President Trump’s nominee for head of the Department of Transport, Sean Duffy, has signaled imposing potential extra fees for electric vehicles and said that he plans to let NHTSA continue its investigation into Tesla’s advanced driver assist systems.
Duffy is going through his U.S. Senate hearing today.
The former lawmaker and lobbyist is one of the least controversial of Trump’s nominees. Unlike his other colleges going through the gauntlet this week, he isn’t being grilled for his morals or past controversies and we are actually learning some about his planned policies for the Department of Transport.
For example, Duffy signaled that he thinks electric vehicles should pay extra taxes to cover their use of the roads. Although, he didn’t elaborate how he plans to do it:
“They should pay for use of our roads. How to do that, I think, is a little more challenging.”
The US claims to use gas taxes to pay for roads. However, the federal government hasn’t increase taxes on gas since 1993 and the road infrastructure is often covered by other funds than taxes.
Some states have implemented higher registration fees on electric vehicles to address their cost of using the roads. These fees have been criticized by environmentalists as being extra taxes on EVs that don’t account for the benefits on the environment at a time when the US is already falling behind the rest of the world in EV adoption.
Duffy was also asked about what he plans to do with NHTSA’s investigation into Tesla, considering that his future boss, Donald Trump, is getting closer to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who donated over $240 million to Trump’s campaign.
Senator Ed Markey asked:
“Regardless of outside political pressure, can you commit to allowing (NHTSA) to follow the evidence and operate objectively?”
Duffy Tried to reassure the Senator:
“I will let NHTSA do their investigation.”
Tesla is currently under several NHTSA investigation regarding its advanced driver assist features, which it is deploying in unique and much more agressive ways than competitors.
Trump has some wild nominees for his new administration, but I have to say that Duffy is one of the least scary ones.
He is the least controversial, meaning he doesn’t have 20 different scandals like most others. He is a TV reality star like Trump, but he also has a serious background as a lawyer, congressman, and lobbyist.
At the end of the day, the number one criteria to be nominated by Trump is to be a Trump loyalist – way before being competent for the job. So I can’t say that I have high hopes for Duffy.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he tries to throw some sticks into the wheels of electric vehicles. Fees for road usage could be one of them. I agree that it is a problem that needs to be fixed at some point, but it shouldn’t take priority over increasing EV adoption as the US falls way behind the rest of the world.
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Rondo Energy and energy producer EDP are installing a massive 100 MWh renewable-powered heat battery at HEINEKEN’s brewery in Lisbon, Portugal. The project will deliver round-the-clock renewable steam and reduce emissions without altering the facility’s beer brewing process.
Photo: Rondo
Brewing HEINEKEN with zero-carbon steam
The Rondo Heat Battery (RHB) will be the biggest deployed in the beverage industry worldwide. It can store electricity as high-temperature heat using refractory bricks, then convert that heat into 24/7 steam, all without burning fossil fuels.
At HEINEKEN’s Central de Cervejas e Bebidas Brewery and Malting Plant, the heat battery system will supply 7 MW of steam, powered by renewable electricity from onsite solar and the grid. That steam is identical to steam created by gas-fired boilers, but without the carbon pollution.
EDP is providing the renewable electricity and will deliver the steam directly to HEINEKEN via a Heat-as-a-Service model. Rondo is supplying the battery, and HEINEKEN gets to ditch fossil fuels without retooling its brewing process.
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Why this matters
This project is a big win for industrial decarbonization. High-temperature steam is one of the most complex parts of manufacturing to electrify, and the beer industry runs on it. HEINEKEN’s Lisbon site already uses solar panels for electricity and electric heat pumps for hot water, and this move helps it go even further.
It’s part of HEINEKEN’s “Brew a Better World” plan to hit net zero emissions by 2040 and decarbonize all of its global production sites by 2030.
Additionally, the deployment aligns with Portugal’s national target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030.
The bigger picture
With the European Investment Bank and Breakthrough Energy Catalyst backing this and other Rondo projects with €75 million in funding, this Lisbon installation is just the beginning. Rondo’s technology enables energy-hungry industries to switch from fossil fuels to renewable electricity without compromising 24/7 operations.
