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Chinese auto conglomerate GAC Group is delving further into sustainable air transportation with a new eVTOL-centric business venture called Govy. The company unveiled its flagship aircraft, the AirJet, during the announcement of the new brand. AirJet is GAC’s second “flying car” design in two years, but this iteration is more of a traditional eVTOL.

Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd., better known as GAC Group, is a Chinese state-owned automotive conglomerate and the fifth largest manufacturer in the country for its segment. In the past, we’ve focused more on the company’s presence in the EV space, like the technology of its sub-brand GAC Aion, as well as some of its joint ventures with other OEMs like Stellantis.

However, in 2023, GAC unveiled a new EV/eVTOL combo vehicle called “Gove,” which is a combination of the words “GAC, On the Go, Vertical, and EV.” GAC debuted the Gove in front of a crowd during its Tech Day Event in June 2023, sharing hopes that it would become an integral part of its mobility lineup in the future.

We haven’t heard anything since. Well, we know that GAC changed its name from Gove to AirCar.

That should come as little surprise, considering many companies developing standalone eVTOLs are still working toward the necessary certification and infrastructure to begin commercial air taxi rides. Combining an EV design that drives on roads with the eVTOL component only complicates things.

Fellow Chinese automaker XPeng appears the closest to achieving this feat with the “Land Aircraft Carrier” built by its eVTOL venture AeroHT. That EV/eVTOL combo is expected to hit scaled production in 2026.

GAC’s AirCar vehicle appears to still be in development, but the company is expanding its lineup with a second model, the AirJet, which has debuted under a new eVTOL-specific business arm GAC calls Govy.

  • GAC eVTOL
  • GAC eVTOL

GAC expands further into eVTOL design and development

GAC Group announced its new Govy brand during an event held in China yesterday, showcasing a physical display of its flagship AirJet eVTOL as well. The company shared that AirJet (seen above) is a composite-wing “flying car” with flexible vertical takeoff and landing capabilities.

By using carbon fiber composites for more than 90 percent of its structure, GAC says the AirJet only weighs one-third that of a car body for the same volume, ideal for longer all-electric flights. Like all eVTOLs, the aircraft can take off vertically and then transition its rotors mid-air to fly efficiently in a cruise phase.

The AirJet now joins GAC’s AirCar in the development phase, as the Chinese automaker looks to provide a one-two punch in sustainable air travel to Chinese customers. During the event, GAC stated that it sees the AirCar as a fit for zero-emissions travel needs for distances up to 20 km (12.4 miles), while the new AirJet will serve as an air taxi for longer trips up to 200 km (124 miles).

GAC’s current iteration of the AirJet eVTOL is equipped with a high-performance electric drive system developed in-house. The system can achieve a top aerial speed of 250 km/h (155 mph) and can recharge in 30 minutes.

While current range capabilities are 200 km, GAC believes its future solid-state battery technology will enable its eVTOLs to travel distances of up to 400 km (249 miles) on a single charge. According to GAC, it plans to initiate airworthiness certification for its eVTOLs in 2025 before building an assembly line to prepare for commercial operations in China.

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Trump’s crypto agenda is being threatened by his pursuit of personal profits

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Trump's crypto agenda is being threatened by his pursuit of personal profits

U.S. President Donald Trump looks on as he gives remarks outside the West Wing at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 8, 2025.

Kent Nishimura | Reuters

President Donald Trump is standing in his own way when it comes to passing crypto legislation.

Lawmakers this week rejected the GENIUS Act — a bill meant to establish federal rules for stablecoins — due in part to concerns that President Trump’s personal cryptocurrency ventures have created an unprecedented conflict of interest.

“Currently, people who wish to cultivate influence with the president can enrich him personally by buying cryptocurrency he owns or controls,” Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said in a statement to CNBC explaining his opposition to the bill. “This is a profoundly corrupt scheme. It endangers our national security and erodes public trust in government.”

Stablecoins are digital currencies that are pegged to the value of other assets, like the U.S. dollar.

Getting anything passed in Congress is a steep uphill battle for Republicans given their razor-thin majority in the House, filibuster-proof requirement in the Senate, and Democrats’ increasingly unified stance against President Trump’s agenda. But enough Democrats appeared to be on board with a stablecoin law to bring about a rare bipartisan win for the president.

That’s until $TRUMP got in the way.

The president’s meme coin, which he launched just before the inauguration in January, has added billions of dollars of paper worth to his coffers. Its value soared last month after the project ran a promotion offering top $TRUMP holders a dinner with the president and a “VIP White House tour.” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., called it a “pay-for-play scheme.” First Lady Melania Trump has a coin as well.

The GENIUS bill failed to advance in the Senate on Thursday. It needed 60 votes to move to the Senate floor for final passage. The final tally was 48 in favor and 49 against. Three senators didn’t vote.

