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While the current majority in DC shared intentions to likely kill the existing $7,500 federal EV tax credit, some language in a (very fluid) proposal suggests that not all automakers will be immediately affected. For example, Rivian is an American automaker whose sales are young enough that US consumers might still be able to take advantage of the tax credit, and that could also include the upcoming R2 EVs.

May 13, 2025: As expected, the House Ways and Means Committee published markups of “The One, Big, Beautiful Bill” to the public domain. As we reported below, the proposal includes ending several federal tax programs on December 31, 2025.

That includes termination of the Qualified Commercial Clean Vehicles Credit and the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Credit, as well as the Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit.

Lastly, the proposal includes a termination of the Clean Vehicle Credit at the end of this year. However, as originally reported below, there is an exception for automakers who have not sold at least 200,000 vehicles between December 31, 2009 and December 31, 2025.

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That means Rivian EVs could very well still qualify for federal tax credits through December 31, 2026.


The past two years, federal tax credits for EV sales through the Inflation Reduction Act have done wonders for US adoption, helping give consumers the last little push they needed to go all-electric with at least one vehicle in their home.

It was great while it lasted.

These days, the current administration has its sights set on a delusional idea of “success” from the past, trying to breathe new life into dying industries like coal and, yes, combustion vehicles. EV adoption was never going to happen overnight, but recent discussions among the GOP stating it is likely to kill the federal EV tax credit is disheartening news.

We’ve already long-surpassed “critical mass” in the US adoption process, so it’s a fair wager that EVs are here to stay and will continue increasing their market presence. While most makes and models are likely to be disqualified from federal EV tax credits after 2025 (only about 20 or so currently qualify these days), some proposed exceptions in place will allow credits to continue for American companies like Rivian, for example.

Rivian-Trump's-tariffs
Rivian R1T (right) and R1S (left) Source: Rivian

Proposal states Rivian EVs could qualify for tax credits after 2025

According to Reddit user u/FiveDollarHoller, they are a lobbyist in the midst of Washington’s discussions to repeal the federal EV tax credit. According to the post, the US House Ways and Means Committee will finalize its tax title this week.

According to proposal shared by reliable source close to the lobbyist, a slew of credits will be eliminated on December 31, 2025, including the following:

  • Used EV credit
  • Clean Vehicle Credit
  • Qualified Commercial Clean Vehicle Credit
  • Alernative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Proprty Credit

We share the same sentiment as the lobbyist in that this proposal remains fluid and discussions are ongoing, so the details of these plans could have already changed by now and most likely will change before everything is approved through the necessary government channels.

One interesting tidbit in the current proposal is an exception within the $7,500 Clean Vehicle Credit for OEMs that have not sold 200,000 vehicles by December 31, 2025. If that exception makes its way into the final legislature, EVs from Rivian, including the R1S and R1T, could still qualify for tax credits.

Better still, Rivian recently shared that it remains on track to begin scaled production and deliveries of its second flagship model, the R2, in 2026, meaning customers of that BEV could also qualify for federal tax credits.

At the end of 2024, Rivian had sold 51,579 compared to 50,122 a year prior and 20,332 deliveries in 2022. Per its recent Q1 2025 quarterly report, the American automaker targets 40,000 to 46,000 deliveries in 2025. By those numbers, that puts Rivian around approximately 168,033 total deliveries if it hits the high end of its 2025 outlook.

As such, Rivian’s numbers would fall below the 200,000 sales threshold outlined in the current proposal. Again, this is hearsay at most until we get a legitimate proposal publicized by the Capitol. Still, it’s a noteworthy potential perk for companies like Rivian if it comes to fruition. It could also incentivize more US consumers to purchase a Rivian since it could be one of the only OEMs that still qualify (along with Lucid, probably).

Per the IRS, despite being built in Normal, Illinois, the Rivian R1 models are not listed as qualified BEVs for the $7,500 tax credit. We will have to see how this all plays out in the coming days and months.

Per the Reddit post, the complete text of the EV tax credit repeal proposal is supposed to be shared today (Monday) at 2 PM. Once a bona fide proposal is in place, it will still need to be approved by the House Ways and Means Committee, then the House, followed by the Senate (which may be a lot more challenging to get approved).