Rondo CEO Eric Trusiewicz sums it up: “We are thrilled to be installing our first Rondo Heat Battery in Iberia, and to support HEINEKEN to reach its goals. We look forward to helping industries across Iberia cut costs and carbon, and help Iberia capitalize on the opportunity.”
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Lucid Group (LCID) reported third-quarter earnings after the market closed on Wednesday, missing top and bottom-line estimates.
With 4,078 vehicles delivered in Q3, Lucid marked its seventh straight quarter with higher deliveries. Through the first nine months of 2025, Lucid delivered nearly 10,500 vehicles, more than the roughly 10,200 it handed over in 2024.
Although supply chain issues hampered production in the first half of the year, Lucid’s CEO Marc Winterhoff said the company made “significant progress ramping production of the Lucid Gravity through Q3,” including adding a second manufacturing shift at its Casa Grande, Arizona, plant.
Lucid produced 3,891 vehicles in Q3, missing estimates of around 5,600. With 9,966 EVs produced through the third quarter, Lucid will need to build over 8,000 more to meet its full-year production goal of 18,000 to 20,000.
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According to estimates, Lucid is expected to report an adjusted quarterly loss of $2.27 per share on revenue of $352 million in Q3 2025.
Lucid Q3 2025 production and deliveries (Source: Lucid Group)
Lucid Group Q3 2025 earnings breakdown
Lucid missed top and bottom-line estimates as it continues to address industry-wide supply chain issues that are hampering production of the Gravity SUV.
Although it missed estimates, Lucid reported Q3 revenue of $336.6 million, which is still up 68% from $200 million in the same period last year.
Lucid’s net loss narrowed to $978.4 million in the third quarter, or $3.31 per share, from $992.5 million, or $4.09 per share, in Q3 2024. On an adjusted basis, Lucid posted a loss of $2.65 per share.
Lucid Q3 2025 earnings (Source: Lucid Group)
In addition, Lucid said it agreed with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) to increase the delayed draw term loan credit facility (DDTL) from $750 million to around $2 billion.
Given the increase, Lucid said total liquidity would have been around $5.5 billion at the end of Q3, up from the $4.2 billion it reported. Lucid ended the third quarter with $1.6 billion in cash and equivalents.
Lucid’s midsize crossover SUV (left) and Gravity SUV (right) Source: Lucid Group
Lucid said liquidity is enough to fund it through the first half of 2027, up from the second half of 2026, as previously forecast. Lucid plans to launch production of its more affordable midsize platform in late 2026 with vehicles starting at around $50,000.
Lucid confirmed it was still on track to start production of the midsize platform later next year. However, given the supply chain issues, it now expects to hit the lower end of its production goal at around 18,000.
The Lucid Gravity debuts in Europe (Source: Lucid)
Winterhoff said the company “remains intensely focused on ramping up production and addressing the significant supply chain disruptions impacting the entire industry.”
Lucid is advancing other emerging tech, including autonomy and intelligent mobility. Through a new partnership with NVIDIA, Lucid aims to be among the first to offer Level 4 autonomous driving.
The third-quarter earnings miss comes after Rivian (RIVN) beat expectations this week, reporting higher revenue and improving gross margins.
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Robinhood beat Wall Street expectations for the third quarter on Wednesday, extending a hot streak that has made it one of the biggest large-cap U.S. tech stocks this year.
Here is how Robinhood’s results compared to Wall Street estimates, according to analysts surveyed by LSEG:
Earnings per share: 61cents vs. 53 cents expected
Revenue: $1.27 billion vs. $1.19 billion expected
Revenue doubled year-over-year, while net income climbed to $556 million, or 61 cents per share, up significantly from the same quarter last year, when the company posted net income of $150 million, or 17 cents per share.
Transaction-based revenue, which is a proxy for trading activity, came in at $730 million, below StreetAccount’s $739 million estimate.
“Q3 was another strong quarter of profitable growth, and we continued to diversify our business, adding two more business lines — Prediction Markets and Bitstamp — that are generating approximately $100 million or more in annualized revenues,” finance chief Jason Warnick said in the release.
Robinhood is closing the gap with Coinbase as it pushes beyond retail trading into full-scale wealth management. The company has been aggressively offering deposit matches to lure clients from Fidelity and Schwab, and assets under management have grown with its TradePMR acquisition.