This climate startup is challenging Tesla in the race to electrify big rigs

Published

6 months ago

November 12, 2024

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On the road to electrifying vehicles, cars and small trucks are getting there. Big rigs, however, pose bigger hurdles.

The trouble with electrifying tractor-trailer trucks is that the tractor component needs more power than the current charging infrastructure can handle and the necessary charging time is long.

Major truck manufacturers like Volvo, Freightliner and Tesla are introducing electric tractor-trailer trucks, but that is still a tiny and inefficient market. Big rigs make up just 10% of the vehicles on the road, but they account for nearly 30% of total vehicle carbon emissions.

Now one startup, California-based Range Energy, is focused not on the tractor but the trailer. They are introducing electrified trailers that power and propel themselves so the tractor has less to pull.

“Everything that is built into the tractor is really built to manage the load of the trailer properly, and what we’re saying is, ‘Well, why don’t we do that directly through our Range system by electrifying the trailer in a way that has never been done before?'” said Ali Javidan, CEO of Range Energy.

The Range Energy system incorporates batteries, a motor that powers one of the trailer’s dual axles and what Javidan refers to as a ‘smart kingpin’ to improve the truck’s efficiency.

“When I push this button to activate the system, the trailer follows me,” Javidan said as he demonstrated the system. “It doesn’t matter if I’m an old Peterbilt semi-truck or a brand new Tesla semi or just me pulling on it with the system activated. The trailer’s mission is to make itself feel weightless.”

The electrified trailer can also refrigerate itself as well as power onboard communications and security systems. It does all of that at a fraction of the cost of diesel.

“If we were to take one of these fleets that runs 3,000 trailers and run it through the range system and essentially incorporate the range system into their fleet, we’re looking at 100 million pounds of CO2 saved per year,” Javidan said. “But even better than that, it equates to about $50 million in fuel savings alone.”

Northern Refrigerated Transportation is piloting the Range trailers in California. The company has previously tried electric tractors but the long charging times were a hurdle, said Ricky Souza, COO at Northern Refrigerated Transportation.

Range Energy’s “trailers seem more of a natural fit because we have to load them, and we load them at night” while the trailers charge, Souza said. “So it’s not more dependent on a driver waiting for it.”

There are, however, some major roadblocks that Northern Refrigerated Transportation must overcome before the company can electrify its entire fleet of more than 300 trucks.

“There’s definitely some infrastructure challenges, like power to the buildings or properties and getting it, and the cost of the unit is more,” Souza said. “That’s part of doing the due diligence to see if you’ll make it back into fuel savings.”

Range Energy has raised $31.5 million so far, and it is backed by R7, UP.Partners, Trousdale Ventures and Yamaha Motor Ventures.

The appeal of Range Energy’s technology is the startup’s different approach to tackling the challenge of electrifying tractor-trailers, said Tyler Engh, R7’s founder and general manager.

“Seventy percent of all freight in the United States is done by trucks, and there’s no one touching a trailer, so if we can electrify the trailer, we could accelerate mass adoption for hybridization or electrification on current fleets that have diesel semis,” Engh said. “The size of what this company could become is exactly what venture capital is set up to do. It could be a humongous return for us.”

As in the EV market for cars, charging infrastructure is still not where it needs to be, but Javidan says trucking companies can leverage the power that’s available at loading docks, as Northern Refrigerated Transportation is doing. Javidan added that Range Energy is able to size the battery pack much closer to what you see in a passenger vehicle than what you see in the large commercial vehicles that are coming out from other big rig companies.

CNBC producer Lisa Rizzolo contributed to this piece.

Technology

Trump aims to cut $6 billion from NASA budget, shifting $1 billion to Mars-focused missions

Published

2 days ago

May 2, 2025

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Trump aims to cut billion from NASA budget, shifting billion to Mars-focused missions

The Trump administration has floated a plan to trim about $6 billion from the budget of NASA, while allocating $1 billion of remaining funds to Mars-focused initiatives, aligning with an ambition long held by Elon Musk and his rocket maker SpaceX.

A copy of the discretionary budget posted to the NASA website on Friday said that the change focuses NASA’s funding on “beating China back to the Moon and on putting the first human on Mars.”

NASA also said it will need to “streamline” its workforce, information technology services, NASA Center operations, facility maintenance, and construction and environmental compliance activities, and terminate multiple “unaffordable” missions, while reducing scientific missions for the sake of “fiscal responsibility.”

Janet Petro, NASA’s acting administrator, said in an agency-wide email on Friday that the proposed lean budget, which would cut about 25% of the space agency’s funding, “reflects the administration’s support for our mission and sets the stage for our next great achievements.”

