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Aptera has publicly unveiled the production-intent version of its long-awaited solar EV, which it says will start deliveries by the end of this year.

Update: We swung by the booth a took a few pictures of Aptera’s production-intent vehicle chassis, see below.

Aptera has a long history in the automotive space, dating all the way back to its original founding in 2006 by co-founders Steve Fambro and Chris Anthony. It has had the same basic teardrop design all along, but at the time it was going to be fueled by a small gas engine, promising 330 miles per gallon.

But the last iteration of Aptera hit many bumps in the road, and went defunct in 2011, having to return thousands of customer deposits.

Then, in 2019, the company was relaunched, by the same original founders as before. But this time, it had a solar-powered electric car – which, frankly, makes a lot more sense for a futuristic vehicle than a gas engine does.

That’s the iteration we’re on now, and six years later – and nearly 20 years after the company’s first founding – Aptera says it’s finally ready to produce its solar EV.

It’s showing off its production-intent chassis at the Consumer Electronics Show this week, offering the public a chance to see this vehicle which it says will go into production and delivery this year. Its booth is in the central plaza, outdoors in the sun – where a solar EV belongs.

The company has been showing off its progress towards production intent over the course of the last years, doing wind tunnel testing of what it claims will be one of the lowest-drag vehicles ever (with a previously-claimed .13 Cd), receiving carbon bodies in August and completing its first low-speed drive in October.

Now the car is out and about driving normally at CES (and Aptera is offering media ride-alongs, which we’ll hopefully get a chance to fit in). Aptera says that it drove the car for around 20 miles yesterday, and it ended the day with more charge than it started due to its extensive solar panels, which Aptera is showing off in production-intent form for the first time.

The panels cover the vehicle’s hood, dash, roof and hatch and Aptera says they can generate up to 40 miles of free driving per days, powered by sunlight. In sunny climates, this will give owners over 10,000 miles per year of solar-powered driving.

On a sunny Las Vegas winter day, as it was for the reveal, the solar panels should be working quite nicely (though they would work even better if it weren’t one of the shortest days of the year).

The unveil included a short livestream at Aptera’s outdoor booth in the Central Plaza, which you can watch below:

The livestream included a short speech by co-CEO Chris Anthony and a quick vehicle walkaround, including showing off the vehicle’s NACS port, which Aptera was the first to announce adoption of way back in 2022.

Aptera says it has another announcement coming soon regarding the vehicle’s battery pack, and that its anticipating offering track time in the car in a few months for investors (the company is funding itself through a crowdfunding campaign through which it has raised $135 million of equity).

Previously, Aptera said the vehicle would have multiple battery options, with 250, 400, and even 1,000-mile (!) battery packs (which this author thinks is unrealistically excessive, and frankly a sign for pause). But Aptera has backed off from talking much about its previous 1,000-mile target, and all we heard about during this reveal is the 400-mile, 45kWh pack that will be included on the company’s $40,000 launch edition vehicle (which will have limited options otherwise).

Aptera says that it anticipates first deliveries of its launch edition by the end of this year – a timeline which the company has stated before, but which we wouldn’t be surprised to see slip. Nevertheless, that’s the messaging.

Aptera says it has 50,000 reservations for its vehicle, at $100 a pop (or $70, if you use our Aptera referral link). You can reserve an Aptera over at Aptera’s website.


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This $900 million solar farm in Texas is going 100% to data centers

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This 0 million solar farm in Texas is going 100% to data centers

Enbridge is going big on solar again in Texas, and Meta is snapping up all the solar power it can get.

Last month, Electrek reported that the Canadian oil and gas pipeline giant just launched its first solar farm in Texas. Now it’s given the green light to Clear Fork, a 600 megawatt (MW) utility-scale solar farm already under construction near San Antonio. The project is expected to come online in summer 2027.

Once it’s up and running, every bit of Clear Fork’s electricity will go to Meta Platforms under a long-term contract. Meta will use the solar power to help run its energy-hungry data centers entirely on clean energy.

The solar farm project’s cost is around $900 million. Enbridge says it expects Clear Fork to boost the company’s cash flow and earnings starting in 2027.

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Enbridge EVP Matthew Akman said the project reflects “growing demand for renewable power across North America from blue-chip companies involved in technology and data center operations.”

Meta’s head of global energy, Urvi Parekh, added that the company is “thrilled to partner with Enbridge to bring new renewable energy to Texas and help support our operations with 100% clean energy.”

Meta’s first multi-gigawatt data center, Prometheus, is expected to come online in 2026.

Clear Fork is part of a growing trend: tech giants like Meta, Amazon, and Google are racing to lock down renewable energy contracts as they expand their fleets of AI-ready data centers, which use massive amounts of electricity.


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Isuzu’s first electric pickup is impressive, but it’s not cheap

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Isuzu's first electric pickup is impressive, but it's not cheap

A fully electric Japanese electric pickup truck? It’s not a Toyota or Honda, but Isuzu’s new electric pickup packs a punch. The D-MAX EV can tow over 7,770 lbs (3,500 kg), plow through nearly 24″ (600 mm) of water, and it even has a dedicated Terrain Mode for extreme off-roading. However, it comes at a cost.

