Toyota invests a fresh 0M in Joby Aviation to support eVTOL air taxi certification, production

Toyota invests a fresh $500M in Joby Aviation to support eVTOL air taxi certification, production

Published

1 month ago

October 3, 2024

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eVTOL air taxi developer Joby Aviation has secured a fresh round of funding from previous investor Toyota Motor Corporation, totaling $500 million. With its investment, Toyota’s total funding committed to the eVTOL specialist inches closer to $1 billion. The money will help Joby secure flight certification and begin commercial production of its sustainable aerial technology.

In terms of our coverage of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, Joby Aviation ($JOBY) has held a mainstay in the beat as it remains one of the more promising startups in a growing segment that is quickly becoming crowded.

Part of that previous coverage included Joby’s first flight with a pilot onboard in October 2023, which quickly led to a demonstration in New York City ahead of full-fledged eVTOL air taxi operations planned for sometime in 2025.

Since beginning as a small team of seven engineers back in 2009, Joby has grown to a staff of over 1,500 people who operate out of its headquarters in Marina, California, as well as additional offices in Santa Cruz, San Carlos, Washington, DC, and Munich, Germany.

Part of its success is early believers in its eVTOL technology, which has invested hundreds of millions in funding, including Toyota Motor Corporation. Since 2019, Toyota has been a strategic investor in Joby and its eVTOL technology. The Japanese OEM has even deployed dozens of its own engineers to work alongside Joby’s engineers to help the aviation company determine its eVTOL factory layout and manufacturing processes and prepare for high-volume production in the US.

Recently, Toyota nearly doubled its previous investments in Joby Aviation to help the company reach certification and scaled production of its eVTOL air taxis.

Toyota’s investment in Joby eVTOLs reaches $894 million

Per a recent release from Joby Aviation, Toyota Motor has committed to a new investment of $500 million which will be divided into two equal portions. The first half of the payment is targeted to close before the end of 2024, with the second to follow sometime in 2025.

When completed, the $500 million financial commitment will bring Toyota Motor’s total investment in Joby up to $894 million and will consist of cash in exchange for common stock. Tetsuo “Ted” Ogawa (seen above), the operating officer who inked the agreement on behalf of Toyota Motor Corporation, spoke about the automaker’s faith in Joby’s eVTOL technology and its desire to help contribute to “a shared vision of air mobility.”

With this additional investment, we are excited to see Joby certify their aircraft and shift to commercial production. We share Joby’s view that sustainable flight will be central to alleviating today’s persistent mobility challenges.

Toyota’s funding will help Joby in its ongoing quest to achieve flight certification and commercial production of its proprietary electric air taxis. The second payment, in particular, will rely on the finalization of terms related to a strategic alliance between both companies focused on commercial eVTOL manufacturing and other conditions.

In terms of eVTOL commercialization, Joby headway and recently rolled its third aircraft off its pilot production line in Marina, California, before breaking ground on a new expanded facility in The Golden State that will more than double its current production footprint. As of August 2024, Joby had completed 1/3 of the fourth and fifth stages of the type certification process before full-scaled eVTOL production and commercial air taxi operations with Toyota could begin.

You can learn more about Toyota’s investment and Joby’s eVTOL technology in the video below:

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Cybertruck backlog runs out, Model S gets stuck, GM hits a sales milestone

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3 hours ago

November 5, 2024

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Cybertruck backlog runs out, Model S gets stuck, GM hits a sales milestone

On today’s episode of Quick Charge, Tesla’s Cybertruck is now available in Canada – and, like in the US, there’s no waiting! Plus, we’ve got an “actually” smart summon Tesla that’s actually stuck, GM reaches a sales milestone, and we get a brand-new title sponsor!

Today’s episode is the first with our new title sponsor, BLUETTI – a leading provider of portable power stations, solar generators, and energy storage systems.

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New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (and sometimes Sunday). We’ll be posting bonusLucid proves than an EV company can keep its promises while Xiaomi teams up with Chevrolet and Honda to prove – at least conceptually – that records are made to be broken. audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news!

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This ‘supercharger on wheels’ brings fast charging to you [update]

Published

5 hours ago

November 4, 2024

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This 'supercharger on wheels' brings fast charging to you [update]

Mobile car care company Yoshi Mobility launched a DC fast charging EV mobile unit that it likens to “a supercharger on wheels.”

