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Yanfeng, a key GM, Jeep, and Ram auto supplier, unveiled its Electric Vehicle Interior (EVI) concept at CES 2024 on Monday. The interior is a vision that eliminates the traditional instrument panel and, instead, integrates most features into a Smart Cabin seat.

As buyer preference continues shifting to EVs, one thing is becoming evident – they want added tech and features.

Yanfeng, a top auto supplier, looks to take advantage of the transition. The company specializes in interior, seating, cockpit electronics, and safety tech design.

Yanfeng is a key supplier for top automakers, including GM and Stellantis’ Jeep, Dodge, Ram, and Chrysler in North America.

After conducting several studies on EV interiors over the years, the auto supplier found three factors buyers look for in an interior with EVs. For one, they want more access to technology. They expect an EV to include more unique features than what you would find on a traditional ICE vehicle.

Perhaps, more importantly, it needs to work smoothly. And lastly, many EV buyers want a fun experience. At its first CES showing, Yanfeng looks to showcase how it can meet the new demands.

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Yanfeng EVI concept (Source: Yanfeng)

GM, Stellantis auto supplier reveals new interior for EVs

Yanfeng’s EVI concept is a “vision for future vehicle architecture.” By eliminating the traditional instrument panel, the company is already drastically changing the interior compared to traditional gas-powered vehicles.

Instead, the concept features a “Smart Cabin seat” that includes an active headrest with audio, smart surfaces, storage, charging, and safety systems integrated into the seat.

Yanfeng said it challenged itself to simplify the interior of EVs without sacrificing key functions. The interior includes an integrated floor console, front seats, steer-by-wire, HMI, displays, seatbelts, and airbags. It also includes an HVAC microclimate system.

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Yanfeng Smart Cabin seat (Source: Yanfeng)

“It’s not like they need a Jetsons car,” Jeff Stout, Yanfeng’s executive director for global innovation, told Automotive News.

Stout added, “But people who are buying or looking to buy an electric car are looking for a different experience.” Many of the concepts Yanfeng is showing at CES are due to its research. The company has held several demonstrations with participants to test the new interior.

The concept also simplifies the assembly process for automakers. With all key features integrated into the Smart Cabin seat, installation is far less costly and much quicker than traditional assembly.

Other innovations include a new steering wheel concept that reduces emissions and an upgraded “Hover Seat.”

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LiveWire unveils powerful electric maxi-scooter built on its motorcycle platform

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LiveWire unveils powerful electric maxi-scooter built on its motorcycle platform

LiveWire, the electric motorcycle company spun out of Harley-Davidson, is flexing the versatility of the company’s S2 Arrow powertrain with the unveiling of an electric maxi scooter.

A maxi-scooter is a type of large, powerful scooter designed for comfortable riding. Unlike traditional urban-oriented scooters, maxi-scooters typically have more powerful motors that make them suitable for highway travel. They tend to feature a more robust frame, larger wheels, and extra storage space, along with more premium amenities such as windshields, comfortable seating, and often more advanced tech features. LiveWire is likely to lean into all of those opportunities by leveraging its existing electric motorcycle S2 Arrow powertrain for the new design.

The S2 Arrow powertrain was first unveiled during the launch of the LiveWire S2 Del Mar. The powertrain includes the structural battery, electric motor, and the associated control hardware. LiveWire demonstrated the platform’s flexibility by quickly launching a second model, the S2 Mulholland, on the platform.

Now LiveWire is making a major leap to fully realize the platform’s broad appeal for designing diverse models, using it as the backbone for its upcoming electric maxi-scooter slated for launch in the first half of 2026.

With the success of electric maxi-scooters like the BMW CE-04, LiveWire has surely been looking closely at how the segment could leverage the performance of its versatile e-motorcycle platform.

LiveWire won’t rely only on its own platform to bring the electric maxi-scooter to market, but also on the expertise of KYMCO, a leading Taiwanese scooter company that has long dominated the market with its wide range of scooters, both gasoline and electric-powered.

“LiveWire is an iconic leader in electric solutions for urban mobility, explained KYMCO Chairman Allen Ko. “We are excited to partner with them as LiveWire embarks on the development of a S2-based electric maxi-scooter.”

KYMCO became an early investor in LiveWire and the two companies are now strengthening their relationship with increased collaboration on multiple electric motorbike models.

“The collaboration has been very smooth,” said LiveWire CEO Karim Donnez in an interview with Electrek. “We’ve found the KYMCO team very easy to work with.”

Donnez explained that the two companies have continued to strengthen their work together, with the hemispheric separation between them allowing the unique opportunity for nearly 24-hour progress. Plans are in the works for a geographic exchange of employees to further integrate the teams and allow more seamless collaboration between the two companies.

And the fruits of that cooperation are already showing with the unveiling of the updated KYMCO RevoNEX electric motorcycle, which has been redesigned based on the S2 Arrow platform. Assuming LiveWire’s electric maxi-scooter makes it to market first, the RevoNEX would become the fourth model launched on LiveWire’s S2 Arrow foundation.

Early responses have been largely positive to LiveWire’s release of concept images of its upcoming electric maxi-scooter on social media.

LiveWire’s branding and marketing has always sought to distinguish itself from the brand’s Harley-Davidson roots, allowing the young motorcycle company to emerge from behind H-D’s shadow and largely do its own thing, focusing on a different type of rider with distinct demands and desires.

The inclusion of a powerful electric maxi-scooter in the lineup is likely to help underscore that independence, with LiveWire continuing to focus on a younger, more urban audience that increasingly sees two-wheelers less as an identity and more as a lifestyle, merging fun riding with utilitarian commuting.

