Russia’s President Vladimir Putin bids farewell to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi following their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia July 9, 2024.
Gavriil Grigorov | Via Reuters
Russia on Tuesday weighed into the growing spat between India and the U.S., with the Kremlin saying New Delhi is free to choose its own trading partners.
Washington and India’s leadership are at loggerheads over imports of Russian oil, with U.S. President Donald Trump threatening New Delhi with much steeper tariffs if it continues to purchase the commodity from Russia.
The Kremlin, an important trading partner of India’s and one which had stayed silent as the spat erupted in the last few days, commented that Trump’s tariff threats are “attempts to force countries to stop trade relations with Russia.”
“We do not consider such statements to be legitimate,” Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov continued, speaking to reporters Tuesday.
“We believe that sovereign countries should have, and have the right to choose their own trade partners, partners in trade and economic cooperation. And to choose those trade and economic cooperation regimes that are in the interests of a particular country.”
The dispute between Trump and New Delhi is being closely watched by investors after Trump threatened on Monday that he would be “substantially raising” the tariffs on India, although he did not specify the level of the higher tariffs. The president had threatened a 25% duty on Indian exports, as well as an unspecified “penalty” last week.
He also accused India of buying discounted Russian oil and “selling it on the Open Market for big profits.”
India hit back at the U.S. later on Monday, accusing it and the European Union of hypocrisy.
“It is revealing that the very nations criticizing India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia. Unlike our case, such trade is not even a vital national compulsion [for them],” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Western countries have used sanctions and import restrictions as a way to stifle Moscow’s oil export-generated revenues that fund its war machine against Ukraine. However, some of Russia’s trading partners, particularly India and China, have continued their purchases of discounted Russian crude that their economies largely rely on.
India and Russia’s trade relationship has grown since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022; Russia became India’s leading oil supplier after the war began, with imports increasing from just under 100,000 barrels per day before the invasion — 2.5% of total imports — to more than 1.8 million barrels per day in 2023 — 39% of overall imports, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said earlier this year.
— CNBC’s Lim Hui Jie contributed reporting to this story.
Tesla used car prices continue to plummet, while the average used car price is increasing. Despite being considered a premium brand, used Tesla vehicles are now cheaper than the used car sale price.
However, when the market started to recover in March 2025, Tesla’s used car prices didn’t. It continued to drop.
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In fact, it has now dropped so much that the average used Tesla vehicle costs less than the average used car on Car Gurus:
This is unprecedented. Although the brand has taken a significant hit over the last year, Tesla is still regarded as a premium brand in the industry. The fact that its average used car sale price would dip below the industry average, which includes inexpensive mass-market vehicles, is quite exceptional.
Used Tesla car prices are now down 4.59% year-over-year, compared to the market average being up 1.22%:
Make/Model
Avg Price
Last 30 days
Last 90 days
Year over Year
CarGurus Index
$28,039
+0.19%
+1.22%
+1.22%
Tesla
$27,814
-1.75%
-4.59%
-4.59%
All Tesla vehicles are down year-over-year, with the Cybertruck unsurprisingly leading the charge.
However, Cybertruck has started to recover in the last few months, along with Model 3.
The Model Y, which is by far Tesla’s most popular model by volume, is dragging the average down as it continues to fall:
Make/Model
Avg Price
Last 30 days
Last 90 days
Year over Year
Cybertruck
$83,963
+0.88%
+0.3%
-30.44%
Model 3
$23,318
+0.2%
+0.75%
-8.04%
Model S
$26,534
-5.48%
-9.53%
-22.61%
Model X
$37,747
-2.33%
-9.24%
-16.8%
Model Y
$29,216
-0.49%
-0.68%
-11.97%
Electrek’s Take
Many Tesla owners have been selling their used vehicles and switching to new brands, increasing the supply and putting pressure on prices.
I expected this, but I didn’t expect the pressure to be so great that prices would dip below the average used prices.
This is significant.
It’s proof that the Tesla brand has taken a massive reputational hit and there’s no clear recovery in sight.
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That new electric Ford pickup we’ve been waiting for is delayed once again. Ford is putting its “groundbreaking” new EV pickup on the back burner as it doubles down on more affordable models.
When is Ford delaying its new electric pickup now?
Ford was expected to begin production on its next electric pickup, codenamed “Project T3,” by the end of this year, with deliveries scheduled to start in 2026.
After pushing back the start of production last year until 2027, Ford confirmed on Thursday that the electric pickup is now delayed even further.
According to Automotive News, Ford has informed suppliers that it has delayed the production of its new electric pickup, initially scheduled for production at its BlueOval City EV assembly plant in Tennessee, until 2028. Several sources close to the matter said Ford is also delaying production of its new electric van.
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Ford now plans to begin building the next-gen E-Transit in Ohio starting in 2028, which was initially slated for 2026.
A company spokesperson confirmed the delay, saying the “F-150 Lightning, America’s best-selling electric truck, and E-Transit continue to meet today’s customer needs.”
2025 Ford F-150 Lightning (Source: Ford)
The statement added that “We remain focused on delivering our Ford+ plan and will be nimble in adjusting our product launch timing to meet market needs and customer demand while targeting improved profitability.”