We will monitor this process closely, which will likely last well into 2025, and will report on what EVs (if any) may still qualify for federal tax credits next year and whether that will include Rivian. Regardless, if you’re pondering the idea of purchasing a BEV (Rivian or not), you should try to take delivery before the end of the year because the federal EV tax credit doesn’t appear long for this world.

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State of New York commits $21 million to support zero-emission mobility

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State of New York commits  million to support zero-emission mobility

While the Trump Administration walks back emissions standards and pretends science isn’t real, New York Governor Kathy Hochul is announcing plans to improve the quality of life for her constituents by investing over $21 million in support of zero-emission mobility and transportation solutions across New York State.

New York’s newly announced Clean Mobility Program will provide funding for scalable, community-led demonstration projects highlighting micro mobility, ride sharing, and community-managed “on-demand shared transportation” options.

The Governor’s office believes these solutions could help lower air pollution in the state while offering residents affordable connections to services, jobs, and transit. Objectively needed wins, in other words – and even more needed in traditionally underserved communities.

Governor Hochul gets it


NY Governor Kathy Huchul, via governor.ny.gov.

“Even as the federal government walks away from clean air and energy standards, New York continues to invest in modern, flexible and efficient electric transportation options that improve air quality and expand affordable consumer choices,” explains Governor Hochul. “Our priority is linking communities, including areas that have been historically marginalized, with resources that provide residents with a variety of flexible transportation options that allow them to conduct their daily business uninterrupted.”

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The program is the latest of the state’s recent EV funding initiatives, and the official release (on the New York State website) announced more details about The Clean Mobility Program:

The Clean Mobility program offers up to $21.6 million for projects across New York State and will award up to $3 million per project, with priority given to projects in disadvantaged communities, as defined by the Climate Justice Working Group.

Additionally, up to $8 million is set aside to fund demonstration projects located in specific areas of the state, including those served by the upstate investor-owned utilities. This includes a total of up to $5 million for micro mobility projects in the Central Hudson, National Grid, New York State Electric & Gas, and Rochester Electric & Gas region and up to $3 million for any type of eligible demonstration projects located in the Bronx.

NEW YORK STATE

Proposals for demonstration projects must include a completed planning document that includes community engagement, site identification and operations, project partner identification, technical feasibility assessment, and a policy and regulatory feasibility assessment. Any e-bikes or e-scooters deployed in these projects must meet industry and state safety standards to be eligible.

Proposals are due on September 25, 2025 by 3:00 PM EST. For more information on this funding opportunity please visit the NYSERDA’s website.

Electrek’s Take


New York City; by Benny Rotlevy, via Unsplash.

Times Square banned cars in 2009 and New York City implemented congestion pricing earlier this year, angering exactly the right people in exactly the right way for exactly the right reasons. In both cases, the plans worked, the problems were solved for, and the lives of the people of New York improved. Governor Hochul’s latest plan is sure to be the latest in an ever-growing line of green success stories.

SOURCE | IMAGES: New York State.


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EVgo set to borrow up to a $300 million to build 1,500 new DC fast chargers

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EVgo set to borrow up to a 0 million to build 1,500 new DC fast chargers

EVgo has secured a massive, $225 million loan facility with five commercial banks in a bid to accelerate its expansion plans and add more than 1,500 new DC fast chargers to America’s EV charging landscape – and they have an option to borrow even more!

This week, EVgo announced that it has closed on a first-of-its-kind, senior secured, non-recourse credit facility with “top tier” banks for $225 million – and they have the option to increase their line of credit by $75 million more to fund additional network growth.

“This groundbreaking financing transaction sets a precedent for expanding high-power charging infrastructure by leveraging debt capital,” said Francine Sullivan, EVgo CLO & EVP Corporate Development. “Such resounding support from the global project finance bank market marks another milestone in EVgo’s plan to enhance value with our growing industry-leading fast charging solutions. We look forward to partnering with our banking partners to continue to grow our leadership position into the future.”