It’s of course far too early to tell how the bikes will ultimately be received. We’ve yet to see LiveWire’s electric maxi-scooter concepts in the flesh, indicating there’s likely still some significant design time left in the development cycle. But one thing is already for certain: LiveWire is increasingly doing its own thing and the company wouldn’t have it any other way.

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Bitcoiners celebrate as $40 million campaign brings down Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown

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Bitcoiners celebrate as  million campaign brings down Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown

Crypto fans are celebrating the results of the Ohio Senate race, where blockchain entrepreneur Bernie Moreno has defeated Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown, a three-term incumbent, in a contest that was key in the battle for control of the U.S. Senate.

Some $40 million of crypto money was directed at defeating Brown, with one PAC paying for five ads designed to boost awareness of Moreno, a businessman who worked as a luxury car dealer and had virtually no name recognition going into the contest.

The race was also a litmus test for whether the more than $245 million raised by the crypto industry this cycle would prove effective at the ballot box. The Ohio contest drew more ad spending than any Senate race in history, and was the biggest single target of crypto money this cycle.

Brown was unpopular with crypto fans, in part because he backed Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in holding hearings on whether digital tokens were tied to terrorism. He voted against pro-crypto legislation, called for more regulation of the sector, and regularly posted anti-crypto rhetoric on social media.

Ripple’s billionaire co-founder Chris Larsen told CNBC Tuesday night that Brown’s loss is “more fallout from the disastrous decision by President Joe Biden to outsource financial regulation to Sen. Warren.”

“Tonight I’m sad, but I’m never giving up,” Brown said in brief concession remarks Tuesday evening.

In December, Brown told journalists that he wasn’t concerned about the crypto industry’s rumblings against him.

“Bring ’em on,” Politico quoted Brown as saying to a crowd of reporters last year.

His antagonists are now taking a victory lap.

Tyler Winklevoss, one of the top individual crypto contributors this election cycle, called Brown a “crypto public enemy,” a “co-conspirator” to Sen. Warren, and a “Gary Gensler crony,” referring to the chair of the SEC. In a post on X, Winklevoss wrote, “The crypto army is striking!”

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is equally excited.

“Tonight the crypto voter has spoken decisively — across party lines and in key races across the country,” Armstrong wrote in a post to X.

Armstrong called it the “most pro-crypto Congress ever” with more than 219 crypto-friendly candidates elected to the House and Senate.

The Stand With Crypto Alliance, launched by Coinbase last year, started a “Live election results” lander for crypto investors to keep track of the results. According to the tracker, 224 pro-crypto candidates have been elected to the House, against 106 anti-crypto House candidates that have won. In the Senate, 14 pro-crypto candidates have been elected, while nine anti-crypto candidates have been victorious.

NBC News hasn’t yet called all of these races.

Coinbase gave more than $75 million to Fairshake and its affiliated PACs, including a fresh pledge of $25 million to support the group in the 2026 midterms. Armstrong personally was among crypto’s top individual donors, giving over $1.3 million to a mix of candidates up and down the ballot.

Coinbase has been battling Gensler in court for more than a year over claims it sells unregistered securities.

The industry hopes that a pro-crypto Congress will pass rules that will apportion more of the regulatory responsibilities to the Commodities Future Trading Commission, which has traditionally been softer on its approach to policing the sector.

“Americans disproportionately care about crypto and want clear rules of the road for digital assets,” Armstrong wrote. “We look forward to working with the new Congress to deliver it. Thank you to everyone who stood with crypto today. We did it!”

The Fairshake affiliated PAC Defend American Jobs, which donated more than $40 million in support of Moreno, released a statement on Tuesday night, saying that Brown was a “top opponent of cryptocurrency.”

“Senator-Elect Moreno’s come-from-behind win shows that Ohio voters want a leader who prioritizes innovation, protects American economic interests, and will ensure our nation’s continued technological leadership,” the group said.

The political victories were reflected in the market.

Bitcoin surged to a new record above $75,000 earlier Tuesday as the NBC News Decision Desk projected a good night for Republican nominee Donald Trump.

— CNBC’s Ece Yildirim contributed to this report.

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Solar stocks tumble overnight as Trump leads in election results

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Solar stocks tumble overnight as Trump leads in election results

Copper Mountain Solar in El Dorado Valley, pictured on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Boulder City, Nevada. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Bizuayehu Tesfaye | Tribune News Service | Getty Images

Solar stocks sold off overnight as investors see Donald Trump leading in the U.S. presidential election.

Solar stocks are falling on fears that a possible Trump victory would spell trouble for the Inflation Reduction Act, which has fueled a clean energy boom in the U.S. through tax credits to expand solar energy.

The benchmark Invesco Solar ETF was down 7% in overnight trading on brokerage Robinhood. The solar panel manufacturer First Solar tumbled 8% overnight. Residential solar stocks Sunrun and Sunnova fell 6% and 2.6%, respectively. Inverter manufacturer Enphase tumbled 5% and Nextracker was down nearly 5%.

Trump’s campaign platform calls for the termination of the IRA, which he refers to as the “Socialist Green New Deal.” The IRA is one of President Joe Biden’s signature achievements. The law passed on party-line vote in 2022 without any Republican support.

Trump is leading in the electoral college and is projected to win the key swing state of North Carolina, according to NBC News. The future of the IRA, however, will depend not only on whether Trump wins the White House, but whether Republicans also secure control of Congress.

Kamala Harris’ campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon told staff in an email Tuesday that the clearest path to victory for the vice president lies in the so-called Blue Wall states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

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