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Scott Strazik, chief executive officer of GE Vernova LLC, speaks during the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston, Texas, US, on Thursday, March 13, 2025.

Aaron M. Sprecher | Bloomberg | Getty Images

President Donald Trump’s executive orders on nuclear power could lead to the deployment of small modular reactors in the U.S. by late 2030, GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik said Wednesday.

Trump on Friday ordered the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to decide on applications to construct and operate new nuclear plants within 18 months. The order also calls for the NRC to “adopt shorter deadlines tailored to particular reactor types.” The nuclear industry has long complained that the NRC’s approval process takes too long.

Trump’s order could result in approvals to start building small modular reactors in the U.S. by 2027, Strazik told the research firm Bernstein in an interview. This would create a “credible shot” of adding these reactors to the U.S. nuclear fleet in late 2030 or 2031, the CEO said.

Small modular reactors (SMRs) are plant designs that many in the industry view as the future of nuclear power. SMR developers including GE Vernova believe the reactors will one day lower the cost of building nuclear plants and speed up construction because they are smaller and assembled onsite with prefabricated parts. Large nuclear plants such as Plant Vogtle in Georgia have been plagued with multi-billion dollar cost overruns and lengthy construction delays.

“It’s just the beginning of what could very much become a very meaningful part of our business in the 2030s. We’re very encouraged by this,” Strazik said of Trump’s executive order.

Canadian debut

GE Vernova received approval earlier this month to deploy its BWRX-300 reactor in Ontario, Canada. It will be the first SMR deployed in the West, according to the company. The Tennessee Valley Authority filed an application with the NRC earlier this month to build a GE Vernova reactor at Oak Ridge, Tenn.

“We expect more customers to put in applications to construct new SMRs with our technology before the year is over,” Strazik said. Customer interest in GE Vernova’s SMR is “very high,” with users increasingly willing to pay a premium for nuclear because it doesn’t emit carbon dioxide, the CEO said.

GE Vernova’s core business is manufacturing and servicing natural gas-powered turbines, which is seeing high demand as electricity consumption grows in the U.S. The company’s stock has soared nearly 48% this year.

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Day 1 of the Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix 2025 [Gallery]

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Day 1 of the Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix 2025 [Gallery]

Today was the official start of racing at the Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix 2025! There was a tremendous energy (and heat) on the ground at NCM Motorsports Park as nearly a dozen teams took to the track. Currently, as of writing, Stanford is ranked #1 in the SOV (Single-Occupant Vehicle) class with 68 registered laps. However, the fastest lap so far belongs to UC Berkeley, which clocked a 4:45 on the 3.15-mile track. That’s an average speed of just under 40 mph on nothing but solar energy. Not bad!

In the MOV (Multi-Occupant Vehicle) class, Polytechnique Montréal is narrowly ahead of Appalachian State by just 4 laps. At last year’s formula sun race, Polytechnique Montréal took first place overall in this class, and the team hopes to repeat that success. It’s still too early for prediction though, and anything can happen between now and the final day of racing on Saturday.

Congrats to the teams that made it on track today. We look forward to seeing even more out there tomorrow. In the meantime, here are some shots from today via the event’s wonderful photographer Cora Kennedy.

Stay tuned for more!

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Tesla sold 5,000 Cybertrucks Q2, Optimus is in chaos, plus: the Infinity Train!

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Tesla sold 5,000 Cybertrucks Q2, Optimus is in chaos, plus: the Infinity Train!

The numbers are in and they are all bad for Tesla fans – the company sold just 5,000 Cybertruck models in Q4 of 2025, and built some 30% more “other” vehicles than it delivered. It just gets worse and worse, on today’s tension-building episode of Quick Charge!

We’ve also got day 1 coverage of the 2025 Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix, reports that the Tesla Optimus program is in chaos after its chief engineer jumps ship, and a look ahead at the fresh new Hyundai IONIQ 2 set to bow early next year, thanks to some battery specs from the Kia EV2.

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 (and sometimes Sunday). 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.

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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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Tesla launches Oasis Supercharger with solar farm and off-grid batteries

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Tesla launches Oasis Supercharger with solar farm and off-grid batteries

Tesla has launched its new Oasis Supercharger, the long-promised EV charging station of the future, with a solar farm and off-grid batteries.

Early in the deployment of the Supercharger network, Tesla promised to add solar arrays and batteries to the Supercharger stations, and CEO Elon Musk even said that most stations would be able to operate off-grid.

While Tesla did add solar and batteries to a few stations, the vast majority of them don’t have their own power system or have only minimal solar canopies.

Back in 2016, I asked Musk about this, and he said that it would now happen as Tesla had the “pieces now in place” with Supercharger V3, Powerpack V2, and SolarCity:

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All of these pieces have been in place for years, and Tesla has now discontinued the Powerpack in favor of the Megapack. The Supercharger network is also transitioning to V4 stations.

Yet, solar and battery deployment haven’t accelerated much in the decade since Musk made that comment, but it is finally happening.

Last year, Tesla announced a new project called ‘Oasis’, which consists of a new model Supercharger station with a solar farm and battery storage enabling off-grid operations in Lost Hills, California.

Tesla has now unveiled the project and turned on most of the Supercharger stalls:

The project consists of 168 chargers, with half of them currently operational, making it one of the largest Supercharger stations in the world. However, that’s not even the most notable aspect of it.

The station is equipped with 11 MW of ground-mounted solar panels and canopies, spanning 30 acres of land, and 10 Tesla Megapacks with a total energy storage capacity of 39 MWh.

It can be operated off-grid, which is the case right now, according to Tesla.

With off-grid operations, Tesla was about to bring 84 stalls online just in time for the Fourth of July travel weekend. The rest of the stalls and a lounge are going to open later this year.

Electrek’s Take

This is awesome. A bit late, but awesome. This is what charging stations should be like: fully powered by renewable energy.

Unfortunately, it will be much harder to open those stations in the future due to legislation that Trump and the Republican Party have just passed, which removes incentives for solar and energy storage, adds taxes on them, and removes incentives to build batteries – all things that have helped Tesla considerably over the last few years.

The US is likely going to have a few tough years for EV adoption and renewable energy deployment.

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