The credit card facility is being funded by a group of five “top tier” banks, according to EVgo, with the project being led by SMBC as Structuring Agent, Coordinating Lead Arranger, and Joint Bookrunner. Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada, and ING Bank NV are acting as the Joint Lead Arrangers and Joint Bookrunners, while Investec Bank Plc is also on, though “just” as a participating lender.

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The companies involved are calling this new capital for public fast charging an important milestone that reflects both the maturity and profitability of the EVgo network, and broader confidence in the company’s management team.

“This financing demonstrates SMBC’s continued ability to lead innovative financing solutions for clients in emerging sectors across the broader infrastructure landscape,” said Juan Kreutz, SMBC Americas Head of Global Structured Finance. “We are proud to partner with an industry leader like EVgo on this pioneering financing as the company expands its network of accessible charging infrastructure throughout the US.”

Electrek’s Take


More public EV charging, including curbside, envisioned in Chicago plan
DC fast charging stations in Chicago; via EVgo.

The people running EVgo are smart. They understand that the loss of the $7,500 Federal tax credit isn’t the dealbreaker it’s being made out to be, and that the demand for chargers is only going to continue to grow. What’s more, the banks have done their research, looked at the projections, and decided the odds of getting their $225-300 million were pretty good.

Glad to see it. Now, for give me – I’m off to watch The Big Short again (for unrelated reasons).

SOURCE | IMAGES: EVgo.


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Ethereum turns 10: From scrappy experiment to Wall Street’s invisible backbone

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Ethereum turns 10: From scrappy experiment to Wall Street’s invisible backbone

Ethereum succeeded beyond anyone's expectations, says network co-founder Vitalik Buterin at EthCC

CANNES — Ten years ago, Vitalik Buterin and a small band of developers huddled in a drafty Berlin loft strung with dangling lightbulbs, laptops balanced on mismatched chairs and chipped tables. They weren’t corporate titans or venture-backed founders — just idealists working long nights to push a radical idea into reality.

From that sparse office, they launched “Frontier,” Ethereum‘s first live network. It was bare-bones — no interface, no polish, nothing user-friendly. But it could mine, execute smart contracts, and let developers test decentralized applications. It was the spark that transformed Ethereum from an abstract concept into a living, breathing system.

Bitcoin had captured headlines as “digital gold,” but what they built was something else entirely: programmable money, a financial operating system where code could move funds, enforce contracts, and create businesses without banks or brokers.

One year earlier and 520 miles away in Zurich, Paul Brody got a call from IBM security: A kid was wandering the lab unattended.

“That’s not a child,” Brody told them. “That’s Vitalik. He’s a grown-up — he just looks really young.”

Paul Brody and Vitalik Buterin with IBM and Samsung executives at CES 2015, where IBM unveiled its first blockchain prototype built on Ethereum’s early code.

Paul Brody

At the time, Buterin was building the bones of Ethereum. The blockchain was still in its alpha stage, an early version of what would become a $420 billion platform rewiring Wall Street and powering decentralized finance, NFTs, and tokenized markets across the globe.

Brody, then leading a research team at IBM, remembers how quickly the idea clicked.

“One of the guys on the research team came to me and said, ‘I’ve met this really interesting guy. He’s got a really cool idea…It’s like a version of bitcoin, but we’re going to make it much faster and programmable,'” he said. “And when he said that to me, I thought, ‘That’s it. That is what I want. That is what we need.'”

With Buterin’s help, IBM built its first blockchain prototype on Ethereum’s early code, unveiling it at CES in 2015 alongside Samsung. “That was how I ended up down this path,” Brody said. “I was done with all other technology and basically made the switch to blockchain.”

Even now, as EY’s global blockchain leader, Brody remembers feeling a pang of envy. “This is a kid, and it doesn’t matter,” he said. “I was jealous of Vitalik… to be able to do that.”

He added, “I don’t think opportunities like that could have been surfaced when I was that age.”

Now, a decade later, that experiment has quietly rewired global markets.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin delivers a keynote at ETHCC, laying out the network’s next steps — and its values test — as institutional adoption accelerates.

