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The repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) would wipe out thousands of US jobs, especially in the booming EV and battery manufacturing sectors, according to a new report from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT).

IRA job creation is at stake

Since the IRA’s passage in 2022, the ICCT writes that automakers and battery manufacturers have committed around $125 billion to US-based projects, creating hundreds of thousands of American jobs. (The BlueGreen Alliance’s EV Jobs Hub puts announced EV investment even higher, at $212.5 billion.)

The ICCT’s new study, “How the Inflation Reduction Act is driving US job growth across the electric vehicle industry,” projects that the IRA would drive a net creation of more than 118,000 new direct jobs across the US EV, battery, and charging industries from 2026 to 2030. 

However, if key provisions of the IRA are rolled back, up to 130,000 direct manufacturing jobs would be lost by 2030. An IRA repeal would cause direct job losses of about 30,600 in vehicle production, 85,000 in battery manufacturing, and 14,200 in charging infrastructure.

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Moreover, another 310,000 indirectly connected jobs could vanish by 2030. Stephanie Searle, chief program officer at ICCT, said, “These job losses would cascade throughout the economy, affecting not just autoworkers but also employees in mineral processing, retail, hospitality, and others dependent on a strong manufacturing base.”

According to ICCT’s analysis, states that have become hubs for EV and battery production – like Michigan, Texas, and Tennessee – face the most significant losses. Michigan alone can lose nearly 16,000 jobs, with Texas and Tennessee potentially shedding around 13,000 jobs. The ripple effects would extend beyond factories, impacting retail, hospitality, and mineral processing businesses.

This alarming outlook comes as US policymakers plan to impose a new 25% tariff on imported vehicles to bring manufacturing jobs back home. However, ICCT’s study demonstrates that Joe Biden’s signature policy has already achieved a domestic manufacturing boom and job creation.

“Most of the job losses associated with IRA repeal are in the Midwest and southern states, where significant EV and battery investments have been announced,” noted Peter Slowik, co-author of the report. “The 15 states where we project the greatest number of jobs at risk are Michigan, Texas, Tennessee, Nevada, California, Kentucky, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Illinois, Arizona, New York, and Alabama.”

Electrek’s Take

The current administration claims to want to create domestic manufacturing and jobs. It just wants to do it with the stick (tariffs) instead of the carrot (IRA tax credits). The thing is, the carrot is already working. Investors have already said they will pull out without incentives. The stick is going to beat the EV and battery industry to death, and some states are going to suffer a lot more than others. The irony is, some of those states are the biggest supporters of the Trump administration’s policies.

Read more: Republican districts lose billions as clean energy cancellations surge


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OpenAI wraps $6.6 billion share sale at $500 billion valuation

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OpenAI wraps .6 billion share sale at 0 billion valuation

Sam Altman, chief executive officer of OpenAI Inc., during a media tour of the Stargate AI data center in Abilene, Texas, US, on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025.

Kyle Grillot | Bloomberg | Getty Images

OpenAI has finalized a secondary share sale totaling $6.6 billion, allowing current and former employees to sell stock at a record $500 billion valuation, according to a person familiar with the transaction.

Bloomberg was first to report that the deal had closed.

CNBC reported in August that OpenAI was looking to conduct a secondary share sale at a valuation of $500 billion, with investors including Thrive Capital, SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu Dhabi’s MGX, and T. Rowe Price.

While OpenAI had authorized up to $10.3 billion in shares for sale — an increase from the original $6 billion target — only about two-thirds of that amount ultimately changed hands.

The person briefed on internal discussions said that lower participation is being viewed internally as a vote of confidence in the company’s long-term prospects, and a sign that investor appetite remains strong, even at a $500 billion valuation — up sharply from $300 billion earlier this year.

The offer was presented to eligible current and former employees in early September, with participation open to those who had held shares for more than two years.

The share sale marks OpenAI’s second major tender offer in less than a year, following a $1.5 billion deal with SoftBank in November.

This latest transaction cements OpenAI’s status as the world’s most valuable privately held company, surpassing SpaceX’s valuation of $456 billion.

The sale also comes amid intensifying competition for AI talent. Meta, in particular, has reportedly offered nine-figure compensation packages in a bid to recruit top researchers.

OpenAI is among a growing cohort of high-profile startups — including SpaceX, Stripe, and Databricks — using secondary sales that allow employees to cash out while staying private. The move is widely seen as a strategy to retain talent and reward long-term employees without pursuing an IPO.

WATCH: OpenAI’s $850 billion buildout contends with grid limits

OpenAI’s $850 billion buildout contends with grid limits

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EV Apocalypse | the EV tax credit is gone, but the deals stay STRONG!

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EV Apocalypse | the EV tax credit is gone, but the deals stay STRONG!

