcome' in Greenland — but it's not for sale, politician says

Closer ties between Greenland and the U.S. moving forward, for instance, could help to facilitate investment in the island’s mining industry, she added.

“If we look at extraction, for example, of rare earths. This is something that we have been willing to do for a very long time. We’ve been looking for American investors, [but] we haven’t found them, so they are quite welcome,” Chemnitz said.

The U.S. military maintains a permanent presence in northwest Greenland at the Pituffik Space Base, formerly known as Thule Air Base.

‘A race for what’s left’

Roderick McIllree, executive director of U.K.-based mining company 80 Mile, said he’s been working in Greenland for just over 20 years on projects ranging from resource discovery to feasibility.

“I think that what we’re seeing in Greenland is really a race for what’s left,” McIllree told CNBC via video call.

“A lot of independent state surveys are pointing to Greenland and its natural shelf boundaries as potentially hosting 20% to 25% of the last remaining extractable resources on the planet. Now, if that’s right, that’s an enormous opportunity for Greenland.”

The Old Colonial Harbour of Nuuk, Greenland is pictured on August 30, 2024. Greenland, an icy land whose rugged landscapes are bewitching, wants to attract more tourists, a paradox for a territory that is particularly vulnerable to global warming and whose geographical isolation means that many people have to take planes to get there.

James Brooks | Afp | Getty Images

80 Mile currently has three projects it is actively developing in Greenland, including a large oil concession on the island’s east coast, a titanium project near Pituffik in the northwest and its Disko-Nuussuaq project in the southwest.

Underlining the resource potential in the territory, McIllree said the firm’s Disko project could be one of the largest occurrences of nickel and copper on the planet.

“Greenland is going to become more and more topical; it is going to become more and more front and center because of the climate change discussion, the critical metals discussion and the geopolitical discussion. And its proximity to the U.S. really kind of makes it a natural jurisdiction for significant U.S. investment,” McIllree said.

“If Greenland play their cards right, this will lead to their independence,” he added.

‘Significant strategic interest’

In March last year, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen traveled to Nuuk, Greenland to inaugurate an EU office in the island’s capital.

The move, which came several months before Donald Trump Jnr.’s recent trip to the same city, was designed to firm up Europe’s presence in the territory as well as the broader Arctic region.

Von der Leyen announced two cooperation agreements totaling almost 94 million euros ($95.9 million) at the time, which she said would be used to invest in clean energy, critical raw materials and skills in Greenland.

(L-R) President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute B Egede and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen sign an agreement on the opening of the European Commission’s new office in Nuuk, Greenland, on March 15, 2024.

Leiff Josefsen | Afp | Getty Images

“I’m a geologist by background and I know that Greenland is very well endowed with natural resources,” Paul Lusty, head of battery raw materials research at Fastmarkets, told CNBC via video call.

“There has been a lot of interest in rare earths in Greenland, for example, and clearly, they can be of significant strategic interest to the U.S.,” Lusty said.

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Kia access to Tesla Superchargers delayed, had been expected this week

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10 hours ago

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January 14, 2025

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Kia access to Tesla Superchargers delayed, had been expected this week

Kia NACS

Hot on the heels of Kia being added to Tesla’s “coming soon” page for Supercharger access, we’re now learning that Supercharger support won’t actually come nearly as soon as expected for Kia – with a delay of weeks or months before Kia owners can plug in at North America’s largest fast charging network.

Earlier today, Kia and several other brands were added to Tesla’s coming soon page, suggesting that access could be imminent.

This squared with a previous September announcement that access would come in January – with a planned date of January 15, just two days away from now.

But today, PC Magazine reported that Kia’s access will be delayed to sometime in Spring.

Specifically, Kia has updated a press release on its website which previously stated a launch date of January 15. The press release now says “Access to the DC fast chargers is planned for the first quarter of 2025.”

That means it could be any time in the next three months, assuming there are no further delays.

PC Magazine quoted James Bell, Kia’s head of PR, as stating that “a delay has occurred and we are working with the appropriate teams to confirm new availability/date.” We also reached out to Bell to see if we could get any more information, but hadn’t heard back as of press time.

It’s unclear whether this delay will affect other brands, like Hyundai and Genesis.

Kia and Hyundai (and Hyundai sub-brand Genesis) share a platform for their electric vehicles, and have been the first to offer vehicles with native NACS ports on 2025 models, as opposed to using adapters like all other brands have so far. Older Kia/Hyundai vehicles without a native NACS port will still be able to use an adapter once cars gain access to the network.

We reached out to Hyundai to find out whether they’ve been hit by the same delay, but haven’t heard back yet. We’ll update if we do.

In 2022, Tesla announced it would open its charging network, lured by big money promised in President Biden’s federal EV charging grants.

For a while it seemed like a bit of a hail mary, as many thought that most of the industry was already committed to the SAE CCS standard for fast charging.

But then, in 2023, Ford announced it would adopt Tesla’s “NACS” connector, and all the dominos started to fall. Soon enough, basically the entire industry had announced a shift to Tesla’s charging standard.

But these things take time, and the industry had to work on redesigning vehicles, building adapters, organizing software handshakes, and building out an official standard. Now, several brands can already use Superchargers, with more to come.

The rollout seemed to be slowing down for a time, after Tesla CEO Elon Musk abruptly fired the entire Supercharging team which had been responsible for successfully executing this coup that could see Tesla gaining a lasting lead in EV charging, with those firings causing total chaos and jeopardizing the transition.

Earlier today, when so many brands were added to the “coming soon” page, it seemed like perhaps the dust had settled on the chaotic charging situation caused my Musk’s instability. But perhaps this Kia news is indication that there’s still some trouble that needs to be worked through.

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Biden pushes through $635M in EV charger grants before Trump’s return

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11 hours ago

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January 14, 2025

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Biden pushes through 5M in EV charger grants before Trump's return

Maine Tesla Supercharger
Photo: @teslacharging/X

The Biden administration awarded $635 million in EV charger grants just 10 days before Donald Trump takes office, leaving just $700,000 of the $2.5 billion from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law unallocated.

The grants from Biden’s zero-emission refueling infrastructure programs will fund 49 projects that will deploy more than 11,500 EV charging ports and alternative fuel infrastructure along corridors and in communities across 27 states, four federally recognized tribes, and the District of Columbia.

$368 million will be allocated for 42 projects that expand EV charging infrastructure within communities across the US, while $268 million will go toward seven projects that build out the national fast charging network along designated Alternative Fuel Corridors.

The grants, which were announced on Friday, are made possible through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s $2.5 billion Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) Discretionary Grant Program and a 10% set-aside from the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program.

US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement, “These investments will help states and communities build out a network of EV chargers in the coming years so that one day, finding a charge on a road trip will be as easy as filling up at a gas station.”

There are currently nearly 70,000 public EV charging stations across the US, with over 197,000 charging ports, according to the DOE’s Alternative Fuels Data Center. The Biden administration set a goal of building out 500,000 publicly available EV chargers by 2030.

Since the election, the Biden administration has been rushing to distribute clean energy funding in response to Trump’s threats to claw it back. Once the funds are allocated, reclaiming them will be nearly impossible.

Read more: Wisconsin’s first 3 NEVI-funded EV fast charging stations are open

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Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisers to help you every step of the way. Get started here. –trusted affiliate link*

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