EthCC

“It’s very impressive, just how much the space has succeeded and grown into, beyond pretty much anyone’s expectations,” Buterin told CNBC in Cannes on the sidelines of the blockchain’s flagship event in Europe.

Buterin said the change over the past decade has been staggering. Ten years ago, he recalled, the crypto community was “just a very small space,” with only a handful of people working on bitcoin and a few other projects.

Since then, Ethereum has become “this big thing,” Buterin reflected, with major corporations now launching assets on both its base layer and layer-two networks. Parts of national economies are beginning to run on Ethereum infrastructure, a far cry from its cypherpunk origins.

But Buterin warned that mainstream adoption brings risks as well as benefits. One concern is that if too few issuers or intermediaries dominate, they could become “de facto controllers of the ecosystem.” He described a scenario where Ethereum might appear open, but, in practice, all the keys are managed by centralized providers.

“That’s the thing that we don’t want,” he said.

Prague to the Riviera

Two years earlier in Prague, CNBC met Buterin at Paralelní Polis, a sprawling industrial complex turned anarchist tech hub in the city’s Holešovice district. The building’s labyrinthine staircases and shadowed corridors felt like a physical map of the crypto world itself — part resistance movement, part experiment in reimagining power.

It was a place built on Václav Benda’s concept of a “parallel society,” where decentralized technologies offered refuge from state surveillance and control. It’s the kind of place where Buterin, a self-described nomad, found himself at home among cypherpunks and cryptographic idealists.

At the time, Buterin described crypto’s greatest utility not in speculative trading, but in helping people survive broken financial systems in emerging markets.

ETHPrague 2023 was held at Paralelní Polis in the Czech Republic.

Pavel Sinagl

“The stuff that we often find a bit basic and boring is exactly the stuff that brings lots of value,” he told CNBC at the time. “Just being able to plug into the international economy — these are things that they don’t have, and these are things that provide huge value for people there.”

Even in Prague, where coders worked to make payments fast and censorship-resistant, the technology felt like a resistance movement — privacy-preserving, anti-authoritarian, a lifeline in countries where banking collapses were common and money couldn’t be trusted.

This year, Buterin keynoted Ethereum’s flagship conference at the Palais des Festivals — the same red carpet venue that hosts movie stars each spring.

It was a fitting symbol of Ethereum’s journey: from underground hacker dens to a network that governments, banks, and brokerages are now racing to build upon.

Brody, who currently leads blockchain strategy at EY, says what matters most is how deeply Ethereum is integrating into traditional finance. “The global financial system is really nicely described as a whole network of pipes,” he said.

“What’s happening now is that Ethereum is getting plumbed into this infrastructure,” Brody continued, noting that until recently, crypto operated on entirely separate rails from traditional finance.

Now, he said, Ethereum is being wired directly into core transaction systems, setting the stage for massive financial flows — from investors to everyday savers — to migrate away from older mechanisms toward Ethereum-based platforms that can move money faster, at lower cost, and with more advanced functionality than legacy systems allow.

Ethereum Co-Founder Joe Lubin on Ethereum Treasurys as the cryptocurrency turns 10

Becoming the plumbing of Wall Street

Stablecoins — digital dollars that live on Ethereum — power trillions in payments, tokenized assets and funds are moving on-chain, and Robinhood recently rolled out tokenized U.S. equities via Arbitrum, an Ethereum-based layer two.

Circle’s USDC — the second-largest stablecoin — still settles around 65% of its volume on Ethereum’s rails. According to CoinGecko’s latest “State of Stablecoins” report, Ethereum accounts for nearly 50% of all stablecoin activity.

Between Circle’s IPO and the stablecoin-focused GENIUS Act, now signed into law by President Donald Trump, regulators have new reason to engage with, rather than fight, this transformation.

Data from Deutsche Bank shows stablecoin transactions hit $28 trillion last year — more than Mastercard and Visa combined. The bank itself has announced plans to build a tokenization platform on zkSync, a fast, cost-efficient Ethereum layer two designed to help asset managers issue and manage tokenized funds, stablecoins, and other real-world assets while meeting regulatory and data protection requirements.

Digital asset exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken are racing to capture this crossover between traditional securities and crypto.