It’s October 1st, which means the $7,500 Federal EV tax credit is dead and gone. That doesn’t mean it’s the end of the road for EVs, however – BMW, Ford, GM, and others are stepping up with big rebates, clever accounting tricks, and huge discounts to keep the deals rolling! All this and more on today’s stylin’, profilin’, limousine-riding, jet flying, kiss-stealing, wheelin’ n’ dealin’ episode of Quick Charge!

WOOOOOOOOO!!!

We’ve also got a hard-hitting look at both the EV and oil subsidies impacting the auto market at large, and what it means to give these two different technologies a level playing field to compete for customers on.

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Today’s episode is brought to you by Climate XChange, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to help states pass effective, equitable climate policies. The nonprofit just kicked off its 10th annual EV raffle, where participants have multiple opportunities to win their dream EV.

Visit CarbonRaffle.org/Electrek to learn more!

Prefer listening to your podcasts? Audio-only versions of Quick Charge are now available on Apple PodcastsSpotifyTuneIn, and our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (most weeks, anyway). We’ll be posting bonus 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.

Got news? Let us know!
Drop us a line at tips@electrek.co. You can also rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show.


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FERC: Solar + wind made up 90% of new US power generating capacity to July 2025

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FERC: Solar + wind made up 90% of new US power generating capacity to July 2025

Solar and wind accounted for 90% of new US electrical generating capacity added in the first seven months of 2025, according to data just released by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). In July, solar alone provided 96% of new capacity, making it the 23rd consecutive month solar has held the lead among all energy sources.

Solar’s new generating capacity in July and YTD

In its latest monthly “Energy Infrastructure Update” report (with data through July 31, 2025), which was reviewed by the SUN DAY Campaign, FERC says 46 “units” of solar totaling 1,181 megawatts (MW) were placed into service in July, accounting for over 96.4% of all new generating capacity added during the month.

The 434 units of utility-scale (>1 MW) solar added during the first seven months of 2025 total 16,050 MW and were 74.4% of the total new capacity placed into service by all sources.

Solar has now been the largest source of new generating capacity added each month for 23 consecutive months from September 2023 to July 2025. During that period, total utility-scale solar capacity grew from 91.82 gigawatts (GW) to 153.09 GW. No other energy source added anything close to that amount of new capacity. Wind, for example, expanded by 10.68 GW, while natural gas increased by just 3.74 GW.

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Renewables were 90% of new capacity added YTD

Between January and July, new wind provided 3,288 MW of capacity additions – significantly more than the new capacity provided by natural gas (2,207 MW). Wind thus accounted for 15.2% of all new capacity added during the first seven months of 2025.

For the same period, the combination of solar and wind (plus 4 MW of hydropower and 3 MW of biomass) was 89.6% of new capacity, while natural gas provided just 10.2%; the balance came from coal (18 MW), oil (17 MW), and waste heat (17 MW).

Solar + wind are 23.23% of US utility-scale generating capacity

Utility-scale solar’s share of total installed capacity (11.42%) is now almost equal to that of wind (11.81%). Taken together, they constitute 23.23% of the US’s total available installed utility-scale generating capacity.

Moreover, at least 25-30% of US solar capacity is in the form of small-scale (e.g., rooftop) systems that are not reflected in FERC’s data. Including that additional solar capacity would bring the share provided by solar + wind to more than a quarter of the US total.

With the inclusion of hydropower (7.61%), biomass (1.07%), and geothermal (0.31%), renewables currently claim a 32.22% share of total US utility-scale generating capacity. If small-scale solar capacity is included, renewables are now more than one-third of total US generating capacity.

Solar still on track to become No. 2 source of US generating capacity

FERC reports that net “high probability” additions of solar between August 2025 and July 2028 total 92,631 MW – an amount more than four times the forecast net “high probability” additions for wind (22,528 MW), the second fastest-growing resource.

FERC also foresees net growth for hydropower (579 MW) and geothermal (92 MW) but a decrease of 131 MW in biomass capacity.

Taken together, the net new “high probability” capacity additions by all renewable energy sources over the next three years – the bulk of the Trump Administration’s remaining time in office – would total 115,120 MW.  

There are now 35 MW of new nuclear capacity in FERC’s three-year forecast, while coal and oil are projected to contract by 25,017 MW and 1,576 MW, respectively. Natural gas capacity would expand by just 8,276 MW.

Should FERC’s three-year forecast materialize, by mid-summer 2028, utility-scale solar would account for more than 17% of installed U.S. generating capacity – more than any other source besides natural gas (40%). Further, the capacity of the mix of all utility-scale renewable energy sources would exceed 38%. Inclusion of small-scale solar systems would push renewables ahead of natural gas.

“With one month of Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ now under our belts, renewables continue to dominate capacity additions,” noted the SUN DAY Campaign’s executive director, Ken Bossong. “And solar seems poised to hold its lead in the months and years to come.” 


The 30% federal solar tax credit is ending this year. If you’ve ever considered going solar, now’s the time to act. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them. 

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