The move comes as Ford shifts its focus to smaller, more affordable EVs. Earlier this week, Ford opened its new EV Design Center in Long Beach, California, where its team will develop what’s promised to be a highly efficient, low-cost EV platform.
Ford opens new EV design center in Long Beach, California (Source: Ford)
Ford’s team, led by former Tesla engineer Alan Clarke, is filled with ex-Rivian, Lucid, and Apple workers and has grown drastically from what started as a “skunkworks” group.
Like its crosstown rival GM announced this week, Ford will use LFP batteries to cut costs. The new batteries will be manufactured at its new plant in Michigan, using licensed tech from China’s CATL. GM announced this week it will source LFP batteries from CATL to power the new Chevy Bolt EV until it begins making its own.
Ford F-150 Lightning Platinum Black Edition (Source: Ford)
According to Lisa Drake, Ford’s vice president of tech platform programs and EV systems, the new midsize platform will support eight different body styles, including trucks, crossovers, SUVs, and maybe even sedans.
Ford filed a trademark for the name Ranchero on August 5, hinting that the nameplate could be revived for the new midsize EV pickup.
Drake confirmed CEO Jim Farley’s comments that Ford aims to match the costs of leading Chinese brands. We will learn more about Ford’s “plans to design and build a breakthrough electric vehicle and platform in the US” on August 11.
Ford’s electric vehicles in Europe from left to right: Puma Gen-E, Explorer, Capri, and Mustang Mach-E (Source: Ford)
Farley said on the company’s earnings call that Ford is “moving from being the dominant player in truck hybrids in the US to offering EREVs, PHEVs, and a full range of hybrids across our lineup, especially our bigger vehicles.”
Ford’s CEO added, “We think that’s a much better move than a $60,000 to $70,000 all-electric crossover. We think that that’s really what customers are going to want long term.”
Ford says it’s “going back to its roots for another Model T moment.” Check back on Monday for more details. We’ll provide a breakdown of the event.
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Led by a team of ex-Waymo engineers, Bedrock Robotics is developing a new generation of autonomous heavy equipment equipment operators who, they hope, will be able to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, without human intervention.
The company “emerged from stealth” last month with news of an $80 million raise on an undisclosed valuation for its autonomous equipment play — but they’re not building heavy equipment themselves. Instead, the company plans to offer upgrades for existing equipment assets that includes a suite of cameras, LiDAR sensors, and AI-powered software that will enable to work at all times, and in conditions that human operators wouldn’t be able to tolerate.
Bedrock’s tech package prototype was developed specifically for excavators, as the most common/versatile piece of construction equipment. And, reportedly, can be installed by technicians and ready for work in just a few hours.
Credible roster
AI prototype suite on a tracked excavator; via Bedrock Robotics.
The team is hoping the lessons they learned automating taxis and exiting tech startups will enable them to revolutionize the heavy equipment space, overcome the industry’s endemic labor shortage, and (of course) make everyone involved a buttload of money.
Before that happens, however, the company needs to prove that its tech is actually capable of doing the job as well as human operators. Sofman believes their success in the robotaxi space gives them the sort of credibility investors are looking for, and shows that, “the state of technology just being right, where we’re seeing it work on one of the hardest applications in the world,” he said to Forbes. “That’s exactly the type of building block that catalyzes change. When you tally up all the ways we use these specialized heavy machines, it’s another one of those transportation-style spaces that is due for a wave of what’s happening in transportation.”
Sofman, if nothing else, is a good hype man. When Forbes tees him up, explaining that the construction industry in a “tricky” time, highlighting the Trump Administration’s trade tariffs and aggressive, often illegal immigration crackdowns artificially boosting materials costs, driving inflation, and making an already tight supply of skilled workers even tighter, Sofman is ready to parrot it right back.
“It’s this fascinating situation where you have an astronomical macroeconomic tail and a need to re-industrialize the US,” says Sofman. “At the same time, the labor pool, even more aggressively than what we saw in trucking, is going the opposite direction.”
Bedrock hasn’t yet released revenue targets or pricing, but cite the size of the established market, along with infrastructure upgrades aided by the passage of Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure law (which, again, is “tricky” these days), higher demand for new warehouses and data centers as enough to make a business case to investors.
For their parts, they’ve convinced their old boss, ex-Waymo CEO John Krafcik. “Boris has assembled an extraordinary founding team, many of whom I had the privilege of working with,” says Krafcik, who invested an undisclosed amount in the startup. “It’s an exceptional group with the technical depth, grit and vision to make autonomous construction machines real.”
NVentures, the venture capital arm of Nvidia, was also named as an investor.
Electrek’s Take
There’s no question that there are a number of factors making things a bit “tricky” for the construction industry right now, and that — at least until operator wages rise — there’s more work than workers these days, even as both the global and US populations continues to grow. That said, there’s a particular type of corpro-political technobabble hype that I have, thankfully, been able to remain immune to over my many (many) years on planet Earth, and Sofman speaks it with an effortless fluency that makes it hard to tell if he’s said anything at all.
But, crucially, he’s got $80 million and I don’t, so maybe ignore uncle Jojo. In the meantime, try to remember that market size isn’t a business plan, OK? OK.
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