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev explains 'dual purpose' behind trading platform's new crypto offerings

As part of its quarterly earnings release, Coinbase said this week it’s launching tokenized stocks and prediction markets for U.S. users in the coming months, a move that would diversify its revenue stream and bring it into more direct competition with brokerages like Robinhood and eToro.

Kraken announced plans to offer 24/7 trading of U.S. stock tokens in select overseas markets.

BlackRock‘s tokenized money market fund, BUIDL, launched on Ethereum last year, offering qualified investors on-chain access to yield with real-time redemptions settled in USDC.

Even as newer blockchains tout faster speeds and lower fees, Ethereum has proven its staying power as the trusted network for global finance. Buterin told CNBC in Cannes that there’s a misconception about what institutions actually want.

“A lot of institutions basically tell us to our faces that they value Ethereum because it’s stable and dependable, because it doesn’t go down,” he said.

He added that firms frequently ask about privacy and other long-term features — the kinds of concerns that institutions, he said, “really value.”

Institutions are choosing various layer twos to meet specific needs — Robinhood uses Arbitrum, Deutsche Bank zkSync, Coinbase and Kraken Optimism — but they all ultimately settle on Ethereum’s base layer.

“The value proposition of Ethereum is its global reach, its huge capital flows, its incredible programmability,” Brody said.

He added that the fact it isn’t the fastest blockchain or the one with the quickest settlement times “is secondary to the fact that it’s overall the most widely adopted and flexible system.”

Brody also believes history points toward consolidation. He said that in most technology standards wars, one platform ultimately dominates. In his view, Ethereum is likely to become that dominant programmability layer, while Bitcoin plays a complementary role as a risk-off, scarcity-driven asset.

Engineers, he said, “love to work on a standard… to scale on a standard,” and Ethereum has become precisely that.

Tomasz Stańczak, the newly appointed co-executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, in Cannes for Europe’s largest annual gathering for the blockchain.

MacKenzie Sigalos

Tomasz Stańczak, the newly appointed co-executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, sees the same pattern from inside the ecosystem.

“Institutions choose Ethereum over and over again for its values,” Stańczak said. “Ten years without stopping for a moment. Ten years of upgrades with a huge dedication to security and censorship resistance.”

When institutions send an order to the market, they want to be sure that it’s treated fairly, that nobody has preference, and that the transaction is executed at the time when it’s delivered. “That’s what Ethereum guarantees,” added Stańczak.

Those assurances have become more valuable as traditional finance moves on-chain.

Scaling without losing its soul

Ethereum’s path hasn’t been smooth. The network has weathered spectacular booms and busts, rivals promising faster speeds, and criticism that it’s too slow or expensive for mass adoption. Yet it has outlasted nearly all early competitors.

In 2022, Ethereum replaced its old transaction validation method, proof-of-work — where armies of computers competed to solve puzzles — with proof-of-stake, where users lock up their ether as collateral to help secure the network. The shift cut Ethereum’s energy use by more than 99% and set the stage for upgrades aimed at making apps faster and cheaper to run on its base layer.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin in Prague, where he finds refuge with like-minded programmers looking to change the world through cryptography-powered technology.

CNBC

The next decade will test whether Ethereum can scale without compromise.

Buterin said the first priority is getting Ethereum to “the finish line” in terms of its technical goals. That means improving scalability and speed without sacrificing its core principles of decentralization and security — and ideally making those properties even stronger.

Zero-knowledge proofs, for example, could dramatically increase transaction capacity while making it possible to verify that the chain is following the rules of the protocol on something as small as a smartwatch.

There are also algorithmic changes the team already knows are needed to protect Ethereum against large-scale computing attacks. Implementing those, Buterin said, is part of the path to making Ethereum “a really valuable part of global infrastructure that helps make the internet and the economy a more free and open place.”

Buterin believes the real change won’t come with fireworks. He said it may already be unfolding years before most people recognize it.

“This type of disruption doesn’t feel like overturning the existing system,” he said. “It feels like building a new thing that just keeps growing and growing until eventually more and more people realize you don’t even have to look at the old thing if you didn’t want to.”

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