Meet Isuzu’s first electric pickup: The D-MAX EV

After announcing that it had begun building left-hand drive D-MAX EV models at the end of April, Isuzu said that it would start shipping them to Europe in the third quarter.

By the end of the year, Isuzu will begin production of right-hand drive models for the UK. Sales will follow in early 2026.

Isuzu announced prices this week, boasting the D-MAX EV features the same “no compromise durability” of the current diesel version.

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The D-MAX EV pickup features a full-time 4WD system, a towing capacity of up to 3.5 tons (7,700 lbs), and an added Terrain Mode, which Isuzu says is designed for “extreme off-road capability.” With 210 mm (8.3″) of ground clearance, Isuzu’s electric pickup can wade through up to 600 mm (24″) of water.

Powered by a 66.9 kWh battery, Isuzu’s electric pickup offers a WLTP range of 163 miles. With charging speeds of up to 50 kW, the D-MAX EV can recharge from 20% to 80% in about an hour.

The electric version is nearly identical to the current diesel-powered D-Max, both inside and out, but prices will be significantly higher.

Isuzu D-Max EV specs and prices
Drive System Full-time 4×4
Battery Type Lithium-ion
Battery Capacity 66.9 kWh
WLTP driving range 163 miles
Max Output 130 kW (174 hp)
Max Torque 325 Nm
Max Speed Over 130 km/h (+80 mph)
Max Payload 1,000 kg (+2,200 lbs)
Max Towing Capacity 3.5t (+7,700 lbs)
Ground Clearance 210 mm
Wading Depth 600 mm
Starting Price (*Ex. VAT) £59,995 ($81,000)
Isuzu D-Max EV electric pickup prices and specs

Isuzu’s electric pickup will be priced from £59,995 ($81,000), not including VAT. The double cab variant starts at £60,995 ($82,500). In comparison, the diesel model starts at £36,755 ($50,000).

The EV pickup will launch in extended and double cab variants with two premium trims: the eDL40 and V-Cross. Pre-sales will begin later this year with the first UK arrivals scheduled for February 2026. Customer deliveries are set to follow in March.

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AI startups raised $104 billion in first half of year, but exits tell a different story

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AI startups raised 4 billion in first half of year, but exits tell a different story

In this photo illustration, Claude AI logo is seen on a smartphone and Anthropic logo on a pc screen. (Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

OpenAI and Anthropic continue to lead a fundraising bonanza in artificial intelligence, raising historic rounds and stratospheric valuations.

But when it comes to finding AI exits for venture firms, the market looks a lot different.

AI startups raised $104.3 billion in the U.S. in the first half of this year, nearly matching the $104.4 billion total for 2024, according to PitchBook. Almost two-thirds of all U.S. venture funding went to AI, up from 49% last year, PitchBook said.

The biggest deals follow a familiar theme. OpenAI raised a record $40 billion in March in a round led by SoftBank. Meta poured $14.3 billion into Scale AI in June as part of a way to hire away CEO Alexandr Wang and a few other top staffers. OpenAI rival Anthropic raised $3.5 billion, while Safe Superintelligence, a nascent startup started by OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, raised $2 billion.

While Meta’s massive investment into Scale AI amounted to a lucrative exit of sorts for early investors, the overarching trend has been a lot more money going in than coming out.

In the first half, there were 281 VC-backed exits totaling $36 billion, according to PitchBook. That includes the roughly $700 million acquisition of EvolutionIQ, an AI platform for disability and injury claims management, by CCC Intelligent Solutions, and the public listing of Slide Insurance, which builds AI-powered insurance offerings for homeowners. Slide is valued at about $2.3 billion.

Read more CNBC reporting on AI

“The dominant exit trend right now is frequent but lower-value acquisitions and fewer IPOs with significantly higher value,” said Dimitri Zabelin, PitchBook’s senior research analyst for AI and cybersecurity.

CoreWeave’s IPO, which took place at the very end of the first quarter, was the exception on the infrastructure side. The stock shot up 340% in the second quarter, and the company is now valued at over $63 billion.

Zabelin said the pattern of more investments in applications with smaller deals has been in place for the past year.

“Vertical solutions tend to plug more easily into existing enterprise gaps,” Zabelin said.

The acquisitions wave is being driven, in part, by what Zabelin calls bolt-on deals where larger companies buy smaller startups to enhance their own future valuations, hoping to enhance their value ahead of a future sale or IPO.

“That also has to do with the current liquidity conditions in the macro environment,” Zabelin said.

Outside of AI, activity is slow. U.S. fintech funding dropped 42% in the first half of the year to $10.5 billion, according to Tracxn. Cloud software and crypto have also seen sharp pullbacks.

Zabelin said IPO activity could pick up if economic conditions improve and if interest rates come down. Investors clearly want opportunities to back promising AI companies, he said.

“The appetite for AI, specifically vertical applications, will continue to remain robust,” Zabelin said.

— CNBC’s Kevin Schmidt contributed to this report.

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