11 states launch coalition to expand clean cars in face of federal attacks
Hot on the heels of Congress illegally attacking clean air, a coalition of 11 states has launched an Affordable Clean Cars Coalition to expand access to clean cars even as the federal government tries to raise costs for Americans and drag down the US auto industry during the all-important transition to EVs.
The coalition has been in the works for some time now, but official announcement couldn’t come at a better time.
Just yesterday, Congressional republicans moved on two separate efforts to increase pollution and harm the US auto industry, both by illegally voting to rescind a waiver they don’t have the authority to rescind and voting to send US EV jobs to China and give trillions of dollars to wealthy elites instead.
The new coalition includes 11 states whose governors want to protect their residents from these attacks, and to keep pushing forward on clean cars.
Here’s the list of governors:
- Gavin Newsom, California
- Jared Polis, Colorado
- Matt Meyer, Delaware
- Maura Healey, Massachusetts
- Wes Moore, Maryland
- Phil Murphy, New Jersey
- Michelle Lujan Grisham, New Mexico
- Kathy Hochul, New York
- Tina Kotek, Oregon
- Dan McKee, Rhode Island
- Bob Ferguson, Washington
The coalition represents over 100 million Americans and around 30% of the US car market. It’s a subset of the 24 states in the US Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of 24 governors that represents ~60% of the US economy and 55% of the US population.
The US Climate Alliance has worked on several initiatives, including on cleaner construction materials, modernized grids, and of course clean cars.
The governors in the new Clean Cars Coalition closely (but not exactly) track the group of “section 177” states which follow California Air Resources Board’s clean air rules.
Section 177 is the portion of the federal Clean Air Act which allows California to ask for a waiver to set its own emissions rules, as long as those rules are stronger than federal rules, and lets other states follow the same rules, as long as they follow California’s rules exactly.
Not every state follows every rule, and each individual rule has somewhere around 10-12 states that follow it. Each of the states involved in today’s effort are section 177 states, but not every section 177 state is represented in this coalition.
States participating in the Affordable Clean Cars Coalition will collaborate to:
- Develop solutions that make cleaner vehicles more affordable and accessible to all Americans who want them, including by reducing cost barriers, increasing availability of options, and expanding accessible charging and fueling infrastructure at home and in our communities.
- Continue making progress toward the goals of states’ clean vehicle programs.
- Defend longstanding authority under the Clean Air Act for states to adopt transportation solutions that best meet their needs and most effectively support their families and communities.
- Explore opportunities to develop and adopt next-generation standards and programs to further reduce vehicle pollution, as permitted under the Clean Air Act or otherwise, such as solutions that increase consumer access to cleaner cars and low-carbon fuels.
- Collaborate with one another, share evidence-based practices, engage experts, and develop solutions that can be shared across state lines and eventually scaled by the federal government.
- Foster meaningful engagement with manufacturers, suppliers, dealers, labor unions, business associations, utilities, community-based organizations, charging and fueling infrastructure providers, and others in developing and successfully implementing state transportation solutions.
- Prioritize efforts that bolster America’s ability to compete and innovate in a growing global market.
Electrek’s Take
Today’s coalition is a similar effort to that which came out of the last time the federal government tried to force dirty air on states.
In fact, the US Climate Alliance was originally formed in 2017, in response to former reality TV host Donald Trump declaring that the US should pull out of the Paris Agreement (which Tesla CEO Elon Musk opposed at the time, but now relishes his chance to be “not good for America or the world“).
Mr. Trump also tried to attack California’s clean air rules many times the first time he squatted in the Oval Office (after losing the 2016 election by 3 million votes), but through a combination of being both morally and legally correct, California eventually won that fight.
Along the way, coalition-building like today’s made it clear who the eventual winner would be. California negotiated a clean car deal on its own with automakers, and several states took California’s side in a lawsuit against republican big government overreach. California even made international agreements and went to international climate conferences in the US’ stead, as Mr. Trump committed itself to diminishing the US on the international stage.
This time, the story looks like it’s starting to play out similarly. And since the players are the same (though some, somehow, are even stupider), and the importance and dominance of electric cars is more apparent now than ever, I wouldn’t bet on the outcome being all that different.
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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
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.
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!
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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.
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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