Read more about tech and crypto from CNBC Pro

Earlier in the week, Senate Democrats unveiled the “End Crypto Corruption Act,” spearheaded by Merkley and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, meant to prohibit elected officials and senior executive branch personnel and their families from issuing or endorsing digital assets.

But the key defections to the stablecoin legislation came last weekend, when a group of nine Senate Democrats — four of whom had previously voted for the bill in committee — said that they wouldn’t support it and called for stronger provisions to address “anti-money laundering, foreign issuers, and national security.”

‘Ongoing self-dealing’

Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware was one of the four. She pointed directly at Trump’s financial entanglements.

“I also remain concerned about the ongoing self-dealing and financial conflicts of interest being carried out by the Trump family,” she wrote in a statement on Thursday.

It’s not just about the $TRUMP and $MELANIA meme coins. There’s also the Trump family crypto venture World Liberty Financial, which was established last year and launched a stablecoin just as the administration pushed for looser regulations on digital assets.

Reports have indicated that Abu Dhabi-based MGX is using Trump’s stablecoin for a $2 billion investment in crypto exchange Binance, creating yet another potential conflict of interest for a sitting president.

For some investors and entrepreneurs in the crypto industry, the president’s pursuit of personal profits is creating a major impediment to long-awaited advancements. After years of setbacks during the Biden administration, the crypto lobby became a powerful force in funding Trump’s 2024 campaign and in successfully backing industry-friendly candidates for Congress.

“It’s unfortunate that personal business is getting in the way of good policy,” said Ryan Gilbert, founder of fintech venture fund Launchpad Capital. “I would hope that everybody in the administration, including the president, gets out of the way of good policy.”

The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment. At a press conference on Friday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, when asked about the meme coin dinner, that “the president is abiding by all conflict of interest laws.”

“The president is a successful businessman, and I think it’s one of the many reasons that people reelected him back to this office,” Leavitt said.

Pantera's legal chief on what's next after Congress blocks key crypto bill

A number of top Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York have joined the parade of critics, targeting President Trump’s personal pursuits. Gillibrand helped introduce the GENIUS Act earlier this year, but she said this week that there are “a number of outstanding issues that needed to be addressed before the bill could pass the full Senate.”

“I believe it is essential to the future of the U.S. economy and to everyday Americans that we enact strict stablecoin regulations and consumer protections where none currently exist,” Gillibrand said in a statement. “I remain extremely confident and hopeful that very soon we can finish the job.”

Sen. Blumenthal called for an investigation into Trump-linked coins, demanding financial records from World Liberty Financial and slamming the president for “the attempted use of the White House to host competitions to prop up the value of $TRUMP.”

Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona, had supported the GENIUS Act but said he couldn’t move forward this week after Republicans declined to provide more time to negotiate.

“Without more time to at least finish the bill, there was no true bipartisan path forward,” he wrote on X.

Launchpad’s Gilbert said the GENIUS Act is just the first piece. More broadly, the president’s conflicts could have an impact on hopes for other legislative achievements and deregulation efforts as well as the reputation of the U.S. crypto industry on the world stage.

“We will be the laughing stocks of the world for this particular reason, and it will hold back continued investment and innovation,” Gilbert said. “There was hope for the past six months that that we could lead in the United States, and that investment should pour into crypto-related businesses, and then it will be simpler and doable again, for all companies to take a lead and to invest in crypto assets.”

However, he said, “if the GENIUS Act doesn’t pass, we’re back to square one.”

WATCH: Ether surges nearly 25% for its best week in four years: CNBC Crypto World

Ether surges nearly 25% for its best week in four years: CNBC Crypto World

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Volvo teases all-new XC70 PHEV with 125 miles of electric range for 2026

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Volvo teases all-new XC70 PHEV with 125 miles of electric range for 2026

Volvo Cars has teased an all-new Volvo XC70 plug-in hybrid crossover with 400 hp and 200 km (approx. 125 miles) of all-electric range, giving it the longest battery-only range of any of the company’s plug-in hybrid offerings.

Built on the company’s new SMA platform for extended-range plug-in hybrids, the new XC70 resurrects an iconic name for the brand and represents an important product addition to the lineup and meet the growing demand for longer-range plug-in hybrids – especially in China, where the 2026 Volvo XC70 will be available for order later this year.

“The XC70 marks our strategic entry into the extended-range plug-in hybrid segment, a perfect bridge to full electrification,” says Håkan Samuelsson, president and returning chief executive of Volvo Cars. “[XC70] enables us to maintain and develop a balanced product portfolio, while offering a highly attractive alternative to customers who are not yet ready for fully electric cars. This is also an example of regionalization, where we adapt to the local market needs.”