Petro urged NASA employees to “persevere, stay resilient, and lean into the discipline it takes to do things that have never been done before — especially in a constrained environment,” according to the memo, which was obtained by CNBC. She acknowledged the budget would “require tough choices,” and that some of NASA’s “activities will wind down.”

The document on NASA’s website said it’s allocating more than $7 billion for moon exploration and “introducing $1 billion in new investments for Mars-focused programs.”

SpaceX, which is already among the largest NASA and Department of Defense contractors, has long sought to launch a manned mission to Mars. The company says on its website that its massive Starship rocket is designed to “carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond.”

Musk, who is the founder and CEO of SpaceX, has a central role in President Donald Trump’s administration, leading an effort to slash the size, spending and capacity of the federal government, and influencing regulatory changes through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Musk, who frequently makes aggressive and incorrect projections for his companies, said in 2020 that he was “highly confident” that SpaceX would land humans on Mars by 2026.

Petro highlighted in her memo that under the discretionary budget, NASA would retire the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, the Orion spacecraft and Gateway programs.

It would also put an end to its green aviation spending and to its Mars Sample Return (MSR) Program, which sought to use rockets and robotic systems to “collect and send samples of Martian rocks, soils and atmosphere back to Earth for detailed chemical and physical analysis,” according to a website for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Some of the biggest reductions at NASA, should the budget get approved, would hit the space agency’s space science, Earth science and mission support divisions.

Petro didn’t name any specific aerospace and defense contractors in her agency-wide email. However SpaceX, ULA and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin are positioned to continue to conduct launches in the absence of the SLS. Boeing is currently the prime contractor leading the SLS program.

“This is far from the first time NASA has been asked to adapt, and your ability to deliver, even under pressure, is what sets NASA apart,” she wrote.

President Trump’s nominee to lead NASA, tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, still has to be approved by the U.S. Senate. His nomination was advanced out of the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday.

WATCH: CNBC’s interview with NASA’s astronauts on their nine months in space

Technology

Temu halts shipping direct from China as de minimis tariff loophole is cut off

Published

2 days ago

May 2, 2025

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Temu halts shipping direct from China as de minimis tariff loophole is cut off

Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Chinese bargain retailer Temu changed its business model in the U.S. as the Trump administration’s new rules on low-value shipments took effect Friday.

In recent days, Temu has abruptly shifted its website and app to only display listings for products shipped from U.S.-based warehouses. Items shipped directly from China, which previously blanketed the site, are now labeled as out of stock.

Temu made a name for itself in the U.S. as a destination for ultra-discounted items shipped direct from China, such as $5 sneakers and $1.50 garlic presses. It’s been able to keep prices low because of the so-called de minimis rule, which has allowed items worth $800 or less to enter the country duty-free since 2016.

The loophole expired Friday at 12:01 a.m. EDT as a result of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in April. Trump briefly suspended the de minimis rule in February before reinstating the provision days later as customs officials struggled to process and collect tariffs on a mountain of low-value packages.

Jeff Bezos discloses plan to sell up to $4.8 billion in Amazon stock

Published

2 days ago

May 2, 2025

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Jeff Bezos discloses plan to sell up to .8 billion in Amazon stock

Jeff Bezos, founder and executive chairman of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post, takes the stage during The New York Times’ annual DealBook Summit, at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, Dec. 4, 2024.

Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos plans to sell up to 25 million shares in the company over the next year, according to a financial filing on Friday.

Bezos, who stepped down as CEO in 2021 but remains Amazon’s top shareholder, is selling the shares as part of a trading plan adopted on March 4, the filing states. The stake would be worth about $4.8 billion at the current price.

The disclosure follows Amazon’s first-quarter earnings report late Thursday. While profit and revenue topped estimates, the company’s forecast for operating income in the current quarter came in below Wall Street’s expectations.

The results show that Amazon is bracing for uncertainty related to President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs. The company landed in the crosshairs of the White House this week over a report that Amazon planned to show shoppers the cost of the tariffs. Trump personally called Bezos to complain, and Amazon clarified that no such change was coming.

Bezos previously offloaded about $13.5 billion worth of Amazon shares last year, marking his first sale of company stock since 2021.

Since handing over the Amazon CEO role to Andy Jassy, Bezos has spent more of his time on his space exploration company, Blue Origin, and his $10 billion climate and biodiversity fund. He’s used Amazon share sales to help fund Blue Origin, as well as the Day One Fund, which he launched in September 2018 to provide education in low-income communities and combat homelessness.

WATCH: Amazon has levers to pull with tariffs