November 4, 2024 update: Yoshi Mobility will only be charging EVs on the side of the road now – it announced today that it’s selling its fleet fueling operation to EZFill Holdings (Nasdaq: EZFL).

It was originally founded as a direct-to-consumer, mobile fueling business in 2016, but now it’s going to focus on mobile EV charging, virtual vehicle inspections for partners like Uber and Turo, and onsite preventative maintenance.

Bryan Frist, Yoshi Mobility’s CEO & cofounder, said, “By spinning off our fuel business and focusing all of our energy on solving hair-on-fire problems that fleet owners face, we are meeting the changing needs of enterprise customers while making the future of transportation safer, cleaner, and more sustainable.”

May 22, 2024: Yoshi Mobility saw that its existing customers needed mobile EV charging in places where infrastructure has yet to be installed, so the Nashville-based company decided to bring the mountain to Moses.

“We recognized a demand among our customers for convenient daily charging, reliable private charging networks, and proper charging infrastructure to support their fleet vehicles as they transition to electric,” said Dan Hunter, Yoshi Mobility’s chief EV officer and cofounder.

The company says its 240 kW mobile DC fast charger, which can turn “any EV” into a mobile charging unit, is the first fully electric mobile charger available. It can provide multiple charges in a single trip but doesn’t detail how they charge the DC fast charger or who manufactured it. (I asked for more details, and they replied that they won’t disclose client names or the manufacturer of its DC fast charger yet.)

Yoshi is launching its mobile charger on two GM BrightDrop Zevo 600s and will introduce additional vehicles throughout 2024. It aims for full commercialization by Q1 2025. (I wonder if the Zevo 600 ever charges itself? Yes, I asked that too.)

Yoshi Mobility says it’s already deployed its EV charging solutions to service “major OEMs, autonomous vehicle companies, and rideshare operators” across the US. Its initial customers are made up of large EV operators managing “hundreds” of light-duty vehicles requiring up to 1 megawatt of energy per day that don’t yet have grid-connected EV chargers. I’ve asked Yoshi for details of who it’s working with, and will update if they share that info.

The company says pricing is based on location and enterprise charging needs. Once under contract for service, the service will be deployed to US-based customers within 10 days.

To date, Yoshi Mobility has raised more than $60 million, with investments from GM Ventures, Bridgestone, ExxonMobil, and Y-Combinator in Silicon Valley.

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Marqeta shares plunge more than 30% on big forecast miss

Published

5 hours ago

November 4, 2024

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Marqeta shares plunge more than 30% on big forecast miss

Marqeta celebrates its initial public offering at the Nasdaq on June 9, 2021.

Source: The Nasdaq

Marqeta shares tumbled more than 30% in extended trading on Monday after the company issued weaker-than-expected guidance for the fourth quarter.

Here’s how the company did compared with Wall Street estimates, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Loss per share: 6 cents adjusted vs. a loss of 5 cents expected
Revenue: $128 million vs. $128.1 million expected

While third-quarter results showed a slight disappointment on the top and bottom lines, Marqeta’s forecast for the current period was more concerning.

The payment processing firm said revenue in the fourth quarter will increase 10% to 12% from a year earlier. Analysts were looking for growth of more than 17%, according to LSEG.

Marqeta, which primarily functions as a card-issuing platform, attributed the guidance miss to “heightened scrutiny of the banking environment and specific customer program changes.” The company has been struggling for a while, and its stock is now down more than 80% from its peak in 2021, the year it went public. The stock was down 15% for the year prior to the report.

Total processing volume of $74 billion was up more than 30% from a year earlier. Net revenue and gross profit were up 18% and 24%, respectively.

Marqeta’s digital commerce business sells payment technology designed to detect potential fraud and ensure that money is properly routed. It also issues customized physical cards that look like a credit or debit card that can be used for point-of-sale purchases.

The company has been trying to break into the buy now, pay later business with a recently launched product called Marqeta Flex. The service brings BNPL from lenders such as Affirm or Klarna to any credit card wherever Mastercard and Visa are accepted.

“It’s an orchestration layer, but it’s tied to issuing and processing and disputes and chargebacks,” CEO Simon Khalaf told CNBC at Money2020 in Las Vegas last week. “So it is not actually a Wild West in BNPL. It is actually very well established. And there is a reason why a lot of people are jumping to it.”