Early reports indicate that the car shares a platform with the 400 hp Lynk & Co 08. It’s called the “CMA” in Lynk & Co speak, but the short version is 1.5L turbocharged engine and dual electric motors

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Up front, the XC70 features the same, shield-like closed grille as the brand’s newest all-electric models. It’s paired with an active grille shutter in the bumper that adjusts automatically opens and closes to to optimize for aerodynamics, cabin climate, and cooling – whatever is needed in the moment to maximize energy efficiency and, ultimately, driving range. 

The trademark Volvo “Thor’s Hammer” headlight design has evolved into distinctive DRLs – the headlights on the XC70 are actually beneath those, and feature Matrix LED technology that adapts the headlights intelligently to road and traffic situations, helping to improve both visibility and safety without blinding everyone in your path.

Towards the rear, the vertical taillight design creates a modern look consistent with Volvo styling cues … styling cues, by the way, taken from the granddaddy of the entire XC line. The V70 Cross Country. Which, you know, is what “XC” is all about to begin with.

Volvo V 70 XC Cross Country

OG V 70 XC Cross Country; via Volvo Cars.

I mean, sure – the new XC70 isn’t boxy enough, but we all have to make sacrifices in the name of efficiency and ecology, right? And, frankly, if the new ES90 or EX90 models are any indication, XC70 drivers won’t be suffering too badly.

Launch is set for late Q3, with a base price of about 400.000 yuan (about $55,000 USD). No word yet on global availability.

It’s real pretty, guys

SOURCE | IMAGES: Volvo Cars.


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American energy sector set to invest $100B in battery storage by 2030

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American energy sector set to invest 0B in battery storage by 2030

Members of the US energy industry has committed to investing $100 billion over the next five years to build and buy American-made batteries for large, utility-scale deployments of battery energy storage systems (BESS).

Executives from the American Clean Power Association (ACP) and several utility company representatives said Tuesday that they were committed to a fivefold increase in active investments that could, according to the Association, lead to 100% American-made BESS projects – but that vision depends on both a streamlined permitting environment and predictable tax and trade policy, the ACP said.

This commitments “demonstrate what success can look like,” said ACP CEO Jason Grumet, adding that many industry players have been waiting in a sort of holding pattern until some long-term clarity develops around Trump’s tariff and trade policies. “There is a remarkable tension right now between probably the best fundamentals for investment in the energy sector that we’ve seen in a generation and the greatest amount of uncertainty that we’ve seen in a generation.”

Those fundamentals involve rapidly dropping battery costs with increasing density – and that efficiency improvement is coming with reliability, too, Hyundai joining Tesla (and others) in delivering batteries good for hundreds of thousands of miles of driving. The tension, of course, comes from the fact that most batteries, today, are made in Asia.

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Form Energy CEO Mateo Jaramillo says his company sources more than 80% of its battery content in the US and much of the rest from Europe and “non-China Asia.” And, while they’re working to re-shore even more, they remain exposed to heavily tariffed Chinese-made inputs.

Form eventually hopes to source raw iron from US mines in Michigan and Minnesota – and they’re not alone. Executives from other companies spoke up as well:

COVID-era disruptions across the global battery supply chain convinced Fluence that an energy storage market as robust as the United States’ needed a stronger domestic manufacturing base, Fluence Americas President John Zurancik said in the press briefing. The company’s U.S. investments are now bearing fruit as it expects to deliver its first U.S.-made lithium-iron-phosphate, or LFP, batteries this week for deployment later this year, he said.

Like Fluence, LG Energy Solution Vertech expects to significantly expand its U.S. manufacturing operations in 2025 and 2026. The South Korean battery powerhouse will adapt existing production lines at its Holland, Michigan, factory to deliver 16.5 GWh of stationary storage batteries this year and add 11 GWh of new capacity in 2026, its CEO said in a statement provided by ACP.

UTILITY DIVE

Even industry stalwarts like Wärtsilä have begun sourcing components for the container-based Quantum 3 BESS system we covered last summer from a geographically diverse set of suppliers, with manufacturing capacity across different regions of North America, Asia, and Europe. This should enable the company’s customers to take advantage of any local tax incentives while avoiding the kind of tariffs impacting global battery markets.

The ACP’s announcement adds about $85 billion to a set of “active investments” worth $10 billion to $15 billion, executives with the trade group said in a press briefing.

Electrek’s Take

250 MW Sierra Estrella BESS project in Avondale, AZ; via SRP.

Battery energy storage just makes sense – and it’s being leveraged in smart ways by companies like Zenobē, who are using smart BESS deployments to help hold down ratepayer costs while improving grid resilience and reliability. Volvo, too, is working to develop rapidly deployable BESS solutions that can support temporary job sites and disaster relief efforts.

Then there’s the rich people. Located in Abu Dhabi, the world’s largest storage project will feature a 5.2 GW solar PV plant coupled with a 19 gigawatt-hour (GWh) BESS. You can check that out here, then let us know what you think of all these projects in the comments.

SOURCE: Utility Dive; featured image via Wärtsilä.

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